Life Application

Our church has been doing a study on Moses for the past couple weeks and it has been a huge blessing to me. If you ever have the time or are looking for a passage to read next, you should give Exodus a try. What great life application. 

This Sunday we covered chapters 12-14 and talked about the "Crossing of the Red Sea" when the Lord leads the Israelites out of Egypt.

Here's some "awe"-some points I wanted to share with you. 

When God sets you free.....

He seldom uses short cuts.

Exodus 13:17-18a

"When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea."

He guides you 24 hours a day. 

Exodus 13: 21-22

 "By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people."

When God fights for you.....

He calms your fears.

Exodus 14:13-14

"As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." 

He turns your obstacles into pathways.

Exodus 14: 21-22

"Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left."

Really? 

Parting waters?

What a Mighty God we serve.

Marvelous Monday

Spare Bedroom/Guest Room

I know it's been a while since I have updated pictures of our apartment, but there really hasn't been anything to update on! LOL

Until now that is! 

Our spare bedroom has really just been a pile of miscellaneous items for the longest time, especially since Christmas, but one day I finally sat down and found everyone a home and in doing that picked out what I wanted to go on the walls. Since then, those said decorations have just been sitting on the ground in front of their prospective walls, waiting to get hung up. Since my parents are coming for a visit, it was the perfect excuse to get it done!

Enjoy....

....and do share opinions as well : ) 

^----this was the Valentine's Day gift I mentioned (here) from Jeremy's brother & sister-in-law (well, mine too lol) isn't it cute?!? 

: )

Marvelous Monday

Date Night

Well, it's time to brag : ) That wonderful husband of mine planned a whole surprise date night for me. I knew something was coming, but I didn't know when or what. Saturday morning we woke up and he told me that night would be the night and that I didn't need to plan for dinner. First of all, the whole drive there was absolutely beautiful. We had never been the way that we went before. We went over two pretty big bridges as the sun was setting and looking over Charleston. We pulled into a pizza place - brick oven pizza! It was absolutely delicious. Then, he took me to the movies, where he had picked out a movie just for me - Safe Haven. We enjoyed some snacks and the movie and then he escorted me home. He even opened the car door for me everywhere we went! LOL I felt just like a princess.

Here are some pictures that I captured.....

It was just like we were dating again, except it was better because I could keep him at the end of the night ; )

Fill-in-Friday

TGIF!!!!

I know it's been a while since i've really posted anything. It's not that I haven't wanted to, because I have, I just haven't had much going on to talk about! But, its the end of the week so I figured I would just give an update on life before our wonderful 3-day weekend starts!

Teaching is going well for Jeremy. He has his good days and bad, just like any other job. It really lies in the hands of the kids, unfortunately. LOL Some of the stories - I tell ya, I don't know how he does it! He had his big district observation last week and got ALL positive comments. This week, the Math & Science "specialists" from the district came. One of them was coming for his first class this morning, which he was nervous for - but I know he did great. I am so proud of him and all that he does for us. When he comes home and tells me about his day and then watch and listen to him prepare for upcoming lessons, I know those kids have the best teacher around! Even when he has had a rough day, I can still see the sparkle in his eye. We are anxious to see what next year will bring for his career. He has already heard of a 6th grade opening for Math. He does like teaching both Math & Science since it breaks up his day a little bit and at the beginning of the year I think he would have much rather done 6th graders, but I think the 8th graders may have taken a piece of his heart : ) This summer he might have an opportunity to take a 3 week class that would give him college credits towards his masters and also a pretty nice stipend. He is still looking into it and has to apply, but if it works out with the timing and all I think it would really make him feel good about starting to further his education. 

I have started job hunting, in a way. I started out looking into daycare and then had the thought of selling my "famous" cheesecakes, but the cheesecake dream got shot down pretty quickly and instead of daycare I started to think about substitute teaching in elementary schools. Although working would be nice, I still don't want to get stuck working nights and weekends and never get to see that husband of mine, so this way, our schedules would match up quite perfectly. I am not totally ready to give up on my nursing dream (for those of you who don't know, I have a degree in Nursing, but haven't been able to pass my boards yet) and Jeremy is never going to let me completely let it go, but at the same time I am scared to take the test again, and that's putting it lightly. So, maybe for now I will do something else, or maybe the Lord has another idea all together : ) All I have to do to start subbing is take a 2-day workshop and then put my application in, so if everything works out I am hoping to be able to start around the end of March and be able to get about 2 months of work in before the school year ends. 

Our weeks are filled with going to the gym, enjoying special moments together and fellowship. Jeremy plays basketball with the men from church on most Mondays and we have started going to a "life group" with some young couples from our church on Tuesdays. We are doing Mark Driscoll's, "Real Marriage" DVD and workbook. We are mostly going to build some relationships, but the study has been good so far as well. Church is always a blessing for us. Between the message delivered and the incredibly talented praise team we have, we always walk away with something, usually with a few toes stepped on. 

My parents are hopefully coming for a visit in a couple days. My mom injured her back, so we aren't quite sure if she will be able to make the trip, but we are praying for healing this weekend so that they can arrive on Monday. They will be our first visitors and I am very much looking forward to it. This weekend we will be hanging things on the walls in the spare bedroom/office to make it a little more homey for them : ) 

(pictures of that to come) 

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day around here. I have always found it to be a silly "holiday." But, I did take advantage of an excuse to bake conversation heart cookies and we did make each other homemade cards. Jeremy drew a ruler in his (a love-o-meter) and I put a human heart on mine, so we really brought out our true selves. LOL We kept saying "happy just another day!" LOL We got a box from our nephew (and his mommy and daddy) filled with chocolates, a huge hug drawn on paper (Jeremy and I were a little sad to see how big it he actually was!) and these super cool "exploding" balloons. Then we got another package from Jeremy's brother and sister-in-law with a super cute peanuts cartoon framed. It was very nice to receive some love from far away : )

Well, I think that covers just about everything.

For those of you who have been concerned, Pinterest and I haven't broken up. I have MANY projects on my to-do list, I just haven't been able to do them lately. Don't worry, they will be coming & I will be sharing ; ) LOL

Until next time -

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

 

 

Marvelous Monday