the sniffles

With what started out as the sniffles has turned into a cold and maybe even more. My poor husband is sick and when he is sick, it makes everyone in the house sad. He started out a few days ago having a scratchy throat and his nose itching and now is body is aching and he is coughing and just feels plain bad!! So, yesterday I thought what is the magic cure when you are sick with a cold?? Chicken Noodle Soup!! And not just any chicken noodle soup, but homemade chicken noodle soup!! Good thing that I saw Paula Deen make just that last week. So, I went to my recipe book that I got for a wedding present that I cracked open for the first time since we got married. Now this a side note, I loved to cook, just haven't gotten around to using this particular cookbook. Anyway, I found the recipe for homemade Chicken Noodle Soup and decided yesterday that I was going to tackle this task of making it for my husband in hopes that it would make him feel better. So, instead of going to the grocery story with list in hand, I just take the whole book ( I was in a hurry!) I got all of the ingredients for the soup: whole chicken, fresh parsley, bay leaves, egg noodles, carrots, celery, fresh Parmesan, fat free halfnhalf (sub for cream) among another things. I came home and started cooking the whole chicken. Now friends, I haven't cooked a whole chicken in a long time, not since China at least!! I was pretty excited. After cooking the chicken and taking all of the meat off of the bone, you keep all the chicken stock you just made and put in all the rest of the stuff to make the soup and add the chicken back in and wallah, you have chicken noodle soup!! It was awesome!!!! We do think that having the Parmesan made it taste much better. Who knew putting that in soup made it better?? And Clark did say that my chicken noodle soup made him feel better :) So, I guess that ole wives tale might just be true after all!!! But none the less, he woke up this morning feeling even worse, so he is on the couch all curled up asleep, he might just need another bowl of my special soup right friends??? :)

Please pray for him to feel better! He has a busy week ahead of him and needs to better!!!

Update on Mike

Mike had surgery today at 2pm to insert 10 coils to fix and repair the area where he had the aneurysm. They weren't even sure that he would make it through the surgery. Well, the doctor came out of the surgery and told his wife, Cindy that he had a perfect surgery!!! Everything went perfect!! He expects that Mike will have a full recovery!! How amazing is our God?? He has healed Mike and given the doctors wisdom to complete this surgery perfectly. Yesterday he was given a 1% chance to live, saying that he wouldn't make it through surgery. Now, he has made it through and is already trying to communicate with family. Please continue to pray for Mike over the next 48 hours as they are still critical.
I am off to bed, but I just wanted to update and let you know the progress of Mike!!!

Keep praying for Mike! It's so amazing to see how God works and how He answers prayers!

Urgent Prayer Request...

I promise that next week, things will be back to normal and I will be back to writing better posts that have more interesting things to say. I am home for a day from traveling, so I don't have a lot of time to write...but I do have a serious prayer request:

A good friend of our family, Mike Benson had a brain aneurysm on Monday and is in critical condition in the hospital. They are possibly going to do be doing surgery today. Please pray for him, his wife, Cindy, and his two sons, Brent and Drew. It breaks my heart. Please pray for this family. Pray that God gives the doctors wisdom to know how to handle Mike's situation as each moment his life is in danger. Ask that God gives Cindy, Brent and Drew a peace that only God can give.

Thank you friends!!!

More from me soon!!!

Weekend Adventures, Birthdays, Housework and more...

Well..I have almost let a whole week go by without an update...so I thought I would take a few minutes and let you know how the weekend went! I had a wonderful time at each stop of my adventurous weekend. It was like I told Clark, if I could have done each event without the driving in between it would have made it so much better!!! I had such a great time teaching those precious little children how to write Chinese. I was a bit nervous because I haven't ever taught anyone how to write Chinese, but they did an amazing job and I was so proud of them! And then the other 3 events on my schedule went well and I just had a great time! :) At each church, it was just amazing to see how Father wanted each person to be there and to hear what He was doing overseas and allow them to challenged. I love to see how He works!!!

