Hipster Baby Shower

We were so excited when my bestie and her hubby moved here to Austin last summer!  God certainly had a plan for them because soon after they became pregnant with their first.  I'm so thrilled that I'll live near them and be able to be an "auntie" to their little boy!  We had a baby shower for her a couple of weeks ago - and it was CUTE!  So even though I really can't take the credit for a lot of this (lovely ladies from her church did most of it!), I thought I'd share some ideas and pictures, since basically everyone is popping out a kid these days...except me. Phew.

The theme was...."Hipster!"  So we had lots of plaid, bowties, ties, and buttons.  This is a theme you could really run with.  

These cookies were thick, fluffy, and buttery but stayed together beautifully!  Sorry I don't have the recipe, but I need it.  As you can see...bowties, buttons, and ties for the little man.

The food was perfect to satisfy after-church lunch cravings.  I found these cute multi-colored plaid napkins at Michael's.  And, notice the use of mason jars. I'm convinced mason jars make any party better. 

This cheese ball was a big hit!  Again, I don't have the recipe, which is at this very moment being added to my to-do list.  But, it's the prettiest little cheese ball I've ever seen with the almonds and roasted red peppers and spinach all wrapped up in it, and it was incredibly tasty.

Another recipe that I need - this punch!  I just kept drinking it.  It was some sort of unique combination that was just irresistible.  We had adorable mason jars wrapped with mini "bowties" to serve it in. I can't believe I missed getting a picture of those.     

Mini quiche, salads, and small ham sandwiches with different kinds of mustard, that cheese ball with little toast crackers, those buttery cookies, and punch! - sure to satisfy any hungry lady.

The game: guests are split into teams and given magazines, paper, scissors, and glue and asked to make a picture or collage representing the new baby!  Then each team has to present to the baby mama (which is the really funny part) and Mama gets to pick a winner.  I've done it twice now, and both times people had lots of fun and got creative.  It can make for some big laughs!  Incidentally, we just had a similar activity in my class and we even enjoyed it there - cutting up magazines is fun! End of story.  
Oh! I also made these cute clothespins for the occasion, then Mama got to take them home with her to hang baby's clothes or stick on her fridge.  They are a quick easy craft with scrapbooking paper and mod podge.  This was my first time using mod podge and I have a lot of leftover mod podge which means you can prepare yourself for whatever I decide to try with mod podge next.  I like the word mod podge!   View the tutorial here.  

Someone made this great name banner with paper and they hung up some of the cutest and most colorful cloth diapers with more of the clothespins.

And these are just the sweetest prayer cards for everyone to fill out!

This was fun - can't wait for the next shower!

Lessons from Esther Part II: Bring it all to your king

Dating might be difficult, but I sure am glad I got to date my husband first instead of being put into a situation like Esther was.  She had one night, one night to make a lasting impression on the king so that he would remember her name, one night to convince him that she could be the wife he was looking for.  Talk about pressure.

Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins.  So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. ~ Es. 2:17 NIV

That's it. That's all the information we get about her singular night with the king.  Bummer!  Fortunately, it does tell us quite a bit though - God is awesome like that.  A great tip I learned in Bible Study Fellowship classes is to look up other bible translations of the verse in question, and then go to the dictionary to get more insight into particular words.  Here are some other translations:

The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him... NASB

The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight... ESV

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight...KJV

The king fell in love with Esther far more than with any of his other women or any of the other virgins - he was totally smitten with her. - The Message

There's only one word used that indicates that the king's infatuation with Esther rested solely upon her beauty: "attracted."  All the other words underlined indicate that the king's feelings for her went far deeper.  Let's see what the dictionary can tell us:

Love - profoundly tender, passionate affection for another, warm personal attachment or deep affection,  sexual desire or passion

Favor - friendly or well-disposed regard, goodwill, a gift bestowed as a token of goodwill, love

Grace - a manifestation of favor, pleasing or attractive quality or endowment, goodwill

Approve - to think or speak favorably of

It's safe to say that Esther brought much much more to the king than her body.  She brought along her mind and her personality as well.  They shared more than just physical intimacy, but emotional intimacy as well.  The king is just a man after all, in need of a woman by his side who he can confide in, just one person in the world with whom he can be himself and be vulnerable.  As king, he must have been constantly surrounded by fake people who either inflated themselves or foolishly kissed up to the king and his every move.  Famous people are just people after all.  Everyone longs to have someone by their side that they can just be real with.  I think Esther was that for the king.  Remember that for your king or queen!

Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. (Says the king!)  Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. ~ Proverbs 31:29-30

Lessons from Esther: Part I - The Lap of "Luxury"

Confession: Although I am a woman who has been studying the bible for 8 years now, I had never read the book of Esther until this week.  

Whew, ok. Now that that's off my chest, I would like to state for the record that Esther is a new favorite of mine.  If there are any other women (or men) out there who have not ventured over to those pages of your bible, I suggest you do so very very soon.  Only 10 chapters, packed to the brim with action and drama and life lessons - which is why this post is "Part I."  Esther is officially added to my list of people that I would like very much to have dinner with in Heaven.  Maybe even coffee.  I feel like we could be friends.  So, I want to focus on her and her character.

Esther is an orphan who has been adopted by her cousin Mordecai (who would be another amazing character study!).  We know that she is an extremely beautiful young virgin.  She and Mordecai are Jews living in Susa, a citadel of Persia.  Susa held a magnificent fortified acropolis and palace complex for the king.  The king at the time is Xerxes, who ruled from 486-465 BC.  Historically, he's best known for his invasion of Greece (and his eventual loss).  When Esther meets him, he's about 40 years old.  The law of the land was that no one could approach the king without a summons - ever. Any offenders would promptly have their heads removed from their bodies, unless the king lowered his scepter and allowed them to proceed, which was rare for him to do.

Lightning fast summary of chapter 1: Xerxes throws a massive party for all of Susa.  He becomes drunk and asks his eunuchs to bring him his Queen, Vashti, so that he can parade her in front of his guests as eye-candy.  Vashti must be another woman of some strength and character, because she refuses even though she surely knows the consequences will be severe.  In his anger, the king banishes her and plans to find a "better" queen.

Chapter 2 opens 4 years later, after Xerxes has returned from his battles against Greece.  For him, his homecoming is not so warm because he no longer has a wife!  So his attendants basically propose a competition, like a Bachelorette reality show of epic proportions.  They round up many young girls to be Queen candidates.   Enter Esther!
Es. 2:9 ...Esther also was taken to the king's palace...
Esther had no choice in this matter as she was taken away from her father and protector and whisked into the palace.  She was removed from everything and everyone she knew and lost all of her hopes and dreams she likely had of meeting a nice Jewish boy, marrying for love and bearing his children.  Now the man she had to look to was the king of the empire!  Quite literally, the king of her known world.

And here's what was ahead of her:  12 months of beauty treatments, 6 months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.  She would then choose anything she wanted to bring with her when she went for her one single night with the king. After that she would be sent to the king's harem with the concubines where she would remain unless the king summoned her by name (Es. 2:12-14).  So there were two ways this could turn out, she would be Queen or she would be one of likely hundreds of concubines living out their days in vain awaiting the call of king.

Can you imagine being a commoner suddenly thrust into such a spectacle? For a taste of the lavish lifestyle which she found herself in, look back in chapter 1 verses 4-8 where the king's city-wide party is described.  Words pop out like: enclosed gardens, linens, marble pillars, couches of gold and silver, gold goblets, mother-of-pearl, and an open bar to the entire population of the city!  Add in all those months of beauty treatments, and we don't have to think too hard about what this could mean for all these young women.  A similar parallel today could be those who are suddenly made famous by a hit song or a movie.  We know how those stories turn out. We see them splashed all over our check out lanes on a daily basis.  How easy it would be for our heads to inflate and our pride to run away with us, taking our hearts and our rational minds with it.  Imagine the drama, the envy and jealousy, the snide remarks, the cliques that would crop up within days in such circumstances.

So, Esther was put under the charge of Hegai, the eunuch who was head of the harem.  And, The girl pleased him and won his favor.  Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food.  He assigned to her seven maids...and moved her into the best place in the harem - Es. 2:9 emphasis mine.

Hegai, who sees hundreds of these young women, immediately takes notice of Esther.  She must not have been crying her eyes out, flaunting herself, or gossiping with the others.  She must have had an inner peace, humbleness, and grace, that emanated from her.  We know that Esther does not reveal her nationality and continues to obey all of Mordecai's teachings (Es. 2:10, 20).  In this, she remains true to herself, her family, and her faith.

