Opryland Hotel

Last weekend we drove up to Nashville to see all the decorations and lights at the Opryland Hotel. Afterwards, we headed over to the mall to get some shopping done. Jason, myself, Mom, Dad, Spud and Sam all had a great time!

It was so gorgeous there and these pictures capture just a little of that.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree.

How lovely are thy branches..."

We had so much fun, as always, putting up our tree. We're in a new place and with a new tree. My camera's batteries went out and pictures I thought I took of my parents helping us with the tree weren't really taken. But...I do have these! I am SOOOO ready for Christmas!

T-Day!

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll!

I hope you had a marvelous and fulfilling day with family and friends and LOADS of food. Be thankful and be blessed!

~Tina

More pics

Here are some random pics (I'm testing out my new camera) of us and well, the cats.

Pics of the apartment!

As promised, here they are!

Here's the living room, with Jason enjoying some burritos.

Here's another view of the living room.

The sunroom:

There's more to it than that (obviously), but you'll have to come over to see those rooms. *wink* :)

We're moved in!

Moving is horrible! I had no idea how much stuff we had. Clothes and even furniture were given away. It took about 3 days for us to move and we won't even discuss the drama we had with the lawyer's office and our mortgage company. Strange enough, our outdoor hunter cats are very content to be only indoors now. I for sure thought we'd have nightly meow fests, but thankfully we've had none. The neighborhood is good and the commute is even better. I'll be posting some pics of our new place soon.

~Tina

Worship

When worship is a ‘10’by John Fischer

How many different ways are there to worship God? Probably as many ways as there are people who worship him, because worship is primarily a relationship shaped by who we are. Worship is the shape of your life lived in awareness of God. It is uniquely your – a reflection of your personality, your gifts, your needs, and your passions. Your worship has your own stamp on it.

We are so used to thinking of worship as a corporate, unified thing that we reduce it to a shared experience of songs, liturgies, and orderly services. This, of course, is a part of worship, but it is not the whole thing. It isn’t even the half of it.

Worship is ultimately a state of mind. In its broadest sense, it is the totality of our relationship with God. It involves talking to him, listening for him, and looking for him behind the scenes of things. It is being aware of his presence and acknowledging and evaluating his purposes in all we do. It is chatting with him – reacting to the world around us and imagining his reaction. It is getting familiar with him through his Word so that we begin to know how he thinks and feels about things. It is, in its simplest form, a God consciousness that permeates everything we do.

In an interview once, a pastor asked me to put my relationship with God on a scale of one to 10 – 10 being warm, close, and in fellowship. I thought about the apparent arrogance of putting this at a 10, but then I realized 10 was the right answer, not because I had arrived at some superior spiritual status that warrants it, but because I live a life of such quiet desperation that I am constantly in relationship with God out of necessity. I am conscious of God all the time because I have to be or I fly apart at the center. I have nothing to hold onto without him. I know myself well enough to know that if I am not living my relationship with God at a “10,” I am living in some form of lie or denial. My need for him is the bedrock truth of the matter.

If some of you find this alarming, then read Psalms, because I have just described the essence of David’s sentiment as expressed in his prayers and poems. Over and over again, his soul cries out to God, he is in a dry and thirsty land, he waits patiently for the Lord, and the Lord hears him and brings him comfort.

You don’t have to be perfect to be a “10” in your relationship with God, holding on for dear life will also do the trick.

Summer vacation

Okay, maybe these will show and will CONTINUE to show. Sorry for everyone to had to stare at the dreaded white boxes with red x's.

This is my family and the cute blonde (who doesn't look like any of us), is my brother's girlfriend, Samantha. We had such a fun time and obviously got alot of sun.

Ft. Walton had gorgeous water and such clean beaches. The awesome firework display really topped everything off. Hopefully it won't be years and years before we take another family vacation.

What God Thinks of the Da Vinci Code

What God thinks of The Da Vinci Code
by John Fischer

With The Da Vinci Code enjoying another weekend at the box office, the debate about the story's outrageous claims continues. What makes them outrageous is not that they haven't been presented before, but that they are presented with such convincing aplomb and supported by “mountains” of documentation. Of course the whole story is a fast fiction ride, documents included, but people who aren't careful about their history may not know that. Herein lies the concern of many Christians: How will people find out these claims are lies, and who will tell them?

The answer to that question lies more in the way God has set up the universe than anything. It's not an unusual question, nor is it new on the scene. It has actually been a valid question for as long as we have recorded history.

