Book Review: Love That Lasts

I recently finished reading Love That Lasts, when Marriage meets grace, by Gary & Betsy Ricucci. The book continually reminds us that marriage is about offering grace to your spouse. Grace is the only way that we can grow in Christ and together. Each chapter depicts a certain aspect of marriage. I will give a brief summary of each chapter.

Chapter 1:The Journey of a Lifetime (Where it all begins)- This chapter tells us what marriage is "Marriage was created by God and belongs to Him and exists for His glory."

1. "God's grace is constant everyday of our marriage."

2. The local church is vital for any marriage to grow. "It is the local church-Christians living a shared life biblically before God and one another-that will ultimately secure the place and role of marriage and family from generation to generation."

Chapter 2: Leading with Love (The Role of the Husband)-"We see in Adam and Eve that man and woman are equal in value, yet different in their roles of submission, ordination, and leadership, following the very pattern of the Godhead."

1."The role of the husband doesn't begin at the altar-it begins with the atonement...at the cross."

2. Husbands are to: love her graciously, love her sacrificially, love her redemptively, love her with understanding, and love her with honor.

3. Husbands are to lead their wives, this isn't just a position-it is a service husbands are to provide.

"Our role originates in the gospel, is empowered by the gospel, and is perfected through the gospel."

Chapter 3: Walking in Wisdom (The Role of the Wife)-

1. Here are some ways to cultivate a heart of love for our husbands: pray for him and with him, learn to understand him, communicate in ways that serve him, demonstrate physical affection to him, and enjoy shared activities with him.

2. We are to respect our husbands in public and private. There are practical examples of respectful thoughts and deeds we can do for him.

3.Great quote:"Submission is our divine calling, designed by God, not man!" When we submit joyfully to our husbands, we are being like Christ who submitted joyfully to his father.

Chapters 4-6 Deal with Communication and Conflict Resolution

All three of these chapters are gospel driven and based. We must be willing to forgive, to offer grace to our husbands. We must communicate with them about our desires, needs, and spiritual walks. We must be willing to humbly listen to their counsel, advice, and leadership about all these aspects of our lives. We must not let pride get in the way, which is the biggest temptation in marriage. We need to allow each other the freedom to probe and analyze our attitudes and motives in the light of God's grace and truth. The gospel must be the center of our resolution.

There are many practical examples of how to resolve conflict and check motives and attitudes.

"The gospel reminds us that nothing done to us, no matter how wicked, will ever surpass the wickedness done by us, to the holy Son of God."

Chapters 7-8 Deal with Romance and Intimacy

These two chapters are very practical about how to romance each other and the beauty of sexual intimacy. They provide us with examples of romance and intimacy straight from the Song of Songs and things that get in the way of both. I like how we are reminded that romance is something to be practiced and learned throughout your marriage. Dating each other is very important, and I am glad to have someone point out the necessity of it.

This book is a great read for any married couple or engaged couple. It offers Biblical and practical help on all the issues of marriage. I would strongly recommend this book to everyone.

Karis' Scooter

Two Saturdays ago, Karis and I participated in the Walk for Life for our Crisis Pregnancy Center here in Wilson. We raised money and walked 2 miles, actually Karis only walked a little but she got to help raise money. I asked her why we were walking, and she said, "to raise money to help people like Mommy." I tried to explain to her what a crisis pregnancy center was. I told her that some women don't want their babies, and she responded with, "Why wouldn't she want brother?" It was very sweet and innocent to hear how she understood what I was trying to explain to her.
When you participate in the walk they have drawings for different prizes. Karis won a $25 gift card to Target. Justin and I took her to Target the next Monday and let her pick out a toy. She has never done this before and of course she picked out the first toy she saw, which was a toy for 6 months plus. She then decided she wanted a Dora scooter instead of a bike with training wheels.

Her first ride with Daddy helping. She got a little frustrated at first.

She got much better as the day went on. In fact, now she can ride it by herself and turn as much as she wants. It is fun watching her. What a big girl she is!

Baby Update: 32 weeks

My check up went great today. The doctor said everything looks great and said that after I come back in three weeks it will be getting very close to time! Believe me, I know that!

