Much to be thankful for

This thanksgiving was spent with close friends. Unfortunately we could not go home to be with family because of Rocky's job, however we did have fun with our friends here in Louisville. I cooked a whole turkey for the 1st time by myself. It's a good thing I went to Chef Pam's seminar on turkey roasting or I would have been clueless. We all had fun eating the usual thanksgiving treats and then we watched Elf the movie while we looked through the adds for black Friday. Here are some pics:

Hope Rogers was very haute couture in this beautiful red velvet dress by Vera Wang and Brilliant Bow by Stephanie Rogers

Even Peter Parker came to our Thanksgiving dinner

Rockstar was a little sleepy from work at UPS

have you ever turned a desk into a buffett table?

desk 2 was for dessert :)

Stephanie and Laura get some yummy turkey

Claire Zetterberg loved the pumpkin pie

Isn't my husband great?

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I know we did and we have much to be thankful for.

Guess who's back, back again?

After a long sabbatical from the blog, I thought I would write a little. I started a new job teaching first grade and most of my time has been spent grading papers instead of blogging. I have really enjoyed teaching and my students are just precious. I hope to post some pics of them at some point. In the mean time here are a few pics of what we have been up to lately. If I look heavier as the pictures progress, no it's not an illusion. I am beginning to put on this year's hallothanksmas weight.

We had a great time going to Huber farms with our Sunday school class. As always, the caramel apples, pumpkin ice cream and fried chicken were delicious!

I know this picture was a little corny, but I just had to share it.

good times on the hay ride

I finally finished a diaper bag for a friend that I had been working on (it was for a boy)

On Monday Rocky and I finished our marriage class. We had been taking the class through the seminary and the last class was a banquet. It was really fun and helped us learn how to have a better marriage. Pictured above are us and our friends from church, Tim and Shawnda.

Book Review

I usually don't do book reviews; there are many others who are gifted at that. However, I couldn't resist talking about this one. Recently, my Bible study went through a book called Battling Unbelief written by John Piper.

This little book only has 8 chapters (it's actually a portion of the book Future Grace), which was perfect for my attention span. It deals with battling sin by battling unbelief. Namely, believing what God says in His Word and using His Word to fight sin.

Someone might ask, "But do you really struggle with believing God?" Well, it is easy to tell that I do because I sin. When I sin, I am believing the tempters Words over the Truth of the Bible. This book has helped me in a very practicle way in battling sin and I would love to recommend it to you. I hope to read it again soon.

Here is a review from Justin Taylor who writes for the Between Two Worlds blog:

I've been looking forward to the appearance of this book for years. Multnomah has now published John Piper's book Battling Unbelief. Though I recommend lots of books on this blog, I try not to overuse the term "must have" or "must read." Well this is not one of those times! Quite simply, I think this is some of the best material we have today on sanctification--putting sin to death and trusting in the promises of God in Christ through the power of the Spirit.Future Grace was first published in 1995. It's a thick book (both in terms of content and pages). But sprinkled throughout the book are "application" chapters that take the concept of future grace and apply them to eight broad categories of unbelief: (1) anxiety, (2) pride, (3) misplaced shame, (4) impatience, (5) covetousness, (6) bitterness, (7) despondency, and (8) lust.These chapters are now lightly revised and collected in Battling Unbelief, along with a new introduction. If you can't afford it, skip a meal, shovel someone's driveway--do what you need to do to get your hands on this book.

Weekend Visit and a Race

This weekend Rocky's Dad came up for a visit. He was very sweet to come and see us all the way from Mississippi. It's a long way here from central Mississippi even by plane. We had a great time hanging out with him and taking him to a few of our favorite restaurants. Rocky's dad is always so kind to us and the visit seemed so short. We look forward to seeing him again hopefully in October. Above is a picture of the three of us. I meant to have a waiter take one of us at the restaurant, but I forgot so I had to set the timer on my camera at home. I think it turned out okay. Below is a picture of Rocky and his dad at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. This restaurant is super yummy and has even been featured on the Food Network. It's a little crazy inside and out, but that's what makes it so fun.

Rocky and I were in a 4 mile race this weekend that started at Slugger Field. We were presently surprised to get a visit from the Bat's mascot, Buddy the bat. This picture was made after the race. We were lucky enough to have cool weather and an overcast sky. It was also a flat course which made it easier. It was a lot of fun and went to support Kiwanis Kids.

Mother Daugher Trip

This past week I took a vacation to the beach. Pictured above are my 2 best friends, their moms, and my mom. (Left to right, Pam, Rachel, Linda, Karen, me, and my mom Joyce). Karen and I have been best friends since the seventh grade and started the mother daughter trip tradition our freshmen year of college when our moms came and stayed in the dorm with us. Needless to say, it was a tight squeeze! Karen and I met Rachel through our sorority our sophomore year of college. We quickly became friends and were excited to have her and her mom on this trip.

