Jesus and Godly Friendships

That was the sermon title last night. It really got me thinking. Here is a synopsis of his points so you can understand where I'm going with this. The text was Mark 2: 1-12. You will be able to download the sermon here (it usually takes a few days). His main points were:

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE GODLY FRIENDS . . .

• WHEN THEY GET INVOLVED IN YOUR PARALYSIS v. 3, Js 2:14-16, Ro 12:15
  
• WHEN THEY ARE DESPARATE FOR YOU TO BE IN FRONT OF JESUS v.4, 2 Ti 2:10, Col 1: 28-29
  
• WHEN THEY ENTRUST THEIR LIMITE ABLITIES TO THE UNLIMITED POWER OF CHRIST v.4-5 (there was a lot of expounding on this point, I suggest you listen to the sermon—it'll be worth it!)
  
• WHEN THEY CELEBRATE AND WORSHIP JESUS FOR HIS REDEEMING WORK IN YOUR LIFE
  

Anyway, he ended with a challenge to be involved in godly friendships—challenging us to be godly friends. He asked who our four friends were. I was so blessed to see that during the "trash dump" time (in our service anyway) there were a lot of men dealing with stuff. Women usually see the importance of deep (though not always godly) friendships and men can struggle with that more.

All that to say, it has made me think of my friends past, present, and (with a possible move) future. First my past. I had 4 best friends in high school—my sister, Kim; Sara, Lisa and Jess. We went through a lot together and spent a lot of time in prayer together. We walked through all the drama of high school, the terminal illness of one of our cousins, Kim and I lost two uncles (one who knew the Lord and one who didn't), losing our youth pastor to a church plant, and early in college the loss of Sara's father. Our lives have gone separate ways but we stay in touch. Kim and Sara have both lost sons. Lisa is expecting her first child. Jess and her husband adopted 3 Russian siblings who didn't know English at first and have lots of baggage from orphanage life. We all married wonderful, godly men. I would be a different person if not for them and how they lived those points out in my life.

Also past are my friends from college—Natha, Amy, and Leanne. They are such amazing women, striving to live lives that honor our Lord. I am in constant amazement every time I hear from one of them. They were there when my cousin finally went to meet Jesus; when I was overwhelmed with working full time, being a full time student, and still not making ends meet; when Sara's dad died; when I broke up with my first boyfriend; and all the drama that comes with being young and in college. They loved on me, encouraged me, kept bitterness at bay, and pointed me to Jesus.

My present has two facets. First, my family—my mom, Kim, Nikki, and my SIL, Tiffany. These women are a-maz-ing! I know that they will always be there for me. Just by their example alone I am pushed in front of Jesus. My mother is living proof that Jesus can change and heal anyone. Kim has walked through overwhelming grief with more grace than anyone I have ever met. Nikki has taught me so much about perseverance through real physical, draining pain and did it all with joy and purpose. Tiffany teaches me about the redemptive power of our Lord—how to accept forgiveness and to live in dignity and humility afterwards. I would be lost without them and long to have them a part of my daily life. I am also "wise" enough to just be grateful to have them at all.

My other present—Amanda, Sarah, Amy, Marisa, Penny. Amanda has walked through so many things with me. I have seen Jesus get a hold of her heart and change her in so many beautiful ways. It makes me get on my face before the Lord and ask Him to work in me the same way. Sarah is new to my circle of friends—she's only been around for a year or so. She teaches me so much about loving others as they are and about intentionally bringing them Jesus. Amy is daily becoming like Jesus. I want to be like that. Marisa I don't talk to near enough but whenever I do I know I am in a safe place—I can share my most intimate struggles with her and know she will love and pray for me. Penny is my hero. She loves Jesus, loves nursing, gets me in trouble (and vice versa), and has walked the "marriage without children road" much longer than me with such amazing grace and peace. She is willing to go to dangerous places to care for those who are sacrificing so much for us. She is light in a very dark place. For a "quiet" person who is not a "social butterfly" she constantly shows me how to get inside people and really know them. There are so many more from my house church (past and present)—Kristi, Kelly, Holly, Amber, Amy, Tracey; but this is already a small novel.

