It's a BOY!

Hey guys-

My dear friend and co-worker Ashley and her husband Corey are expecting their first child, and they found out yesterday that its a boy!!! We are all so excited for them... and we all went shopping for blue and boy things. I got the little dude a blue duck. And the shower shall come and there will be more of the buying and shopping for the little guy. Gosh, I feel like I'm an aunt! She and Corey live down the street from me, and I am so happy for them both! Congrats guys!

Yeah, so I was online finding cute baby stock pics... we were all teasing her

that there were gonna be two babies when they went in to see what it was, so I thought this pic was cute.

So, things have been fun around the office. Many conversations about baby things, and pregnant things...you know.
Well, I don't have any new news...all pretty much trucking along. I just wanted to post about Ash and her news. And yes, I did ask first! This kind of thing makes me think about my own future kids. I love my big family, and I think that I want a lot of kids. People are in shock when I say that I'm one of 6, but it's really not that bad. By the time you have four, you have to get a mini van and get rid of the 5-passenger car. After five kids, you need a 10-12 passenger, because the whole family can't go anywhere together. It's really nice having so many siblings...but I think I would like to have boys. Girls are so emotional! With 5 in my family, it is like insane! I don't want all boys, but mosly boys would be nice. And they'll all have fun names like Finn, Jaden, Landon, and others like that. My mom is so funny when we talk about names. I'll say I like it just as she's saying how much she hates it! Well, we are very different in a lot of ways, and very much alike in some ways too.

Yeah...It's almost the weekend. YAY! Right now, I'm at work and there is nothing going on. Kristy, Rebecca, and Ashley M all gave me a graduation gift today! I was excited because it's a bag of goodies: apple green nail polish and earrings, a bag *gasp*, and a wonderful smelling candle. They know me well. :-) Blessings!

Prayer and the Firey Furnace

So, life barrells on. Daniel rehearsals are going very well. We only have a few weeks, but things are progressing rapidly, and there is an energy that wasn't there before. Last night we worked on the firey furnace dance. The dance is modeled after some Indian dancing that I saw in a Bollywood movie called Devdas. I wouldn't recommend it, but the costumes and dancing are fantastic! The story is much like a soap opera, and ended with the male lead's death. Kinda' depressing, but it is a traditional Indian tale...whatever. Some of the dance is modern, some of it is ballet, but all of it is going to be AMAZING! And it is so amazing to see how God works. I went to rehearsal last night having a pretty vague idea of what I wanted to do, and while they were singing and polishing stuff vocally, I went to another room. I prayed that God would give me what HE wanted, and I started coming up with stuff. I was telling Carrie, a dear friend and fellow CYTer, last night how whenever I come ready and prideful in what I did for choreography, it never works as well as I want. But when I let God work in and through me, He is glorified, and it is a much easier process.
I would like for you all to pray with me- I have been having violent migraines lately, and they've become more and more frequent of late. I went to the doctor yesterday, and he gave me emergency medicine. I am scheduling an MRI to see if it is something more than a headache. Please pray that they are simply headaches and that there isn't something bigger that is wrong. And if there is something wrong, that they would be able to find it and that God would give discernment to the doctors. I have had three really bad ones since last Tuesday, and the medicine you can only take 9 per month. It is all a little scary. I just have to trust that God has a plan for all this and that the solution will work out according to His time and will glorify Him and be best for me. I know this is my furnace- and I also know that God is in there with me! Please pray for strength. They are very painful and they are hard to shake. I am planning on easing into a vegetarian diet and exercising more. We think that will at least help...plus, I might lose weight! An added bonus.
Anyways...peace out. And stay hydrated. It's hot out! :-)

Class of 2008!

