We had a wonderful 3 days with Dan, Maggie, Ruby and Titus. This was mine and Tim’s first time to host a Thanksgiving and I’m glad we got to start off small ’cause I was already nervous enough with the cooking. Luckily Maggie knew what she was doing, she did a lot of the cooking, and I helped. We did the whole meal with turkey, mashed potatoes (made special so Ti could eat them-and you couldn’t tell a difference), stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, gravy and rolls. We got to do a video call to Tim’s family back in Pennsylvania, which was about an hour and a half, getting to see not only his parents and siblings, but his cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandparents too.

On Friday our town does Christmas in the Fort the day after Thanksgiving. Santa and Mrs. Clause came to town for it and brought a couple reindeer with them. It was free admission and we could even go inside the historic buildings. On top of that they were serving free cider, popcorn and soft pretzles. We saw all sorts of people from church and school. It was definitely the place to be.That morning I did venture out for less than an hour to go buy a couple toys since we only have books and dolls for kids to play with over here. I saw some foam building blocks that look like wood ones a few days ago at Menards and then saw that they would be 50% off on Black Friday, so I got up at 7 and headed out. I went straight to them, only 2 left and got in the checkout line that went down the toy isle so I looked for any other cheap and nice toy to get and picked out a magic sketcher while waiting in line. On a regular day I don’t think I’ve seen more than 20 cars in the parking lot at Menards, and on Friday the lot was packed with people even parked in the grass. It was a crazy site!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I posted all of our pictures from Thanksgiving on my photo section, so enjoy looking at them. We’ve only got 3 more weeks and then it’s time for Christmas break. I can’t wait!

This Thanksgiving has a whole new meaning for me. I have lots to be thankful for and God has shown me so much more to thank him for. I have always said that God has really blessed Tim and I with our church family. God really knew that this would be the perfect fit for us, and this week I am reminded of that by all the people praying for my family. I put this prayer request out to our church’s prayer chain and it has been wonderful finding out who all is praying and knowing that they are surrounding everyone in prayer. Thank you God for the church you have provided us.

On Monday night I went to our Sr. High C-Group with Tim and towards the end of dinner my Dad called to let me know that my Great Uncle Gene and Great Aunt Lida were in a serious car crash. Lida didn’t make it through and Gene is recovering in the hospital. My fondest memories of Lida are getting to go to her house for Thanksgiving and spending the day with a house stuffed full of family, immediate and distant, and everyone interested in what God is doing in each other’s lives. Lida is in a much better place than we are right now, which is awesome. Even though she is missed greatly, I am very thankful that God put her in my life. I am also thankful for God having me go Monday night, because I usually stay home. The youth were very supportive, and even checked up on me at school on Tuesday.

This week my father-in-law wrote a quiet time devo for Tim’s blog which talked about giving thanks. We are quick to thank God for things that we think are good, but why not thank God for everything he does in our lives. God has a plan for everything he is doing, and it is not our place to judge his works. I know the holidays can be tough for many people, so I pray that people will focus on what God is doing through tough times and good, and go to God, because he is the only one that can truly comfort us.

Please pray for my Great Uncle Gene and for the rest of the family in this time. I love you Uncle Gene.

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

1 John 5:18-19 “We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. We know that we are children of God and that the world around us in under the control of the evil one.”

Due to some events at work on Friday I was nervous about how today would go. When I got in my car to leave I was getting way too nervous and had to stop right there. 2 Timothy 1:7 came to mind and I knew I had to give my nerves over to God. There was no reason for me to be afraid of how things would go because God will give me what I need and take care of me. When I walked into the classroom I was at total ease and was comfortable getting in to my daily routine.

Tonight I went with Tim to Sr. High small group and while discussing one verse I read on and saw 1 John 5:18-19. This is such a great affirmation that God will protect us from the evil one. And God will keep me from doubting his strength.

