The Mystery Adventure Youth Trip

So we're headed out in approximately 1.5 hours. 16 youth. 3 adults. 5 days. The kids have no clue where we're going. Us leaders don't even know the exact schedule. It's going to be a blast! That's why it's called a mystery adventure trip!

I would like to ask whoever's reading this to be in prayer for our youth and this trip this week. It's basically camp, but I can't reveal too much since it's a mystery. I'm so excited and have been prayerfully anticipating this trip for months! I know that God is going to do great things in the hearts of our youth this week, and to be in the midst of His creation will be awesome!
I'll definitely update how the week went, and I thank you in advance for prayers this week.

Brittany

I'll Have Wisdom For Lunch With A Side Of Urgency

Chewing on this today:

"Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours."

C.S. Lewis

“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”

Mother Teresa

Bon appetit.

Happy June 21st!

Happy official first day of summer! For many of us, we've been out on summer break for quite a while now-be it a month or just a few short weeks. However, today is the first official day of summer. June 21st. I would love to welcome you officially into summer and encourage you to take your time this summer and enjoy it! Even if it seems about a thousand degrees outside! God puts seasons in our lives for a reason, and I believe that summer is the perfect time to calm down, enjoy some refreshing water (pool or lake, take your choice), and dig into God's Word and truly spend time with Him, while we have an abundance of time. Take time to notice how He is moving and working all around us.

This quote from John Piper really spoke to me today:

“Jesus Christ is the refreshing center of summer. He is preeminent in all things (Col. 1:18), including vacations, picnics, softball, long walks, and cookouts…. The summer sun is a mere pointer to the sun that will be: the glory of God. Summer is for seeing and showing that.”

In all you do, may you see and show the glory of God this summer.

VBS Day 1

It's VBS week here at Park Hill, and we kicked off the week last night! What a great first night! I can't wait to see what all the rest of the week holds :)
Here's a little "video" I made for tonight's celebration as the kids come in. Enjoy!

Surprise!!!

This past weekend I had the opportunity and decided to make a little trip home and surprised my family. I was going home Tuesday, but got the weekend off (thankfully!) so decided just to go home early. What a fun weekend!

I scared Mom almost into a heart attack when I walked in the door, but after the shock wore off, she was glad to see me. :) We went up to watch Brandon and the drumline at band camp. They are so good, it's crazy! It was fun to see him in his element. :)
Then we decided to have the best lunch ever! Olive Garden! Greatness. :)
The rest of the weekend was just fun times hanging out with my family :) I had the crazy idea to make a cake, mainly because my uncle was coming in town, so why not make a cake, right?
Soccer is a big deal at my house, so in honor of the World Cup starting, I made a World Cup 2010 cake. It was the first cake I've ever tried to shape, and turned out alright.

The piping of the different flags could have been better. It would have looked better if I had used fondant, but maybe next time I'll experiment with that. The cake sure tasted yummy! I had friends over Sunday after we had lunch (Hot Wok! Yes Sir!!) and they helped us eat the cake. :) Fun Fun Fun!
Monday, my friend Angela came to Frisco after work to hang out. She was introduced to Frisco, La Hacienda and The Snow Cone Lady, all in one day! Such fun!
Tuesday I had lunch with Dad, which was absolutely wonderful! We went to The Great Outdoors, and had a great time! :)

Then....The whole reason for me to come home...WICKED!! Wicked is a musical sort of about the Wizard of Oz, but it's the prequel to it. Some of Mom's college friends wanted to go, and so we got tickets with them and some of their daughters. :) It was so great! Not quite as good as if it had been on Broadway, I'm sure, but I'm glad we went and I now know the complete storyline since I've known the music so well for many years. :)



Wednesday, before I headed out to leave and my family left for VBS, the boys were inspired by the Chile game that was on and decided to have a small photoshoot, of sorts, in our living room with the soccer ball. It was so much fun! [and no mom, we didn't break anything. We weren't even close to breakable stuff. Plus, it was a super soft-pillow soccer ball. :) ]

[It was crazy hair day at VBS, he doesn't always look this dark :) ]

What a great weekend! I'm so thankful for wonderful family and friends! :)

Book Three: Pigs In The House

In their pigpen nice and wide. three cute pigs sat side by side. Farmer Mac came in one day. Fed the pigs and spread some hay. He was running very late and forgot to shut the gate....

Is it sad that I have the whole beginning of this book memorized?
I'm kinda lame and didn't read a real book this week. Or at least I didn't finish one. I do have about two started, but they are longer and taking a little bit more time. So when I went home I saw that Mom had a bunch of our childhood books sitting on the fireplace, so I decided to read some of them and call it a book for 10-for-2010. :)

Dad would read Pigs In The House to us over and over and over. He has it more memorized than us kids do. It's the tale of some goofy pigs that have a free for all in the farm house. Clever and cute. :) I asked Brady if he had read it (I just didn't know since he is so much younger than us) and he said, "Yeah Brittany! Only like a thousand times." He then proceeds to quote some of the book. :) This book is definitely a staple in our family's reading.


I also read Blueberries for Sal. Another childhood favorite! I love the cute story of the mother and daughter picking blueberries while the mama bear and baby bear do the same. Precious! Not to mention the pictures are great!

