Gotta check these off!

TO DO LIST:

• Pack for trip home
• Finish wrapping Christmas presents
• Clean out refrigerator
• Finish laundry
• Get a good night's sleep
• Go to TEXAS!!!

Notes

So, I'm looking over my notes again from church yesterday and remembering what a great sermon it was. I thought I'd share a few really insightful things that Daniel shared. First of all, we've been doing a series on gender for a couple weeks. It is just for a few weeks to finish out the year. Then he will start to work through Romans after the first of the year. It has been a refreshing look at gender issues and questions.

Some fears women struggle with that really hit home with me, that Daniel noted (from author Jani Ortlund):

-Women fear the ache of lonelinness

-Women fear the stress of working outside the home

-Women fear the boredom of staying at home full-time

-Women fear pregnancy

-Women fear infertility

-Women fear appearing immature

-Women fear missing out on the joys of true womanhood

Daniel pointed out that when Eve took the fruit and ate it she was motivated by fear. Confusion on gender issues breeds fear (many of these things above are very true specific examples of this).

He also noted that feminity has been created by God. (Genesis 1:27). Women were created to be influential helpers, life-givers, and ladies of wisdom. Some points that really stuck out to me were:

-It's not that women do not lead, they just lead differently. Women are INFLUENTIAL.

-God calls women to give life and to nurture throughout history. We see this emphasis on women as life givers throughout scripture.

-To women: "Your presence can degrade the glory of God in man or enhance it."

(wow, convicting.)

Our pastor Daniel then went on to talk about how sin has shattered feminity. As women, we believe many lies regarding gender, life-giving, sexuality, emotions, and God. Some lies that he pointed out are:

-Physical beauty matters more than inner beauty

-Marriage is the answer

-If I feel something, it must be true

-I can't control my emotions

This was a very convicting and encouraging sermon at the same time. I also really appreciated how he mentioned several times that men are not the problem, and women are not the problem. Sin is the problem. But, praise the Lord we have a loving Savior who brings restoration in this area.

**The picture at the top is of The 930 Art Gallery at our church. It doesn't look exactly like this now (different exhibit), but I thought I'd share a little bit of what it looks like. :)

So excited!

I am so excited for a few reasons:

• We are going to be in Texas in a little over one week! One week!
• I think I am getting over a nasty cold that I have had for a few days. I hope so!!
• Christmas is less than two weeks away. Two weeks from yesterday to be exact.
• Eron and I bought tickets to see Michael Buble here in Louisville in March. OH MY GOSH...I am so excited. I love Michael Buble. Eron is really excited too!
• I will have a two week vacation once you count weekends, holidays, new years, etc. Almost two whole weeks. Yea!

I guess those are just a few reasons why I am excited today.

Thursdays are for blogging!

Well, at least this Thursday is. Just in the mood to write another post to say hey to all three of the readers of this blog. So, "hey!".

Well, yesterday we went to the Jefferson County Clerk's office and got my car registered in the state of Kentucky....long time comin'. Thank goodness we got to keep our Texas license plates. I plan to clean them up and display them in a cool way. I just can't get rid of them!! I'm glad we got that done though. It has been put off for far too long. Speaking of Texas, in exactly two weeks from today we will be driving to Texas. Two weeks!! Two weeks!! I can't wait.

This week has seemed to last a long time though. We have stuff for graduation today and tomorrow here at work, so that will hopefully make the days go by fast. I think the next couple weeks will go slow just because I'm ready for Christmas to be here! We have lots of parties next week. A couple at work (including a baby shower) and one at our place with a few of our TX gals.

If you haven't read Eron's most recent post on The Booked Blog, you should check it out here. It is a good one! I need to finish a book and post on there myself. :) He has been enjoying his time off and getting to read what he wants to read. It has been fun having a little more relaxed of a schedule. We hung out with the Bebee's the other night and watched Ratatouille. So cute!! Check it out if you haven't seen it yet.

I really love giving gifts! I love thinking of creative things to get people and making it happen. This time of year is so great for that. I really do love the opportunity to bless others with a little something special. I am going to make some of those jar mixes for some people this weekend to give as gifts. Let's hope they turn out!!

That's the end of the randomness...

I hope everyone has a good rest of the week and a great weekend.

It was a fun weekend! On Saturday I went to the 8th annual Sojourn Women's Christmas Gift Exchange. It was so much fun! It really is a great concept of how to gather friends, neighbors, sisters in Christ together and have a great party that will give you the opportunity to share the "reason for the season". You bring x number of gifts and then you go away with that many gifts after having "rounds" of going in and selecting a gift to take home.


This year we were told to bring 8 gifts, little did we know that two of them would be donated to Necole's Place. This is a center formed off of Women's Choice that offers classes and various programs for mothers that have chosen to keep their babys. Women's Choice is located directly across the street from an abortion clinic downtown. So, we got to give some of our gifts to Necole's Place in order to bless the mothers there this Christmas. This means there were over 300 gifts donated! It was so great to be able to do this for them.

So, the gift exchange was great! I got some fun stuff and had a great time hanging out with other women at Sojourn.

This will be a busy week with a church planting banquet for work tonight, community group, a party at the Mohler's tomorrow afternoon for the SBTS staff, and a Christmas party at work on Wednesday. That time of year :)

In LESS THAN three weeks we will be in Texas. Getting....very....excited....!!!!