Memorial Day fun!

We had such a fun day yesterday, so much so that we didn't take one single picture. I forgot my camera for most of the day too, so that doesn't help either. We started out our day at the house that I nanny at swimming. They have a great pool and have told us that we are free to use it whenever. They go out of town a lot on the weekends, so don't get to use it too much, so they are happy to see it being used. And, we got to bring along some friends too! SK played with her bud Caroline till lunchtime, then wanted to get back in for some more playing. We headed out at naptime, and SK passed out pretty quickly in the car and took a good nap at home! We decided it would be fun to get a pizza and eat over at the park that is across the street from our house for dinner. We checked with a couple friends to see if anyone wanted to join us and so we ended up with quite a fun group for the evening! SK got to play with her buddies Calvin and Lillian, so she was very happy! So happy that she was too excited to eat her pizza. When we headed home at 8, she was begging for some pizza and proceeded to eat a whole piece of pizza before heading to bed. It was such good fellowship and I know SK had so much fun with her friends playing hard all day! Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will catch some this week I am sure :)
We hope to do some fun things this week before Michael has to buckle back down for summer greek, starting on Monday! He starts his internship on Thursday (haven't blogged about that, have we...) so other than that, he is ours for the week and I am so excited! Nana and Pop come to town on Thursday, so it will be an exciting week around here!
I will make Michael blog soon about how his semester turned out and his classes and the news of saying "bye-bye" Chick-fil-A, and hello internship! God has been so faithful to us this semester and we are so thankful! He meets our needs and more, even though I struggle to truly believe that He is good and is taking care of us and all, He still loves me and blesses my family so much!
I am off to work! Hope everyone else had a great day yesterday and remember why we celebrate! Thank you to all the men and women who serve. We are so thankful to you and your families for sacrificing so that we can live in a land where we are free and safe. I think of all the wives that have had to see their husbands go and serve for months and then take care of their family back at home without the help of their husbands there with them. Thank you for what you do. Thank you for being willing to let your husband go and serve our country. I appreciate it, even though I know I don't say it enough (which should be said on more than just this one day!)

Adding to "Back to Africa"

So I thought I would mention that I forgot from yesterday when posting about the back to Africa thing. All of the money from this jewelry goes "Back to Africa", meaning 100%! The people who are a part of this ministry don't make money from the jewelry or keep a certain percent, which I thought was pretty cool. It is awesome to think that when you get a piece of jewelry, you are sending all of that money to such an awesome ministry. I totally forgot to tell you about that yesterday, so I thought I would mention that.

Last night I got to go out with my hubby :) We headed to the Touhill Performing Arts where we got to see some pretty awesome companies perform. After that, we headed to the Cheesecake Factory where we split a yummy cheesecake! SK had a blast playing with her friend Lillian. It is such a treat for us to get to go out just us and we are thankful to have friends here that are willing to watch our little girl for us. Babysitting trading works well for seminary familes :)

Back to Africa ministry

I was recently introduced to a ministry called Heart of the Bride and Back to Africa. If you have kept up on our blog, you know our heart for orphans. Well, this ministry touched my heart when I was introduced to it. A friend of mine here in St. Louis is part of the Back to Africa ministry. She was having a jewelry party and I got to go and see and hear all about the ministry. Here is what I have learned about it so far. These women in Africa make this jewelry and it is shipped to the states to sell to support many different orphanages. It is giving these women a trade to help them support themselves, families, and so many orphans. The jewelry is pretty awesome too. Click on the link above to see it, but in person it is just incredible. From what I remember being told it supports orphanages in Africa and other's like Uganda and Haiti (I believe that is right...) If you look through the website you can learn more. Michael and I really have a heart for adoption and caring for orphans and our prayer is that other's will too. Like I have said before, we are all called to care for the orphans and widows, it might look different for each of us and that is good and exciting! Michael and I are actually really feeling like Africa will be where we adopt from (Ethiopia specifically). I am hoping to get to have a jewelry party when we come to Birmingham in August. I would love to have this party as a fun get together and share this cool ministry with my girlfriends in Birmingham. Anyone interested in this? Let me know so I can see if there might be interest in having it while in town. Like I said, check out the website and let me know if you are interested in coming to a party to hear more about it! Thanks yall!

Strawberry Pickin'!

I had a day off today from nannying, so we decided to find a fun activity for the day. Of course, sleeping in doesn't really happen around here, but at least I didn't have to get out the door by 6 a.m.! After a little cuddle time with SK, we decided to head out to Eckart's Farm, which is over the river in Illinois. So this would be considered our first time out of the state of Missouri since moving. It was about 30 minutes from our house, so not a bad drive. The place we went had rows and rows of strawberries to pick from. SK had a blast.

Sweet Daddy picking strawberries with his baby!

