This post was supposed to have a few pictures to accompany it since I meant it to be a glimpse into a typical Saturday in our household. But alas, we forgot the camera in Ciaran's classroom. Oh well, maybe next Saturday. All right, here's a list of doings for the day.
-An early morning grocery run to Meijer, battling the blinding snow and wind
-Donuts at a local bakery
-English Premiership soccer viewing (back in bed)
-Time alone with the Lord and to-do list making
-Cleaning and laundry
-A short nap
-Making tacos and Spanish rice (yum)
-More cleaning and laundry and paperwork
-Grading papers
-More laundry
-A drive around town to look at houses
-Making stir-fry and egg rolls (so we don't have to cook tomorrow)
-Michelle: Blog patrolling / Ciaran: Woodworking videos online
-Devotional Time/Review Sunday School lesson for tomorrow
Just a brief recap of our day. See dear family, I told you we have an incredibly low-key life down here! And this was a pretty typical Saturday, except usually (when we aren't getting a lot of snow) we head in to our classrooms for at least a couple hours--sometimes we go to our individual rooms to work, or I pack up my work and take it to Ciaran's shop so we can be together. Fun stuff eh?! I hope everyone's having a wonderful Saturday. Have a happy Sabbath tomorrow!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A Challenge
I don't know if any of you are like me, but I love patrolling blogs. I'm the classic lurker. I rarely post comments, but I keep up with about twenty or more different blogs weekly via my Google Homepage. I read blogs focused on everything from biblical womanhood to missions to teaching to personal finance. And then of course I read the blogs of family, friends and even mere acquaintances. Some would argue that blog reading can be an incredible stealer of time(and they are right in some instances), but lately as I struggle to develop good quality female Christian friendships in this new town, I find myself consistently encouraged and challenged by the women who write many of these blogs. In the coming weeks, you'll probably see many posts related and written in response to some of their posts. Take yesterday for example:
I was doing my daily blog patrolling and saw a post on my Google Homepage from the girl talk blog entitled "School of the Word." This, of course, greatly intrigued me and I clicked on it only to receive an excellent challenge as I navigate these upcoming years as a married woman without children. The post is directed toward single woman, but Ciaran and I have been discussing a lot lately how to use these years (years in which we do not have children) wisely. In the post, Carolyn Mahaney encouraged us to use this time to study doctrine and grow in our walk with the Lord; to diligently pursue this time in study. Then the post linked to a list her husband C.J. recommended as "must-reads." Topping the list was J.I. Packer's Knowing God. I have read bits and pieces of this book over and over, but I know I have never read this book cover to cover. So last night, I got into bed an hour early and curled up with my Bible, journal and Knowing God, and dug into the riches to be found there. Oh what a sumptuous feast! God drew me so close to Himself in that simple hour and I fell asleep meditating on the character of God. What a perfect evening.
Well, I've spent enough time typing away here tonight, but before I end, please be in prayer for Ciaran and I in the coming weeks. We are going to be meeting with the pastor of the church we've been attending since October, to discuss doctrine/theology, membership, serving in the church, etc. We've been holding off for quite some time hoping to catch wind of a local church committed to Reformed theology, but haven't been successful thus far. I'm fine with getting more deeply involved in an Arminian church (in the absense of a clearly Reformed church) as long as I know that right up front. Hence our meeting coming up in the next couple weeks. Please be in prayer for us to maintain a humble and surrendered heart to God as we navigate this process. Thank you so much!
I was doing my daily blog patrolling and saw a post on my Google Homepage from the girl talk blog entitled "School of the Word." This, of course, greatly intrigued me and I clicked on it only to receive an excellent challenge as I navigate these upcoming years as a married woman without children. The post is directed toward single woman, but Ciaran and I have been discussing a lot lately how to use these years (years in which we do not have children) wisely. In the post, Carolyn Mahaney encouraged us to use this time to study doctrine and grow in our walk with the Lord; to diligently pursue this time in study. Then the post linked to a list her husband C.J. recommended as "must-reads." Topping the list was J.I. Packer's Knowing God. I have read bits and pieces of this book over and over, but I know I have never read this book cover to cover. So last night, I got into bed an hour early and curled up with my Bible, journal and Knowing God, and dug into the riches to be found there. Oh what a sumptuous feast! God drew me so close to Himself in that simple hour and I fell asleep meditating on the character of God. What a perfect evening.
