The Good Stuff for Your Weekend

Some family news:

Matthew is a high school senior and is graduating this May. He takes his ACT this Saturday. He’s working quite a bit to pay for college and is still applying. Pray for him?

Rebekah is graduating from Bob Jones University this May. We’re so thankful for the experiences she’s had there. She can’t wait to come home for the summer because who doesn’t love New England, 😉 but she’s also been offered a job on campus for next year as she continues her education. She also has a boy down there that she thinks is pretty great, so…

Emily is getting ready to travel this summer with the Musical Missions Team!

She’ll be singing and playing her violin in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Slovakia. We’re having a fund raising yard sale and a pie bake sale the last Saturday of April. We’ve already got pie orders galore and my mom and I will be elbow deep in rolling crusts for apple pies. So fun to be helping support my Emmy! Emmy also has a boy who she thinks is pretty great who just got an internship to do cancer research this summer, so they’ll both be busy as they are apart for the summer. 🙂 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Here are a few good things for you. Enjoy!

Good Articles::

To the Well-Intentioned but Ignorant Parent of Teens.  You need to know and care about these social media outlets that you have no idea your teens are using. #livebroadcastingyourwholelife. Yeah, that.

A Clean House and A Wasted Life. We’re artsy over here and we like projects. Projects=temporary messes, so yeah, I loved this article.

Good Food::

Best Pound Cake Ever. Made this for Easter and will be making it again this week. Recipe via Southern Living.

You have to try this delish Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake that my friend Janelle made for Easter. I ate every morsel. Yum.

This is my favorite ever coffee. Prepared in the French Press, it’s like heaven.

Books I loved::

I read a lot and publishers send me advanced copies to read and review. Honestly, not many make the “raving” department. These did.

Everyday Grace: Infusing All Your Relationships With the Love of Jesus written by Jessica Thompson, Elyse Fitzpatrick’s daughter, so…

There is so much to love about this book. I shared quite a few quotes on FB. It is great for wherever you are right now because relationships are all around us. Our relationships with our husband, kids, and friends can either be healthy or idolatrous. This book helps you sort that out. Run thee to get it!

Fear and Faith: Finding the Peace Your Heart Craves by Trillia Newbell addresses all of the ways fear creeps in and paralyzes our hearts and how trusting Christ implicitly helps replace fear.

Look and Live: Behold the Soul-Thrilling, Sin-Destroying Glory of Christ. This is a book that was life changing for me. It’s about the glory of God. I’m still processing it and Matt is now reading it, but basically, if you feel that your worship is anemic, or that your love for God is sub-par, perhaps it’s because you don’t have a full grasp of the majesty and glory of God. As with many current books, I can’t recommend this one without reservation, because we are coming from different philosophies, but if you are a discerning reader you’ll benefit immensely from it. I really appreciated this book!

A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea. Peter read this to us all at bed time and it was a riveting and eye opening story about the oppression of the North Korean people and the desperation that drives them to flee the dictatorship. We couldn’t wait for the next chapter. (caveat: it needed very mild editing in our estimation for our youngest.)

 Good Products::

We have two cats and we love them both dearly. But we don’t love when they have accidents. This “Pet Odor Eliminator & Pet Urine Cleaner” works. Not at all glamorous, but you have to keep your home clean and fresh.

You all know how much I love my Ninja chopper. My girls use it daily to make smoothies and I use it for everything. The last time I made my Chai Tea Mix I scratched the plastic bowl all up and it looks horrible. We tried this Black & Decker PS1000B 3-Cup Ergo Chopper  and it seems like it’s comparable. It is less expensive than the Ninja and so far so good on the chopping. (For all of you kitchen tool connoisseurs out there, be warned that I am not one to spend big money on kitchen stuff. If I were going to spend money in the kitchen it would be on nice pans, but that’s about it. Apart from my KitchenAid  Mixer which I couldn’t live without, I don’t really need expensive kitchen stuff. That said, I make most of my stuff from scratch, and cook several meals a day and it all comes out okay in the end. 😉 )

I’m in the market for a small, cross-body purse that will hold just a few things: keys, phone, iPod, wallet, lipstick. I am considering a Vera Bradley or a Bagallini, but wanted to ask if you had any favorites you could recommend.

Have a great weekend.

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