Thumbelina

This was the cutest thing I've seen for awhile She is only 17 in tall and weighs 60 lbs She's a mini mini and one of a kind :)
The real life version of "My little Pony"

Charlie Brown Christmas

It's just not Christmas if I don't watch this show :)
It's a classic

Black Friday

"Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically the busiest retail shopping day of the year. Many consider it the "official" beginning to the Christmas season. Most retailers open very early and usually provide massive discounts on their products, and offer doorbuster deals to draw people to their stores." Wikepedia

I had to work today so I didn't get to experience the frenzy of waiting in line for the bargains but Darrell and I decided to go to the Fairfield Mall tonight to check things out and to buy a new Christmas tree. Darrell loves a store called the Ole Farmstead and the Christmas trees they sell. Every year he'll say he 's going to buy one and then never does until this year...he bit the bullet :)
There wasn't really alot of people at the mall...but we went to Best Buy and that was a different story..tons of people just milling around looking for "toys" We saw some women who had a serious shopping problem. Their SUV was packed to the ceiling with "stuff" and they were trying to cram more in plus themselves..It was funny but at the same time kind of sick.
I'm not really a shopper. I generally know what I want go in and get it and then leave. This day definitely shows how materialistic we are as Americans..spending money we don't have for things we really don't need.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Things I'm thankful for:
My faith
My family
My friends
A sunny day

Let God grow you

"It's just as important to have God grow us as it is to have God save us"

Breathe

I watched a Nooma video at 3rd Place this week called "Breathe".

"How many of us ever think about our breathing, about the meaning of breathing? In the Bible, the word for "breath" is the same as the word for "spirit." We've all been created in the image of God, but our lives are incredibly vulnerable and fragile. Maybe if we had more insight into the meaning of breathing, we would better understand how God created us as human beings."

I've thought about this . He talks about how it's the first thing we do when we're born and the last thing we do when we die. When you take in a deep breath, you are refreshing your body.
When you allow God to work through you,you are also refreshing your spirit..as you breathe in, your passion increases
Tonight we sang a beautiful song I had never heard before. As we sang the words it reminded me of the video I watched.



Holy Spirit


written by Among Thorns



Holy Spirit take control

Fan the flame within my soul

Holy Spirit take control


Holy Spirit Take Control

Fan the flame within my soul

Holy Spitit take control

Breathe down deep within my spirit

Strong fire burn

Breathe down deep within my spirit

Strong fire burn

Rochelle's Latest

Rochelle's Latest:


Been watching:
Lost - season 1 on DVD
Grey's Anatomy
Cold Case

Been listening to:
Leeland
Snow Patrol
Hillsong United
Jonny Lang

Been reading:
Soul Cravings..Erwin McManus
Church on the Other Side...Brian McClaren

Been consuming:
Chipotle...chicken tacos
Yoplait Light and Fit Yogurt..cherry/vanilla
Mike and Ike candy
Propel ..grape flavor
Starbucks vanilla lattes

Been spending my free time on:
My computer :)
Kristen while she's home
Prayer

Sawyer's wise words

"That's the way it goes,it'll all work out"

I will follow

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head This song is stuck in my head and maybe it's there for a reason


Invitation Fountain (If You Lead me Lord)

All who are weak, All who are weary

Come to the rock, Come to the fountain

all who have sailed, On the rivers of heartache

Come to the sea, Come on be set free


If you lead me Lord I will follow

Where You lead me Lord I will go

Come and heal me Lord, I will follow

Where You lead me Lord, I will go

I will go I will go


All who are weak, All who are weary
Come to the rock, Come to the fountain
All who have climbed, On the mountains of heartache
Reach to the stars, Come on give Your life

All who are weak, All who are weary
All who are tired, All who are thirsty
All who have failed, All who have broken
Come to the rock, Come to the fountain

Johnny Lang Concert

Thursday night we went to Columbus to see Johnny Lang My husband and his friend Chris really like his music He is definitely worth watching live. He started when he was 15 and is only 25 Darrell,Chris,and Zach managed to get backstage passes (Carrie and I passed :) Here are some of the pictures we took

"Where is compassion?" "Where is grace?"

