still praying

Hello dear blog friends!

I want so bad to blog about all of the fun I had this weekend-my great run yesterday, buying and planting flowers today, the amazing worship service we attended tonight...but I just can't stop thinking about sweet Jennifer and the precious Jones family as they walk through this trial. So, once again, i want to ask for your prayers for her. Here is the link to her caring bridge website http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jenniferjones2011/journal. If you are interested, please visit and please post on their guestbook if you have been praying. I know many of you may not know this family-but even so-if they know that the body of Christ is praying all over the world, I KNOW that will bring so so much comfort to them.

One thing I love to do is make people cd's. Many of you may have been lucky enough to receive one of these from me :). Music is one of the most powerful ways I experience comfort. The Holy Spirit totally ministers to my soul through music. So, I decided to make the Jones's a cd. I spent like 3 hours friday going through lots of my songs and picking the perfect mix. My hope and vision is that this would be something that Chris can have in her car, so as she is going back and forth from the hospital to the house, she can have hope in her car. One of the songs I picked is a song called "healing is in your hands". Christ Nockels, who has the most amazing voice, sings it. Here are some of the words:

No mountain, no valley, no gain or loss we know
could keep us from Your love
No sickness, no secret, no chain is strong enough
to keep us from Your love
to keep us from Your love

How high, how wide
No matter where I am, healing is in Your hands
How deep, How strong,
And now by Your grace I stand, healing is in Your hands

I was Just praying this over them. That they would know, NOTHING can keep us from His love.

Join me in praying for them. I'll do my best to keep you updated!

p.s.

We bought a ton of food for our week and grilled it all up today. I am super excited for my grilled: Squash, zucchini, bell pepper, portobello mushrooms and asparagus. Its a healthy week, y'all!!!

Will post as soon as I can!!

jennifer-update

Jennifer, who i wrote about yesterday, just got out of surgery. It went well and they were able to drain a lot of fluid from her tumor. This is a huge praise and will help her symptoms dramatically. They got a good look at the tumor and have determined it is the same tumor from when she was little. So it is back. Its amazing to think that almost 30 years later it could return. God saved her once and is able to do so again. So, they got a biopsy of it and sent it off to pathology. It is either a level 3 or 4 tumor. We are praying for a 3-the possible treatment for this tumor is much more successful on a 3. We are praying that it is a 3. My mom has talked multiple times with Jen's mom. They are best friends so of course they have been in contact so so much about all of this. Today Jen's mom told my mom, "I'm not afraid of the end. I'm afraid of the journey." to which my mom responded, "over and over again in scripture God says," Fear not. I am with you." She responded with, "It is impossible to not fear when it is your baby." Now, Jennifer is not a baby-but she is their baby. She is their precious child and to watch your child walk through this seems utterly impossible. As a nanny, I have a deep deep love for the girls I keep. But, I know that is nothing compared to a mothers love...So i can't even imagine what that looks and feels like. As I was thinking about all of this, I was just reminded that we have a savior who knows what it feels like to fear the future. That He experienced dread and anxiety. He felt massive pain and suffering. He walked through it. Our savior is not a God who sits in the sky and has no idea what His people walk through. He has walked with us. He suffered more than we can know. This brings me comfort to know that He will provide every ounce of comfort and strength and mercy for this family as they face a journey they do not want to take. Pray with me, that they will walk hand in hand with the savior who knows what it is to walk a road of suffering. I'll keep you updated as I hear more! Lots of love!!!

pray, please.

Hi blog friends!

I know its been a while since I really did a blog about my weight loss journey. I will update you on that soon, but for now I want to ask for your prayers. A dear family friend of ours-named Jennifer-is very sick and needs healing very quickly. Jennifer is in her 30's and lives in lubbock. Many of you probably know her. Her parents are basically some of my parents best friends. They go to church together, my dad and her dad teach sunday school together. And we love love their family so much. When Jen was 5 she had a brain tumor and ,by a miracle, she survived. Because of this brain tumor, Jen had developmental delays and is special needs today. Even though she is handicapped, she is still very high functioning. She works and is a social butterfly. Everywhere she goes in Lubbock, she has friends. Above all, she LOVES Jesus because she knows He saved her from her brain tumor when she was a baby so she could tell others about Him and His love. Well, Jennifer and her family just got the difficult news that she has another brain tumor. It is very aggressive and inoperable. It also has lots of fluid on it so it is causing all sorts of problems, including balance issues as well as impairing her hearing. She is having a shunt put in on friday to try to drain some of the fluid and hopefully relieve her from the symptoms she is now experiencing. We have no idea what the prognosis is...but it is really hard to even think about. This family has been through so so much. I'm asking you to please pray for them. Here are somethings to pray for...

1. For healing in Jennifer. For a miracle!

2. For comfort for her family as they watch her suffer. That they would be able to fall into the arms of the savior and trust Him, again, with the life of their child.