According to the Bible, God created this planet, put human beings on it, and let evil loose in the place as well as good (at least this is the shortened version of the story). Why he did this is only up to speculation as far as we are concerned, but it means that, from the beginning, we have existed surrounded by truth and error and with limited ability to tell one from the other. One could easily panic over this, but it appears that God hasn't. He seems to have a way of knowing that those who truly seek him will reach their destination, and he not only knows this, he guarantees it.

For this reason he is not too concerned about all the lies floating around. Nor does he seem to be running around nervously trying to correct every new falsehood that surfaces. In fact, some of these falsehoods appear to be getting along quite well in the world. God trusts an innate ability to recognize truth that he has placed in people, and the drama of finding that out seems to be part of the unfolding story.

Yes, people are going to be led astray by The Da Vinci Code just as they have been led astray by countless other fictions and fabrications of the truth throughout history, but the people who are led astray are the ones who are going to be fooled anyway, if not by this, then by the next thing to come along. These are people, in fact, who move from one thing to another and never alight on the truth precisely because they are not seeking the truth while those who truly are seeking are given the ability to see.

This does not mean that we don't make intelligent attempts to uphold the truth and discredit falsehood. But these will do more to confirm those who are honestly looking than to get anyone to radically change his or her mind about things. There are other factors at work here beyond our control.

To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them. (Matthew 13:12 NLT)

~*~2nd Anniversary~*~

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary on May 8th. We didn't have any big plans, well except for the fish we were thinking we'd catch, but didn't. Anyways, we had a good time and here are a few pics.

A view of Madison County Lake. It was gorgeous weather that day...not too hot or chilly.




Okay, so I got a little sleepy...














The King of Fish in the flesh.


















You gotta concentrate...and look a little mad too. We didn't get one bite...NOT ONE! But we had a good time and enjoyed ourselves and I guess that's all that really matters.

Neato Frito

This little thingy is so neat! It updates the weather and the person changes clothes depending on what the weather's like, etc. Okay...so I'm a nerd.

If you're a nerd to and think this is awesome, here's the link: http://weatherpixie.com/index.php?page=home

Type A personality???

You Have A Type A- Personality

You are one of the most balanced people aroundMotivated and focused, you are good at getting what you wantYou rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick backWhether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love!You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds

http://www.blogthings.com/doyouhaveatypeapersonalityquiz/

Definition of a Christian

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin.'"

I'm whispering "I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven."

***

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I don't speak of this with pride.

I'm confessing that I stumble

and need Christ to be my guide.

***

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not trying to be strong.

I'm professing that I'm weak

And need His strength to carry on.

***

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not bragging of success.

I'm admitting I have failed

And need God to clean my mess.

***

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not claiming to be perfect,

My flaws are far too visible

But, God believes I am worth it.

***

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I still feel the sting of pain.

I have my share of heartaches

So I call upon His name.

***

When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not holier than thou,

I'm just a simple sinner

Who received God's good grace, somehow!

Happy Easter!!!

My greatest wish is that everyone reading this blog right now knows the REAL meaning of Easter...Jesus' death and resurrection. It is because of this and His agape love for us that we're here today. He loved us sinners and still does. The only difference between us (Christians) and non-believers is Him (Jesus). We're not better than them, but simply equals with just one thing missing. If you think Christians are perfect, then you are wrong. We are humans like everyone else, but we do have Jesus, so that when things do get bad we can turn to him and in the end, if we are faithful and true to Him, we will live with him eternally. May God bless you this wonderful Easter!



On a much lighter note, now that everyone knows what Easter is really about, I thought I'd share this hilarious bunny picture.

If you have any questions about anything I post about (and especially Jesus and salvation), I would love to answer them the best I could and if you don't have a church you visit, please come check our's out: Cornerstone Baptist. Check out the website in our links section.

Fall's Mill pics!

Alrighty...so I've been promising pics of everything from vacations to weddings and everything in between and now I present to you.....(the tension builds)... "two weekend's ago trip to Fall's Mill in Tennessee" pics. :) Let's see...a bunch of family went and the weather was dreadfully perfect in every way.

Dad and Nathan (my cousin) are making sure that crank still works that sends down the metal bucket to get fresh water. It does work!




Here's (L to R) Aunt Vickey, Granny and Mom...acting goofy! :)



Here's the view from the top of the wheel...it's super tall...I forget how many feet, etc.



These are the falls that actually produce the water that turns the wheel.

A front view of the mill. It's now over 100 years old.

80's quiz

Okay...I thought I really knew my 80's music...obviously, not. I scored a 56. I am embarrassed. In my defense, I was born in '82, so I was too young to know most of these songs at the time. I know someone can beat me!!!

http://www.yetanotherdot.com/asp/80s.html

~*Lyrics*~

DC Talk rocks! This one's old school...