Well, I've spent enough time typing away here tonight, but before I end, please be in prayer for Ciaran and I in the coming weeks. We are going to be meeting with the pastor of the church we've been attending since October, to discuss doctrine/theology, membership, serving in the church, etc. We've been holding off for quite some time hoping to catch wind of a local church committed to Reformed theology, but haven't been successful thus far. I'm fine with getting more deeply involved in an Arminian church (in the absense of a clearly Reformed church) as long as I know that right up front. Hence our meeting coming up in the next couple weeks. Please be in prayer for us to maintain a humble and surrendered heart to God as we navigate this process. Thank you so much!
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Hyundai Superbowl Commercial
My favorite Superbowl commercial this year was the "Angry Bosses" Hyundai commercial. I have it below, check it out. Now for the reason this is my favorite. Ciaran and I are about to buy a Hyundai Elantra and a Hyundai Sonata. My local mechanic told me to unload my car ASAP since I've already dumped more money into it than its worth (he told me this back at the beginning of January) and since Ciaran's car was totaled back in November, we've been searching for two cars this past month. After a very long month of car shopping, we've finally settled on the two cars as I've mentioned above. This week we're working on financing and hopefully by this weekend we'll be proud Hyundai owners. But as we've sought the counsel of family members throughout this big decision, we've been struggling with the proper pronunciation of "Hyundai"; every person has pronounced it differently. So being the rather anal person that I am, I looked it up this afternoon after church and found that it's pronounced "Hunday, rhymes with Sunday." When I told Ciaran how to remember how to pronounce it, he laughed. Then we're watching the Superbowl tonight and this commercial came on and at the end they comment on the proper pronunciation of it. Too funny! We laughed. Enjoy the commercial.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Drowning in Papers and Praying for our New President
It's finals week at my high school and I am drowning in papers to grade. But as I grade these piles of papers I am praying for our new president. It's been so fun to watch the inauguration unfold today, but with each passing hour, God has given me such a fervent desire to pray for our new president, his family and the entire new administration. Then I stumbled upon this prayer by Albert Mohler on his blog. Check it out here. Please join me in praying for our new president and his administration!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
True Woman Manifesto
Today's program on Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss, a radio program I enjoy listening to/reading the transcripts of, highlighted the high calling we as Christian women have. As I read, I followed the link to the True Woman Manifesto. After reading this I felt compelled to sign it. Then when I looked at the signatures, I was dismayed to see that there were very few/if any signatures from the Tri-Cities. Oh ladies, read this manifesto and if God leads you to, sign it here. I printed it off and I plan on reading it weekly. All right, just had to share. Check it out if you have a chance!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Some Great Marriage Books
Tonight I thought I would share some of my favorite books about marriage; books that have challenged me, encouraged me and above all pointed me Godward as Ciaran and I have made our way through these first (almost four) months of marriage. And now, without further ado, here they are:
Love that Lasts by Gary and Betsy Ricucci
-I haven't finished this one yet, so I'll need to write more about this one later. I picked it up because the authors are related to C.J. and Carolyn Mahaney (they wrote the foreword to the book). As the subtitle suggests this book is all about marriage meeting God's grace and what that looks like. So far it's been thoroughly biblical and challenged me to make sure that our marriage finds its purpose entirely in God. So good. Hopefully I'll be able to write a whole review soon.
Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
-I've only skimmed this one so far. The whole premise focusing on shifting our eyes off of ourselves and our own personal happiness and seeing marriage as a way in which God molds us to be more like him. Challenging and oh so convicting.
