Hide the Rodents

So in response to Hilary's comment to the "rodents" in our apartment...She proposed the idea that we hide the "rodents" around the apartment until the other person finds them...and that it was my turn.
So I get home from working out tonight to read about this idea and to see a sneaky little look on Hilary's face...

The game is on!
So knowing that there are two "rodents" hiding in our apartment somewhere makes me feel a little childish and sort of like it's Christmas, so I am going all over the apartment looking in all sorts of places all the while Hilary is laughing. She just keeps saying...just go about your day!
Might I add I was not playing nice. I threatened that I could get it out of her (kinda like Jack Bauer)
As I was searching through the cupboards all of a sudden I got really excited because I found something that looked like a "rodent"










But I was wrong... It was...
A potato scrubber! Close...but not really!
So the search continued... Hilary finally gave me a clue..."What did you do before you went to bed last night?" Well, I was trying to retrace my steps, I usually have a bowl of cereal before I go to bed (sounds like a brother-in-law I know of!) So I was looking in the cupboard where my cereal is and was looking in the bowls and even in the fridge where the milk is but nothing. BUT wait a minute...last night was a little different...cookies. Yes, it's a weakness of mine...cookies. As I looked at Hilary's face I knew I had hit the jackpot!
So I went straight to the cupboard and pulled out my Snackwell's Creme Sandwiches and sure enough...inside the box looking a little suffo- cated was the rapper mizouse.
It was hilarious! I sort of wish that I really did just go about my day to then reach in for a snackwell's and find a little surprise! SO funny! But kind of scary looking!
So one down, one to go! I still need to find the possum!
Now, it's my turn to hide the mouse!

Sweetness!

I received a note in the mail the other day from my nephew Noah. He is in kindergarten this year.
My sister said that one day when they were pulling into the driveway of their house...
Noah said, "Mom, remember when Emily used to live with us?"
Laura: "Yes, do you miss her?"
Noah: "Yes."
Laura:"Would you like to write her a letter?"
Noah: "Sure!"
Laura said that she wrote word for word what he said and then he drew the picture and wrote his name...

For those who can't read it it says, "Emily, You sure have been in Texas a long time. I miss you. Love Noah."
Laura asked him if that was all he wanted to say and he said yes. Precious.

Crazzy Creatures yo

SO...I had another (o)possum sighting. This time it came in my mailbox!
John Carlson sent me this little guy in the mail last week!

It's a finger puppet! Even this guy grosses me out a bit, although he is really soft. His tail even has Velcro so that he can hang from things.
What was really funny, was the same day that my (o)possum came in the mail Hilary received a package from her mom and it was this guy...
Along with her keys that she had forgotten in Iowa. It's a mouse. A rapper mouse and also a key chain. We were wondering why all of a sudden rodents were appearing! The mouse does a rap...it's hard to understand but he says something about "pussycat prankstas, weasels and all you other wanna be ganstas" It's hilarious!
We have decided that they are going to be friends.I need a life.

Crescent Rolls ROCK!

Blogger friends I am back.
Sorry to be so quiet lately.
The answer to the Mystery Meal #2 is indeed a crescent roll.
I redeemed myself tonight and made a new batch that actually looked like crescent rolls this time!
There really isn't a story about the first time I tried to make them. I just didn't know you were supposed to roll them up. Wow.
I do have to say that I was impressed with Scooter's guess as to what it was. I think props go out to the most creative guess!! Next time I do something stupid in the kitchen and I take a picture of it...you have to come up with a creative guess.

A Mystery Meal #2

O.K. so now I have done it....Can you guess what this is?!

A Mystery Meal....solved

It was....

Cornbread!

I think the garbage picture gave it away!
The story: Hilary had made some bean soup and thought of no better thing to have with it, than cornbread! She had me pick up a mix from the store and also some milk. (By the way, Hilary is not much of a milk drinker and I am SO a milk drinker. I can drink a gallon within a week by myself, she gets one of those little guys and it goes bad every time)
Anyway...I noticed on the back of the mix it called for an egg and milk. I thought to myself...oh...that's why she is getting some milk. I get home and Hilary realizes that she doesn't have the right size pan, but we figure it would still work in the pan that we have...I let Hilary do her thang in the kitchen and when she took it out of the oven we knew something was weird.
She cut it up and ate some with her soup and thought that it tasted weird and asked if I wanted to try some...I took on the challenge. It tasted fishy to me. It was really thin and had a bland taste to it. I thought maybe it just needed LOTS of butter and honey.
We laughed took a picture and realized that we needed to start cooking some more.
THEN, a little while later, Hilary gets her milk out to have a glass and she just opens it up.
I said..."Hilary...are you just opening your milk now?!"
She says, "yes."
I say, "Didn't you put milk in your cornbread?!"
she says..."No, I put in water".
I say, "I am pretty sure that it called for milk!!"
We looked at each other and then dug out the mix package from the garbage and sure enough it called for milk and sure enough...Hilary put in water instead! We had a good laugh about it! oops!
Time to start cooking again!