Blood pressure: 112/59

Weight: gained 4 pounds, 23 total

I don't remember his heartbeat, I am not sure if the nurse told me or just wrote it down.

Thanks for all your prayers and please continue to pray for me as I am becoming a little nervous about another C-section. God is in control but having time to really understand what they are going to do makes me a little nervous.

Fun Surprise!

Two weeks ago, Justin, Karis and I painted the baby room. I went to the YMCA to work out before we started and when I got home, Karis and Justin had painted me a message on the wall. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful, loving husband. As you can see, Karis left her mark on the wall, saying she was writing her name! Pictures of the baby room will be coming soon, I am still in the process of washing and getting things organized.

Our Painter!

Karis has recently been asking me everyday to paint. She has just really started enjoying it, especially when she uses her easel, like a real painter. She also gets excited about wearing her painter's shirt (one of daddy's old shirts).


After she dips her paint brush in the cup, she likes to mix all the paints together before she paints on the paper. She looks like she is really concentrating in this picture, look how precise her hand placement is. She cracks me up all the time, she is really growing up!



Karis thinks that saying cheese means pursing her lips like that. Every time we take her picture she wants to look at it!! You can't see her painting creation, but I a sure that it was great!

Thanks Aunt Courtney for the easel!

Visit from the Tombrella's

Last week, my dear friend Michelle and her two boys came to visit us. They are currently living in Maryland where Rob is going through the Pastors College for Sovereign Grace. We were so excited that they would be only about five hours away from us if only for 10 months. Michelle and Rob are our closest and dearest friends from college. We have grown together in the last nine years, and we are blessed to have them so close to us, in spirit and distance. Justin was very busy last week so it was nice to have Michelle here to hang out with. They arrived on Tuesday and left on Friday morning. Here are a few pictures of our fun together.

Michelle, Samuel, and Karis enjoyed drawing on the driveway.

Samuel, Karis, and Joel playing on the sidewalk too.

On Wednesday night, we let the kids watch the movie ROBOTS after they took a bath. As you can see, they are all very captivated by it. I thought it was pretty cute, I hadn't seen it before.

Thursday the weather was so nice. We took them to the park. Karis thought swinging on her belly was so fun!

Samuel and Joel look like they are in prison! Sam wouldn't let go of the basketball for anything.

It was a great time for Michelle and I to be able to talk and see how much God has done in each of our lives in the last few years. I am thankful that even though we have lived many miles apart for the last four years that God always allows us the opportunity to see each other at least once a year, sometimes twice. I have seen God mold and shape Michelle into a godly wife, who loves and adores her husband, a mother, who is diligently teaching her children the gospel with by her love and discipline for them, and a friend, who goes above and beyond to walk beside me as we grow in grace together. Thank you for all you are to me and for being the woman God has called you to be. I love you and can't wait for you guys to come back at Thanksgiving. Who better to have here to celebrate Thanksgiving than you guys!

Happy 8 Year Anniversary!

Today is our eight year anniversary. I was remembering this morning all that God has done in our lives in these last eight years. We graduated college, moved to Ft. Worth for seminary for two years while I taught and coached (we moved twice there), moved to Beaumont for Justin to be a youth minister (we moved twice again) and Karis was born, moved to North Carolina to be the pastor of a church plant (we have moved twice since being here also). I see a very distinct pattern here. Hopefully our house moving is in the past for a while now!
God has been so good to us. I look back on the past eight years and cannot imagine life without Justin. It seems like just yesterday that we standing in front of God, our family, and friends and pledging our love and life to each other with Christ's help. The Lord has changed both of us so much since that day. He has continued to mold us into His image by His grace. Justin, I am so honored and blessed to married to a man who loves Christ most of all, who desires to see his wife and children grow in Christ and leads us with great joy and by example, who loves me beyond what I deserve, who can make me laugh, who holds me when I cry, who humbly gives me wisdom, who is such an amazing Father, and who leads our church in the power that Christ supplies. Thank you for all you do for me. I love you today more than ever. I cannot wait to see what the next eight years have in store for us.
My cry will continue to be, "Glorify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together."
Psalm 34:3

Baby Update: 29 weeks

Karis and I went to the doctor today for my check up. She was very good and enjoyed hearing her brother's heart beat and weighing herself like Mommy. Everything is looking good. I go back in three weeks.