Guys, guess what?!
I'm done with high school!!!! YAY!!! Whew, I am soooo excited about that! My ceremony was on Saturday. It was nice and quiet. There were only three of us, but it was good. Short and sweet. Cait's new blog has some pics of the day...it was quite exciting.
So, this means a new chapter in my life. Like NOT having to come home from work and do school! And not having tests and not doing late nights for school. YAY! Don't get me wrong, there were some good times in high school- I loved my writing classes with Ms. Rachel, and that bible course we took at the church with Mr. Martin where we went through Bible Doctrine. It was a really good class. And biology class as a freshman with Mrs. Price! That was really fun! Especially when we disected things...a frog, a shark. The pig was a little less than exciting, but the boys loved it. One guy decided when we started disecting things to see how much he could mutilate things, just to gross us girls out...he totally scored on that one! We were all groaning and being girly girls. But it was some fun times. That was one of the very few times that the girls were outnumbered by guys. The reading out loud and history lessons with Mom were fun times too. Thanks Mom, for all you did in schooling me...I appreicate all your work and effort. Love you!
Thanks to all my friends for their encouragement and help when I needed someone to talk to. You guys are the best!
Well, here's to being out of high school!!! :-) Yeah class of '08!

Na Part 2-Mark Dever

Here we are, beginning another week.

So, I said I was going to post about the messages! Here we go with sermon 2, Mark Dever on The Authority of Scripture.

He began with asking questions about the Bible and addressing critics of the Bible. Now, he is able to address these people in a scholarly way- this man has degrees from more than 5 colleges and he is very knowledgable about a great many topics. Let me see...he also addressed the fact that there are many more archaelogical evidences that the Bible's events actually happened then there are for evolution and even those atheists that don't believe in anything. Dever stated that he had believed that there was some creative power behind the universe, that we didn't just come out of the soup and also that there was a god period, but he needed to some proof. There's a word that describes that kind of belief, but it has escaped me.

It was really cool what he said about his studies of ancient literature- all other ancient manuscripts don't have as many copies, let alone copies that are all the same.

Another thing that he said that was really powerful was this- "Just because I don't know everything doesn't mean I don't know anything!" This is empowering for me when I trip into a deep theological pool that I have a skilled oppenent in- I believe that the Bible is true and even if you know more about it than I do, I still know enough to know the truth! He said we needed to treat the Bible as Christ treated it- as the very Word of God; and that we know Him because He wants us to know Him. The Word must reshape our lives, in order for us to live life like He calls us to.

These are the questions he put to us and some that I asked myself:

~What use will I make of the Bible?
~How will I apply it to my life?
~Am I looking somewhere else for my authority and guide?
~Is God's Word my delight?

I hope this has been some food for thought. I highly recomend listening to his message, which you can find here. The other messages from the conference are there as well.
Blessings!

It Was Amazing!

WHOA...that was the most amazing trip of my life. So, the conference that I just came home from was absolutely life-changing. To start with, we were there from Saturday night to Tuesday afternoon; we had three sessions per day and we worshipped before each one-that was probably one of the best parts of the whole thing. Worshipping with 3,ooo other young people that are on fire for the One God. It was the bomb. Yeah, so we had worship, then sessions which included speakers like Al Mohler, Mark Dever, Josh Harris, C.J. Mahaney, and last but not least, John Piper...we heard from the latter two twice. They were amazing, but I think that the one that impacted me the most was the very first message by Josh Harris on the Word and basically the welcome. He spoke from Jeremiah 15:16 where Jeremiah is talking about eating God's word and consuming it, that it became a joy and delight to him, even in his trials. Here's the verse:
"Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts." Jer. 15:16
Josh talked about how important this is compared to the rest of the text- Jeremiah has been through a lot and previously in the chapter, he was cursing the day that he was born. And yet he is taking delight and joy in the Words of the Lord. The cool thing about all this is that the people had been paganized and had been without the words of the Lord fro many generations and when they were found, the people were again having to be educated in the laws and ways of God. The faithful Jeremiah was relaying the messages and the people were listening.
The wording is so descriptive: "Your words were found and I ate them." He is talking about physically eating and consuming the Word-this made me think. What is my delight? Do l eat God's Word, or even want to? What occupies my thoughts and affections?
So, that is basically what I learned the first night! It was a very full weekend. I will post about the other messages later. Going into the conference I had prayed that the Lord would show me one thing to work on and fill me afresh with Him: He gave me what I asked for that first night and the rest was just icing on the cake...
I do have a major prayer request for you all: last week I had a major migraine. It was intense and hard to get rid of. And on Sunday, I had another really bad one. We were on the way back to the hotel and I almost passed out! I was hyperventilating and felt like I was gonna be sick. It was not a good feeling. Then, the next day I had another one-three in one week! This has never happened to me, and they were getting worse. There is a really cool story about the last headache that I had, but I shall share that in a later post.
Blessings!

