A Beth Moore Girls Weekend {Lundi Little Lovelies}

This is definitely NOT one of those Mondays.  The ones where I'm depressed and just feeling off.  Today, I am so thankful for this Monday.  Mainly because I need a mellow day to relax and catch up and process the past few days.

This weekend, I had the absolutely fabulous opportunity to attend a Beth Moore conference in Daytona with a big group of women from church.  And I have been so incredibly blessed by God, Beth, the worship team, and the lovely ladies who went on the trip.  Frankly, I was a little nervous to go.  I'm so shy.  I also don't have children.  I didn't even know the names of several of the women who were going.  I was afraid of not enjoying myself because I so often don't fit in.  But, I was wrong.  The wonderful, godly women who went included me, and the Lord spoke to me so much that I simply cannot look back on the trip with regret.  I know I was meant to go, as was each of the other women who went.

I so greatly enjoyed getting to know them better.  One of the wonderful things about the trip was that there was a lot of "unplanned" time where we could all just gather around and talk, share, pray, laugh, and cry.  And I think I'm right in saying that we all walked away from the weekend changed in some way.  

God moved powerfully through the worship, Beth's speaking, and through our time with each other.  Though I cannot fully explain how God spoke to me in a way that will speak to you, I'd like to share some of the things that Beth said that moved me.

• "Jesus knew firsthand what it was like to be a man." -  Now, I know that when Jesus came to this earth, he was fully God and fully man.  But I have never thought about it to the point that Beth explained.  Jesus took his 100% God-ness and put it into the confines of a human body.  Beth thought about the fact that God never sleeps.  So, it may have annoyed Jesus that his human form got tired and had to sleep.  He surely got sores on his feet from walking miles in his sandals.  He got hungry.  He probably had a cold at some time in his life.  And Beth focused on Mark 7:34 where is says that Jesus groaned.  He knows the limitations and the afflictions of our human forms, and he longs for us to experience our heavenly forms that have no imperfections.  Wow!
• She also spoke on a verse that has long been dear to me.  Isaiah 40:11 says, "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young."  (NIV, Italics added)  Oh how I just love that God gathers me in his arms and carries me close to his heart.  I so dearly need to be loved and cared for in such a tender way by my Savior.
• Beth's last point was that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God in heaven until he comes back to bring all the saints home.  Amen!  I have read the accounts of Christ's ascension into heaven many times, however, I have failed to picture the scene in my mind.  "After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God."  (Mark 16:19, NIV)  Just as he had proclaimed right before his crucifixion (Mark 14:62), men witnessed him being raised into heaven and sitting down beside his Father!  Wow!  And there he remains until the day no one knows except the Father, when God will turn his head to his son and say "Go get her!"  (Paraphrased from Beth Moore)  Hallelujah!

I was so tremendously blessed through Beth's teaching of the Word.  I am so thankful to her that she is daily obedient to the call that God has placed on her life.  And I am also thankful for the wonderful group of women that He has placed me in.  They are Godly influences on my life, and I am glad to be counted among them.

And we finished up the weekend with a life group party.  What a great way to keep the fun going!  We played True Colors, and I have not laughed so hard in ages!  I am so glad that God has given us such a wonderful group of friends!

This, indeed, is a happy, happy Monday!

Anniversary Awesomeness!

Ok, so first of all, sorry that you had to wait a whole extra day to find out about my anniversary surprise.  Lol.  I was too busy enjoying myself to blog yesterday.  Also, I just really couldn't put The Book Thief down when I had the free time that I could have used to blog.  I'm almost halfway through it, and I'm really, really intrigued.

So, here are some highlights of our fifth anniversary celebration on Friday!

• We spent the morning at Andretti Thrill Park riding go carts, playing putt-putt, competing at arcade games, and all out having a childishly good time!
• For dinner Thomas took me to a five start restaurant called Yellow Dog Cafe, which was absolutely amazing!  We are not hoity-toity restaurant people (mainly because we are low budget), but this place was such a treat!  It's by far the nicest restaurant I've ever eaten at, and the food was absolutely delicious!  After I got done devouring everything, I realized that I should have taken a few photos of my food because it was so pretty.  But, being the horrible food blogger that I am, when you set a dish in front of me, taking a picture is absolutely the last thing on my mind!  We sat in a covered porch area looking right out onto the Indian River.  We took the picture of us together when we walked out on the pier before dessert!  It was fabulous!

