September 29, 2012

Updates on the move!

Normally I had scheduled to write number two of our LDR advice but we have some more news about Patrick's move to Germany. The Lord has really been blessing us so far! We both keep doubting but through so many ways the Lord continues to encourage us.

(Patrick)
It took some time to get the paperwork filled out correctly and it looked like I would not get my passport in time for the dates I wanted to leave. I eventually went to the courthouse, got everything fixed, paid the extra fee for fast delivery and.... WAITED. We all waited, eagerly to get it so we could plan and buy tickets. Wednesday my passport finally came. Iris kept asking when I was going to buy tickets because I had been following and checking prices for the past two weeks now and I told her I would buy the tickets Friday.....we will get to tickets in a minute.

This is actually my (Iris') passport ☺

Well, today is a special day for another reason as well. Not only were the tickets bought but I also sold my car. I had not even put it on the market when a co-worker's family member heard about my car and wanted to come see it. Sunday I showed it to them and today I sold it. I got exactly the price I had wanted for it...another answered prayer. It was sad to sell my car though. I've almost had it 7 years now and I have many memories with this car.



Now to buying tickets: Sadly, the tickets got more expensive by almost a $100. We looked around some more and found one only $10 more than before and hurried to buy the tickets. Iris and I are very excited to finally know for sure when I'll be arriving. We have been waiting so long to know.



(Iris)
I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited and no I didn't fall asleep as we wrote this almost 1 AM in the morning (for me) but I am really that excited. I can't help but smile so big when we talk about it or people ask me about it. :)

Its 2 weeks & 5 days until we are together...... (no I am not counting hours or minutes....yet!)



September 28, 2012

For Fall We Need CUTE Rain Boots

Hi Friends,

I don't know about you but I like to look cute even when I am working, walking the dog or exercising. :D I know I might be weird but I need to show you my new rain boots! Walking the dog in wet grass brings wet feet....UNLESS...you have rain boots.  Mine aren't just the "normal kind" but cute red plaid boots. ☺ My mom found these super pretty rain boots in Lidl. (You don't have that store in the US but it is very similar to Aldi.)

So what do you think?




Do you have rain boots? Are they cute? On a blog I follow she just bought some that looked like cowboy boots.  These are hers. Nice, right? There are some cute rain boots!!!


September 27, 2012

Summer Review- Cherries // Photography


Summer is now officially over and the time of cherries is done but I had a lot of fun taking pictures from the fresh cherries we got from our neighbors. I took some white paper, laid them on my laptop, put some cherries on it and....had fun!











September 26, 2012

Striped Blouse and Black Circle Skirt

What I Wore Wednesday # 5

Some of you may not know this but I do my college classes through distant learning. I am home all day except when I walk my dog. I believe in dressing up even when you are home. For one, I am a daughter of the King and I need to represent him the best way I can. Secondly, in the near future I will have a job as a teacher and I will have to dress classy. Why not do so now? Thirdly, one day I will be married and be a wife. I will once again be home all day and then my husband will appreciate my effort to look classy and presentable for him and when I meet other people.  If I do not get into the routine now...when will I? 

These classy modest outfits I show you give me just another reason to look nice. :)


Blouse- gifted (Walmart)
Belt- came with the blouse
Skirt- gifted (same as here)
Earrings- Charming Charlie










September 24, 2012

♪♫ Search Me, O God

Search me, O God,
And know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior,
Know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be
Some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin
And set me free.

I praise Thee, Lord,
For cleansing me from sin;
Fulfill Thy Word,
And make me pure within.
Fill me with fire
Where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire
To magnify Thy Name.

Lord, take my life,
And make it wholly Thine;
Fill my poor heart
With Thy great love divine.
Take all my will,
My passion, self and pride;
I now surrender, Lord
In me abide.

O Holy Ghost,
Revival comes from Thee;
Send a revival,
Start the work in me.
Thy Word declares
Thou wilt supply our need;
For blessings now,
O Lord, I humbly plead.