Heartbeat-140

Weight gain-5 lbs, total 19 (it seems to be increasing a lot!)

Blood Pressure- 109/60

Thank you for all your prayers about this little boy. I can't believe I only have 10 weeks from today left until I meet our precious son, unless the Lord has other plans and he comes sooner.

Karis' Big Girl Room!

When my mom and dad came, my mom brought the letters she painted and decorated to match Karis' new bedroom. I was so proud of my mom, neither one of us are very creative or crafty, but she did a great job!

We hung the letters up above Karis' new big girl bed. Mom did an outstanding job not making them too girly!

This is Karis' new bed and quilt that her Aunt Courtney made for her. I really like it because it is pink and not too girly, hence no BIG flowers!

We also got Karis a new chest er drawer. It is nice, and she likes it. We put up a wall of family photos at her level so she can see all our family often. When we get the baby room painted and set up, I will post pictures. We are having a garage sale on Saturday so after that we will be able to paint the room and get things organized.

The County Fair

We took Karis to the county fair with my parents on Friday night. Here are some pictures of our very fun time!

Karis had a great time feeding the goats, but she was very scared of this intrusive camel. Anytime the camel got close, she would move away from feeding the goats.

Karis finally bent down and feed the goats by herself, as soon as Papa John held the camel back! Thank goodness for Papa John!!

Amma and Daddy had to ride all the rides with Karis because I couldn't. Karis enjoyed riding the train with Amma.

You don't get much sweeter than this smile sitting by Amma!

We got to see the pig races while we were there. They gave Karis a hat to wear. She was very patient while we waited for the races to start. We saw a pig race, a duck race, and a goat race. It was a neat experience.

The last ride that Karis rode was the elephant ride with Amma. She is beaming here. My little one likes to ride rides like her Mommy. Maybe next year I will be able to ride with her. We had a great time, and Karis really loves having her Papa John and Amma here to play with. The funnel cake and apple jacks were pretty good too!

Papa John and Amma's Visit

Tuesday, my parents arrived around lunch time. Karis was so excited that she made a bee line for Papa John to give him a BIG hug and tell him that she loves him. It was so cute to see her be so excited to see them. I was so thrilled to see them both, and I know that they were glad to finally be here and not in the car. I know that God has truly blessed me with parents who love me, or they wouldn't drive so far to see me. After they arrived, we ate lunch and rested a bit. We went out to eat at Texas Steakhouse for my mom's and my birthday that night.

Me, Karis, Papa John, and Amma before going to eat.

Karis, Justin, and I (see Laura I am pregnant, I do have a pouch!)

On Wednesday, we just hung out at home and let Karis play with her grandparents. She wouldn't let Papa John out of her sight! Thursday, we took Karis to Chunk (Chuck) E. Cheese for the first time. She didn't want anything to do with the mechanical mouse, but she did have fun playing games. Justin and I had a lot of fun playing games too!!

Karis is getting ready to throw the ping pong balls in the buckets.

Ready, aim, fire! She loved playing this game because it was right on her level.

I am helping Karis beat Daddy at a game that sprays water.

Karis is driving a car with Papa John.

We had a great time and are still having a great visit with my parents. They will be here until Monday. What a joy it has been!

Fun with Hannah Part II

Yesterday Hannah came over to play for awhile so Lori could get some painting done at the new house. We had a fun day of going to the park, playing hide and seek (Karis and Hannah played by themselves, it was a sight because they both hid in the same place every time.), playing doctor, and most of all, playing dress up. I was never very much of a girlie girl, but I did like dressing up in my mom's old dresses and shoes. Karis very much likes to wear her dress up dress while she just plays in her room. I was thankful that I had two outfits, Hannah of course picked the "cinderbella" one and Karis the pink one.

When Justin took this picture, he told them to put their arms around each other and this is what they did.

Posing for a pretty picture!

I love to see Hannah and Karis hug. It is so sweet.

Having Fun with Hannah Part I

Last Friday, Hannah got to come over and play with Karis while Jonathan and Lori went to Raleigh to sign papers to buy their house. We had a fun day at the park, so much fun, that we had to take a bath when we got home because Karis decided to throw sand on Hannah! Right now, Karis and Hannah are playing together again, this time they have been playing dress up and doctor. I will post about that later. Here are some pictures from the park.