"I Wish we'd all been ready"

Life was filled with guns and war
And all of us got trampled on the floor
I wish we’d all been ready
The children died, the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we’d all been ready

(chorus) There’s no time to change your mind
The son has come and you’ve been left behind

A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head he’s gone
I wish we’d all been ready
Two men walking up a hill One disappears and one’s left standing still
I wish we’d all been ready

(repeat chorus)
The father spoke, the demons dined
How could you have been so blind?
(repeat chorus 2x)

I hope we’ll all be ready
You’ve been left behind

Here's a little taste of the song:
http://music.msn.com/album/?album=29459246#

Weekend getaway

Hey guys. I haven't actually posted about us in awhile. The winter months are pretty boring around the Kendrick household. We did manage to get away to Joe Wheeler State Park last weekend, but, alas, no fishing was done. So, so sad. But, more importantly, we relaxed and had a good time. Pictures will come soon.

Next weekend, the women's group at church will be heading up for a weekend conference in Gatlinburg. I'm sure I'll have TONS of interesting stories on my return. I'm looking forward to hearing Liz Curtis Higgs and Kay Warren, along with Point of Grace and others.

Let's see...still planning a Colorado trip sometime this summer (hi ya Chris!) and we'll be seeing Joey get hitched in August. :) Our boy is growing up! LOL

I love me some B&J's!!!

BROWNIE BATTER! You scored 85% SWEET, 59% CHUNKY, and 51% UNIQUE!

brownie batter ice cream with a rich brownie batter swirl Mmmm....you are a very sweet mix indeed! You are warm, loving, and caring to all those around you, but you're not boring in the least! You have a wild streak and a creative, unique streak, too. You are a great friend, an interesting person, and you know how to have fun without ending up crouching over a toilet bowl. Nice!

Take the test now: http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=338886042745332086

A boy and his dog

Welcome to Our World

Welcome to Our World~by John Fischer

"What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the holiest thing that could happen to us." This quote is from Jean-Pierre Caussade, an 18th century writer who shows us that sometimes it takes writers and thinkers from other centuries to awaken us to new ways of thinking. Well… new to us, maybe, not to them.

Nothing stunts our spiritual growth more than the imaginary line by which we separate holy things from secular things. Or how about the way we make “holy” things holy by removing them from their human context and making them glow with their own special kind of light? That's closer to superstition than it is holiness.

Jesus Christ lived human life on a strictly human level and yet all of it was holy because of who He was. I can't imagine Jesus ever having a purely “secular” moment. So does that mean He walked around with His hands in a praying position all the time, spoke in a low voice, never laughed, and whenever He opened His mouth, scripture came out?

Come now, we all know too much about being human to really believe any of this, but then where do these ideas come from? I think there are lots of answers to this but at least two big ones. 1) We like to keep the sacred far enough away as to be beyond our reach, thus having an excuse for not even trying to be holy. 2) We are too embarrassed about our humanity to imagine Christ ever really sharing in it.

Well it's time to welcome Christ into our world. Welcome Him to coffee, to our cell phone conversations, to our chores around the house, to our commute, to the board meeting and the shopping mall -- to the kitchen, the family room, and the bedroom.

We've been trying too long to get into His world with little or no success, which is pretty silly when He already came to our world, lived in flesh like ours and intends to continue living in our flesh today. The Word became flesh and it still is flesh, it's just that the flesh it became here on earth is now yours and mine instead of Christ's. Until we believe this we will never understand what it means to be holy.

So let’s set aside all those eyes-rolled-back, flipped-out ideas of holiness, and welcome Christ to our little, seemingly insignificant, dysfunctional lives. That's where He wants to be anyway. And that's precisely where the enemy doesn't want Him to be, because once He is there, we discover, in fact, that we are not insignificant after all. Suddenly all of life is sacred, and we can finally say along with Jean-Pierre Caussade, "What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the holiest thing that could happen to us."

What kind of soul are you?

You Are an Old Soul

You are an experienced soul who appreciates tradition.Mellow and wise, you like to be with others but also to be alone.Down to earth, you are sensible and impatient.A creature of habit, it takes you a while to warm up to new people. You hate injustice, and you're very protective of family and friendsA bit demanding, you expect proper behavior from others.Extremely independent you don't mind living or being alone.But when you find love, you tend to want marriage right away. Souls you are most compatible with: Warrior Soul and Visionary Soul

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofsoulareyouquiz/

Check out the link for other quizzes!

