A Real Live Fairy Tale

I am a sucker for a good fairy tale. And the story of Prince William and Kate Middleton is just that. After reading all about them, watching insider specials on the couple, and watching the lifetime movie (don't judge), I was so excited to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the royal wedding.

I got up just in time to see the two handsome princes arrive at the church.

After watching the other members of the royal family arrive, crazy hats and all, the moment the we all were waiting for arrived, or should I say person...

The Bride. She was absolutely stunning. As she walked down the aisle, Harry turned around to see his sister-in-law and whispered to William, "wait til you see her..." and when he did, he told her she looked beautiful!

Following the beautiful ceremony the newly weds, in typical fairy-tale fashion, were whisked away in a royal coach to Buckingham Palace, where they shared their first public kiss on the balcony. How romantic!

Someday my prince will come... :) and I can't wait!

Cheers to the Friendships...

I'll begin with a disclaimer...this post is me being super nostalgic and maybe a bit cheesy....but it's the truth and I mean it with all of my heart!

Today, I started looking at old pictures from my time in Israel including high school prom, graduation, week with out walls, our many travels with the Stewart family, game nights, spontaneous sleepovers after youth group, movie nights, our epic trip to London and spending pretty much every weekend with Bethany, Tricia, Stephanie and Rachel.

It's so fun to look back on all of those sweet memories, but I hate to let myself cause every time I do, I miss everyone so terribly. Sometimes I wish I could just go back in time or we could all just move and live in the same place again all together. But God has continually reminds me that it was for his glory that he brought us all together in that season of life. We developed friendships that will last a lifetime. I sometimes wonder, why did we all have to go our separate ways? God has spoken to my heart and said, "It's simple if you stayed in Israel for the rest of your life, with those friends, you would have no need at all for any others." In moving away from Israel, God has blessed me with the continuation of old friendships here in Savannah and the beginning of new ones here too. It has been so great to see how God has given me opportunities to keep in touch with old friends and blessed me with new ones. And best of all, I know it's all for HIS glory!

"Cheers to the friendships well worn in, that time nor distance alter!" -- Brooke Fraser

Because a Sinless Savior Died...

Yesterday marked the beginning of Passion week leading up to Easter. This also happens to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Passover. If you are interested, watch this sermon on Jesus, the Passover Lamb, from church a couple of weeks ago. Dave did a great job of explaining the Passover and how Jesus, the Lamb of God, fulfills this Old Testament feast.

At LateChurch yesterday the pastor encouraged us all to really try to understand and think on the crucifixion of Christ. What does the cross mean? We wear crosses around our necks and decorate with them, but in the 1st century, it was a symbol of an excruciatingly painful death, that only criminals suffered. Why did Jesus have to die? Why did Jesus have to suffer, not only physically but spiritually and emotionally? What does it mean that he bore my sins, my sorrow, my guilt and my shame?What does it mean that he bore the wrath of God?

These are all questions I am pondering this week. I know the answers to many of them, but I have devoted this week to really think on them. I want to grasp the full extent of the love that God has given me through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's because of his blood that was shed as the passover lamb, that I can live freely and eternally. I have peace because Christ bore God's wrath. Because God is a holy, just and righteous God, he can not tolerate sin. Therefore someone had to pay. Because of his unfathomable love for me and this broken sinful world, he destined his Son to suffer and bear the sins of everyone. My debt to sin was paid in full when Jesus said, "It is finished." I will never ever ever understand why he loves me this much, but I will forever praise him for it!

"This is love: not that [I] loved God, but that He loved [me] and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for [my] sins." - 1 John 4:10

I'll leave you with this, "Because a sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me!"

Some new favorites....

I discovered two wonderful things this weekend...

1. Tomato/Basil Salad. Friday night I went to The Mellow Mushroom with my best friend before we went to see Grease, the musical (which was so much fun!! :D, thanks to my bestest friend, Laura, for taking me for my birthday!!) We had the "hippy dippy trio" as an appetizer and it was so delicious. It had a tomato salad, and olive salad and hummus along with some bread. Anyhoo, I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes but I loved that salad. So today I threw one of my own together.

Ingredients:

-tomatoes

-feta cheese

-basil

-salt and pepper

2. Takénobu. My lovely friend, Rachel, showed him to me and I am in love with his music. He is uses lots of strings, particularly cello, in his music. He is so easy to listen to and easily a new favorite! You can listen to his whole album here for free and I think you should do it!

First purchase...

In just four short weeks I will be forever done with campus living!!! Two of my friends and I are looking for an apartment close to campus. It's been a struggle so far to find a decent three-bedroom apartment with an affordable price. We spent all day Saturday afternoon looking at apartments, with no luck at all. But we haven't given up hope! Tomorrow, my soon-to-be roommates and I are going to a few other places that weren't open on Saturday...I'm praying we'll have better luck tomorrow.

Yesterday I was in Walmart and just happened upon some really cute plastic dinnerware. I had the thought in the back of my mind that I needed to get a new set of plates, cups and bowls. It seems that over the past two years of living in my dorm mine have slowly disappeared and the ones I have left in my cabinet are pretty dingy looking.

So instead of buying on a whim, I went home and thought to make sure this was the right purchase for me...after asking my mama what she thought, I decided to do it! I ended up with dinner plates, salad plates, bowls and cups. I'm going to put them away in storage until I move into my new apartment. I'm so excited 1. Because it's my first purchase for my new apartment and 2. Because they are super cute. My sister said I'm old cause I'm so excited about plates...my response to her is, it's the little things in life :)

On a completely different note... My daddy is gonna be here tomorrow!! I can't wait to spend a week or so with him!! :)

Busy, Busy, Busy

Goodness gracious, I have been so busy over the past week or so. School is crazy right now, I've got a 10 pg paper due on Wednesday (I am making progress on it!) and I have another 7-9 pg paper due on Monday (will get to work on that as soon as my other one is done), plus my daddy is coming to town on Thursday, and there's only one month of school left!!! So I don't see my life slowing down any in the next little bit.

Hopefully I will have a blog post up soon with some pictures and fun/crazy/hectic/God things that have been going on but for now I will leave you with these two little promises from the best promise maker and keeper of them all...

"The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps!" - Proverbs 16:9

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." - Matthew 6:34 9 (The Message)