Five on Friday!

-ONE- On Monday, the roads were too bad us to go to work so we had a snow day at home! We enjoyed some quality time together and one of the things we did was put together this puzzle! Both of us really enjoy puzzles but we have never put one together with each other. It was so relaxing!

(It is missing one piece because we couldn't find it.) 

-TWO- On Wednesday I made our favorite dinner Spicy Sausage Pasta AND I made my very first Bundt cake! Thank you Mix and Match Mama for the awesome recipe! It turned out AMAZING!

-THREE- Last week I shared that we were going to be babysitting for twin girls and we did! It was SO much fun! :) They were so precious and seeing my sweet husband with a baby asleep on his chest melted my heart! The parents of the girls also hadn't had a chance to get us our wedding gift yet and so they gave that to us then as well! It was this beautiful picture! I love it and can't wait to hang it in the house! 

                           

Sorry the quality of this pic isn't very good!

-FOUR- I have had LOTS of girl dates this week. It has been awesome! On Tuesday I met with two ladies for coffee and we talked for hours and then that night I had my women's college small group that I lead. THEN last night I had two ladies from work over for quesadilla's  and wine and again we talked for hours. It has been awesome and my heart is full from all that time! 

-FIVE- SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!! Can't wait to hang out with friends, eat a lot and watch funny commercials... oh yeah and I guess watch a football game too! ;) 

                     

Have a great weekend!

Love,

             Lindsey

Five on Friday!

Hello beautiful readers! So glad you stopped out today!

-ONE- Last night the hubs and I had a "date night in" and it was WONDERFUL! It has been so cold here lately that all we wanted to do was snuggle up and stay cozy. So.. that is what we did. I made Chicken and Wild Rice soup, (I will post the recipe soon! It is SO good!) and we watched "Father of the Bride." Such a great movie! After that I cut his hair and we ate some chocolate chip cookies and talked for a while. It was the perfect evening! 

   

-TWO- Tomorrow I am having brunch with a bunch of my girlfriends I haven't seen in a while...AND one of my dear friends is bringing her little 6 month old baby who I have only seen one other time! It is going to be such a wonderful morning talking for hours, eating, and snuggling with her little one! Girls dates are SO necessary! 

                             

-THREE- Tomorrow night the hubs and I get to babysit together for the first time! One of my friends is coming into town for a wedding and bringing her 11 month old twins and WE get to watch them! Let's just say I am excited about it! Plus it will be great practice for us! ;) 

Aren't they just precious?!! 

-FOUR- You know what is happening Sunday night?!!? I DO! Sean and Catherine get married!!! So... I was mildly obsessed with their season of the Bachelor because my goodness they are so cute together! I can't wait to watch this wedding! 

 

-FIVE- I lead a college small group and we are going to be going through the book "So Long Insecurity" by Beth Moore. This is our first week of it and I am excited to get started! Does anyone have thoughts on this book? I would love to hear them! 

                                                       

Enjoy your weekend! Stay warm and do something that makes you happy! :) 

Love,

             Lindsey

Five on Friday!

This weekend is going to be a busy one but I am SO excited to have it almost be here!

-ONE- Tomorrow is our 8 MONTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! I cannot believe how fast time goes and that in four short months we will have been married an entire year! (I am secretly planning a short trip for our 1 year anniversary! Shhh don't tell!) Hopefully some day this weekend we will be able to go to dinner to celebrate.

-TWO- I just went to Target before work today and I found three cardigans for $7.00 each! Talk about a great deal! Good thing I had a limited amount of time because I could have gone nuts! 

-THREE- I am reading the books Wife After God by Jennifer Smith and Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney. They are both fantastic! I have learned a lot from each of them and they really make me think about my relationship with God as well as my relationship with my husband. I highly recommend both books! You can buy them here and here. 

-FOUR- I am so excited to spend an entire day with my sister, mom and good friends Kim and Julia. We are heading down to Iowa City to spend the day catching up and shopping! I haven't been able to talk to them or see them very much lately and I am pumped to have an entire day! Love girl dates! 

My wonderful mom and beautiful sister. 

-FIVE- COFFEE, COFFEE AND MORE COFFEE! It has been a very busy and long week at work and I have had coffee in my hand pretty consistently every day. Another reason I am thankful for the weekend! Today's choice, Panera. Mmmm! :) 

Have a great weekend! 

Love,

             Lindsey

Five on Friday!

SO happy it is Friday! I have been fighting this nasty cold and I am determined to get rid of it this weekend!

-ONE- One of my beautiful best friends, Loretta, had her birthday on Sunday! Hopefully we can get together soon to celebrate! Love you girl! Hope you are loving being 23 so far!

-TWO- I am SO excited about my new planner! I can't wait to start using it! One of my goals for 2014 is to get more organized and this baby is going to help me do that! Woot woot! 

-THREE- My dear friend Mandy was such a huge support to me on my wedding day! Not only was she an AWESOME personal attendant but she also took pictures of us getting ready and some candid shots for me before my photographer arrived. Well, a few days ago she found some pictures in her dropbox from the wedding and sent them to me. I was SO excited because on our wedding day, when JP and I had our first look, our photographer only got my reaction on camera. I was kind of bummed about this because I was really looking forward to seeing JP's reaction to when he saw me in my dress for the first time. Well.... it just so happened that Mandy took pictures of JP when we had our first look! I was SO pumped! I love how they turned out and it is so fun to see his face when he saw me! THANK YOU MANDY! You're amazing girl! 

