Baptism

Our little church plant turned two years old this past weekend and it was a beautiful testament to what the Lord has been doing in this community. I am so thankful that He has blessed me with the opportunity to be partaking in this body over the last two years, and especially the last few months. You can find a recap of the last few years at Hope over here at Kim's blog. 

We re-capped the most recent trip to Sudan, which you can learn more about here, Dave talked about what Hope is and what we hope to continue to do in Sudan. After service, we headed up to the Turdici's home for a big barbeque, the Niners game, and guess what?

I got baptized, surrounded by people who have walked with me through the last ten years of mountaintops and valleys, who have seen me both far from and close to the Lord since He saved me six years ago. Even my mom was there, which is just further solidification of the fact that He is so much bigger than we could ever fathom.  

"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21

 

  

 

  

  

 

 

Six of us got baptized this past sunday, October 14th, 2012. We are a funny bunch, with testimonies at every end of the spectrum. 

But we are all one in Christ. 

We have put on Christ, and Galatians takes on new meaning. 

"Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." Galatians 3:23-29

10 on 10 Fail

More like 3 on 10.

There are exciting Giants games to watch, cookies to bake, t-shirts to design and corndogs to be eaten.

My apologies to those of you who don't enjoy sports, but I think you're just plain crazy.

12 PM

2 PM

8 PM

Decided that my sweater and Bible should easily blend into the couch at Prayer Night. For disappearing purposes.

10 PM

Returned home from celebrating Brian's new job with Kim, Kevin and Mike, to find these socks on my bed. Gifts from the East Coast.

Pandas? Yes. Cats? No. Cowboy hats? What on earth...

Now It's Funny

When we were in Nepal, it was a general consensus among the majority of our team, that we could see ourselves staying for much longer than the six weeks of that trip. We would discuss what the one item from home you would want to have with you in Kathmandu that you didn't currently.

Relatively early on in the trip, I said that the one thing I wanted to have with me would be my wardrobe. You see, we travelled with backpacking packs, and wanted to be able to easily pack up and get around. When you check into a guest house in Nepal for six weeks, you can expect them to move you around the building a couple times.

But those who know me best, and had to travel with me throughout junior high and high school trips, know that I, 1. have a huge closet, and 2. have the hardest time not packing for every single potential situation that could ever arise ever ever ever.

Thus, the night before I left, Kayla and I were laying in bed for our last night together as roommates, and I realized I needed to downsize. I ran and grabbed my pack from the living room, and we emptied it, resulting in me taking about half of what I was originally planning on taking.

It was for the best. But it was hard.

At the start, I felt like I had approximately 1% of what I needed. But by the end, the clothes just did not matter.

So, my original stance? I wanted my wardrobe.

But then I spent an afternoon helping one of Tiny Hands house mothers do the laundry for fifteen children, and I realized I had more clothing at home then a whole children's home of fifteen children, two parents, and a grandmother did.

Convicting? I think yes.

When I arrived home, I was confronted with an unfortunate situation.

Some hooligans broke into my friend's residential garage, broke into my car, and stole my clothes.

You see, when finding places to store all my belongings while I was gone, I figured I would put everything but my clothes into locked cabinets, but that my clothes would be fine in my huge suitcase in my car.

But, au contraire. Clothing thievery is real, people.

My immediate reaction was anger. Like, who steals clothes? And what the heck do you do with someone else's clothes? Years and years and years of clothes. I guess you sell them at the Sunday swap meet. The city of Azusa is probably clothed in my last 8 years of clothing.

You're welcome.

Friends more than stepped up to the challenge, donating great clothes to my cause. My mom's co-workers even took a collection. They are too kind.

It has been a fun challenge to replace the basics, and do so while being thrifty and looking for things that will last me for the years to come.

Until they're potentially stolen again.

But the basics of this story?

God got rid of a stumbling block, the one thing that in my mind, would keep me from completely investing in overseas ministry.

