It's Official

I was trying to wait for Wade to have the honor of posting this first, but I couldn't wait any longer! Wade and I are moving to Charlotte, NC. We are so excited about what God is going to do with this new adventure.

Basically, Wade was offered a Worship Pastor position at Elevation Church and we decided to go for it. It was an interesting process trying to figure out where God really wanted us to be and what Wade needed to do with the gifts he has been given. I am truly thankful for this opportunity and I am really excited for what Charlotte will bring for me as a graphic designer. So if you have some kind of connection to Charlotte and know of some design jobs then let me know! I'm sure more details will follow and I will chronicle our move.

Would You Rather Wednesday

I have decided that I enjoy hearing your responses to random questions. Ya'll need to get better at the how many game. But I now establish Wednesdays (as long as I can remember to do it) as Would You Rather Day! So here is your question.

Would you rather:
lose your keys three days in a row
or
have your dog eat your birthday cake?

I actually left my keys at church while Wade was gone. So thankfully I got to use his keys. So I would rather lose my keys three days in a row. Birthday cake is just so good.

How Many?

I got this from Question of the Day.

This is the How Many ??? game, and this is how we play:
The person before you has asked How Many??? You’ll answer their question in the comments as well as ask the next person a How Many??? question. The next person answers your question, and asks another, etc…..
Easy enough, right?

For the first one to comment:

How many bones have you broken?

Pour me some coffee and some love

It has been a long time since I have been this tired. Chi Alpha knocked me out. Wade and I slept all day on Sunday and I guess I haven't gotten back on my regular schedule. So at work yesterday and today I have been doing the head nod and have to wake myself up. It is pretty funny.

But there is one thing that I want to share about Chi Alpha. Our speaker Darren talked about loving others on the last night. Basically my thought from the talk is...I want to be known as a Christian that pours out love on people rather than someone that is judgmental. I want people who have done things that they think no one can get past to know that Christians are there to support them.

I can't believe how so many Christians have this judgmental attitude. We had Christ as our ultimate example on how to comfort those that the Pharisees thought were not good enough to be around them, but we tend to look more like Pharisees instead of Christ.

Jesus comforted the prostitute that was about to be stoned. He didn't condemn her. We have women and girls out there that do the same thing, but you hear more about how she messed up her life from Christians rather than how burdened they are by it. There are people who become addicted to drugs that I hear Christians say they probably deserved it rather than how they can pray for their healing. The list goes on and on.

I challenge us as Christians to truly love on people. No matter who they are, what they have done, what they look like, what they say, or how they act...we need to love on them. We need to be reminded that we are representing Jesus and people are watching. I know this is a hard concept to actually live out because I fail miserably at it. But I want to challenge myself to really change my heart and my actions to be full of love.

CHI ALPHA

Wednesday was a whirlwind. I left work early and arrived in Charlotte at 4:30. Wade's plane hadn't arrived yet so I looped around the pick-up area about 7 times. Then I got to see my gorgeous husband! I was so ready for him to be back. We headed off to a Charlotte resturant to meet up with some people for dinner and had a great time. We spent the night in Charlotte and had to come back to Columbia yesterday.


Then last night Chi Alpha began. This is like Discipleship Now. We have the kids come to the church and hear a guest speaker and band and then on Friday night and Saturday night they spend the night in host homes. It is going to be a lot of fun. I have my camera this weekend so I should get some good shots for the week. It will be fun! I am getting to be a co-leader with my new friend Kristin and I am so excited! We have hung out a little together but this is going to be a great time to really connect. Her boyfriend Christian and my Wade are very close and do a lot of music stuff together. So we always like hanging out with them.

On another note, this has been the month of birthdays in my family. My sister's birthday was April 22nd, my dad's birthday was April 26th, and my brother-in-laws birthday is April 28th! So I wanted to wish them all HAPPY BIRTHDAY and tell them that I love them all! They are the best family anyone could ask for. Here is a celebratory birthday hat for each.

You crazy Judges

I had this preconceived notion that the book of Judges was boring. I guess I associated it with law and court cases or something and figured it would be torture to get through. Boy was I wrong. I mean already all these people are being murdered. Some dude had his thumbs and big toes chopped off. However, this is probably the craziest one so far.

It's amazing what is happening in Judges. I mean you finish the book of Joshua where the Israelites have been given all this land and they have been given victory over every single enemy. All they have to do to keep living the high and mighty life is to follow the Lord. But you know what happens? The people who saw all these amazing things die and their children don't give one hoot about it. I mean they rebel like crazy. They start following Baal and worship other gods and get engrossed in the other cultures and leave God at the door. So God puts the smack-down over and over and send their enemies to destroy them. And eventually the Israelites cry out to God, "Save us!" And he brings them a judge to conquer the enemy and to rule the land with peace until they die.

I started thinking about that cycle the Israelites are in. I mean how many times have we been shown God's might, strength, power, glory, etc and we turn our heads. We look at this other kind of cool thing over here. And then we begin to doubt God or we rebel or maybe we even say He doesn't exist. I used to get annoyed with the Israelites saying that they were lame because they couldn't trust God. They would cry to Moses that he should have left them in Egypt because they would surely die traveling to the promise land. But I'm just like them. I will see God do something amazing or feel the Holy Spirit totally engulf me at a moment. And then it's back to same ole Ferris who doesn't realize the power she has with a huge God on her side. Something to remember next time I think about turning my head.

