Cake Testing and Other Insights

It was almost better than Christmas... When in your life is it ever really okay to have three different cakes before you and be able to eat them too? Cake testing for your wedding!

Cale and I went to our caterer (our friend Rachel Altman) to try three different types: Italian Creme, Butter Cream, and Vanilla. Creative, I know. But I firmly believe wedding cakes are supposed to be white or cream colored, well at least mine is. After a fewnights of sleeping over it, I've decided I'll take the Italian Creme Cake WITHOUT THE PECANS. (I also firmly believe my wedding cake should not be crunchy.)

So honestly, I have no insights about picking out a cake. It was just a fun experience to share with my handsome man.

However, Cale and I are starting the book When Sinners Say "I Do" by Dave Harvey which has provided me with some different insights. I shared with my grandfather a quote from the book,

"...A great marriage - a God glorifying, soul inspiring, life enduring union - springs from the conviction that we are sinners." p. 15

Poppa's response: "Do you need a book to tell you that? Yes that's true, but in the midst of working through that stuff, it's a blast!"
He proceeded to share with me a memory of him and my grandmother as newlyweds. He and a friend caught a huge bag of bullfrogs and helped my Nana cook their legs. Just as he was biting into one of the bullfrog's legs at their little table, he heard my young Nana scream. From the back door, an amputated frog was crawling into their tiny apartment. Though she was livid at the time, this experienced provided them with laughter for years and years .

Poppa often thinks that his advice is always best; better than any book a person could read or sermon a pastor could give. Sometimes it might be, sometimes it isn't.

I do believe we need a book to show us our sinfulness: We need the Bible to reveal to us our sinfulness, to convict us of our sin, to call us to repentance and show us the way to freedom.

"So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. " Romans 7:12-14

If it weren't for the Bible, we would not understand our sin and would not have the hope given by Jesus Christ. But Poppa is right in a lot of ways. Experiences allow us to see firsthand our sinfulness in real, tangible ways. They also allow us to practice grace, forgiveness, and love. Though Cale and I are sinners, we have the freedom to enjoy life fully, laugh together, cry together, and walk through this adventure together because of God's grace. I'm glad we have people in our lives who teach us, and preach Truth to us. I'm thankful for people who write books who teach us about how to live Godly lives. But I'm also thankful to just have a blast with Cale, facing the blessings and struggles of marriage each day as they come.

Registering Adventure

Registering was such an adventure!

We started at Target on an early Sunday morning just after Thanksgiving with the mindset that certain things had to be picked from there, other items from another store, and completely separate items from a third place. We went into to Target thinking, "no kitchen stuff here, we'll register for that stuff at Bed Bath and Beyond." It made things frustrating at times, constantly asking the question, "Should we register for the spatulas here or somewhere else?" We would get stuck.

However, once satisfied with our Target registry, we headed to Macy's and talked with a very helpful lady who gave us a lot of tips regarding how to register. It was freeing to realize that we could double register for things! People want options when picking from a registry. Once that clicked, the registering process became fun! We spent a whole Sunday at Macy's and Bed Bath and Beyond. Cale became a real pro at shooting the registry code, and we learned a lot about each other's taste for what we wanted in our home.

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of it all and even become anxious, too.
I remember thinking, "What if I don't get the Kitchen Aid Mixer, or all of my china sets?"
Wow.

Now, I'm not saying registering is evil; I think it is a good way to help others help you start building a home, but I realized how entitled I felt to receive all of these things I wanted. Cale and I talked about this and came to the conclusion that it is a lot of fun picking out things for our marriage, but it needs to be done with a humble heart, knowing we deserve none of these things, and whatever we do receive from friends and family will be such a blessing.

Sorting Through Things

It's like staring at a huge pile of laundry that hasn't been washed in weeks. How do I even begin sorting through everything? What should I choose to work on first? What's actually dirty and what's clean but I was too lazy to put back on the hangers after I tried it on and chose not to wear it?

Did I take the analogy too far? haha

How could I possibly write about all the amazing and wonderful changes that have been going on in my life? It is terribly unfortunate that my blog life has suffered due to this crazy new season; documenting the experiences of falling in love, being sanctified by God's gift of engagement, and planning a wedding are all things I desire to do.

That leaves me back to the question, where do I begin? Well for starters, here is story of Cale and me along with more details about out wedding. The website is not complete, but it will be soon!

The date is set: March 12, 2011

The location is secure: Our ceremony will be held at Westminster Presbyterian in Bryan with the reception at the Giddings Stone Mansion in Brenham

The dress is purchased and being altered as we speak: Agh!

The guest list (oh my!) is complete... now on to collecting addresses!

And now we've moved on to details details details: I'm anxiously awaiting the holidays so I can forget about school and focus my attention on planning our wedding.

Hopefully, I'll keep you posted blog world and not let everything pile up like this again!