The Most Important Year in a Woman's Life/The Most Important Year in a Man's Life by Susan Devries, Bobbi Wolgemuth/ Robert Wolgemuth, Mark Devries
-I love how Ciaran and I can work through this book together. One half is for me, the other half for him and we "meet in the middle" to answer questions together concerning our reading for each chapter. This book addresses all of the typical first year issues. I love how this book is teaching me to become a student of Ciaran and eventually to become an expert on him. And it's challenged me to keep Ciaran as my main priority, second only to God. Especially this year, in the busyness of a move to a new city and a new (very demanding) teaching job, it's only too easy to lose sight of my priorities; this book has kept me going back to what's most important.
When Sinner's Say "I Do": Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage by Dave Harvey
-This one's all about the gospel's power to transform our marriage. Oh how I love this book. It's one of those that will always be close by my bedside; one to read over and over again! Check this one out immediately!
Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
-This book has really challenged me and opened up my eyes to how important it is for me to show Ciaran the respect he deserves. There are so many ways that I don't show him respect, without even realizing it. It's been fun to read through this and ask Ciaran about how true each of the points are for him and then when it's been true, it's been so amazing to see how God changes my heart so that I can be a better wife to my dear, beloved husband.
The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian
-I've already highlighted this before on this blog, but I had to include it here because it has had such a profound impact on our marriage, primarily my own personal outlook on our marriage. I find that if I begin my day on my knees praying for Ciaran, his day, his needs, ways I can be a better helper to him, all of this right away, I find that God pours out his grace...as opposed to the days when I hit the ground running and try to be a "good wife" in my own strength. And on the days when I am at a loss and just don't know what to pray, or am too tired to form a coherent thought (and there's been days like this...my job wears me out), the written out prayers at the end of each chapter have served as wonderful starters for my conversation with the Lord. Love this, love this, love this!
A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George
-My most recent purchase. Ciaran got A Husband After God's Own Heart by this author's husband. I've only read the first fourteen pages so I don't have a lot to write about, but I can say that I love how George immediately places the emphasis on God and how our relationship with the Lord is key and must come first and foremost.
The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
-OK, so this has to be my absolute favorite book about becoming a godly wife. I don't even know where to begin to do this book justice. It's absolutely amazing and challenging and convicting! I'll write a real review later so I can go on and on about how wonderful this book is.
There's my list of current favorites and please, if you have any suggestions for great biblical marriage books/resources, don't hesitate to add them to my comments.
Love that Lasts by Gary and Betsy Ricucci
-I haven't finished this one yet, so I'll need to write more about this one later. I picked it up because the authors are related to C.J. and Carolyn Mahaney (they wrote the foreword to the book). As the subtitle suggests this book is all about marriage meeting God's grace and what that looks like. So far it's been thoroughly biblical and challenged me to make sure that our marriage finds its purpose entirely in God. So good. Hopefully I'll be able to write a whole review soon.
Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
-I've only skimmed this one so far. The whole premise focusing on shifting our eyes off of ourselves and our own personal happiness and seeing marriage as a way in which God molds us to be more like him. Challenging and oh so convicting.
The Most Important Year in a Woman's Life/The Most Important Year in a Man's Life by Susan Devries, Bobbi Wolgemuth/ Robert Wolgemuth, Mark Devries
-I love how Ciaran and I can work through this book together. One half is for me, the other half for him and we "meet in the middle" to answer questions together concerning our reading for each chapter. This book addresses all of the typical first year issues. I love how this book is teaching me to become a student of Ciaran and eventually to become an expert on him. And it's challenged me to keep Ciaran as my main priority, second only to God. Especially this year, in the busyness of a move to a new city and a new (very demanding) teaching job, it's only too easy to lose sight of my priorities; this book has kept me going back to what's most important.
When Sinner's Say "I Do": Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage by Dave Harvey
-This one's all about the gospel's power to transform our marriage. Oh how I love this book. It's one of those that will always be close by my bedside; one to read over and over again! Check this one out immediately!
Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
-This book has really challenged me and opened up my eyes to how important it is for me to show Ciaran the respect he deserves. There are so many ways that I don't show him respect, without even realizing it. It's been fun to read through this and ask Ciaran about how true each of the points are for him and then when it's been true, it's been so amazing to see how God changes my heart so that I can be a better wife to my dear, beloved husband.