Come back Wade

I have been missing some Wade today. He went out of town and I couldn't go because of work. Usually a Monday consists of coming home from work and immediately getting a hug from Wade and then talking about our days to one another. Instead, I came home yesterday and there was no Wade. Just Scooter. It was sad. Then usually during the day Wade and I will have about 3 or so times that we will talk during the day. They are usually less than a minute, but they just let each other know we are thinking about them. But today because of his conference I haven't gotten to talk to him much.

Also, I think that if any of you miss his blogging then you should leave a comment and tell him to blog again! I know I miss it.

Now I don't know if any of you know this but Wade is the king of the "Would You Rather" game. He is known for his quick wit with coming up with a question and his reasoning behind his answers. It is actually amazing how awesome he is at it. So in honor of Wade and since it makes me smile thinking of him playing would you rather I pose a question to all of you?

Would You Rather...
hit every red light for the rest of your life
or
always be wrong?

My answer is hit every red light. I hate being wrong. And you would probably see more of the world around you if you stopped at every red light.

What's your answer?

A Wonderful Weekend

I had an amazing weekend in Belton. I got to visit my sister and see my baby niece Pressley and the rest of the fam. Pressley was so awesome and I had a blast laughing with my sister and hanging out on Saturday. On Saturday we (me, sharlie, dad, mom, Pressley) went to eat lunch at Grits and Groceries and I knocked over a glass of ice and watered down Coke into my lap so that it looked like I went to the bathroom in my pants and it all happened because I jumped when a fly landed on my finger. Then that night we ate at Olive Garden (the dinner guests were my dad, mom, Sharlie, Pressley, me and Benjamin) and we had a fabulous time and laughed the whole time. My dad knocked over a chair and almost hit a prom couple.

I was really sad to leave. I missed Wade incredibly and had to get back to see him, but I wish I was just an hour closer to my family. I tried to talk Sharlie into moving to Columbia but for some reason she won't.

I read her most recent blog and almost started crying. Then later I tried to tell Wade how much the blog meant to me and I actually did cry. This line she wrote kept getting me: "I wish that I could wake up tomorrow and relive today. I had a blast." Me too!!

I don't know if I am getting soft or what. I used to never show emotions and now I am all girly and crying. I guess I just really started realizing what is important. And family is very high on the list. My sister gave a little background on our history so check out her blog to read some of our past, but I will tell you that although we didn't really have crazy siblings fights we weren't that close growing up. So I never knew how we would be when we got older. But as soon as we are together it is just like how you would act with your best friend. So open, so much fun, lots of deep and good conversations, and now a baby we can oooh and aaahh over. It was an amazing weekend.

Pressley not liking the new hat I bought her.
Pressley getting some nourishment and doing some cool hand motion.
Beautiful mom and baby.
The Griers as a family.
My precious niece.

Also, I put more weekend pics on my Flickr account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferrisjoye/

Cool Links

Under my cool links category I just added my new Flickr page. Hopefully I will start adding some pics on that site so I can get more use out of my amazing new camera!

Here is the link as well:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferrisjoye/

CHECK ME OUT (bigstuf)

These are the images that I sent to BigStuf (a giganto summer camp for youth groups). They weren't picked so I thought it would be okay to show you. They told me their summer camp was focused on the word rhythm and that I could interpret that how I wanted. I sent them these descriptions as well:

Concept 1 (first two images): "Rhythm all Around You" I tried to think of being engulfed in rhythm. In these images I use a very simple face and then show rhythm through colors, patterns, motion, and some music notes. The feeling that rhythm can be wherever we go and these two people are taking notice.

Concept 2 (second two images): "Musical Rhythm" I went with literal rhythm here. Here the rhythm has taken over the very instrument that brought it to life. I used detail in the way the lines made each instrument and how the rhythm has now affected its atmosphere. We could use any instrument. I picked two of the most common.

Concept 3 (solar): "Solar Rhythm" This idea comes from the fact that rhythm is bigger than we are. Our planets and solar system are on a rhythm that God designed before any creature roamed the earth. It also shows how if anything went off its rhythm then our world would cease to exist. There are so many things held in a delicate balance and rhythm in our universe.

Concept 4 (waves)" "Ocean Rhythm" The ocean is a constant symbol of rhythm. In this image I focused on a rhythm that can be peaceful and soothing. It has the feel of watching the ocean waves crash during a sunrise. It is the rhythm of the water mixed with the power of the waves that brings us to a "wow" moment.

CONCEPT 1

CONCEPT 2
CONCEPT 3

CONCEPT 4

My Meagan!

There's a fire in my bones

So this weekend I got completely drained, but in an amazing way. I attended the Beth Moore conference Friday night and Saturday morning. I am sure that I am going to post some of my thoughts from the weekend, but for right now I think the biggest thing I learned from her is how important the Holy Spirit is. I mean as a Christian I always "knew" this, but somehow now I really embrace it. One of my favorite things she said was this (totally paraphrased):

You should pray before you read the scriptures. Because when you combine the oil of the Holy Spirit that is within you with the fire that is the Word of God you are bound to have a combustion.

I am totally loving some Beth Moore right now. I would like to go to another conference and possibly pick up one or two of her books to read.

Also, as I was reading Joshua today I found a little gold nugget tucked away. It was after the many verses that talked about where the boundary lines lie for each of the tribes of Jacob.

Joshua 21:45 Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed, every one was fulfilled.
Doesn't that just sound beautiful? We have a God that fulfilled every single promise to His people even when they were so annoying, whiny, and unfaithful. God is so good. Meaning He will keep every promise that He makes to us as well. God does not fail at anything and never will.