Words: J. Ed­win Orr, 1936. Orr wrote these words at a re­viv­al meet­ing in Ngarua­wa­hia, New Zea­land, tak­ing less than five min­utes to put them down on pa­per.
Music: Ma­ori, Ma­o­ri tune (MI­DI, score). Al­ter­nate tunes:

That third verse really made me think yesterday. Can I really sing that and mean it? Could you sing it and mean it? 
"Lord take my life, and make it wholly Thine" Are you willing for the Lord to take your life, the way you know it and make it to please him....



September 22, 2012

LDR Advice #1: Talk




Patrick is coming to Germany soon. Boxes are being sent with his stuff and more things are being sold in the US. The step of faith is coming soon and with that our long distant relationship will come to an end. There will still be lots of ups and downs but the distance will be a street car drive away. ☺ Patrick and I have been together for almost 2.5 years and over 22 months of those were long distance!!! There are couples that have been apart longer but I think we still have learned some things that might help others in a LDR. This does not only mean boy/girl relationship but any friendship that is long distant can glean from these series. We will mainly talk about a courtship LDR since that our experience so here we go...
Phone
Our first advice is: TALK. I've had a few people ask me what are some things I can tell them about a LDR and I always say TALK first. In a LDR you do not have the joy of just doing things together but you still must be involved in each others lives. There are many ways to do that, which we will cover but one of the most important things is TALKING.
How you talk is up to you. Skype is great! You can see and hear each other. A phone call is another way to keep in touch and tell each other about your day. Sometimes an email is great, a quick text saying "I'm thinking of you", "I miss you!!!" or "I love you, honey." is all it takes to keep  in touch. Snail mail is great though more out of the romantic sense than keeping in touch in today's day in age.

waiting for phone


When you talk is up to you. If you are in the same timezone and on the same schedule you may have it a little easier to stay in touch but when you are in different timezones and scheduling conflicts you will just have to work something out. We would encourage to talk every day, even if its just a quick email or text. Some people are really busy and just cannot talk but do your best through other means to keep in touch. If you can only talk once a week write things down that happen over the course of the week and tell each other.

Today it is very easy to stay in touch. Do it. We don't have to wait on snail mail and often can find ways around expensive phone bills. Do what you can and talk talk talk.













September 20, 2012

Beautiful {Sun}light

The other day, while walking the dog I was enjoying to take pictures with the sunlight. Especially the ripe grapes are so beautiful and yummy...can't wait for them to harvest them and then eat the leftovers! :)








I took this one while I was in TX


September 18, 2012

An Attack on a Tree house



For one of my college classes I had to write something that included the Romans Road.... this is what I came up with.



Digital Photograph - Two Boys Sitting in Tree House, Backyard, Balwyn North, 1966“Bam Bam” shouted Bruce, “They’re all dead! We kept our fort safe!”

Walker and Bruce were best friends and like every day, they were playing in the tree house by the river. They had just gotten done playing the Revolutionary War and now sat up there, sweat running down their faces and totally out of breath. After awhile Walker asked,

“Bruce, do you ever wonder what will happen to you after you die?”

“Yeah, sometimes but I don’t like thinking about it.” Both sat there quietly when Walker said, “Let me know how you can know if we go to heaven or to hell.”

Bruce nodded and Walker continued.

“Well the Bible says ‘As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Righteous means holy. And then it says:For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;’ Have you done bad? You know, like lying to your parents, cheating on your history test, stealing Taylor’s gum or….” 

“Yeah, of course, you know I did.” Bruce cut in embarrassed by Walker telling all his secrets. “But why do we all do bad?”

“Do you know the story of Adam and Eve, how they ate the fruit God forbid them to eat. The devil tempted Eve, she ate the fruit and gave it to Adam and the Bible says “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned3 This one man is talking about Adam.”.

“So now what”, Bruce asked “I do bad things like everyone else. What is that gonna change?”