This is a great passage after learning about the Fruit of the Spirit. God totally convicted my heart Saturday morning with this. I thought about writing it all out, but figured it’d be a good time for people to read the Word. In order to completely understand my blog I recommend reading it.

Friday night I was catching up on a blog by another youth pastor’s wife that sometimes upsets me with how negative she speaks about being married to a youth pastor. I think a lot of it is in sarcasm, but I’ve learned when you work in youth ministry, or for every day life, sarcasm is not a good thing to have in your character. Anyways, so while I read her blog I just get frustrated and wonder what is so terrible, why doesn’t she write good things about being a youth pastor’s wife? I was comparing myself to her like crazy making myself feel like a better wife, and also wondering if I am just blind to stuff with enjoying being active in the youth ministry with Tim.

While reading and thinking that I have a better grasp on being a youth pastor’s wife I started questioning whether I should go to something about youth pastor’s wives, thinking, “what could I learn?” Then Saturday while reading the Scripture I felt God telling me, “There are things that you will learn, and I can use you to help others.”

The biggest thing I pulled out of this (with help from my Life Application Bible) is that I should not compare myself to others with neither good nor bad things. I need to concentrate on my own life and how I am living for Christ instead of looking at others to make myself look better or looking at others and trying to live like them. God has a different plan for each of us, so I need to seek after him and his will for my life, not someone else’s.

I couldn’t justify paying for a full bag for my laptop, and loved a tip I got from one of our former youth group girls. While contemplating which of the two bags I posted about earlier she messaged me on facebook letting me know that a lot of people at her college just use a sleeve for their laptop, and that way they can put their laptop in whatever bag they’re using at the time. The sleeve is half the price of a whole bag, and I get bored pretty easily and like to use different bags, so this is a great idea for me! I found a sleeve that is the same blue color that Tim and I had for our wedding color, that I just love, and it came in the mail today! I’m really excited to have it, and now I feel more comfortable about protecting my laptop. I’ll probably still use my brown YS bag for it too ’cause it has a pocket for a laptop, now I feel better having more cushin around my macbook.

This month with starting to use coupons and watching the sales around town I neglected to go grocery shopping, causing Tim and I to get creative with our meals, especially making sandwiches for lunch without a loaf of bread. We had all sorts of rolls and bagels in our freezer from past dinners and such, so we survived, it just wasn’t what we were use to. So today we finally went grocery shopping, and I am so grateful for Tim going with me and being willing to be sent on missions to compare prices with and without coupons to find the best deals.

I decided that Wal-Mart has the overall cheapest prices, but then I’ve gotta keep my eyes on the local grocery stores because they can have some great deals. We are done with shopping except for me going and getting some more fresh fruit and veggies on Wednesday, but still with that we are way under our grocery budget for this month. We are paying for the majority of Thanksgiving dinner, and figured we’d only need $50 for it, well, we aren’t even touching that money. With paying for our regular groceries and a Thanksgiving dinner we’re under our grocery budget for a normal month! We saved $13 today with coupons, but our biggest save is from looking at adds and finding who has the cheapest price for what we needed. For instance, green bean casserole is my favorite holiday meal, and Wal-Mart had the cream of mushroom soup for only .60 cents, and a different store had the green beans for only .40 cents! Our town is pretty small, so we still saved money with driving to another store.

These saving might not seem big to someone who is an avid coupon shopper, but I am very proud of us with what we are saving.

Deuteronomy 32:3-4, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord; how glorious is our God! He is the Rock; his work is perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!”

God is faithful. Throughout the whole entire Bible there are countless stories of God making promises with his people and holding to his word. Even as the Israelites were wondering in the desert one day trusting in God and the next complaining, he still gave them the land he promised to them.

And still today God holds to his promises. The time I see this in my life the most is with Tim and I. The very first day we met and hung out I felt that God was telling me this is the guy God was preparing for me. And during the toughest times of our 8 month break up, when I really didn’t like Tim, I could still hear God telling me, “You are going to marry him.” I really didn’t want to listen to that, but God was faithful and worked through the two of us, despite of us, through our circumstances.