So at the end of the day, I have to laugh. Praise Jesus for clothing thievery.

Scripture

Every day of this life I am living, is an opportunity to trust in the Lord. To trust that He knows what He's doing. To trust that He will bring the right people into my life at the right time. To trust that He is the giver of grace and the healer of hearts and friendships. 

Interested to know what has been helping? 

Un-ceasing prayer and the words He gave to His believers. 

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." 1st Corinthians 10:13

"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." 2nd Corinthians 3:4-6

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8

And a whole lot of cookies. 

InstaFriday

Well, when one lacks an Instagram, it is difficult to have an InstaFriday. But, fear not, those who feel like they don't already get overwhelmed by the amount of pictures on this blog! Because I am going to participate anyway. With un-edited iPhone pictures. Yeahhhh buddy.

One sad and freezing Giants game.

 

An afternoon with Hayden, whom I like to call "Hay-Ray", or "Hay-Bay-Bay". 

Learning about the oh-so-interesting lives of carnivorous plants from Jon Pham. Apparently, two weeks in Sudan and he still cares about these little buggers. Buggers. Get it? No? Dang.

More time with this superhero. Notice that I'm driving a different car, but he is wearing the same thing. He wears that Batman tee, with attached cape, and blue Crocs, MAYBE five times a week. 

A cheap, ghetto, simple case was in order for the iPhone 5 before Bass Lake. 

Happy Hippo. Roadtrip snacks, courtesy of Laura. And maybe breakfast too...

Okay, insert Bass Lake Weekend below. 

[Bass Lake weekend]

A new background image. It's my favorite so far. 

Anneke and I. Kayaking the lake away. 

Okay, at a standstill. Not kayaking at all. The truth feels better. 

Anthropologie sale shopping. One should never do it alone, it's a dangerous task. 

Accountability is needed. 

Finding weird, strange, creepy vehicles with Kim. 

This one took the cake. 

I found out that my spirit animal is a golden retriever. And that I'm an ENFJ. 

Take that as you will. 

But 30 minutes later, I found my spirit animal in real life!

Okay, it's Finn. At the house I nanny/chauffeur/PA for. And I knew he would be there. 

But still, the planets aligned. 

Highway 280. I love this drive. 

Welcome to Fall, I'm glad we're here. 

Pintertest Kitchen

I have known Jessica since I was in junior high, which was almost twelve years ago.

Sorry if I just really dated any of you...

But after twelve years, I have finally decided that I should really give this Pintertest Kitchen of hers a try.

Just kidding. Twelve years would be a long time.

But, after spending my lunch hour with Kim, she told me I should go Pinter-test something for once.

Challenge. Accepted. 

After one year, I decided I'd finally join.

Might have something to do with the fact that I have nothing to do these days, finally out of school for a while and lacking a job.

I decided to test two things!

The first is edible, the second is wearable. My two favorite kinds of items.

Let the testing begin.

7Up Biscuits

The recipe calls for Bisquick, 7UP, butter, and sour cream.

But guess what?

My Irish family doesn't keep 7UP on hand, or sour cream.

So... Beer and cream cheese it was.

And Jersey Shore. Durr.

I mean, they were good.

No part of me is about to be like "OH SKITTLES, go make these. Stat."

It is true that I made six, and have eaten five. But I also skipped lunch.

I think the sour cream might make this recipe what it is, so for me to leave it out might have been a critical error.

They also barely rose at all, and I was assuming the carbonation would make these things fluffier than all get out. But, au contraire.

My next little Test of the Pinter, was for homemade headbands.

Braided Headbands

The tutorial was really simple, and I made two while just sitting watching television one afternoon. 

Kept one for myself, and gave one to Kim. 

Also successfully left mine in Cindy's car for weeks and weeks on end. 

Sorry Cinders :)

I wear mine like so.

PinterTest, it's been REAL.

See ya soon.

Linking up with Jessica!

Lake

Check out Amie's blog for pictures of this weekend. And fantastic pictures in general.