learning is fun this week!

Here is the thing I have been learning. Our obedience is demanded and in return we shall not want.

Have you read the 23rd Psalm?

It says, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want"

It also says that "He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

These two sentences lead me to this conclusion.

When I allow the Lord to lead me, as He knows how, it is not for my benefit, but for His, and in return I shall not want.

My life isn't about me, it is for His Name.

The last few days the word "Obedience" has been resonating within me. I was going to title this post obedience, but on Monday, my friend Rachel's post was titled the very same. See how this is a reoccurring thought? Then we looked at this Psalm in staff meeting yesterday as well, two other people Kelley and Katie blogged this week on things that had to do with obedience.

I have never desired obedience more.

But now it is time to praise God publicly for some times of me "Not wanting."

On Monday, Andrew and I were at work fairly early after a late night, we grabbed some bananas and headed out of the house. We worked till a little after 1:30 and had to run to Walmart since we are working on the house. We were both really hungry, and we were both exhausted and neither of us wanted to cook. While at Walmart and I get a text from Kelley, previously mentioned Kelley. She works at Red Robin and asked if we wanted a meal and she would deliver it. HECK YES. So we placed an order and we had lunch/dinner at 3:30 in our living room. Praise Him. This may seem small to some, but anyone in the middle of a big transition knows what a blessing it is to not have to cook at the end of the day.

On Tuesday, we went to work. We pulled back up to our house about 5:30. The outside of our house is being painted and worked on and since I am praying that we will be showing the house we are keeping it extra clean. So as soon as we walked in I started with the floors. I started sweeping and then I was going to vacuum and then swiffer and then touch up any little scratched areas with stain to make the hardwood sparkle.

I had every intention on making dinner.

As I was sweeping, our neighbor, Susan, walked up to the front door.

(I just learned her name yesterday).

She said,

"I don't normally do this. I see you are moving and I heard the story this morning. I am so happy for you guys. Our obedience to the Lord is so important, and things will just start to fall into place when it's so right. You are two lights at this corner and you're leaving us, but it is really exciting, and I heard today and I went home and was making dinner and I just felt the Lord say to me, "make them dinner and take it to them," I don't make the best friend chicken, but I do make good cornbread, and I argued with the Lord for about 45 minutes but I knew I couldn't sleep tonight if I hadn't been obedient. So, here is your dinner."

I wanted to cry. Her obedience is as radical as any. And Andrew LOVES CORNBREAD. The Fried Chicken was awesome too and all we had to do was put it in the oven for a re-heat as we finished the floor.

Again, HUGE BLESSING!!! Thank you God and thank you Susan.

I am learning that God is always wanting us to know that he loves us and will use us to help teach others what we, ourselves, are learning, all while driving the point home to us.

God is good, faithful and He is crazy about us - and if I don't tell you that, than I am not being obedient.

Thanks for stopping in.

No, I don't NEED them...but I really want them.

Dan Eldon was an artist and a photographer. He was an journaled avidly. I have his book "The Journey is the Destination".

Which is basically his journal that his mom put together and published after his death.

It is absolutely beautiful!

I got a pair of Toms for Christmas from Scott and Anne Beard and I have literally worn them every day since. Because I love them so much, I decided to take a look at the website and I stumbled upon these.

Check them out here!

Yes, they are Dan Eldon inspired Toms Shoes!!!!! Come on! SWOON!

I support Dan Eldon, Toms and having cute shoes.

random conversation

Today is Tuesday. There are a few things about Tuesday that make the day amazing!

1. It is pad Thai Tuesday. This means you purchase one pad Thai and get one for ONE DOLLAR.

This is something that I will miss when I get to TX.

2. It is Starbucks Tuesday. This is a tradition that Andrew and I started at the beginning on this school year. We come to this booth...

at our local Starbucks and meet up with our students...college age people come first and then high schoolers come across the street when they get out. We even have some jr. highers whose parents drop them off.

Those are some of the reasons I love Tuesdays.

