Good Shepherd Sunday

Happy Monday!

I wanted to share with you all the wonderful message that was in our sermon at church this Sunday. In our church, we celebrated "Good Shepherd Sunday."

The Sermon taught us how, just like sheep, we are very high maintenance to take care of.

We stray, we are lost, we follow what is bad, and we are easily persuaded.

This is not high maintenance in the "bodily sense" but in the "spiritual sense."

We are sinners. Our sinful natures only allow us to do what is bad.

How frustrating that must be for our God?

But oh, how patient and loving his is!

He is our good and faithful shepherd; and he guides and directs us. Keeping us safe and helping us.

We need not fear, for we have him as our guide.

We sang a hymn that I want to share with you!

"The King of Love My Shepherd Is"

I especially like versus 1, 3, 4, and 6

1. The king of love my shepherd is, whose goodness fails me never;

I nothing lack if I am his, 

And he is mine forever.

3. Confused and foolish oft I strayed, But yet in love he sought me;

And on his shoulder gently laid

And home, rejoicing, brought me.

4. In death's dark vale I fear no ill with you, dear Lord, beside me; 

Your rod and staff my comfort still, 

Your cross before to guide me.

6. And so through all the length of days. Your goodness fails me never;

Good Shepherd, may I sing your praise.

Within your house forever!

I found it sung acapella with an acoustic guitar...I like it this way :)

And here's some more pictures from Sunday!

I had an awesome weekend at home with my family. It was full of relaxing, eating, and movie watching! It was some MUCH needed family time.

It was nice and sunny out on Sunday, so we enjoyed time outside, making chicken wings, playing with Annie, and enjoying the spring-time :)

My big brother! He turns 26 this Saturday!

Don't judge...I LOVE my dog, and really wanted to take a lot of pictures of her :)

Dancing for a chicken wing!

Kisses for the baby

How can you resist to head nod?

Lilacs :)

Chicken wings cooked over a fire. BEST THINGS EVER!

Daddy cookin'

DISCLAIMER: Josh would like everyone to know that he was joking when we took these pictures with Annie. It breaks my heart to say this...but Annie and him don't get along all to well; Josh isn't too big of a fan of her. My puppy is a little protective :)

I hope you all had lovely and relaxing weekends!

May the Lord bless your week :)

Friday Fancies {Date Night}

When Allison from {long distance loving} announced that this week's "Friday Fancies" would be the theme, "Date Night" I had to jump on the bandwagon immediately!

It's quite fitting considering I will be going home and having a weekend with my main man! Of course, we will have to plan out a date night...so with the help of Polyvore and the "Friday Fancies" link up, I can dream up my ideal date night outfit!

Since Spring is in full swing, and Summer is just around the corner, I decided I would put together a romantic, flowy, ultra adorable maxi dress outfit for you guys. I NEED to get a maxi dress ASAP...maybe even this one. I am drooling over it!

dress//necklace//shoes


Sadly, the weather in Wisconsin is not looking nice enough the debut an outfit like this. It looks like my actual outfit will be looking more like jeans and a cute top.

Maybe something like this...?

Something casual might work best BECAUSE...

I'm planning on making dinner again!

So maybe a casual night is what's in store :)

This brings me to my next order of business!

WHAT SHOULD I MAKE?

I have been looking through my Pinterest board, yum. but have come up a little short {due to my sweet tooth, and eagerness to pin all things sweet!}

I totally have dessert covered! But I need a main dish!

 I was thinking maybe this...?

Grilled Fish Tacos

Do you guys have any recipe suggestions? I would love to hear about them!!

I hope you all have wonderful "date nights" this weekend! 

Take time for your Lord and Savior during the next couple of days too :)

YOU ARE LOVED.

It was a long night.

I was stressed.

Upset.

A complete wreck if you will!

I called up my mom, the one girlfriend who always knows exactly what to say.

I prayed.

And everything worked out in the end.

The next day I woke up to a text from my mom that I thought I would share with you; it's pretty great::

"Rae, good morning! Hope your days goes well. Remember, you are loved more than you will ever know by me, and an incredible God! Love you!

-mom

Wow, those were some pretty powerful words.

{isn't my mom fantastic?!}

As Christians, we always remind ourselves how much our God loves us, that He has greater love than is comprehensible. Scriptures tell how great and vast His love is for the entire world.

