Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was spent here in the Bourb with the Bensons.  EB came in town from CO, Gran and Bo came up from Nashville, and some dear friends, The Olneys, joined us from town.  Here are some pictures of the women working in the kitchen and doing all we can to help out Drew's mom, the Ultimate Thanksgiving Chef.  She did a fabulous job and we ate Thanksgiving food throughout the rest of the weekend!  So yummy!

And there you have it!  Thanksgiving was a success!

so it's been a long time...

Sorry blogger world.  I'll catch you up.

This fall several things have happened:

1.  We went to an apple orchard in Michigan with my parents and lovely Grandma James.  It was a fabulous weekend!

2.  We, EJB & the bridesmaids and I, threw my pretty sister-in-law, Katie, a personal shower... Read more about that here as I don't want to repeat (and would not be able to adequately describe) all that took place during this event as beautifully as EJB herself. 

3.  I attended another shower for the now Mrs. Katherine Nielsen, at the lovely home of Drs. Frank and Sue Moore.

4.  I ran around with some of Katie's beautiful friends for pre-wedding activities such as manicures, lunch, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and going to see Katie and Doug's new home.

5.  The only proof I have that I was around for the wedding day... standing on stage did not allow opportunity for wedding day pictures.  I guess we will all have to wait for JAKE!


6. OLIVET'S HOMECOMING!  Our lovely friends Matt and Laura Ryba stayed with us in our humble abode in Chappy-Chap.  Not only did we thoroughly enjoy their company, but my whole family was reunited again as my parents, sister and brother-in-law joined me, the hub, and my little broski on campus for the weekend.  We loved seeing the faces of Olivet Alum with quick passing "hello's" and briefly being caught up on one another's lives.  It truly was a wonderful weekend.  

7.  We bought BIKES!!  And we went on a bike ride early this afternoon.  It was glorious!
I'm looking forward to enjoying God's beautiful creation, exercise, and time with my hubby!

 8.  And lastly, as this new crisp and blustery weather approaches, I have a new found appreciation for hot tea.  Since I do not like coffee but love to be warm and cozy, tea gets the job done.  

Presently, I'm enjoying a cup of TAZO Passion tea.  I think it is my favorite!

(This pretty cup was given to me last Christmas from my sister-in-law, EJB)

And now it's back to the books...

Prayer by Jeremy Taylor

Lord, let my life be orderly, regular, temperate;

Let no pride or self-seeking, no covetousness or revenge, 

No little ends and low imaginations pollute my spirit and unhallow my words and actions.  

Let my body be a servant of my spirit and both my body and spirit be servants of Jesus, 

Doing all things for your glory here.  

Amen.

Watermark on Pandora

I have had my pandora station on Watermark these past couple of weeks and I have really enjoyed hearing new songs.  I don't own any of their cd's or tracks on Itunes except for Knees to the Earth which I absolutely love!  (It was played in our wedding while Drew and I took communion together.)  I love the simplicity of the words and I feel like my heart really connects with the lyrics.

Here is a song I heard today that I really enjoyed.  It's titled Incorruptible by Watermark.

Incorruptible, indescribable
Salvation's calling...
When I was longing...
Now You're the strength that holds my life
With a love that will never die
And never fade like the flowers...
It is a love that stands forever!

Oh I am not redeemed by corruptible things
Not by silver, not by gold
And not by aimless tradition
But by the blood of God's sacred Son Jesus ...
Oh You alone are my living hope
And my inheritance is...
Incorruptible

Incomparable, inconceivable
Your plans for me...
Shall always be...
And for the day that You're revealed
My heart is forever sealed
With the promise of mercy...
And the hope of all Your glory!

Oh sacred Son
Who paid the price
Oh may I live a grateful life
That magnifies Your name forever! 

So grateful for a God who continually pursues me and loves me.  

Really?

Marching band... must you really practice right outside of Chapman?

Moooore Colorado Pictures

Here's a few pretty pictures from Colorado:

We stayed with Drew's Uncle Joe, Aunt Robbin, and cousin Ashleigh.  They have a beautiful home in Colorado Springs and own a little French Restaurant called La Baguette:

And a beautiful garden:

 

 I think you get the point.  It is beautiful.  And as if their backyard garden wasn't enough....

This is the Frodge's view from their front yard:  Pike's Peak & Garden of the Gods!  Absolutely stunning!

We also saw multiple deer in the neighbors' backyards

 Oh what's that?  You want to see pictures of La Baguette too?  Fine:  Welcome to La Baguette!

 (Uncle Joe serving us lunch)


I know you are wondering what we ordered, and because I'm putting off doing homework I'll comply.  Drew and I shared some cheese fondue and a roast beef sandwich with french onion soup du jour?  (Did I say that right?  I don't cook fancy things and I don't speak French, someone help me out!) 

 This is Gwen and Robin with their dad (Drew's grandpa) after our wonderful lunch.  This was the first time I met him and I'm glad I was able to.  I love this picture!

Aaaaand here's some pictures from our hike up The Manitou Incline.

From the TOP!  What a workout!!

But we were so happy to be able to say we did it!!  Thanks for taking us Ash (she's a pro)!