Well at the moment I am reading through Joshua and John in the Bible. It has been a little hard for me to get through the gospels and be dedicated to it. One reason is the fact that even though they are different I feel like I am reading the same thing over and over. But rather than skim through the parts that are in all 4 books I am trying to really understand what key parts each of the gospel writers took from the same experience.
Today as I was reading John I came across the ole water to wine passage (only in the book of John). I really have nothing to say about the wine part...there was something completely different that caught my eye.

John 2
Jesus Changes Water to Wine
1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."
5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

When I read this I took a different angle than I had ever thought before. Mary was positive that her son could fix this problem. She knew that he could either make their cups never go empty, make wine fall from the sky, turn the water to wine, etc. This has to mean he had to have done some miracles in the comfort of his own house before this ever took place. I imagine Jesus falling down on the ground as a little boy and getting a scrape on his knee. Then he places his small hand on it and it heals. Or maybe a bird fell from its nest and died and Mary and Jesus witnessed the whole thing. Then Jesus takes the bird in his hands and it is immediately healed. Now all this is purely imagination in my head, but it seems from John's writings that Mary knew he could perform a miracle.

And although he tries to tell her not to involve him she turns to the servants and tells them to listen to what Jesus says. She wants him to perform the miracle. I am guessing Jesus wanted to obey his mother, but didn't want many to know what had happened. So he only included the servants and let all the others wonder how this new wine came.

I am glad I looked a little more into this story that I had already heard so many times before. Even if I am totally off with my imagination it still made me smile thinking of Jesus during his childhood.

Thank God You're Here

After viewing 24, (which was amazing!) I saw a tiny piece of the Thank God You're Here 10:00pm show. I thought it was pretty funny, but since I only saw bits and pieces I kinda didn't know what was going on. Today, I saw a web clip of the one that came on at 9:00. It had Joel McHale (The Soup), Newman from Seinfield, The mom from American Pie, and this dude from Malcom in the Middle. Anyway, I saw a little piece of each and I really think this is one of the most clever shows that they have going right now. It is a lot like Whose Line is it anyway (the improv part) but they include sets and wardrobe. I am going to have to keep an eye on this show. And you should too.

NBC Monday April 16th @ 9pm
and Wed April 18th @ 8pm

Finishing Out a Friday

I got an email from my mom sharing with me her answers to a survey. And since I am a watching the clock tick right now I figured it might be fun to answer these questions for you all.

1. What is your occupation? graphic designer
2. What color are your socks right now? have on heels with no socks
3. What are you listening to right now? the pitter-patter of typing , faint talking in the background, and the humming of my computer
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Nature Valley peanut butter bar
5. Can you drive a stick shift? no
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? white...I would last longer than the others. Can you actually imagine being a crayon. That would suck. I mean kids put them in their mouths, they get stepped on and break all the time...painful deaths for the crayons.
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My dearest husband Wade
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? yes...I love my mom!
9. How old are you today? 22
10. Favorite drink: Diet Coke
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? haha...I don't watch sports
12 Have you ever dyed your hair? yes
13. Pets? Scooter, the notorious trouble maker
14. Favorite food? steak and a loaded baked potato
15. What was the last movie you watched? Shooter starring Mark Wahlberg
16. Favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you do to vent anger? hmmm, I am very laid back so it takes a lot to make me mad enough that I would need to vent, but I guess I would talk to Wade and let him calm me down.
18. What were your favorite toys as a kid? probably my bike
19. What is your favorite Fall or Spring? Spring!!!
20. Hugs or kisses? Kisses from Wade, hugs from others
21. Cherry or Blueberry? I really don't like either, I'll go with blueberry over the cherry
22. Do you want your friends to send this back? I'm not sending through email, but if you want you can blog your answers
23. Living arrangements? in my hizzy
24. When was the last time you cried? I think when Starbuck fake died on Battlestar Galactica (I didn't know it was fake at the time)
25. What is on the floor of your closet? shoes, sweaters that need to be washed
26. What did you do last night? Stayed at church forever trying to print posters on a plotter that never worked. Very frustrating. (I should vent to Wade about that.)

CHECK ME OUT (defining moments series)

I have decided CHECK ME OUT will be my new title for any of my design posts. So just in case you were begging for it to be shown in the last post...here is the bulletin insert I designed for the new series: Defining Moments in the Journey. It will run from April 8-May 27. Each of the pointing arrows will be a sermon title.
Wade helped me a ton on this one. I was going a completely different (bad) direction and he showed me the light. I think it looks good. But I am not blown away by it. I wish I had a little more time I could have put into it. But the deadline didn't allow for much creativity. Our pastor did tell me it would be a great book cover. Let me know what you think.

Help a sister out!

This week has been the craziest design week ever! At Palmetto GBA we have two different ad campaign things that we are doing and trying to have a website finished by May 1st. So me and our web designer were going non-stop. Then at Mt. Horeb, we finished up a poster/bulletin insert that needed to be ready for Easter. And then realized we had to also fix the bulletin cover. So needless to say I have kinda gone crazy. If you see me with frazzled hair and a crazy twitch in my eye then you will know the reason.

In other news, Meagan my beloved friend from B-town came to visit me Monday night. We ate at Harper's, watched 24, and then took tons of pictures of us making funny faces. I also tried taking portraits of Meagan, but I really have no idea if they are good. Anyway, I will post them as soon as I have time to look through them. I also got a Flickr page (place to store images) so that I can start having more photography things up. So whenever I post some stuff up there you will be the first to know.

NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION FOR YOU LADIES OUT THERE?
CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME DECIDE WHAT MAKEUP LINE TO GO WITH?
Right now I mostly use Loreal from CVS. And I think it is about time I get a decent collection of makeup. However, I have no idea which way to go. My problems now are: my makeup doesn't make it through the day, my chin is a little oily, and I want something that makes my skin glow...not wash me out because I have pale skin. So if you know the perfect solution I would jump up and down ecstatically! Please help.