God is our perfect example of faithfulness, even when we fall short to uphold our part of faithfulness, God continues to be faithful. So what does faithfulness look like and how do we get there? When someone is faithful they can be relied on. They can be trusted and will not go back on their word. When I think of being faithful, my biggest thing I keep in mind is that being faithful is keeping your commitments even if something “better” comes along. You don’t tell someone you will be somewhere, then if you get invited to do something else, change your plans because that would sound more enjoyable. People are counting on you to be there, so don’t let them down. We all probably know what it feels like when someone has done that to us, has broken their word and not stayed faithful. It doesn’t feel good, so how do others feel when we are not faithful?

Elizabeth George picked out a few verses of how we can walk in faithfulness, and I will leave you with these:

Psalm 138:3, “When I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me the strength I need.” We cannot grow in faithfulness without praying and asking God to help us learn to be faithful.

Luke 16:10, “Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won’t be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.” Start small if this is new, then watch God trust you with more and more as your faithfulness grows. Keep your word, may your yes be yes, and your no be no. (James 5:12)

Philippians 4:13, “For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.” Keep at it, when you’re doing good, more than likely the devil will try to make you fall. Take these trials and be proud that you are doing what is right, and continue on in your faithfulness.

1 Corinthians 9:27, “I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.” Becoming faithful will not happen overnight, we must continue working towards the goal of a faithful servant.

Proverbs 31:27, “She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness.” Do not fall into the temptation of being lazy, hold to your commitments, with others, and in the house. Your own home is a great place to start!

Anyone remember these brown YS bags? They are from NYWC in 2005 I believe. Since I don’t have a bag for my computer and was wanting to bring it with me to the church tonight, the first bag that came to my mind to use with my macbook and everything I need for small group was this one. It never occured to me before, but was this bag designed to use with a laptop? It has a skinny pocket with a velcro strap to go over the item you put in it.

With not liking to spend money, I am kind of toying with the idea of using this bag instead and not buying a bag for my macbook, only thing is that I’m a little nervous that the YS bag is too flimsy to really protect it. Those of you that remember this bag, what do you think?

I have been searching a few hours now for a good case for my laptop. And thanks to me being a girl, I really want a cute one too. My main goal is for one that is safe, but I really do want it to look great too. I have my eye on 2 different cases that I am trying to decide between, but that means I’m gonna have to spend my blow money that I’ve been saving up, and it really kind of hurts to spend money after saving it for so long. I haven’t been saving it for anything in particular, so this wouldn’t be a bad buy, plus Tim told me, “It’ll be an investment to keep your macbook safe.”

So if I do finally break down and buy one of these, I want some help deciding.

This is the BE.EZ Le Vertigo for 12″-15″ laptops. I love the color, but I’m afraid the laptop wont be as safe in it.The thinness of this bag is pretty nice too.

And here’s the other one…

This one is the BE.EZ La Besace. I like that it’s made for a 13″ laptop, which is the size of mine. And I like the different pockets it’s showing. I’m not a huge fan of the orange, but I don’t mind it. I’d rather have the blue interior, but they don’t make it with blue. The base on this one is pretty wide, making the bag a lot wider than the first.

For more info, you can go to the BE.EZ website and check them out.

Please comment back and tell me which one you think is better. There is only a $3 difference between the two, so the price doesn’t factor in.

Thank you everyone for all your prayers throughout the week. I really appreciate it!

The slumber party on Friday was amazing! All 8 of the girls in our small group were able to come. We had a great time playing Apples to Apples, looking at pictures, having girl talk, playing video games, eating junk food and learning about and talking about God. I am so amazed by the girls in my small group and am so happy how God put together our group of girls.