Preparation

Hello.
This week many big things are happening to me! Sejin Kim, an exchange student from Korea, who has been staying with the Abraham family, is spending the week with my family! It has been an adventure so far...she is taking classes at Wake Tech and is doing very well. She is a dear, and we love having her.
Cait is coming home from Chicago!!! YAY! This is a very happy thing for me. She is getting back Sunday at midnight or something absurd like that.
This ties into the next amazing thing happening to me this week: I'm going to New Attitude! For those of you not familiar with this, it is a Christian conference for singles over the memorial day weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. We are riding down in vans and I am so excited about what God is going to do in my life while I'm there. We leave at 6am on Saturday and we will probably get back very early Wednesday morning. And then, as if this week weren't exciting enough, Cait and I are heading to the beach on Wednesday...she will be driving most of the way, while I try and sleep. But, the only problem is, I can never sleep in the car! It drives me crazy, but I have earnestly tried- it doesn't work.
I did want to tell you all about something that I was reading in my devotions this morning. I was reading in Ephesians and Paul was talking about life in the Spirit and it struck me what he said in chapter 5.

"But be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." Ephesians 5:18-21

This is my goal and prayer for this weekend. I want a fresh filling, so as to be and do all these things that Paul was referring to.

Well, I'll post some graduation pics later this week. Blessings!

A Prom Post

Hey Everyone!

So, people have been asking me why I don't post more...there are two answers to this riddle. 1) I am super busy trying to finish school and working. 2) I don't have my own computer! Thus, I have only a little bit of time on Cait's (which rarely ever happens!) or juggle for time on the family computer, which is almost less likely than Cait's!

But, I thought I'd post about the Homeshcool Prom. It was May 3rd at Triangle Community Church. I went with Josh Abraham and we had a blast! It was my senior prom, and I was honored that Josh asked me. Here are some pics of the wonderful event. *Compliments of Cait!*

These are the flowers that Josh got me! They were beautiful. Thanks Josh!

This is my good smile and he didn't tell me that we were doing serious! Oh well...

And yes, we wore our Chuck Taylors! It was awesome and my feet weren't sore at all!

Isn's Cait amazing? She is so talented, I am blessed and honored to be her older, (and shorter) sister. She is in Chicago right now, being an intern with Sarah Anne Barlow. And I just want you to know that I love you and miss you! Even though you're having the time of your life, I can't wait for you to come back and share the memories with me. Only 2 more pics: We danced the night away!

I think we all looked amazing, and it was a fun way to say goodbye to high school-with all of the people I cherish. Including dear Michelle, the gerogous blonde in the blue. She and I decided to slow dance like we were in middle school...I think we pretty much got it down- sway right, sway left...(And I can't get that pic to work! Hold on.) We had such fun and ate too much good food. Who wouldn't want to be there?!

Okay, I am going contra dancing on Friday! I am so excited about going again. Only this time, I'm bringing my dancing shoes! I'm still recovering from the blisters I got the last time we went, which was over a month ago...if you ever plan to go, wear appropriate shoes. Aka NOT socks!Hope you enjoyed the pics! Have a blessed day!