3. For the shunt to relieve her symptoms

4. For wisdom for all the doctors and nurses.

5. That above all God would be glorified through this. That His name would be high and exalted!

I will keep you updated. Thanks for your ear!

rejection.

Hi friends!

I know it has been a few days between blogs. I have not be the best at keeping my blog updated this week and Emily Rice has not let me forget that!

Anyway, I titled today's blog post "rejection" because, well, we have dealt with lots of it in the last week. I basically had a terrible week last week. I got a ticket on friday, the flu on sunday, then andrew got his rejection letter from UT Grad school on monday and his rejection from Texas Tech grad school on thursday. Bad week. For those of you that didn't know, My amazing husband-Andrew has been in a process of applying to grad school for about the past year. His undergrad is in History and he is a history lover. He has a copy of the constitution on his bed side table. He has a list of all the presidents on his bedside table. He is reading a book on Truman right now. He loves history and when he talks about it you can only imagine what an amazing teacher or professor he will be. So this led us to the path of graduate school. We knew UT was a really hard program to get into and that Andrew's undergrad grades might not be good enough. But we thought for sure he was a shoe- in at Tech. He knew many professors there, he even had a professor contact him with the same interests. So we thought that was where we were going. While I was really sad at the thought of leaving Austin, I was so excited at the thought of being much closer to my family, able to attend our church, Westminster, and able to go to Tech home games :). I don't think I fully realized how much I wanted to go to Lubbock. So when we got the rejection letter, I was devastated. Not only at the fact that my amazing husband had been rejected, but that MY plan had fallen through. I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me. I'm sure I was a very wonderful supportive wife-crying in the corner...haha. So my first response is I get kinda pissed at God. Asking him why it seemed like he was opening all these doors for Lubbock if we aren't going. Then asking him what in the world I'm supposed to do- i dont want to be a nanny forever. What is andrew supposed to do? Should he still try to go to school? Stay in his life sucking job? As I was walking through all of this, I just was reminded that ALL we can do is trust Jesus. All we can do is be reminded that He can see the entire picture and we can't. We have to trust that whatever He has for us is more glorifying to Him than our plan. Now, this doesnt make the rejection any easier. But it does set my heart at peace. Never before have I been in stage of life that I had no clue what was next. Neither of us are really on a career path, neither of us are ready for kids, neither of us know anything...but we love and serve a God who knows it all. So we can rejoice in that. Plus, we do get to stay in Austin with all of our amazing friends, we both still have jobs that pay the bills and we have a church body that we love so much. At Stone on sunday, I think we worshipped more honestly then we have in a long time. We sang "On Christ the Solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand. "-isnt that the truth? So I invite you all to pray with us for vision. I have literally prayed my whole life that I would not have an ordinary life. I have always known that "the American dream" wasn't for me. So this might just be the Lord reminding us of that. Sorry for the long blog. I am just really processing all of this!

"My Hope is Built on Nothing Less"
by Edward Mote, 1797-1874

1. My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

2. When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

3. His oath, His covenant, and blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When every earthly prop gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

pizza mia!

Happy Saturday!

It is beautiful here in the ATX and I hope your day is beautiful too! I wanted to share with you what I made today. I like to cook all my food for the week on the weekend so all we have to do is heat it up and eat during the week. I got a Weight Watchers magazine on our travels to Ohio to read on the plane and have saved it because it had quite a few awesome recipes. One of which I made today in about 15 minutes and am going to take for my lunch this week!

I made a spinach artichoke pizza. Is it not BEAUTIFUL!?!

Here is the recipe:

Buy a whole wheat pizza crust. They have them already made and you just heat it up in the oven for 7 minutes and then top it with:

1/2 cup of marinara sauce (i like newmans own)

2 cups of fresh spinach

1 can of artichoke hearts chopped

1 sliced roma tomato

1/4 cup of reduced fat feta

and 2/3 cup of reduced fat mozzarella

put it under the broiler for 3ish minutes and you get this tasty masterpiece. Its 6 slices and each slice is only 3 points!!! What?? I know. I have an awesome lunch ahead of me!

Also, my husband just, "went for a run" and ran 7 miles. What a freak! Who does that? Andrew Bell does. He is amazing.

Have a great weekend!!!

feelin' good!

TGIF!

Hi friends! I am so excited for a healthy, non flu weekend! I have fun plans and can't wait for them! But first, I went to Weight Watchers today and.....DOWN 2.6! Yay! That is so exciting and I am so pumped for losses in a row and after focus! But, I will say, that most of the weight loss came from the flu. Apparently flu makes you not really want to eat. And I didn't eat much. But, I also made really good choices when I did eat. I am person that if I am sick, I look for a reason to cheat. I feel comforted by food and like I deserve a treat if I'm sick. And my treat just happened to be sugar free popsicles this week :). So I feel good. My hope is to keep on going with losing and maintaining good habits. I feel like I have flipped the switch. I feel like I have focus and drive. So we shall see how it goes!