I thought I would give you an update on my "birthday week" as well!! Today is my birthday if anyone out in the blogging world didn't know, but because of the busy lives we lead, I decided that I needed to celebrate it more than one day. So, I began with the cake. I wanted a cookie cake for my birthday. But I knew that I would have to eat it with other people because if Clark and I had a cookie cake with just us, we would eat the WHOLE thing! So, on Tuesday night after Club (our Young Life meeting) we went over to our friend, Donnie's house to join our 24 group. Now, many of you may be asking what is our 24 group? Well, a group of us love to wind down after our club meetings by watching 24, our favorite, most addicting show!! But it doesn't come on until the spring, so we watch old seasons! So, we are on Season 3 (I haven't seen it) and so we watch1-2 episodes a week. So, I chose to have my cake there and celebrate with my 24 friends. (I have pictures, but I left my camera at Donnie's house so I will have to add them later!) Then yesterday, Clark gave me my birthday present! Yay for presents! :) I got an I-pod Nano. I have been wanting on of these, because I thought it would be very useful and practical when we travel back overseas instead of trying to carry all of my Cd's with me. So, I was very excited, it's so cute and a pretty blue!! Then last night, we went to eat Indian food (our favorite place to go when we are celebrating something special!) and then to see a movie. And then today, we went out to eat with the in-laws. I chose Japanese food for the occasion. I am trying to get in each of the Asian countries! :) So, overall my birthday week has been great!!!
I am gearing up for another busy week next week, trying to take a few days to catch up on things. Today I am trying to relax and read a great book that my wonderful friends, Rob and Jenn got me (What is a Healthy Church? By Mark Dever) If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it, it is excellent!!!! And then tomorrow, I will do the housework that is calling my name......

Busy Weekend Ahead...

Friends...I have a very busy weekend ahead of me, I just wanted to ask you to keep me in your prayers...on Sautrday, I am leading a part of a children's conference. On Sunday, I am going to be at a church and on Monday another church and Tuesday another church and finishing it off with a YoungLife event Tuesday night! Please just ask that I will do it all in the Lord's strength and not my own! :) Also pray for Clark as he heads to a retreat for leaders of YoungLife (I am also going to try to make part of that retreat in the midst of all my travels!) I will give my weekly update after the weekend :) So...don't worry, I won't be gone for long (not like last time when we were gone to YoungLife camp for 3 months!! :)

Recap on the weekend...

So...to update on on the weekend....man, how do the weekends always get so busy?? I was so excited that we were going to have a weekend with nothing to do but just stay around the house and then next thing you know, there is something to do here and then there and then there and then the whole weekend is full!! I guess I should know that is how Clark and I are, always busy!! So, on Friday, we headed down to Andalusia to see St. James (a school here in Montgomery) play football and they lost, but we had a great time. We got to see a lot of our students and we got to see our nephew, so that was lots of fun. On the way home, we got lots of good talking time, which I always enjoy!! On Saturday, I woke up early and worked out and came home and Clark and met some friends for lunch and headed to the Huntingdon football game. We have a friend who plays on the team and so we went to watch him play. He did a great job, way to go Will!! After that, Clark and I came home to celebrate our anniversary! :) He took me out to eat out our favorite restaurant, Jubilee. The best seafood place ever!! Then we went walking in a beautiful park here in Montgomery, it was such a nice night. We walked all over and just talked and had a great time being together. We went and got a movie and came home to watch it and ended up watching the Auburn game (not so sure that was the best idea!) On Sunday, we went to church, ate lunch with his parents and then had a Journey of Prayer. All of the Young Life leaders went around to 3 schools representing all of the schools in Montgomery and prayed over them, it was so awesome to be able to stand on those campuses and pray over those students and administration as they have begun their school year. Oh that God would be seen there!! And then to end a great weekend we went to a 16th birthday party for one of our friends!! It was lots of fun! :) Now...if you are still reading about our weekend...yay for you! :) I have always wondered if people really wanted to hear about our weekend, so I thought, well I will write about it for once and we will see. I don't know, I always like to read about other people's weekend's, so maybe people will want to read about ours!! Who knows? :) I hope you all have a great week!!!

One year ago yesterday...

