multitude monday.

"i pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. and i pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of christ, and to know this love that suprasses knowledge--that you may be filled ot the measure of all the fullness of god.

now to him who his able to do immeasureably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us."

eph. 3:16-20

79. thinking about god's love for me today... how he cares about the little things. his plans for me. his hope, peace and love.

80. valentine's date with nick; how there is no other place i'd rather be than in our home, wearing our pj's, eating sushi take out on our couch. we've come along way since our first valentine's day date four years ago!

81. squeezing my little girl and remembering last valentines day feeling her wiggling in my swollen belly.

82. my family and how we support, encourage and love one another.

83. friends all over the country--some who have known me through many seasons of my life--and how we have had the privilege of walking with one another and supporting each other through the valleys, and rejoicing with one another on the mountaintops.

84. the lavish blessings and richness of christ's love... not in material ways... but in far more important ones.

happy valentine's day!

what's for breakfast this morning {easy cinnamon rolls}.

these cinnamon rolls are not only scrumptious and easy, but they hold a special place in my heart. when we got home from the hospital with bella, we were blessed with meals and goodies from lots of friends and family. some of our friends, the lovely zimmermans, brought us some *delish* goodies our first day at home. penney is an amazing cook, so we were especially excited :) among the deliciousness were these yummy cinnamon rolls that we would pop in our toaster oven to warm before popping them into our hungry-and-sleep-deprived-but-so-in-love-with-our-new-bundle bellies. the key? these are made with bisquick mix, so they are super simple. as well as delish. have i mentioned that yet?

well, they are.

perfect for a saturday morning breakfast. i have two additional girlies in my home this morning from a sleepover last night and they requested these from when i made them last time :) can't wait until bella can eat them, too!

easy cinnamon rolls

* 2 1/4 c. bisquick mix

* 2/3 c. milk

* 6 T. butter, softened

* 1/4 c. white sugar

* 1/2 c. light brown sugar, divided

* cinnamon to taste

- preheat oven to 450 degrees.

- mix bisquick and milk until dough is formed. sprinkle countertop with flour and turn out dough onto the surface. knead 3 or 4 times.

- roll dough into long rectangle. spread 3 T. of softened butter onto dough. sprinkle white sugar and 1/4 c. brown sugar over butter and top with cinnamon to taste.

- roll dough from the bottom, making a long, thin log. cut into eight slices. place rolls in a sprayed pan and bake for 10-12 minutes.

- while baking rolls, melt 3 T. and stir in remaining 1/4 c. brown sugar. when cinnamon rolls are finished, pour brown-sugar-butter over the top and allow to cool before eating.

not only do they taste delicious, but they make your house smell absolutely *scrumptious*.

enjoy! yum.

before--or after--you say "i do" (part two).

if you missed the first part, you can find it here. this is an article i wrote for a friend's blog a few years ago about three pitfalls in dating/marriage that can lead to hardship within the relationship. here's part two.

thinking marriage is about happiness

one of my favorite books on marriage is sacred marriage by gary thomas. it caught my eye once because of the tagline of the book which reads, "what if god designed marriage to make us holy rather than happy?" this sentence can singlehandedly revolutionize the way we look at marriage. i can't tell you how many women and couples i see in my office on a weekly basis, complaining about their marriages because they are just not "happy" anymore. this thought not only applies to our marriages, but it beckons us to look more deeply into the sole purpose of life. is it to make us happy? or does life exist so that we can make god happy? in his book, gary speaks to this thought as he writes:

"one of the reasons i am determined to keep my marriage together is not because doing so will make me happier (although i believe it will); not because i want my kids to have a secure home (although i do desire that); not because it would tear me up to watch my wife having to start over (although it would). the first reason i keep my marriage together is because it is my christian duty. if my life is based on proclaiming christ's message to the world, i don't want anything to challenge that message. and how can i proclaim reconciliation when i seek dissolution? this analogy of reconciliation does more than merely provide the purpose for our marriage. it also helps us live out this purpose 'even when lightening strikes'... if i'm married only for my happiness, and my happiness wanes for whatever reason, one little spark will burn the entire forest of my relationship." (sacred marriage, p. 37)