The title of this post is about this conversation that Andrew and I had. I just think it is funny the way conversations work..

Background facts on today's conversation.

-Andrew asked me to cut his hair.

-Beth is the name of Andrew's x-fiancée (who cuts hair) and also the name of our Director of Communications at work. We needed to send her an e-mail.

-When we walked into Tasty Thai we saw some people from church who may be coming to look at our house tonight.

Once in Tasty Thai, Andrew went to wash his hands. I sat down and got my phone out to shoot an e-mail to Beth (at church). He got out of the bathroom, sat down.

I say, "I'll be done in a second I am e-mailing Beth."

"Oh cool, my old girlfriend?"

"Yeah, I am checking to see if she would cut your hair."

(smiles and then silence)

I finished the e-mail and then was thinking about the fact that someone could be interested in our house...so I say,

"man, wouldn't that be awesome?"

Andrew replies, "Yeah, if beth could cut my hair? That would be awesome."

silly.

um...

This morning at church someone was giving an announcement and I quickly noticed that this person was saying "um" a lot. Then I noticed Andrew (whose arm was around me) tapping my shoulder. Then I noticed the correlation. Every time this person said "um" Andrew tapped my shoulder. I giggled a little and wispered with a smile, "Stop it!"

I sat for a second and leaned over to tell him something. As I was thinking about how to start my sentence and make it as short as possible, I said. "um.."

He tapped my shoulder.

Love my life.

It's a buyers market

We listed our house today.

CRAZY! this is real life!

If you know anyone interested in the cutest little historical home in Liberty, MO...send them to me! It is a 2 bedroom one bath house and it has been an amazing place to live.

PRAY IT SELLS LIKE A HOT CAKE!

Kitchen with granite counters

Master Bedroom and Den

Living room

Front Porch

Living and dining room

The News Is Out!

As you know, Andrew and I have been working as a team, in the same office, doing a team-work job; Directing the Student Ministry at Liberty United Methodist church.
Our lives are about to change.

For the last year or so, we have felt the Holy Spirit stirring in us. A "change is coming". That is all we got. Throughout the last year the one re-occurring theme was seminary for Andrew. What ever it was that the Lord held next for us, it included seminary. In October we were given two different opportunities, one that would offer me work full time in the Chicago Land area which would then give Andrew the option of being a full time student, and then another one that would offer Andrew a full time job and Seminary (included) in Dallas, Texas. After a few visits to two very different cities we were left at a complete stand still. We had do idea what we were going to do but had complete peace about moving.

So...We had some amazing people come along as a part of this process and speak into our lives. They prayed with and for us about seeking out our giftings and what we felt like our callings are. (We have been having this talk for a year and it was just great to have people partnering with us.) As we prayed, we started having visions of ways the Lord could use Andrew with the opportunity that was more geared toward him...and then I had a phone call with a friend, Amber Burger. We have been friends for 11 years and have never lived in the same city. She is one of my go-to's. I LOVE THIS WOMAN! So we were chatting and I offered an idea for His Voice (See blog to your left) and she offered me a proposition. She said they were looking for someone who could develop ideas just like the one I had...and then she dropped the bomb. She said they were moving to Dallas...which is where the job offer for Andrew is, and that she would send me the job description if I would like her to. I said yes.

I met with Amber and Vernon over Christmas Break and Andrew and I just knew it. This is what we are supposed to do...

So....................................

We are MOVING TO DALLAS TEXAS!!!!!!!

IN APRIL. April 10th will be our last Day at LUMC!

Andrew will be attending seminary at Perkin’s School of Theology in Dallas, TX and working for Highland Park UMC as the worship leader for the student ministry. The church is closely tied to Perkins, so they are paying for his schooling which is a huge blessing. I will be working for a His Voice Global as the Promotions Director. I actually went to Sudan with this group in January 2005.