CHECK ME OUT (easter)

I have been super busy at work last week and today. I feel like my brain hasn't had room to breathe. I realize in order for me to be creative I need to have moments of nothingness. I need to surf the web. I need to look at new things people are designing: print, furniture, buildings, etc. I need to take in things. I also think that whenever I am outside it is like one of those moments where I am just taking in creativity from nature. I see the colors of flowers, the ways trees bend, interesting looking lizards. It is an escape from the normal mundane tasks.

I know some of you out there are like what does this girl even do...well, probably not but I will show you. I think the things I enjoy doing the most are creative poster/promo pieces for our church series. I am about to start having to work on one and have it finished by WED!

I figured it would be cool to start a trend where I upload some of those images. For my first posting I wanted to show you what I did for our Easter musical bulletin this past week. It was just a one time bulletin, but I was very pleased with it. I am also going to show you the image I started with (istockphoto) and then what I brought it to. Here it is:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So, I changed the coloring. Made tons of lens flare like the glory of the Lord is shining behind the cross. I added a crinkled paper look to the background. I made a grunge border and filled in some more grunge with the help of some photoshop brushes.

The musical was more about the feeling of Easter and remembering what Jesus did for us. So I went with the feeling of an old photograph. One that you might look at over and over again so the coloring is a little different and the paper a little crinkled. I would have liked to take it farther, but I had time constraints. It would have been cool to do an actual photograph with torn edges or dog-eared corners. But I am happy with it.

Mika

Wade and I absolutely love this song. This guy has a fun, funky flair. I've been meaning to post this video forever, but I finally just got a second to do it. Enjoy! Hope it becomes your new fave as well.

The warm weather makes me dreamy

So South Carolina has had a couple of days of amazing weather. The kind that immediately makes you start thinking about summer vacations, swimming pools, barbecues, and days on the beach. Here are some things that keep popping up in my mind now that the weather is warm.

Sitting on a back porch in rocking chairs.

Inviting friends over to grill steak and playing a board game.

Being in a canoe on a serene lake.

Making a picnic of sandwiches with the edges cut off and taking them to a grassy hill.

Picking random wild flowers and putting them in my hair.

Wearing a flowing white dress and laughing.

Sitting in the middle of nowhere at night looking up at the stars.

Trying to catch a lightning bug in my hands.

Hopefully, Wade and I can do some of these things soon.

Hope the summer weather has you dreaming of playing outside.

The sun stands still

I am still journeying through the Bible. Right now I am reading Joshua and starting John (following the Rabbi).
I just got to the part in Joshua where he asks God to let the sun stand still. I remember hearing about this when I was younger and thinking it was cool, but now looking at it I am totally amazed. In fact I am more than just amazed. If I wasn't a Christian and you told me this I would laugh in your face. Can you believe that Joshua was so close to God that he could ask for the sun to stand still for basically a whole day? There is even a verse that comes after it that says, "There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!"
I tend to ask God for small things. Things that I CAN comprehend. But what little faith that takes. Joshua needed the sun to stand still so he could continue the battle against his enemies. So when I am truly in need of something I need to remember that I am talking to an impossible God. He can take anything you think can never happen and then poof it just happened. However, it will take a lot of faith on your part. No doubting that our God can do it!

Ruby Tuesday on Devine

I had a lot of fun this weekend. One of my best friends from Belton (Alyson) came to visit me here in Columbia. We figured out it had been since my wedding since we last saw each other. I couldn't believe it had been that long. Then I felt like a horrible friend for not seeing her sooner. But anyway, she brought one of her friends along (Mandy) and we decided to go out to eat lunch. So me being the amazing host I am thought that they should eat at a truly Columbian restaurant. I make my drive to downtown talking about how we can go to Harpers or Yesterdays since they are the finest of Columbia, South Carolina dining. We eventually decide on Harpers. I start down Harden street and think how beautiful downtown is looking. They have all these gorgeous lamp posts with newly made sidewalks. It was really pretty. Maybe me and Wade will go eat somewhere there soon.
Then I look forward and there it is. The mob of the St. Patty's Day celebration in Five Points. How could I forget something like that? So I immediately had to change my course of action and eventually found our way to Ruby Tuesday...the restaurant chain that can be found in any city in the nation practically. What makes it worse is there is a Ruby Tuesday literally 3 minutes from my house while this one is probably 20. However, we did have a good time. I loved getting to see Alyson. And I have told myself I won't let it be 2 years before I see her or any of my friends again. So now I have to see Meagan and Amber sometime soon!
If there is someone you haven't seen in awhile and just need to pick up the phone and call or go see them this weekend then DO IT! I am so bad at keeping in touch with people and there really is no excuse. I have 365 days a year just like anyone else and I can rearrange my schedule to see my friends at least once a year and so can you!

Scooter ruins our house

It has been awhile since Scooter has done something incredibly weird, but he made up for lost time yesterday. Here is the story.

