Back to Work

My Thanksgiving break was wonderful. I ate lots of turkey and mac & cheese. My waist line is feeling the pain from all the great food I ate. : ) I went shopping for hours and drank several peppermint mocha's from Starbucks! I got to visit with all of my family and spent quality time with my sisters. Family is good. I shopped at Crate & Barrel for the first time. Go ahead and gasp. Yep, I never went into the store until this weekend. My oh my...I loved every inch of the place. You might be bummed out to know that I only purchased some Holiday soap but it smells and looks wonderful. :)

My tree is up and we are in full Christmas mode around here. I am excited about Christmas and all the magic it can hold. I am even more excited about being finished with grad school in about 2 weeks. So wonderful!

Jen Campbell, my multi-talented sister-in-law took our pictures recently. She is fun and fabulous with her photo sessions. I loved all the pictures she took. I just wanted to leave you with one that makes me very happy. I love my red cow girl boots. I hope that you have a wonderful week.

This heart is grateful

First off....I passed my huge comprehensive exam! Praise Him! I have three more weeks of school and then I have officially completed my masters. I am so happy!

I remember back in the fall of 2008, attending small groups at Matt & Jen Campbell's house. We were reading this book by Erwin McManus called...Wide Awake. I read that book cover to cover.

God used that book to speak directly to my heart about my love of people and my love to counsel. I spent a lot of time hesitating about what I wanted to do after my undergrad degree but after reading this book I knew. I didn't want to waste one more month on "thinking it over"...I knew it all along. So, that time for me lead me to this moment now. Let me tell you, I am humbled by God's grace and plan for my life. Thank you Matt and Jen for helping this life be changed. Thank you Erwin for writing such a powerful book. Thank you Bryan Campbell for all the meals you made me, and all the encouraging words you spoke into my life. For the countless high fives, and the extra roles you took on. You truly are my best friend. Thank you to everyone who cheered me on and gave me hope during those long hard months. Thank you to the most powerful God for believing in me. May I be your servant all the days of my life.

Enjoy some pics of the last few weeks of my life. :)

Studying for Comps
Bryan and our adorable nephew Ean!

Girls Night! Erin & Jen!

Me & Lindsay!
Thanksgiving at the Campbell's with our international college friend Max! We are getting to know him still and we think he is very nice and fun to be with.


Have a wonderful week!
Karen

Busy Bee

Hi! I still love my blog and haven't forgotten about it! I can't even tell you how busy I have been. I know a lot of people are busy. I took my final comps a week ago (still waiting for results) and I studied what seemed like forever! I got family pictures taken, watched my nephew Ean for awhile, went to a girls night out, and recently celebrated my husbands b-day. This weekend is full of family and Thanksgiving already! Not to mention all the homework I still have. But I am just three weeks away until school is over! Yeah! Tears come to my eyes when I think about it.

Can't wait to share more pics soon. Hope you are staying well!

Cherished

Yesterday evening and this morning I attended the Springhill Women's Conference. The conference was entitled: EXQUISITE. All the design work was done by Jen Campbell.

Can I just say that I had the most amazing time? I was not expecting to walk away so full and so blessed. My heart was overflowing with God's goodness and just his awesomeness! I literally had an ah ha moment while I was there.

Our guest speakers were two sisters Heather Gilion & Holly Snell, authors of Dancing On My Ashes. These two ladies are so authentic and so in love with Jesus. Please take time to read their book and even invite them to speak at your next gathering. I can't wait to hear from them again! Thank you Heather & Holly for saying YES to our God!

(Holly & Heather)

Are they not the cutest sisters? Not to mention some of the best dressers around! They speak the Word of God with boldness and with such a tender heart. I believe God is doing so much through them. Amen.

We had three different sessions at our conference. Every session was amazing. I am on the Women's Ministry team at Springhill and we had spent almost a whole year planning and praying for this conference. I didn't realize that God was going to speak so clearly. I am humbled by what he showed me.