Book Two: Velvet Elvis

I finally did it. Yesterday, by the lake, I finished Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Rob Bell is a pastor of Mars Hill church in California and does the Nooma videos, which are great! I have tried to read this book a few different times, and each time get stopped after the first few pages. [I have a problem with reading books] But this time I took it a chapter a night, and once I was past the preface was torn when I had to put it down. I loved it. I can't get the stuff in it out of my head. I keep thinking about it, and chewing on it, and processing it. I want to read it again and again, but maybe not just now. :)
This book was amazing! It made me think in so many ways. I really can't do this book justice by describing it or attempting to describe it. It opened my eyes to deeper meanings behind Scripture, as well as a better look at what it means to follow Christ, and what He calls us to. I highly recommend this book, and think that everyone should read it! But like all books it has to be read and then thought about and measured up against what you believe. Rob Bell has some different ideas, and it's ok not to agree with everything he says. It has to be measured up to what Scripture tells us, and in most areas he's right on! I just know that Rob Bell has been in the "Christian media" lately and I'm not sure what all he believes or if everything he says holds up, but Velvet Elvis was a wonderful book. Again, everyone should read it! :)

Snapshots

So here's just a few pictures from my great day :)





I can honestly say that after tonight, the dogs are growing on me. The top one's name is Gizmo and the bottom one is Jazz. We'll see if I still like the dogs in the morning. That's when they tend to do the most damage :)

Church picnic at DeGray, Reading by the lake, great discussions in Sunday school, being part of God's glory! Wonderful day!

Have You Any Idea Why A Raven Is Like A Writing Desk?

Sometimes, I believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Alice in Wonderland was amazing! Between the great storyline, crazy characters, wonderful acting, and I could go on and on! I don't want to give any of the storyline away because then I would ruin it. I loved all the one-liners that were in there. Johnny Depp's character was probably my favorite, but I did like the new actress, Mia Wasikowska, who played Alice. I highly recommend this film. It may be a little dark and creep for real little kids, though. :)




The Young Victoria

This was a very enjoyable film. I loved the historical aspect (yes, I know I'm a dork) and the romance that was in it. It was very clean, for the most part, rated PG. Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend, who looks a lot like Orlando Bloom, had chemistry and played wonderfully together. I recommend it for a lighthearted, sweet story about the longest reigning monarch to date on England's throne, the first monarch to live in Buckingham Palace, and a love that is genuine :)

House Sitting

I am house sitting for a family from church, and am kind of on my own tonight. Which is never a bad thing, especially after spending a busy afternoon with the Bean family in Hot Springs. It was so nice to be back in "civilization" again, as Jason put it. Shopping does wonders to lift the spirits! Sarah, Emma and I enjoyed browsing through different home decor stores! It's crazy to say, but a shopping trip and some great Chinese food was just what we needed! (Especially because I usually don't like much shopping.) I did try sushi again today. And the same result as last time occurred: I definitely almost gagged! I told one of my friends who is an avid sushi-lover, and her response was "that's what you get for trying sushi in Arkansas!" haha thanks!

So because I have the house to myself with two little yappy spoiled dogs I decided that some Starbucks Ice Cream and Redbox would be on the agenda! I also did a little searching and spruced up my blog a bit with a background and new colors to match. :)
I got Alice in Wonderland and The Young Victoria from Redbox, so wish me luck! (We'll see if I can even stay awake through them!) [I'll probably update you on my opinions of these movies later] :)

[Isn't the butterfly pattern on these sheets lovely? :) ]

Blue Cookies, Who Knew?

So today, Emma and one of her friends made blue cookies! I'm not sure if I've ever made blue sugar cookies before. For some reason it just seems strange and uber interesting and a bit exciting to me. So what did I do, dear reader? I took a picture or two, of course! :) The cookies look a little green, but we covered them with blue icing [I did help with this part!] and they tasted great! The cookie dough was the best part! :)
[Emma's friend couldn't stay to see the cookies come to be baked, so that's why Emma's the only one in the photos]

Here's the recipe to the sugar cookies:

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• [We also added a few drops of blue food coloring; optional]

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

And for the icing:

• A little over a cup of powdered sugar
• Some milk
• a teaspoon of vanilla
• [we added some almond extract towards the second half of our cookies which made it way better, so I'm sure it can be substituted for the vanilla. It's all a matter of preference] :)
• Two drops of blue food coloring

Enjoy!

Water Talks

I saw this today on a friend's blog. (Ok so we've never actually met, but I love her blog and I think if we ever did meet we would be friends. I hope that's not creepy...)
So anyway, this is just pretty cool and a neat way to get people aware. :)

Solidarités International: Water talks from La Boite Concept on Vimeo.

[it does make me wonder how much of that water could have been used to save a person's life? anyway.] :)

Tales from life in Arkadelphia. Because that's the title of my blog, today's post is something super common in Arkadelphia. Well, common might be a stretch, but it is something I have enjoyed doing since my first weekend here. I'm working as the assistant youth minister at Park Hill this summer and following. Today marked the first official day of summer for our youths. We kicked the summer off right last night with a party at the Eubanks' lake! Dr. and Mrs. Eubanks own land near the river and have a large sized lake that they let youth groups, school groups, and other groups use the lake and have cook outs and parties. Last night was a great party. Complete with new kids, our usual kids, visiting kids, a great cook-out, tons of swimming, and lots of laughs! I think I'm still getting water out of my nose and ears. :)
The party continued today as some of the kids that moved away last year stayed and we got to hang out with them and a group of the kids that are always around by more swimming at a family pool, lunch and Cake Boss. Good times all around! :) [no pictures from today, sadly, but plenty from last night]