Passion "Bundles"

Check this out, seriously!
Passion is setting up "Bundles" on itunes of the messages and music. GET IT!

Ice Storm Pictures

The last day of our "Ice Storm" in Austin Hilary and I had to get out of our apartment, so we walked to Huts Hamburgers for dinner! (if any of you come and visit we have to go! GREAT burgers, on Wed. nights they have a two for one special!) Anyway... I took some pictures...




The ice has all melted now, today was 61 degrees, clear and sunny! It was beautiful! No more "snow" days!

A Mystery Meal...

Okay...so this is what happens when we haven't been cooking in awhile...

A prize goes to the person who can figure out what this is! Seriously...
This is what happened to it in the end...

Back at Work

Well, I'm back at work today. It just feels like I could use one more day! We did have a delay this morning.
I could get used to 5-day weekends and 2-day work-weeks!! I love Texas!
Something funny about Texas, other than the way they handle snow and ice:
They don't know what a Maid-Rite is and they don't know what Puppy-Chow is. (not the dog food)
Funny! I'll have to do some cooking for my Texas friends. If you don't know what those two things are you are probably not from the mid-west. Let me know and I'll blog about it!
Well, back to work, UGH!

Intelligent Designer

Something that was hitting me last night. I was reading Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
"In the beginning God..."
God was there, He already was.
"God created..." I looked in my Hebrew book and "created" is bara; to create, form, make, produce, the way it is in Gen 1 it emphasizes the initiation of the object, and also "out of nothing".
He was there, being God and He created "out of nothing" the heavens and the earth. There was no pre-existing material used to make this. He put it in to place and shows what an intelligent designer he is!
When I think about how the universe is made and the details of it all and how it all works together it amazes me! He is perfection, down to the tiniest detail. If things were the slightest bit out of place it would not work. He knew exactly how to put it all together to work properly. INTELLIGENT DESIGNER! Then I got to thinking about everything else that followed that. God is perfection, so when He creates He creates in perfection according to Him.
Even me.
Obviously I am not "perfect", but I was designed and created by an intelligent designer of perfection. He has made me how He sees it to "fit and work properly", then there is sin. It makes me off, even slightly off to the point of not fitting or working properly. But in God there is no sin, sin is of satan. Satan is not part of God. I'm thankful for Jesus, again designed in perfection. God could see how it all fit and how it would work properly...For Him to stand in the way of what is standing in the way of our perfection, so that God could look at His children and His creation and see perfection. Jesus.
He is an intelligent designer.

Ice Storm 2007

Austin is getting hit with an "Ice Storm". Yesterday and today the city has "shut down", telling everyone to stay inside and don't go out on the road. My office closed yesterday and today. It's been nice staying warm and lounging around the apartment. Hilary didn't have school either so we have been bumming around. It's been great! People here don't really know what to do with Ice. I felt like a kid again watching the news to see if they were going to cancel school! We kept saying that if this was happening in Iowa, we would definitely still be having school. Iowa doesn't shut down anything! I looked outside just now and it was a combination of ice and snow falling. Very unusual for here. It's making the news! It's been nice to catch up on some emailing and other things. Hope everyone is staying warm wherever they are at!

Prayer 2007

Ephesians 6:18 "Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere."

Hello friends!
I have been challenged lately by a good friend of mine in the area of prayer. I have a growing passion in me to pray and thought of no better way than to get on board with this idea as well. I would love to commit to praying for you this year. If you don't mind, I would love for you to send me 5 specific prayer requests that I can be praying for you through the year of 2007.
Either send back by email or snail mail. If you don't have my info already you can send your requests to francygirl527@gmail.com and it will get to me. ALSO, send me a picture of yourself! I will put them together in a prayer book so that I can pray over you even though I may not be with you.
PLEASE allow me to pray and lift you up. Then at the end of the year I will email those requests back to you and see what the Lord has done! He works in unexpected ways and it is amazing, the power of prayer. I have been challenged by this and am excited to see what He does in your lives and also with my life as I spend intimate time with Him.