As I watched the news yesterday, I felt sad and it made me almost sick that they took a private matter of a local minister and plastered it all over the news. We put leaders/ministers of churches on such a pedestal at times that they have no where to go but down. They are held to high standards but they are human and deserve compassion and grace.
I got the following article in my email this morning and I found it very appropriate...sometimes we forget that the fall is "to grace" not "from grace"



"A Fall To Grace" by Ed Young

We call it "a fall from grace": a Christian man or woman caught in some type of sexual, financial, legal or other ethical or moral indiscretion who falls from a position of high esteem. The most recent example involves Ted Haggard, founder and former senior pastor of New Life Church and former president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).
Have you ever wondered where that phrase, "a fall from grace," comes from? Galatians 5:4, "You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace" (NKJV).
How telling that we use that particular terminology to describe an incident (usually of the high-profile variety) of moral failure. By doing so, we tip our theological hand. While we talk a lot about God's inexhaustible grace and unconditional love, when it comes right down to it, we still believe that grace is exhaustible. We know that we owe our salvation to Christ's grace-giving work on the cross. But it doesn't take long before we trade in that boundless grace for the boundaries of the law.
In biblical terms, a fall from grace is not the sinner saved by grace who is caught in moral failure. That is a fall to grace. A fall from grace is the self-righteous person who tries to earn his or her salvation through the guise of moral living, declaring that Christ's work on the cross was unnecessary—at least for them.

Let me ask a simple question: Do we really believe in grace? Or not?

When scandals hit the news wires and our TV screens, I'm reminded how easy it is to preach and teach grace, but how difficult it is to live out on the rugged plains of reality. And I say that as I search my own heart and attitudes. I say that because I struggle through the gamut of emotions, sometimes throwing critical glances toward a "fallen" man or woman in the Church. "Can you believe he did that?" I'm tempted to say with an air of arrogance.

And then I recall my own shortcomings, and a not-so-popular verse comes to mind, "How can you say, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:4, TNIV).

In Matthew 7:4 the word plank in the original language is a picture of a crossbeam that holds up an entire structure. Some of us have this critical crossbeam that holds up the entire structure of our lives, blinding us from our struggles—and blinding us from the way God views others and our own lives.

"Hypocrite!" Jesus says in verse 5. If you are trying to assume God's throne of righteous judgment, then you are a hypocrite.

People say to me, "I don't go to church anymore, because churches are full of hypocrites."

Let's just lay our cards on the table. We're all hypocrites! Being a hypocrite means assuming a role that is not yours to assume. Sadly, too many churches are communities of criticism instead of communities of compassion.

Criticism is like a boomerang. Matthew 7:2 says, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." So, if you want to get what you are giving, go ahead and give it. But be ready for its return to smack you on the back of your head.

That's why we need to humbly allow Jesus to yank the plank of criticism from our eyes. Once we do, two things happen. One, we can see the mercy of God in our own lives. And two, we can extend the mercy of God to others. Because I am not getting what I deserve from God, I have the power to release others from what they deserve. I'm able to give them what God has given me—love, acceptance and grace.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not justifying, rationalizing or any other type of "-izing" the moral indiscretions of Pastor Haggard or any other Christian leader ensnared by sin. What I am saying is that it's time to let God be the judge and take our proper role as fellow sinner saved by grace. And maybe it's time for us to stop putting other human beings—who can't possibly live up to our expectations—on moral pedestals. Maybe it's time to remember who the standard bearer of our faith is: Jesus. Maybe it's time to put aside our human nature and, as the apostle Paul suggested, "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).