many people in their single phase of life buy into the lie that "if only i were married, i would be happy". i certainly fell victim to this thought from time to time. this is when marriage begins to be elevated in one's life as the source of ultimate happiness. sure, marriage brings about so many wonderful blessings; with that, it also brings about a different set of trials, a different set of difficulties. this is where the "becoming holy" process begins. just two months into our marriage, my husband and i had a fairly severe falling out with some family and it impacted us greatly. being newly married, we were still trying to adjust to this new life and now this conflict was looming over us. it felt as though we were dragging a huge cinder block behind us in the months that followed. it was heavy and exhausting. i remember sitting on the couch one day, both of us in tears, as i told my husband i just wanted us to be able to enjoy being newlyweds. i wanted that bliss, that giddiness, that chance to just sail through life for a while, enjoying the benefits of marriage that were still new and exciting. instead, the lord allowed this huge hardship to slap us in the face so early on. i was angry. it just didn't seem fair.

being on the other side of this conflict now, and seeing how god used it in our marriage, however painful it was, i wouldn't trade that time in our life together for anything in the world. the lord used it to remind me that his desires for my marriage with my husband are so much greater than mine. i thought i wanted a blissful, easy, smooth, happy marriage, but i know that my heart longs for something so much deeper. i long for passion, for a profound sense of connection with my husband that comes as the result of working through conflict and hardship. not only that; but god longs for something deeper in my marriage as well. he longs to make me more like him.

don't give in to our culture's lie that finding love will make you happy; that marriage is all about our comfort, our satisfaction, our fulfillment. i believe it's important for us to develop a healthy sense of marriage while we are still single... not only that, but developing a healthy view of life in general. it's not about our happiness. it's about our holiness.

**part 3 coming soon...

better than a sparrow.

tonight bel&i got some precious girl time. nick had a game out of town, so we came home and got to hang out... just the two of us.

she has this praise&worship dvd that i *love* watching with her. i got her in her jammies and we sat in the recliner and rocked as we watched it together. it's amazing how many times god has tugged at my heart while reading bella stories out of her "baby bible" or in watching these baby videos... god works in mysterious ways.

this song brought tears to my eyes tonight:

"this is my father's world, and to my listening ears

all nature sings and round me rings

the music of the spheres.

this is my father's world i rest me in the thought

of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;

his hand the wonders wrought.

this is my father's world.

o let me ne'er forget

that though the wrong seems oft so strong

god is the ruler yet.

this is my father's world:

the battle is not done

jesus, who died shall be satisfied

and earth and heaven be one."

love. it.

it makes me think of the passage in matthew (10:29-31) that outlines god's love for us: "are not two sparrows sold for a penny? yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your father. and even the very hairs on your head are all numbered. so don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

as i take in the world around me... especially now through the eyes of my daughter... i am struck so often with the majesty of it's creator. and even more so, the fact that the creator of this world and all it's intricacies is the holder of my heart.

{let that soak in for a moment}.

i love reading psalm 8 where david is thinking these very thoughts. he says: "when i consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" (v. 3,4)

jesus, may i see more of you--your power, your love, your indescribable beauty--in the world around me. in bella's laugh and twinkling eyes. in the quiet stillness of the night air. in the sun bringing it's glistening warmth. in the barren, old fingers of dark, gnarly trees and the white blossoms of spring signaling new life.

this is my father's world. and he intimately cares for everything in it... even the sparrows. and i mean far more to him than they.

(i couldn't resist: how could i write this blog with the word sparrow in the title and not think about "his eye is on the sparrow" from sister act 2... i know, i know so old but it still gives me goosebumps every time. enjoy.)

multitude monday.