I left the sermon challenged and praising God. I pray you, my friends, have such a list. If not, go out on a limb and make some. They may not look like you. They may be a lot older or younger than you. You may get rejected a few times—try anyway. We are to be known by our love.

After the Oscars

We had such a great time at our Oscar party last night! I always try to class up the house and decorations by using gold, black, silver, red and crystal. This year we got a HUGE boquet of white flowers--think old classy Hollywood On the drink table, I used a white table cloth, a red runner to mimick the red carpet (thany you Rachael Ray). Also courtesy of Rachael Ray, I got white napkins and drew black lines on them and where they met I put a gold seal. They looked like the envelopes--except this year they used red seals. Oh, well. I was happy with the results. I picked up some red burlap fabric on sale and used that for our red carpet. Ralph picked up some really fun prizes. We have used Blockbuster gift cards for the last few years so we of course used those again this year. We also gave away a "Juno" soundtrack, an "Enchanted" soundtrack, "Michael Clayton" on DVD and two "date nights" (two tickets to a movie, popcorn, and something else--Ralph got them). Everyone seemed to have a great time.
We served hot apple cider, a champagne punch (minus the simple syrup), French press coffee, and water with lemon. The punch is a wonderful light, refreshing punch. It serves quite a few people and is really easy to make! We had some really creative food again this year. I just picked a couple to show. Our friends Jeff and Sarah made the "There Will Be Blood Pudding." Jeff spent all afternoon on the structers. Kelly made the "Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pies" for "Sweeney Todd." I have to admit--I loved what I made. They are called "Texas Millionaires." They are caramel, pecans and chocolate. So yummy! I made them for "Charlie Wilson's War"--about a politician who surrounded himself with Texas millionaires.
I will go into the dresses in a later post but overall no huge fashion blunders--some should look at hiring a new stylist and some should maybe get one, but overall I loved the dresses!

A Picure is Worth a Thousand Words . . .

. . .or so they say! Tonight I am too tired to be verbose, so here are some pics of what I've been up to.

Cuddling with Kenya.











Coffee with Penny . . .


. . .at Night Sky Coffee House.













You have to try the hats on when antique shopping!









Aren't we cute?
















Like it? Love it? Hate it? Penny and I loved it. Ralph hates it. I want it for my dining room.
What do you think?

Yummy food

Ralph and I have decided we need to eat at home more this year. We are trying to both save money and eat healthier. So last Wednesday, I planned a menu and shopped. The menu was supposed to have been for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We made our dinners on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday I made some spaghetti sauce with a ton of veggies and simmered it all with the rind of parmesan cheese. We had garlic salad and garlic bread with it. (Can you tell we like garlic just a little bit?) Thursday we made Knife and Fork Burgers with Provolone Dipping Sauce and Roasted Tomato Salad. They were really good!

 

Then we took a little break. Ralph got a call/text from a good friend asking us to go to dinner with him and his girlfriend on Friday night. We had wanted to get together with them for a while, our house was a disaster and we were too tired to host so we went out. Then Saturday after work we raced down to Kettering from Fairborn to make it to church and were much too tired to cook after that so we went out.

 

Sunday we used one of the recipes/menu items for HC. We made Sopa de Pedra (Rock Soup). It was so good. To look at it, it looks like just another tomatoey soup recipe, but the hot sauce gives it this great kick! We used ham for the meat. It was really good! I had it for lunch today and it was even better the second day. Tonight we made Jon's Grilled Tuna Salad. I loved it! We served it on toasted English Muffin Bread. I really like it! It was salty and tasted fresh and light at the same time. Ralph only thought it was "ok". It just wasn't what he was expecting when he thought "tuna salad." This is especially sad due to the fact he made it. Come to think of it because I have been working so much, he not we made most of these recipes. If you are looking for something new, I would recommend all three and Ralph would recommend the first two. Are we walking advertisements for Rachael Ray or what?