A Living Prayer

Alison Krauss and Union Station
Possibly my favorite song on their album, Lonely Runs Both Ways

The Sartin's Day at the Beach

August 8, 2010

What a lovely day in Galveston with such wonderful people.

Rereading Prayer Journals is Good for Two Things

I began, by God's grace, to consistently keep a prayer journal in the Spring of 2009. Since then I've filled three of them with prayers, sermon notes, Bible study notes, anecdotes on life etc.. Recently I decided to read through them, and have discovered that doing so is good for two things:

1.Reminders of God's faithfulness as He either answers prayers, chooses to close doors, or reveals to you areas in which you've grown

and/or

2. A good laugh

For example:

"Somewhere in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,
I
lost
myself.
Abba Father I pray that I would lose myself in Your Word..." (12.29.2010)

It was a heartfelt prayer, and I think it's important to be filling my mind with things that point me to the cross and the Gospel message daily. But looking back on this prayer, I have to chuckle. Honestly I'd rather cringe and hide my face in embarrassment after such an opening to a prayer. But I think it's good to not take yourself so seriously. There is freedom in being able to laugh at yourself... and I don't think a few months of growing up will change the fact that I'll have plenty more silly conversations with the Lord.

Sunflower

"I encourage you to be like a dolphin in the sea of our egalitarian, gender-leveling culture. Don't be like a jellyfish. The ocean of secularism that we swim in (including much of the church) drifts toward minimizing serious differences between manhood and womanhood. The culture swings back and forth as to whether women are mainly sex objects or senior vice presidents. But rarely does it ponder the biblical vision that men are called to humbly lead and protect and provide, and women are called to come in alongside with their unique gifts and strengths and help the men carry through the vision. I pray that you will be stirred...to pursue mature manhood and womanhood. More is at stake than we know. God has made marriage the showcase of his covenant love where the husband models Christ, and the wife models the church (Ephesians 5:21-33). And God calls single people to bless this vision and to cultivate an expression of leadership and support appropriate to their different relationships."

-John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence

Kid Pics

I always enjoy Friday Funnies from the Apel family's blog; the frankness and honesty of children is so refreshing and always good for a laugh. As a college student I spend quite a bit of time with families; living with one, serving in a church full of young families, and babysitting for one specifically every day. I've spent the last two years helping out the Gessner family and have grown quite fond of their kids. Yesterday Gunnar made me laugh so hard when he woke up, sleep still in his eyes and grumbled,

"Wanna hear my dream? I was Garfield and Otie got turned into a alien and I had a gun... (pause)... and I shot him... (insert some strange mumblings)... he had red eyes."

Gosh I love these kids. More fun pics to come I'm sure!

"...Hope helps us dream. Hope helps us think up ways to do good. Hope helps us pursue our ventures with virtue and integrity. It's hopelessness that makes people think they have to lie and steal and seize illicit pleasures for the moment. But hope, based on the confidence that a sovereing God is for us, gives us a thrilling impulse that I call strategic righteousness."

John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence

NEXT thought of the day.

"Grace is not a thing, there is only Jesus himself that was crucified that he might give us more of himself."
-Sinclair Ferguson

Prodigal

They sang this song at the NEXT Conference.
Gone are vague lyrics about God being good; this worship song is a beautiful portrait of our hearts toward God, and how He pursues and loves us.
Amazing.

NEXT, Here We Come

A few months ago after having breakfast with some friends I had a heart-sinking revelation: I've spent most of my life trying to honor the Lord and please Him based on how I viewed Him only to realize I didn't really know much about Him. I'd grown up in church just assuming what I was taught from people was true.

But what if it wasn't?

Literally a few days later I received a flier from a friend saying,

"We all base our lives on what we believe God is like, but is what we believe actually true?"

Wow. I was intrigued as I opened the flier and read more about the NEXT Conference. (Was the play on words intended? I have no idea... haha) It's a conference that will allow young believers like me to explore essential doctrines of the Christian faith, consider who God really is, what He accomplished through Jesus, and how the Bible should guide us in our lives.

So tomorrow we leave for NEXT. I can't wait to post about what God teaches me and how He speaks to my soul on the trip. My hope is that He would stir my affections for Him in a violent way, so I might seek Him in His Word in a passionate way. I'm looking forward to just enjoying the fellowship of other believers (those I'm going with and those I meet along the way) and growing from our conversations like I did while at Passion 2010. I'm excited for the ROAD TRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP! Did I mention it was in Baltimore, Maryland?

According to Google Maps, the trip is going to take 1 full day. Hahahahaha I'm laughing at our insanity... I mean, look at this map! That's a lot of driving, I've never gone this far north on the globe before. We're only young for a short time, so why not drive it, right?

