i see bouldering in her future...

apparently, ella loves to climb. somehow she received the rare and recessive bertrand girl athletic gene... she looks much older than a 2 year old...and she's really strong too!


looks like maybe samantha will be a climber too...she just learned how to climb up the stairs. :)

trinity

i heard this illustration of how god can be three separate entities, yet still be one god the other day listening to ksbj... the lady talking said she used to tell kids about this in her 6th grade sunday school class and i thought it was really an awesome way to describe something that is hard for me to wrap my mind around sometimes.

god the father is the sun

jesus is the light emitted from the sun

the holy spirit is the warmth you feel from the sun

i like this because we see light, and jesus came to us in human form, so we could see him. and the holy spirit is inside us and we feel what he is saying to us, just like we can feel the sun's warmth.

it never says the word 'trinity' in the bible but here is what it does say...

philippians 2:6-8 (talking about jesus)
though he was god, he did not think or equality with god as something to cling to. instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. when he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to god...

1 timothy 2:5
for there is only one god and one mediator who can reconcile god and humanity-the man christ jesus.'

anyway, i don't understand everything about it, but hey, i hardly understood organic chemisty, so i don't expect to understand everything about god...that reminds me... once i was studying for a test and not being able to fully grasp the concept and thinking that god understood it...he made it. created it. amazing! every once in a while i tell him what a genius i think he is.

don't be too proud of me...

goodbye beautiful hydrangea! my little $12.00 hydrangea... (sobs....jk.)

sad stat

i heard this the other day, and it broke my heart...

in 2007, 40% of mothers giving birth were not married (compared to 5% in 1957). history has shown us that as the rate of single mothers increases, poverty increases. the family unit is breaking in our society, which directly translates to the decline of the strength and leadership of usa across the world.

i believe it all points to the decline of morality... do we as a nation trust god anymore? do we fear god? i fear we don't...

seriously people?!

three girls from work cornered me the other day at work. apparently there a rep who wants to set me up with her son. once they find out i don't have a boyfriend, they proceed with their questions...

so, is he cute?
yes, we saw a picture. he's cute.

how old is he?
23. (what?!)

um, she probably doesn't realize how old i am.
yeah, we didn't know how old you were (...they told me they thought i was like 27. awww)
well, i'm 33. so i don't think that it's a good idea after all.
no, she said it didn't matter how old you were.
well, i would need a signed consent signed or something...

she thought maybe you could meet him next tuesday when he goes out with his friends for drinks.
i don't drink. and tuesday nights i have a bible study class.

she also mentioned that he doesn't have a lot to offer a girl right now...he doesn't have a job.
this is more tempting by the minute...

oh, and the picture she showed us of him also had his ex-girlfriend in it and she thought you looked alot like her. and you did. (now it's getting scary)
how about i invite him to church and introduce him to some friends his own age?

seriously?! do i have a sign on my back that says i am desperate or something?! puhleeeease. a 23 year old without a job!? i wonder how cute he was....only kidding!!!

rest

god gives rest!

it is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anziously working for food to eat; for god gives rest to his loved ones.

ps 127: 2

i read something the other day that i could definitely relate to. it said we all have batteries and our battery will last a while if we only have a couple things plugged into it. but if we have a lot of things plugged in, our battery will get drained, and then we won't be able to give anything to others because we will be out of our source.

i think sometimes i try to do too much and my battery gets drained. and then i wonder why i'm getting stressed or sick...because i haven't stopped to recharge! god not only wants us to rest, he gives it to us. another one of my favorite verses is matt 11:28, where jesus tells us to come to him and he will give us rest.

so my new goal for practical application of getting more REST...take one night a week to just stay home and not go anywhere, and take one night a week or saturday morning to organize, do laundry, clean, etc. last night i unloaded my dishwasher (finally) and then i loaded up all the dished in the sink and around the sink and it was full again. see that's crazy that i don't have time to unload my dishwasher. and i need to go back to getting 8 hours of sleep again too...

almost 1/2 way

sorry sam! today is her FIRST birthday...which means i am supposed to be done with her cross-stitch! she was born the monday after easter last year!

please forgive your very busy aunt kim! :)

bye bye cable?

i'm seriously thinking about not paying for cable anymore. of course i just have the standard cable right now, but i haven't even watched my tv in over 2 weeks now. life has just been too busy! and i guess there are just so many other things i would rather do than watch tv. i called and they have the economy package now that still lets me keep fox news and usa (i sometimes watch the o'reilly factor and the closer). so for now i will switch to that... but i don't think people are strange anymore who don't own a tv. i totally get it.