One year ago yesterday Clark and I were saying our vows to spend the rest our lives together as husband and wife!! I can't believe that a year has past by so quickly. We have learned so much about each other and learned to love each other more each day. What a great year its been. Today I thought I would leave you with the card that I gave Clark for our anniversary...it made me laugh because so much of it I am afraid that I am guilty of doing :)

Happy Anniversary to My Husband

I've stole the covers till your froze

changed my hair, my shoes, my clothes

I've lost it when I'm PMS-ing

May have nagged when I'm obsessing

I've run up hefty shopping bills

and critcized your driving skills

So, I think it's time to say to you

Hey I'm your wife, that's what I am to do! :)

I hope that made you laugh as much as it did me!!! :)

This is year our prayer is that we would continue to make God the center our marriage and continue to be refined to be more like His Son!

My Prayer....

Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes all my own desires and hopes and accept thy will for my life. I give myself, my time, my all utterly to thee to be thine forever. Fill me and seal me with thy Holy Spirit. Use me as thou wilt, send me where thou wilt, work out thy whole will in my life at any cost now and forever.
Prayer by Betty Scott Stam

No worries....Seek Him First...

Last night I was laying in bed and reading a book about Gladys Aylward, someone called to China back in the early 1900's. I was readng about all that she went through to get to China. Such a different process than Clark and I are going through right now to get back to overseas. Through this whole process, I have been such a worrywort, thinking there is no way that any of this will work out. If something happens than that means that it has put us back and we aren't going to go. Looking at the life of Gladys Aylward gave me such encouragement to look to God above all. Despite wearing the same clothes for 5 1/2 weeks, sleeping out in the snow in Russia (where she should have died!), almost beaten up, almost kept by the Russians and not allowed into China, she looked to God to get her to China and He was faithful to do that. God used so many people and events to get her to the place where He wanted her to serve. And as I read this story about this woman so faithful, I thought, why can't He do the very same thing for me and Clark? He can and He will. But first and for most, I must keep my eyes on Him!! I am reminded of the verse in Matthew that we have heard oh so many times, in chapter 6, verse 33: seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

Will you please pray for me? My faith hasn't been what it should be at all. Clark constantly tells me, "Laura, if God wants us back in China, He will get us there. He will put everything into place to get us back there." But I keep thinking that I need to "do" something to make it happen. Last night was such a neat eye opening for me to see that God works today just like He did in Gladys Aylward's life.

Marriage

With our first annivesary quickly approaching, I have found myself reflecting over this past year and how we have felt like our marriage has been. Oh my, oh so different than I thought marriage could ever be. If you would have asked me when I was in my early 20's, I would have had a completely different answer than I do now after completing this first year. I think that I read too many novels and watched too many romantic movies. I had this idealistic picture that everything would be this romantic sweet perfect picture and it is just not like that. And who would want it like that? Marriage is a give and take relationship. It is about thinking of someone else before yourself. It is definitely one of the hardest and best things that I have had to go through and wouldn't change it for anything in this world. I know that Clark and I still have a long way to go in learning and figuring things out about each other and I am thankful that we can grow and learn together. I am thankful that God created marriage and may our goal continue to be one of a picture of Christ and the church. Oh that others would see that as they look at our marriage!

The Song at the Bottom...

I was looking around online today and I found this song by Ketih Getty (the one who wrote In Christ Alone) and I loved it so much that I put it on my blog! I loved the words and it was so powerful and challenging to me that I wanted it to stay on my blog for a while...so take a minute, scroll down to the bottom and let God challenge you with these powerful words...be ready to be changed my friends....ah..let God take the knife and put it in the sin that is in our hearts so that it might be put to death and so that we might live free in Christ!!!

Blogging Absence...

Okay...so I guess we have been going to Young Life Camp a little too long haven't we? I must admit, I haven't been too good at this whole blogging thing as if you haven't noticed? That is if if I even have any blog friends left reading this ole blog! :) I honestly don't know what happened to me! I think that it has come down to complete laziness. I would come to the computer in the morning, check everyone else's blog, see what is going on in their lives, next thing you know, I don't have time to write on my own blog, or I don't even know what to say! I turn off the computer and say, tomorrow, I will write...and then the next day, it starts all over. And then the next day comes. It happens day after day that I begin to get embarrassed that we are still at Young Life camp :) So...I apologize and let me start afresh and hopefully I will be better about updating you all with what is going on in the Forman household.

