Rewind A Bit

The purpose of this entry was to show how much God has comforted us during our trials this past year. As a result of this journey, Josh and I adopted the following verses as another one of our theme verses:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." -2 Corinthians 1:3-5

As you read this entry, I hope that you can see and understand how that verse was exemplified in our lives and how we now have the responsibility to comfort others and to unashamedly share how we ourselves have been comforted.

I don't necessarily enjoy taking my mind back to January 2008, but sometimes I think it is important to put our trials in writing.

I don't want to forget everything God has taught us through this journey.

So here it is... all of our sweat and tears revealed, and the lessons we learned seven months ago.

January 2008.

Josh and I were both jobless.

We had run out of money.

We had no health insurance.

We had only been married for five months.

From the world's perspective, it couldn't have been a worse time to get pregnant.

And yet, that little test showed a sure positive.

I started shaking. I was scared out of my mind. There was no way God was allowing me to bring a baby into this world. But I couldn't deny the obvious any longer.

While I felt like I was having a nervous breakdown, Josh stayed strong for us and immediately had me arrange to meet with my amazing mentors. I listened intently to everything they said and I soon began to see God work miracles.

We were advised to wait until our circumstances improved before telling people we were expecting. So no one knew our situation. And yet, tons of families started inviting us to dinner. It was amazing to see the Body in action. Whenever we didn't have a clue how we'd eat that night, we'd get invited to dinner. Many of these families had no idea how much they were blessing us.

On top of that, I had stopped taking my heart medicine in December (because I had no health insurance), which I had been on since 1994. The doctors had never told me to stop taking the medicine or reduced the dosage. They didn't think that was possible. However, my HOPE group (and others) had been praying over my health for about a semester now and sure enough, God performed a miracle on my heart. I believe He has cured me from pericarditis. In addition, I now feel stronger than I've felt in years. In January I realized that if I had not stopped taking my medicine in December, it could have caused serious complications for the baby. Thank you God for ordaining all of that. I owe it all to God, the Healer and the All-powerful.

The miracles continued.

Soon, Josh got a job.

I got health insurance (thanks to our wonderful American government).

And more than anything, God changed my heart. My very wise and very humble mentor, Julie, taught me about telling myself The Truth. My panic attacks were obvious signs that I was telling myself lies and I was living in the world's folly. Despite the fact that I have always adored kids, I was believing that babies were a liability and that this pregnancy would only add to my burdens.

But if I claim to be a Christian, I must believe everything in the Bible. And the Bible says that children are a blessing.

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward."
-Psalm 127:3 (NASB)

This pregnancy was a blessing. That's a fact. I couldn't believe otherwise.

So anytime I started to worry that this pregnancy was... well, can I dare say that I worried it was a mistake? That's the yucky, sad truth. There were moments when I did indeed start to think that way. And yet, now I can't wait for Riley to get here!

Anyways, anytime I started to struggle with that sin, I opened up my copy of Her Hands to the chapter "Wise Women Love Their Children" and meditated on what God says about children and what older, wiser women say about children. This practice of replacing my faulty beliefs with The Truth has changed my life for the better. I can more easily walk in God's peace and I can more easily see "the big picture."

Over the months, Josh has continued to help me see things from God's perspective. Josh and I have grown closer together and we've grown closer to God. I am thankful for the lessons that little Riley has already taught me. I look forward to learning so much more from her.

A Little Explanation

I thought I'd explain the reasoning behind the "tree" theme of the Owen blog. If you noticed the web address, it's www.letsclimbtrees.blogspot.com.

That's not a normal blog address.

When I created my blog, every form of the name "owen" was taken. So I decided to let Josh come up with our blog name. Ha, what was I thinking?

Actually, I thought what he came up with was pretty cute because one of our very first dates involved climbing a tree together. We both love climbing trees so it became a regular activity for us (until I got pregnant... don't want to risk hurting the baby).

We also built a treehouse together while we were dating. Good memories.

That being said, we just kind of adopted Jeremiah 17:7-8 as our family motto. If we trust the LORD, we can be like a really strong and fruitful tree. How fun!

Bouquets of Freshly Sharpened Pencils

Can anyone name the movie?

Time's up...

That line is from You've Got Mail.

I love that line. It sums up the Fall and the start of the school year.

So much anticipation about what the year will hold, what the students will learn, what those pencils will write.

As the school year approaches, I am thinking about and praying for all the teachers I know. This time of year was quite stressful for me last year, and I know firsthand how much work goes into preparing for the first day of school.