We all went grocery shopping today for the drive and were like little kids in a candy shop when we saw the "make your own trail mix" aisle at HEB. (I'm getting an early start on documenting!) Oh how I'm looking forward to this trip!

Jeremy, Cale, Rachel, and Eric

It's been one of those days...

...where you just have to sing the gospel to yourself.

Feels like I've been singing this song to myself all morning.

Especially the part that says:

We are pressed but not crushed

Perplexed but don't despair

We are persecuted but never abandoned

We are no longer slaves

We are daughters and sons

And when we are week we are very strong.

And neither death

nor life

nor present

nor future

nor depth

nor height

can keep us from the love of Christ

And the Word I need is the Word that was

Who put on flesh to dwell with us

In the beginning...

And the Word was,

And the Word is,

And the Word will be.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Foxtrot Fun

I don't usually watch Prime Time television.
But I was hanging out with my friend Anna and we started watching Dancing with the Stars.
Everyone raved about Nicole and Derek's paso doble, but this one was my favorite. Like one of the judges said, it was "one and half minutes of pure dancing joy!" Hope it makes you happy today :)

Sister

Jillian Reed.

Isn't she lovely?

From Unveiled to the Jean Pool

I used to hate my middle name.
Jean.
I was jealous of all my friends that had the middle name Elizabeth.
I also used to hate Toby Mac.
And onions.
And wearing glasses.

Clearly things change and usually we acquire tastes for things we used to find disgusting.
I now love my middle name.
I share it with my precious grandmother.

I also used to call ice cream, hice cream
Back packs, pack packs
Vanilla, banilla
and cantaloupe, hand lotion. (no joke.)


So what is the point of this post?
I'm changing the title of this blog and calling it (more accurately) what it actually is.

The Jean Pool. (Gotta love puns)

Unveiled was me trying to overspiritualize my blog; you know, slap a bible verse theme on it and call it a day. It would be one thing if I always talked about the Gospel on here, but I don't. Sometimes I talk about my faith, but it is so much more than that.
This blog is really a collection, a pool if you will, of thoughts, pictures, videos, etc... that are either created by me or others who inspire me.

So here's to change and calling things what they are.

Pretty.

Water Talks

Saw this on Brooke Fraser's blog.

Wow!

I wonder though how much clean water was used to get this message across though... haha

Way to be a critic, Jessie.

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

Bit by Bit and a Little Something Extra

I do enjoy reading blogs, but I try not to spend too much time on the internet. Even good surfing can be a distraction to the responsibilities and commitments we already have. That being said, I particularly love keeping up with the girltalk blog by the Mahaney women of Sovereign Grace Ministries. They posted a quote today that I found very helpful regarding how to deal with the various struggles and trials we face and I thought I'd pass it along to those of you who read this little blog.

Connect one bit of Scripture to one bit of life. In other words, always ask two questions of yourself and others: What is your current struggle? What about God in Christ connects to this?...Bring one bit of the Bible into one bit of life…You can’t deal with it all at once. Scripture never does…But a timely text brings truth down to a consumable size…change walks out in the details…This is how God made it to be. This is how He works.”

-David Powlison, "Think Globally, Act Locally," Journal of Biblical Counseling, Volume 22, Number 1, (Fall 2003): 2-10.

And something extra I'd like to add; I saw this video yesterday promoting a book called Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris. I thought it was so creative and it really changed the way I view studying God's Word. Hope it does the same for you!

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

Fireflies and Songs

Sara Groves is a recent favorite of mine. Apparently she's been around a while, but I discovered her through Pandora Radio last semester. If you've never listened to her music, I'd first recommend her Add to the Beauty Album, her Live from Messiah College EP. Both communicate really beautiful pictures of the Gospel in every song. My favorites are "When it was Over, You are the Sun, and Just Showed up for My Own Life" from Add to the Beauty. All four songs from the EP are phenomenal and have probably become the most played songs on my iPod while walking on campus.

(On a side note, if I were the star of my own movie, Compelled would be the closing song. You know, the part of the movie where the heroine has already faced some sort of trial, but has hope and confidence in her future? The scene right before the credits. Listen to this song, close your eyes, and just picture a film sequence of me walking to the beat, hands in pockets wearing a scarf on campus. First the camera would be shooting me from a profile angle of my shoulders up, looking down pensively. Then when the song picks up, the wind would gently blow against my hair, the camera would switch to a complete full view of me and I'd look up at the sky with small smile, like it's all going to be okay... then the movie would say "The End" in pretty cursive writing. haha)

Anyway, I purchased Sara's newest album, Fireflies and Songs last week or so. I love it. It's different than the other two albums I have though, instead of trying to specifically communicate truth and doctrine, she sings about matters of the heart, her home, and life.
When her songs play, it's like I'm back at home in my old bed with my mom sitting with me as I fall asleep, gently brushing the hair out of my face. It's wonderful and I thought I'd share.