PHOTOBOOTH

Our camera broke over the weekend and I haven't put any new pictures up of Sav in a while so I thought Travis would appreciate this usage of the PhotoBooth program on our mac.  

The worst thing I have ever done.

Preach the Gospel to yourself e everyday.

I've heard that so many times.  I've heard it from books, from sermons, and from friends.  I think I've even attempted to do it a time or two.  Problem was, I didn't really know what I was doing.  So lately, God has been teaching me about what the Gospel looks like in my life daily.

Last night at small group I asked my girls "What is the worst thing you have ever done? " I was a little apprehensive to ask them.  I asked myself that question a few weeks ago and I actually had to work at letting myself remember.  Funny how we work so hard to forget those things, but they're always there.  When I let myself remember fully the worst thing I have ever done, I felt like only then was I able to start understanding the Gospel.  The worst thing I have ever done is only a glimpse of the evil I am capable of.  The worst thing I have ever done is likely only a window into the kind of things I would be doing today if Jesus had not stepped in and saved my life.  The worst thing I have ever done describes the kind of person I am when I am alone, and with out God.

 Psalm 36 says this of the wicked man:
There is no fear of God in him, he loves himself, he cannot see his own sin - let alone hate it, the words of his mouth are lies, he doesn't do good, he plots and plans out wrong things to do, and he pushes away the good things he should do.

This is what each and every person looks like when they stand on their own.  When they refuse to listen to God's voice.  When they wonder out from under God's perfect authority. With out Jesus, I am only as good as the worst thing I have ever done.  Ask yourself, What is the worst thing you've ever done - and meditate on that for a while.  You will be in your proper place before the God of Grace when you let yourself sit there.

Maybe tomorrow I'll write about how to access that grace :)

(And no, I do not plan on actually stating the worst thing I ever done on my blog - trust me, it's bad.  You don't want to know)

This is where I belong....

Yes.  Roller Derby.  

Last night Travis and I watched the movie Whip It (on recommendation from Jasey and Hayley - Thanks Girls!).  It was super good.  It's directed by Drew Barrymore and stars Ellen Page (the girl from Juno).  It's the story of an artsy high school girl in a small town outside of Austin, TX who "finds herself" in secretly joining the Roller Derby.  Of course there's all kinds of drama with boys and friends and parents, and it's pretty funny too.  Jimmy Fallen and Kristen Wiig (from SNL) are in it too.  Definitely worth watching. 

But here's the catch - I've been thinking about Roller Derby all day.  I've been complaining for years about how I'm not really great at anything - like I don't have my "thing" that I'm good at.  In the movie one of the characters (played by Juliette Lewis) explains how SHE wasn't good at anything either until she found Roller Derby, when she was 31!  It's not too late!  Plus, I'm actually pretty good at roller blading (I could remember how to skate on 4 wheels pretty fast), and I already have the tattooed image required for killing it on the "flat track".  Travis is claiming that I'm not tough enough to play, but I bed to differ.  I mean, just because I'm not aggressive in regular life doesn't mean that I couldn't step it up in the rink.  Come on - I can get CRAZY!  I checked into it tonight and it turns out that there actually is a Roller Derby in Des Moines.  They have open practices and if you attend %60 of the practices, then you can try out for the team.   They are even recruiting right now!  If you can't tell by all the exclaimation points, I'm really excited about this.  Unfortunately for me, we are all booked up.  I don't have time to go to practices in Des Moines all the time.  However, if Roller Derby ever comes to Ames, and if I happen to be more freed up at that point... I'm SOOOO in!  

PS - The girls in Roller Derby all get awesome names... just another perk!  Go here to find one for yourself!

YO JOE SINESES!

When I was in high school I had stickers all over the inside of my car. My friend Joe Sines took some letter stickers and spelled his name, wrong, inside one of the doors. He went to a different school so every person who got in asked me "Who is Joe Sineses"? Here's his latest...

Cha Cha Changes!

We've had some big changes around here lately.

Painting the house!  If you haven't been by in a while, you might have a hard time finding it!  I mean, aside from the red wagon that's always out there, and the porch swing, the front of our house has had a makeover.  No longer will I tell people, "There are 3 white houses in a row, and we're the middle one."  We are now the "Brownish one with green trim."  We love our new house colors.  The sidding is a color called "smoke house" and the trim is "rice paddy" and a color we actually made up by combining the other two.  :)  Our goal this fall is to finish the front and back.  Since Travis went back to school it's been pretty slow going.  But it looks great!