Thank you, teachers, for all you do. You are a blessing to the students and the community. May God give you the ability to motivate and inspire your students from day one. May God's presence be with you during the trials and may your classroom always be filled with the peace of God.

Things I Can't Wait To Do With Riley

1. Rock her.
2. Read to her (especially from The Word).
3. Make her laugh.
4. Read to her some more.
5. Bundle her up when it's cold outside.
6. Splash around in the water when it's hot outside.
7. Sing and dance with her.
8. Show her God's beautiful creations in nature (like butterflies and trees).
9. Listen to her read (especially from The Word).
10. Pray together.

I better stop. This list could go on forever.

God knows.

God knows the exact moment I will have this baby.

God knows how many hairs will be on her head (if any).

God knows how much she'll weigh and how tall she'll be.

God knows, and for right now, that is enough for me.

I just love it when the message at church correlates exactly with what God has been teaching me all week. Tonight, Fernando (guest speaker) talked about Philippians 4:4-7 and that just happens to be the verse that I meditated on all week.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

You see, last week I started to realize that this baby could come at any time. And so with that realization, I started to panic. I couldn't sleep and I couldn't focus on my tasks at work. All I could think about was the day that this baby will come.

I have a tendency to get very anxious right before any big change in my life. For example, I did the same things (not sleeping, not focusing) right before my wedding. And then once I was married, I calmed down a lot and being married began to feel normal.

I don't want to struggle with anxiety this time. By the power of the Holy Spirit living in me, I want my "gentleness to be evident to all."

At tonight's prayer meeting before the church service, someone explained that God doesn't tell us what the future holds and then gives us peace. Instead, God calls us to Him and then gives us His peace.

This is evident throughout the whole Bible, from when God told Abram to "leave... and go" (no specifics about where Abram was going or how long it would take to get there), to when Jesus told the disciples that He was going away (no specifics about when or how he was going away). And yet, Jesus explained that if He did not go away, the Counselor (or Comforter) would not come (read John 16).

Do you see the connection? Jesus was giving them the peace of God; He was not telling them exactly what the rest of their lives would look like.

So although I do not know when this baby will arrive, how many hairs she'll have, or how big she'll be, I can have peace about it all. My Lord is near. I can rejoice in God and be thankful for the precious life He has created in my womb.

God, as my due date approaches, you know I am getting more nervous about the change in my life. In these next few days and weeks, please let Your peace guard my mind against anxious thoughts. Take captive my every thought and turn it to You. Continue to draw me to You and to Your Word. Thank you for teaching me through this experience and for loving me through it all. Amen.

Sisterhood

On Wednesday I went to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 with some girlfriends. I hadn't been to the movies in a long time, so it was a lot of fun.

Sadly, I can't endorse this movie because it encourages sexual immorality and it idealizes dating, two unbiblical things. However, it made me think a lot about the bonds of sisterhood.

In this movie, these girls are bonded solely by a pair of pants... silly, huh?!

But is it really that different than bonding over a TV show, like Friends or Gilmore Girls? Is it really that different than bonding over a blog or maybe a favorite restaurant?

See, the movie made me think. I don't think bonding through those things is bad at all.

But it's nothing compared to bonding through Christ.

Throughout my life, I've bonded with various sisters over all kinds of things. As a child, I bonded with girls by intense playtime. In Highsteppers, we bonded by our love of dance. In SRD, we bonded over late-night chats and random outings.

But nothing has ever compared to the bond I have with my sisters in Christ. You see, God made us for relationship, so it's only natural that we bond with others. But the danger comes in when we bond over such a fleeting thing like a pair of pants. (Don't get me wrong - I'm a total sucker for jeans, but I understand that jeans are temporary, not eternal.)

When your bonds with others are based on worldly things, then the bond can disappear or break at any time. (They actually lose the jeans at the end of the movie.) On the flip side, when your bond is based on something eternal (like Christ), then the bond can never break.

I am so thankful for my sisters in Christ. I love that we can share anything and everything with each other, and that we can live anywhere in the world, but still feel like we're a vital part of each others' lives. I guess that's just one of the miracles of Christ.

In honor of this post, I'm displaying pictures of my twin sister, Leslie, and my older sister, Katherine. Obviously, these pictures are not current, but they bring back some great memories. I love these girls.


Leslie, Me
Cinco de Mayo 2006
Austin, TX


Leslie, Katherine
Summer 2005
Memphis, TN
Sometimes they look more like twins than me and Les.


