SATURDAY!

It's Saturday at last! This week went by very quickly. It was pretty busy. I talked to the management team on Thursday and requested to change the office hours. No one had any problems with that so I will now be working from 7:00am-3:30pm. I'm not super excited about the getting up early part but I know that it will be better for the office since it's actually busy in the morning-and not in the afternoon.

I'm eating papaya and boiling water for some oatmeal. Weekends are fun because I don't usually cook unless I want to. Exciting! I'm thinking fish for dinner.

So, I'm debating bringing my rollerblades to Colorado next week. I think that would be a fun way to get around--but it is super cold? That would be helpful because I won't have a gym to go to all week long. Maybe I'll go with Casey once or twice. Opinions about the rollerblades?

Mike was so excited about the HUGE apple that he picked when we went apple picking in MI. Here he is!

Distorted Beauty

There is a blog that I visit frequently... okay, daily... called Girl Talk. It's a mother and her 3 grown daughters talking about being woman, mothers and wives. It is very informative. I have learned and grown alot though it. Here is a link to a recent post that was partially convicting but reminds me of the grace that the Lord has shown to me-through my sinfulness. Here it is: Distorted Beauty

Enjoy!

A Faith for All Seasons

I just finished the book A Faith for All Seasons by Ted M. Dorman. The last chapter was on escatology (the study of last things) and it ended with this beautiful picture of heaven. I know it's legnthy but it's worth reading at least once. Hope you're as blessed as I have been through it!

Revelation 21:1-3
Then I saw new heaven and new earth... I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself with be with them and be their God."

With these words John tells us that the heavenly city is not an attainment after all. It is, in the end, a gift. And this gift does not consist so much on God's bringing us up to himself as it does in God's condescending to come live with us. The divine condescension first revealed in the incarnation will become the reality of both God's existence and ours throughout eternity. This is platonic dualism turned on it's head. The material world is not cast off, but remade and inhabited by God himself.
Such a promise defies description. For this reason the author of Revelation uses brilliant metaphor upon brilliant metaphor to disclose the inscrutable, so that we might be motivated to embrace that which we cannot see. To call heaven the "final state" does not do justice to the vision of the apostle. He portrays heaven not so much as a final state as a pulsating eternity of joyous activity in the presence of God and his people. There is no temple; there are no priests. God's people have immediate access to their Redeemer. Even if Thomas Aquinas was right when he said that people cannot have immediate knowledge of God by divine illumination in this present evil age This will not be the case in heaven. The curse that has separated humanity from the divine presence shall at last be lifted. The tree of life will no longer be off limits.
The various colors of stones that adorn the heavenly city reflect a diversity that belies popular notions of heaven as a dull place whose inhabitants sit on cloud and strum harps. It may also reflect the New Testament's indications that there will be differences in heavenly rewards, a view echoed by Papias the disciple of John and the great forth century preacher John Chrysostom. Yet despite this diversity there will be no envy among the citizens of the celestial city. It would appear that every person's cup will be full, even while their cups are different sizes. No one shall sense a lack of the joy of the Lord. For God has promised:

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new." Revelation 21:4-5

halfway!

So, Mike had midterms last week and they went well! YAY! Halfway through this semester and it's been a very fun one. Mike is learning a ton but isn't overwhelmed or stressed at all. I think that it's because he's stuck at Moody until I get off work so he sits and studies all day. The evenings, lately, have been relaxing. We get home and I cook dinner and then we sit on the bed and listen to sermons online. John Piper recently had a pastor's conference on postmodernism so we're going through those right now. They are very good.

Work is going well. It's definently slowing down and I can't tell if that's a good thing or bad. I know that it will pick up again in a couple weeks. Why? you may ask? Because I've been looking for a program to organize our work orders in for the past 6 months--and I found a good one! The tech guy in my department, (Paul) looked into it for a couple weeks to be sure that it would be good and we bought it yesterday! IT SHOULD BE UP WITHIN A MONTH! It gets better. I hinted to the tech guy that I didn't mind helping with the setup and guess what he said: Oh, I wasn't planning on doing any of it!! That means I get to set it up on my own! Of course Paul will help if I need it but still...

Going to Ed Devick's for dinner with some friends and then we're babysitting for some other friends. Cute little boys. Nothing planned this weekend and that's the way I like it. :)

big changes

So, I have been thinking a lot lately about taking classes toward a bachelor's degree. It has been something going through my head but I know that I don't want to quit my job and go to school-I want to allow my husband to finish first. I brought it up so Mike today and I'm going to talk with my friend in admissions this week! Of course Mike offered to take a break from school so that I can go full-time but I really don't want that. I am planning on taking a basic course next semester and in the fall, taking 2. Then just go through slowly as I will be "around" colleges for the next few years. I know I want to bring glory to the Lord in my life-I think that this would be a great opportunity to meet people (other than at Moody) because most of the students already know our Lord. Just because we're "preparing for ministry", I don't want to wait to witness to unbelievers until we're done. So many decisions. I have a lot of prayer before I will even make the final decision. Mike is very encouraging though. He's a nice boy. :)

I got some shelves and drawers for my SB stuff. I decided that a desk would be too much of a pain. I think that it looks pretty good. I need to go back for a couple more things though. The Container Store is such a fun place. Tons of stuff that you don't need but everything would make your home so much more organized. :)

Well, off to bed for tonite. Thanks for your prayers through our time of decision!

Sunday afternoon

Well, it's a beautiful Sunday afternoon! I just finished my CJ and I'm excited to see how my mom likes it.

I broke down and entered another scrapbooking swp thing. It's a recipe one and I'm pretty excited. I'm looking to get a scrapbooking desk so that I don't have to keep everything out on my table anymore. Yea, that would be nice. Any ideas? I want it to be white and not cheap looking.

Well, I think that I'll listen to one of Dr. Zuber's sermons that I missed... and take a nap. :)

UPDATES:
Mike's recorder thing STILL hasn't arrived. They "forgot" to let me know that is was on backorder... but I'm being patient.

My purse still looks exactly as it did last week. I'm hoping ot have time to work on it tomorrow though.