So I come home from working all day and will only be able to stay at the house for a few minutes before I need to get going for my small group. Wade is at the church because Wednesday are his longest days and he stays there from 8:45am-11:00pm. So Scooter has one of three options of where he stays at each day: his crate, outside, or our used-to-be guest room which has nothing in it (aka Scooter's room). Scooter has not been able to be outside lately because he just got neutered and being outside could make his wound dirty or infected. So yesterday, Scooter had the pleasure of being in his room. So I walk in around 5:00. And walk to Scooter's room to let him out. I open the door and see that Scooter has mutilated his bed and has taken a lot of the stuffing out. The stuffing is scattered all over the room in massive clumps. However, this isn't the first time he has done this and isn't incredibly weird. So as I am picking up all the stuffing and look up at the wall. I notice there are these weird markings along the wall. They are the height of Scooter and go around the entire room. There are hundreds of these little reddish brown marks. I think, "Could him throwing his toy around the room could do this." But that doesn't seem likely. Then I look at our stark white door. And I see it is blood. Then I freak out. What could have done this? Did Scooter kill some mouse or something? There isn't much blood on the floor though, just a little sprinkle. Could his mouth have bled on his toy and him flinging it around the room cause hundreds of blood splatters? Still doesn't seem likely. However, I couldn't figure it out. I put Scooter in his crate and go to church and tell Wade the story. When we get home we both inspect the room again. After thinking about it I realize it must be his tail. We check Scooter and sure enough the end of his tail has dried blood on it. Apparently Scooter has been chomping on his tail. He walked around in circles in his room wagging his tail like crazy and hit the wall hundreds of times. It took about an hour and 4 Mr. Clean erasers to get it off the wall. I checked it this morning and there is this weird dirty looking band around the room. So I am going to have to go back over with some more magic eraser. If that doesn't work it looks like we will have to paint that room so someone looking to buy our house won't think we are freaks. Scooter totally ruins our house. By the way he is fine. We put some antibiotic stuff on it and he was being crazy Scooter like always.

I remind you that he recently caused our laundry door to fall down and hit our wall which left a huge hole in the wall. Scooter apparently doesn't want us to sell the house.

10:30

Anyone who knows me or Wade knows that I love me some sleep. I usually start making a big deal about us having to go to bed at 10:00. So why am I writing a blog at 10:30? Because I am at the church for our Sunday morning praise band rehearsal. I have finished my MediaShout for all three services and am listening to the band practice "Grace Will Be My Song" by Steve Fee. Of course the band didn't get to start til 10:00 since our sound has been rewired and we are having some issues about whose cable is where kind of things. But the sound system will be freaking sweet when it is all fixed! So it looks like they have decided just now to call it quits and come at 7:30 on Sunday morning. So if you wanted an update of the praise band rehearsals then you have the scoop. I am glad Megan is singing again this week. She was great this past week. I saw her lifting her hands up to God like she was the only one in the sanctuary (even though she was standing on stage in front of 500 people)...it reminds me of just how amazing and personal our God is. Wade does this too, but it is a little harder for him since he is playing guitar and has a pick in his hand. I like seeing the band members really worshiping and being passionate about the song. I like seeing that they are proud to take us into a place of worship through the music. Anyway, the band is packing up and I have done enough rambling. Goodnight! Even though we have a 30 minute drive home! Got to love Wed. nights.

Being A Servant

Luke 22:24-27

24Also a dispute arose among them [the disciples] as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

Wow. That is some teaching. In my couples small group we were having a discussion and I brought up this passage that I had just read in Luke that day. Today I came back to read it again and I am just amazed! I started thinking about am I striving to make it to the head of the table or am I focusing on serving others? Would I rather get praise and glory here on earth for some kind of design I have made or would I rather wash the feet of a homeless person. I mean I haven't even made an effort to help the homeless so I guess I know where my answer is. And I HATE that. It has to change.

Mt. Horeb has been doing a series on heaven and it has let me think about how much this life actually is of the big picture. We put an illustration on the screens about the significance in time of being on earth compared to our eternity.

In reality, that line will go on forever. So eventually that tiny dot would basically disappear. There are going to be some people who go to hell that will wish they could come back to their time on earth to change their decision about not accepting Christ. This life on earth does matter because you are going to make the decision of where you will be during that ongoing line. We will be rewarded in heaven for our deeds here on earth. So that takes me back to Luke. I have a desire to serve and I want to honor Christ by following his command. I want the world to think I am but a servant, but for Christ I will be a leader.

So, I want to go on the record and say that this year I want to be a servant. I am going to look at each of my days and see what I can do to better fit the role. I will no longer limit serving to just the church or to our teenagers. I want to take it the next step. I want to honor Christ and have something to tell him when I get to heaven.

A Birthday Wish

Today is the birthday celebration of my dear co-leader and friend Wendy Moody. And since I am weird and have photoshop skills, I decided to make sure Wendy had on some birthday gear!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WENDY!

YOU ARE THE BEST.

Church Rules

How many of you have heard, "You need to wear your best clothes on Sunday morning?" I know growing up a Southern Baptist I heard that all the time. In fact, if I didn't wear a nice skirt on Sunday morning to church then I was pretty much out of place. Somehow though on Sunday and Wednesday nights I could wear jeans. I guess the rule only mattered for that Sunday morning.

But I wonder how that rules really came to be. I mean did we take God telling the Israelites to bring their best offering as today being wear your best clothes to church? In my Sunday school class back then I remember our youth pastor trying to hound into us to treat outsiders as family. He would use the illustration of a guy coming in with dirty overalls to church and ask us what we would do. The answer we always gave was to welcome that person in and that it shouldn't matter what he was wearing. But our Sunday morning dress code didn't say that at all.

While I was looking at some blogs, I saw Tim Stevens and this postcard thing they are doing with their church to let people share their story. You can check it out here.

But I happened upon something very interesting. I saw this postcard. And then I thought about my home church. What if a person like this pulled into the parking lot on a Sunday morning and made the statement, "God, if one person goes by with jeans on I'm going in." They sure would be waiting a long time cause I doubt anyone would have been wearing jeans.