Sadly, we don't get to hear about her 12 months of preparation and beauty treatments.  How I would love for more insight into that time of her life and how she kept her head and her heart intact!  The story skips straight to her night with the king and we are told, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai...suggested.  And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her - Es. 2:15 emphasis mine.  It kills me that we don't know what this item was, and when I meet her it will be one of my burning questions!  But we can presume that while the other girls are probably throwing on as many impressive pieces of jewelry and extravagant gifts for the king that they can think of, Esther keeps it simple.  She does not presume to be a know-it-all.  She humbles herself and asks for help and advice, and then she takes it!  The other girls must have thought she was nuts.  I imagine them saying, "Represent yourself!  How will the king ever remember you with so little?"  But, Esther isn't just bringing her body, she's bringing her whole self to the king. And that is part II.

My Heroes

My grandparents are my role models.  Papa Jack and Grandma Mitzi have been married for almost 67 years!  Papa always gives the advice, "Never go to bed angry."  He says that he and Grandma have only ever pulled one all-nighter sorting out a dispute - he doesn't remember what it was about.  That is advice that Matt and I have taken to heart and live by.  It's good advice, because it's also biblical!  Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians,

Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 

and do not give the devil a foothold ~ Eph. 4:26

My grandparents are my picture of a successful Godly marriage.  Just look at how precious they are!

Dancing at my wedding!

My grandparents met when they were both students at LSU.  Grandma was stunningly beautiful and dated around!  Papa was one of those boys she dated, and he determined to marry her.  The story goes that he asked her every night for a month to marry him before she said yes.  Grandma says after all that she knew he really meant it!  Matt and I have a somewhat similar story, but more on that later.  

My grandparents are also my picture of hard work and service.  Papa grew up in hard times during the Depression.  He was one of seven siblings under a strong single mother.  They all had to chip in and work hard to support the family!  Papa fought in WWII with the Army Air Corps.  When he and Grandma had their four children, he worked for something like 30 years as a salesman at Sears (back in the good old days!).  He and Grandma served in the community multiple ways.  Papa used to love to drive the bus to pick up the very elderly and the disabled to bring them to church.  He also served with the Methodist corps on numerous disaster relief trips.  They've been on missions and supported missionaries.  They raised four successful children, including my daddy.  My Grandma is intelligent and wise.  She is a historian and an author and has faithfully stood by my Papa's side through thick and thin.  She's the glimmer in his eye.  I am so proud of them!

I've been thinking about them a lot lately because my 90 year old Papa recently had spinal surgery.  What was supposed to be a 4 hour procedure was only one and a half!  He bounced back incredibly quickly and is proving to be a difficult patient that can't sit still!  I can only hope that I'll encounter patients as fun and lovingly difficult as he is when I am a COTA one day.  We are praising God for the success of this surgery and are praying that it will prove to relieve his back pain and leg weakness so he can keep on keepin' on.   

Diving in

I had a whole list of reasons why I never wanted to start a blog.  But, I just threw them all out the window.  I'm just diving into the deep end, even though I don't really swim!  That's called faith.

So why am I starting a blog? Why now?
For starters, I have tremendously awesome friends and family living all over the place.  This is just one more way to connect with all of you!  I miss you. You know who you are.

You can expect to see posts on here about our adventures, recipes, crafty things, and what in the world an OTA is.

Also, I've been noticing a trend in all of my conversations lately: Life is hard. And being an adult is hard.  Newsflash of the day, right?
 I am a young adult.  More recently I've noticed a definite shift among my peers into this world called adulthood.  And I think we're all in a bit of shock about it.  A few years out of college now and we're getting a clearer picture of life and the "real world" and the general consensus I think is, "Wow, this is really really hard."  How do I be married?  (Or how do I be single?) How do I work at this job every week? No more semester breaks! How do I pay for this? How do I make solid friendships in this world? How do we know when we're ready to buy a car, a house, start that business, go back to school? Or the big one recently, not for me but for many of my friends...kids?! What do we do when all of these things are happening out of the order we had planned on? How do we balance all of that and more?  Could we possibly have any more decisions to make?

For many of you reading this, my friends, really what we want and need to know is...how do we follow God through all of this? How do we live in his joy, grace, and peace? How do we make our lives a testament to Him? How do we stay strong in a culture that seems to be increasingly hostile to the gospel?

Inspiration for the name of my blog came from my favorite bible verse:
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I'm hoping that this blog serves to encourage someone!  We're in it together, striving to be joyful always in this world because of our hope in Christ.  Let's be real with each other.  Let's talk about the hard stuff.