I wanted to let you guys know about my decision on what to do for lent this year. For those of you that don't know, Lent is the period of time between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Usually about 40 days. Traditionally, people choose to give something up, a habit, a favorite food-something like that. The purpose is to remove something like this so that when you miss it or want it, you think about the Lord, and His beautiful sacrifice on our behalf. I don't always do lent. It usually is only if I feel the Lord leading me to something. In the past I have given up caffeine, fried foods, wine, etc. But this year, I really feel led to give up all alcohol for lent. This is really going to be hard for me. But I have felt the Lord lead me to that and as I prayed, I kept feeling it. So that is my choice. I think it will really benefit me both physically and spiritually. I tend to waste lots of calories on alcohol. It is just empty calories that have become a part of my social life. I also tend to want a drink when I've had a rough week or a rough day...And I think this is going to push me toward Jesus even more. So come next wednesday, no alcohol for 40 days...I will keep you posted on how I do!

Headed to Z-Tejas for dinner tonight and then to the in-laws house tomorrow night for a cook out! Should be fun!

catch-up

Breakfast with my newest girl crush, Karisse.

Happy....wait, what day is it?

I have been in a fog for the past few days. It is hilarious how quickly one can be knocked on their tail from the flu! I have literally been in pajamas since Saturday, showered once, barely eaten, I did manage to go to starbucks and Andrew was disgusted that I went in the pajamas I had worn since Saturday. I don’t even fully recall going, but there is a starbucks cup in our trash, so i guess it did happen. I think fever driving is probably as dangerous as drunk driving. But, thanks to ny and day quil, tamaflu, soup from my austin mama-susan whiteside- and andrew blowing kisses, because he doesn’t want to be infected, and 3 nights of 14 plus hours of sleep, i believe i am on the mend. I am going to try to work tomorrow. I am pretty nervous to go. 18 month olds tend to have one speed, GO. I doubt if I walk in tomorrow and tell Caitlin and Isabel, "Whitney has been sick so today we are going to lay on the couch and sleep..." that they will respond with "yes mam". The response is sure to be wanting me to hold them both, wrestle with them both and chase them both...but reality is, when mom's get the flu, you don’t get 3 days off, so i know I can do it...Plus, we need our income :)

I wanted to share with you all my amazing experience last week. I got a chance to spend some time with a friend I had not seen in 8 years. Quick history for those of you that don't know, after high school I took a year off between high school and college and took part in a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with an organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). I trained in LA for 3 months and then went to South Africa on outreach for 2 months. It was such an amazing experience of a lifetime. I met so many amazing people and experienced the Lord in an amazing way i had never known. It was a priceless time of self-discovery and faith forming for me. One of the friends I made while at dts was Karisse. Karisse lived across the hall from me and her roomie was my bff nicole, so we spent lots of time together. Now, i was 18 as was 90 percent of the other students in our dts. Most of us had left home for the first time and we were children, babies! Not Karisse, she was 22, graduated from college and was our mom. I have NO IDEA how she dealt with us. We all loved boys, missed out mommies and got our feelings hurt all the time. But Karisse was so patient with us and loved us-even when we were ridiculous... Well, Karisse was in Austin last week and we got to spend some time together. When she asked what had been going on with me in the past 8 years i responded with, " Well, i graduated from college, got married, worked at a church, went crazy for a while, quit my job at the church, got sane, now i nanny. you?" Here is what Karisse said, " Well, I have been diagnosed with cancer 3 times-including melanoma, breast cancer and a brain tumor, had a bazillion surgeries to remove my cancers, been told I was going to die, been healed time and time again, and now I talk to groups about human trafficking. So, not much." I know, my jaw was on the ground also. Karisse has been to hell and back and still loves and trusts Jesus with everything in her. She and i had really reconnected recently over our blogs. Karisse is also trying to get "healthy"-whatever that means for someone who seems to always have cancer. But she is working to lose a few lb's as well. I was so struck during our time together, because my desire to get healthy is highly influenced by wanting to look good, by wanting to wear designer jeans, by wanting to be proud of how I look...But for her, she chooses to eat healthy food because these foods can help FIGHT CANCER. These foods can give her life. These foods can SAVE her life. It is so convicting to realize what it means to eat foods that can give you life. It re charged my desire to eat well. It recharged my desire to eat clean. It also recharged my desire to hate cancer. Ick. What a bitch. I hate it, but praise God because what the world has meant for harm, He has used for good in Karisse. She is beautiful. She is alive. She is living each day for Gods glory and not in fear of cancer. Lets all eat foods that give us life and rejoice in THE giver of life. Oh Praise Him!