Dinner for 6

As many of you know, there is nothing more dear to my heart than throwing a dinner party. So, when my cousin announced her engagement on Christmas Eve I began thinking, "THIS calls for a dinner party." The best part is that my bro and sis-in-law have this great apartment that just screams "Throw dinner parties here!" So we did. I planned the meal, Tif and I went shopping and then we cooked the meal together (while Bobby and Ralph played Xbox 360-with occasional pauses to help us out). We invited Holly and Adam (the cousin and fiancé) and tried to get Heidi (other cousin) to come but all those serious couples are very intimidating to an unattached college student apparently. We had a fine menu planned it consisted of :

• Tomato, Basil and Bacon Crostini's and Pomegranate Mocktinis
  
• Caesar Salad with Pizzetta's with Olive Tamponade and Provolone Cheese
  
• Carbonara
  
• Cheesy Garlic Bread
  
• Smores Pizza with homemade vanilla ice cream and hot fudge
  

 

The crostini recipe comes from this wonderful cookbook I found my first year living in Dayton. We love the cookbook and the crostini's! The Caesar dressing in that particular recipe was disappointing, no one liked the flavor. The presentation was a lot of fun, though! Carbonara, specifically Racheal Ray's is an old stand-by for Ralph and I, it's our go-to meal. The garlic bread recipe came from my mom and is a family favorite (as well as super easy). My bro and Tiff make really good homemade ice cream so obviously we had to have some of that!

It was a great night of food, conversation and fun! Bobby and Tiffany have such a great place for hosting and are great hosts themselves. Thanks for a wonderful night all!

Happy New Year!

So as I sit here with my dad watching the Rose Parade and drinking coffee, I can't help but praise the Lord for His goodness. I am right where I want to be at this time every year. My 29th birthday was yesterday and, as my husband is well aware, it is very important for me to be at home in MN for my birthday. It is truly a blessing that I can count on one hand (it's really only been 1 maybe 2) how many times I've had to stay in OH over the last 10 years on my birthday.
We had such a fun time last night celebrating my birthday. Unfortunately, my brother's girls were both sick so they stayed home. However my sister-in-law made this terrific cake. It was her first bundt cake and she did great! In our family, the birthday person gets to pick their meal, cake, ice cream, etc. We don't really do gifts, the meal is the gift. We've had some meals in our time too! Well this year I planned my meal around this cake. I knew I wanted cinnamon ice cream with it and then thought long and hard about what meal would go well with the cake and ice cream. I finally decided on roast. It was so good! We did it a little Italian style with Italian seasoned stewed tomatoes and some garlic, basil and thyme along with the potatoes, carrots, celery and onion. We also had this terrific garlic salad our family has been addicted to this week, blueberry cream muffins, and rhubarb muffins. My aunt made this wonderful raspberry salad as well. We had my aunt and her 7 kids, my cousin's fiance, and my great uncle all over to my parents house. We played XBOX games, Monopoly and Dance Praise 2. We love Dance Praise! Ralph and I picked it up for my aunt and cousins for Christmas and now my mom insists our family needs one. There is video to come--we just don't have the cords we need for our camera, but trust me we will load some! I don't really see birthdays as something to avoid. I think it has something to do with being a New Year's baby. It always seems to be a fresh start--a chance to evaluate the past year and look forward to the new. When I think back to the things God has brought me through, I don't really want to relive any of those things--I'm grateful for them in retrospect, but I want to move forward. Age is part of moving forward. It's also a challenge for me to retain my youthful enthusiasm and idealism and faith while balancing it with the wisdom, knowledge and experience the Lord has provided. As I head in to this new year both literally (2008) and next year of life, I have a few desires/goals. I want to become a mother, Lord willing, as I watch my siblings I definitely see that God's timing is best. I will wait on Him. I want to grow closer to Him this year and memorize more Scripture. I am committing to read the Bible chronologically this year with a group of women (and men) on-line. I want to honor the Lord with my body and take better care of His temple, my body. As I sign off for today, I pray "that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be ale to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God." (Philippians 1:9-11)