"How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."

Ephesians 3:18

For some reason, this reassurance from my mom reminded me just how personable our God is. He really is with you. And you really are loved by Him at all times.

OUR God. YOUR God. MY God, is oh so incredible, and incomprehensibly good. He loves you  more than you will ever know. He died that you might know him and be with Him for eternity. 

When you are lying in bed at night, pouring your heart out to Him, he is sitting there next to you, hands reassuringly resting on your back, comforting you and reminding you that He is with you. You are loved by Him, more than you will ever know.

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Isaiah 41:10 

Some love is fleeting.

We may think we are loved; but we are let down.

Our love for Him is fleeting.

We may think we are loving Him; and then we fail. We let Him down.

Our love is ever changing. It is not consistent. And we don't love Him everyday as we should.

Our Savior's love is never fleeting.

We can be assured of His love at all times. He never let's us down.

His love never changes. It is consistent. Freely given to us every single day.

YOU ARE LOVED.

MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW.

BY ONE INCREDIBLE GOD.

{This song by: Dave Barnes, is a wonderful reminder of His unchanging love}

Oh, How Pinteresting!

Hey Ladies

This past week or so has been CRAZY!

I've been super busy, and have had very little sleep. This girl is completely worn out.

Thankfully, it's about to wind down here a little bit, so that means I get to wind down too, catch up on sleep, and be able to blog like normal!

I've found some great quotes and inspiring words from Pinterest this past week.

A lot of them have really got me thinking and helped me through my week; so here I am sharing them with you! Enjoy :)

P.S.

Make sure you head on over and link up with Michelle, or just take a look at some other great pins!

{John 16:33}

....And some funny ones {for when I felt like crying, but laughed instead!}

Have a lovely Wednesday!

Spring Fling Swap

Hey everyone :)

So I guess it's just a week of friends, because I have another wonderful gal to introduce you to today!

About a month ago, two of my most wonderful and gorgeous blogger friends, Erin and L had the most fabulous idea to host something they called the "Spring Fling Swap"

You can read all about it HERE

The Spring Fling Swap is all about welcoming the arrival of spring! Erin and L decided that sending a "springy" package to a blogger would be the perfect way to celebrate, encourage and make new friends and connections in this wonderful world of blogging! Basically, you send a fun package to another blogger, receive one in return, and make a new friend!

This is just like Erin and L! They are some of the most encouraging bloggers out there; I just love em' :)

Here's what Erin and L have to say about the swap!

"Don’t you guys love meeting new people and sending them some love? Your package should include a pair of flip flops and other items you think they might like! We want encouragement to be the main goal here!!"

So anyways! I was set up with one fabulous and lovely blogger named, Chelsea, and I am just dying to let you guys meet her. 

Chelsea is one amazing Christian woman, living in the state of Texas, serving her Lord as a youth minister. She is one heck of a cook/baker. Hence her blog name, "taste and see."

I had so much fun shopping for Chelsea's package, and I CANNOT wait for her to get it! I also know that she has probably picked something fabulous out for me as well :)

Without any more of my rambling, I'll let Chelsea take over!

 Hey y'all! I'm Chelsea and I blog at taste and see. I'm a twenty-something University of Texas grad, currently serving as a student minister in Austin, Texas. I am so blessed to make a living lovin' on students and serving the Lord! I also love to cook (and eat) everything from decadent desserts to light and healthy dinners. Be sure to come browse the recipes I've posted! I also share what the Lord is teaching me and daily happenings from my life. I'd love to meet you so be sure and stop by!

You can also connect with Chelsea on::

Twitter: tasteandseeblog

Pinterest: chelsealynae

Instagram: chelsealynae

I hope you all love Chelsea as much as I do! You can head on over to her blog and check out her post about ME! :)

Stay tuned next month when I make a post showing off the fabulous things I received from Chelsea in my package.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Meet The Lovely:: Aubrey

For the past few months I have been "sponsoring" other fabulous blogs that I read.
This month, I am "swap sponsoring" with the fabulous, sweet, and adorable Aubrey!
Basically, she writes a feature post about me, I post one about her, we exchange buttons, we get our blogs out there and known to each other's readers, and all is well and happy :)
I'm so excited for you guys to meet her! Make sure you go and check out her blog because you WILL NOT be disappointed :)
You'll also see me being "spotlighted" on her blog today, so you can go check me out as well!
I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed start to your new weeks!
With out further adieu--let's meet AUBREY!

