Butterfly

This pretty little thing stayed around all day today.

Carrots

I've never planted carrots before. Well, I did last year in a very small tub, very close together with very little dirt-they died-surprise! So, this year I planted in the ground. I think next year I may try a larger tub with lots of dirt. I didn't like the look of the growing with weeds & it was hard to pull only weeds and not carrots.

Pepper harvest

Today's harvest.

This was our first time planting potatoes. They turned out pretty well, but the ground was hard while digging them up. We still have zucchini and peppers-not much squash & no tomatoes. We will se what the next few weeks bring us.

Harvest!

While we were gone to the SBC God was busy!

Southern Baptist Convention

We have spent the last two days in Houston at the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors conference.

I was blessed by the pastors wife session yesterday. We heard from Barbara O'Chester. There were several good points I wanted to share...
-Marriage is not the joining of two lives, it's the abandonment of two worlds...we think marriage is about our spouse joining our life because we are selfish people. We don't understand that Gods intention is for us to be selfless and abandon our own desires.
-If you married a minister and think it's "his calling" you are wrong. When you said "I do" it became your calling too.
-Jesus didn't come into our hearts just to save us-He came to take over-to empower us, to anoint us!
-Your congregation will know if you are the head of your house & your ministry will diminish. We are called to have a gentle and quiet spirit.


We also heard from Jennie Allen & this girl was on fire!...
This is specifically for minister's wives.
-We build walls around us to protect ourselves. We quit being honest, quit being vulnerable, quit making friends. This is not God's vision. We are at war we have to bust down our walls. There is something bigger at stake than our safety. He will protect us He will be our rock. Quit fighting for approval from man-fight for Gods approval. God has rules that protect our soul because He created our soul.-


I really loved Jennie's message. It spoke to my heart. We've been hurt several times by people in churches who we've though we could trust. People have turned on us so quickly that we didn't even have time to see it coming. We have even been advised by several older,seasoned pastors to not be honest or trust our congregation. I tried building a wall-it's not Biblical and it doesn't work. I was miserable. Being real with people is the only way we can sharpen one another. I think that is why Beth Moore and Matt Chandler minister so effectively-they are who they are and don't try to be something they are not. I pray God will use me in-spite of my shortcomings.

Sara 🌷

Gardening is underway...

Garlic, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, squash, zucchini, onions, & herbs!

12 weeks

He is growing fast and all played out!

10 weeks

Prince is a sweetie-he loves to play and chew everything! He is a bit of a scaredy cat-he jumps at any loud sound outside and high tails it to the door. He is great with the girls and has found his favorite sleeping spot is under the couch and bed,but he wot fit in those places much longer!

Sunday mornig

We attended Redeemer Presbyterian Church (Tim Keller) this morning & went to the Guggenheim. Now we are at La Guardia waiting to go home. We have enjoyed out trip so much but we are anxious to see the girls!!

NYC Saturday Night

Last night we went on a cruise around Battery Park, Ellis Island, & The Brooklyn Bridge. It was cold, but we really enjoyed the cruise at sunset. After that we went back to Times Square to eat pizza, buy some souvenirs at the Disney Store, got some cheesecake from Juniors (so good)!

Saturday afternoon

We went to the Museum of Biblical Art at the American Bible Society. They had an exhibit of works by Tiffany-they were breathtaking!

NYC Saturday

Saturday morning we went to a flea market in Chelsea & then to the Museum of Natural History. We saw lots of really neat things-they had some exhibits that made us feel like we were in the refuge in Tish. We then ate lunch at Time Warner in the Rose Lounge-it had a beautiful view o the city!

NYC Friday Night

Last night we went to see Nice Work If You Can Get It with Matthew Broderick. It was fantastic! I loves every minute of it!

Sara 🎄

NYC The Met

Late afternoon at the met with Faberge & Matisse! We made a long walk (or hike) across Central Park. Note: in the winter Central Park resembles Oklahoma (ha).

MoMA

Agapanthus by Monet one of my new favorites

More MoMA

Water lilies

NYC Friday Morning

We went to Chelsea Market for breakfast and came to MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art). One of my favorites...Starry Night

NYC Thursday Night

We ate some fresh mozzarella & it was wonderful-ill never be satisfied with anything from Wal-Mart again!

Thursday night

The cheese at Eataly...

NYC Thursday Night

Tonight we went to Mario Batali's Eataly. It was a huge market with fresh fish,cheese, breads, pastries, dry goods, produce, gilato, chocolates & everything Italian! It had 5 different restaurants.

NYC Thursday morning

This morning we ate some crepes for breakfast & toured St. John the Divine. We then went to Broadway, walked around Times Square & went to the David Letterman Show-he had Regis as a guest & some band we had never heard of. The CBS orchestra & Paul Shaffer were amazing-they played during commercial breaks. The CBS pages were all very high energy and must have all been former cheerleaders-they wore us out!

NYC Wed Evening

We went to the Empire State Building-it was surreal. I didn't feel as if I were standing on top of that huge building, I felt like I was looking at a picture. However surreal it was the chilling wind brought me quickly back to reality!! We then topped off the night with some time at Rockafellar Plaza and the enormous Christmas tree-it was beautiful!

Wednesday

We started out the day by going to Bryant Park, NYC library, Grand Central Station & Macy's. Luke let me shop for shoes but my goal was to find a Christmas item from Macy's & I did!! Bryant Park was charming-lots of little shops, restraints and an ice skating rink. It was cold!!