Virtual Tour

Griffin's Room from Tyler Hicks on Vimeo.

complete virtual tour of Griffin's new room with commentary by Tyler & Haley Hicks

A Great Debate Anyone?

If you would like to watch a great debate, ABC recently had one on the issue "Does Satan Exist." Haley and I found it informative and entertaining. I'm glad that Mark Driscoll represented Christians intelligently and communicated the Christian worldview well. Here's the link:

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/in-the-news/nightline-satan-debate

Yes the snow came and then went

Friday ended up being a snow day. I got the call at 5:15 am from a co-teacher that school was canceled, so I got up anyways and started my day. YEAH RIGHT! I rolled over as Tyler woke up for a minute to celebrate with me as we sang together "No school today! No school today!" Then we went back to sleep till almost 9:00. 9:00 is sleeping in to me. I had gone to bed at 9:30 pm that night so I had gotten plenty of rest and I will say it was incredibly wonderful. We enjoyed our day together since Friday is Tyler's day off and enjoyed watching it snow through our window in our living room. Tyler also put the glider together so now Griffin's room is complete besides us waiting for the changing pad to get here to put on the dresser.
We had a nice weekend just chilling out together and doing errands. Next weekend my sweet friend/little sister, Scarlet, (who is a student at Tech in Lubbock now), is coming to visit!
Tyler and I are going to take a video of the baby's room after dinner and hopefully get it posted.

Blizzard anyone????

No, not a DQ blizzard (although that does sound pretty good right about now) It's a real snow storm headed our way! I didn't think we'd get any more snow, but I am excited we will, Lord willing on Friday. I am hoping school will be canceled, but Bovina is known for never canceling school, and last year my friend and I almost died trying to drive in an ice/snow storm to Bovina to get to work and decided it best to turn around and go back. I was docked pay that day. bummer. But maybe Fri. they will be a little more concerned for our lives. Guess we'll see.

We are excited anyhow about this approaching snow blast and more excited just to have some moisture in the air for a change. Living in a desert gets old. Living like a dried up prune gets old. But I am thankful for this desert despite it's dryness I suppose. We could live in North Dakota where we could be freezing constantly and shoveling snow continually. Thank you, Lord, for nice weather here in Clovis.

Fuel 03.18.09

The Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-20) from Tyler Hicks on Vimeo.

Jesus speaks in parables to the crowd, but explains everything to his disciples (and those with them) in private.

Here are some questions for personal application: Where is my heart? Am I reading/hearing God’s word? And if so, am I open and receptive to God (soft-hearted), or am I not open, not teachable, full of pride, and not letting God’s word penetrate my heart (hard-hearted)? Additionally, if you are a Christian, are you sharing the Gospel with others?

back to work

Back to school today. Kids were good. Tyler doesn't have FUEL this week (Clovis has spring break) so he doesn't have a sermon to write, therefore that means more time with me!
We took a nap then went to the track and worked out. Came home watched some Dancing with the Stars, ate some fajitas, and now about to go to bed early.
Check out my sisters new blog on our bloglist- "Keeping Up with the Langleys" My niece is adorable.
-hope to post some prego pics soon. I feel like there's a basketball inside my stomach, a basketball named Griffin :)

baby stuff, baby stuff, baby stuff!

Well, it's been a wild week. I have been on spring break this week and so was my mom, so she and my dad came to visit for 4 days. It was lovely! We had the best time and the busiest time too. My mom, if you don't know her, is an outstanding decorator and helped me a ton with the baby's nursery. It was so much fun spending time with her as we worked. (I have to mention that my dad also helped by hanging the curtain rods and putting up a shelf-THANKS DAD!) Anyways, Griffin's room is so, so amazing now! I will post some pics soon, but at the moment I have baby gifts sprung out all throughout it and we also have our glider that came in on Thurs. which just so happened to not come with the hardware we need in order to put it together, so therefore all the other parts are spread out just waiting for their screws, etc to come so it can all be joined together to make a nice glider. I mean something like that HAD to happen, right? We almost made it through with no obstacles as such, but it's us, and with us SOMETHING is bound to happen at some point. (hence our sofa cushion that we had to wait to get for 3 months last year)