Hi you lovely gals; I'm Aubrey Kinch & I'm so glad to be here here today! I blog over at The Kinch Life such an original name, I know.... ;) NOT.


Anyhow....

1. I am married. To the most amazing man out there, Andrew. We promised our forever to each other October 1, 2010 and have enjoyed all the choas of our life together so far.2. I am a Christian. God is beautiful and he is good, always. 3. I have a 6 year old step-son, Drake. He is the biggest blessing and I love him more then words can explain.4. I am a daddy's girl; we danced to I Loved Her First at my wedding and we both cried a lot; the ugly sobbing though so no pictures will ever be seen. ;) 5. I am addicted to EOS [looks like an egg] chapstick.6. I have multiple tattoos and am no where near finished getting them. Most have flowers and bible verses.7. I sang the National Anthem for a basketball game in middle school, once. Was too scared to ever do it again.8. I work as a full-time nanny for a beautiful toddler, Elle. It makes me want my own, soon.9. I am obsessed with Target. I am there 4...5 times a week. Literally. 10. I am notorious for sending Christmas Cards out the day after Thanksgiving. I get a lot of crap for it but I am just wayyyyy prepared. ;) 11. It's my dream to have a southern accent where I can say "bless your heart" and it would be accepted. Plus I love country music.12. I am a chronic organizer.  Pinterest|Twitter|Email I hope that gives you a small glimpse of me and what I'm all about.Come show my blog some love; can't wait to meet you all! & thank you so much for having me.YOU ROCK GIRL!

A Lovely Weekend.

Hey there all :)

I hope you guys had a fantastic finish to your week and an awesome weekend!

My weekend was awesome, eventful, relaxing, and productive. Great weekend, right?! RIGHT!

So before I fill you in on what fun I was having this weekend, I just want to give you lovely ladies a heads up. 

This girl is CRAZY busy with school at the moment.

These last 5 weeks of the semester are going to be crazy busy, and a little stressful. So I am regretfully letting you know that my schoolwork may take precedence over the blogging world. SAD, RIGHT?! I have to be responsible and put my future at top priority some times...

I'll try to make some posts here and there...I can't completely cut myself off! :)

Friday

It was a night of class on campus! No...not sit in a chair and listen to a lecture kind of class, but the getting all spiffed up, putting a pretty dress on, and looking classy kind of night!

There was an event held on campus called "Puttin On The Ritz"

A night full of classy dressing and playing poker and other games (fake money of course!)

It's fun to get all glammed up once in a while :)

The roomie and I :)

And my future roomie for next year, Megan!

So excited to be living with her next year :)

Saturday

I was so busy with school, I wasn't able to run ALL week! So Saturday morning Linda and I went for a nice long run. MUCH NEEDED.

Then we decided to get out of town and do a little shopping and indulge in some coffee and dessert from Olive Garden :)

Isn't this picture adorable? :)

The trees on campus are so gorgeous during the spring time!

Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake and the best coffee around!

And as usual, the life of a college student involves endless amounts of homework on Sunday afternoons. I'm about to get to it and be super productive today. Wish me luck!

I hope you guys all had a wonderful weekend! Did you do anything fun?! I wanna know! :)

God's blessings on the start of your new week!

What I'm Loving Wednesday :)

Happy Wednesday lovelies!

Here's what I'm loving this week::

I'm loving my grandparents new Shih tzu puppy named, Rosie! She is so black you can't even see her face when you try and take a picture of her! But she was still so dang cute and she stole my heart.

She was giving me kisses in this picture :)

I'm loving...CHOCOLATE!

Lindt and Peanut M&M's were my weakness on Sunday!

I'm loving my Easter outfit that I got from Target :)

I wore the peach colored earrings on the left!

I'm loving that the Spring Volleyball season started last night! Two weeks of volleyball is going to be so much fun. I love this sport!

I'm loving my PINTEREST finds this week::

I need a puppy...

Hot man+Baby=10x hotter man!

Take me away to a little cabin in the woods, away from everything, right now, puhhhlease?!

Happy Wednesday :)