Three Trees 2013

You are never too young to serve HIM!
Each year our church displays a tangible picture of Christ's love to the children and families of Three Trees. While providing underprivileged families with Christmas gifts for their children, it also offers a more important gift which is the gift of coming to know Jesus Christ. For the past two years, Ray and I have served as Engage Representatives within our Adult Bible Fellowship. I've also had the pleasure of coordinating the interpreters of the event for the past two years. It is such a blessing to work with such wonderful people. This year, almost 55 interpreters filled the church to assist with over 300 families. This year, I had a very special little helper. Like it says, you are never too young to serve. But this little lady actually ended up sleeping through the entire event. She missed the hustle and bustle of check in, greeting, and all the excitement of the families including the large number of people that oohed and awed over this little girl and of course her adorable Engage onesie. I also was so thankful for a husband that I could lovingly ask to fill in the gaps whether it was to give directions, find interpreter locations, and help with check in. He's always so willing to help.

This year was such a special night filled with so many wonderful servants. I loved sharing this event with our little family of three. I love knowing that this little girl will be apart of something so special in years to come. This Three Trees was unlike any other as Thanksgiving was a week later and an ice storm cancelled the service the weekend before. But with God's amazing direction, the needs of our program was met. God truly has amazing and perfect timing as all worked out so wonderfully. Here are a few pictures from this year's Three Trees. I cannot wait for next years!

Lost and Found

I received a text from my husband today about a message that he found through a corrupted file at work. Talk about how God works in amazing ways. This is what the message had read.

Flourish in the New Year

Today's Scripture: The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree.
Psalm 92:12, NIV

Today's Word: Have you ever seen a palm tree in the midst of a great storm? That tree may be bent so far over that it's almost touching the ground, but when the wind finally stops, that palm tree bounces right back up. What's interesting is that while that palm tree is hunched over under the pressure of the storm, it is actually becoming stronger. See, the reason God said we'd flourish like a palm tree is because He knew there would be difficult times. He knew things would come against us to try to steal our joy and victory. But God said, "You're going to be like a palm tree because when the storms of life blow, you are going to come rigt back up stronger than before." As you reflect ont he events over the last year, remember, the storms ou have encountered have only made you stronger. You are wiser. You are more alive, and you are headed for victory. Your brightest days are right out in front of you! Always remember that with God on your side, nothing can hold you back!

Prayer for Today: Father in heaven, thank You for making me strong in You. I trust that You are working in my life, even in the midst of the storms. Thank You for a new year and a new season of blessing in You in Jesus' name. Amen.

It's amazing that something lost was found. How amazing is it that someone's original message that was not meant for us, was found and has such a perfect message...a message for us all.

Favorite Worship Song

A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

My heart and my soul, I give You control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise, become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

My heart, my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out, O my soul cries out

My Soul cries out to You
My Soul cries out to You
to You, to You

My heart, my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out, O my soul cries out

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out, O my soul cries out
From the inside out, O my soul cries out
From the inside out, O my soul cries out.

My Baptism Weekend: The Details

This weekend has been an absolute blessing.
It is amazing what God has been doing in our lives and I truly feel so humbled by the experience. This Sunday, I had an opportunity to share my faith in front of my family and friends and share that God is Lord. We have been given His grace and it is through faith that we come to Him.

This Thursday, my parents made the drive from Sugar Land to join us for this very special ocassion. We have enjoyed relaxing days watching movies, playing with the pups, afternoon adventures around the neighborhood, grilling on the patio, and my baptismal service at the Heights. Here are some amazing pictures from our weekend.

 My husband and father grilling up dinner.

 My parents and I relaxing outside on the deck.

 Delicious Homemade Saturday Dinner

 My mom and dad relaxing with the pups 

 Aggie laying with Opa

Afternoon adventure around the neighborhood

Aggie (my parent's dog) on our little walk

The morning of my baptism, I was to arrive at the church by 10AM. I was so excited and anxious. My bags were packed and I was ready to go, but not without a few family photos.

My husband, Ray, and I

 My parents and I before my baptism service at the Heights
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Upon our arrival, I sent some love to my family, so incredibly thankful for their presence on this very special day, and made my way to the baptismal dressing area. 19 individuals including myself were proclaiming their faith through Baptism this morning and I felt truly honored to be apart of it.

Pictures taken by the Heights Baptist Church

Surrendering my life and control to the Lord

...Is Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of your life?
Yes

You are burried with Christ in Baptism

...and we are raised to walk in the newness of life
...

