Weekend with Aspen!

Well, this weekend I was able to go visit Aspen in Lubbock. This is my second time to see her, and she will be home in two more weeks! Thank goodness! We had a lot of fun. We stayed in a hotel so it felt like a mini vacation. We went to dinner Friday night, and then watched a movie in the hotel room. On Saturday, we swam for the majority of the day. Kelli and Brayden came over to the hotel to swim. Kelli looks beautiful, and will be having baby MaKenna on Monday. Brayden and Aspen had fun together as always. Then my friend Monica brought pizza over and we ate. Monica's father has a lake house on Buffalo Springs Lake, so Monica invited Aspen and I to go, so Aspen could go fishing. Aspen had told me earlier that day that she has been wanting to go fishing, but no one had taken her all summer! :( So we went and Aspen caught a fish, it was small but it was still fun. My camera ran out of batteries that night so I don't have any pics of us fishing. Then that night we watched TV and played around in the hotel room. Aspen is doing ok, she is ready to come back home so it was hard for me to leave her there. I will be so happy when she is home. It has been nice to have some "me time," but it feels so strange not to have her here. She is such an awesome little girl! Below are some pics, I know everyone is ready for her to come home! love ya!

Well, today was my little sister's wedding shower! Most of you know that I am not a big fan of showers, but it is for my beautiful sister so I had fun!. Look at the beautiful cake! I have never seen a prettier cake! For those who don't know, my sister is getting married on July 31st and she is an awesome girl and I am so proud of her! Since we had her shower, my sister came in from Austin, and we had so much fun! I am so blessed with a wonderful family! I was telling one of my friends the other day how lucky I am that I have parents that I really do enjoy being with and are wonderful people! Unfortunetly, not everyone can say that! Well, I just wanted to update everyone! Love you all!

New Eyes...

Well, as I have mentioned before I am reading a wonderful book, Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne. It is taking me awhile to read it, because it is so intense, for weeks I will read it every night, then I have to take a break and won't read for awhile. I agree with everything I have read so far. I believe God is really using Shane in this book. So if you haven't read it you really should. But I wanted to share a part of the book that really hit me tonight, and maybe it will touch you to. The title of this section is The Scandal of Grace....

When we look through the eyes of Jesus, we see new things in people. In the murderers, we see our own hatred. In the addicts, we see our own addictions. In the saints, we catch a glimpse of our own holiness. We can see our own brokenness, our own violence, our own ability to destroy, and we can see our own sacredness, our own capacity to love and forgive. When we realize that we are both wretched and beautiful, we are freed up to see others the same way.

I know for me it is a constant struggle to see everyone as Jesus sees them, as His child. And of course, most days it is difficult to see myself as Jesus sees me, it is hard to comprehend being wretched and beautiful! A few paragraphs later he says...

When we have new eyes, we can look into the eyes of those we don't even like and see the One we love. We can see God's image in everyone we encounter.

How incredible is that, to see God's image in EVERYONE! Wow, that blows me away. I hope this touched someone else as it touched me, and I pray that I can continue to try to see others through the eyes of Jesus.