Family, Holidays, growing belly, and a moving baby

This week has been so sweet with our both our families being able to come to our home this year on Christmas. It's rare that Tyler and mines parents are able to get together and visit since they live on opposite sides of the state of Texas, so seeing them interact and visit was very special to us.
We had an adventure at the beginning of the week when Tyler and I took my mom and dad to Santa Fe and Glorieta on Tues. There was blizzard weather predicted, but we really wanted to go so we got prepared the best we could and went anyways. It ended up being really beautiful with all the snow as we walked the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe and drove around Glorieta the next morning. It was a sweet gift to get to see and enjoy snow for awhile. Mom and dad loved Santa Fe, but mom was eager to get back to warmer weather.

This belly of mine has really blossomed out the last few weeks, and now you can actually tell I'm pregnant! I think it was a week or so ago when Tyler and I were sitting on the couch one night and I felt this little guy kick or punch or poke, or something inside me. It was so sweet, as I put Tyler's hand on my belly and he felt it too! It's so incredible! And ever since then I can feel this baby boy in action quite often. It's so wonderful and sweet. I have really been enjoying being pregnant since the second trimester has come about. It's just really fun and just an unusual thing.
I thank the Lord for allowing us this experience.

Scott and Dee coming to Clovis

My mom and dad (Scott & Dee) are coming to Clovis tomorrow! I am so excited to have them come and stay with us all week. This will be the longest visit for them to Clovis. We are taking them to Glorieta and Santa Fe on Tues. since them have never been before. Tyler and I are also going to enjoy not having to travel anywhere this year for the holidays. This is our first Christmas at home and it's going to be so special having my parents here with us. Peggy, Steve, and Mitchell are also coming on Christmas day to spend with us. I am overjoyed to be able to be the hostess and practice my hospitality.

Deep thoughts...

I'm reading a great book titled "Amusing Ourselves to Death", by Neil Postman. It's mostly about how television has influenced our culture. It's really interesting and I'll probably be posting more on it to come but for now, I'll just mention something I thought of while reading it. So here is my deep thought:

Everyone says that a picture is worth a thousand words.
So, why does everyone say that the book is better than the movie?

Tyler

We're going to have a son!!!

The baby is a boy! We are so excited about it! But most importantly everything was normal on all my tests and our baby boy has two arms, two legs, 10 toes, 10 fingers, a good heartbeat and heart, good kidneys, and brain, etc... There was nothing negative. :) Thank you, Father, for a healthy baby thus far.
We can't wait till this little fella gets here! I am 5 months and 5 days along, so we've made it halfway! 4 months to go! It seems like we just found out we were pregnant and now we are halfway done. I know he'll be here so fast, and I've got so much to do before he does. :)
Thank you everyone who has been praying specifically for this baby boy so far (Megan, Melissa, Court, Mom & Dad, Brooke, Becka, etc...) We are so grateful to have faithful people praying for us and our son.

I WANNA BE A RADICAL WOMEN!!!!

Tyler just bought me an early Christmas gift. Well, actually we both bought each other an early Christmas gift, except his won't be coming cause the company ran out of them (it was a hoodie he really wanted badly) So, anyways, back to my present... He got me this book that I have been wanting for awhile now: Radical Womenhood- Feminine Faith in a Femininist World by Carolyn McCulley. I just finished the first chapt this week and it is so, so wonderful! I think it is going to be a book I'm gonna have a hard time putting down. I love anything that has to do with biblical womanhood, being a wife & mother, etc... So, girls, I would ask for this book for Christmas. Tyler got mine on Amazon for $10.49 or something. I'd love to read it with you guys and then discuss it with you! That would be fun!

Jesus: The Ultimate Fighter

Haley has been trying to get me to post on this blog for some time now, so here is an article I wrote for my student ministries blog:

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is probably the fastest growing sport in the world. A major contributor to this popularity is the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which now has its own reality show called “The Ultimate Fighter.” In a UFC fight, there are 2 guys who fight on their feet or on the ground, or anywhere for that matter, as long as they stay inside the caged octagon. The fighters fight until one of the fighters wins by submission (physical or verbal tap out), technical knockout (by the referee stopping the contest) or by decision via the scorecards.

All that to say, I was recently watching a UFC fight, and noticed that one of the fighters was wearing a pair of shorts that said, “Jesus Didn’t Tap.”

