prayers needed

My family received some bad news a few days ago, and we are all just coming to terms with it. My sister-in-law, who is due to give birth to a baby girl July 11th, had a questionable ultra-sound, which led to an amniocentesis down in Grand Rapids. Baby Emmersyn has Triploidy, a condition caused by 69 chromosomes, as opposed to the normal 46. The condition is always fatal, because there is no treatment or cure. Most often, the baby is either miscarried, or born a still-birth. A few cases have survived in the amount of days or weeks.

The news is heartbreaking. We aren't giving up on her, and are asking God for a creative miracle. But whatever happens, God has a plan for her. And her life is significant no matter how short here on this earth.

Please keep my brother, Dale, sister-in-law, Karly, and both of our families in your prayers.

Beautiful House Wednesday

I am totally loving this Houston home as seen on La Dolce Vita.

Take a look and you'll see why.

 What's not to love?! This house has my absolute favorite eat-in kitchen, and one of the greatest home libraries. I'm ready to move in whenever!

It was a mother-daughter weekend

I have been missing from the blogworld longer than normal. I just came off of a really eventful weekend, and took 48 hours to recover and get my house back in order. Speaking of the house, I added several things to it this past weekend, but don't worry, I ALSO have a huge box of stuff for our June yard sale.

Mom, my Grandpa's wife, Julie, and I went down to Detroit for Mother's Day weekend. And I have to say, Mom and I shopped. till. we. dropped.

We hung out with Julie's daughter, Megan, and her boyfriend, Sunny. They made us the most insane Arabic dinner Saturday night, and no one wanted to even think about food for the next 24 hours.

Sunny introduced us to a homeless guy-Larry. He hangs around their neighborhood frequently, so we fed him a plate of our left overs, and he even played drums for us! Then we enjoyed a night of dancing to celebrate Megan's 23rd birthday.

The "fam" right before we went out.

Mom and I in the backseat.

Megan & Sunny

The Moms.

Because I seriously have no shame.

Dancing the night away-

Posing with Sunny's "Liberachi."

wounds

I really loved the section, "Out of our wounds, comes our glory" in Wild at Heart. Everyone has wounds, hurts, failures, pieces of a broken heart. It's only when we face those things and except that we need the Lord in our life, that we can finally overcome them. This is especially true for "strong, secure" men.

"Until we are broken, our life will be self-centered, self-reliant, our strength will be our own. So long as you think you are really something in and of yourself, what will you need God for? I don't trust a man who hasn't suffered; I don't let a man get close to me who hasn't faced his wound."

In my own life, the lowest times are the times that God becomes real and powerful to me. If everything was rainbows and lollipops all the time, God would never get the close, intimate relationship with us that he so desires, because we would believe our own strength is enough.

"To do for yourself the best that you have it in you to do-- to grit your teeth and clench your fists in order to survive the world at his harshest and worst-- is, by that very act, to be unable to let something be done for you and in you that is more wonderful still. The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed secures your life also against being opened up and transformed." (The sacred Journey)

oops

For some reason my Beautiful House Wednesday post that I put up today actually posted for Sunday the 2nd. Which is totally weird, and if I was a computer whiz, I would try and figure it out, but I'm not, nor do I have the time.

Click HERE

Wild at Heart

I finally finished Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. The book was amazing. There's so much "meat" in those 220 pages, that I don't feel like I could ever give a thorough recap. So, what I am going to do is share some of my favorite pages, paragraphs, sentences, with a brief explanation of what I learned from it. Men and women alike should read this book.

Eldredge explains how deep down to the core of every man is the desire for a battle to fight. Whether it be for his woman, his family, freedom, personal rights, career, etc. And the enemy wants nothing more than for every man to fall, to lose the battle. And often times a real man, with godly principles, and a love for morality is looked upon by the world as odd, different, uncool.

"The world of posers is shaken by a real man. They'll do whatever it takes to get you back in line-threaten you, bribe you, seduce you, undermine you. They crucified Jesus. But it didn't work, did it? You must let your strength show up. Remember Christ in the Garden, the sheer force of his presence? Many of us have actually been afraid to let our strength show up because the world doesn't have a place for it. Fine. The world's screwed up. Let people feel the weight of who are you and let them deal with it."

Right now

I am totally loving two things:

The first being Caldrea for Target cleaning supplies! The Citron Ginger scent is absolutely amazing. Just a few squirts of countertop cleaner and my entire main level smells delicious!

In addition to the incredible scent, the product is all natural. Love.  Main ingredients: Natural essential oils of grapefruit, ginger, and basil. If you're near a Target, go out and get some. I think it's safe to assume everyone reading this cleans their house (don't worry, my brother doesnt read this).

And the second thing is:

My favorite lyrics are:

I've got sunsets to witness

  dreams to dance with

beaches to walk on

        and lovers to kiss (babies to kiss)

           there's a whole lot of world out there

            that I can't wait to see

            My best days are ahead of me