Philippians 1:3-4 " Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart."

I look forward to hearing from you and to pray for you all!
MUCH love,
emily

Random Information

This will be a post with a bunch of random information.

I am still completely hooked to 24, but I have realized that I need to take it in moderation. I have to give myself breaks in watching it. Today, Hilary was laughing at me as she walked into the living room while I was watching a very intense part. My hands were gripping my hair and I was making noises. She told me to calm down!

My mom left me a message tonight saying they were sitting at the Mark in the Quad Cities waiting for "Dancing with the Stars" to start! Us girls got them tickets for Christmas! My mom is a HUGE fan, I can't wait to hear about it!

Tonight Hilary and I went to a friends house to play games and we met a bunch of cool people. It was fun to hang out with people and get to know new people. We met a girl who had just moved, today, from IOWA! Turns out that she knows JB and she knew Beautiful Feet! She had gone to Main Event when we lead worship there! She knew a bunch of Hilary's friends as well. CRAZY! I got to know a couple of girls who also play guitar! We are going to start a girl band.

I connected with a friend, Meredith, today. A friend from 24-7 that has recently moved to Austin! We are getting together tomorrow! Iowa is invading Austin.

I babysat last night and didn't get home until 3:30am and was wide awake and was up until 5:30am. I went to sleep, woke up at noon and had some toast and went back to sleep until 3:30pm. Now it's almost 1:00am and I'm wide awake. Not good.

Friday at work I did another three-hole punching project. I decided to take some pics.

Here is the hole-puncher

Here is the stack...seriously...I put my water bottle up next to it to show you just how high the stack was! Lord this is for You!

Some serious confetti!

I listened to a couple of messages from the Passion 07 conference, Francis Chan's message and Beth Moore's message. AMAZING! Completely rocked my world. More to come on those messages. Would love to share with y'all what God hit me with. I am also reading "Shattered Dreams" by Larry Crabb that has also been rocking my world. Again, more to come on that.

I am taking the Perspectives course, it started last week and I'm excited to learn more about God's heart for the nations. Not only the world but the people around me. I can be a missionary without having to drop everything and move to an unreached country. But, hey...maybe He will call me to do that. Right now...I'm learning His heart for people who don't know Him. I'm praying for continued compassion for the lost. Also, the speaker went to seminary with JB and knows him well! CRAZY! I'm telling you, there have been so many "small world" moments since I've moved here.

My neighbors are having a major party next door. I think it might be a dance party. Or maybe they are playing DDR, or Guitar Hero...or...accordion hero!
Whatever it is, it's REALLY loud.

That's all the random stuff I have for you right now.

Fun with Magnets.

Austin is known for its "weirdness". Someone who has contributed to the "weirdness" of Austin is a well-known homeless guy named Leslie. I read/watched this article by News 8 Austin, posted today. Check it out! If this doesn't make you want to move to Austin, I'm not sure what will. I think I know what people are getting for Christmas next year! I saw this at Waterloo Records and almost bought it! The two-peice number is what I saw him in for the first time! Beautiful.

"I Will Be Their God"-that is enough

Once again Spurgeon has touched my heart with his God-Filled words. Here is what he says,

"I will be their God."-Jeremiah 31:33

Christian! here is all thou canst require. To make thee happy thou wantest something that shall satisfy thee; and is not this enough? If thou canst pour this promise into thy cup, wilt thou not say, with David, "My cup runneth over; I have more than heart can wish"? When this is fulfilled, "I am thy God," art thou not possessor of all things? Desire is insatiable as death, but He who filleth all in all can fill it. The capacity of our wishes who can measure? but the immeasurable wealth of God can more than overflow it. I ask thee if thou art not complete when God is thine? Dost thou want anything but God? Is not His all-sufficiency enough to satisfy thee if all else should fail? But thou wantest more than quiet satisfaction; thou desirest rapturous delight. Come, soul, here is music fit for heaven in this thy portion, for God is the Maker of Heaven. Not all the music blown from sweet instruments, or drawn from living strings, can yield such melody as this sweet promise, "I ! will be their God." Here is a deep sea of bliss, a shoreless ocean of delight; come, bathe thy spirit in it; swim an age, and thou shalt find no shore; dive throughout eternity, and thou shalt find no bottom. "I will be their God." If this do not make thine eyes sparkle, and thy heart beat high with bliss, then assuredly thy soul is not in a healthy state. But thou wantest more than present delights-thou cravest something concerning which thou mayest exercise hope; and what more canst thou hope for than the fulfillment of this great promise, "I will be their God"? This is the masterpiece of all the promises; its enjoyment makes a heaven below, and will make a heaven above. Dwell in the light of thy Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with His love. Get out the marrow and fatness which this portion yields thee. Live up to thy privileges, and rejoice with unspeakable joy.