I won't go into great detail about every session because I could fill up two blogs pages just of all the truth that was spoken. I felt broken Friday evening. Especially when Heather and Holly encouraged us to get alone with God in the sanctuary. We spread out and just prayed and heard from God. I loved that time but I could hardly keep my sobbing under control. I just felt like God literally came down and touched my cold cold heart. God revealed to me that I doubt him and that I have built up anger inside that needs to be repented of. We sang some sweet old songs like Purify My Heart and As the Deer. Oh my...it was so good!

Saturday (today) we revealed a lot of lies that we have been believing about ourselves. We learned that God is into giving us new names! We tend to carry around old names or names that are not true about us. They mentioned several different names we could possibly carry around like...unworthy, forgotten, unloved etc. If we identified with any, we were suppose to hear the real truth spoken over us and to walk away with our new name. I identified with the name Forgotten. I wake up in the morning and wonder why God has forgotten to bless me with a child or why God has forgotten about my hurting sister or why this or why that. I have believed the lie that God is not into me and that he has overlooked me. This couldn't be further from the truth. My new name is actually listed above: Cherished. I was so moved by that word. God has wonderful plans for me and I am Cherished! Amen! I am praising God for his love! I am so thankful for his kindness!

Thanks for letting me share! Enjoy these pictures of the sweetest ladies around!








Thank you for reading! We had a great time!

Karen

Be Well

My husband has been sick the last few days. He is running a fever and it just breaks my heart. He hasn't moved from the couch. When my husband says he is sick...he means it. I am trying to avoid getting sick. I have been worried about all my friends catching colds or having the stomach bug already. I have already had a cold but I am trying to avoid the worst part of it.

I am not a doctor or a health expert. But I wanted to share with you some common things that seem helpful to me. This is not advice or anything..more like some ideas that you might find inspiring. I get sick too but I like to help people when they feel blah. These ideas are pretty basic and you probably heard them all. But just let me mother you for a few seconds. :)

*Get plenty of sleep. That is right. Unplug the computer and the TV and get some good ZZZZ. Best thing you can do for yourself.

*Drink plenty of water...all day.

*Drink hot tea

* Take Vitamin C

*Stay away from bad sugar-it weakens the immune system

*Sweat. Sweating releases toxins from your system

*Take deep breathes. We are all so stressed.

* Do something fun and laugh

* Read the Word and Pray-this brings life to your soul!

*Buy something small for yourself that makes you happy. I bought myself a new CD, which rarely happens but it makes driving so much better.

I care about you and want you to be well. Be well in all areas of your life. Thanking God for you too!

P.S. I am so excited about our Women's Retreat this weekend! Can't wait to share with you what the Lord did!

Love to you- Karen

Beautiful Weekend

You probably would enjoy seeing pics of my weekend but do I have any?? Nope. :(

My husband reminded me that people who read blogs like to see pictures. I would agree and will try to work on that.

Confession Time: I took a long hour nap on Sunday. I didn't sleep the entire time but I just laid in the silence. It was amazing. You would think that since I don't have kidos that I get that time to myself a lot.... but I don't. And to be honest...sometimes I just need to get away from myself and my nagging thoughts. After I woke up from my rest, my husband handed me a bowl of homemade vegetable soup. I have got to say...my husband is an amazing chef! He picks the best recipes and makes the most random and wonderful dishes. The cutest thing about his cooking is that he always wants me to really like it, which is easy because I usually love it! He got on this cooking adventure when I started grad school and ever since its become something different and fun for him to do. His dishes usually take an hour or more to make. Serious time people!

Our church had a fun kids festival, which I heard was amazing. We decided to stay home and spend time together. Plus we really wanted to love on our neighborhood with some candy. We had the best time talking with people and seeing the cute kids. It was a blessing and we ended the night with shakes and fries from McDonalds. I have a serious sugar problem and McDonalds was all my idea. :)

I pray your week is off to a great start! Our pastor encouraged us this week to thank people who have invested in our lives....I will post more on that this week! I have a lot of people to thank!

Love to you-

Karen