I feel like my attitude has kind of changed about church over the years. Back in my youth days my thought was church is here to replenish me and other sound believers, but now it's also a place where a non-believer may happen to come in and will get his/her 1st impression of church and Christians. It is my thinking that nothing else really matters except bringing lost to Christ. What can we do to make non-believers know we won't judge them and to show them our only aim is about helping them find Jesus. Do we really want our dress code to be what holds them back? Or even if they came in with their jeans on, do we want them feeling self conscious about what they are wearing instead of instantly feeling loved and at home? I love how this person felt. He/She was a paper plate transformed into fine china. All because someone walked past the car with jeans on. Kind of crazy.

Look for Less

It has been awhile since I blogged. It has been crazy! However, even though it has been awhile since I have blogged I really don't have much in my head that I would want to write about. So, I decided to share with the ladies out there a few of my fave online fashion stores. Now, I haven't bought anything from any of these stores, but I sometimes gaze at their clothes imagining what I would buy if I had some spare clothing cash.

Here they are:

http://www.wetseal.com/

This is kind of teenager/early 20s. At least that is what I am calling it. I especially love their fashion tops and dresses. And it actually looks like they got some new things up since I last looked.

http://www.gojane.com/

Kind of weird, but cool. It seems like this site would have some interesting finds so people would comment that they love your style because it is different. It actually feels pretty 60's to me. I like the shoes area and the stuff area. Some of the shirts and dresses are cute. But the denim section looks weird to me.

http://www.oldnavy.com

This site is impressing me so much. I am so bad at picking out which things will look cute together and Old Navy has outfits that even include a purse, shoes and jewelry. You gotta love that.

http://www.forever21.com

This has the same feel as the top two, but has a men's section as well. We must be going into a 60s-70s era with our tops. Everything has this groovy vibe.

And what sent me to these sites? This did.

It's the Look for Less section on InStyle's webpage.

I actually like Christina's look here. I want to try to do some black with red accents.

The Blog World

Sometimes when I have a moment I go to Technorati and search things that I enjoy and see if someone blogs about it. Words I have searched in the past are: 24, church, modern furniture, graphic design, animals...you get the picture. And every now and then I see a really cool blog. Maybe someone who talks about the way they are decorating their house with some cool couch from Design Within Reach or a pastor talking about his recent series. I recently found this girl who was from Columbia that was the foster mom of Dazzler the dog that I would see at PetSmart and always wanted to take home. It is just weird. Like I should know her, but I only could only see her through her blog. I mean Technorati and Blogger give us ways to look at other blogs, actually encourage it, by posting the most popular/ interesting blogs. Do you do this? Do you look through random blogs?

Poor Scooter

The time has come for Scooter to become less of a man. He is scheduled to be neutered tomorrow. So I am going to have to leave work a little early to give him a bath and to get him food because he cannot have food or water after 6 in his preparation for surgery. I feel sorry for the little guy. He is so energetic and wild that it will probably be difficult for him to stay chill long enough so his wound heals. I came home yesterday and it seemed like he was a little more loving, showed a little more of the sad puppy face, and just a little better behaved. Of course, I am imagining all of that because I feel sad for him. But maybe it will lessen his desire to sniff other male dogs in a rather odd spot.

ooooo. IKEA!

It was about time to blog about something in the design realm. Right before our trip I got my IKEA catalog! I actually haven't had much time to look through it, but I already have some of my fave things picked out. The pictures to your right are things that I just love the look and feel of. My wishlist contains that orange couches at the top (and they are also featured in the bedroom below it) and bascially the entire kid's room. Now I know I have to actually have a child before I can have that room, but I am just getting ideas so it will be awesome when the time comes. It is a lot of blue, but I would do a little more of the oranges and lime greens to make it unisex. Then when I have my 3 to 4 kids they will all enjoy it! I mean I never had something as cool as that room. There is even a surfboard rug and chairs that hang from the ceiling. The two bedrooms in the middle aren't really rooms that I want things from (except the couch) but I think they have really awesome vibes. I am having to work on Wade about the couches. He wasn't there when I got our last couch and it is a tight squeeze when we both lay down. He said he would have gotten a better one if he had been there. So, we have to test that out first before buying. I don't know if he is excited about the color or not. But since I am the graphic designer I will probably have the final say. Oh, and I have no idea when we would ever get this stuff. We don't have extra money to buy it so who knows. It is just really fun to wish!

Back from Florida

Some crazy things:

1. Getting lost in Tampa and having to ask the Pepsi truck guy how to get to our hotel.
2. Asking the same Pepsi guy if we were close to the hospital and hearing him say, "You are so far away from the hospital that I can't even begin to tell you how to get there."
3. The receptionist at our hotel giving us the wrong directions to the hospital.
4. Driving around for an hour trying to find out how to get to the hospital from our hotel.
5. Realizing there are two Hilton Garden Inns and we accidentally got the furthest one away from the hospital.
6. Wade having his grape sized parathyroid removed when it is supposed to be the size of a grain of rice.
7. Wade being able to go out to dinner the night after he had surgery (although he did get really tired and his throat was pretty sore)
8. Getting to feed and pet gorgeous dolphins.
9. Watching amazing dolphins, whales, and killer whales leap into the air and do tricks.
10. Witnessing Bev's radar for Dairy Queen and never passing it up.


