Basketball Blitz and Blessings...

I love college basketball. I also love Baylor University. I think you can see where this is going. I spent a good portion of my weekend watching some great March Madness match-ups in Memphis and in St. Louis, and in Houston. I watched all these fabulous games on ESPN and CBS Sports from the comfort of my parents couch though. :) My Nana and Pa are season ticket holders to all of the Baylor Lady Bears basketball games. They are die-hard, green and gold blooded Bear fans.

Here is another one of my favorite college basketball teams, Duke University. You can imagine how excited I was to know that my two favorite college teams were facing each other. It did make the cheering a bit challenging though. Here is my rule for such instances as I found myself in yesterday: If there is a Texas team playing, all my allegiance goes to that team, so Baylor had my heart yesterday. Udo, Acey, and Carter played really well last night. I was proud of my Bears even though they lost to those Blue Devils from Raliegh-Durham.

Here is where the blessings were poured on my weekend. I met my absolutely adorable and completely fabulous friend Sylvia for dinner at Schlotsky's on Saturday night before going to a praise night at Highland. This lovely lady is such a treasure in my community of friends. I am so thankful for the immeasurable gift she is in my life. It was so good to catch up on life and just sit in her presence and allow the Lord to minister to my spirit. I know she will be a forever-friend, wherever she ends up in the coming days, months, and years. She is good for my soul! Sylvia just makes me a better person all around. She is a great friend, listener, encourager, and blessing. Love you, ST. :)

I hope your weekend was full of fun and brimming with blessings.

New Friends in Real Life...

I met the fabulous female partner of this fabulous godly McCord marraige covenant in February at her son Graham's Sip N See. I cannot tell you how precious this couple is to me. I haven't had the blessing of meeting Evan yet, but I am anxiously awaiting the day I will get to partake of that gift from the Lord. I just know Evan has to be such a blast and such a wonderful godly man if he is married to the lovely Annalee, mother of adorable 2 year old Adelaide.I adore the McCords. I also know Grammy Sherri and Grandpa Lynn. This is truly a most wonderful family. I count myself blessed beyond measure to know them. God is honored by their lives.

I met this precious two year old, whom I refer to in my heart as Adelaider Kater. Her given name is Adelaide Kate McCord or she is beloved and well-known as akm as well. She belongs to my adorable and completely and utterly fabulous friend, Annalee.

Wow, has my life been so sweetly blessed by forging new friendships with people I've known quite awhile through the blogosphere. I am so thankful to have met these precious friends through real-life happenings. This week while shopping My Sister's House Consignment boutique in downtown Abilene, I met my very cherished friend, Jenny Thompson and her fabulous husband Chris in real flesh and blood. They were both such precious people. I have prayed for a very long time that God would orchestrate a meeting for Jenny and I in some special way. The Thompsons were making a very quick stop in Abilene and came by the grand opening of My Sister's House to say hello to their cousins who are the proprieters of the boutique. You can find out more about My Sister's House by clicking on the link in my 'Blogs & Websites I Love' list on the left.

As you can see, I am blessed beyond measure to now know these precious Kingdom-shaped people in flesh and blood now. I've loved them for a very, very long time. God is just the best at bringing friends together. I hope you have time to thank Him for the community that surrounds your life today.

Hope Lives...

This week, through many different avenues, God has been teaching me that His hope lives all around those who seek it and have eyes and ears to receive its never-fading and unending call to keep pressing on in this earthly life. When life is given wholly to the cause of making Jesus attractive to others, and making sure our lives reflect a true-to-life representation of His activity and Presence in our lives, people have no choice but to ask questions about the hope that is made prominant in us as His chosen and dearly loved believers. To be completely honest, I want my life and my degree of devotion to raise eyebrows. I desire to make people wonder whrere my life-source comes from. I want to pursue the people of this planet with joy and pure passion.

Jesus calls me to love him with ruthless trust and abandon. He is intensely interested and invested in submissive oneness and obedience to His voice, His agendas, and the pursuits of His heart in the lives of those who claim to belong to His heritage of belief and discipleship. God doesn't look at the histories of our past decisions and failures with a red pen ready to mark up our past mistakes that have helped make us who we are. He is, however, given to making our lives tapestries of His matchless love and white-hot fervency that is found in taking unhindered delight in His thoughts, His wisdom, and His Presence. When we make a life-covenant with the leadings of His Spirit, He is given permission to permeate our entire beings as His glory breaks into the deepest parts of our inner person.

Allow hope to live in and through you this week. You will be ecstatic with the choice to give complete accesss to the glory of God, trust me. I know.

Books, Books, Bring on the Books...

If you know me for any length of time at all, you quickly learn one thing about me: I adore books. I relish stories. I can get lost in a good book for a very very long time. My friend Katie has been keeping a record of the books she reads each month, much like my treasured friend Chelsie. There are WAY too many favorites to choose only a few in my library. Here are some of my favorites and some I am in the process of reading right now. At least three of the featured series are going to get revisited in the very near future. Whatever I don't get to soon will be put on my summer reading agenda. Let the glimpse into my favorites begin: Anne of Green Gables has always been such a treasured series to me. I just love Anne-with-an-E. I have the all the movies almost memorized. She was such a loveable and cherished childhood playmate and friend when I was growing up. Can't wait to reread this beloved series soon.

