Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Where are we at?
67 days until the wedding...studying for midterms, running petroleum simulations, working 9 hours a day, serving at LHBC, driving home to do wedding stuff, trying to spend some time together before the big day. Life is getting hectic for us.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Oh Wedding Planning....why do you cost so much?
Funny story about wedding planning....it has its own agenda. Sure you tell it, lets only spend a certain amount on this one day....but then it gets its own ideas. You are just sitting there happy as a clam until one day you pull out that trusty calculator and realize you left the budget back in the dust. It is unfortunate as you scramble looking for quarters in the couch cushions, car seats and winter coats. And Ms. Wedding Planning just sits there and scoffs at you.
I'm told that in retrospect this will all be funny one day. We will look back on these days of frustration and laugh. Maybe. But despite all the number crunching, coupon clipping, and debit card swiping, we have been blessed to have parents that love us and help us pay for this once in a lifetime day :) Even better has been the number of married couples who have come alongside us an encouraged us to stay focused on our marriage and make sure that it is built firmly in Christ. The women who have encouraged me to use this time as a learning time to focus on the Lord and have Him prepare my heart for marriage and the men who have challenged TJ to imitate the leader that Christ was to the church have been the biggest encouragement and blessing through the last 11 months.
So here we are 2.5 months left until the big day. What an exciting thought!! Through Countdown this semester God has slowly but surely changed our way of thinking and our heart attitudes towards one another. It is so cool to see God change habits that we have made over the last 4 years. What a great joy it is to serve our King!
Ephesians 5:22-33
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
1 Peter 3:1-7
1Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. 5For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, 6like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
7Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
I'm told that in retrospect this will all be funny one day. We will look back on these days of frustration and laugh. Maybe. But despite all the number crunching, coupon clipping, and debit card swiping, we have been blessed to have parents that love us and help us pay for this once in a lifetime day :) Even better has been the number of married couples who have come alongside us an encouraged us to stay focused on our marriage and make sure that it is built firmly in Christ. The women who have encouraged me to use this time as a learning time to focus on the Lord and have Him prepare my heart for marriage and the men who have challenged TJ to imitate the leader that Christ was to the church have been the biggest encouragement and blessing through the last 11 months.
So here we are 2.5 months left until the big day. What an exciting thought!! Through Countdown this semester God has slowly but surely changed our way of thinking and our heart attitudes towards one another. It is so cool to see God change habits that we have made over the last 4 years. What a great joy it is to serve our King!
Ephesians 5:22-33
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
1 Peter 3:1-7
1Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. 5For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, 6like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
7Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Where we are at
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. -Gandhi
This was someone on facebook's religious views. How heartbreaking, because too often it is so true.
Psalm 145:13b-14
The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.
The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down
Basically we are in a state of waiting. TJ has accepted the job at BP and now we are trying to figure out what I am going to do. TJ will be gone 2 weeks at a time for the first year doing rotation work to provide for our sweet new family, which leaves amanda alone, without a clue what to do with her life. I graduate in December ( by the grace of God) but do not have a meteorology job. I've been throwing around ideas of teaching high school math, applying to oil companies, tv stations etc. But TJ will have a full week off when he comes back so its hard to commit to job that would cause me to miss out on that week. Please pray for peace for me. We are seriously considering me staying in CS another year to be close to our Living Hope family. We have watched the body take care of wives when their husbands are gone and that is the main motivation to stay here. But what to do for those two weeks. I'm watching all our married/almost married friends who seem to have everything together and the truth is I'm not sure what this will look like come July. I know that God is faithful and He clearly provided this job at BP for our family. There was one line that God put in TJ's offer letter that was clear evidence God was at work here. Uncertainty is still here as people ask me over and over what I'm going to do since I'm graduating and it is very disheartening to say "I don't know" over and over again. But the LORD is faithful to all his promises and we trust him in that.
This was someone on facebook's religious views. How heartbreaking, because too often it is so true.
Psalm 145:13b-14
The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.
The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down
Basically we are in a state of waiting. TJ has accepted the job at BP and now we are trying to figure out what I am going to do. TJ will be gone 2 weeks at a time for the first year doing rotation work to provide for our sweet new family, which leaves amanda alone, without a clue what to do with her life. I graduate in December ( by the grace of God) but do not have a meteorology job. I've been throwing around ideas of teaching high school math, applying to oil companies, tv stations etc. But TJ will have a full week off when he comes back so its hard to commit to job that would cause me to miss out on that week. Please pray for peace for me. We are seriously considering me staying in CS another year to be close to our Living Hope family. We have watched the body take care of wives when their husbands are gone and that is the main motivation to stay here. But what to do for those two weeks. I'm watching all our married/almost married friends who seem to have everything together and the truth is I'm not sure what this will look like come July. I know that God is faithful and He clearly provided this job at BP for our family. There was one line that God put in TJ's offer letter that was clear evidence God was at work here. Uncertainty is still here as people ask me over and over what I'm going to do since I'm graduating and it is very disheartening to say "I don't know" over and over again. But the LORD is faithful to all his promises and we trust him in that.
Monday, September 20, 2010
4 years?! No way!
Oh hello four year anniversary date. What a sweet blessing it was to spend all day Saturday with my sweet fiance. We went to Atamis and got to spend time watching movies and just relaxing together. Saturdays are my favorite days of the week. No school. No work. Just relaxing enjoying one another's company and fellowship with other believers. We were blessed to have Kristen come visit this weekend which is always such a blessing. My sweet man put up curtains all around my house this weekend so it is starting to look like someone actually lives there. Yes, Vanessa and I did move in almost two months ago but better late than never. Pictures to come once we are all finished making everything cute. Believe it or not we are almost to double digits until the wedding. On Thursday it will be 99 days until I am Mrs. White. Scary? YES! Exciting?! You know it!! Wedding plans are in full force as we figure out what we want for our ceremony, flowers and a bunch of other things we don't know we "need" yet. In our minds we have cake and a pastor so what else could you need? Haha! Jokes jokes. This semester is flying by as we are about to start our 4th week of the year, meaning....test week. dun dun dun. Only 2 more test weeks after this until I am a college graduate! Praise the Lord. I don't like tests. at all. I guess not many people do. But here is to a week of studying and preparation in order to excel in my last year.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Prayers for this week
This week is a big week. Our God is bigger, but this week is a big week. TJ has decided to accept the job offer from BP. How thankful we are that the Lord has provided. (He always does)What a great joy it is to see TJ's excitement towards this job that he enjoyed so much this summer. For the first year it will be rough as he is on a rotation schedule; but our God is so faithful to bring comfort to the wife :)Please pray for me as TJ is gone. I don't have a job yet in Houston. The Geoscience Career Fair is this Thursday and my nerves are already shot. I don't know which is worse, the realization that I am graduating in 13 weeks and will be officially a married adult, or the idea of actually getting that "real world" job. Either way, it is a big week. Please pray for calm nerves. Please pray that the Lord would put me where he wants me. God has given both TJ and I a heart for the orphans. I am praying that even if God doesn't bring me a job, that He will show me where I can serve and be used by Him. One of the things that really calmed my nerves about TJ working at BP is that there was a little section (one sentence) in his offer letter that said BP supported adoption and would cover the cost of adoption for its employees. We couldn't have asked for God to speak with more clarity.
Aggie Football has begun!
Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 1 Peter 1: 5-9
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