We desperately need your prayers as we are seeking God with what He has planned for us next and it has been a hard past two months, good but hard!! We have continued moving foward with the process of going back to China. We are starting the paperwork and trying to get everything checked off so that nothing remains undone by the due date of October 16th. Pray with us that we will use our time wisely and prayerfully answer all of the questions and fill out all of the paperwork and that I won't nag at Clark to get it done and not procrastinate! :)
We have also gotten back into full swing of things with Young Life which keeps us pretty busy!! Between visting students at schools, going to football games, practices, hanging out with them and being apart of their lives, and making time for ourselves, we barely have time to breathe!! We love it and love being apart of their lives, pray that God will remain at the forefront of all of this, we can get so caught up in doing that we forget to bask in Him!

And hopefully, I will be adding more pictures soon....my parents took Clark and I to Biltmore Estate this past weekend and we took lots of pictures!! But they were on my parents camera. So my mom has to send them to me...so once I get them, I will add them on here!!!

Until then....thank you again for faithfully praying for us..... God is a God of peace......

Gone to Young Life Camp

Clark and I are headed out early in the morning (5 am!) to head to Windy Gap, North Carolina. We are going to Young Life Camp and taking a group of students from Montgomery. I want to ask for your prayers. Please pray for the leaders who will be spending time with kids and getting to know their hearts and sharing Jesus with them. Please pray that hearts will be open and lives will be changed as they are learning about the life of Jesus. Please pray for my girls. I have three girls going and I am the only leader going for the girls. I am so excited about these three and getting the chance to know them more and show them how a relationship with Jesus can be real and exciting! And also pray for Clark. He is the head leader of this trip. Pray that God will give him strength, energy and wisdom as He heads this up. We love you and will post pictures when we return!!!

A Vist from the Parentals...

My mom and stepdad came down this past weekend to help out in the yard. You see, Clark is not a man who likes yardwork. In fact, he hates it!! It works out great for him that I have parents who love to do it! So, they volunteered to come last Thursday to help me out. So, on Thursday they came down and we went out to eat with Clark's parents and then went over to our friend's house to play some mexican dominoes. If you haven't ever played, you need to! It is definitely an addicting game! And sad to say, I didn't bring my camera to any of these events! And even the next day, while doing yard work, I was going to take pictures, but we were just working so hard that I didn't have time to take pictures! But never fear, on Saturday, I was a picture taking fool!! Clark was our official tour guide as he lead us downtown to see the capitol and do some exploring! Below you will see some pictures from our adventures, as you can tell, we always have a good time!


The State Capitol here in Montgomery

Clark is officially being the tour guide and telling Mom and Dennis all about this man and how he played a part in Alabama history....if I was paying attention, I could tell you what he said!! But, I was having too much fun taking pictures!!

We had such a great time with them and we are looking foward to their next visit in June!!! Upcoming post, me and my bike :) I have been riding my bike the past week and have loved it!! I will have to show off my new bike and share with you all about my adventures...so stay tuned!!!

Please Pray

A friend of ours sent us this request this morning. Please be praying for this family:

Richard's best friend's son feel from a balcony yesterday in Prattville. He had to be air lifted to Birmingham. This child is two years old. I just spoke with his grandmother and the doctors are saying it will take 2-3 days before they will know the full extent of the damage. He did suffer a very serious head injury. Please pray that God will heal Daniel in a miraculous way. Also, as a mother I cannot begin to imagine the horrible grief his parents must be feeling. Lift them up to.

His parents are Aaron & Brandi Roy. They are members of Camilla in Prattville.
Please pass this along to anyone who will ift up this family.

Thank you all for taking this to the Father, He is in control and hears the prayers of His people!

A Stop off in Charleston

We stopped off in Charleston to see my brother, Scott and also just to visit a really cool city!! I think that Mom and Clark walked us to death! They never let us rest :) Here a few pictures of us in Charleston!

Traveling to South Carolina...

My brother graduated from Coastal Carolina Univeristy last Saturday. We were so proud of him, we decided to make the trip up to see him and to see him graduate! We also got to enjoy spending time at the beach. I am not much of a lay out person, but I LOVE the beach. The sounds of the waves and looking out over the ocean. Who can't help but think of how awesome God is??

