Christmas Crafts

I love to make crafts! So this Christmas, Brent and I made 2 stools for our cousins' little girls - Molly and Addie. They were fun to make. They turned out pretty well. Although we messed up a little bit on the ladybug. I stole the idea from my friend Jen P. Thanks Jen!

The drying stage

Finished!

New Things

Well it's ours! We signed the papers on the 23rd! Brent and I are now home owners!! Hooray!! We are moving in the 2nd week in January - most likely! We plan to paint some and start working on part of the floors after we return from camp next week! Also, we now have 2 black lab puppies! They are so cute! Brent got me a puppy for Christmas - his name is Hurley and he is 6 weeks old today! He's such a chunk! Cody was given to us by April, Brent's sister! Cody is 12 weeks old! They sure are a hand full! I think they will be great dogs for us. Cody is named for the Alabama lineman and Hurley is named for the character from the TV show LOST, it is also in honor of our time in Texas! I'll have to post pics later! It was crazy yesterday at our house - there were 5 dogs and a 1 year old baby! My parents have two dogs and our two and my brother and his wife spent the night and brought their little dog!

I hope everyone had a very enjoyable Christmas!

December 22

That's our closing date! Well, projected closing date, I should say! It's so crazy! We are getting closer to owning our own house and 6 beautifully wooded acres!!! All though takes an act of Congress to buy a house, it really has moved along quite quickly! Brent has been fabulous and has done EVERYTHING! I think the only thing I have had to do is make a copy of my driver's license and sign a few papers!

We probably will not move in until January. There are a few things that need to be done to the house. Some of the flooring needs to be repaired and it needs a good face-lift in paint. It's pretty exciting!

I'll keep you updated on what happens and post a few pictures, but probably after the 22nd!

2 Things:

One:
We might buy house!!!! Yep. No kidding!! Brent found this house yesterday. It sits on 6 acres and needs a bit of work and paint, but it's still nice. Well that's what Brent says. I haven't seen it yet! He said he might could take me by tomorrow! It's being foreclosed on, so it is a good price. The family has already moved out. Brent filled out the housing application or loan application this morning. I know that the economy is on it's way down hill, but the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills right? So maybe He will sell a cow of us? We have learned though to wait and be patient. God has the right place for us to live. I just hope this one is it!! Trust me, if we were not patient, we would have already bought this other house that is way, way above our price range!! haha!!

Two:
Some of you may or may not know that Brent and I are hoping to adopt a child. :)
And last Thursday our fingerprints from the ABI (Alabama Beauru of Investigations) came back! They approved our background checks. Now we have to wait on the FBI. They take a little longer. Then if we are able to move in to this house, we can start our home studies!! Although I have to send in some paper work first.

We are using an agency in B'Ham. www.lifelineadoption.org
It is a Christian agency, which I did not know until the day before we went down to talk to a social worker. We are planning to do a domestic adoption, however it is possible that we could do international, but we really like certain aspects of the domestic adoptions that the social worker told us. China is out of the question though, you have to be at 30 when you go to the child and make $80,000 combined income.
Lifeline just began a partnership with Uganda. So maybe we will have a child from Uganda! The social worker said this is a little different from the other countries in that when you travel to Uganda, you go the orphanage and "pick out" your child. Like picking a puppy.

So if you would like to pray with us in this process, we would appreciate it!

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Facebook Troubles

Hello Friends,
Marianne here, as of yesterday my facebook does not work. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I am going to have to create a new page. So if you would like to go ahead and delete my page from your friends, go ahead. So this is not the most urgent matter in the world, but if you are wondering why I am not responding to you, that's why.
Well I'm off to GA for the weekend and Brent is in TN. See you next week!

Destin Turns 1

Brittany did a great job on the party! There were about 22 people in their house! It was so crowded. Destin got a ton a gifts! It's a shame we don't get that many gifts for our birthdays when we are older!

He was giving the bow a kiss. Which was funny b/c as his mom says:

"He has texture issues."


Then came the sugar high! :)

Love This Room, Don't you?

What is white on the outside and grey on the inside?

Our new car!! Yep, we are a two car family again! Although I would still rather ride with Brent. A family friend of my parents was selling his 2001 Ford Tarus for $1,500! So we got it! It's so clean inside! It's very nice not to be driving my dad's truck around anymore. I have the Malibu and Brent drives the Tarus. I'm so glad we were able to get the car. Especially b/c we do not have any car debt! That is a HUGE blessing!
Thank You, Lord!

I Heart Fall!

Fall has been completely stunning this year in Alabama. Trees are orange, yellow, red, some are a mixture of two or three colors with a bit of green or purple. It's amazing. I love fall. I love that God created fall and that He decided the trees should change colors.

(above - this is the road we live on)

(below - a church that is beautiful every year at this time)

We have been back in Alabama for 3 months now. It seems hard to believe that we even lived in Texas in August. Brent and I were talking the other day about Texas and our time there was so short! Some days I thought seminary would never, never end and now in some ways, I wish we could have a few moments back. But at the same time, I wouldn't want to go back either.

The Lord has been absolutely incredible the past months at West Point. I told April the other night on the phone that I feel like God is doing everything for us and we are just the hands and feet. We run the errands, set up the things needed, and move our mouths, but God has been orchestrating everything. We have been learning to trust God in a new way and watching how He provides. Early on in seminary, Brent and I were talking about God providing and how faithful He is. For us, at the time, we were learning to depend on God just to pay the rent for the next month. We did a lot of learning to trust God with monetary things. We were wondering about the day when maybe there would be a new way to trust God to provide other than money. And two and half years later, here we are. Well, we still have to trust God with money - for pete's sake, we don't even have our own house yet!