Back to the baby stuff. Our church gave us a shower on Thurs. night and I came home with so many cute things and nice things. Then yesterday our friends, Derek and Sharla, let us come over and go through all their baby things that they are through with and pick out whatever we needed or wanted. So that was a HUGE blessing, because there were many things I had not gotten yet that I needed that they had! The Lord is so good! So, now all we have to do is get to washing all these new baby clothes, blankets, burp rags, etc... and get to organizing everything else. I cannot wait to use it all! Just 6 weeks to go if he comes around his due date!

One more thing: One of my college roomates and very good friends, Megan Card, had her second baby boy this past week! She was so strong and tough throughout her pregnancy and is a huge inspiration to me as a mother. Way to go Meg! I am so proud of you and cannot wait to meet baby Rylan! I love you!

Quote of the Day

I'm preaching Mark 4:1-20 tonight, and Lenie Vernon (whom I am so privileged to work with) showed me this quote from Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love:

"Let's face it. We're willing to make changes in our lives only if we think it affects our salvation. this is why I have so many people ask me questions like, Can I divorce my wife and still go to heaven? Do I have to be baptized to be saved? Am I a Christian even though I'm having sex with my girlfriend? If I commit suicide, can I still go to heaven? If I'm ashamed to talk about Christ, is He really going to deny knowing me?

To me, these questions are tragic because they reveal much about the state of our hearts. They demonstrate that our concern is more about going to heaven than loving the King. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15)."
(Francis Chan, Crazy Love, p.84)

Baby Bed / Snow Day

Baby Bed / Snow Day from Tyler Hicks on Vimeo.

Sweet nephew smile

I couldn't resist putting this pic on our blog for all of you to see. This is Haddon Troy Hicks the second son of Tyler's brother, Blake & his wife Brooke. His smile just makes me smile and I hope it makes you smile too!

Fuel 03.11.09

Jesus' Family (Mark 3:20-35) from Tyler Hicks on Vimeo.

SNOW SNOW SNOW!

Well, the Lord blessed me today with beautiful, white snow here at work, in Bovina. This is a picture I took with my phone from my classroom, looking out my windows. I have enjoyed watching it fall and cover the ground. I love when it snows and this is the first snow we have had this year, when we normally get 3-4 snows every winter. I am thankful for this one, though! It's such a sweet gift to get to see something you don't get to see on a regular basis. Thank you, Lord for causing it to snow and thank you for being in control, of the weather and every single thing that has or or ever will happen. You are so magnificent!

The New Calvinism

Time magazine just published an article stating the top 10 ideas that are changing the world. To my surprise, the #3 idea that is changing the world is... drumroll please:

The New Calvinism.

I never would've guessed that Time magazine would say something like this. Here's the article if you want to take a look for yourself:
http://bit.ly/112jm1

This idea of the new Calvinism is important to me. That could very well be the understatement of my life. It has made a huge impact on me personally, as well as my closest friends and family.

For us, it all started in 2000, with an event called OneDay (put on by the Passion movement... thank God for Louie Giglio and his idea to put John Piper in front of college kids). My college friends and I went to this outdoor Christian camping event (kinda like a God-glorifying Woodstock thing) just thinking it would be a great time of hanging out with Christian friends, hearing some great teaching and worship, and having fun.

Then, as my friend Jerod and I sat on a grassy hillside among a sea of college students, we saw some old guy with big glasses come out on the stage, and we thought, "Who is this guy?" All of a sudden he started preaching with conviction and passion like we had never heard. We got out our notepads and tried to jot down notes as fast as we could, and when it was all over we thought, "I'm now going to have to rethink alot of things. I'm not even sure what all that meant, but I think I'm going to have to be a missionary or something."

Here is that sermon if you are interested (read or listen):
http://bit.ly/2KRRj

We later learned that the old man's name was John Piper, and we spent the next few months trying to figure out what he was talking about, what we needed to do about it, and how we could learn more about the stuff he said. At this point, Napster was still legal, and with our 56k modems we stumbled upon some downloadable sermons from Piper that we downloaded (it only took a few hours ha!).