 

• The surprise requires a tiny bit of back story:  When I woke up that morning, there was a card by the bed.  Thomas had written a sweet note, and at the bottom he told me to pack an overnight bag because we weren't coming home after dinner!!!  So I kind of knew what the surprise was all day, but I didn't have any specifics.  So after dinner, we got in the car and drove over to beach side.   There is this one hotel, the Radisson, that we always comment on as we drive by because the way they built the hotel is really cool.  It's a really long, skinny building that faces the beach so that every guest room can have an ocean view.  And lo and behold, that's where we were staying!  Thomas had gotten us a jacuzzi suite on the top (16th) floor for the night!!!  Needless to say, it was amazing!  Then Saturday morning, we got up and watched the sunrise and then went to our yummy beach side breakfast restaurant, The Blueberry Muffin, hung out at the beach and the pool and came home!  IT was awesome!  And all pulled off by my wonderful husband!  Here are some photo highlights!

The view from our balcony

Evening walk on the beach

Just one of the dozens of photos of the sunrise

Half of the hotel // Our room was the top right in this photo.

A whole wall of windows overlooking the ocean

Another view down the beach

One last photo on the balcony before we left

 So, all in all, my husband is amazing, and he worked hard to make our fifth anniversary very special.  Thank you honey!  (Random note: Now I'm going to have to write a post about how he really isn't perfect and sometimes he just makes me so crazy that I want to throw him out a window.  All you married people know what I'm talking about!  Lol.)

You may or may not have noticed...

Well, you may have noticed my absence this week.  Or, maybe not, considering I'm not the most dependable blogger in the world.  But, I've been on vacation!  Woohoo!

Thomas and I just got back from a trip to St. Louis to visit our families.  We were so blessed to get to travel there since our chances to see family and friends are few and far between since we now live 1100 miles away!  So we were very thankful to get to see everyone again!

The one thing I miss about St. Louis, besides our families of course, is some of the food.  There are a couple of places in St. Louis that we just don't have where we live.  And on this trip, I'm pretty sure I got to eat at every single one of them!  Yay!  So, I should be set on my St. Louis food cravings for a while.

Just in case you're wondering, here are the faves I am referring to (most of which are major chain restaurants that do not live in my area of Florida):

• Qdoba Mexican Grill - This one is a major chain that Brevard County, Florida seriously needs to adopt.  Moe's has NOTHING on Qdoba!
• The Old Spaghetti Factory - Once again, an AMAZING chain restaurant Florida needs.
• Imo's Pizza - A thin crust St. Louis pizza company... either you love it or you hate it.  And I love it!
• Red Robin - Aaaahhh!  Best chicken caesar wrap ever!  I could eat it every day.
• McAlister's Deli - We had to take a special trip to McAlister's just for sweet tea and POTATO SALAD.  Seriously, I could cry eating their potato salad; it is that good!
  
  
• And last but certainly not least, SnoBiz - A little old shack that serves the best sno-cones ever.  This place holds so many memories for me.

 This was our after church hang out spot on Wednesday nights in the summers.  Our whole group would drive over, grab sno-cones and sit in the bed of Thomas' truck hanging out.  Thomas and I went to SnoBiz after dinner, before homecoming junior year when we went as "friends" because I didn't like him yet.  We went there on the night before I left for college freshman year (I had band camp so I had to leave before everyone else.  I know, I'm a nerd.).  We went there the night before our wedding.  And fifty million times in between...  So much laughter, so many memories.  Here's another memory to add to the mix.

I have some more things to blog about...recipes, goings on, movies... but I'll save them for later.  I have a kitty cat bugging me to hang out, so I'm going to be an old cat lady and oblige her!

Have a great weekend!