Thankful...

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Adventures in Tote Making

Alas my latest sewing endeavour-the simple tote. As I am still climbing the learning curve of sewing, this very easy project was met with much trial and error. Thankfully, with a little perseverance and some serious pep talking, I finished my project with success. Whew! And to think, I was starting to worry... The second time around was much much easier than the first, and I have to say the third time was a charm. This isn't the greatest picture in that you can't see the little details-i.e the folded over/top stitched top and my mad ribbon skills- but that may be a good thing, lol. It's true, practice does make better :) I'm so excited to start putting my budding sewing skills to good use for gift giving, these totes are just the perfect Christmas/Birthday present(or at least a fun and stylish wrapping for them)!

And of course, Piper(camera hog extraordinaire) had to get in on the picture! What a cutie :)

Youth Weekend, Christmas Cards, Meeting Mr. Coffee, Ect.

Chris and I had a great time this weekend with the youth at Old Mount Vernon Church. Chris had the privilege of leading worship for their fall retreat, themed "Holiness in the Home." Aside from the awesome Scavenger hunt that Chris enjoyed with the youth on Saturday, and the good, gospel centered talks with the teens, I also had the joy of seeing some old Campbell friends. Thanks again to Aaron(the youth pastor) and Sarah Swain-you guys did an great job organizing this weekend and your faithful investment in the lives of these youth shines bright!

In other big weekend news, Lifeway is having a "buy one get one free sale" on CHRISTMAS CARDS!! Yes, it is that time again(well, almost). I was so excited to buy our Christmas cards and can't wait to get them out, I really do love every part of the Christmas season!

To conclude the weekend, we bought our first real coffee maker. I know I know, it's a little overdue. We have super snazzy, overly complicated tazo thing-a-ma-gig, and a french press, but we did'nt have just a regular coffee maker. Also, the fact that I'm not a big fan of coffee, combined with the fact that Chris worked in a coffee shop for so long, slowly but surely pushed the coffee maker purchase to the bottom of the priority list. Anyways, we officially commemorated the moment last night with fresh coffee and pastries, mmmm. Who knows, maybe I'll become a coffee person after all?

On a random closing note, this picture was taken last weekend at the infamous Whirlygig Festival in Wilson. I think it's one of my favorite family photos to date :)

Fun White House Facts

· There are 132 rooms, 32 bathrooms, and 6 levels to accommodate all the people who live in, work in, and visit the White House. There are also 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, 7 staircases, and 3 elevators.
· The White House receives approximately 6,000 visitors a day.
· The White House has five full time chefs.
· For recreation, the White House has a variety of facilities available to its residents, including a tennis court, a jogging track, a swimming pool & movie theater (thanks to Roosevelt), a billiard room, and a bowling lane.
· At Christmastime, the White House, which will feature 33 Christmas trees and 232 wreaths. President Bush will mail 895,000 Christmas cards. Visitors will consume 20,000 cookies, 700 cakes, 10,000 tamales, 700 pounds of crab, 320 gallons of eggnog, 600 pounds of asparagus and 1,000 pounds of shrimp..
· Thomas Jefferson had a pet mockingbird that flew freely around the White House unless Jefferson had guests.
· Millard Fillmore established the White House library. Before this time there was no permanent collection of books in the White House.
· Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, gave Hayes personal instructions on how to use it.
· Grover Cleveland is the only president to have had his wedding inside the White House.

Take THAT Trivial Pursuit!

"America has chosen a president"

My thoughts resound with Albert Mohler this morning in his response to our newly elected President. While the overwhelming Democratic sweep was both surprising and undeniably unsettling to me, I am so thankful today that my hope and confidence does not ebb and flow with the elections. So while I disagree with many of Obama's pillars of change, I know and rejoice in the fact that God is sovereign, he "sets up kings and desposes them." I echo Mohler in saying that it is our duty now to earnestly pray for our new President and his family, and to support and respect him for his God given authority as President.

Below are some of Mohler's concluding thoughts on the election from his article "America Has Chosen A President." Read the entire piece here.

"Evangelical Christians face another challenge with the election of Sen. Obama, and a failure to rise to this challenge will bring disrepute upon the Gospel, as well as upon ourselves. There must be absolutely no denial of the legitimacy of President-Elect Obama's election and no failure to accord this new President the respect and honor due to anyone elected to that high office. Failure in this responsibility is disobedience to a clear biblical command.

Beyond this, we must commit ourselves to pray for this new President, for his wife and family, for his administration, and for the nation. We are commanded to pray for rulers, and this new President faces challenges that are not only daunting but potentially disastrous. May God grant him wisdom. He and his family will face new challenges and the pressures of this office. May God protect them, give them joy in their family life, and hold them close together.

We must pray that God will protect this nation even as the new President settles into his role as Commander in Chief, and that God will grant peace as he leads the nation through times of trial and international conflict and tension.

We must pray that God would change President-Elect Obama's mind and heart on issues of our crucial concern. May God change his heart and open his eyes to see abortion as the murder of the innocent unborn, to see marriage as an institution to be defended, and to see a host of issues in a new light. We must pray this from this day until the day he leaves office. God is sovereign, after all "

*Soveriegn Grace Ministries has also posted a some great thoughts on their blog entitled "After the Election."

It's Election Day!