the matts…

This is the longest I have gone without posting anything. Don’t be too disappointed. The good news is that about 21 people per day view this blog. That’s pretty good for a baby blog. Mike has been out of town so I have been a little un-busy. I realized how much of a busybody I am and that I need to be doing something all the time. I cannot just stand to sit here!!
Late Nite was good last night. Steve did a great job talking about God using the unthinkable. That dude is straight hilarious. We were all laughing our buns off. Oh, and props to Steve for giving me and my man a shout-out for our birthdays. That was super cool.
A brief side note, my teeth hurt really bad! I have been using professional whitening stuff and they have constant pain in them! Stop using them, you say? I can’t! I am addicted to having whiter teeth! My bridal portraits are in less than two months and I need gleaming pearly whites!
Oh, and if you didn’t get the chance to tell my baby happy birthday, you should do that soon. His birthday was yesterday. He’s a real man now

So, on the spiritual side of things, I want to share a testimony from Pathfinders summer camp. There’s a girl (who I LOVE) who has been struggling with an eating disorder since she can even remember. At camp, God gave her a vision and spoke so clearly to her. The outcome is that she has been healed of that bondage and God reigns supreme Lord of her life!! This is a huge thing for a girl who struggles with eating to overcome. She said the morning after that service she was able to sit down and have a real meal and not feel guilty about it and want to throw up. I am so very proud of her and SO fired up about all the awesome testimonies coming home from camp. People may not believe in God or in His power, but you cannot argue with a personal story like this one and so many others!!!!!!!!!!!!

I first want to thank everyone who called, texted, myspaced, or facebooked me to tell me “happy birthday.” My favorite was when Becca got an entire busload of j-high kids and leaders to sing to me. That was incredible!!!
Also, I gotta give props to LB and Dave who helped Chris suprise me with homeade sushi!!
And of course, my baby totally came through- sushi and my favorite dessert at a candlelit dinner, then the theater. It was beautiful!
My mom and step-dad cooked me an amazing birthday lunch and gave me an iPod!! Wooo!! Plus I got other cool stuff, of course.
The night of my birthday I got to go hang out with a bunch of amazing couples at our life group and had a total blast. I am one blessed sister.
And today…. I got…. my wedding dress! Jesus is good!!!!!!!!!

So, I don’t have anything exciting today… However, I want to give a shout-out to my Navigate kids who came to my rescue yesterday when the devil was attacking me hardcore. It’s one thing to sit in a class and take notes, or even pickup trash, but the true test comes when someone is hurting and you stop everything you are doing to make them feel better. Yay for my summer session loves!
Also, yay for HPC who blessed me with a birthday bonus… and boy, did I need it?! It’ll all go to Chris’ birthday, but there’s no one else I would rather spend my money on!!
Anyway, everyday I am reminded of how incredible God is for allowing me to serve here at HPC. This place and it’s people blow my every single day. Thank you, Father.

First, I would like to thank everyone who was able to make it out to our engagement party last Saturday, especially those who drove a long distance to be with us. Also, a special thanks to Todd who painted the beautiful artwork that I gave to Chris for our engagement, and who came to our party on his birthday. My mom did lead a fantastic rendition of “Happy Birthday” for him though… Anyway, it was amazing having everyone from all sides of our family and from our past, present, and future able to join us.
(Also, thanks to David Song for the pictures from the party that are posting with this blog! You can see some of my family, Chris’ family, me with my artwork, and Kristin and Lauren saying sweet things about me!!!)

Father’s Day was also an incredible day for us as a couple. We were able to enjoy HPC with Chris’ family and friends from Houston and then tore it up at Chili’s!! Later that night we were able to cook up a great meal for my daddy at his girlfriend’s house. We had a blast hanging out, laughing, talking, and best of all- eating!!! It was such a blessing to get to spend time with both of our dads on such a special day.

God is just really serving it up lately… Well He always has, I think I am just noticing more and more as I grow and learn. Jesus rocks!

Ok here it is, for those of you who have wondered why it says meghan and chris and it seems to be just meghan… wonder no longer. this is Chris and I’m finally posting something. Over the past 3-4 days I’ve been challenged to live a life of excellence. It especially hit me this morning after leaving Mike’s bible study on leadership and living a life of holiness, I walked into work and a few minutes later had to sit in on one of our frequent district-wide conference calls where the entire district was reamed for not selling enough, it hit me. Why do we settle for the status quo? Why do we settle for second best? God has an amazing plan for us and when we settle for status quo we miss the amazing life He has for us. We are all his children and He wants all of us to live a life so much greater than this world has to offer. We have to be intentional about things. In order to live a life of excellence, we must seek after God with 1000% of our strength. We must never be satisfied. We must always be growing and moving forward. So from this day on I will no longer live the comfortable life. I will be stretched! I will go higher than I ever have before! I will not settle for the status quo anymore in my life! It’s time to live a life of purpose and walk in the destiny God has for me! Who will live a life of purpose w/ me? Who will leave the status quo behind?

…nothing insightful to say. i dont even feel like capitalizing or punctuating today, so im just gonna post some pictures that i like. how bout that! pretty random, but that’s just how i roll. sweat me.
p.s. chris still aint posted, and now im using bad grammar so you know im strugglin.

These are some quotes that I LOVE- I stole them from Ashley Sullivan, who stole them from John Eldridge, who stole them from their original creator. Maybe stole isn’t the word I am looking for, but either way, they are inCREDible!!!!!

“I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far - I will find you.”
-Nathaniel to Cora in Last of the Mohicans

“A man’s strength should allow a woman’s femininity to fluorish.” -J Eldridge

“Suddenly i turned around and she was standing there with silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair. She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns. Come in, she said. I’ll give you shelter from the storm.” -Bob Dylan

Oh, the joy of the drama! Isn’t it refreshing? It’s funny how Satan saw me fired up after my blog entry yesterday, so he decided to tear it all to pieces an hour later. Crazy how smart that kid is… but no matter how smart he is, He ain’t as big and as good as my God and he loses EVERY single time. Sucks to be him.
Moving on, after typing up Mike’s sermon notes for Late Nite tonight, I am fired up about what the Holy Ghost is going to do!!! He has got some powerful points that are going to change some lives and I can’t wait to see the transforming power of God at work! Woo! Yay God!
It’s been kind of a crazy day, but God keeps pulling me out and up and I just feel like I can’t worship Him enough right now!
Oh yeh, and Chris keeps saying that he is going to post something but he never does… just FYI. But it’s ok because he is the most amazing man in the universe and I get to be his wife! Oh, the beautiful days are coming soon!

Life since the last staff meeting has been incredible. I have been challenged to be kinder, gentler, and more loving to the man I love and adore. My family has finally bonded together again. I got to train to be a 5 star girl. I got to go to bars and reach people that I used to know. I met with my wedding florist and found that God has such high favor on me in the finance department right now. Chris and I were able to hang out with other couples our age and fellowship and laugh. I have truly experienced the pure, sincere, unfailing love of the Father. I say it all the time, but God is SO good and I just do NOT deserve it- but I LOVE it!!!!!!!!!
P.S. I LOVE CHRIS MATT!!!

Dan O. totally just taught me how to add pictures to our page and I am sooo happy!!! He also taught me how to link (like I did with him name in the last sentence. I am so blog smart now.