Me, Leslie
Thanksgiving 2006
Austin, TX


Me, Leslie
Winter 2004
Crested Butte, CO

Meal Planning

Let's face it. I have always been completely food illiterate.

Until now.

Thanks to Kaylene, I was able to feed my family and stay within our budget for the entire month of July. This is such a huge accomplishment for me and I have quickly become passionate about teaching other women to feed their families within their budget.

I still have lots to learn, but shopping on a budget isn't half as hard as I had always assumed it was. Kaylene was a super teacher. She showed me her recipe binder and she even let me accompany her to Wal-Mart to learn how she puts all of her tricks into practice. Best of all, she didn't make me feel like a total idiot for being so clueless about food.

Basically, the main thing she taught me was how to meal plan. I may know nothing about cooking, but I do know how to organize! So when I realized that eating within a small budget is simply all about organization, I knew I could do it.

The first thing I did was go through my pantry and refrigerator/freezer to create an inventory of everything I already had. I discovered four jars of peanut butter and tons of frozen meat that I had forgotten about. Obviously, knowing what you already have and what you still need is a big key to saving money.

Then I bought a new planner and filled it in with all of our July activities. Kaylene explained that by looking at your schedule, you'll know which days you'll need a quick meal and which days you'll have a lot of time to cook. And sometimes you won't need to plan any meal, like if you're going to a wedding (the Carter's wedding was beautiful)!

Next, I started going through coupons. The idea is to see what's on sale that week and then pick recipes that utilize those items. Since my recipe binder is pretty small, I'm not quite there. But I'm working on it.

Once you pick all your recipes and you know which items you need, you can make your grocery list. Making this list is essential because it keeps you from buying on impulse. Another thing that is helpful for me is to divide the list into sections, such as produce, canned goods, frozen food, etc. That way you aren't going back and forth in the store looking for all the items on your list. It will save you a lot of time and frustration.

Without a doubt, the key to my success last month was learning to use my crock pot. I am now obsessed with my slow cooker. Since I'm not much of a cook and since cooking was something I dreaded all day, I found that I was a much happier person if I just did all the preparation in the morning. I now make breakfast, sack lunches, and a crock pot dinner all at the same time before I go to work.

I've found that you can make almost anything with the crock pot. Just look it up online. There are a gazillion websites with recipes, but you can start with www.allrecipes.com. Kaylene also told me that if the recipe calls for cooking something on low for eight hours, you can just cook it on high for half the time (four hours). That trick may help those of you who enjoy cooking in the afternoons.

Some other little tips for those of you beginning the adventure of meal planning:

1. Go to Wal-Mart! Seriously, they accept ALL coupons and if you're like me, you prefer to get all of your shopping done in one place.

2. Take a calculator with you to the store. I now keep one in my purse. Don't be embarrassed to take it out and do all those calculations to make sure you're getting the best deal. It's worth it! (But don't waste your time with calculations if the sticker already says the price per pound/package/whatever.) I even write the costs of everything on my grocery list as I put them in my basket. Then I can keep a running total and I'll know when I've reached my budget.

3. Stores will greatly mark down items right before they expire, so if you have the luxury of running to the store often and you know you will eat the food immediately, you can save a lot of money. (I've used this trick for salads and it has helped a lot. But once the baby comes, I'm not sure if I'll want to run to the store just to pick up salad.)

4. My mom told me that sometimes stores will have days where they double coupons. I haven't seen this happen yet, so if anyone knows anymore about this, please fill me in!

5. Read Kyle's blog. She's the pro!

Okay, now that I've written this post, I don't want you to expect amazing meals from me. I am in no way a good cook! The point of this blog is that if I can learn to meal plan, then anyone can. Truly, if you are as lost as I was, and you want to learn how to meal plan, please let me know. Sometimes all you need is a little encouragement to get you going, and then it's smooth sailing. Happy meal planning!

Dream Come True

*WARNING: Don't read this post if romantic stories make you want to barf and/or pull your hair out.

Friday night's surprise anniversary date was just that: a dream come true.

I can be quite dramatic at times, but I just don't know how to describe the date in a way that would give it justice. Josh really made me feel like we were on our honeymoon again. Except I know how far we've come in our relationship, so that made it so much better than our honeymoon!

The greatest part of the whole surprise was knowing how much planning Josh put into it. He's usually not much of a planner, so I know he did it all for me. After the evening was over he showed me his written plans. It again reminded me of our honeymoon, when Josh wrote out detailed plans of everyday just for me. How sweet!