The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian
-I've already highlighted this before on this blog, but I had to include it here because it has had such a profound impact on our marriage, primarily my own personal outlook on our marriage. I find that if I begin my day on my knees praying for Ciaran, his day, his needs, ways I can be a better helper to him, all of this right away, I find that God pours out his grace...as opposed to the days when I hit the ground running and try to be a "good wife" in my own strength. And on the days when I am at a loss and just don't know what to pray, or am too tired to form a coherent thought (and there's been days like this...my job wears me out), the written out prayers at the end of each chapter have served as wonderful starters for my conversation with the Lord. Love this, love this, love this!
A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George
-My most recent purchase. Ciaran got A Husband After God's Own Heart by this author's husband. I've only read the first fourteen pages so I don't have a lot to write about, but I can say that I love how George immediately places the emphasis on God and how our relationship with the Lord is key and must come first and foremost.
The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
-OK, so this has to be my absolute favorite book about becoming a godly wife. I don't even know where to begin to do this book justice. It's absolutely amazing and challenging and convicting! I'll write a real review later so I can go on and on about how wonderful this book is.
There's my list of current favorites and please, if you have any suggestions for great biblical marriage books/resources, don't hesitate to add them to my comments.
A Great Book Giveaway
One of the blogs I frequent a lot as I read about biblical womanhood (Passionate Homemaking) is offering a free giveaway of a book that I have been wanting to buy in the next few months. And they are starting a book club on February 1st. Now I really need to get this book! Check it out if you are interested in biblical womanhood and practicing hospitality.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Worship at Home
I woke up at 3:30 this morning with some kind of intestinal virus and so being that it's the Sabbath, Ciaran and I worshipped at home together. I missed being at church (I really am starting to love the church we've decided to settle in at), but there was something nice about "church" at home this morning...even though I felt like vomitting through most of it. ;-) We listened to an old Mark Driscoll sermon online. The focus of the sermon was on God's foreknowledge and God's sovereignty. I love how doctrinally rich Driscoll's sermons are and he opened the sermon reading John 18 -19:1-16 to focus us in on Jesus as the King. Sooo good. We then used YouTube to listen to a number of worship songs and ended our time of worship in prayer. Even though I was sick, it was still a nice morning worshipping the Lord through the Word, music and prayer. Praise God that we don't have to be in a church to worship Him, that we can gather anywhere and worship him in spirit and in truth. But even though it was a precious time with the Lord, I still can't wait for Wednesday night when we'll be back home and worshipping at E Free on Christmas Eve with all of the believers there!!!!
This afternoon Ciaran let me sleep until my fever broke and then we watched the cartoon Grinch on TV and now we're about to watch White Christmas. Ciaran needed to get some work done at school today, but he offered to stay at home with me this afternoon since I'm feeling so crummy. He's so good to me. Hopefully I'll be feeling better by tomorrow because I myself have a ton of work to get done at school yet too. I don't want to have to cart home too many papers to grade; I know I'll have at least 90 papers to grade at home, but I'm going to try and get the rest of it done here before we head north late on the 23rd or early on the 24th. Well, I think it's time to watch our movie now. Hope everyone's enjoying a restful and joy-filled Sabbath as we prepare our hearts for Christmas!!! Enjoy your day!
