"...I Get so Eager, Doubting if You'll Take me There..."

Ross King has got to be one of my fav Christian artists. His lyrics are so true, humbling--uniquely and perfectly placed by the Spirit. Sullivan's Flaw is my old-school favorite of his. One line from the song "Another Place to Stand" particularly struck me lately--this is Ross talking to the Lord-- "...sometimes I wonder where I'm going next, I get so eager, doubting if you'll take me there." It resonated with me-- how often do I rush, even EAGERLY to doubt God's ability to take me to the next season in life, or much less, successfully complete the one I'm in? How convicting! How true. How often do we take a glance at how He miraculously got us through our "yesterday" and worry about the next step on the journey. The song talks the Christian walk and is an exclamation of true purpose! Here's to all of us who are wrestling with wondering if how God will take us to the next level spiritually, career-wise, or with motherhood. Lord, let me not be eager to doubt. You will take me to the other side (Luke 8:22). You have already planned how to get there.

While Ross probably would have no idea who I was if he saw me, he and his wife Stacy are actually good friends with my sister, Kayla. Hopefully they will be at the wedding!!!!! Another link -- my uncle, Steve Carr, actually produced the Sullivan's Flaw album. Here's a shout out to Steve and Righteous Rain productions! :)

Download "Another place to stand" today from iTunes and enjoy a good, heartfelt quiet time. The whole cd if you have time.....:) It's all good stuff.

Love to you~

Courtney

Elena and Sushi Rolls

....two of my favorites!

So, here's some fun pics from a dear friend's b-day celebration (Maci!). Pictured here is her little girl, Elena. I just love this first pic-- there's SO much of Clint in her! We went to Nami's restaurant to celebrate. Maci said she had a craving for sushi (cooked rolls)-- and combining that she is both the birthday girl and an expecting mother, I couldn't resist treating her to whatever she wanted. But, you know, it wasn't so much of a stretch for me(at all), as I LOVE Cali rolls, shrimp tempura myself.






The more she got used to me taking pics, the more she showed off with her new toy! Not that she is new to having pictures taken of her.

Here's the three of us..Maci said this was the first day Elena let her put that CUTE headband on her head. The next time I see Maci, she will have another little bundle of joy...any day now!

Today is Maci's real birthday! So, have a special day...Happy Birthday!

Oh, Jeremiah! El Fin!

Josh may be the only one who knows this, but I have been literally trying to read through the book of Jeremiah since high school. In 9th grade, I approached Meg, a good friend of mine, and asked her if she would join me in reading the Bible through--starting in 9th grade--so that we would finish by our senior year! So, I started. WELL--- I can't say that I did it all in high school, but I got pretty far. What I did get from those years was a great yearning and understanding of hte Old Testatment. In college, my roomate, Sommer, would announce (laughing with amusement) when she led her Bible Study group that if anyone needed an example from the Old Testament, they could always ask me. I guess, unknowingly, I had been sharing from the OT consistently at this point! Well, somewhere along the way, in college, I slowed down, and then slowed down again, drilling a hole in the sand and setting up a lounge chair facing the ocean right there in Jeremiah. Over the years, I have tried and tried to read through it...but a Beth Moore Bible study or personal devotionals would interrupt. I'm not saying those are "less than" studies; but nonetheless, there I was-- parked at big J. Would I ever move on? Finally this week, I reached the end of the book. I found it humorous that the last page of Jeremiah was tucked inside and literally STUCK inside the Bible. There was no way to read the last chapter unless I tore a couple of pages in my fav Bible. I remembered noticing this manmade flaw when I got the Bible in 1998. And here is when I noticed it again. Maybe it wasn't manmade-- could have been God spurring me on to overcome. Nevertheless, I grabbed Josh's Bible and finished the baby up. Time to pick up my seat by the beach and move on to greater things He has planned. I love Him! Praise Him for His follow-through!

Watergirl

Hey! I just wanted to post an accomplishment. Hopefully this will not come off as bragging, but to spur one another on! On Monday, I drank 68 ounces of water! I am supposed to drink 63 oz a day. This is my first day to do it in a LONG time...and to actually document it. YEAH! So- go for it girls...we can do it.

Mazatlan! The story!

So here I am --- our first night at Mazatlan. My view is of an infinity pool going into the Pacific, and to my right is my handsome hubby taking pictures of the sunset. And me.