Anyway, we are back from the surgery trip. Wade is doing great. We are SO thankful that we went to Tampa with Dr. Norman being the doctor. Thank you for all the prayers and support. Thank you for the phone calls and cards and care packages. Mt. Horeb you are amazing! Megan Venters thank you for the blog love. And thanks to Brian and Cassie (I'm pretty sure they have never read this blog) for keeping our crazy dog Scooter while we were away!

Check it Out

So I know you can look at my links on the side and see what blogs I read, but I wanted to give this new blog a special entry. My sister has her own blog now and she gives updates on my niece and she also has some little extra fun things thrown in. So go visit her blog: Baby Makes Three
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my niece. I miss her so much. I shouldn't live this far away from her.

Unloading my Brain

So, after this weekend I need to just unload all of the things that happened since I last posted.

1. Wade gave me the rest of my Valentine presents Thursday night. I received Godiva chocolates (YAY!) and he wrote me a beautiful song. I absolutley loved it. I told him he needs to make me a CD that has all of the songs he has written me. I am so blessed!
2. Friday night Wade and I celebrated our Valentine's dinner (yes we did make it a 3 day celebration) at Pasta Frescas...I think that is how it is spelled. It was wonderful and then we headed to the movies to watch "Music and Lyrics" and I will tell you Hugh Grant is one funny guy.
3. We sent the dogs (Scooter and our pastor's beagle that we are keeping) to Wade's parents so we could head to Charlotte, NC. It was good to have a break from their crazy fighting.
4. We went to Charlotte and tried to get to Cheesecake Factory early so we wouldn't have a long wait, but at 4:30 there was a 70 minute wait. So we bought some cheesecake and headed to a pizza place.
5. Sunday morning was CRAZY. We had to be up at 5:00 am for Wade to get to the church in time to practice with the band. However, Wade couldn't fall asleep so we only got like 3 hours of sleep.
6. The service at Elevation started and the band played. It was awesome! Wade and Mack shared leading songs and it was so powerful. I was so proud of Wade. He looked really into it and energetic and was leading the people into a special time with God. I absolutely loved every second of it. We have some of it on video and I can't wait to watch it. Andrew, Michael, Brian, and Reid came to watch and that meant a lot to me and especially Wade. We also got to eat lunch with them.
7. Steven Furtick had an awesome sermon about dating/sex/love. It had a new spin on it that was very fresh.
8. We came back home and were exhausted. We went to Ignite and it had a low key feel to it tonight. Wade did some acoustic worship and Meghan did a talk on dating relastionships that was great. I barely made it through and then me and Wade headed home to get some much needed sleep. I am now rested and able to take on the week.

Keep us in your prayers. Wade, his mom and dad, and I leave Tuesday after I get off work to head to Tampa for Wade's surgery. It will be a nice break from the regular schedule, but also Wade is having surgery so that isn't fun.

New Additions

Wanted to let you all know that I have now added the design sites that I visit frequently as links on the side. I am sure I have missed some so it may have a few additions over the next week. Also, while I was thinking about my awesome poetry (see previous post), I managed to find this one poem that I wrote when I was in tenth grade. It definitely isn't about love, but it was probably my first real poem. See if you know what is happening in it.

Evil

The glassy surface, spots as black as sin
Awaits a young child so it can be invited in
A naive mind, a confident walk
Eliminates the danger that would make him stop
Fun and games soon end, playtime over
The surface wins
The white, the purity, the virgin color
Covers the deeds of nature's lover
The evil, unknown from that day
Lays with the boy at the bottom of his grave.

Update: After Wade read this he reminded me that this poem is kinda scary. So, I wanted to let you know that I am not some sad depressed person who writes unhappy poetry. I actually wrote this one day when it was snowing in Belton. I looked out the window while I was on the computer and saw our little pond kind of frozen and dark looking. I decided I wanted to write something that talked about how beautiful winter and ice can be but also how dangerous. So out came Evil. I guess the ice has more bad qualities than good in my head.

Valentine's Day Ends

So the day of love from our calendar is officially over. Wade sent me flowers while I was at work. They were beautiful and it had an adorable stuffed animal on the side. But we didn't get to spend much time together. We had church stuff to do and we decided to celebrate either tonight or Friday and would give our little gifts to one another. However, I tricked Wade and had a little display of his gifts set out for him when he got home. He got a card and 18 cupcakes that were valentine themed. And then the longest poem I have ever written. Wade said it made our love sound "epic." I like that.

Some serious props

I want to take some blogging time to give some SERIOUS props to my husband Wade. Now, I know some of you are thinking, "Oh no, she is going to get mushy." But I assure you this is me trying to take my brain out of my head and analyze something that is before me. Here it is: My husband is an extraordinary worship leader. He is actually the best worship leader I have ever seen. This past Sunday we got our new sound system and the praise band sounded GREAT! Wade led the people and seemed so comfortable on stage. He seemed excited to be there and was ready to lead people into a celebration of God. However, it gets even better. This past week our youth band played at our high school gathering, but normally Wade and his band peeps play and let me tell you this is AMAZING. It is one thing to just do a song like it is on the CD or the radio, but Wade and his band guys frequently change up the songs to fit different moods. I mean there are times when a song has the perfect words but doesn't fit the mood you have set, but Wade can do something with it vocally or musically and I am speechless at how wonderful it is. I am in absolute awe of how he is so talented. Also, for a long time Wade traveled with the Wade Joye Band. It has fewer shows these days because of the committment to our church, but in this band he leads worship and plays his own original songs. The songs he writes are so inspiring. And I get so excited when he has a new song and plays it for me. I know that God gave him the words to write the music. The lyrics always bring me in a moment that is solely focused on Jesus. But finally and most importantly, Wade is a incredible worship leader because of his heart and desire to follow God. I am his wife and therefore know him better than anyone on this earth. And I know that he is striving to walk as close as he can to Jesus. I think God is really using Wade and showing him how to lead His people with music. And I truly believe God is going to do something radical with him. I believe God is going to use Wade for something we never thought even possible. So even though I gave Wade some serious props, it really only matters if continues walking close to Jesus because God is the one who makes Wade awesome.