This afternoon Ciaran let me sleep until my fever broke and then we watched the cartoon Grinch on TV and now we're about to watch White Christmas. Ciaran needed to get some work done at school today, but he offered to stay at home with me this afternoon since I'm feeling so crummy. He's so good to me. Hopefully I'll be feeling better by tomorrow because I myself have a ton of work to get done at school yet too. I don't want to have to cart home too many papers to grade; I know I'll have at least 90 papers to grade at home, but I'm going to try and get the rest of it done here before we head north late on the 23rd or early on the 24th. Well, I think it's time to watch our movie now. Hope everyone's enjoying a restful and joy-filled Sabbath as we prepare our hearts for Christmas!!! Enjoy your day!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Hoping for a Snow Day
As the title shows you...I'm REALLY hoping for a snow day tomorrow. When I was in high school, I didn't really consider that teachers might get just as excited as us when considering the possibility of a snow day. But what I most certainly never considered was that teachers get EVEN MORE excited about the possibility of a snow day than the students. At my high school today, it was all we teachers could talk about and you should have seen us all piling out of the school today, heavy-laden with all our papers to grade over break, ever the optimists about the potential for this snow day tomorrow. The idea of a whole extra day to grade and lesson plan tomorrow just fills me with glee! To make matters worse, or rather to highlight my greediness for said snow days, I have to admit that while Ciaran trudged off to school on Monday, my friend Nicole and I were allowed to lounge because at 6:10am, we received the phone call that our district was without power and we didn't have to report to work. :-) So here I am, just about to enjoy a beautiful two week break and I only have taught three days this week and yet I'm still hoping for another day off. Pretty sad isn't it?! Let's chalk it up to first year teacher fatigue. ;-) The worst part is, my dear husband (who had to work on Monday) also has to go back and teach on Monday and Tuesday of next week, while I joyfully sit in my empty classroom getting ahead on lesson plans and unit planning for next semester. That's the only bad thing about teaching in two different districts...our calendars are different and oftentimes when one of us has a day off, the other doesn't. Well, here's hoping that both of our districts are closed tomorrow so Ciaran can get some rest before going back to work on Monday and Tuesday...and that I can get my grading caught up. :-) OK, thanks for letting me post these silly little hopes here tonight. Ciaran and I are now off to my school's choir concert; I have a ton of kids singing in this event tonight...I'm really excited! Enjoy your night!
Friday, December 12, 2008
For a Good Cause
Today at the high school I teach at, the students kicked out a bunch of their teachers and administrators and sent us to the curb in front of the high school for the day. Our mission, to beg for donations from passing cars to help us give twenty-six needy families in our community a wonderful Christmas. I was a little uncertain about this since it was my first experience with this annual event, but it ended up being SO much fun. To get me to the curb my students had to bring in money (we worked on raising the money for the past two weeks) and a dollar sent me to the curb for one minute. I stood outside, in the freezing cold and snow for just about an hour each block. I was so proud of my students for raising this money! After a day of chasing vehicles (my favorite was the massively large cement truck that my friend Nicole and I rushed--the driver ended up giving us a substantial donation), and standing in the freezing cold, I am exhausted, but have a wonderful memory to take with me from this first year of teaching. The other highlight from the day was explaining to very confused looking drivers that our students had kicked us out of the school. As soon as I would say that part of my little rehearsed spiel about our mission, the drivers would almost always laugh and hand me a bunch of money. One gentleman laughed and told me he wished he and his peers would have thought of kicking their teachers out for a day back when he was in school. And for those of you wondering who exactly was supervising our students as we stood outside all day...well never fear, we had a whole host of substitutes at the ready to take over our classes for us once we were banished from the building. We teachers also gave up our planning blocks to cover other classes. I actually only had one sub in my room today, the others were my colleagues which I think was fun for the kids too. Seeing your psychology teacher in your English classroom is always interesting, right?! In the end we raised over $6,000 dollars which was really exciting. What a fun day!
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Praying for my Husband
One of the greatest privileges I've discovered in the past two and a half months of marriage is praying for my husband. I started praying daily for Ciaran last year when he was in New Hampshire, but now that we're married, my prayers for him have taken on a whole new dimension and I consider it such a privilege to support him in this way. And I wanted to share two wonderful resources that I have been using to aid my prayer efforts.
First I want to highlight Revive Our Hearts' "31 Days of Pryaing for Your Husband." I love this resource because each day has a different focus for prayer and then it has accompanying verses. The website also has a PDF download available for those of you that do not like the web format and want to print it out. I especially appreciate this because I love anything that I can easily access online.
The next resource aiding me in my prayer efforts is Stormie Omartian's The Power of a Praying Wife. I love this book so much! Each chapter has some commentary and personal reflections on the topic for prayer and then she actually has a written out prayer that you can pray word for word or use it as a starting point. Some of the topics for prayer include, his work, his finances, his mind, his purpose, his priorities, his obedience, his walk, his talk, etc. This resource is truly invaluable to me right now as it guides my prayers and keeps me focused on praying with an eternal perspective.