...

I am beyond words with the outpouring of love that I have received from family, friends, and our Adult Bibe Fellowship. Words that come to mind include blessed, thankful, and honored. This was a very special moment in my life and I am so thankful for those that were able to share it with me. Here are a few pictures of my fabulous supporters, minus my working straightener and a broken necklace:)

 My amazing family after my baptismal service

Kathi (my 2012 Kinder Team Leader) and her son, Brandon

 The beautiful Bragg girls

Jenn, Steph, Kristin, Michael, Bryson, and the Zellners
Our amazing friends that are family!

I am so thankful to have shared this special moment with my family. I am so glad that they were able to make the drive up as this was truly a blessing to have them by my side. I also want to thank our best friends, Kristin and Michael. Not only have they both been a huge part of this process and an important part of our lives, but they also traveled hours upon end with Bryson to finish their vacation to Sea World a day early so that they could join us at the church Sunday morning. I hope they know how truly special that was to me:)

And the service was absolutely beautiful. It was a patriotic baptismal service and not a dry eye in the worship center. What a blessing my baptism weekend was!

ABF Game Night!

Each Wednesday, the husband and I meet in Richardson with several amazing couples from our ABF to share and continue our growth of God's word. This summer, we've taken a break from our usual bible study lessons and have decided to schedule group outings. This last Wednesday, three couples joined us for a game night. We enjoyed great food, great fun, and great friendships. From Catch Phrase, Gestures, and even a game of Sorry, we had a blast! Here are a few pictures of our ABF Bible Study Game Night together.

Food Options including Chips and Queso and Popcorn

Entrance Decor

 The Zellners and Zoutendams (The Other Z's)

 The Hanks, Goodings, and Zoutendams

 Chase and Denise or better known as De-Chase:)

 The Ladies

 The Gents

 Get Your Game Face On!

I am continually thankful and humbled by those that God continues to put in our path. We truly are thankful for an amazing church family and those we call friends!

Faith

After much thought and prayer, I am excited to announce, that I will be professing my FAITH through BAPTISM on Sunday, July 1, 2012 at the Heights Baptist Church. I am excited about the opportunity and continue to thank Him for all the work that He continues to do in my life. I thank all of those that have lead me to this point in my life and am excited for the many adventures that lay ahead.

A Baptism post is soon to follow.

Morning Muffins & a Special Service!

This Sunday my husband and I enjoyed a wonderful service with our ABF at the Heights Baptist Church. We feel absolutely blessed to have such wonderful couples in our lives to grow, serve, and share with. We truly do feel at home. Something that I have been praying over lately and something that is very close to my heart is the thought of being baptized. This is something that for quite some time I have been feeling lead to do so for the next chapter of my life I am so excited to say that I will be moving forward in the process and speaking to someone at the church. More information will be given at a later date. I do pray that on this date those I love will be able to attend and share in such a special time and service.

Earlier this morning, Ray and I had woken up at 6:45AM to make muffins. It was our turn to bring in breakfast for our ABF and what could be better than tasty chocolate, blueberry, and strudle muffins fresh out of the oven. Well what we hadn't planned for was the time change on top of waking up early, so both the husband and I were a bit tired but the final product was fabulous and it was fun to cook together. I truly am so thankful to have a husband that loves to cook:) and knows his way around a kitchen. Here is the final product! They were so very tasty!

I love how God leaves us special "love notes" to let us know he's present in our lives. I am so thankful for the promise He has made to all of us and am so excited for the path that he has in store for me... for all of us.
...

Our God truly is greater....stronger...and higher than any other!

Spring Has Sprung, Snoopy Dinner, and Changes in the Air!

Welcome Spring!

Spring has officially sprung here in North Dallas. Spring Break is right around the corner... and by around the corner I literally mean we have a half day with the kiddos tomorrow and then it is one full week of rest and relaxation! While I do not have any large travel plans, I do have several fun lunch dates with sweet friends... and I could not be more excited about it. But before my week off officially begins we had a few fun things this week at school that I would love to blog about. We enjoyed a fun lesson on the ocean and crafted cute projects like stamp fish bowls and crayon relief color pages. We read books including One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Commotion in the Ocean, and Rainbow Fish. The week following Spring Break we will enjoy a week of birthday celebrations. You heard me right. We are having a full party week:) It will include balloons, candles, birthday hats, sweet treats, and of course lots of decorations. I am so excited!
Monday night I attended the twentieth anniversary of Chez Snoopy.

