Parakeet Trickery

Don't be fooled by what you hear!
Hutch has now lived with us for less than six days, but already, Kolby has adopted a new language.  Birds chirp and tweet, but now our bird also yips, whines, and mimics Hutch's quacking toy duck.  We're curious to see if he'll bark as well.

Just yesterday, I was folding laundry in our bedroom and heard whining coming from the living room.  I headed in the direction of the noise to investigate the problem when I realized Hutch was standing there at my feet, not making a peep. 

Officemate

Hutch has proven to be a pretty well-behaved office dog.  It helps that everyone wants to cuddle and play with him, so that when they leave and his audience disappears, he's exhausted and sleeps for an hour.  Good puppy!

Disclaimer: I promise not all blog posts will be about our new dog.  PROMISE. :)

Meet Hutch

Our first night with our new little guy, now officially named Hutch, went quite well. In fact, he slept through the whole night and wouldn't even budge when I tried to wake him up to go potty.  Sooo, we're hoping tonight will be a repeat.

 

Wilson, Chester, or Johny the Flame Thrower

The newest member of our family...still unnamed.

We're so excited about our new baby!!!

Lovely Luray

 We blew in, and we blew out.  The wind was gusty, powerful, and relentless...yet, it couldn't stop our fun.  We had a lovely time in Luray, enjoying the quiet atmosphere and slow pace, sleeping in and waking up to birds instead of freeway noise, and spending some much needed time TOGETHER.

 Our little cabin wasn't actually so little.  I could have picked up and moved right in!  The owners have spent great effort in making this getaway a home.

 The moon was soooo full, but for some reason my camera just wouldn't cooperate.  I would've persevered and been stubborn with it if the wind hadn't beaten me maliciously.  This is all I walked away with...

 We had originally planned on Saturday being Hike Day, but the weather condition changed our minds.  We ventured outside, however, and found ourselves at the local zoo.  I didn't get a photo, but the zoo had a beautiful tiger, of which Jesse got to stand about 15-20 feet away from...made his day!

 I love the country!!!!

Off to the Great Unknown

We are escaping work early tomorrow, hopping in our cute little red car, and driving out to the vast lands of Virginia.  Luray Caverns is quite popular here, and while we don't plan on visiting them this time, we'll be staying in a cabin right above this...

When I told a friend where we were headed, her eyebrows arched, and her eyes grew big.  "You know the town there is really small, right?" she asked.  She continued with, "I mean, it's not even a town. It has maybe five restaurants and a small market."  I responded with, "SOUNDS PERFECT!"  Needless to say, she wasn't too sure about my preferences, but I sure am.  Good bye to the masses, hello vastness.



Love

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” - 1 John 4:10


Jesse and I have recently committed ourselves and our time to the Sr. High youth group at church.  After closely working with the Middle School youth in Daytona Beach, our hearts have longed to work in the lives of teenagers once again.  God opened the door so widely to this opportunity, it was unmistakable what He wanted us to do.  I really have to say that I love when God makes our paths so clear and our purpose so evident.  We now both co-lead a small group, him with freshman guys, and me with freshman girls.  He'll have to pop on here to describe his group as I know nothing when it comes to guys' conversations behind closed doors! 

As for my large group (14 girls when the average group is 5), I am deeply saddened by what I see.  These very young women are sexually active, they grasp at any form of attention they can receive, and only two of these girls have accepted Christ.  I feel blessed now more than ever to know that I grew up in a Christian home and was aware of a Savior during my trying teenage years.  These girls know nothing, nor do they want to know.  Moving forward, I'm prayerful that God will use Tina, my partner, and me to shine a light in these girls' lives and show them the promise of Christ.  To show them they don't need to act as the media has told them, and that they can find safety in the pierced palm of Jesus.  They are all sweet girls, daughters of our Heavenly Father, and I pray I can love them as He would love them.

Shine

Now that the sun is rising earlier each day, there is a very brief but special moment each morning.  Across from my window is another building, where the sun reflects from their windows into mine.  For less than a minute, the sun shines brightly into my office, spotlighting my desk with tiny feathery streams.  It's gorgeous.  I tried capturing it on my iPhone this morning, but it just doesn't beat the real thing.  I'll let your imagination capture it instead.  The light has already faded and disappeared into someone else's window, but for just those few split seconds, all I can think about it how magnificent our God is.

Simplicities & Purpose

Life whizzes by us like a runaway train in old cowboy movies.  When we stop to think about the date, I can guarantee you, almost all of us think, "Where did the time go?"  As it's the first day of the month, I have to confess this morning I had that exact thought.  January came bursting in with fireworks and resolutions, and without stopping for breath, it sped by at lightning speeds to welcome in its neighbor, February.  In an effort to grasp onto the simplicities of life, I've tried to pick out some important moments from the past 31 days that give life both meaning and purpose.  Thankfully, I don't have to stop here and say, "Sorry, I couldn't think of anything because we were too busy."  (And yes, I'm smiling right now because I realize that with the strength of God, we were able to DO good this month rather than just think it).  I'm not here to list out the good things Jesse and I have done because that definitely defeats the reason we do them, but I will say that being intentional about making life special actually works.  It's so easy to wake up each day and grumble about having to work.  And it's even easier to keep our focus inward, forgetting the real reason God created us.  With the encouragement and adrenaline rush from seeing how much good can be done in just 31 days, I'm setting off again on a 28 day hike, looking for opportunities to make this life purposeful. Watch out world, we're here to LIVE.