I later learned that this is a brand of clothing for Christian MMA fighters. They were some really cool looking shorts (they have some hilarious t-shirts too, so if anyone wants to get me a Christmas present…). So, this brand name got me thinking. What does that mean? I thought about it some more, and figured that they meant that Jesus didn’t quit. He didn’t cop out. He didn’t give up on his way to the cross. He endured the cross. He prayed that God would “take this cup from Him“, but He then said, “not as I will, but as you will (Matt. 26:39).” And he pressed on. He also lived a perfect life, and never gave in to sin. When he was tempted, he never submitted to the temptation (Heb. 4:15). So, in the sense of never giving in to sin, enduring the cross, and not giving up… “Jesus Didn’t Tap” is right on.

On the other hand, to “tap out” is to submit. As far as Jesus’ submission goes, Jesus lived his whole life in complete submission and obedience to his Father. And Jesus did willingly submit himself to the cross. He allowed himself to be killed by crucifixion. This is one of the reasons that the Father loves Jesus. His life was not taken from Him, but he willingly laid it down:

John 10:17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

In His death, in his execution, in his submission to the cross, Jesus was the dominant warrior. His death was on His terms. He died when it was His time. This is evident in his last words before He died:

Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

He had all the authority, and He was destroying every rule and every authority and power (1 Cor. 15:20). He was showing himself to be the victorious one who conquered Satan, Sin, and Death. Because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, “God has put all things in subjection under his feet” (1 Cor 15:26).

He is victorious over every weight class, he has earned every belt and title, and he is the reigning champion. He cannot and never will be defeated. His name will be praised forever. This is evident in this passage from Philippians:

Philippians 2:5-11 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus was the most humble man that ever lived. He was the king of heaven and yet he became a servant to men. And he submitted himself to the will of God and died for us. His life was one of complete obedience.

At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. I suppose you could say that everyone, in the end, taps out to Jesus - verbally (confessing that he is lord) and physically (kneeling). So my question to everyone reading this is, will you tap out (submit) to Jesus now, willingly and confess Him as your Lord? Or will you stubbornly refuse Him? Because in this case, Jesus is also the Judge (referee) who will one day step back into our ring (the world) and declare himself the victorious one, and all his people will praise Him for the glory of His grace. But those who do not submit will be forced to kneel and confess what they refused in life: that Jesus is Lord!

For the glory of Christ,

Tyler

Thursday!!!!!!

Well it is finally THE WEEK! The week we get to find out the sex of the baby! Thursday is the day of the big ultrasound appt. and we could not be more eager for the day to come. Just two more days to wait!

Mary and Joseph

Tyler and I are up at the church and just got finished being Mary and Joseph in our church's Christmas musical. All we had to do was stand tnere, and we were together so it was fun!

Vehicle update

We finally got a vehicle for me this week! The Lord has given us a white 2005 chevy tahoe with 45,0000 miles, and very clean and nice. We are very, very thankful for it and got an amazing deal on it too, so we got to save a lot of what we might have spent on something we really didn't need. So the Lord is so good! We have learned so much through this process of purchasing our own vehicle. I thank God for teaching us wonderful truths in every day situations and experiences.

My 10th bridesmaid dress

Yes, that says 10 up there. Last weekend I had the honor of being Matron of Honor in my good friend, Brittany's wedding, and it was my 10th wedding to be in the past 5 years. It was a beautiful Christmas wedding with a fun country band playing reception that followed. I got to see an old friend, Kimbra (the pretty girl in the pic next to me) and my mom also came as my date. We had a good time.
I have calculated it up and I think I have just one more chance of being a bridesmaid, and that would be in my close friend Emily's wedding whenever that may occur. She's really my last single, close friend that I think would ask me to be in their wedding.
So, weddings are wonderful and I got to add to my bridesmaid dress collection. :)

Weddings, Baby showers, and a sweet girl named Landry, and a dad who is an extreme hunter

We had a great thanksgiving. I'll post some pics of the weekend soon.

This past weekend I traveled to back to east Texas to be in a wedding on Fri. night, have a baby shower at the church I grew up in on Sat., and get to hang out with one of the sweetest, most prettiest babies in the world-my neice Landry. (I mean I also got to see my mom!!!!! and my sister! and my aunt Nece and Nana) I haven't seen them in 6 months! That was the longest I have ever gone without seeing my mom. So that to say, it was a fast weekend but a sweet one. I was ready to come home to see Tyler though and he was ready to see me. We do not enjoy being apart.

Back to school I went on Monday and have about 7 1/2 more days left till Christmas break when I'll get to be off for two weeks.

I also wanted to share this picture of my dad because I thought it was funny. He and my uncle went up to Kansas for a week recently and had a little hunting excursion. This picture is perfect of him and shows what he'd love to look like probably all the time if he could. :) love you dad!