Mr. Buddy-man

Is he smiling at the camera?

obsessed a little...

We are at the frothy monkey coffee house... yum. yum. yum.
There about 12 people here and all of them including Chris and I are on computers. How awesome is that. Not to mention we will drive home later and have access in the car; cell phones. Then we'll surf at home. You could say we're a little obsessed. Hey when you've lived in our shoes the internet is a social network.

Have a rockin' day!

Crafty

I was inspired today to actually make a craft. I have been surfing etsy.com and the people on there are amazingly talented. I thought to myself, "self you need to get creative and do something other then sit around the house and drink coffee." So Chris gave me a little spending money and off I went to Michael's. I bought a few buttons, beads, and felt and this is what I came up with.

What do you think? It's a broach! We will see what else I have up my sleeve. Let me tell you what-- my back is killing me from stitching on those beads.

In Christ Alone...

In the midst of Chris and I learning to find joy in Christ alone and not with what people identify us to be this wonderful song came to me. It says everything that I want it to. Chris and I both want to be identified as people who share the love of Christ and are in love with him and not by the music we may play or by the clothes we wear.

In Christ alone will I glory
Though I could pride myself in battles won
For I’ve been blessed beyond measure
And by His strength alone I’ll overcome
Oh, I could stop and count successes like diamonds in my hands
But those trophies could not equal to the grace by which I stand

In Christ alone
I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory
Let it be said of me
My source of strength
My source of hope
Is Christ alone

In Christ alone do I glory
For only by His grace I am redeemed
For only His tender mercy
Could reach beyond my weakness to my need
And now I seek no greater honor in just to know Him more
And to count my gains but losses to the glory of my Lord

In Christ alone
I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory
Let it be said of me
My source of strength
My source of hope
Is Christ alone

Richwood Plantation

Sunday Fun Day!

Church this morning- lunch at home. I burnt the already cooked ham in the skillet. Way to go, Whitney! We made up for lunch and went and treated ourselves to Starbucks. Green tea frappucino! Yeah I know, they have like 1000 calories. But I got a tall (small) so it made me feel better.


We went home and FINALLY cleaned out the second bed room. We are getting rid of a twin bed if anyone is interested! No mattress. Check out the.generous.closet for pictures.
This is how productive we were.=0)


Okay so the pictures don't really do our productivity justice.

What do you find your joy in?

Psalm 51:10-12 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

This mornings sermon was on Joy. Where do you find your joy?
The pastor made a great analogy of joy. He related it to the movie CAST AWAY. The scene where Tom Hanks and his great friend Wilson (the volleyball) are on the raft sailing away to be rescued and Wilson becomes detached from the sail. Tom Hank was devastatingly distraught because his only friend was gone. He saw that in order to rescue Wilson he needed to let go of the rope that was keeping him safe and swim after Wilson. The pastors question to us was, "How long are you going to keep chasing after the Wilson's in your life?" Tom's character found great joy in Wilson. When really we need to find our true joy in the Lord. He will never let us go.

Where do you find your joy?

Chris and I were discussing this question. I think I find my joy sometimes in my clothing and being trendy. But keeping up with the trendes will always let you down (as it has-- not being content with my clothes) because you will never being to keep up. It was an interesting questions that I am still chewing on in my thoughts.

Plantation shoot

Ya'll been asking how the shoot at the Kentucky plantation went a few weeks back. Well I took A LOT of photos and am finally getting through editing them. Here are a few of my favorites.

Artist photo shoot

Here are a few shots I took for Chris' profile the other day. It was really fun to take pictures of him and be comfortably creative with someone familiar.

state fair continued...

I almost forgot. FAIR FOOD.

This I think was the best of all and maybe worth the money that we spent to get into the fair. We had the privilege of seeing not tasting (no thank you) a "Beef Sundae". That's right-- you read it correctly, Beef Sundae.
If I could send you a smell of it via the Internet I would because it was horrible. We almost vomited when we walked by the stand unexpectedly.
The food people will sell at the fair, amazing.

Tennessee State Fair

If you remember me writing about the Wilson County Fair I had mentioned that the locals said the Tennessee Fair wasn't the best. I guess we were feeling curious today. We HAD to see it for ourselves.

As we pulled up to the fair there was NO traffic, NO ticket line, and plenty of parking.


I stepped out of the car and almost walked right into mud puddles. You really needed to watch your step while walking through the parking lot.




We walked into the fair and up the steep hill where all the 'action' was. The big event today was BMX biking. They sure drew a big crowd.




There was also a small area where you first walked in of girls jump roping to music. Cool- huh? (sarcastic tone)



We spent a lot of our time in the creative arts center but we were shocked when we first walked in the building because it was completely empty. Not something your use to seeing--comparing to the MN Fair.



We veered to the photography/paintings section. That was pretty cool. Here are some we really liked.





All in all we were at the fair for about an hour. We didn't get any treats. We considered our treat to be leaving the fair. =) It was an experience and that's what we were looking for.

Playtime

I had to capture playtime with Chris and Orange this morning. Quite hilarious. Chris' head is under the sheet and orange's body is barely sticking out in the right hand side. Priceless.