I wanted to post some picures of our time there. I have more on my camera but have yet to download them! So here is what you get so far :)

us with blake

cheesy beach pictures :)

me and my mom

family photo

That's about it for now!! Sorry I am not the best blogger in the world!! My life is not that exciting and honestly, I spend more time looking at other's blogs instead of posting on my own! I will try to get better at that!! Stay tuned for more pictures, I will try to get that done this weekend! Which by the way, I am super excited about! It is the first Saturday I have had at home since December!! YAY for Mothers and Mother's Day weekend :)

Sorry for the extra space at the bottom..not sure how I managed to do that :)

May this be our heart....

I found this post written on John Piper's blog, and it encouraged me and inspired me to be called to a life of obedience.....

Karen Watson wrote her own epitaph. Its message has stirred me up to pray for more radical devotion to Christ. She has not died in vain. She was a Southern Baptist missionary to Iraq and was killed by unknown assailants March 15, 2004. I am mentioning it now simply because I was reading the book Lives Given, Not Taken: 21st Century Southern Baptist Martyrs, by Erich Bridges and Jerry Rankin. In it I ran across the letter that Karen wrote and left behind in an envelope that said "Open in case of death." It said in part:

Dear Pastor Phil and Pastor Roger,
You should only be opening this in the event of death.When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as much as possible, my heart for the nations. I wasn't called to a place; I was called to Him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my reward, His glory my reward . . .

The missionary heart:
Cares more than some think is wise
Risks more that some think is safe
Dreams more than some think is practical
Expects more than some think is possible.I was called not to comfort or to success but to obedience. . . .There is no Joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving Him.
I love you two and my church family.
In His care, Salaam, Karen

Can I help you??

On Tuesday, Clark and I had the opportunity to work in the concession stand at the Montgomery Biscuits Baseball game. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but so worth it!! We were doing it to raise money so that urban Young Life kids could go to camp, many of them, hearing about Jesus for the first time!! So, we were doing a fundraising event, working in the concession stands and making 10% of the profits.

I think I said, Can I help you, more times than I can count!! Maybe next time, I will take a picture of us in our baseball caps, behind the cash register, working our hearts out!! But I loved it so much!! We were on our feet for 5 hours, but what better place to be, knowing that the money was going in order for others to hear about Jesus!!!

Please be praying for me, I am really not doing so well with this head of mine. I had a migrane headache on Monday and now another one has started up last night. Please pray that I will know what medicine to take and what doctor to go to! Thanks friends!!

One year ago....

WE GOT ENGAGED!!!!

time flies when you are having fun!

Okay, so I was going to add a picture of us, but I couldn't get it to add to the post!!

Quick Request

This weekend, I am going to see Kasey!!!(for those of you that don't know, she was my teammate in China) I am so excited because I haven't seen her since December. And when you are used to seeing someone everyday for 3 years, 4 months is a long time!!! And then on Friday, we are going to see some very dear friends of ours in South Carolina. It is going to be an amazing weekend. This is one very different than the last, these are people that I am so comfortable around, words aren't necessary. But yet, both weekends have been or will be great!!
The request is, please pray that this cold that I have will not keep me down this weekend. As soon as my sinus infection goes away, here comes the cold!! Not fun at all!! Today, I don't have the most energy, so please pray that Father will give me the energy I need to travel and spend time with friends!!
Thanks friends!!
I love you all!! (And so does Clark!! :)

Changed...

This weekend was J-Day weekend at my college. For those of you who didn't graduate from Judson or have never heard me talk about J-Day, it is kind of like homecoming. There are class reunions and you all come back to catch up and visit with each other. The picture above is some of my friends that I got to visit with during the weekend. After spending time with so many friends and meeting new ones this weekend, I realized just how much I have changed. I used to be such an extrovert, I thrived off of being around people, I got my energy from it. And now, I am such the opposite. After being around so many people, it leaves me feeling drained and I just don't feel like talking to anyone. I realized that this change has come about after living in China for four years. I find it so interesting how I can see such a drastic change within myself. I sometimes am not used to it at all. I have a hard time being around big groups of people making small talk. I would much rather be with my friends who know me and I don't even have to think of anything to say at all. All of that to say, how strange is it that I have the job that I do. Going around the state speaking at churches, meeting new people all the time, and I love it!!!! So, I find myself going through many changes within me, many of which I have yet to figure out!! This being one of them :) Thanks for letting me talk this out with each of you!!! And to my friends who I saw this weekend, I loved spending time with you!!! :)

Contentment...