God tells us “For the wages of sin is death…”  The bad things, our sin, is punished by death. Not necessarily dying and going into the grave but being separated from God in hell!” After that Walker exclaimed: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 5 God loves you Bruce, so much so that he was willing to have his son die on the Cross for you.”

“He did? He knows about me?”

“Yes”, answered Walker, “When we finish the verse from earlier we see that he has a present for you. ‘But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ God has a present for you and that is eternal life. Only Jesus Christ can let you live forever in heaven with him! It’s like a real present: in order to make it yours you just have to accept it.

“How do I accept this present?”Bruce asked with a trembling voice. One thing he knew for sure, He didn’t want to go to hell. He heard about it before: you burn and burn, forever and ever, never ending pain. No, he didn’t want to go there. So much in thought he missed some of what Walker was saying but still heard:

“…thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ Do you believe that Jesus rose again

“Yeah, the Bible says he did.”

“OK well then the Bible tells us thatFor with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.’

With a puzzled look on his face Bruce asks “What do I have to do with my mouth?”

With a giggle Walker explains, “ ‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. ’ You just need to tell God that you are accepting that gift.”

“Can I do that right here in the tree house or do I have to wait till Sunday?”

“You can do it right here”, he answered.

After that Bruce started talking to God, “Jesus, I don’t want to go to hell. I wanna go to heaven and life forever with you. I believe you rose again. Please forgive the bad things I did….uhm…Amen”

“Now where will you go if you were to die?” Walker asked.

“Heaven, right?!”

“Yes! The Bible says ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:’Now  you have peace with God

“No more wars?!” Bruce asks laughing.

“Hahaha-nope. Let’s go inside and drink some lemonade I am hot and I want to show you a few more verses in the Bible”

The boys walked inside, Bruce poured some homemade lemonade as Walker got his Bible he had left on the couch that morning.

“Look here”, he says, “in Romans 8:14-16 we read   ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.’ You are now a child of God like me!

“So we are kinda like brothers?”

“Yes. The Bible says that at salvation we are adopted into God's family. Lets continue reading ‘For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: ‘“

“That is cool!”

“After you accepted God's gift you will always be saved from hell. Nothing can happen, not even you can do anything after that to make you lose this gift. You are a child of God forever. If we look farther down into this chapter, verses 35- 39 we read ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ You see nothing can take you away from God after this!

“That is so neat! I didn’t even know I was getting a good deal like this when I prayed.

“I know. Isn’t God awesome?!”

“Yeah, he is. Hey, let’s go invite Steve over tomorrow and you can tell him about this!

“That sounds like a great idea. Are you ready for another attack on our fort? You might die in this game.”

“I’m ready! Now I know I’d go to heaven if I’d died for real!”


So do you know where you would go if you were to die today?


September 17, 2012

Media Monday // August 17

The other day I came across this beautiful video. An elderly man shares his heart about his wife who's gone before him, the lesson he has learned since then and tells us who still loves him here on earth. Take some time this week to watch this 8 minute video. You will not regret it!

Click on the picture below to watch the video:



 



September 14, 2012

A box was found!

Hello my friends,

Look what I found! Yeah, its a box. Neighbors threw this old tool box away and I saw an awesome decoration/ storage box. :) What do you think...here I am getting ready to clean it.


 Beautiful vintage lock:





Here is the first layer..in 3 sections:


The second layer was just a little dirtier and has 10 sections. :)


After I dusted, vacuumed and scrubbed it. It is still wet in the picture but this is it!


Do you all have any ideas what I could do with it? I am thinking of painting it, giving it a vintage look. Maybe get some cute scrap booking paper and put it in the individual sections as a lining.... Also, what are some ideas what I can use it for and no I don't want it as a tool box. ☺



September 12, 2012

Walking with Mustard Yellow- WIWW

What I Wore Wednesday #4

Shirt- gifted (on sale at Dillards)
Camisole- Walmart
Skirt- gifted (no tag)