The school cafeteria was transformed into a western cafe where Dickey's BBQ was served. Each third grade student then had the opportunity to operate the restaurant from wait staff such as the hostess, waiter and waitress, and manager, chef, and so forth. The kids were fabulous. What an amazing opportunity for students to gain real life experience and responsibility plus the food was absolutely delicious. Two thumbs up for great food, great wait staff, and great friends to dine with including two of my favorite teacher and TAs. Here is the cute invitation that was sent out.

In other news, I have finally made a decision about my second job at the church. While the main goal was to gain further experience in the education field, there were just a few too many obstacles in my way. I truly felt God was really sending me a message. Talk about the irony. This picture... while not the cutest of me... was taken by one of the kiddos I teach on Wednesday nights and look at the painting in the upper right corner. I couldn't say it better myself. It says, "I need to make the wise choice!" So this past Wednesday was my final day in childcare at the church.

I will for sure miss the sweet faces of those kindergarten through second graders that I saw each week/weekend but am happy to be going in a different direction and focusing and saving my energy for those six kiddos I teach on a daily basis. And just as a side note, I never realized how excited I would feel to teach one of my little girls another word. She says "hi" and "eight." While this may seem of little significance it seriously means the world to me. Life is definitely about small victories but they are victories none the less.

I am definitely excited for all that is to come after Spring Break. I hear that the school year really takes off as time absolutely flies. I am so excited to move forward in my process to becoming a full time teacher and all that will lead to. For now, I am excited to enjoy our last day of school and half day for the kiddos before a week long vacation. I wish you all such a wonderful time and of course more blogging and changes to come.

Love,
Alicia

Red Velvet Cake, Snuggies, Serving, Baby Jacob, & a Picnic in the Park!

As I previously have stated I have gotten a little behind in the blogging world. So hold on to your chair (or not:) because this might be a long catch up post. So here we go!

A few weeks ago, the husband and I enjoyed a nice early Heart Day at home with the pups. While Valentine's fell on a Monday this year we decided to spend time together and as a fun treat we would make our very own homemade red velvet cake.



Boy was it super yummy. The cake did turn out to be more of a pink cake then red, but oh how it tasted delicious all the same. For a small gift Ray also surprised me with a blue Snuggie. To be honest I had never really been on board the Snuggie train in the past until I tried my first one at the Duke's home for Super Bowl Sunday and absolutely fell in love. But as the picture shows... the dogs may actually love it more than I do! Are they not absolutely precious together?!?!



I absolutely love our church home. We have honestly been visiting since we were in college but ultimately made it a priority over a year ago when we first got married. Soon after we joined the Honeymooners Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) and have loved every moment. Currently we are serving in Joyland and working with 3 year olds. I love seeing God work in their lives and it absolutely melts my heart for the kiddos to sing Jesus loves me!



On Wednesday nights and other nights throughout the month, I work in Childcare services at the church assisting in a nightly bible study and lesson for kindergarten through second grade. I love all the fun crafts and all the wonderful time spent with the kids. Here are a few pieces of artwork done last week for me. The little girl thought my name was Alexa:) still so cute!



Last Thursday, Ray and I had the opportunity to visit with the Dukes and even got to see baby Jacob. He is such a beautiful baby and is growing so much. I absolutely love that he looks like Adam and has Steph's adorable nose. Over the next few months, I cannot wait to hear about/see his progress as I know he will continue to get stronger and become a super big boy. Here is a picture that Steph sent of baby Jacob in his big boy bed. He is such a beautiful baby boy! I can't wait for his welcome home.

That night we also enjoyed some delicious dinner at Chuys. Yum and who could turn down free queso. Not this lady for sure:)

Anyway, it was such a wonderful time to catch up with the new parents. I seriously can't believe that baby boy Jacob is officially one month old today. Congrats!

A few Sundays ago, Ray and I had both gotten up late that morning and realized we would have missed part of the service. In a means to enjoy an afternoon with God and to spend time together we put together a picnic and discussed his word and works in the park in downtown Plano. The weather had been beautiful that week so I absolutely could not wait to spend a day outside. Well the pictures do not fully show it, the weather had been extremely windy and overcast so we enjoyed the majority of our time and then quickly went back to the car. After lunch we then grabbed a few Starbucks drinks and went for a drive to look at homes. It was an absolutely perfect Sunday!