I absolutely cannot get enough of these precious and mischevous kindred-sister characters. I see myself in so many parts of their lovely tale. I think I most identify with Jo as a writer, but with Beth as a mirror of my quiet, and eager-to-please nature. I love the March sisters and all that they learn about themselves and each other as they choose to love one another through all of life's storms, adventures, and rediculously fantastic fantasies. Marmie has also served as a wonderful teacher as I've gleaned from her fierce adoration and protection of their innocence and her ruthless trust in the relationship they share.

This is yet another beloved series of mine. I adore the Little House stories. Laura is by far my very favorite character. I can relate so much to her questions, her desire to hurry through her childhood to enter the world of adults, and her fierce, non-intentional-favorite relationship she shares with Charles. I see a lot of the same parallels between their relationship and the one I share with my own precious father. Laura is also not afraid to mess up and learn from her mistakes. I love that. This is definitely on my all-time favorite books list.

One of my most favorite characters in all of literature is Marty Davis in the Love Comes Softly series written by Jeanette Oke. I received the complete box set of Love Comes Softly on DVD for Christmas this year. I have loved, loved, loved watching them and getting lost in the similarities and overlaps in our lives. If you enjoy wonderful, clean. and faith-based movies, this is a must-see collection. I cannot wait to read the books.

I am in the midst of a season of trying to discern the stirrings of the Holy Spirit right now and I am LOVING this treasure of a book, called Forgotten God by Francis Chan, the author of Crazy Love. The Spirit is teaching me that He only seeks my obedience and my adoration rather than questioning of His leading and being afraid of man. Wow, am I so in love with Holy Spirit. If you are seeking more of His Presence, this is a must-read. This is a book I am so excited about. It is Surprised by the Power of the Spirit by Jack Deere. I am really desiring to be a student of the Holy Spirit throughout my time on this earth. I yearn to be guided and led by the agendas of the Spirit in all that I do and say. I am learning a fearless boldness as I just simply surrender what I've made out of myself to the divine ordinances of the Holy Spirit. Wow, what a precious, tender, and life-giving teacher He is. I want to always always welcome His higher ways of thinking and living.

There you go. Go and find a delicious book and happy reading :)

A Sweet Teacher...

This season of my journey with Jesus has been one of learning deeper things and I have loved it. I yearn to love Jesus desperately. My life-long prayer is that I will know Him in the most intimate way possible on the earth. I long to seek His face and the things that stir His heart with a passion that is pure, reckless, and totally surrendered to His agenda. It is my prayer that my life leads others to the feet and heart of Christ. He is just the best thing there is about this life. Jesus makes EVERYTHING worthwhile.

I am a person who is pretty progressive in my beliefs. I like to think of myself as a Church of Christ girl with a Charasmatic spirit and heart. I am not interested in being fake in my journey of discipleship. I want to delve deeply into the heart of the God I have given myself over to. I want to associate with friends who encourage, sharpen, and challenge my thinking, my beliefs, and my dreams. I want to be a student of lives that are deeply invested in the call of Christ. The Holy Spirit has been so precious to me as He has helped me discover things in my life that need to change and grow. I have come to know that the Lord is the best, most patient, and most tender teacher. I never want to outgrow the need of having a teachable spirit. I always want to welcome new lessons with gratitude and thanks. I want to be a life-long student in the School of the Holy Spirit as He leads my spiritual development into newer and richer depths of my God.

Knitting 101...

I think I've discovered a new hobby. I began learning to knit this week. I've wanted to learn this skill for awhile but just haven't sat down to do it. Well, that all changed this week. I am a huge fan of scarves, so that is what I really want to learn how to knit. Nothing else, only scarves. I have been watching YouTube tutorial knitting videoes in my spare time this week. I have to say that I am NOT very good at all yet, but I think once I get the hang of holding the needles and getting the rythm of my knit stich, I'll really enjoy it. If there are any knitters out there, I could really use your advice, helpful resources, or any tips you might be able to share. I have to admit, I've found trying to learn it off the YouTube videoes is a bit difficult. I had a very sweet and patient friend from Ladies Bible Class spend an hour with me on Tuesday teaching me the knit stich. The thing is, I need her to sit with me again until I really feel like I have the hang of it. I have found that having step-by-step instructions really helps me. I think I need to check and see if Amazon has a Knitting For Dummies book. I think I'll go check into that.

Anne Shirley...

Anne Shirley is one of my very favorite and most cherished characters of all time. I adored watching Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea when I was growing up. I could watch these movies over and over and over again. These two movies have some of my most treasured memories as a little girl. I loved watching Matthew, the batchelor adoptive father to Anne, treasure the relationship he and Anne shared. I loved watching Marilla, Anne's old maid turned adoptive mother learn to appreciate Anne's strong willed independence and uniqueness. I also loved Gilbert. I could easily get lost in these precious stories. The fact is I still love to get lost in them. Anne Shirley has permanently secured a very cherished place in my memory and in my heart,