Lion Chaser's Manifesto

I know I just posted a blog, but I had to put this up as well. It seems like I have been visiting some blogs today and a lot are about taking risks and going after things with passion. So I saw Mark Batterson's blog and figured that I needed to post his manifesto.

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

Chase the lion.

Open the Door

So last night I was thinking about the phrase: "If it is meant to be, God will open the door." I wondered where this came from. It seemed like I heard something like it in the Bible, but where was it. I asked Wade and in his half asleep state he said "keyword search on biblegateway." So I did a little biblegateway search and found these verses.

Matthe 7:7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Now there may be some other place that this phrase comes out of in the Bible, but I am just going to assume since nothing else jumped out at me that this is all we have. Now, I have said, "If it is meant to be, God will open the door" many times. And the best way I can think to tell you how I use that phrase is to think back on my old track days.
Here is the scenario. I ran the 800 meter race (half a mile). Now I was pretty good. I usually came in the top two places that is until one of my bestest friends Ashley started running track. She ALWAYS finished before me. So for awhile I was jealous, but then I just accepted it. I probably said something like this, "She is just faster than me. There isn't anything I can do about it. I will just be second or do something else that maybe I am good at." I don't know if you have made a connection to the phrase yet or not, but I use the open door phrase as an "oh, well" statement. I am not going to go above and beyond to make a dream happen because, you know what, God is in charge of it and he will open the door for me. But the verse says KNOCK and the door will be opened to you. I think of that as being really involved. I mean there are times when I have knocked A LOT on the door because I know someone is in the house they just haven't come to the door yet. Maybe God just wants to see how much you want it. How hard will you knock for it? What things will you knock out of the way to get a chance to push open a door that is only open for a few seconds. At least then if the door still doesn't open, I know that I did everything I could to show God how serious I was about it. God does control the doors. He isn't going to open it unless it is right for us, but I can't use the statement anymore to get a free ride. I have to do my part. I have to knock.

More of Baby Pressley

And here are some more.

Here I am with my new niece!

And Wade gets to hold her too! She loved Wade.

Proud dad holds litttle Pressley.

The funniest face I saw her make. I think she was kinda squished against Benjamin's arm or at least I hope so.

Well, that is all of the really good pics of my new niece, but since I am getting more into photography I am sure Pressley will end up on this blog a lot. She is so adorable. I can't believe I am an aunt.

Baby Pressley

Here she is in all her glory!

This is of Pressley right when we got there. She was sleeping soundly.

Here is mom and daughter. My sister looks at Pressley with such love.

And her tiny toes. They are actually really long and she was grabbing my finger with her toes.

I MUST wait

If you haven't seen Wade's blog yet, then let me be the first to tell you I am an AUNT! I am so excited, but as you can see the title of this blog is "I must wait." This is because I have some beautiful pictures but not with me!! So I will wait until I get home to tell you anymore of my little niece so then you can see the baby girl's precious face.

Instead, for this blog I am going to answer some more questions about myself so that if you want you can answer them on your blog as well!

I'd never...at least I don't think I would ever:

1.List two items of clothing you would never wear again.
a. First, it would be the double mismatching socks that I would wear when I was in like 3rd grade. It was hot pink and black and you would have to switch which one was on top for the other foot.
b. The bodysuit things. The snapped at the bottom. Kind of like a adult onesie. That is weird. Although I am seeing them again.

2.List two food items you would never eat again.
a. I don't know if I would never eat it again, but I threw up after eating some Chunky soup and now I have a taste aversion to it. I mean I can't even stand smelling it if Wade heats it up.
b. Carraba's calamari. They say it is supposed to be good and it isn't bad, but it was just chewy.

3.List two types of music you would never intentionally listen to again.
a. I am not proud of it, but I listened to ghetto rap in high school. People could hear my jeep coming into school because my rap was so loud. I would never get back into that. So many things that are too sinful in that music.
b. I would actually listen to it, but just to make fun of it. This is for Wade: Stings solo stuff.

4.List two TV shows you would never watch again.
a. I used to like Real World, but something about it made me stop wanting to watch it.
b. I used to LOOOOVE America's Next Top Model. Well, actually only the first season. After that it seemed lame-o. It was probably lame-o first season, but I refuse to believe that.

5.List two beverages you would never drink again.
a. Coke Zero. Gross. I felt like I was drinking salt. It was so nasty.
b. Hot tea. I don't remember where or when I had it, but I remember thinking why would you choose this over sweet tea?

The Scoot

I know I have been posting a lot of pictures lately, but I like pictures! And since my gorgeous husband got me the Canon Rebel, I am now going crazy taking pictures of whatever I can.


Now some of you may not know our dog Scooter. The reason for this is he is so psycho when people come over that only those who can get passed his crazy hyper self make it through our door. Now Scooter is only like this because he gets so excited about having new friends come in. So I have some pictures of Scooter to share with the world in case you haven't seen him.

While waiting on 24...

We all know that Jack Bauer is the coolest person on TV and it is hard waiting an entire week to see what is going to happen next. Even though you can't watch the new episode right now, you can check out some Jack Bauer's gear. Some of it is from previous seasons while others are this season. And best of all Uncrate has links where you can buy some of it!!! It doesn't get better than that!