New Layout, New Member of our Family!

I can finally blog about it... Bo & I are going to have a baby!!! Yay! The baby should arrive around April 29th-ish, according to WebMD. I don't go to the Dr. for a couple of weeks. We are so excited!!

Home Sweet Home

Bo & I moved into our first house on Saturday!! I am so humbled and blessed by our family and friends who helped us move! My parents and brother have made numerous trips to BG to help us tear down wallpaper, paint, and hook up appliances - their help has been appreciated beyond words! I watched in awe as the truck parade carried our stuff from Summit to Fairview - it was really a sweet moment. I am continually convinced that God made us needy of other people. Life would be really hard and dull without our family and friends.

Bo & I are so thankful that God has allowed us to be part of such a sweet community.

Top 10 Vacation Moments Thus Far

1. The Word
2. Sweet hours of prayer
3. Laying on the beach and counting the stars with my hubby
4. Fondue Night
5. The Word
6. Wet flip-flop racing with Bo
7. Game night every night
8. Shopping!
9. The Pool! Especially all the kiddos at the pool - they are hilarious to listen and watch.
10. Did I mention The Word?

Hilton Head '09!

Vacation has arrived! Bo & I closed on our house on Thursday, and left Friday right after work with my brother, and drove 13 hours to the beach! Good food, good fellowship, relaxation, A LOT of laughter, some good competition, and last but certainly not least, sweet sweet time with My Lord.

I have always loved the ocean. I almost felt overwhelmed as we walked along the shore yesterday. Bo & I spend some time on the beach last night, looking at the moon and stars. We got our own little personal fireworks show from people playing with their 4th of July goodies. Bo & I were reflecting on what we had studied during our quiet times, and the 2 books I dove into, and both of us were just feeling amazed by the God we serve. He really is worth giving our whole lives to. I've really been experiencing God's peace, and know that I can only have true peace through Him.

I don't know what it is about being out in nature, but I meet with God deeply when I am breathing in His creation. God's sweet and tender whispers are as overwhelming as the vastness of the ocean. They take my breath away. I am thankful that God, in all His grace and mercy, not only gives us joy in all things, but woo's our hearts and satisfies our innermost desires.

Wrestling with God - Literally?

Jacob wrestled with God - literally, physically. Are you kidding me? I have been studying the Bible with 2 amazing women who are reading through Genesis for the first time. We've been amazed at the insestry, deceit, and sin of the Old Testament accounts. Jacob manipulated his way into God's blessing, but God blessed him anways. God's grace and mercy is really obnoxious. His love for His people, truely unconditional. Although God's heart is grieved and saddened when we are disobedient and sin, but he is never taken by surprise and He's never disappointed. God knows we're going to fail, He knew it before "the beginning."

One of the names of God is El Roi (pronounced: El Roy) - The God who sees me. God knows us. God knew Jacob, and how he was going to gain the blessing. So why did God enter into a physical wrestling match with Jacob?? How does that come about? And it lasted to daybreak... God inflicted a supernatural blow to Jacob's hip. It's hard to fathom.

I love that God always gives me new things to think about and presses my belief's.

Late Night Ponderings on Eternity

It's 12:30 a.m., and that's pretty late in my world! :) I have been wrestling with God lately, and I found some sweet Scripture to ponder to get out of my self-focused rut, and onto the sweet final dance of redemption.

Revelation 22:1-5 is titled "The River of Life," which alone gives me chills, and if that's not enough... the very next heading is "Jesus is Coming!" Yippy! Or more like Hallelujah!!! The nations will be healed, sin will be gone, we will worship God - face to face! Sign me up for my forehead tattoo!! haha :)

Last summer my eyes were opened and my heart deeply broken for those who worship other gods. The reality that people do have a desire to worship something bigger than themselves, yet follow after something other than the God who is real, who answers prayer, and gives life. One day "every knee will bow and tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord," and I want to help people find the King of Kings, who will reign forever, and who's light will illuminate the land for all of eternity.

The River of Life
1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

TGIF!!!!!

This week has been absolutely crazy at work! We are getting ready to add another companies accounting work to ours, and they are about the same size as our company. We have doubled the size of our accounting department to accomodate, but between training 2 newbies, and trying to stay on top of my work, the days have been flying by! It's one of those things that I love because my adrenaline is pumping all day, which isn't typical for the accounting profession :) haha




Anywho, Bo & I had a lot of fun last night at a party our friends had called "The JASCARS!" Our friends Josh Coy and Amy Seiffert turn 30 within a couple of months of each other, and they threw this formal party for people to submit 5 minute or less films, in hopes of receiving a JASCAR award at the end of the night. Bo & I went to Goodwill on Wednesday to find some formal getup to wear, which was a lot of fun because we were trying on crazy clothes in the middle of the store.

Josh and Amy introducing the videos.

Bo & I outside the Cla-zel.

Me taking pictures of myself in the car on the way home, and almost causing an accident because the flash was so bright! haha

My Man! Isn't he handsome? I love him! :)

See more pics at www.picasaweb.google.com/ErinKessler246