Saturday, June 23, 2007

Patio Parties

Dessert
The boys showing their best moves
Brayden



Our lovely little-set up under the deck!




Britt and I




Ready to play--Britt got her bean-bag in the hole at least 10 times!




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Mom and I did the summer set-up for the patio underneath our deck a few weeks ago, with Target lights strung diagonally across the beams and cute, green flower slip covers over our white chairs. The long table used for co-op classes in the winter has now become our must-use tool for hosting dinner parties. Despite this month's humidity, we've been blessed with a few picture-perfect evenings in which it dropped down to a mild 60 degrees. Last weekend, our family hosted the Maresco's for dinner, which was a blast. We had spicy chicken with sweet coconut sauce, rice, hawaiian baked beans w/ pineapple, fruit salad, and regular house salad. For dessert, Mom made manderin orange panacotta (similar to creme brulee, but without eggs in it), topped off with a simple mango-lime sauce I pureed in the blender earlier that afternoon. Britt, my friend from Tucson who lives in MD during the summers, joined us as well. She dominated at CORN. (a yard game in which you try to toss bean-bags onton a slanted, wooden platform with holes in it that designates your points). She definitely had beginner's luck. =)


Then, the next evening, I decided to leave the set-up and host my own dinner for a few friends last-minute. Kate McMahon and I whipped up fruit salad, chicken pasta salad with sun-dried tomatoes and pesto, grilled balsamic and herb chicken and iced tea, with ice-cream cones or gingerbread/whipped cream for dessert. Yumm! Then, we all played my favorite game ever--- Scrabble---till midnight. Fun stories, great friends, yummy food, good competition...what better way is there to end a Saturday evening?




Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Na and Beyond

I attended the New Attitude Conference in Louisville, Kentucky over Memorial Day weekend a couple of weeks ago, and it was such a spiritual highlight for me. Every time I go (this was my 3rd Na), God exceeds my expectations. I was so busy finishing up the semester, that I really had no idea how God desired to speak to me. As I thrust myself into 4 crazy days of worship, teachings, fellowship, and late-nights, it soon became clear that He was after His glory, and my good. The theme for the conference was Discernment, and included very insightful messages by brilliant pastors and theologians. Go to http://www.newattitude.org/2007-liveblog/ for more details, free sermon downloads, music playlists, great quotes, helpful application questions, etc.

Charles Spurgeon, in his Morning & Evening meditations, said on May 31, "We trust Him, and sin dies; we love Him, and grace lives; we wait for Him, and grace is strengthened; we see Him as He is, and grace is perfected for ever." (Psalm 103, Evening)

This sums up my experience with the Lord at Na 07. As a church-kid, I know the truth, I can quote the truth, I believe the truth. But, have I applied the truth? I love Spurgeon's pro-active pull in this quote. They are verbs. Trust, Love, Wait, See. My prayer in the coming days is that the Lord will graciously help me to no longer be like the person who looks in the mirror, walks away, and forgets what He has seen (James 1:22-25). Rather, being humbled by the truth of God's word in regards to my sanctification process, I hope that the grace of Christ will strengthen me to say NO to the idols that lie within my heart(http://sgm.edgeboss.net/download/sgm/na/2007messages/a2270-04-51.mp3) and worship God for who He has revealed Himself to be--the one true, holy, perfect, righteous, loving, faithful, generous, and omniscient God.