Friends, Soccer, Church

Ciaran and I had a fun weekend! Unfortunately, I once again forgot to take pictures of said fun weekend. Oh well. The Skidmores came to visit us with James (a young man who is staying with them). They were here for a soccer tournament that James was playing in this weekend. Friday night we enjoyed a few hours catching up and then Saturday we woke up early and headed off to watch James play. A few severe thunderstorms cut our day short, but it still was fun to be out watching soccer again. Then while James was out socializing with his teammates, Ciaran and I took Dave and Teri around town and to our high schools. Then we enjoyed a nice meal and fellowship together. I have missed this family so much since moving down here and it was so awesome having them here this weekend.

Then this morning (thanks to the lead/research provided by Dave and Teri) Ciaran and I went to visit a church about 40 minutes from us. As many of you know, I've been really struggling going to an Arminian church here in town, but there was a clear absense here with regards to solid Reformed theology. There are a number of Reformed churches here in town, but not any (that we have found yet) that truly hold to Reformed theology. Well, we made the journey over there and visited RBC. And what a great visit it was! As Ciaran and I left the church at the end of the morning, he looked down and me and said, "Well, we'll definitely be going back there again!!!" Hahaha. So true. I have never felt more welcome at a church, the worship was so Christ-exalting and the message was so awesome. I am SO excited that we have found a solid Reformed church. The only down-side is that it's a long drive which would be a nightmare come winter. But right now, as we fastly approach summer vacation, I'm determined to enjoy attending this church while we keep looking for a solid Reformed church closer to home.

And that's been it for our weekend. Hope everyone's had an enjoyable weekend as well!

Remembering the Fun of Christmas

YAY! It's so nice to have found this USB cord! Here's just a small sampling of all the fun we had at Christmas (a VERY small sampling b/c I still haven't switched to a digital camera yet, so most of the photos from my side of the family's fun were not done digitally). :-(

First, we have the kittens Carter, Ciaran and I got Mom for Christmas. We ventured off to Frankenmuth a few days after Christmas to go to this amazing animal rescue mission and there we picked out the newest additions to my Mom's household: Jake and Jesse. Here they are hanging out in my brother's lap/legs. :-) These cats are so amazingly awesome and so sweet and social.

And now we shift to Ciaran's parents' house.

It's party time. Ciaran's parents throw the best parties!

Happy New Year! We're shivering and just about to go in after lighting sparklers outside in the first few minutes of 2009.

Ciaran and Shea goofing around while Neeva and I try to take the perfect picture of it.

Ciaran and I with his Uncle Om and Auntie Ann.

The hottest pop group on the face of the planet!
[Note: Ciaran wrote this caption.]

And that concludes our fun little walk down memory lane. Good times at Christmas and New Year's. Well, now that we have our camera hook-up, stop back in to see more pictures posted in the weeks to come. Enjoy your day!

Hanging out with Shea and Neeva

Neeva, Ciaran and Shea

David, Shea and Neeva stopped in to visit for a couple hours last night on their way home. Even though it had only been a couple of days since we last saw them, it was so awesome to spend some more time with them. Ciaran and I absolutely adore these two kids. Here's a few pictures of us hanging out at our apartment.

Neeva, Me, and Shea smiling big for Uncle Ciaran

Neeva and Shea winding down at the end of the night to watch some TV

Hanging out at Uncle Ciaran and Auntie Michelle's? Neeva gives it a thumb's up.

And now that we've found Ciaran's USB cord for the camera, I'll be posting many more pictures! I still have a few highlights from Christmas that I wanted to share and I completely forgot about until we starting snapping photos yesterday night. :-D

Good Friday

"Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed"
Words, Isaac Watts (1674-1748) / Music and new and alternate lyrics, Bob Kaufflin / Sovereign Grace Praise

Verse 1
Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?
Was it for sins that I had done He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree.

Chorus
My God, why would you shed Your blood,
so pure and undefiled,
to make a sinful one like me Your chosen precious child?

Verse 2
Well might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in,
when Christ, the mighty Maker, died for man, the creature's sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face while His dear cross appears,
dissolve my heart in thankfulness, and melt my eyes to tears.

To listen to this song and worship our precious Savior with other cross-centered songs, check out Sovereign Grace Music's site here.

I always feel in such a somber mood on Good Friday. Reflecting on what my precious Savior did on the cross is always a sobering time, but a much needed time. It is my prayer that as we lift our thoughts Godward today and consider our precious Savior's sacrifice, that we would all be drawn into a closer and deeper walk with Him as a result. Have a blessed day!

Spring Break

Ciaran and I have been on spring break for almost a week now. It has been such a nice time off from work, especially considering what a nightmare work had been for the last two weeks for me; I was in desperate need of this break. We headed back home to visit family for a few days. We didn't get to see everyone that we wanted to, so we're sorry if we missed you on this trip back home, but our time at home always seems to be a bit of a whirlwind. The best suprise though came on Saturday when we found out that our niece and nephew (Neeva and Shea) were in town! We had such a blast with them. And they're going to come and visit us tomorrow at our apartment on their way back home. Ciaran and I got home yesterday night and after dinner we looked around the VERY QUIET apartment and he smiled and asked if I was missing the kids, and wow was I ever. He was too. They are just too much fun! :-)

As for today, I haven't gotten all I wanted to get done because I've been feeling a little under the weather. I've actually been camped out on the couch with a heating pad for the past couple hours. Ciaran and I are going to grill burgers tonight on our new grill (we got it just about two weeks ago), so hopefully I'll start feeling better soon.

And as I've been doing a lot lately, I'll now share with you my newest online interest. And nope, it's not a blog this time. It's something called the FlyLady Forum. For those of you that enjoy FlyLady and are looking for a little motivation or encouragement, I cannot recommend this forum enough. It is so great! It really helps get me motivated to get housework done. I like the Fun and Games forum the best. So if you're into FlyLady, check it out. Well, I need to go get some more Advil in me and hopefully I'll be off this couch in another hour or so. Enjoy your night!