Today, I struggle with being content. Why is that wherever I am in life, I never want to be there? When I was in high school, I wanted to be in college. Whenever I was in college, I wanted to be overseas. When I was overseas, I longed to be married. Now that I am married, I long to have children AND live overseas! It seems that I can never be content with where God has placed me. God brings to my mind the verse in Phillipians, be content in whatever circumstances you are in (my version!). Today, I am learning to be happy with where God has me. Knowing that He has placed us in Montgomery for such a time as this. There are people here that God is calling us to be a light to. May He bring me to a place in my life where I am completely content with where He has me but yet longing to be more like Him and changing everyday as He is molding me and making me more like Him.

Father, today I give you my life to do as you will. Please help me to learn to follow you in all circumstances and to trust my husband as he leads our family. Father give me a heart that is discplined in spending time in your Word. Help me to love you with my WHOLE heart, soul and mind.

Our Heartbeat....

A friend of a friend wrote this in her newsletter and I just had to share it with you. This is our heartbeat for the nations, I couldn't have written it any better than what is written:

I had a beautiful opportunity to give glory to God before a small crowd this morning while buying pineapple from the back of a pick-up truck. Faces peered at me expectantly from under bamboo hats while plying me with curious questions. But their questions caught me off guard, and I thought of what to say only after I'd left.
That happens so often.
I'm not particularly good at what I do. I don't have any great skills or abilities that make me an effective missionary. But at night I hear God's heartbeat for children that He longs to embrace. At sunrise, I pray for hurting, hopeless crowds of people who are trapped by fear. At daylight, I'm compelled by His Spirit to be a living message of the mercy and freedom He is offering.
Please pray for missionaries. We are not heroes. We are weak people, speaking and sharing from the simple conviction that God is faithfully drawing nations to Himself. Powerfully. Beautifully. Today. -DT

Enough said...

Pulling Weeds...

Last week, I spent a good part of two days pulling weeds in my backyard (which is really just a patio area, but doesn't it sound much more fun to say backyard?) Anyway...so, I realized that pulling weeds requires more than just pulling them up. It requires digging in the dirt and pulling out not only the weeds but also the root that it comes from!!! And so, I did this for quite a while. It is quite tedious work because there are quite a few weeds in my backyard/patio area. As I was doing this, I started to think of all the spiritual context that this had. Looking at my whole patio area and wondering, is this how God sees my heart? Are there just as many weeds in it? And do I allow him to pull the roots and all out or do I listen long enough for Him to just grab the weeds and then I move on, not working with God long enough to get it all out....does that make sense? It does in my little brain, but not sure if I worded it right.....it was a good thought on that day at least....because wouldn't you know just 2 days later, I came down with a bad sinus infection!! It was horrible, and Clark thinks it was because I pulled weeds!! So...another lesson, sometimes pulling the weeds isn't fun, it can even cause sickness, but oh in the end it is so worth it to see a beatiful flower bed (or in our case a beautiful heart!)
Oh Father, please let me stop long enough for you to pull the weeds out of my heart, roots and all! May you have your way in my heart so that I might be more like you. Father, continue to show me when I am in sin, so that I will turn away from it and turn to you! Thank you for practical applications to life through pulling weeds! I love you!!!

Recap...