Maybe, just maybe, it's time to yank the plank. Search your heart today and take some time to pray for Ted Haggard, his wife and family, his church, his accuser and the thousands who have been impacted by his ministry. Regardless of the extent of his moral indiscretion, let this be yet another wake-up call as to how spiritually vulnerable we really are. In situations like this, we scream for accountability, but we have to realize that no matter how much accountability we have, we're still vulnerable to the enemy's tactics to deceive us and bring us down.

When it comes to temptation, particularly in the sexual arena, we always overestimate our power to resist and underestimate the enemy's power to persist. Only as we walk daily in the grace of Christ can we find the humility to say, "There but for the grace of God go I."

"What once was hurt / What once was friction / What left a mark, no longer stings / Because Grace makes beauty out of ugly things." ("Grace" by U2)

Ed Young is pastor of Fellowship Church. He is the author of several books including The Creative Leader: Unleashing the Power of Your Creative Potential and You!. www.edyoung.com

Genesis on tour

Turn It On Again Tour announced - Banks, Collins and Rutherford tour again!
This made my day...I LOVE Genesis!!!!!!

Election Day

Election Day at my house is always an interesting day. Darrell and I are don't always agree on candidates and issues...this year is one of those years...
I tend to be a little more liberal than he is :) but not in the smoking issue..I do not like to eat in a restaurant where I have to breathe someone else's cigarette smoke while Im eating...they can go outside.
It does amaze me how passionate some people are....even when they're dead wrong :P
Voting was different this year at our precinct We had to fill out a ballot and put it in a scanner like the one in this picture..guess the punching holes method is a thing of the past

I love this show,I love this video, I love the words to this song

"Demons"

Have you ever been lost in a different world
Where everything you once knew
Is gone
And you find yourself powerless
With everything that exists
You're numb

Will I ever break free

I searched my world but I can't find you
You're standing there but I can't touch you
Try to talk but the words are just not there
I can feel a sense of danger
You stare at me like I'm a stranger
Paralyzed and you don't seem to care
The demons in my dreams

If you become a nobody
Blind, to your family
Who would you be?
And life has gone into reverse
Re-living every hurt
Along the way

Everything that you fear is calling you and drawing near

I searched my world but I can't find you
You're standing there but I can't touch you
Try to talk but the words are just not there
I can feel a sense of danger
You stare at me like I'm a stranger
Paralyzed and you don't seem to care
The demons in my dreams

Wake me up and let's go, yeah
I'm about to explode
Yeah

I searched my world but I can't find you
You're standing there but I can't touch you
Try to talk but the words are just not there
I can feel a sense of danger
You stare at me like I'm a stranger
Paralyzed and you don't seem to care
The demons in my dreams

A thought

"I don't know how to prove God to you. I can only hope to guide you to a place where you and God might meet"

Erwin McManus "Soul Cravings"

Element The Persecuted Church

This Sunday at 7:00pm at The Garage we are having Element. Element is a different way to experience worship. This month the focus is on the persecuted church. We take the freedom of expression of our faith for granted way too much. Come and find out how you can put actions to your faith and support those who put their lives at stake for their faith

"Father Chuck"

I'm not Catholic, never attended St. Mary's , but I do know that the death of Father Chuck is a huge loss to the community. The reason I know this is because I was with my friend and co-worker when she found out yesterday. Cindy is one of those people that has an incredible faith and although she and I worship differently, she is someone I know will give me spiritual support in tough times. A huge part of her faith has to do with the impact Father Chuck had on her. He was someone who was very involved with the kids in the community. Kids loved him. When he became the priest at St. Mary's they had to add an extra mass. He was able to connect and share his faith and he lived out his faith.
I know how I would feel if one of my "spiritual mentors" were killed...I would be devastated and that's how she's feeling right now. Please keep my friend Cindy and all of those who loved Father Chuck in prayer. He was young .only 47 which makes it even harder I think.. Cindy said to me yesterday "I know Father Chuck is in heaven..it's the ones here that's it's so hard on..you are never guaranteed that there will be a tomorrow"