Final Friday

If you haven't heard yet, I have an incredibly talented baby sister... who is in her last year of twenties so she's not really a baby anymore. And I'm older, but who wants to count all those years up anyway? Ahem.

But back to what I was going to tell you. Wichita's Final Friday is here again and there'll be plenty of fresh art to go check out. But the art you hafta see is hers.

Here's the info and hope to see you there (cause you know I'm totally going to bring my whole brood in to handle the pottery)!

The Gallery at ARTWORKS

7724 East Central

Ste. 300

Wichita, KS
5-8pm

Friday, November 30, 2012

In the meantime, you can checkout more of Elisabeth Owens' work here.

Decorating...

Have you started decorating yet? We have! Today I'm sharing at Frolicking Freckles about the importance of preparing your home for Christmas... hope you'll take a look!

Gospel Centered Reading

Need a challenge or some encouragement? I do! So when I heard that Gospel Centered Discipleship was having a sale on their e-books, I was all over it!

Here's what I bought!:

Unbelievable Gospel

Jesse and I recently had a chance to hear Jonathan speak... he was very challenging and we are both looking forward to reading this.

Proclaiming Jesus

I've heard Tony Merida's name mentioned several times but have never read anything of his, so I thought I'd check this book out.

A Beginneer's Guide to: Family Worship 

I'm excited to check this one out as I'm always looking for new ways to teach my kids about the Lord.

All of their e-books are only $0.99 today, so go check it out!

Doing Life Together

Today, or I guess it was yesterday I did life together with some wonderful women! It blessed my heart to hear their stories, learn their pain, cheer with their joys, and speak the Gospel to one another as we made tamales.

Honestly, it's easy for me to get centered in on my little family and not leave room for anyone else. But that's not what Christ calls us to. He calls us to live together as one body... and that's messy. As messy as making tamales. (Yes, my dishwasher is still running and there's another load behind it to be done but I'm out of detergent.) It's messy, but it's through the mess that Christ is able to do His healing work. And the wonderful thing about it is: He uses each of the members of the body to do His healing work. And that's beautiful, humbling.

And a bit daunting... but just for a moment before you're reminded that you're just a tool for His work and nothing is too difficult for Him to do. Then you just learn to lean on Him and His understanding... you trust His ways and you ask Him to help you minister to one another. Ah... it's good!

How was your Saturday? Have you planned how you'll do life together with someone else this week? Get to work!

(Um, yeah, this picture really has nothing to do with this post but I ran across it and thought I'd share. This is Cruz at Xochimilco with a marachi band singer who was also named Cruz. The end.)

Thankful

This Thanksgiving weekend, I'm thankful for the ability and resources to bake 6 pies in one morning. Thankful for a momma who taught me how to make a great pie... and thankful for the one that was a flop. (Really, truly a humble pie... never again will I veer from my regular cherry pie recipe.) I'm thankful for a family large enough to devour 6 pies in a couple of days. I'm thankful for real whipped cream. Can I get an Amen? But back to my momma... she taught me how to flute pies... as my sweet friend Ginny recently said about her momma. (Our mommas are both awesome and great friends.) But I was thinking how, just the practice of making pies has been handed down from one generation to another.

It's something I intend to teach my kids. It's something we can share and a great way to get into conversation with your kids.

But perhaps you don't know how to make pies... that's okay! Teach them what you know... or learn something new together! Enjoy life with your kids! This week! Today! Go and plan something now!

But perhaps you don't have kids... or they are grown and gone... that's okay! Teach something to a friend. (I'm learning to make tamales with my friends tomorrow... they are gracious enough to keep on helping me to learn-- it takes more than once to get it down right-- it'll make my marriage better when I know how to do it right.) So go make something with someone!

And while you're doing it: Converse. Talk about life. Talk about the Gospel. Talk about God's grace... and have fun doing life together!

Blessings!

Say My Name

If you haven't heard yet, Jami Nato, is having a let's get praisy link-up party. The goal is to find the Gospel in songs where one wouldn't normally look... she started out with some awesome examples which included a Fresh Prince of Bel Air quote. I love what Jami says,

"God lives in the sweet and precious places, and he also can be found in the scandalous and obscene places. there is no where he is not."

Anyway, this got me thinking... mainly about songs that I haven't listened to in a long, long time. 90's anyone? Perhaps I'm showing my age. I keep on thinking the nineties were 10 years ago... but somehow they've gotten older on me and become vintage. I'm going to confess that I used to belt out songs from the likes of Destiny's Child when I was driving my first car. What songs did you listen to in high school and college? You should go back and try to look for the Gospel shining through. You might be surprised. Here's my first find:

"If you tell others that you belong to me, I will tell my Father in heaven that you are my followers. But if you reject me, I will tell my Father in heaven that you don’t belong to me." - Matthew 10:32-33 (CEV)

Go link up your own finds. Or just visit and vote for your favorite #letsgetpraisy quote.

And then there are days

...when sweet friends bless you with Starbucks and homemade granola. Just to celebrate the fact it's Friday.

Thank you, Hughes Family! You blessed us incredibly today!