Saturday the sleepover was over at 11 and then David, Adrienne and Noah came over for the evening to hang out. We had a great dinner at Bennigans and played lots of games. I love it when family comes up to visit. Even though the week had already been super busy, I didn’t even think twice about letting them come up to visit. Family is always welcome!

In between the sleepover and our visit with family I ran out to the local grocery stores to price our most common groceries. I had to get it in otherwise my research would take me an extra week to do, and I didn’t want to do that. While I was out I was a little stressed trying to do it quickly, and I just get overwhelmed thinking about all the work it will take until I am settled with my money saving ways. God totally blessed me with seeing a lady from church there saying that Tim and I are such encouragements financially. I totally needed her encouragement to enjoy what I was doing.

Also, my desk top has been sick for a while now, making terrible noises and just not doing too well, so before it dies Tim and I wanted to get me a new computer. Well, Tim found a macbook on craigslist that is only 7 months old and a whole lot cheaper than buying a new one, so he contacted the guy, and I’m actually writing this blog on it! It’s been fun learning things and playing with it, although I’m a little overwhelmed being on it for so long. I was thinking about making a video blog for this post too, but am just not ready to do that quite yet, I feel a little awkward.

This week in small group we are learning about Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob. The stories about Rebekah favoring Jacob always bugged me. I don’t understand how a parent can favor one child over another, so it really bothers me to read the part where Rebekah helps Jacob betray his brother and trick his father into giving Jacob the blessing Esau was suppose to receive.

Well, today Genesis 25:21-23 finally clicked for me. I can’t tell you how many times I have read this passage and totally did not realize this.

Isaac pleaded with the Lord to give Rebekah a child because she was childless. So the Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and his wife became pregnant with twins. But the two children struggled wtih each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked. And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two rival nations. One nation will be stronger than the other; the descendants of your older son will serve the descendants of your younger son.”

It was God’s will for Esau’s line to be servants to Jacob’s line. God chose to tell Rebekah this ahead of time, and everything that happened was a part of this prophecy coming true. Would Rebekah have favored Jacob had she not known about this? Did she treat him better because she knew Jacob would prosper more? Or did she really just have a better relationship because their personalities got along better?

Then, later on in Genesis 37 we learn about Joseph who is Jacob’s favorite son. This to me seems like a pattern starting in this family line. Joseph is Jacob’s favorite, and Jacob was Rebekah’s favorite. Because Jacob favored Joseph so much the rest of his siblings were jealous, but Joseph goes even further…

Genesis 37:5-8

One night Joseph had a dream and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. “Listen to this dream,” he announced. “We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it!” “So you are going to be our king, are you?” his brothers taunted. And they hated him all the more for his dream and what he had said.

Again, God showed one of his servants a prophecy that would come true. In this situation I feel like Joseph pushed his luck though. This was very important information God shared with him, but sharing it with his brothers got him into trouble. I don’t know if it was God’s will for Joseph to have to endure so much after this dream, or if God simply used these situations and still held true to his word about Joseph becoming so important.

These passages really made me think about my own life. The day Tim and I met I felt God telling me that Tim is the guy I am going to spend the rest of my life with. I didn’t really believe it at first, so that night when I prayed I wrote my prayer down and said, “God, I really think I’m crazy, but just wanted to write this to see what happens in the future.” And come to find out, I heard God correctly. That day I didn’t even have a romantic attraction to Tim, I thought he was a nice guy, and we got along well, but come on, it was our first day to even meet!

What got me in trouble with knowing this, was after a little over a year of dating I started to really believe that Tim and I would get married, so I pushed things a little bit. I tried to see how selfish I could be, how much time I could claim of his to see if we would really end up together forever. Well, I ended up pushing it too far, which ended in an 8 month separation, and God working really hard in both of our lives growing us into the people we needed to be in order to have a marriage, and thankfully God prepared us for each other through the long and hard process.

God sticks to his promises. We need to make sure we are hearing the voice of God, and not any other voices. And when God does speak to us, we need to be grateful and not push our chances.