The last few years have been an incredible time of growing, learning, and serving in Liberty. Needless to say we are grateful for the opportunity we've had to serve the students here. We have learned so much and will remember the lives we've hopefully impacted and the ones that have impacted ours.

We are sad to move on, but are thankful for our time here and are looking forward to our next season of life. We are so excited to see what the Lord will do next with our lives, but since making this decisions, I have also been having dreams and visions about my roll at HVG. The next two months will be a busy time of prayer, transition, and preparation.

I think that is enough for you today, but I will definitely be posting more soon as I have all kinds of fun things to share!

And the winner is...

HEATHER!

I did a drawing for the final 100 Mix and boy am I glad we are not stuck with the choosing! I will be working on the mix and sending it out. I will be posting the full list here in few days.

Heather, send me a message with your address so I can send you your goodies!

Congrats!

Sarah

Matched - Play - Giveaway

I began this book yesterday. I have been hearing about it for a while now from articles in Entertainment Weekly (which I read every week). I decided I was ready for my next fiction book. I just finished the Hunger Games series and have read Twilight and Harry Potter...So, they say this is the next young adult series that will take the world by storm.

I read this section last night and I have not been able to stop thinking about it:

"The Society chose to keep the hundred best of everything when the culture became too cluttered: Hundred Songs, Hundred Paintings, Hundred Stories, Hundred Poems. The rest were eliminated. How can we appreciate anything fully when overwhelmed with too much?"

I have been thinking all day. If we had to pick 100 songs, 100 Paintings, 100 stories and 100 poems, how would we decide....So this is the fun part. I am challenging you to comment on this post.

Which songs, painting (pieces of art), stories, and poems would you choose to be in the 100 that we keep?

I want to focus in on the songs because I would like to make a playlist according to my readers.

Once you have submitted a total 100 songs, I will make a "the Last 100 songs" album.

I will that have a drawing based off the people who comment with answers on this post and the winner will receive a brilliant and crafty "Last 100 songs" album in the mail!

I will start with 2 of the songs I hear and want to hear again.

-The Scientist - Coldplay

-With Everything - Hillsong United

If you want to know more about the book or read an excerpt Click Here.

Gungor - Beautiful Things

I was told about this song somewhere around a year ago from my friend Jennifer Agnew. I didn't look it up.

Last week Andrew got this album and when this song played, I about wanted to smack myself for not having looked it up a year ago.

Do yourself a favor. Hit Play, close your eyes and be blessed.

Love you all!

Sarah

I told you I was talking...Catfish (SPOILER ALERT)

Here it is. My follow-through from last week.

Nev, Rel and Henry are friends and Rel and Henry are filmmakers. They film life, as Nev gets the first painting from Abby and her family begins corresponding with Nev, the two (Rel and Henry) Decide to point the focus of their filming on Nev and this relationship he is starting with Abby's older sister Megan.

If you haven't watched it, please go and do so then come back and pick up the reading here.

There are a few points in the film where I sat completely amazed at these men.

When they realize that things aren't as they seem, they begin to call out Megan, but then decide that they will just go and confront. This is maybe a normal reaction, but what happened next was so unreal to me.

When they show up on Angela's Porch (this is Abby's Mom) she just hugs Nev for so long...AND HE HUGS HER BACK. As the story unfolds it is Henry who says something along the lines of "I don't want to embarrass her". This was such a telling statement of the integrity carried by the guys in the car. I tried to think about what It would feel like to be them, to be Nev and I am fairly certain that I would have led with the questions and followed with making someone feel really, really, remorseful. Yes, I would have guilt tripped the heck out of some one. Or, I may have just started screaming, "Have you no decency?"

So, then Nev finds out that Abby doesn't paint and we see him take a sec to step into the bathroom to recoup and then we see him and his friends playing in the water with the family. What the heck! Guys, then they stayed for 4 or 5 days to have meals with and hang out with the family. I just don't think I have seen this kind of kindness and compassion for someone displayed by a character let alone a real person.

