Champions!

Weston's baseball team won their division of the World Series last weekend! 

He was one happy kid!  I missed all but one game because I was home sick on the couch with an awful cold.  I'm mostly back to normal, but now two of my roomates are sick!  Ugh - you've got to love November! 

In other news, Parker sprained his ankle Thursday night playing basketball with some guys from our Sunday school class.  It's pretty bad and he's has a boot and crutches for the next three weeks.  Oh, and it's his right foot.  Nice babe.  I've only seen a picture of it because I stayed in Chapel Hill this weekend to work on a pile of stuff that has to get done before the semester ends in 3 weeks.  Three weeks!  Holy smokes.  I can't believe December starts next week.  Wow!

Sigh.  Well, I'm ready for Thanksgiving and time with my sweet family.  How about you?

Speak Up!

Ever since I read The Purpose Driven Life, the idea that we need to speak up for God in other's times of despair has really been on my heart.  This idea is almost radical to me, because so many times we are told to "mind our own business" and "leave well enough alone."  Well, this is wrong and God calls us to speak up for Christ.  Proverbs 31:9 says, "Speak up and judge fairly."

The Bible tells us that we should not simply look the other way and hope it goes away on its own.  We should bring it out in the open and deal with it (1 Corinthians 5:3-4).  If we know people who have lost God's truth, we should not write them off.  In fact, we should go after them and get them back (James 5:19).  Losing God's truth is easy to do because Satan is alive and active.  Satan is clever and he knows how to make us believe his lies.  If we see this happening, we need to go to the person - not "mind our own business."  It is our business, because if one part of the body suffers, then all the other parts suffer with it (I Corinthians 12:26).

We do this because of love and with love.  Our strong love for each other will prove to the world that we are His disciples (John 13:35).  We are called to encourage one another daily (Hebrews 3:13).   We are told that "whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it.  Never tell your neighbor to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now" (Proverbs 3:27-28).  We are to "share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).  Someone in despair should have the devotion of his friends (Job 6:14).

And finally, this means we must step out of our precious little comfort zone and be bold.  There will be times that people get mad at us or take it the wrong way.  But the Bible tells us, "In the end, people appreciate frankness more than flattery" (Proverbs 28:23) and that "An honest answer is a sign of true friendship" (Proverbs 24:26).

No wonder people complain about not "feeling" and "hearing" God.  He's probably trying to speak through us and we're to afraid to open our mouths.  We are supposed to be BOLD in Christ and STAND UP and SPEAK UP for Him!

Wonderful Weekend

Hello sweet friends!

I hope you had a terrific weekend!  Parker & I had a wonderful weekend!  He came to Chapel Hill on Friday night for the UNC v. Barton exhibition game and we had a blast.  Parker graduated from Barton in December of 2008, and they won the Division II National Championship in 2007, and I graduated from UNC in May of 2010 and we won the Division I National Championship in 2009.  He decided to wear his national championship shirt... so I had to wear mine!  We are a competitive couple - what can I say? haha

Let's just say that Carolina won big.  Ironically, the same night, our high school football teams played each other, and the South Central Falcons (my high school) beat DH Conley Vikings (Parker's high school).  It was a tough night for Parker.  Haha!

Quick story - When we were in high school, Parker and I made a bet on the South Central v. Conley game my sophomore/his senior year.  If Conley won, I had to clean out and wash his truck (at the time, a 1990 Chevy K-5 Blazer), but if South Central won, he had to plan a surprise romantic date night.  A few weeks later, he fixed a candlelight dinner and we started our Christmas Light Tour tradition. :)  Yay Falcons! (I just read what I wrote about the tradition in a previous post, and it was almost exactly the same as what I wrote here... at least I know that I'm consistent in my storytelling)

ANYWAYS...

On Saturday, we moved my beloved bookcase and all my books to the condo.  Although I miss my books and hate the big empty space in my apartment, I love the addition to the condo.

We also went to the first half of the ECU v. Navy game, also known as the biggest embarrassment in ECU's history.  It started raining at halftime, so we left, and thank goodness we did, because ECU ended up losing 76-35.  WHOA... talk about a butt-whoopin!  Carolina had a big win against Florida State though, so the weekend wasn't a total disappointment in the football sphere.

Sunday, we went to church - and I just want to say that I LOVE our Sunday school class.  The switch to a new class was a great decision.  We really enjoy being with couples like us - i.e. recently married, seriously dating, or beginning to have children.  It is so refreshing!  I know that we are making some long-time friendships with these folks and I feel really good about it!

I am so excited about this coming weekend!  Weston's baseball team will be playing in the Top Gun World Series!!  We recently found out that his team is ranked #4 in the state!  Go Warriors!

My two-part life

Lately it feels like I have two lives - one Monday-Thursday as a teacher-in-training, graduate student doing school work, and one Friday-Sunday as a wife-in-training doing house work, spending time with family and friends.  I live in Chapel Hill Monday-Thursday, with my parents Friday-Sunday, and work on our home Friday-Sunday with Parker.  I'm ready for my second life to be full time.

Last weekend, we were so busy, but we had a great time!  Friday night we went to a park called Deadwood with my parents and Weston's baseball coach and his wife, Weston, and a few of his baseball buddies.  Deadwood has putt-putt, a train ride, a restaurant, and a bunch of other stuff.  The owners turn it into a haunted house and train ride around Halloween, so we decided it would be fun to check it out.

This was my first haunted anything... and I was nervous.   Parker looked scared, but he was so excited. haha

Let's just say that Deadwood will be my last haunted anything.  The haunted house wasn't that scary... but it was scary enough for me!  I think I scared myself more than anything.  I kept thinking, "I know something's about to happen, I know something's about to happen" and I made myself very paranoid.

The boys had a great time, and even though it was less than 50 degrees they had on shorts and ate ice cream.  So tough.  Ha! 

Parker and I worked at Operation-In-As-Much on Saturday morning with some folks from our sunday school class. Operation-In-As-Much is an event put on by a bunch of local churches where people go out in the community and volunteer doing yard work (what we did), build houses, visit with the elderly, run backyard bible studies, etc.  It was quite chilly, but the difference we made was awesome.

Then, we invited Casey & Ryan, our friends from church, over for dinner and board games.  The boys kicked our butts in Battle of the Sexes, and then Parker ran the table on us in Pictionary with Ryan getting 2nd place by a point.  Casey & I obviously need to step up our game haha!

This weekend, Parker bought us tickets to the UNC v. Barton exhibition game at the Dean Dome, so we are having a date night!  Whoo hoo!  Then we will be going to the ECU game or my brothers benefit tournament or something else that comes up tomorrow...  Church on Sunday, and then I'll be returning to my other life on Monday.

Talk to you soon!