We listened to those sermons. Again and again... until it was embedded in our minds (I can still quote most of them!) And then I made my brother, Blake, listen to one. I'll never forget him sitting on my twin-size bed, listening to Piper, and when the sermon was over, he went in his room, shut the door, and didn't come out for a few hours. His world was turned upside down. From there, Blake, me, and Jerod began to experience what Piper had called the offing of a "Copernican revolution."

That was the beginning of the New Calvinism in my friends and my life. Since then, this idea of pursuing our pleasure in a God-centered God has taken hold and spread through my family and most of my closest friends. It is my prayer that this life-changing theological movement continues to grow. I thank God for John Piper and how he has invested in the coming generation.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a good place to start:
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/EssentialResources/

I would recommend the following sermons (vintage Piper- no particular order):
1. Passion for the Supremacy of God (parts 1 & 2)
2. Doing Missions When Dying is Gain
3. Boasting Only in the Cross
4. Is God for Us or Himself?
5. Glorifying God through Joy in Suffering (not sure where to find this one - I think Jerod has it?)

And the following books (both free online: http://bit.ly/12nsRN):
1. The Pleasures of God
2. DesiringGod

Also, here are some of Mark Driscoll's thoughts on Time's article:
theresurgence.com/new_calvinism
theresurgence.com/time_magazine_new_reformed

You calvinist friends of mine in Louisville, Austin, Fort Worth (yes i'm talkin' to you) - you should write your version of the story on your blogs... you know you wanna!

The Weekend

We had a great time this weekend with Tyler's parents and Mitch. They came for his birthday which was on Sunday. It is always such a treat to get to spend time with them. They took us out to eat and we shopped at the mall and then I got to cook for them which I never get to do so that was a pleasure for me. I slowed cooked my first brisket! I wasn't sure how good it would turn out, but with the help of my friends Jan and Ali and Tyler's mom, Peggy, it ended up being awesome! I made it with Claudes marinade, so if you ever want to make a brisket taste real yummy try Claudes.

Also, we picked up our baby bed on Sat. from JC Penney's and since there was a big sale going on they gave us 30% off what we would have paid, so we got $138.00 back! We were so excited about that! The Lord always does things like that for us. He is so good and we were so thankful for the lower price. The hostesses of our shower at the church at are actually buying us the baby bed so it made it cheaper for them I suppose.
Anyways, we got it and Tyler, his dad, and brother put it together on Sat. night! It is so beautiful and sweet! Thank you Tyler, Mr. Steve, and Mitch! It didnt take them long to assemble it, and Tyler was thankful for the extra help.
I don't have a matress for it yet so I haven't put the bedding on. I need to wash the bedding first anyways now that I think of it...
So, the only think left are the glider, shelves, and curtains. It's coming along...so is my son growing inside me. :) Just about 8 more weeks to go!

Birthing Class pt.2 (from Tyler)

Ok. So I went to birthing class again yesterday. That's twice in one week. I endured, I learned, and I'm in good with Haley. So... success! Time well spent.

The funny thing was that this time around, I guess the teachers figured that we had already been to one birthing class, and so we should be in the know about everything - like birthing lingo. Birthing terminology. Birthingology. That's what i'm going to call it. So to be able to communicate and participate in the world of birthingology, there are a few important terms you should know (which I quickly picked up having learned from all my language classes... English, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew... that one must consider the context clues when one does not know a term... ha!). Ok enough. here are the terms:

void - to releave yourself. defecate. pee. poop. you get the idea

vag - short for vaginal. it seems that this word must be shortened so that you can use it more frequently. not sure that it will form it's way into my vocab. enough said

cath - short for catheter. a flexible tube inserted through a narrow opening into a body cavity, particularly the bladder, for removing fluid. let's move on before I actually feel the pain I'm describing.

circs - short for circumcision. A good thing and a painful thing. Glad they do this when you are young so you don't remember it.

latch - this is the point when the baby "latches" onto momma's nipple. A guy in our class said he watched a mom who was still breastfeeding a 10yr old boy. disgusting.

footballing - a certain position to hold your baby while breastfeeding. I don't think that you should run while doing this, or try to juke anyone, or fumble for that matter. But... stiff-arming might come in handy?

well. that's all the terms for now. let's see if we can use them in sentences:

To help her void, they inserted a cath. The baby came out the vag, and it was now time to breastfeed; so, she quickly footballed the baby so that he could latch. Soon, they would perform the circ.