The flight this morning was smooth and predictable. Which, for those of you who know my flight history post my senior year in high school, you know that is a wonderful thing. What wasn’t predictable was the time we were to land. The pilot announced that we were to land right on time—as stated on our boarding pass. And what, you may say, is unpredictable about that? Nothing really, because of the awesome God we have, Who constantly sends love surprises to us. We landed and were supposed to land, exactly at 10:23. This is a very special time of day for Josh and me—a.m. or p.m. because it is the time of day we remember God’s faithfulness to bring us together and we smile in love with each other when we see it. It started when I was in high school and I attributed Hebrews 10:23 to God’s faithfulness in providing. Years later, Josh was in my life as a miracle provision. So, what a way to begin the “vaca” (pronounced vay-cay) as we call it—blessed by God from the initial landing.

We arrived in Mazatlan (at 10:23 MX time) and we had to wait a little while before our room was ready. We quickly made friends with another couple from the US- Tony and Katie. They had also been married 4 years. They shared with us that they bought a timeshare and said we’d be perfect candidates for one as well, being so close to the coast in Houston (they were from Ohio). We smiled (They didn't know yet that we were big Dave Ramsey fans--and trying not to spend!) They were cool, though! We ran into them everywhere we went for those few hours while we were both waiting for our rooms to be ready. Finally, a man named Jesus said he would send someone to check on preparing a place for us. How Biblical is that?

Veinte… …gotta love this story. The first day in Pueblo Bonito in Mazatlan, I was, of course, scoping out the souvenir shop/on-site grocery store. I was showing off my espanol- Courtney Style. Josh was very impressed at first with my “Cuanto Cuesto?” to the uniformed employee. However, the little man answered something that was about 4 syllables more than I expected, and Josh just remembers looking over at my confused face as I said a big Texan, “Huh?” The man repeated himself—again—not to my understanding. “Twenty” he finally said. Josh cracked up about that for days—running around the hotel, following me, saying “veinte.” I was so embarrassed that when we went back in that night to buy a snack—we found something else unmarked w/ a price and even though we were at a DIFFERENT deli… guess who was working that cashier? So, my Love asked for the price for us. Thanks, Honey!

Josh and I are similar on a lot of things—except book reading. A good fiction, John Grisham could keep him occupado for hours at the pool, while my brain thrives on non-fiction that’s interesting and not too-too serious (I mean, we are on vaca here). So J listened to an audio book this week for his leisure- -The Appeal. Over one of our meals together, he was telling me about some of the characters and the different voices the narrator played. It made me think about some of what made this trip really fun—the people we met. It was like we stepped into a book—live. We had the opportunity to meet and really get to know the life details of some fellow vacationers.

C & A

Ok so here’s a “Hola” (that’s a “Hollah”) J to Cody and Angela. We met them our first full day in Mazatlan and we became close after spending the afternoon with Alfredo and sharing a pnunomia (the Mazatlan over-sized golf cart used for transportation). We found out they had been married only 4 days! They are from Ocean City Maryland, where he serves in the Coast Guard and she is an 8th grade Algebra teacher. You could get Cody’s attention by saying any of the following phrases: “Vamanos a la casa” or “When in Rome.” Here’s a pic of us eating out with C & A at Pedro Y Lola—best food in town. The restaurant had outdoor piano/sax/guitar dinner music, and we ate right on the street of the town square, where they mark off the streets on Fri and Sat nights.

Morales' from Louisiana

Another family we met – the Morales’. Mom and Dad (Tammy and CJ) and daughters, Destiny and Keeley. They were so much fun to hang out with. Cody and Angela met them at the Mexican fiesta on Wed night, and they joined us at the town square that evening. They were from Baton Rouge, LA. I took a special liking to Keeley, as she reminded me a lot of myself at that age. Besides the fact she was very cute and funny (I’m kidding)… she was always looking out for everything. She was very worried about the taxi driver we had that evening. He not only gave us a ride that almost had us falling out of the truck, but he kinda waited around for us to eat b/c he wanted to make some money giving us a ride home. Yikes. Keeley did not want that to happen and seemed to be worried that it would. Just like me! I cracked up just watching her—reminding us that she didn’t want to go back with him and blaming me for him keeping an eye on us b/c I was wearing a bright orange shirt. God used that to remind me that I get a little too worried at times and He watches over me just like we were all watching out for Keeley and she had nothing to worry about (well, if we HAD gotten back in the car with that guy, then there would have been due cause). But we didn’t. The Morales’ were great. I introduced myself to the dad, CJ as “CJ, Courtney Jo” myself. We had a good laugh at that. Great family with yes, Destiny,—a great golden tan—and golden hearts as well.