Karis and Hannah sliding down the baby slide together.

Karis and Hannah swinging, well, I'm pushing them. They both kept saying, "higher please."

It started getting hot, as you can see the sweat on them, so they decided to pick up pine cones. It was really funny watching them try to beat each other to a certain one.

Right before we left, they decided that holding hands and picking up pine cones was more fun.

I am so glad that Karis has a friend to play with. They have such different personalities, but for two almost three year olds, they do play pretty well together, only a few minor bruises! I am so thankful that God has brought the Brooks here. Karis said today that "Mommy and Hannah are my best friends." What a joy that I too get to be her best friend.

Baby Update: 26 weeks

I got the pleasure of doing the glucose test this morning at my doctors appointment. It actually wasn't as bad as I remember with Karis. They had a drink that tasted like sprite, just very carbonated. Last time, I had to drink an orange drink, and I don't really even like orange anything. I will know the results of my test soon. Everything else was good.

Weight gain: 4 pounds, total 14 pounds

Blood Pressure: 106/60

Baby heart beat: 142

I scheduled my c-section for Monday, December 10. It is a exciting to know that unless our little boy decides to come soon, that I don't have to wait another whole week to have him.

Sweet Fellowship

Tuesday night, I was honored to lead a Bible study about prayer at our monthly Grace Group Meeting. Our Grace Groups are groups of women who meet monthly to learn more about God and His Word together. I have been privileged to lead this group for a few months now. On the drive home, Lori and I talked about how unique and special this time is for us. We are both so blessed just by the comments of the women in our group. Every woman has a love for Christ and His Word, and all the comments are so helpful.
The Lord has truly blessed Christ Baptist Church with woman who love Him, love their husbands, and strive to teach their children of Him daily.
Thank you for this, Lord. I am so blessed to have woman who desire what God has ordained for them with joy and anticipation for the future! I pray that God will only continue to knit us all together as His beloved children.

Mom and Dad to the Rescue!

Yesterday morning I heard the familiar ring of my cell phone. It was my mom! I talk to her at least once a day, so even Karis will tell me that "Amma" is calling. My dad asks me if I would like for them to come visit on the 18th and stay until the next Monday. My heart jumped for joy. I never thought about asking them to come since they will be coming in December when the baby is born. My wonderful dad said, "You know I would do anything for my girl." Thank you Mom and Dad! Thank you for your constant love and support. I love you both very much and can't wait to see you in a few weeks.

Missing Mom!

Yesterday was a hard day for me. It is getting close to my birthday and my mom's birthday, and I am again realizing that I will not be with my mom yet again this year for our birthdays, hers is the day after mine. God has been so gracious to me to give me a mom that is my best friend, someone I love and admire, someone I have fun just spending time with, and most of all, someone who desires to know Him more. In the last year, I have seen my mom grow in her spiritual walk, and I want so much to be there with her. God has been doing a lot in her life, and I am so thankful for that.
I got a crazy idea in my head to fly home this weekend so I could see my mom and dad. Dad, I do miss you too! I had already looked up plane tickets and tried to figure out who I could ask to keep Karis one day, since Justin is off on Saturday is not preaching on Sunday and Monday is a holiday. I was only going to need someone to watch Karis on Tuesday during the day. I had worked it all out in my head and asked the Lord to please let this happen, but when I called my husband to run it by him, the answer was a regretful no. It was no because of many things, but mostly because I am 25 weeks pregnant (I know that it is still safe to fly when you are pregnant), and He doesn't want me flying alone. I never thought about the fact that I was putting a lot of pressure on him to watch Karis for three days by himself. I know he would do it, but I was only thinking about myself and not about my family. Karis would have a really hard time if I was gone for that long.
Wow, it is an amazing thing to have a husband who is so loving and cares for me even when my mind is going another direction. Justin was right as my mom and dad both said. God is continues to show me the gift that I have in my godly, discerning husband. I am so blessed and thankful for rational thought in my life right now when maybe I am just being hormonal!