So...I guess I should write blog updates if I am actually going to keep a blog for us!!! I am sorry that Clark and I have been out of the loop for the past two weeks....so I thought I would take some time to recap the past two weeks events...
Two weeks ago our water heater burst and that put us out of our house and in with the inlaws for about a week and a half! We thought we had mold problems, but we got that mystery solved and we don't!! But we did get a new water heater and new carpet out of the whole deal, not too bad!!
In between all of that, two weeks ago I spoke at a church in Trussville, just happened to be at the church where the President of the AL Bapt. St. Convention is at. We had a wonderful time and it was amazing to see how God works and all of the churches that are potential for me to be in after having been there. They even put us up in a hotel and gave us a welcome basket with goodies, it was great!!
This past weekend, I taught at a State Girl's conference here in Montgomery. I had a wonderful time but after two days of teaching breakout sessions, I was "peopled out"! (If you can believe that!!!)
And this past Sunday, we went to visit a new church. It was so awesome!!! It was the first time since being in the states, that I truly felt fed from His Word. Clark and I left that service, not even being able to talk, because we were truly overwhelmed with the teaching of His Word. We are going to have the opportunity to go visit again this week, so please pray for us as we go that we would seek God in where He would have us be when I am not speaking in a church.
And so...this week...only half over!! We have many things coming up, pray for us as Clark and I talk with different people this week who need to share their hearts with us. Pray that God will give us wisdom and discernment and know what we are to say and when we are to be quiet so that the Spirit can work not through our words but through Himself. Pray they would have ears to hear Him!!!
Also, continue to pray for us as we are seeking Father for our future and where He would have us serve in China.
We hope you all are having a wonderful week!!! Please let us know how you all are doing!!! Would love to hear from you!!!!! :)
May you strive to be more like Him everyday!!!!!

Wedding Pictures continued....

I have a few more pictures from the wedding for those who wanted to see them! I found the other cd and it had a few different pictures than the ones that I added before. So take a look if you want, but please don't feel like you have to :)

Me, Vanessa and her daughter Emma, the flower girl

Clark and his mom
Rachel and Russ, Clark's niece and nephew
My second family! Kasey (my teammate from China) and her mom, dad and niece
My Judson Girls singing Judson songs ( a tradition from our college)
My sweet Judson friends that came to the wedding
My dad, Blake, Scott and Sean... We missed you Ryan!!!
The Wedding Party
Me and my stepdad, Dennis
My Crazy Brothers!!!
Clark's Family...his Mom, Dad, Sister, her husband, niece and nephew

Friends...what a gift from God!!

Happy Birthday Kristin!!!!!!

Today is my friend Kristin's Birthday! I know many of you will wonder will I remember your birthday on our blog...I sure hope so, but please forgive me if forget!!! :)

But today, I wanted to wish Kristin a happy Birthday!!! She is a friend of mine from college whom I love dearly. She and I have been friends since the beginning of my college life there, I think what really bonded us was making chocolate chip cookies at her house!! :)

I love Kristin and I am so thankful God put her in my life. She is so special to me and such an encouragement to me!!!

I am thankful for those late night trips to Selma and of course while there, you gotta hit Taco Bell and Sonic... :) I love you friend and I hope we get to have many more fun times together!

"Iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another" Proverbs 27:17

Today, I challenge you to think about the friends in your life. Do they challenge you? Do they sharpen you and turn your face towards God? I was just about to post this and God reminded me just how important friends are, ones like Kristin who I mentioned!! Today, look at your friends and see just which ones are you allowing God to use to make you more like Him.

God, I thank you for friends and what a blessing they are. You are truly amazing that you give us the gift of friends. Please help us to glorify and honor you in each friendship we have. May you be seen in our lives and help us to be molded to be more like you because of our friends. I love you so much!!! In Your Son's Name Amen

A Normal Work Week...what's that??

Our Jobs...Mine with my alma mater, Judson College and Clark's job...working with students (they are in Colorado on a hiking trip)

Last night Clark and I were talking about how different our jobs were. What would it be like to work 8-5, come home, and be finished for the day. Because, you see, we don't do that! Clark works for Young Life, his ministry is high school students. That means that we are busy 2-3 nights a week with a group meeting called Club, going to ball games, doing small groups. And I am a church relations rep which means that I am normally busy on Saturday night, Sunday morning and Wednesday nights. We love our jobs so much, thankful that God has put us where we are but sometimes get so overwhelmed at our schedule and all that we have to do!!!!

Please pray for us, pray that we would find the time to grow together as a couple. We have tried countless times to start doing a devotion every day, pray together and really get into the Word. It seems that we can't make it a habit like we should. Pray that we will not allow the "Good" things to make us so busy in ministry that we forget to make time for each other and God. Thank you for letting us be transparent with you all and for praying with us and for us. And for those that are going through similar things, know that you aren't alone!!!!