So, I know some of you are wondering... how are the Frodge's related to the Bensons?  Well, take a little gander at these next few pictures.  This is Drew's mom and her sister Robin!  Just try and tell me they don't look like sisters.  They are almost exactly 1 year apart!

It was fun to watch them.  They are alike in many ways and have so much fun together!  I hope this is how my sister and I will be in a couple years down the road!  (My sis and I are 20 months apart.)

Now that this post is extremely long and the list of pictures I have not included is so much longer... I'm going to say farewell, until next time.  

(I may or may not include more pictures.  But for those of you that MUST see the rest of them.  Just go HERE already.)

Ashleigh & the Weasel

Here are a few pictures from our trip... many more to come :)

This is Ashleigh.  She is Drew's cousin... and now MINE :)  I really enjoyed hanging out with her.  She was pretty much our personal hiking guide in Colorado Springs.  We climbed the Manitou Incline and hiked up some huge boulders in the Garden of the Gods.  Everything was so beautiful.  She is beautiful!  (See below)

Ashleigh also has a little yorkie-poo named Weasley.  I feel like the name is perfect... although she told me a couple weeks ago that she re-named him Kevin.  I still don't believe her.  ;) 

Isn't he the weirdest,  yet cutest little pup you ever did see?  I think so.

She's pretty great!  And so were the mountains!

painting.pictures.posting.

Right now our apartment is a disaster. We are prepping to paint! I'm excited!! But it really is a mess!

ANYWAY the point of this blog....Drew and I bought a Rebel T1i two days before we left for Colorado.  We thought it would be awesome to use some money from my grandpa to get a nice camera we will have for a long time.  It is something I had been wanting but didn't want to spend the money.  So, the week before we left Drew and I did some research and found a pretty good packaged deal at best buy.  It was so much fun to practice in Colorado and I can't wait to post some pictures.

However, I haven't sat down to organize or edit them yet... there's really so much to the editing aspect that I have been reading about.  However, this afternoon on my lunch break, I download the Lightroom Photoshop  FREE trial  :) Drew is out of town today and will be getting back tomorrow afternoon sometime... so I guess you know what I will be doing all night with our Colorado pictures from last week! I can't wait! Thanks to Kelly  for the suggestion. Most of the pictures we took were on the autofocus functions and I'm still VERY much learning the vocabulary in this SLR world! It's so fun and makes me wish I took a class here as an undergrad... maybe I still will. I think I get undergrad classes free since Drew works full time at the University. I wonder if they'll do an intro class next summer. That would be fun!

I'm also looking forward to going for a walk with Ash tonight and having dinner with her and her hubby.  She is such a good friend to me and I am so thankful for her.

I will be posting pictures soon!  I promise!

Worship

If You were hungry
Would we give You food?
If You were thirsty
Would we give You drink?
If You were a stranger
Would we let You in?

What would be the song we'd sing to You
When they're in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah
To the King?

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up Your voice, oh God
And let us hear the sound

Of people broken
Willing to love
Give us Your heart, oh God
A new song rising up

And if You were naked
Would we give You clothes?
If You were an orphan
Would we give our home?
And if You were in prison
Would we visit You

What would be the song we'd sing to You
When they're in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah
To the King?

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up Your voice, oh God
Let us hear the sound

Of people broken
Willing to love
Give us Your heart, oh God
A new song rising up

Let it be our worship
Let it be our true religion
In this world but not of it
Holding on to our confession

Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up Your voice, oh God
Let us hear the sound

Of people broken
Willing to love
Give us Your heart, oh God
A new song rising
A new song rising
New song rising up

Turn Down the Music by Shane & Shane

Hillsong & A Walk in the Park

What great spring whether we've had this weekend in the bourb.  Yesterday Drew, Joey, and Michael and I went to the Hillsong United Concert in Chicago.  We had such a great time!  The concert was amazing!!  I think my favorite song was "All I Need is You."  You should check it out :)  Here is a picture of us waiting for the doors to open.  Let's just say we got there a tad bit early because we had some excited fans with us!  It was a fun day... although I did leave with quite the headache, but it was worth it!

We got home pretty late last night and with my headache, I ended up sleeping in and missing church this morning.  We met up with Drew's family for lunch at El Camp and found out that the beloved family that owned the restaurant had to sell it.  Our friend who always welcomes us with "Ah Amigos Amigos" seemed sad and felt bad that their food is changing.  He said the new cooks are taking out and changing some staples and he is sorry.  His family is trying to open a new restaurant in St. Luis, Missouri.  Even the chips are different, they have a light airy kind of texture.  Not bad, just different.  But I mostly feel bad for our Mexican friend and I am sad that they will be leaving.  I have grown to expect to see them and talk with them, oh about every other week.  They are hard workers, and it must be hard to continue to wait on customers as the food changes and the people have questions.

Anyway, after El Camp with the fam, Drew and I decided to take a walk :)  It was about 60 degrees and perfect for a long walk in the park.  I just love my husband so much.  Walking with him today amidst God's beautiful creation by the Kankakee river made me remember again just how blessed I am.  He is a wonderful man of God and I enjoy having time out of Chapman hall to talk and walk and enjoy each other.  We got icecream on the way home too.  :)  And tonight, we're watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  Drew's pick, and I can't wait.  Did I mention that I love him.  He is the best husband and friend I could have ever asked for.