I would give her a couple to put in our box and she would eat one and put the other one in. By the time we left, she was stained pink all over her hands and face (including forehead). It was perfect weather today for being out too, not too hot or cold :) SK got good and worn out. She passed out in the car on the way home and layed down on the couch as soon as we got home for a good hour. Now we are chilling back at home till tonight. Michael is taking me to a ballet while SK goes to a friends house to play. He got tickets for me for a Mother's Day gift. I can't wait to get a night with my honey :)

Mimi comes to town!

We had quite an exciting weekend around here. My mom (Mimi) came into town on Thursday afternoon and left today. We had so much fun each day! I will try to condense this to one post, but there were so many fun things to tell about. Thursday we cooked some dinner and hung out at our house. Then Friday we headed out for a walk to a nearby park to play then a fun little cafe for lunch, napped at home, then headed to City Museum (where we got the biggest workout having a blast!), then dinner at "The ole Spaghetti Factory" downtown close to the arch. That was quite the full day, but so much fun. Saturday, we started with a farmer's market then did a little shopping and hanging out, then we had date night (Sarah Kate had a date with Mimi and Mommy and Daddy went with some friends on a double date!) Sunday we headed to church then took a picnic to the arch where we got to let Mimi treat SK to a princess carriage ride at the arch for her upcoming birthday. After dinner we had cake and present time :) Today we had some fun play time at another park and then lunch together before taking Mimi to the airport. I know Sk had so much fun with Mimi and hated to see her leave. While it has been hard to not live close to family and see then on a regular basis, it makes these times we do have together so very special. So thanks Mimi for coming to see us and creating such fun memories! We love you and can't wait to see you again!

We made it!!

I can hardly belive we have completed our first semester here in St. Louis. Michael finished his last exam on Tuesday and has a break until June 6th! Woohoo! We are going to enjoy this break and then it will be buckle down time for Greek for the month of June and July. We enjoyed hanging out today, going to the playground and then helping another seminary family pack up their apartment since they are moving this weekend. The thing that I am realizing is hard about this whole seminary thing (well, one of the things...) is making friends and then graduation comes and jobs come that take these people all over the country and world. It is exciting though to see the Lord work not only in our lives to get us here, but in so many other families lives here, opening doors to do ministry. It gets me pumped up to see where the Lord will lead us after finishing seminary.

Michael went with some other guys (seminary guys) to the Card's game tonight as a celebration for finishing up the semester. I am excited for him to get to go to another game! Now, next time he just has to take me too. You can really get a good deal to go to the games here. We have discovered Stubhub for tickets. He was able to find tickets for tonights game for like $4 a ticket and then is riding the Metro to the stadium, so all in all it turns out really inexpensive to go to a game. He deserves it! He worked so hard this semester and I am so proud of him. It is so awesome to see my husband so happy with where the Lord has called us to. To see him go from a job that he really wasn't that happy in, knowing that the Lord was calling him into ministry has been really awesome to see. I love watching the Lord mold his heart and all.

I am going to pop in a movie I picked up from the library yesterday and relax since little bit is in bed and the hubby isn't home. My momma is flying up tomorrow, so it will be a fun weekend ahead for sure!

The Healing Path

Remember me sharing some of my recent reads. Well, I let Michael pick a book from his semester reads and I would read it. His pick:

I really enjoyed this book. So, add it to your list too :) Here is a section that really struck me...
"The harm of living in a fallen world leads to the destruction of human glory thruogh the damage inflicted by powerlessness, betrayal, and ambivalence. Evil stands over its labor, content that many have succumbed to its power, or at least to its damage, and have relinquished fath, hope, and love. But it need not be that way. The quintessential cry of hope is found in the remark Joseph made after experiencing devastating physical, sexual, and emotional abuse: "God turned into good what you meant for evil" (Genesis 50:20, NLT).
Damage need not destroy us! The journey of life need not strip us of joy! The walk through the desert and the valley can actually redeem us--but not if our commitment is to flee from it. We live in a culture that is committed to escaping the veil of sorrow, but if we are willing to embrace the damage we can be saved.
Embrace the harm of living in a fallen world. But even more, embrace the God who invites you to find rest and confort in his love. It is in embracing life and God that we are healed and transformed."

"We will be willing to embrace life, including its disappointments, only to the degree we hear God's welcome and see his open arms in the midst of our struggle."

"But we cannot hope unless we learn to wait, and we cannot learn to wait if we have put God on our schedule."

So there are so many other parts I could quote, but I will keep it to those. This book truly addresses so many issues of how we deal with past hurts and pains. I really enjoyed this book. I hope to be able to read more of the books Michael read this semester....we own them, might as well right? :)

Changing the subject, Michael and I watched "The King's Speech" the other night. Good movie. If you haven't seen it, go get it. We really enjoyed it.

ok, that's it for now. I took SK to our new pediatrician today since she has been having some swollen glands in her neck. Low and behold, she has strep. Boo. We are now on antibiotics and I am staying home tomorrow to keep her from sharing germs with the baby I nanny. I am thankful that the family I nanny for was understanding and able to work out me staying home. Off to enjoy some family time watching some Cardinal's baseball on tv!