Dwight's blog

If you're having to ask yourself "Who is this Dwight guy?" then I will tell you. He's on one of the funniest shows ever "The Office" and he has a blog on nbc-http://blogs.nbc.com/office/. Here's one of his posts:

Hello everyone in the entire world. Dwight Schrute here with another blog entry.
I am very excited by everyone who has posted things on my blog. I don't understand all the jokes and I won't pretend to. I don't understand the kind of humor everyone is using.
I do appreciate all the people who seem to like me. They use words like "cool" and "awesome" and "hair-cut". Also, someone, posing as a woman perhaps, said that I was "strangely sexy". True. Too, too true.

I am, however, not looking to date right now. I am focussed on my career and my hobbies.
I could win saleman of the year this year and need to push paper. I need to make my clients feel like they are the most important people in the world (which they are!). I need to clean my desk. I need to go through my reports for any errors. I need to log in several hours on WORLD OF WARCRAFT until I can obtain a CRESTED HEATER SHIELD for my Dwarf Paladin, DAK SKRUT.I simply don't have time to date anyone of the opposite sex. Especially ones to be found on the internet (because generally they are less attractive). Also, there is a certain special someone who is stationed in Kuwait City from the Pennsylvania National Guard. This nameless woman may still be my "girlfriend". I'm not sure because she has re-upped three times in a row and seems to no longer have e-mail. Perhaps she'll read my blog when she's on shore leave. If she does, I hope she knows that I still have feelings for her and that I'm not mad any more.

That is all.

Dwight Schrute

God's cake

Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this?" or "Why did God have to do this to me?" Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, "Absolutely Mom, I love your cake."

"Here, have some cooking oil," her Mother offers. "Yuck" says her daughter.

"How about a couple raw eggs?" "Gross, Mom!"

"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?"

"Mom, those are all yucky!"

To which the mother replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful!

God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

May God bless you today!

Devotional time!

So...I get these devotionals emailed to me everyday. I like this nice reminder every morning when I read them. The one from today I really liked and thought it needed to be shared:

January 17, 2006

Waiting to Be Loved by John Fischer

The Lord is coming back! Christ’s return is imminent! Every generation believes theirs will be the one to see it. I certainly did, having been a young adult during the Jesus movement in the early 1970s. We were sure the return of Christ was right around the corner. We wrote songs about it. Hal Lindsay wrote a book about it. (The Late Great Planet Earth) Larry Norman even wrote a song to leave behind after we were gone! (“I Wish We’d All Been Ready”)

And here we are, thirty years later, balding “Jesus people” going to work and trying to provide a future for our children (and grandchildren!). Believe me, the Lord has heard from me a few times about this. There was something very glamorous about being part of a revival that would usher in the last days and the return of Christ, especially when you were twenty-four years old and single with nothing more than a pack on your back and a guitar at your side. Besides, we were part of a generation that prided itself in being anti-establishment, anti-mortgage, anti-credit card, and anti-insurance. We were going to just be one big love-in, living off the land and taking care of each other until Christ returned, which wasn’t supposed to be more than two or three years, max.

I reflect back on those years sometimes and see how selfish we were. Had we gotten our wish, many of you who are reading this now would not have existed. I think in some ways, every generation wants to be the last, especially when we face the dark side of our existence and long for heaven where there will be no more pain or sorrow.

But it’s not about us. It’s about all those who haven’t yet come into the family. “The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise to return, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so He is giving more time for everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9 NLT).

Shame on us for thinking only of ourselves! We’re so quick to scramble on the ark and then close the door and let the rains come. God is more concerned about those who might be left behind than we are, or else He would have returned years ago.

We need a new way of thinking about the Lord’s return. We can spend an inordinate amount of time picking over scripture trying to figure out exactly when it will happen, and then get into arguments with each other over exactly how we think it will happen, when the only reason it hasn’t happened yet is standing outside our door, waiting for our attention. God hasn’t returned for only one reason, someone who needs to know hasn’t heard about Him yet.

If you'd like these emailed to you daily, check it out: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/devotional.aspx

Scrapbooking and Colorado...oh la la!

What are we doing this spring/summer (so far)? I'm sure you're giddy with excitement to know!

April: Women's Convention in Gatlinburg
Scrapbook Conference at Opryland Hotel

May: Visiting a buddy in Longmont, CO ???

June 5-9: VBS!

Stay tuned for pics!

1 week away and counting! Sawyer~you look worried. Of course we'll be watching!

Happy New Year!!!

We're wishing everyone a safe, healthy and prosperous year. Here's to great times!