First I want to highlight Revive Our Hearts' "31 Days of Pryaing for Your Husband." I love this resource because each day has a different focus for prayer and then it has accompanying verses. The website also has a PDF download available for those of you that do not like the web format and want to print it out. I especially appreciate this because I love anything that I can easily access online.
The next resource aiding me in my prayer efforts is Stormie Omartian's The Power of a Praying Wife. I love this book so much! Each chapter has some commentary and personal reflections on the topic for prayer and then she actually has a written out prayer that you can pray word for word or use it as a starting point. Some of the topics for prayer include, his work, his finances, his mind, his purpose, his priorities, his obedience, his walk, his talk, etc. This resource is truly invaluable to me right now as it guides my prayers and keeps me focused on praying with an eternal perspective.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Back to the Grind
I can't believe Thanksgiving break is over already. It feels as if Wednesday was only yesterday and I was beyond giddy about heading home to spend some quality time with family. And now it's Sunday and I'm back at the apartment, eagerly counting the minutes until Ciaran gets here. I didn't even get to go to Midland Free today for church because of the snowstorm. And my dear husband is driving all the way from Petoskey in this snowstorm too. He had to go up there to get a car for us to use from his brother's house. Ciaran, for those of you that don't already know, was in a car accident just about two weeks ago and so we're down to one car right now, which has made for an interesting two weeks with our crazy schedules. But thanks to his parents, we're going to have a car to use now until we are able to buy a new one.
And Thanksgiving was wonderful. I spent some quality time with my mom and her family and then spent some quality time with Ciaran's family and friends; we even got to go to a Spirit game while we were in town which was fun. But I'm struggling with feelings of dread tonight. My flesh is crying out against having to get back to the grind of work and the inevitable, hectic busyness of it all. It was so wonderful to have a few days to just veg and sleep and read and spend undistracted time with the Lord. It's hard not to be homesick when every visit is so absolutely wonderful. Goodness, now I'm feeling sad. I better go spend some more time with the Lord. And hopefully Ciaran will be here soon. :-)
And Thanksgiving was wonderful. I spent some quality time with my mom and her family and then spent some quality time with Ciaran's family and friends; we even got to go to a Spirit game while we were in town which was fun. But I'm struggling with feelings of dread tonight. My flesh is crying out against having to get back to the grind of work and the inevitable, hectic busyness of it all. It was so wonderful to have a few days to just veg and sleep and read and spend undistracted time with the Lord. It's hard not to be homesick when every visit is so absolutely wonderful. Goodness, now I'm feeling sad. I better go spend some more time with the Lord. And hopefully Ciaran will be here soon. :-)
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Another View of the Ceremony
This was the most idyllic setting. I felt ushered into God's presence as soon as I walked down the aisle. It was so perfect.
Another picture!
I'll keep posting these as I find them, but there are about 300 images for me to wade through, so I'll probably only be posting a few favorites each day. Sorry for the delay. This one makes me giggle because Ciaran (as always) was making me laugh uncontrollably. I had been SO nervous before the wedding so it felt REALLY good to laugh at one of his jokes just minutes after the ceremony was over.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A Much Better Day
After my grumbling and complaining about my day yesterday, I figured I needed to post today to share that God gave me such joy in my job today that all of my fatigue melted away. God is so good! And now tonight, as I sit here getting some paperwork together before our 7pm finance meeting, I feel joyful and contented with the work God has blessed me with. Praise God and thank you for your prayers when I was being a grumbler yesterday. :-)
Also, for those of you who love hymns, Covenant Life Church out in Maryland are memorizing hymns. Here's the link to Joshua Harris's blog post about it. They are memorizing "Amazing Grace" this month...sooo good. Next month is" Before the Throne." I love these hymns, especially "Before the Throne"!!! Check it out when you have a chance!
Also, for those of you who love hymns, Covenant Life Church out in Maryland are memorizing hymns. Here's the link to Joshua Harris's blog post about it. They are memorizing "Amazing Grace" this month...sooo good. Next month is" Before the Throne." I love these hymns, especially "Before the Throne"!!! Check it out when you have a chance!
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