Prayer

I really love going to night church and last night especially. It was the second part of a two part sermon that John did and I missed the first one, so I was glad he did a review. It was on God's sufficient grace in trials and it was so uplifting. It was one of those messages where I feel like I just want to sit there forever and stay in that frame of mind. It's so easy to get up and get involved in a conversation with somebody that doesn't have anything to do with the message and then forget what you just heard. Anyway, we were reminded about how we are often driven to times of intense prayer when we are faced with a very difficult trial and, in a way, it's a sad commentary on our lives that it takes something like an extremely difficult trial to bring us to that point of such dependence on God.
This reminded me of something that I have been thinking and reading about recently. God tells us all throughout the Bible to pray to Him and to bring our requests before Him. To bring everything before Him. And He tells us that if we ask Him anything in His name (according to His will) He hears us and answers us.

Matthew 7:11 "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"
Luke 11:13 "...how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
Matthew 21:22 "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."
Mark 11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
John 14:13 "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you."
John 16:24 "Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."
Ephesians 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us..."
James 1:5-6 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."
1 John 5:14-15 "And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him."

Again, why do I not come more often to God in prayer?! He has given us who know Him every spiritual blessing. I find it extremely encouraging, for example, that it is God's will that people be saved. It's also His will that I tell others about Him. If I pray that He would give me boldness to evangelize for His name's sake, and I pray for wisdom in this area with no doubting, then He promises to answer! He hears us! If I am seeking to honor Him in my life, in regards to a job, and I pray that He lead me and guide me to do what He wants me to do...and I pray about this with faith, He will answer! It's so comforting to know this! And I hope that anyone reading this may be encouraged as well. God is faithful!

Sister Day

So, my sister is pretty brilliant. Mariejtie and I joke about how people think we are creative, but we really just steal ideas from other people or places (like our pumpkin...that ironically won "most creative). But anyway...my sister is creative in the true sense of the word. She came up with Sister Day. She felt that since there is a Mother's Day and a Father's Day, why not have a Sister Day? (If any of you want to steal this idea, you could have a Sibling's Day too. :0)

Emily thought that since both of our birthday's are in May and her's is the 16th and mine is the 26th, than Sister Day needed to be on November 6th. (The month that is halfway to May and a day that still had a 6 in it.) Emily also said that presents must be involved.

We started off the morning with breakfast at Egg Plantation and I got my favorite meal there. One of my favorite meals of all time actually. Strawberry and Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast. Oh my! It's good. :0) I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it, but oh well! Here are some pics of Egg Plantation.

After Egg Plantation, Emily did have to go to one class to take a quiz. I ran home and finished getting her present ready. I didn't have much wrapping stuff so I kind of threw it together.

After her class, she rushed over to pick me up and we drove over to the mall to see the movie, Dan in Real Life. It was so good. It was one of those movies that you leave just thinking, "what a great movie." It was the first time I had seen Steve Carrel (or however you spell his last name) play a normal person. It was kind of a comedy drama. He was still funny, just in a different way. Anyway, I would recommend it for sure. It was pretty clean too. We actually opened our presents in the dark theater before it started. I got Emily a necklace and headscarf thingy and I decorated a frame for her. (Again, a stolen idea.)

Emily got me the new Rascal Flatts CD, but seriously, the most precious thing she gave me was a poem that she wrote. I may embarrass her but I have to write it on here. She is seriously really good I think. She based it off of three pictures of us when we were little.

Head bending down, mouth open in speech, Who is she talking to so intently? Sitting in a cardboard box, wide grin, Who is she being so silly with? Arm around a shoulder, a protective grasp, Who is she caring for so sweetly?

Her sister looks up and understands, Her sister grows up to be like her, Her sister sits beside her in a box, Her sister grows up to laugh with her, Her sisters' is the protected shoulder, Her sister grows up to depend on her

You still teach me now, Things more important than speech, We still giggle when life is funny, But we experience the hard times too, You still look out for me, That's what sisters do

Anyway, I thought it was incredibly sweet. That was my favorite present. (But the CD is pretty cool too. :0)

After the movie we went and got lunch at Panda Express. Yum! We split chow mein and orange chicken so we could fit in some Pink Berry. So delicious.

The day was so fun! Haley, even if you don't agree, in my mind the day was completely pakkish. My sister is the coolest. It's definitely going to be an annual event!

Maggie Pictures

Here are some more pictures of Maggie. They are mainly for my dad. She has already grown!

Chocolatine, Friends, and Maggie!

At the beginning of this weekend, I was a little bummed, because I wasn't going on the camping trip to the Sequoia's with a group from Bible study. And while I am still a bit sad that I missed it, God still blessed me with a great weekend! On Friday night I went to Mariejtie's with Megan and Rebekah and we saw one of my all time favorite movies (musicals for sure), Singin' in the Rain. Classic. We had In-n-Out, had a great time chatting, and watched the movie. My favorite part was watching Mariejtie laugh over the "microphone" scene. It might have appeared that I was laughing at the movie...but I was cracking up over how much Mariejtie was cracking up. I'm talking knee slapping, hold your stomach laughter. :0) I greatly appreciate the fact that she enjoyed it as much as I did. I wound up spending the night too, so that if an intruder came in, I would be the first person to be shot and it would warn Mariejtie. Her words, not mine. (As you may have guessed, Anton wasn't there, but he was on the camping trip.) The funny thing is...I really did have a dream that night that I got shot. But that's another story in itself.
The next great thing about this weekend is that my family got a new dog, Maggie. She is a Wheaten Terrier and let me just tell you, it was love at first sight! Some of you may know that our dog we owned for 14 years, Higgins, is gone. We had to have him put to sleep. I wasn't sure if I would want another dog so soon, but we really all did. It just felt like something was missing from our house. I also wasn't sure how I would feel about having a girl dog. But I just adore Maggie! She is so sweet and friendly and funny. She loves to have you pick her up...she is in her nibbling stage, but she loves to lick your face. She pounces and bounces around everywhere...and she's already pretty obedient. I mean...how could you not love her little, cute face? Here is my first picture with her the day we picked her up. :0)

Checking out her new home.

She is just precious!
The other fun part of the weekend was going to Chocolatine with Haley and Mariejtie on Sunday after church! Haley had told us about this place, a very "pakish" French cafe owned by a true French couple named Hugo and Sabrina. Their friend from France, who is here for an internship, served us. The food was soooo good! We ordered different things and tried out each other's meals and they were all delicious! We also ordered a few desserts....that are all made right there....and they were scrumptious as well! Thanks again Haley!

I knew this place was the real deal because I found a tea towel there that I bought for my mom in Marseilles! I was way excited!

I just thank God for wonderful friends and conversation and for blessing us with fun times together!