Rachel recently got engaged so we threw her a "mini" shower with a few things for her honeymoon. Karen and her mom got her a few books, my mom got her some flip-flops, and Rachel's mom got her a beach towel. I made her a beach bag in my sewing class (pictured below). I wish we had more pictures from the weekend. Overall, it was great to just relax and I always love to spend time at the beach. We did all the things girls should do, lay out, swim, eat out, and talk for hours. I stayed an extra day with my mom and it was great to spend time with her.

Rachel with her new bag

Rachel gives me a squeeze!

Wedding Flowers

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to arrange flowers for my co-worker's wedding. Laura entrusted me to do her wedding flowers after only seeing 1 arrangement that was the first I had ever done. Call me crazy, but I took her up on it. It was great exercise in practicing not being anxious. I could not have done this without God's grace and a lot of help from a few friends. I must first mention Bronwyn Cardwell. She taught my floral arranging class at the Seminary Wives Institute. She is from Birmingham, Alabama but she has received a few long distance phone calls from me as well as answered numerous emails. I really appreciate her kindness to teach me her wealth of knowledge! I also owe a huge thank you to Kristi Hunter who was with me for 7 hours the day of the wedding. She helped me prep the flowers, clean up, and take pictures. I would not have finished without your help Kristi!!! Below are some pics I took, I know there are a lot, but it was the first wedding I've ever done. I LOVED it! Maybe I'll have to start a career . . . . hmmm, what would I call it??

Here is what I started out with:

My apartment smelled so good with all these flowers in it.

I started out with the Matron of Honor's bouquet done in pink roses

Next I made the bridal bouquet

After the bouquets, I made a couple boutonnieres.

This was for the buffet table - Lilies, Alstremeria, and Lemon Leaf

Here is the cake table arrangement. Her cake was beautiful, those ribbons are made out of fondant! She selected the lovely artwork that says "Love Never Fails"

I also made 2 arrangements for over the mantle, I had to arrange them on this buffet, because the mantle was too tall

This is the first arrangement I did for the wedding, I decided to take a picture of it in progress.

Here is the finished product

This is my friend Kristi to whom I owe a Saturday!

Here is the Bride, Laura Durham. She was so laid back and great to work with. I'm really thankful she let me have this opportunity. It was great and I would love to do another wedding.

Chicago

Rocky and I just returned from our very fun anniversary trip in Chicago. We celebrated two years of marriage and had a wonderful time in the Windy City. I've posted lots of pics below and I wish I had more! Two things we did that I just didn't get pictures of, were the Aquarium and the Ghiradelli store. The Aquarium was glass so it was hard to get pictures there, but we saw a really great Dolphin show. We went to the Ghiradelli chocolate store several times to enjoy ice cream sundaes with lots of hot fudge. They were delicious!

Here we are at the John Hancock building. We went to the top for a yummy dessert and the view was beautiful.

Rocky's dream come true . . . a Cub's Game! Wriggleville was like nothing I'd ever seen.

Rocky with the famous Harey Carey Statue (I'm not sure if that's how it is spelled)

The game was packed. As you can see in the far right, even the buildings surrounding the stadium had seats on the top of them.

We had great seats in the shade. Cubs fans are so loyal, they all stayed to the ninth inning.

For a small tip, we had our picture made with Cubby after the game.

Here we are in front of our hotel, the Affinia. It was a great location on Superior off of Michigan Avenue. We were right next to Gino's Pizza East.

The room was gorgeous

We had a lovely suite.

And now . . . Who's Pizza Reigns Supreme!!!

Giordano's or . . . .

Gino's???

Giordano's had the nicest atmosphere, they offered a tangy sauce and a flaky crust

But the winner is GINO'S EAST

A sweet sauce with a cornbread like crust. It was amazing, why don't they make pizza like this in Louisville??

It's definitely worth the 40 min. wait!

We never thought we would like deep dish, but we definitely do!!

We had a great time shopping along Michigan Avenue, also called "The Magnificent Mile" Who ever knew, Crate and Barrell would be 3 stories high?

One of the stores we stopped by was called "American Girl" I've never seen anything like it. Three stories high complete with a doll salon, doll hospital, doll theater, doll cafe, and of course tons of dolls and accessories. For the bargain price of $102 you can purchase a doll customized with the hair color, complexion and eye color of your choice. Pictured above, is the doll salon. For $20 you can have the "style of the month"

Here is the Doll Cafe. This includes special seats for the dolls to sit with you as you dine. These girls were in heaven!!

We also ventured over to Navy Pier for a fireworks show

The Ferris Wheel was huge

I have to admit, I was a little nervous being that high up in the air!

It was really a beautiful night.

We went through the reptile exhibit at the zoo. Here is a weird looking lizard thing.

Rocky with some kind of dragon

That thing in the background is a Rankey. A cross between a Rabbit and a Donkey. Okay, not really, but it looks like one.

Here we are with the flamingos.

A zebra, OOOOHHHH, AAHHHH

Our last night we spent at a really nice restaurant called Zaven's. We had a great time eating and talking. I enjoyed the steak, but my favorite was the chocolate chip Creme Brule.

We are so in love, and I am so thankful that the Lord provided us with funds to go on a trip like this. We are so blessed!