Rising Early

All this week, I have set my alarm to go off at 6:30. My goal was to get up, have a true QUIET time with the Lord, and make my husband breakfast on three of the mornings. I did good on Monday, of course, it was the first day! Tuesday I got up right when the alarm went off and had an amazing time with the Lord. Wednesday, I got up a little later. Thursday, I got up even later, because my alarm never went off. I realized that I had turned it off in the middle of the night. Last night I did the same thing, I turned off my alarm. I remember doing it last night because I was having trouble sleeping. I don't think that I got more than three hours of sleep. This morning I did get to have a nice quiet time with the Lord because I let Karis sleep longer than usual.
It is hard for me to make "rising early" a set thing right now, but I will press on and know that I cannot do it myself. I prayed today and all this week for the Lord to give me His strength. I find that my days seems sweeter and more successful when Christ is first and when my time with Him is uninterrupted and quiet. I would challenge anyone who can to rise early and spend quality time with our Savior before the cares of the world come crashing in.
I know that at different seasons in my life, a new baby coming, this will be harder and look very different, but I know that if I am already in the habit before he comes, then it will easier to get back into rising early after a few weeks or months.

The Tombrellas Stop By

Last Tuesday night, our very dear friends, the Rob and Michelle Tombrella, stopped by our house to spend the night on their way to Maryland. They are moving to Maryland for Rob to attend the Sovereign Grace Pastors College for the next 10 months. We had a very short but sweet visit. Karis got to play with Samuel and Joel, their two boys that are only 8 months apart. The kids had a blast playing in Karis' room, and the adults enjoyed some great conversation once the kids were asleep. Rob and Michelle also enjoyed not having to drive another 12 hours on Wednesday. Driving from Texas is a long, tiring process, especially when you have two toddlers and no one to switch driving with.

Karis and Samuel are having a tea party. Karis forgot that she wasn't supposed to really eat the food! (She loves to eat her fake peas, but she won't touch the real ones.)

Joel smiling at the camera while Karis looks on with delight. She is getting much better at sharing her toys, and she really enjoys playing with other kids.

We were so blessed to have our dear friends here. We are praying that God will do great things in their lives in Maryland, and we are very excited to be able to see more of them than usual. Thank you Tombrellas for coming to visit us, we love you very much!

Book Review: Shopping for Time

I finished reading Shopping for Time: How to Do it all an NOT be overwhelmed, by The Mahaney girls. This is a short book with a lot of punch. It only took me a few hours to read the book, but I have been pondering over and using it to plan out my schedule and days. This book is so practical and easy to implement in your everyday life. As women, we love to find the best deals for groceries, clothes, and anything else we purchase. This book uses the shopping metaphor to help us see the "best deal" for using our time and energy.
Because this book has helped me so much already, I wanted to highlight a few thing about each chapter (there are only six).
Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the five tips of a highly effective shopper:
1. Rise early
2. Be still
3. Sit and Plan
4. Consider People
5. Plan to Depend
Chapter 2: Rise Early
We need to have a set time that we wake up every morning. This time needs to give us plenty of time to spend with Jesus before we do anything else, feed our husband and children, our children wake up, etc. I am still praying over what time that is for me. I know that I cannot expect to be able to go through my day depending on Jesus if I haven't first spent a significant amount of time with Him with no interruptions.
Chapter 3: Be still
This chapter deals with sitting with Jesus. It describes what a quiet with Jesus looks like and gives ideas for those who are just starting or have been doing for a long time.
Chapter 4: Sit and Plan
This chapter really hit home to me. It talks about how we need to have a time each year where we can sit and evaluate every aspect of our life. Carolyn Mahaney has her own sit-and-plan strategy which I think is really good. She lists seven priorities and how to evaluate each one.
1. Grow in godliness
2. Love my family
3. Serve in the church
4. Fellowship with Christians
5. Evangelize non-Christians
6. Attend to my work
7. Care for my physical health
She says that we should take a personal retreat away from all distractions so that we can pray and ponder these areas of our life and see ask God what area we need to change. Then, we should make an action plan on how to change that priority.
Chapter 5:Consider People
This chapter just asks some questions on how to better our relationships with others. It has a lot of good practical advice in this area.
Chapter 6: Plan to Depend
This chapter points back to our need of dependence on our Savior for every minute of everyday. It reminds us that even best intentions on a schedule of plans can go wrong, but to remember that God is in control and is sovereign over all our interruptions. We should look at each opportunity as a chance to experience His grace even more.