I love excited he looks! 

-FOUR- I made this corn casserole on Wednesday night and it is A-MAZING! We have been eating the leftovers for lunch for the past couple of days and I think both JP and I will be pretty depressed when it is all gone. I will post the recipe soon! 

-FIVE- JP and I have been going through the book Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll and it is incredible. In addition to the book you can listen to his sermons based on the chapters. It has brought up such helpful topics and questions and we have really grown even closer in our relationship since reading it. We have learned so much and it has definitely been beneficial for our marriage and our friendship. I would definitely suggest it! 

                      

What books have you read that have been helpful in your marriage? 

Love,

             Lindsey

The subject I hate to talk about

I want to talk about something that has been on my heart lately. Something that I hate thinking and talking about. It is something that is everywhere and it feels like it is impossible to get away from.

 That something is lust.

I hate lust. I hate that it is everywhere I look and that it is everywhere husband looks and also where my future children will look. I hate that I can't watch a movie or tv program, look at a magazine in the grocery store, or walk down the street without seeing some form of lust. Whether it is inappropriately dressed men or women, sex scenes or nudity in a massive amount of movies, or the way people speak about others...it's lustful. I hate that it the most profitable industry in the world and that it is exploiting SO many people all over the world. I hate that it often gives men a false view of women and that it often give women a false view of their own appearance as well as the view of "what men want." It makes me so sad.

There seems to be no way to escape this disgusting subject and sometimes, the more I think about how widespread it is, the more I want to crawl into a hole with my husband and stay there...forever.

BUT... since that is obviously not possible and probably not very healthy, I guess I need to find a different solution. I think the only solution to this colossal problem is not something but someone.

JESUS.

 He is the only one that can truly make us pure and give us all hope. He can provide healing to broken hearts and relationships as well as make us clean and beautiful again. This is what makes me want to face the world and actually fight against it.

"Create in my a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." - Psalm 51:10

This is what I want for me, my husband, my future children, my family and my friends.

I want and need Jesus.

I read this awesome article today and it gave me the courage and the ability to write this post about a topic that I hate discussing. Thank you to the girl who wrote this and thank you to the guy who responded to it. Here are to the two articles I am referring to.

Original article:
"Sincerly, One of The Many Girls Who Really Care."

Response:
"Sincerly, One of The Many Guys Who Really Care: A Reply"

Thanks for stopping by! I would love to hear your thoughts! 

Love,

             Lindsey

Five on Friday!

I am SO thankful that it is finally the weekend! We don't have many plans BUT we finally have our weekends together again!! Which leads me to....

-ONE- My husband just started a new job this week and he won't have to work weekends anymore! At his previous job he was required to work every Saturday. It was very difficult for traveling! It is such a blessing to have our weekends together again! Praise the Lord for sleeping in on Saturday mornings!
I borrowed this sticker from Natasha at Hello Happiness because I thought it worked so well for us this week!

-TWO- This may sound really silly but I am hoping to go to the movie Frozen again this weekend! I saw it with JP's sisters and brothers the week before Christmas and I LOVE it! It is such an adorable and sweet movie! I have been constantly humming the soundtrack and I may have even been playing them on Youtube! If you haven't seen it yet, you need to! It is such a family friendly movie and so refreshing from all of the garbage movies that are coming out right now! 

                                              

-THREE- I received a gift card to Target for Christmas this year (best gift ever!) and I decided to use it to purchase a Keurig! I have been wanting one for a while now and I finally decided to get it. I have not been disappointed with it yet! Now I just need to stock up on some K-cups!

-FOUR- We have a wedding to go to tomorrow night and I am really excited! We have had SO many weddings the last couple of years and especially last summer that for a while I was tired of them. BUT I think we have had a good break and I am really excited to celebrate with our friends Michael and Ally! It will be a beautiful winter wedding! 

                          

-FIVE- I am hopefully going to do a Year in Review post here soon but here is a preview!

Year in Review Video

Have a great weekend!

Love,

             Lindsey

Christmas Recap!

Everyone I've talked to about Christmas this year has said that it went REALLY fast and I couldn't agree more! It seemed like the week just flew by and all of a sudden it is after New Years and I am back to work!

Here is what our Christmas break looked like! 

Christmas at JP's Grandma and Grandpa's house

Christmas Eve service at our church

Some of the amazing ladies from our church and JP playing for the service.

Christmas Eve at JP's parents house. 

Great gifts!

Sibling love!

His new favorite shirt!

Group this Christmas Eve! Love these people!

Our home was so cozy and peaceful on Christmas Eve! 

Love these moments...

Christmas morning we drove to my parents house and enjoyed a few days with them. It was so wonderful and very much needed! 

Two batman shirts in one Christmas. It was a great year for him!

My sister and I posing with our cat...while wearing my moms cat vest and snowman sweater. 

Great time with family!! 

How was your Christmas? 

Love,

             Lindsey