Lake Charles for Memorial Day Wkd.

Our friends from Lake Charles, Holly and AJ, are having a baby in a couple months. For the weekend we drove to L.C. to celebrate with Holly and AJ, catch up with David and Kimberly and our friends from church.

Saturday, Jarred and I had the privilege of eating lunch at CFA with one of the sweet regulars, Ms. Bessie.

 

That afternoon, the girls gave Holly a baby shower.

 

During the shower, the guys played golf. I think I heard someone call it the 2nd annual golf scramble. Needless to say, Jarred had a good time.

 

Sunday, we visited our old church, Trinity. We caught up with our old Sunday School class (and unfortunately missed a few special people). It was heart-warming to see those friends and fellowship together.

 

 

I had forgotten that a 10 hour drive in the car is a long ways, so I was reminded we can't go visit whenever we want. Nonetheless, we loved every minute of our time with family and friends. And I'm already looking forward to our next visit back again.

Baby Brother

It is such a blessing to have Joseph as a younger (baby) brother. We were play buddies when we were younger. Now, Joseph has graduated from Auburn and begins his career in just a couple weeks. My instinct is to brag on him, but I'd like to focus on how thankful I am for the young man that God has molded him into over the past 22 years.

 

For this post, I just wanted to go back a few years and post some pictures of Joseph growing up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph's high school graduation picture. . . .

 

As my baby brother transitions into this next stage of his life, I find myself emotional and full of joy.

 

I want to encourage Joseph and any readers with this Scripture, John 15:11-14. . . .

 

"I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you.

No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends.

You are My friends if you do what I command you."

 

 

 

Further Still poem

I'm back to reading Further Still by Beth Moore. Today when reading, I especially enjoyed her poem called Holding Us.

"We often see ourselves as fragile, breakable souls.
We live in fear of that which we are certain we can't survive.
As children of God, we are only as fragile as our unwillingness to hide our face in Him.
Our pride alone is fragile.
Once its shell is broken and the heart laid bare,
We can sense the caress of God's tender care.
Until then He holds us just the same."

The poem reminds me of hard times and comforts me that God holds my hand. I hope these written words can be an encouragement for anyone who reads this post.



With love,

Stephanie

Joseph's Graduation on Mother's Day

Joseph's graduation happened to be on Mother's Day yesterday. So we said that it was a great gift for our Mom. And we all just enjoyed spending time together, celebrating Joseph's hard work from the last 4 years.

 

 

We visited his building at school and saw his Thesis he had been working on all year.

 

 

All Joseph's hard work wrapped up in his thesis binder!

 

Joseph's thesis lab. . .

 

And his building where he studied Building Science. . .

 

Quick "selfie" right before graduation. . .

 

Auburn parents waiting in line for lunch at the arena's concession stand. . .

 

Me and Jarred :)

 

Wings for dinner and then surprise cake. . .

 

 

 "Tuxedo" cake from Lineville's Just a Little Frosting for the graduate.

We took more pictures after dinner with Uncle Paul's family. I don't have any on my phone yet, but we enjoyed getting to hang out with them yesterday too!


Congrats, Joseph! We love you.

 

Weekends in Lineville

The last two weekends I've enjoyed participating in the local events at our park.
Last Saturday, our Fitness & Friends group decided to have a booth at our Spring Fling.

 

Then Sunday, my cousin and family had the opportunity to visit for the day.

 

 

This Friday night, I went to the park for Relay for Life. I've walked in one in Birmingham; however, this was a special night as a dear friend of mine stood up for her cancer that she has fought.

We had a good time. And I'm looking forward to many more good weekends with friends and family in Lineville.

40 Days of Prayer

Our pastor has encouraged our church to follow the 40 days of prayer for moral and spiritual awakening in Alabama. I've been following along each morning when I check my emails. I especially enjoyed today's prayer focus.

Prayer Prompt: Say a prayer of thanksgiving today for God’s gift of marriage. Healthy marriages help create healthy families. Healthy families impact every aspect of our society. Thank you, Lord, for healthy marriages!

Philippians 1:9-11

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God."

I have been filled with the Spirit on the mornings that I start my day reading these emails. There are so many times when I struggle to begin my day in God's Word, when I know that should be my first priority. Am I the only Christian with that struggle? I love the Lord, I just hunger for more of Him.



Happy Wednesday y'all,

Stephanie

Seekers Fellowship Cookout

An engaged couple in our Sunday school class is getting married in just a few short weeks. I've become friends with Jordyn, and Jarred has know Chris many years.

As a class, we decided to have a cook-out fellowship. And, I'm so glad we did!

Our teacher, Carolyn, hosted at her house. We set up a "message in a bottle" for Chris & Jordyn to open on their one year anniversary.

 

We all had the privilege of seeing Carolyn's wedding picture and her bouquet.

 

She even thought of doing a countdown (with a banner) for the entrance to the house.

 

And I had the privilege of snapping a couple pictures of them.

 Sweet couple. . .

 

We were missing a few that night. However, I know we enjoyed the evening full of food, fun, fellowship, and like always, games.

 

Thanks to the Colquetts for hosting!