Our Story

I thought that since we were doing this whole blog thing and I have put pictures up from our wedding that some people are wondering how in the world did all of this happen!! I came back from China and next thing you know, I am engaged!!! So...here is our our story, from my point of view that is!!!

Clark is friend's with my best friend's husband. My best friend, Vanessa and her husband, Kris lived in Montgomery and worked at the church that Clark went to. So, they were friends from the start! I came home in 2003 on stateside and met Clark for the first time. Just as friends of course and then went back to China. About 8 months later, God started really putting Clark on my heart but not exactly sure why. So, I asked Kris and Vanessa how Clark was doing. That very same weekend, Clark came to visit them and he said God had put me on his heart but he wasn't sure why. So, we started emaling short emails summer 04. We only emailed about once a month for the next 6 or 7 months. I still didn't really know him very well, but I don't know, just had this feeling about him. I came back to visit my family in January05 and thought I was going to get to visit him, but it didn't work out. And so I went back to China, dissapointed b/c I really thought that if I could only see him again then I would know more. But God saw differently! I talked to him on the phone once in March, only b/c I was calling to talk to Vanessa, not knowing he was at their house and Kris put him on the phone. We talked for a while and then got off. Well, in May 05, I spent time in the Word one day and during that time, God showed me by telling me to write in my journal and when I wrote that I would marry Clark, it was like the Spirit was writing it for me and it wasn't my Words. I was totally confused and didn't understand how God was working because I barely knew Clark, but yet knew he was the one. So, God told me to stay quiet and not try to force anything at all. So, I sat and waited and waitied. Never hearing anything from Clark until September 05 (6 months later!!!!) only to tell me that he was pryaing for me after my grandma died. He wrote again in November, but it wasn't until December 05 that he started to be honest with his feelings. We talked on the phone a few times in January nothing big and then Kasey (my teammate in China) and I finished our terms. We headed to India and while in India, I started to get cold feet. I didn't know about this guy, I barely knew him, but yet knew he was the one. I got back to America in March and he came to visit. it was horrible the first time, I was so nervous and so confused. I thought if I went out with other guys it would help. Good thing I didn't do that!!! Well, the 2nd time he came to visit, we spent some time together by ourselves, it was just it. I can't explain it. After that, we started talking on the phone everyday and geting to know each other better, and slowly God just started lining it all up. Because you see, I knew that I knew, but he was still trying to figure it out. (He didn't know that I knew!) Well, by the beginning of April (3 weeks later!) We talked and we just knew! He proposed on April 23rd (and the neat thing was the 1st year in China, God showed me that this was going to be an important day in my life) and so it was! And we got married on September 9th, about 4 months later! That's our story in a nutshell! One that is totally unique and totally God! That is why I love it!!!

Wedding Pictures from last Fall

Well, here are some pictures from our wedding! I was attempting to put them in some sort of order and make it look all cool, but since I am still new at this thing, you will just have to look at them as they come! I hope you enjoy looking at our pictures and maybe if you weren't able to be there, it will make you feel like you were right there with us!!!

Me and Clark with flower girls, Ava (my L) and Emma (Clark's R) and ringbearer, Konnor
Me and my handsome husband!
Getting ready for the big day
Emma and her baby
Judson Girls--me, Ash, Ness and Suz
Me and Mom
Me waiting to walk down the aisle!
Me and my brothers, Blake, Scott, Sean and my sister, Kayla
My youngest brother, Sean
The wedding party

The Coolest Picture ever---me and Dad waiting to walk down the aisle

The Girls
Me looking down at the crowd
Me with my Tate Girls--Becky, Jamie, Katie and Ava

Dad and Tina

My baby brother, Scott
Our first kiss....at last!!!

The ceremony

Leaving the church and heading for our honeymoon to the Southern Carribean on a cruise

My friend from Judson, Kristin
My two roomates in China, Courtney and Kasey, Susie who also lived in China and my Judson friend, Trisha who also lived in China!!

The Reception

Well...I think that is all for now...I have more, there are several people that I have missed, including Clark's family and my stepdad!! I will have to find the cd with those pictures, but I wanted to make sure that I at least got these out! :) Thanks for taking the time to look at them!