That's all I got. I can't believe I wrote all that down for public consumption.

Government approved prayers?

If you are a Christian, and you don't know who Albert Mohler is, you need to check him out. He he is president of SBTS in Louisville, KY, and is one of today's leading theologians and cultural commentators. He has his own radio show, Albert Mohler Radio, which I think is pretty much amazing.

All that to say, he wrote: Dan Gilgoff of U.S. News and World Report reports that there is a "new tradition" established by the administration of President Barack Obama. As Gilgoff revealed, "In a departure from previous presidents, his public rallies are opening with invocations that have been commissioned and vetted by the White House."

In other words, our government has decided to be less secular, but not too religious. They want to pray, but they want to make sure that they control the prayer. Mohler believes this to be a huge deal, and so do I. One of the things that seems to be taken out of a "government approved prayer" is the name of Jesus. Let me say this: if you are a Christian pastor asked by the government to pray in a certain setting, and you do not pray a Christ-centered prayer (in the name of Jesus) because the government tells you that you cannot, then you have just bowed down to Caesar rather than Jesus. You can read more on this at:

http://bit.ly/E4cOo

Fuel 03.04.09

Jesus Calls (Mark 3:1-19) from Tyler Hicks on Vimeo.

The audio is not so good in this video. sorry!

Birthing class

We went to a birthing class two nights this week. How draining they were! Two hours long a piece! I was so tired after each one, but they were really helpful, however.

I will leave this post "to be continued" by Tyler so he can share with y'all all the insightful things he learned.....

Tyler's b-day

Tyler Hicks=biggest U2 fan (as you can tell from previous post that was posted by him, not me)

I have yet to see the big deal about this band, but Tyler is def into music more than me so he would know I guess. I mean they're not bad, I just don't see what he sees. :)

Anyways, his birthday is Sunday, march 8th, and his parents and Mitch are coming to Clovis this weekend to celebrate. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER! He will be 29.
Maybe I should order U2 tickets for his b-day.... can we afford those?

U2: No Line on the Horizon

In case you live in a cave somewhere, let me inform you that the biggest band in the world recently released a CD (which I pre-ordered on iTunes... i'm such a dork). The sad thing is I've been so busy this week, that I didn't get to listen to the whole album until today. It's amazing. And U2 is on Letterman every night this week, so I just listened to them perform "Beautiful Day." One of those songs that's still good even if you've heard it a thousand times.

Conviction

The best part of writing a sermon is the point where the scriptures convict you personally. I've heard that you have to preach to yourself before you preach to others. What a great point. So, here I am going over my message for tomorrow from Mark 3:1-19 for the last time tonight. And as I read it outloud to myself, I got convicted. One of my points is about personal renewal. Personal revival. Asking God to do move in your life personally - through prayer and the word. So, here it goes! It starts with me. I am praying that God stirs my heart so that I hunger to read my Bible, and I desire to talk to God and hear from Him.

One test down 1 to go

My students just finished taking the Reading TAKS test today. That means we just have the Math one left on April 29th, which happens to be two days before Griffin is suppose to come. I am hoping they all did well on the Reading, we worked really hard these past months and now I have to hit them with alot of Math.

I am also hoping that I don't go into labor on April 29th, but who knows I may already be in labor before then! I really want to try to work up until I have the baby and be there on that day they test for Math but I guess we shall see... baby comes first of course....

Scripture references

Ok, I'm trying something out. Whenever I post a scripture reference such as:

Romans 8:28

You should be able to scroll your mouse over it and see the actual verse.