Anyways, here's a play-by-play of the evening I hope to never forget:

At about 3:30ish I started receiving texts from Josh saying that he would not be home at 4:00, but I was not to do EMBRACE without him. (On Fridays when Josh gets off work at 4:00, we always do EMBRACE together, which involves delivering food to some of the elderly in a poor part of town.)

Since Josh is often held late at work, I automatically assumed that that was why he wouldn't be home on time. I knew how much he had been looking forward to our surprise date all week, so I figured it had to be something really important to keep him at work late. I also thought that Josh had become way overprotective of me in my "delicate" (pregnant) stage, so that was why he didn't want me to do EMBRACE without him. (Josh later pointed out that he never lied to me... impressive!)

Over an hour went by and I continued to wait for him to come home (I still thought he was at work). I started to think it was ridiculous that he wouldn't let me do EMBRACE without him, but I chose to obey his wishes.

Eventually, he called and told me that Zac would be coming to pick me up and take me to EMBRACE (because I needed a guy to protect me). He told me to get dressed for the date and then he would be ready when I got home and we would still be on time to everything. I did not want to be all dressed up to deliver food, so I decided I could quickly change clothes when I got home.

So, Zac picked me up and took me to deliver food. When I got back in the car from delivering food to the last person, I noticed that Zac had changed the music to country. Before I could say anything, he screamed, "Surprise!" And he pulled out a blindfold (well, it was actually a belt, but it was supposed to be a blindfold). He was taking me to meet Josh on my surprise date!

I dutifully put on the blindfold, but it wouldn't stay up, so I agreed to keep my eyes shut. Josh had made a special playlist of all my favorite love songs, and Zac played it as he drove me to the surprise date.

I quickly figured out we were headed to Barneyville, but I was very excited about that! It's a beautiful ranch, owned by one of the most giving and hospitable couples I know.

When I finally got to open my eyes, Josh (who was decked out in his cowboy hat and boots) was holding my hand and we were facing a picnic table and a peaceful pond. Josh had thought of everything. He knows I don't like bugs, so he had brought bug spray and tiki torches (the kind that keep bugs away). He also knows I don't like germs, so he had brought antibacterial soap. On top of that, he had my favorite food: Rudy's bar-b-q.

We ate the yummy food and watched the sun set behind the pond. It was like the movies. Not kidding. Oh, he also had one last card for me to read over dinner. Ahhhh... romance.

After dinner we went back to the main house to cool off in the A/C and hang out with friends.

I know God has truly blessed me by putting Josh in my life. We've had a tough year, but God carried us through it all and brought us closer together. It is my prayer that all single girls out there will wait to marry a man who is seriously committed to Christ and will seriously commit to his wife. Having a husband who is a strong spiritual leader is better than going on a hundred "dream come true" dates.

Since I didn't have my camera out at Barneyville, I decided to post a picture from another time when Josh was decked out in his cowboy hat. On our way home from our honeymoon in Montana, we had a layover in Colorado. For some reason we were stuck at the Colorado airport for a long time. Josh can't sit still for more than five minutes, so he pulled out his guitar and started strumming. I think people in the airport assumed he was a country singer. They were all staring and I was laughing hysterically. Here's my cowboy:

Pray for China

Today is an exciting day in China.

But it is also a hard time for Christians in Beijing.

ChinaAid has announced that "the human rights situation in Beijing has increasingly degenerated, especially in the persecution of house churches... Beijing Authorities have forced House Church Leaders to sign a covenant agreeing to shut down their churches from July 20 - September 20."

Now I don't know as much about the church in China as I'd like to, but I do know that Christianity is spreading. Praise God! ChinaAid says that some estimate that the unregistered (or underground) churches are growing by 35,000 daily! That is amazing to me. But ChinaAid goes on to explain that because they are growing so fast and because they must meet secretly, "their need for prayer, Bibles, and training is desperate and virtually insatiable."

Clearly, we need to be praying for China right now. Anytime you read and/or watch anything about the Olympics, let's remember to also pray for the Christians in that country.

Side note: If you happen to watch the runners, look for a girl named Simone Facey running for Jamaica. She was a student-athlete at A&M this past year and I got to know her through my job. She's a great girl and I'm wishing her the best of luck in the 2008 Olympics!

*This post is dedicated to my dear friend who's serving in China right now. (You know who you are.) I miss you bunches, but I'm so thankful for what you're doing there. Know that you are loved by everyone back in Texas (including Riley) and we pray for you and your ministry daily!

The Nursery

This room would never have been possible without the help of our family and friends. Thanks to everyone who contributed in any way!