jack!!

finally a picture of my soon to be (but not soon enough) father-in-law. i figured since i talk about him all the time i would post a picture. this is from the wilderness weekend adam took me on to their farm.

s'mores cupcakes

i did it! i did it! i did it!!!!!
w/ the help of my friend april, but i did it!
and from what i can tell the kids love it as did adam!!!!

adam even dared to say (they rival muddy's....even better) ha! take that goodness of muddy's!

on a side note, i got my flu shot today. the prick didn't hurt but the goo going in me did feel a tad bit thick.

a devoted love

there are a few things i love more than baking.....
they would be my job (which sometimes involves baking), God, and of course adam.

but recently i have found recipes and designs that are far beyond my baking abilities. i being the well prepared youth worker that i am (ha ha ha...no seriously this time i was) decided to spend my free time on baking websites. (yes i know i'm a nerd) and i will share this next cupcake with you then i will get to my point of devoted love....while i am quite devoted to baking i am speaking of another matter.
(all cupcake pictures are property of ak cupcakes)


so recently i have had a good handful of friends talk to me about divorce (all newly married...and by newly married i mean less than 10 years) and i have recently had a good friend become un-engaged, and it makes me think. don't get me wrong i know there are valid reasons for getting divorces, but it just seems that people aren't willing to tough it through the nitty gritty anymore.
i love adam. it's not always easy but i love him. trust me esp while i'm pms'ing there are times when i'm like WILL YOU PLEASE STOP TALKING LIKE A BOOK AND TALK TO ME LIKE A NORMAL PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATED PERSON, but i love him.

maybe it's out of my realm of understanding. it just makes my heart ache a little bit when people give up on love.
Christ has never once stopped loving us, he loved us before we came into being, and if we are modeling our lives after Christ....sigh
I wish life really were as simple as cupcakes and cookies, and that people were not flawed. I hate that people hurt and cause hurt.

<3 i'm just a lover with a glass half full of milk, a heart filled with joy, and an oven filled w/ cake.

actively loving

so Christ teaches us that we're supposed to love without condition, and how many times do we treat people different? and Christ clearly says, thank you for feeding me when I was hungry and clothing me when I was naked, but he also says where were you when I was hungry and where were you when I was naked....everything we do, good or bad we do in the name of Christ. we are his representatives here on earth.

I have had the luxury of having many friends and I have served in several ministry positions but yesterday I encountered the kind of Christ love I have been speaking about for years.
Recently my car engine has died...well I have had the joy of hitching a ride w/ my dear class mate jason.

He serves a church out in Covington, which is the next town over.
anyway this man in my church noticed i was standing in the parking lot waiting on jason to come pick me up for class last thursday, so he tells me that i should not have to rely on others to get around....and to give him a call when i get back from class and he would take me to his house to get a car, that i could....borrow.

I am over-whelmed with joy....but it gets better, this has not been this gentleman's service and he's not through....on my way to a presby campus leadership team meeting I am on the interstate and my tire blows....shreads of rubber are flying and i get over as soon as possible.
I am sure that i need to call this gentleman and that he will be furious at me. Instead he calls one of his friends who's in the area to check on me.


I have called a tow company (the same guy that towed me that night i had the encounter with the drunk driver )and the tow guy tows me off the interstate and changes my tire for me (and does not charge me, how blessed i am), the gentleman who lent me the car's friend stays and makes sure i get rolling safely.
The gentleman who owns the car then proceeded to pick the car up this morning and get a new tire for it, and then promptly returned the car to me.
No angry words, or frustration, just hospitality.
I told him i was amazed at his hospitality and generosity. I have only been at my church now for 3 months....and he's entrusted me with his car AND something went wrong and he fixed it.
He went out of his way to be a good Samaritan.

I know this is how Christ has called us to be. To seek and tend after those in need, but the sad reality is that we are not doing this. We see those in need and sure we help them, but only when it's easy for us. I am amazed at the lovingkindness that this gentleman has shown and it has warmed my heart.

I wish for myself, and for you, that you are not only touched by this but that it changes you. Many a times we teach our youth about life lessons but rarely do we act out on them. I did not reach out to this gentleman for help, he reached out to help me.

We need seek to love those who need it, not just love those who seek our love.
Bless you brother jay.

excitement

so in a whirlwind of excitement about the new series i am conducting with my youth (to save a life...it's going to be pretty epic)

i have fallen behind in my studies



sadly this does not upset me nearly as much as it frustrates me.
i came back exhausted from intensive retreat no.2 in brentwood, to present youth sunday then to write a paper (cough just completed a day late cough) and to have discussion group and to figure out if i'm going to buy a car for adam and i or just adam.

captain z told us that 1. we are not cymj(obs) nor are we to be negative to bring eachother down...
however...not that i feed off the negativity, but it is encouraging when others are not succeeding on an equal level of my lack of success. not that i am seeking validation for my laziness or frustration with the materials BUT....
it aids me in knowing i am not so far on the totem pole.

basically i don't look at our whining and complaining about the stuff we do for class or lack of stuff we do as negative but as a way we can compare ourselves to one another....in a way we are helping one another (no not helping one another slack off) but to feel confidant that they too are normal that yes this is a lot of material and yes it is hard.
no you are not a dum-dum.

:-D

new shoes and organization using technology

i realize this is a vain post...but i really do like my new shoes. (adam picked them out)


and you say, well so what lauren...well the fact that these are closed toe and heels makes them a big deal. most closed toed shoes make me uncomfortable, same with heels, however.....these are awesome. proly cause for once i got them someh where that was not payless, target or wal-mart


this is how my feet normally look on a typical work day....yes i have chaco lines and yes i wore pants today for the first time since christmas....it was cold and i didn't have time to look nice enough to wear a dress or a skirt.

on to more important things


i don't know how many of you are familiar w/ google docs or google apps or google calendars
but i have a classmate who has made a calendar (google) for the entire class so to that i added an additional calendar for my life and for work....they are all color coded and let me just say it's the most incredible thing ever.
and with google docs everyone can edit and such and see the same work in progress document. which is great for class projects when your classmates are 3 driving hours away.

ahhh technology.

i should be writing a paper...

but let me just say last night at youth group tears came to my eyes. i walked in this morning and was greeted in the office and on my facebook with praises.
Praise God, for he has blessed me and used me to prepare a lesson that those youth so desperately needed. my youth are amazing, just absolutely amazing.
sure, sometimes they're a bit immature, and yeah its hard to create lessons for both jr and senior highs in the same setting...but they are incredible.
Praise God indeed. Hopefully my blessings will continue as I prepare the paper i have procrastinated on....

oh and my fiance is the best ever. just wonderful and i'm blessed beyond measure...just way beyond measure.