Honey.

"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight to life.
Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.
They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey, even the honey dripping from the comb.
They are warning to those who hear them; there is great reward for those who obey them.
How can I know all the sin lurking in my heart?
Cleanse me from these deliberate sins!
Don't let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."
Psalm 19:7-14

Tonight my roommate Dawn, who has become one of my dearest friends (and is also an amazing woman of God who KNOWS the word of God and LOVES it!), told me the story of honey.

In the Old Testament times young Jewish adolescents would study the word of God (well, it would have been the first 5 books of the Bible). Honey, at that time, was a much desired treat, much like chocolate is to us. Their Rabbi's would smear honey on the tablets they studied from and the students would lick the honey off of the tablets. All of this was done to identify to them that the words they were studying and memorizing were sweeter than the sweetest of honey.

My prayer for myself has been that the Lord would plant my roots deep in His word. That I would know and love it! I would desire it more than anything else! More than the sweetest of honey and more than the finest gold! I love how He loves these prayers of His children. I love how He delights in them because He knows He is better!

Thank you, Jesus, for being better and knowing it!!

stevie.

i love stevie wonder. i just needed you all to know that.

Meet Ava Grace.

So here is the most precious thing you will ever see until I have my own child. Ha! This is Ava Grace Thomas. I have the blessing of spending every day with her from about 7 in the morning till around 6 at night! I've never seen anything like her! Let me just describe to you the sweetness of this little baby girl. Her smile is the cutest thing I've ever seen! I say "oohhh" and boom! There it is the priceless treasure of this sweet baby's smile! Sometimes she even talks back with an "oooh" herself! The best is when there's no where else she'd rather be than laying on top of my shoulder! Oh my gosh! Melt my heart!

The thing about spending so much time with a baby is that you learn so much about the Lord! Everyday when Ava Grace starts to cry, I know EXACTLY what she wants! FOOD! But there are some days when she puts her tiny little hands in front of her mouth and won't let the bottle in. I tell her, "baby girl, I know you're hungry and if you'd just let me give you this bottle your little restless heart would settle down." Isn't that the same way our Heavenly Father is with us. If we'd just move our hands out of the way, He knows exactly what we need! Let him give it us! Gosh!

I know there will be days with her that are hard. For instance, yesterday her way of saying "good morning" was to projectile vomit all over me! Of course I had to learn the hard way to always bring a spare change of clothes, but for yesterday I sat in throw up. Yum. And there have been moments when her restless heart wouldn't settle down no matter what I did, but I've learned that she LOVES hymns. So I get to do one of my favorite things in the world and sing to her the sweetness of Jesus.

Those are my days for now. And praise God for the sweetness of a little baby.

David Gray.

Ok...so I've had David Gray's new album for a while now...and I've loved it from the moment I bought it, like always with him. I'm kind of obsessed. He's probably one of my favorites. I know..I know...it's always so mellow, but that's how I roll! HA! I like mellow music, and that's just me.

Seriously, if you don't have this album yet, and I hope you all already have it and will leave a comment that says something like..."stupid, lele, don't you know we've had it for forever and we're already tired of it." To which I'd say..."how can you ever get tired of David Gray?!?!?!?" He just never grows old to me.

Sorry. This seems like quite an impersonal blog. And to be honest, it is. I have LOTS to tell. I think I'm just putting it off because it'll be a forever long blog.

But how bout a brief summary:

God is at work (duh!). But, wow! He's moving! It's exciting to see Him stir up the hearts of His people here in Nashville, TN to go out to the nations, all nations, and proclaim the truth that He is King! He is good! He is LOVE! He is Savior! AHH!!! He's so good!! AMEN!?!?!?!???? Gosh...I want to start praying right now! I think I will! Ok...done...I'll post more soon! Just know this, friends, life found in Him is exciting!

phew..

Party Time!

It was a great night! I wish I had taken more pictures!! Thanks to everyone who was able to come! and to those who weren't there...know that you were missed!

So Here's the Line Up...

Andrew Peterson, Mindy Smith, Pierce Pettis, Phil Medeira, Ron Block, Sandra McCraken, Derek Webb, Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn...Andrew Osenga (formerly of The Normals), Ben Shive, Cason Cooley, and many others.

It was the "Behold the Lamb of God" tour at The Ryman...and it was one of the MOST amazing worship/musical experiences of my life. The Lord's presence was heavy through the music and it was UNBELIEVABLE!!

Just an FYI- it will be in Trussville, AL on Dec. 18th and I think anyone who reads this should go! Seriously, GO!

THE TREE!!!

Look what me and deej did all by our big girl selves!!

schwee.

And I wish this one would show up better...but papa schwee is still on the tree...what a great memory of hanging this one on the tree a few years ago...and OF COURSE it had to make a reappearance!!!

jp.

haha...yes this one still hangs on the tree too!!

tap-dawg...

Girlfriend- I think you might have been in the 8th grade in this one...and Yes..it made it to the tree as well...

so did walker's...

me.

My first grade picture made it to my first real adult tree...

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...

We just bought our first Christmas tree!!! This is Dawn, Liz, Garrett and I after we bought our tree at Lowe's!!

Happy Birthday B!

The boys.

HOLY COW!!!

So it was 19 degrees this morning when I walked out of my apartment!! YIKES!!! Praise God!! Fall is here!!! I LOVE Tennessee in the fall! Amazingly beautiful. I'll post pictures soon!

AND...Next week is Thanksgiving! Oh my gosh! I cannot and WILL NOT contain my excitement about going home to see my friends and family!!

Stuck in my head...

Let's see how well this'll work...

From time to time there are lyrics within a song that get stuck in my head, these are ten that frequently find themselves hanging out in there...

Let's see how well you know my taste in music if you can figure these out (no cheating!!..how well do you know these off the top of your head)...

1. "I miss you, I guess that I should"

2. "what the hell is going on?"

3. "standing on the edge of the begining and end"

4. "I found my strength in forgiving you, I never even dreamed how far my heart could go."

5. "and if it ever was there and it left, it doesn't mean it was never true."

6. "sing me to sleep"

7. "you just might find if you give it time you will wave hello again"

8. "honey, surely one of us is crazy"

9. "take a look at my face for the last time"

10. "Doesn't mean everything must change"

BONUS: "I was always taught well, be the strong one, keep it inside"

Alright...let's see it...GO!

Make a Shoe Box

Hey Friends!!

Just want to update you on whats going on in my world, and how maybe you can help spread the love of Christ to children over seas.

I work for a non-profit organization called Operation Christmas Child. Every year we collect over 8 million shoe boxes full of unused toys and other items to send to children in countries all over our world!! Collection week is coming up Nov. 14-21st and I just couldn't not use this opportunity to spread the word.

You can help!! All you need to do is find an old shoe box (or a plastic box from wal-mart thats about the size of a shoe box) and fill it with toys and other items and take it to a drop off location near you. Each box will get sent to a child in a foreign country, along with a gospel message in their language. If you go to www.samaritanspurse.com it will give you a list of suggested items and also has a zip code locator, so you can type in your zip and find the closest place to drop off your box. Seriously guys, you have no idea the difference this tiny little shoe box can make in a child's life, especially a child that has nothing. I just want to encourage all of you to do at least one shoe box!!


P&L.

leland.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!

These are all pictures from "trunk or treat" at Rolling Hills this Sunday afternoon! It was SO fun and all the kids looked SUPER cute!!

You can't get much cooler than this...

I miss biscuet too!!