Montana Vacation - 2015

I have always wanted to go to Montana and now I can officially say I have been to Montana! It was beautiful out there!

Here are my newest key chains from the trip:

And my favorite (also, got a t-shirt like this):

And a few pictures:

War Room - The Movie

In just a few days, War Room- the movie, will be coming to theaters. I am looking forward to movie! I can't wait to go see another powerful movie by the Kendrick Brothers.

The movie releases this week, August 28, 2015.  I believe that the impact could be huge. I'm excited to see how God will use this movie. I encourage you to go out this weekend and watch the movie, I think it could change your life!

Here is the link to the website: http://warroomthemovie.com 

Also look for them on Facebook. Both their website and Facebook page has the movie trailer, so be sure to check it out!

Where Has Summer Gone???

As always, around this time, I am wondering what happened to Summer... June and July were very nice and of course busy. Then August came and is now close to being over with and I'm still wondering what happened. 

Living in Minnesota, you have only a few short months of Summer, of warm weather, of beach days... Then we have Fall, followed by that never ending season that seems to last forever. The season that starts with a "W" begins to sound like a bad word...

I absolutely love summertime and I hope to enjoy a few more days of warm weather! Anyway, I am going to hopefully get a few more posts done soon of what has been happening and I hope to share some fun things with you! 

Hope you are enjoying these last days of Summer! Go make the best of them!

One of the pretty flowers by our house earlier this summer!

Just Another Summer Weekend

It was just another busy, crazy summer weekend! It seems like this summer is so full. We have multiple weddings, grad parties, birthdays, anniversaries, parades, and other typical summer activities.

Friday night we started our weekend. We watched "Old Fashioned". I liked the movie and thought it was a good movie to start some discussions about dating/courtship. 

Saturday was busy! We had a wedding shower and we got to bring the desserts for it! 

We made all mini desserts!

Then we headed off to a book signing at our local book store. We got to meet/see Susan May Warren, Melissa Tagg, and our local author, Gabrielle Meyer!

After that, we went to visit with my friend that I have known pretty much my whole life! It had been over 1 1/2 years since we had seen each other and it was such a blessing to see her (and her mom)! 

Sunday, we celebrated two of my nieces' birthdays and my nephew's 1st birthday. We went to the beach and enjoyed swimming, boating, tubing, and other water sports. After a busy day, we decided we would go to the new "Minions" movie with my nieces. We were supposed to be getting bad weather, but it hadn't started yet, so we went. About the time the movie started, we started getting weather alerts on our phones. About 30 minutes in, the tornado sirens went off. It went from 90 degrees to about 65 degrees in a matter of minutes. It rained very hard and was windy, but thankfully we were safe. Much of the surrounding areas lost trees, docks, boats, roofs, etc... Part of the road on the way home was flooded and we could barely see some of the time. I'm thankful that we made it safely. 

All in all, it was a great weekend and God kept us safe! Just another busy summer weekend! 

Happy Independence Day! 2015

Happy 4th of July! Here are a few of the pictures from our day (including our patriotic food)!

Strawberry dessert

Star-shaped sandwiches

Star-shaped red and blue ice cubes! 

Jello

Red, white, and blue cake!

And of course - fireworks!

The Reckoning by MaryLu Tyndall Book Review

My review of The Reckoning by MaryLu Tyndall

This series, the Legacy of the King’s Pirate series, is my favorite out of all of MaryLu Tyndall's books and I was very excited for this fifth book!

About half way through The Reckoning, I realized just how relevant the story is for our day and age. The story begins in the present time with a young woman who is about my age. Morgan is going through some tough things and does not have much support from her family or her friends. She grew up as a Christian and would even say she is a Christian if you asked her. However, she has never experienced authentic faith and has never felt the Father's love for her in a real way. 

Morgan didn't think her life could get much worse then it was already. Until she finds herself inside a pirate ship, three-hundred years in the past, with real pirates on board. But it can't be real, or can it? 

MaryLu does such a great job with this story. She captures one of the biggest issues that we are facing in today's culture; people pushing God out of everything. The story wraps around the fact that no matter how "good" you are, that is not what being a Christian is all about. She shows what it is like to be loved by our Heavenly Father and to have a real relationship with Him. She also shows how hard that can be when not everyone else around you agrees with you. 

Lastly, MaryLu's story demonstrates how we are simply living our lives and we forget that God is a part of it. We may ask for His opinion on things, but not for His guidance and direction in the first place. Today, we are so inwardly focused. This book made me reevaluate where I am at in my life. Sometimes we lose sight of the real goal. Instead of just living our lives and asking for God's blessing, we need to put Him first in everything and seek His will above our own.

All in all, you will enjoy the twists and turns of this time-traveling story. There are many life lessons that are woven throughout this story. You will see the power of God's love and what faith in Him really looks like.

I hope you enjoy this story and make sure you check out the rest of the books in the Legacy of the King’s Pirate series!

A preview of the cover and the description of the book from MaryLu Tyndall's Website!

The Blessings of Letter Writing

The Blessings of Letter Writing

My goal was to write 40 letters during Lent/50 letters for the year*. I managed to write 38 letters during Lent and I'll continue to write some more during the rest of the year. 

When I first started this challenge, I was intimidated. Writing letters to people who have impacted my life, how could I express that in words? And how could I even decide who to pick? Many of the letters ended up being thank you notes to those who made a difference in my life. I also sent some letters that were to encourage others in their walks of life. It took time; time to write, time to reflect, time to think about who those people are in my life.

In the beginning, it was a goal, a challenge. But then something changed...it became a blessing. 

I had only sent out a few letters when I received a phone call. It wasn't out of the ordinary that this person would call and I was thinking this person was calling me to update me on something that was going on. Instead, the call was to let me know that they had received the letter from me and it came at just the right time. Just when encouragement was needed. I may have been the one to write the letter, but God had the perfect timing. Later on, I got a  few text messages thanking me. Then a couple Facebook messages. Even a hand-written note back. 

It was the unexpected. It is truly a blessing. God played a big hand in this letter writing. He used me to bless others, and in turn, I was blessed even more.

Both my mom** and I took this challenge and it never crossed our minds that we would have feedback like we did. Like I mentioned, I was slightly worried about what people think, but I didn't think it would be positive! I thank God for the blessing it has become in my life. Who would have thought that it would be a double-fold blessing? It just goes to show that I was not looking at the big picture. God's plan for us is so much bigger than we can see. No matter what we are doing, we need to do it for Him and, if we let Him, He will use those things for His glory. Even letter writing! 

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV

*More about my Reversed Lent Challenge on my previous blog posts, Lent 2015: http://bit.ly/1FD3xLJ and The Art of Letter Writing: http://bitly.com/1DZ7J4K

**My mom's blog post about the challenge: http://bitly.com/1aHt8W8