the matts…

We are waiting on God in a certain area of our life, and it has required massive amounts of faith. Pastor’s message this weekend on having faith through suffering and delay really hit home. I keep running into this scripture that gives me such peace: Psalm 27:13-14 “Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness  while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”

Enough said.

Now, for some pics of the cutie pie!

The last week has been so crazy with Chris and I having birthdays so close together. We were blessed to be cooked for twice and get to go on a date… Plus Chris went to a flag football bachelor party Friday and we drove to Luling, LA for an after-wedding shower for an awesome couple, Reggie and Sara Wheeler, on Saturday. We got home last night from our family get-together in Denham Springs and I wanted to upload some pictures from the weekend. Turns out my computer got a virus and now I can’t use the internet, USB ports or much of anything else. Luckily everything is still on my hard drive and my wonderful daddy brought me another computer to use in it’s absence. It’s really not worth getting fixed- the CD rom’s broken, the power cord’s jacked up and now it has this crazy virus.

Anyway, we are so blessed and we’ll figure out a way to buy the one we really want in a few months (a MacBook). Check out these pics from a fun weekend!!!

I read something in the Bible today that really encouraged me.

Psalm 34:10 “The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.”

Lions can weigh 275-425 pounds on average! It’s crazy to me that they can go hungry… They are, after all, the king of the jungle! But God promises us, His children, that when we seek Him and trust Him we will never be without anything we need. When my faith level is low, I need to read the scripture and be reminded He is my all in all.

And now, a few pics of our Lovey:

(She looks just like my baby pictures in this one)

I thought it would be fitting that on my 26th birthday I thought of 26 things I am truly grateful for in my life. Some are deep, some shallow, but I love ‘em all! Here goes:

1. My Jesus 2. My salvation 3. My most amazing husband 4. My beautiful daughter 5. My family 6. My in-laws 7. My friends 8. My house 9. My church 10. My stay-at-home mommy status 11. Strolls around the neighborhood with my family 12. The Word 13. Good books 14. Date nights 15. My life group 16. My first baby, Wally (the cat) 17. Nights at home with my family 18. Being able to always pay the bills 19. Relief organizations like Children’s Cup 20. Eating with girlfriends 21. Everything I learned in Elevate/ HPSM 22. Naps 23. A good, inspiring movie 24. My camera that helps me take hundreds of great pics of my angel 25. “Green” living products so my baby doesn’t ingest a bunch of crazy chemicals 26. Whole Foods and one to grow on… 27. Knowledge

So, I was reading the Bible yesterday… That’s a good thing to do, eh? Anyway, I found this really cool verse that I wanted to share.

Romans 16:20 “The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Look at that again- the God of PEACE will CRUSH Satan under your feet shortly. Isn’t it interesting that Paul describes our God as one of peace in the same sentence he tells about how He will soon crush Satan? I don’t know… Maybe it’s just me, but I definitely think it’s pretty stellar that we serve a Lord who brings peace and life and comfort to us, while bringing death and destruction to the enemies we encounter.

When I am battling doubt or fear or rejection or any other human emotion that’s from Satan, it’s very nice to know that God can bring me peace and crush the evil one.

I have been reading an awesome book by National Community Church’s pastor, Mark Batterson. It’s called In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day. It’s a mouthful, I know… but it’s also been a headful and a heartful to me. Every chapter has challenged and inspired me in ways I haven’t experienced in a very long time. I wanted to share a few passages with you from the chapter I read today on uncertainty.

p. 82 “Lion chasers are often considered crazy, but they are able to do these things because they aren’t afraid of uncertainty. They don’t need to know what is coming next because they know that God knows. They don’t need explanations for every disappointment because they know that God has a plan. Lion chasers refuse to settle down because they want to experience every divine twist and turn that God has in store for them.”

p. 92 “Do we really believe that God is ordering every footstep even when it feels like we’ve taken a misstep? Do we really believe that God is sovereign when nothing seems to be going our way? Do we really believe that God is good even when bad things happen to us?”

p.97 “I can’t promise that everything will make sense on the near side of eternity, but that shouldn’t shake our confidence, because our confidence isn’t contingent upon our circumstances. Our confidence is contingent upon the character of God. Our circumstances may not make sense, but we know that God is planning His work and working His plan.”

p.99 “Lion chasers are humble enough to let God call the shots and brave enough to follow where He leads.”

As a pretty anal, obsessive-compulsive over-planner, this chapter really hit me hard. It’s so difficult for me to truly leave things in His hands and believe it will all work out for the best. Like that old saying goes… I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know Who holds the future… I am honestly just trying to give ALL my uncertainties to Him now.

Today is my amazing best friend’s birthday! That’s right… Lauren Song (formerly know as Lauren Best, or LB) is turning 23 today. She and I became friends when we had the awesome experience of being the only girls in the first ever Elevate Full-Time class. We lived together, worked together, exercised together, traveled the Amazon Jungle together… pretty much did everything together. In 2006 she was my maid of honor and in May I had the huge blessing of being hers. She is the most selfless person, always thinking of others before herself. She’s giving, generous, loving, compassionate, smart, funny and beautiful from the inside out. She inspires me to be a better Christian and a better woman. There truly aren’t enough words to describe her awesomeness She is like the sister I never had and I love her SO much!!! Happy Birthday, Lauren! I love you!

We had a wonderful, family-filled Father’s Day weekend. Presley is a very blessed little girl to have Chris for a daddy and she absolutely ADORES him! Sometimes I catch her just staring at him with this huge grin on her face and it makes my heart melt. Chris is an even better father than I ever could have imagined and I am so grateful for him. I feel so incredible blessed to get to share this life and this child with him. When I think of all the kids who don’t have a dad in their lives, I remember how amazing we really have it.

Check out some pics from our great weekend!

Friday morning we set out on another road trip to Kingwood, TX. Chris was in a good friend’s wedding so we got to spend some more time with the family there. It was another short trip jam-packed with activity, but we had a blast! And, I got addicted to the Wii.

Today was Presley’s two month check-up. She is now a little over 23.5 inches long, weighs 11lb. 10oz. and has a 39cm head! She is in the 90th percentile for her height and the 75th percentile for weight and head circumference! I can’t believe how long she is… We definitely didn’t expect to have the tall kid, but we love her long skinny little limbs. She’s so cute!!! Here are some pictures of her from the last week or so. She is making the greatest expressions now and can pretty much hold her head up!

We took a quick trip to Kingwood this weekend for Chris’ brother’s graduation from high school. Over 1000 kids graduated so they had to hold it in Reliant Stadium where the Houstin Texans play. It was quite an event! On Sunday we had a celebratory crawfish boil. We finally got to meet Mackey’s (Chase’s girlfriend’s) parents, and we got to hang out with his aunt and uncle, cousins and some friends we hardly ever get to see. It was really an awesome time.

The trip was too short and we got caught in a parking lot of traffic on the way home that extended our drive time by another hour and a half. By the time we got home, the baby and her car seat were mortal enemies! I spent the entire ride back on the teeny middle back seat trying to entertain her to keep her mind off of it. When I tried to put her in it today she screamed. Poor thing hates being in there now.

Here are some pictures from our super quick trip!