When we came, we thought we wanted to keep a lot of the things the same for awhile, esp. for the youth, b/c it's scary for them when a new guy comes in. But some things just haven't worked out; and not because of us either. Some things were just out of our control and we had to make a plan B. I believe that God wanted to make a few changes here. And He did. So not everything is perfect, but God is here. And He's working. I am thankful God brought us here and that He's letting us be a part of this work He is doing.

side note: this is Destin, the sweetness. My mom had a yard sale Saturday and he is playing outside.

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Fall Retreat

This weekend we took about 27 youth and 8 adults to Camp Cosby for a youth retreat. The Lordship of Christ was the theme. I only have a few pictures. Shannon who had neck trouble was our photographer on the ropes course. She did a great job. Here are a few pictures:

Tea Party

I love junior high girls. They are so fun and silly. I really wanted to take them to a tea house, but that was getting expensive, not too mention the long drive. So the Lord completely put this idea together about the tea party for the 7th and 8th grade girls at our church. I thought I would also include a Bible study about friendship. I remember that in my 8th grade year that seemed to be the dividing line of whose friend you would be, what you would be in high school. Friendship can be hard sometimes and if you've seen the movie Mean Girls - that pretty much fits 7th - 8th grade years (in most cases, probably not all).

I asked our children's minister's wife to lead the Bible study and talked to some of the girls mom's about helping and bringing food. I had the tea at my mom's house. Okay - confession - it was not a real tea party, we did not have water chesnut sandwiches or hot tea. I wanted them to actually eat the food. So we had ham, turkey, and cheese sandwiches and sweet tea. Along with other food items and drink.

I wanted it to be kind of fancy and girly - it's fun sometimes. I had in my head what I wanted. Off white chiffon to hang around, hats, brown-wired ribbon, and flowers for centerpieces and other decorations, feather boas, gloves, big fake jewelry, and hats for the girls to wear. I orginially wanted orange table clothes and I was just going to use clear plastic plates and forks.

After I decided all this, I had no idea where it was all going to come from!! Where in the world do you find 15 feather boas????

A few days after all this was decided, I found the chiffon at Wal-Mart on sale!I was getting really excited. I didn't really get a chance to look for the next few weeks and I was getting worried. I saw a sign on the way back from work one day about a rummage sale - I thought that will a great place to find what I need. So mom and I went and I got 40 pieces of fake braclets and clip-on earrings (mostly pearls - which I really wanted!) for $20.00. Later that day I found 7 of the most perfect floppy straw hats for decoration in Wal-Mart - also on sale. As for gloves and hats and feather boas - nothing.

We were in downtown Hartselle going through the antique shops hoping to find gloves or hats - but the ones we found were expenisve and I really really didn't want to pay hardly anything for them! I was also getting annoyed, maybe I was trying too hard to do this, maybe I was asking too much. It was going to take miracle to find 15 gloves and hats!! So we go in to one store and I said oh I can already tell they don't have anything. So my mother proceeds to aske the store owner if she has hats or gloves, the lady says "yes right back here". We walk around the corner, and wouldn't you know it, a basket overflowing with gloves and a shelf and table overflowing with hats!!! We found out the gloves are 6$ a pair. I thought, well I guess I can buy 4. (i had a budget for this party) Well amazingly, my grandmother - who is with us - knows the store owner. She introduced me and my mom. About that time I asked her how much the hats are, she says to pick out the ones I want and she'll give me a price. Well my mom decided that she would ask if I could just rent them. She tells the lady why we need them. And the store owner looks at me and says "well I just love your grandmother, so why don't you just borrow them" take what you need and bring it back after the party". I almost cried. Then I had to apologize to the Lord for my lack of faith. So we walked out with 15 hats and 10 pairs of gloves!

A few days later, I found feather boas - the real kind I wanted - on sale. My mom's friend Lynn has glass plates and cups that she let me borrow for the tea.

I was amazed at how the Lord put this all together. The weather was perfect. He is soo good!!

Isaiah 61

Isaiah 61
The Year of the LORD's Favor

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations."



Isaiah 61. This is my favorite chapter in the Bible right now, in particular verses 1 - 4 (above)


I tried for a long time to figure out how I was to do this and I could never figure it out. Now I know that these verse are talking about Jesus. But for some reason I thought I was supposed help in this. I don't know, but apparently this is my Arrogance? Pride? So I'm reading the book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. These verses are in the in chapter that I am in right now and as I read them - it hit me between the eyes - Jesus does this FOR us - we can do nothing to help in this process. He does this for us, if we let Him. Don't you love that!!!

(please correct me if I am wrong. thanks)

My Apologies

I would send my apologies to those of you who read this blog. Although by now you may have given up on me and gone on to another blog. This month of September has been hard to blog. With computers not working and now our laptop is missing and it has the computer cord to my camera, so now I cannot upload to this computer. I hope to update soon.

Don't give up on us!

Love to All.

Ministry Village

Last weekend, our pastor, Brent, me, and 4 others from our church made the trek to Leesburg, Florida. FBC Leesburg was hosting a mission conference. The Lord has used this church to reach out to their community in an amazing way. FBC Leesburg has what they call Ministry Village. All this was started in the early 80's. They have women's, men's and children's shelters/homes, a medical clinic, a pregnancy center, and a thrift store. I think there are a few others that I cannot remember. The purpose of the conference was to show others ways to reach out to the community around their church that is effective.

It was freezing in the chapel!

On the tour

First ministry house

This way to the medical center

Viewing the Children's Emergency Shelter

Wanda talking about the pregnancy center

Dinner table at the Residental Home for Teens

Brent has new sear-sucker pants

(also known as man-capris!!)

They were bought at the thrift store

Way cool youth center -

used for mentoring and tuturoing and Saturday Sunday School

Life-Size Connect Four Game! Are you kidding me?!?!