I watched the special feature, which was an interview with the three gentlemen who made the film and I again was shocked by the kindness showed to Angela and her family. In the features, Nev says "I sympathized with her". He said that. He did not say "I felt sorry for her".

I have to say, It challenged my integrity. How would I respond to this? I just have to know...WHAT DID YOU THINK??

Catfish...I will give you one week, then I'm talking.

In September Andrew and I saw a trailer for a movie called

We anticipated its release. It had a limited release and by the time we were able to see it, it was no longer at the theatre. It was finally released on DVD on February 1st. So when it arrived yesterday in our Netflix, we were totally stoked! So...today I made omelets for breakfast, brewed a pot of coffee, poured some OJ and we had a breakfast date.

It was worth the wait. If you haven't heard of the movie, I will say three things.

1. It is a documentary that follows a man as he starts to for a relationship with a family through facebook. Their relationship begins with a photograph and a painting.

2. it is 100% true.

3. It defies the nature of humanity...and if you want to know what I mean by that, you are going to want to check back next Saturday night for my thoughts and hopefully your thoughts too.

The reason I am waiting till next Saturday to post this is because I have respect for the filmmakers. The tagline for this movie is "Don't let anyone tell you what it is" and I do not want to ruin it for you cause of course, there is a twist!

I want to encourage you to, in the next 7 days, go to a redbox, rent, and watch Catfish and meet me here next Saturday. If you aren't convinced you need to watch it, Check it out HERE.

And no, it isn't a scary movie...regardless of what the trailer makes you think. OH AND WATCH THE SPECIAL FEATURE!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

snow day

Andrew and I have been freshening up our home, painting, for the last few days. We made much use of our weekend and our snow day, which was yesterday. We decided that if we were to stay in today we would do nothing...and that is just what we did.

I cooked 2 meals...one meal was a salad so I am not sure that counts as 2. Andrew started the day with an apple cinnamon oatmeal, delish. I took a bath (which I desperately needed), where I was able to read a magazine and listen to the sounds of The Civil Wars. If you have not heard of these guys yet, you should disregard the rest of this post and CLICK HERE!

Seriously, you are doing a disservice to yourself if you do not click on this link.

Image from Here

Then I Made a mushroom, onion, bacon pizza which happened to be so fantastic and then a big ol' salad for dinner. That was my snow day...Oh, and I took a nap!

Today I looked at my shoulder, Andrew asked was I was looking at so I said, "I have a bump here." He looked at me and said (very slowly), "Shoul-der." I just stared at him, he repeated "Shoul-der."

I decided to play along, sounding it out, I allowed my word to form, "Shoul-der." I smiled.

He paused and smiled, "you are getting good at speaking English!" To which I replied, "gracias." "De nada" he said.

Also, I just have to say that we have made some great friends here in Liberty. They are friends that really do make us feel like we are normal, in the sense that we hang out late and at weird times, like Friday afternoons. Last night we introduced Tim and Melody Fritson to the game, some of you know, Settlers of Catan.

Image from here

We got together again tonight to play and we did not only play one game, but 2. Tim and Andrew were the big winners of the night. I need to say that this game is a bit addicting and full of strategy. So much so, that Tim told Andrew he was thinking of strategies today...and while we were talking about probability after the games tonight, Tim said, "well, I read..." and then trailed off.

Busted. He did spend time reading up on Settlers after only one time of play.

Tim and Melody, We love you guys and are so thankful for your friendship!

Image from Tims Facebook

Last story. In the above picture there is a dog, Kira. As most of you know, I am not particularly an animal lover so when Kira came under the table and set her head on my lap I decided to go ahead and pet her...which is kind of a big deal. She was really soft, so I thought, I like petting soft dogs. I could have a dog, if I didn't have to feel it, or bathe it, or clean up after it, or...(endless things I don't want to have to deal with in the case of me having a pet). Then I realized, I don't want a pet at all, I want a pillow! Then I literally laughed out loud.

Image from Here

Thanks for swinging by!