Passion 07 Messages

The Passion 07 messages are put back on the Passion Website to for people to listen to!
They will be up through Friday!! I recommend Francis Chan's message. It was GREAT!!! I will post about it later. Good stuff y'all. Take some time to watch. It also includes the worship.

MySpace

I have joined the MySpace world... you can check me out here.

Jack Bauer is my Hero

Okay, so I am totally addicted to 24 again. It all started several years ago when my friend Meghan and I got introduced to 24 and we started watching from season 1 on DVD. I believe our friend Andrew had something to do with it.
We were hooked until halfway through season three, where both Meghan and I decided we needed to stop.
We started having BAD dreams due to the intensity of these shows and the fact that we were watching the entire season back to back within a couple of days! I needed an intervention and had to stop watching the show. Until a couple of days ago when I heard a pastor refer to 24 in his sermon. (It was actually really funny, and very fitting to the message...he is also hooked on the show)
I then decided to get back on the show. I have finished season 3 and am on season 4. I can't stop! It's SO good! (please, if you are a 24 follower and are on the current season...don't tell me anything that happens)
I really like Jack Bauer a lot, he is my hero! He is so brave and strong and he is also very kind.
He knows how to break people and rescue people.

Cough Syrup w/ Codine, Diet Coke Addiction and lyrics

So I went to the doctor on Thursday and I have a sinus infection. ugh.
So I am on antibiotics for that and she also gave me cough syrup with
codine! YEAH! Although, I took
it at 11:30 and it's 2:15am and I'm still awake. Not sure what is wrong
with me...John...I think I need
to get some help for my Diet Coke addiction.
Anyway...I have been blessed by this song that we have been singing
 at church and I can't get it
out of my head. Its a VERY cool song by Hillsong United called
"From the Inside Out" check out the
lyrics...

"A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
I'm caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never Ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out"

My Lovely

Some VERY sweet photos of my Lovely...

Friends!

It is always fun to see friends! A night at the Lobb's is always a good time

And usually consists of some sort of music...

It was so fun to "jam".
Then we rocked out on "Guitar Hero" a video game with a guitar!
I think this was the "rocker" Cody picked!Sharon rockin' out!
For some reason Cody can do nothing and still crack me up.
We also said good-bye to Jennifer and Kyle. They are headed to Japan on Saturday!!
The girls...plus Cody

Christmas Lights Drive

One night we all got our PJ's on and blankets and got in the car and drove around to look at Christmas lights!

It always gets goofy...

Noah pretending to cry...

Jack and I rockin' out to Christmas songs...

Christmas Time In Iowa

I got sweet Lily Margaret a Princess outfit for Christmas! She truly is a princess! She wasn't too sure about it at first. You can tell by the look on her face that she might not completely be loving it!She was a little embarrassed at first...

But then she started getting some moves down...

And she added the bling...

And some more bling...

I got Sam a Cowboy outfit complete with hat, scarf, vest with fringe, cuffs, water canteen, trail map and leather chaps.

He got out his horse...

And his boots to complete the look!

The 2006 Best Christmas gift award goes to Mom and Don for the nerf guns to the grandkids. They each got their own nerf gun with shield and protective eye-wear, Jill completed the gift with a mesh bag full of extra darts. These guys look pretty cool....

The real fun began when the girls took over...**notice Jill's lips**

It was so much fun! We laughed so hard as darts went flying through the air.

We got hit in the face and in the neck...yes it hurt...but we kept comin' back for more. There were a couple of people that peed their pants and I am proud to say I was not one of them!

Don was walking around for awhile with several darts stuck to the back of his jacket and he had NO CLUE! It was so funny!!!

The last night we got together we broke out the guns again...

This time we started getting a little more creative...

(Sorry Laura...I had to...it's too funny!)

Cool dudes...

Hasta la Vista...baby.