68. snow&ice in dallas; and how it caused life to slow down for a whole week.
69. going to sleep under a mound of blankets, watching fluffy snowflakes falling from the sky.
70. waking up at 3 am to the sound of sleet hitting the window and knowing that nick will have a snow day.
71. coffee on cold days.
72. bella's rosy cheeks and red button nose.
73. endless games with friends.
74. the superbowl. most specifically watching the steelers lose the superbowl.
75. the way bella sleeps with her little bottom sticking up in the air. so. cute.
76. movie nights on the couch with the husband. perfect.
77. salt&pepper kettle cooked chips.
78. looking around my home and seeing it filled with people i love. having fun, eating together, laughing and playing with my daughter. blessed.

before--or after--you say "i do" (part one).

one thing i'm passionate about (if you haven't figured this out already) is improving marriages in our society. i wrote this article a few years ago when i was working as a counselor on staff at irving bible church. it was for a friend of ours who asked me to create something for his blog and a series he was doing on singleness, dating and marriage. robert asked me to write on three things i thought contributed to hardship in marriage. whether you are single, dating or married i think it's important to challenge ourselves in this area. we can (and should) always be improving ourselves, which in turn, will improve our relationships.

with valentine's day around the corner, i decided to dig out this article and post it in a three part series on my blog. it challenges me to stay proactive in my marriage and i hope that it may encourage and challenge you--whether single or married--to live out what jesus calls us to.

part one.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------as we look around it is impossible to deny the state of marriage today in our society.

divorces are happening at an alarming rate, our society tells us if we're not "happy" to jump ship, and mainstream media seemingly applauds adultery presenting it as a glamorous option within marriage. it would be highly negligent of us as a Church not to examine the cracks in the sanctity of marriage within our culture to see what is at the root of its brokenness. as i have met with countless men and women as a pastoral counselor, i have seen several patterns contributing to such pitfalls within marriage. i'd like to outline three of them in this article--three ways to increase the likelihood of conflict and hardship within your marriage... current or future.

making marriage your everything

this pitfall establishes itself early on... well before marriage in most cases. our hearts begin to long for the love of a person who will live life with us. this desire in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing; however, it can become very harmful if marriage is set as "life's biggest goal". before we know it, we've begun putting our life on hold until "the one" comes and sweeps us off our feet. this is where the danger begins. when this poor person does come, unbeknownst to them, they have all the pressure of the world on their shoulders because we have made them our everything...the fulfillment of all of our dreams, our satisfaction, our first love, our main goal in life.

can you see the danger here? i remember struggling with this so much at times during my singleness. i wanted so badly to have that companion, that best friend, that man i was going to do life with. i had ten... yes, ten... bridesmaids dresses hanging in my closet, one of them i wore in my sister's wedding who is almost four years younger than me. i remember it being a struggle to fully live and enjoy those years being single. and now, as hard and lonely as they were at times, i have moments of missing them because they were some of the sweetest years of my life.

jesus found me in that season and helped me see that it was HIM and me doing life together. i remember my dad telling me "megan, even after you get married, it's always going to be you and jesus." if the lord did have marriage for me, i wanted my husband to be attracted to me because of the way i was running after jesus and making him my life... because that's what i wanted to do together in our marriage.

i have also seen married couples who make marriage their everything and at some point in their journey together, they're bound to be sorely disappointed. god made us for relationship. and that doesn't mean just with our spouse; it means with his people--single, married, old and young. period. once couples return from their honeymoon, there is a temptation to shut others out and just enjoy each other. while this definitely needs to happen at times to grow and enrich a martial relationship, there is so much joy that takes place in reaching out to others, getting involved in ministry, having alone time and time with individual friends (girl time/guy time) that is essential for a healthy, happy marriage. in their book just how married do you want to be?, authors jim and sarah sumner touch on the importance of living in community as a married couple:

"every christian couple needs to be in christian community. couples who get along well need it every bit as much as couples who argue and fight. being active in christ's body is part of what it means to love the church's head, christ jesus. authentic christian community is interpersonal. being in it is not the same as merely attending church. to be in christian community is to be relationally connected with other people who are connected to jesus christ." (just how married do you want to be? p. 156)

this again, is a pattern that begins in a dating relationship; before one even enters marriage. if you're dating, make sure to surround your relationship with community. not only will this help establish a sense of accountability for both you and your partner, but it will also keep your sole focus and attention off of each other and help remind you both that there is a world that exists outside your dating relationship! stay grounded in your church community, in your friendships. don't center your entire life around your romantic relationship. this will only assist in creating a pattern of unhealthiness in your relationship. make sure you're spending time apart and enjoying your own individual friendships, ministries and activities. if you're expecting your spouse to be your everything, you're setting yourself up for disappointment and you're guaranteed to cause your spouse undue frustration. that is *not* the way god designed marriage to be. he wants to be our number one love, passion and desire. no one and nothing else is designed to fulfill that position in our lives, including our spouse.