staying alive

my plants are still alive from last year (well, two made it so far)... this one just had it's first bloom for the spring!!


and this one i have to turn around every once in a while because the shade side starts to die... soon the one in the sun will start to look better.

and this one was a gift from a friend...love the little vase! so sweet of her! uh-oh...it's not looking good today...when's the last time i watered it?!

and this one i had to buy at whole foods the other day. i just love hydrangeas!!! i need to buy some dirt i think...i haven't ever done that. should be interesting...

summer cut

doesn't henry look handsome with his new haircut?
i asked the groomer how he was...she said 'oh he was henry.' she doesn't ask me if he's been fixed anymore or how old he is. i think she knows he's always going to be difficult. i leave bigger tips now than i used to...

and then i attempted to get a picture of us together...

look at the tongue action! haha...

getting ready...

i leave in less than a month for my ski trip with my singles group and i am getting excited. this year i decided to stop borrowing ski clothes and figured i will keep going every year so it would be worth it to buy stuff for myself.

well, shopping for ski clothes is expensive! so i got the gloves, goggles, socks, neck warmer, ear warmer, long johns, fleeces, turtlenecks, hat, and finally got the pants and jacket...

and for some reason i liked the most expensive stuff. i called my dad and told him it was his fault that i only liked the nice ski stuff... of course it will last a long time so it's a worthy investment. anwyay, i tried on like 20 pairs of ski pants, but the bogner ones fit the best. luckily they were 30% off... and then i tried on this amazing jacket. even on sale it was WAY more than i should spend...but i kept it one for a little while and thought how awesome it would be to have this spyder monarch cocoa with siren piping gorgeous jacket!

isn't it amazing!? ...the pockets are placed perfectly, it's so soft, and even has a special place for the lift ticket so it doesn't have to go on a zipper, has a lens cloth attacted to wipe off your goggles, and you can unzip it under your arms for ventillation if it gets warm... well, i went home and searched online, and found it for 60% off!!! plus i got free shipping! so it just ended up costing what all the other jackets were going to cost.

so i thanked god for letting me have the jacket of my dreams. it's not the biggest deal in the world, and i would have been fine without it, but what a blessing to get something i thought i couldn't get. god does that all the time in my life...gives me what i don't think i deserve or does things i could never do on my own...

retreat

the topic on the retreat last weekend was the holy spirit, and i really liked how the speaker curtis jones broke apart ephesians 3:16-19.

*the holy spirit gives power. (eph3:16)

*the holy spirit gives power to strengthen. (eph3:16)

*the holy spirit gives power to strengthen so christ will dwell in your heart. (eph3:17)

*the holy spirit gives power to strengthen so christ will dwell in your heart so you can comprehend god's love. (eph3:18-19)

80's party

my church singles group went on a retreat this past weekend and the theme for the party saturday night was 80's prom. anyway, we all had to do a skit/music video from a movie in the 80s. we did footloose and it was so fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPI095spNXc

learning this actually involved my first dance lesson (besides country dancing) and it was really fun. i haven't danced since senior show... me and 5 girlfiriends danced to 'is it in his kiss?' and my friend andy dressed up like a girl to be our lead singer. it was hilarious.

here's the skit that won: (top gun)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1flBvDcMLpc&feature=PlayList&p=11B70FAC52211EFD&index=0&playnext=1.

practice practice practice...

i have been taking tennis lessons lately (and by the way, i love it! way fun...) and these are some of the things my instructor said to me last week during my lesson...

1. are those bifocals you are wearing? (i wear my glasses when i play, and i kept missing my backhands when he said this...lol because i don't think he remembers that i'm an eye doctor.)

2. keep your arm straight when going to hit the back hand (well, i'm double-jointed and i hyper extend when i hold my arms straight...holding my arm straight is a lot harder than it sounds!)

3. have you ever broken your wrist? (apparently my wrist is really weak) i said, no i've never broken anything... well hold on, that's not true. i broke a nail while bowling last week. i bowled a 110 and beat all the guys i was playing with! haha... yes the score of 110 was sadly the highest. but i wooooonn!

4. your serve is ahead of the rest of your game (translation...'i'm shocked you can actually serve a ball!') but this comment made me feel good...my serves were pretty good that day.

so my goal is to get good enough by may to start this league in houston that plays through the summer. i'm excited. :)