Morning inspiration

This morning we woke up to the sound of a sweet baby crying desperately below our apartment. As Chris and I listened awhile I turned to him and asked him if he was ready for that. He smiled. I went on to say that once you are around babies for awhile you realize that crying is their way of expressing themselves for help. Sometimes they might not know what they need. But then when the parents help them they don't realize they are being helped. Chris mad a great comparison that it's like when we whine and cry for God's help and sometimes we don't realize that he is helping us.

Be encouraged.

Being content

In this time that I have had in Nashville on thing I have learned and most definitely am still learning is to be content with my belongings; clothing, personal items, etc. Not only have I been sort of forced into be content but learning to be content while having to be content. Like I said-- I am definitely still learning. That's not an easy process for a girl who likes to shop.

What is my plan? I have already started with just getting rid of my "stuff" I don't use. That was harder than I thought it was going to be. I've sold about 13 items so far. I guess just getting rid of it was hard because the items were worth more than I was selling them for. I would have second thoughts about maybe I would use them in the near further. But I stuck with the plan and sold the items. Very therapeutic!

I'm also toying around with the idea of taking a sabbatical from purchasing clothes over $5 unitl Feb 1st. One of our fellow small group attendees is doing this for an entire year. I was inspired by her. This would really help a person utilize the items they have and start being content with what they got. Not to mention-- SAVE MONEY! We will see. I think (I know) I can get creative with this goal. I'm gonna do it. WEW!

WISH ME LUCK

Friday Fun Night...Famous Daves

I was looking through Chris' pictures on his phone and saw that I forgot to post some pictures from last weeks Friday Fun Night-- Famous Daves!

We were craving BBQ. More Chris than I was since I ordered a chicken sandwich with no bun. Yeah I know...pointless. As you will see in the photos we waited to order just waters for over 20 minutes. No one ever came to our table. They only served the tables around us. It got comical after awhile. So we started taking pictures. After we ordered and received our food no one came to our table for the rest of our time there. Strange! The food made up for the poor service.

Pizza Perfect

That's the name of the this awesome Pizza Parlor. We were there with some church friends a couple if weeks ago and order totally wrong. We ordered a thick slice thinking that the thin one was to thin. Our order came and the slices were seriously 2 inches thick and 5 x 7 in size. It was nuts.
This time we ordered correctly; thin slice. These slices are bigger than my face.
It was seriously delicious. I did notice several of our co-restaurant eaters folding their pizza. Interesting. I think that's the only way to eat the pizza without looking like a slob. We didn't have the guts to try it but maybe next time we will eat "folding style". Adventurous!

I cooked!!! What?

I'm sure you are thoroughly confused because I don't cook. Everyone knows that. But tonight I pulled out the big guns and I cooked. (or should I say oven)Not only did I cook. I put together a MEAL! I made pineapple ham and green beans. We were a little nervous on how it was going to taste but it turned out to be a hit. So much so I had to share a picture with everyone. I hope you enjoy the picture as much as we enjoyed eating the ham.

Later cookies and cream ice cream!

Enjoy!

Cafe' Coco

This was the choice of brew this afternoon. Cafe' Coco. It's a 24 hour coffee cafe'. They also have a full menu as well. It was an alright cafe'. The coffee wasn't spectacular and we probably won't go there again but at least we tried it. A person from church recommended it. So whatev.

We met Jewels guitar player there (Chris sold him a pedal) so that was cool. There was a boutique clothing store across the street called PIECES and they had some sweet vintage clothing that Chris and I were dulling over. Needless to say we hope to be back.

That's all for today. Pretty chill day. It's suppose to rain... 40% change. But it never does rain. So we might take a dip in the pool later. We shall see.

Peace.

homework day.

Today is a homework day. I am having a very hard time getting through these classes. Mainly because the video lectures are so monotoned. I thought I'd try and move on to a different class and the next class is the same monotone professor. AH,I about died. Chris suggested me going to a coffee shop and plugging the cd into the computer and lesson to lectures. I get to the coffee shop that is most of the time quite. Well today it's PACKED. I have an outside seat on the covered desk. Needless to say it's a bit toasty out here. They have a ceiling fan but doesn't seem to be working. I'm hoping the people will be leaving inside so I can get a seat. They also have music pumping (didn't think they had music last time I was here).

Maybe I should just go to the library next time. That will be tomorrows adventure.

Pray for us.

Family and friends, we are asking that you'd take some time this week and prayer for us. To be frank, we are really struggling with where God's direction is for us. We feel like we are at a dead end and that God has completely forgotten that we need his help. If you would please pray for crystal clear direction and open doors for us that would be so awesome.

Thank you & We love you all

Whitney & Chris

Coffee Frothy

Okay so I am pretty passionate about frothy mocha's and not in a good way. I think it's so disgusting when there is more froth in the mocha then there is mocha. Some people, like my husband enjoy the taste and texture that froth brings to a drink. I on the other hand gag a little in my mouth.

You are probably thinking, "Whitney, why don't you order a drink with no froth?" You are right my friend. Here is the thing... some cafe's do froth and others do not. I guess I just need to ask right off the bat if they do froth. Needless to say, I choked down the mocha. With a little Raspberry scone any drink can taste good.

What are your thoughts? Froth or not Froth and why do you like it?

I think it's time we have kids. What do you think???

Nashville... love it.