I would greatly recommend this book to every woman. I am praying that the Lord will continue to grow me into the person He desires me to be.

Beach Fun!

About two weeks ago, Justin, Karis, and I headed down to the beach. We have a wonderful place to stay, and we were looking forward to having a mini-family vacation. We left on Sunday after church and came home late Monday night. When we arrived at Emerald Isle, we got dressed and headed to the beach. We played for about two hours and then came home to get dressed to go to dinner. We had a wonderful dinner and then just hung out laying on a hammock and riding the golf cart.
On Monday, we got up, ate breakfast and headed back to the beach. Here are some pictures from that day!

On the way, we stopped and feed the ducks. Karis thought this was so fun!

Karis throwing the bread to the ducks.

Our little one is not at all afraid of the water, so we had to put a life jacket on her. She was very compliant with it on and had a blast playing in the water.

Karis is helping me build a BIG sandcastle. We are patting the sand so that it stays better.

Of course, after we are finished, Karis has to destroy the sandcastle!

This is one of my favorite pictures. Justin thought it would be fun to sit down by the edge of the water and let the waves come up on us. We didn't think about the fact that Karis is much smaller than us, and the "small waves" just about knocked her over. The water never fazed her, she was loving it.

After being knocked over a few times, Karis kept wanting to "sit down in the water, Mommy."

We had a wonderful time. It is always great to get away if even for only a day or so. We are so thankful for our friends who let us use their home. Being at the beach, I am always amazed at God's massive and beautiful creation. We asked Karis, "Why did God make the waves?" She replied, "For His own glory!"

Baby Update: 22 weeks

I got to go to the doctor by myself today, what a treat! I was glad that Karis wasn't there since I had to wait for over an hour to see the doctor. Everything looks really good:

my blood pressure:110/60

baby's heart rate: 153, I think?

weight gain: 9 lbs

I go back in four weeks and get the pleasure of taking the glucose test! I really feel for my friend, Laura, who had to do it three times with her last pregnancy.

I pray everyone is doing well, Little John (since we haven't come up with a first name yet) seems to be doing very well and I am feeling great!

Just Hanging Out!

Karis and I have not been doing anything too exciting these past two weeks. We have just been hanging out together, doing our everyday routine. We spend our mornings playing in her room, going to the YMCA about three times a week, and then just doing some chores. Usually I am the one doing the chores, and Karis is playing in her room. She has been enjoying playing by herself in her room lately, as long as she has her "God we trust" cd in. It is a Sovereign Grace cd that she has named after one of the songs.
Being a mom is so wonderful. God continues to show me His love as I love Karis more everyday. Some days are harder than others because of discipline issues, but Karis is a very compliant and easy going girl usually.
Justin and I are in the process of buying Karis furniture for her room and a computer armoire to put in our living room. We have a lot of things to move around and get ready for the baby. We still have plenty of time, I am only 21 weeks right now. I hope everyone is doing well.

Parenting in the Pew

I just finished reading this book last night that I graciously receieved from Justin's pastor friend in Texas. Parenting in the Pew is written by Robbie Castleman. She is a mother of two sons and a pastor's wife. I enjoyed reading this book. It is a very easy and practical read. Castleman gives examples from her own experiences with her boys in worship, and she continually offers suggestions on how to train your children to understand the importance of worship from an early age. She makes a very good point when she says that as parents we are to teach our children why we come to worship and not just teach them to be quiet. We are to model for them how important worship is to us so that they too will realize their need to exalt our Savior.

This book is a very good read if you are planning to start training your child in worship no matter what age. I do not agree with all of Castleman's ideas about training your child to really listen to the sermon. I think that allowing a young child paper and a pen, pencil, or crayons gives them the opportunity to draw and eventually write down what the sermon is about. I do understand that Castleman wants to keep distractions away from the child, but even as an adult, taking notes helps me remember and later ponder what the sermon was about.

I also have to remember that Castleman's ideas are for use in a traditonal church setting, which is not what we have right now at Christ Baptist.

I am thankful for this book to give me yet another resource to help aide me in my training of Karis in worship. I would recommend this book.