Going along with the makeover theme, we also painted and redecorated Savannah's room.  We took out her big changing table dresser and put in a smaller white one (thank you Tyler Farner for parting with your childhood dresser for my baby).  Last Christmas I bough Savannah owl themed bedding and wall decals.  I had planned on redoing all of it when she moved into a big girl bed, but since she doesn't seem to be anywhere near figuring out how to get out of her crib, we just went ahead and did it.  She LOOOVES it.  When we go to get her up sometimes we here her in there going "hoo, hoo, hoo" talking to the owls.  She has wall decals, an owl bank, 3 stuffed owls, an owl pillow, owl sheets and blanket, an owl picture and owl painting (thanks to Miranda Robinson).  Travis was a little sad to see her go from a  baby girl's room to a little girl's room.

Good transition to Savannah's makeover.  A couple weeks ago I got tired of always combing and putting up her hair and just did it.  I just cut it off.  It's not the best haircut you've ever seen, but she's so busy no one really notices.  She and I are both much happier now!  She's a little sassier after the hair cut.

The yard: Cannas are getting taller and awesome!

The garden: Where are all the garden plants?  Can't find them, can you.  We ignored it through the month of July and well...that's what we get.  I'm going to spray Round Up on the whole thing and just start over next year.

We be watchin ....

So, since we watch a lot of TV and movies, I thought I'd make a top 10 list of our favorite movies and shows.  Obviously the three of us have different tastes, so this is in no particular order.  Just 10 things we like these days:

As mentioned in previous post, this is our new fave.  We found it on Hulu.com and have watched the first 9 episodes.  It's so funny.  It's a little like the Office (the way it's filmed and the humor) but way funnier!  It's about a crazy family and the one "normal" guy that's trying to hold it all together.  

Savannah watches The Little Mermaid pretty much everyday.  We don't own it, but we keep borrowing it from the Library.  And did you know there's a 2 & 3?  We've watch those their fair share too.  My favorite is when she tries to sing "ma ma mermaid shongs".  

We got really into Pawn Stars on the History channel this summer.  It's like Antique Road Show meets American Choppers.  All the interesting old crap people have collected for years, but then they throw in the tough cool shop owner and his crazy dad and lazy son.  I'm waiting for the day they show a marathon of this and I can just sit and watch it all day. 

I'm not totally into this one, but The Good Guys has become one of Travis' favorites.  He watches online the day after it airs and hardly ever misses a week.  It's a funny cop show, which is kind of a good change with all the CSIs and Law and Orders out there. 

Here's one for the whole family.  Savannah and Travis and I all love Kung Fu Panda.  One night Savannah watched it for about 45 minutes before bed and after I took her to bed Travis asked if WE could finish it without her.  It's so funny.  You can't lose when you have Jack Black as the main voice.  

Since most of the list is about Savannah and Travis, I'm putting Sweet Home Alabama and Mean Girls in here (need I remind you that Tina Fey and Amy Pohler are in this movie).  They are two of my favorite movies and I watch them at least once every couple months.  Usually when I'm alone. Love them. 

I found My Little Pony episodes at the Library a few weeks ago and Savannah has been hooked.  It's super fun because most of them are the SAME exact ones I watched as a kid.  My mom pulled out my old ponys (yes, she still had them!) and cleaned them up for Savannah.  So that's kind of her new deal.  She also likes to pretend she's a Flutter Pony and fly around the house singing. 

I'll wrap this up with the announcement that Travis got Netflix for a year for his birthday from my parents. I'm sure this is going to change the way we view everything from now on.  So....more to come :)

So we had another eventful weekend around here.  Kinda.  

Friday night Travis and I went to a dinner/meeting for our 41 high school leaders!  This year is going to be pretty amazing.  We kick off Escape tomorrow night at 7:45 in "The Box".  It's a new room that Cornerstone built just for the youth (sorta)!  We've been meeting in gym for the last couple years, so it will be nice to finally have a home again.  Lucky for us, Madeline Farner and Jasey Rebarcak (two high school girls) were around to watch Savannah all night.  

Saturday morning we went on a walk to the Library in attempt to peel Savannah away from wanting to watch movies (her new favorite thing ever).  About a block from home she was running full speed ahead and she ran smack into a huge sign pole!  I think she was trying to out run her shadow and forgot to look where she was going.  She has scrapes all over her legs and a big ole fat lip.  

Saturday was also Travis' 32nd Birthday!  We didn't play it up party style too much, but we did do plenty of laying around on Saturday afternoon watching Arrested Development. It's our new fave. Saturday night we went to the new Mongolian Buffet here in town with my parents.  It was really good. However, it might be one of the few things that would be better without a two year old.  It was complicated to get her food, sit her down, get my food, then get her more food... After dinner Travis and some guys smoked pipes to the light of about 12 citronella candles.  Bugs here are awful lately!

Sunday we went to church.  We love our church. Nuf said. 

Then we went boating.  Here are some pictures... that's why you're here anyway.