when my husband and i were first falling in love, he always made a point to tell me that i was his "second love." he told me that i will never be his first, nor should he ever be mine. i found myself getting annoyed when he would tell me that; it sounded so abrasive to me! now, i'm so thankful that my husband reminds me of that because it reminds me of my place in his life, and where his place in mine should be. this order was not instituted after we walked down the aisle; it was established in each of our lives long before we met one another. this only helped us keep god where he needs to be--as number one; not only in our individual lives, but in our life together.

**stay tuned for parts 2 and 3...

snow storm six.

so this post title took a lot of brain power on my part. instead of "thursday three" i wanted to do something different for this week... since it's been, well, a different week. dallas has been hammered by winter weather this week, which caused the entire city to shut down from tuesday until saturday morning. businesses, offices and schools were closed. streets were just sheets of ice. cars were spinning out all over the roads. people were losing power. and just when we all thought it was about to be over, we went to bed thursday night watching it snow and woke up friday morning to over five inches of powdery white! for a city that seemingly has one snowplow to take care of every snow-covered street in the entire dallas-fort worth metroplex, and a salt/sand supply that doesn't know icy roads, this was a week we will not soon forget. so crazy... and for the cornwell three: so fun.

so i bring you: the snow storm six. our top six favorite things about this snowy, icy week when dallas shut down and life slowed for just a little while.

clever, i know. here goes.

1. school cancellations. ahhhh yes, i still feel like a child in grade school growing up in maine, where we actually had snow days because of... well, snow. but here in dallas if the word ice is breathed from the lips of any weather man or woman, i am anxiously awaiting news that nick will be home for the day. it is like music to my ears and i am a giddy eight year old girl all over again.

2. mexican train dominoes. this goes without saying. the best all-day-play-forever game in the entire world.

3. family time. i truly began living for the weekends when i became a mom. i *love* our time as a family to relax and be together. it's also nice to have an extra hand with baby-duty, too and nick is beyond helpful. we were given the best gift this week to have four days together when we otherwise would've been apart. love. it.

4. f.r.i.e.n.d.s. the tv show and the real thing. nick&i love getting in bed at night and watching our boxed dvd sets of our fav show. not going to lie i think we've watched all ten seasons maybe three times through in the almost-three-years we've been married. it makes us laugh and something we both love. this week we stayed up extra late and thursday night got to get in bed to watch tv with the curtains open in our bedroom, big snowflakes falling outside. so cozy. we also happen to live in the same apartment complex as some of our best friends. which makes snow days even better. every day we walked to each other's homes, shared meals together, played games, stayed up late and even walked to starbucks and walmart when we got really stir crazy. we are so blessed by our friends!

5. games, games and more games. yes, it's true. in addition to mexican train dominoes, we spent our four snow days playing trivial pursuit, some dice game and spoons.

6. snow, snow, snow! "it won't be long before we'll all be there with snoooow. i want to wash my face, my hands, my hair with snow." ahhh, yes. white christmas, anyone?? nick and i were up late talking thursday night when we discovered the beautiful snow falling outside. i think nick went out on our balcony at least four times to check it out and take pictures. i love how much he loves snow... because i love it too :) friday afternoon we brought bella out in the snow for her first time! she LOVED it. not even kidding. squealed and kicked her feet like crazy. we spent a good hour sliding down a hill in our apartment complex with all of our friends with whatever "sledding" supplies we could find (this included a blow-up plastic baby pool, a card table, and several cardboard boxes. gotta love texas!) nick took bella for a couple trips down the hill and most of all, she loved watching everyone having fun. and it was!!

life doesn't slow down for much. it presses on--sometimes with an unforgiving tenacity that leaves me scrambling in its wake. scrambling for more time to get things done, another chance to accomplish daily tasks, some peace and quiet and some time to treasure sweet little moments with my family. this week, i was given the precious gift of time. quiet, peaceful, stillness. it was bliss. pure bliss. and still, went by too fast. so thankful for the past few days and for the snow that made life slow down. even for just a bit.