His Hands and Feet

As I mentioned in My last post...

Tornadoes were touching down in various parts of our state.

It seems like normally, when a Tornado comes it touches down primarily in one area and causes most of the destruction.

Wednesdays Tornadoes were a very different story

They touched down in multiple parts of the State and caused MASS destruction in each and every place.

So many homes and business were destroyed and many lives were lost.

In a way it seems surreal. You see stuff like this on TV and the news, but never really expect it to happen close to you. I was fortunate that my family was ok, but so many others are not able to say that and you almost get a feeling of helplessness because the needs are just so widespread and so many peoples lives were changed instantly.

Thursday morning when I woke up and was able to get my cell phone charged via the car charger, I had a text that went out from our church saying that there would be people at the church serving food to the Storm victims starting that afternoon and that we needed ice, coolers, lunch meat, and bread. (Cullman was one of the cities that was severely destroyed)

Breanna and I started fumbling around in the dark...getting our stuff together to head that way. I had one loaf of bread and one pkg of sandwich meat at home that I grabbed and we stopped at the only gas station opened at least between Cullman and Birmingham in hopes of getting some ice, but that was a joke. People were waiting in 2 hour lines to get gas.

Once we got to the church we basically had 2 packages of hamburger meat and 1 package of Hot dogs. Not for very long though. People started arriving with the few things they could come up with. Mostly from their own homes because stores were not open. Throughout the day, trucks and trucks kept coming by the load with cases of water and an assortment of food to grill or fry or make sandwiches with. A lot of it was from people in the community that we fed and then they went back home and brought stuff from their homes. Some was from friends that lived further South and still had power and wanted to help, so they went to their nearby stores and got what we needed. And others were from people that randomly pulled in the parking lot that we didn't know, but had heard about us and brought trailors full of stuff.

There are COUNTLESS stories about how things kept appearing and we didn't know where it came from...but there was a need, and all of a sudden it was there!

By the end of the day on Friday we had a room full of supplies. God is absolutely incredible. He multiplied ALL of our supplies!!! A news station wanted to do a story on what we were doing and announced that we would be there all weekend.

We were even busier today. As we gave away more supplies poured in. We almost have more than we know what to do with. It has been the greatest opportunity to pour out God's love to these people who are hurting and show them that there is Hope...just not in earthly things...but in our God.

When I left about an hour ago...there were about 2 rooms full of various supplies...food, water, canned goods, diapers, clothes, and a lot of other things I am probably not aware of.

The people in Cullman were told that it would be about 9 days before they have power. There city is shut down and much of it is detroyed, but in spite of all of this they are coming together and taking care of one another.

It has been so great watching the church work as a unified body for the same purpose. It has been an emotional and humbling time for us all. Ultimately all we can do is rest our burdens in our Fathers arms and let Him carry us.

Please be in prayer for our State

I have some pictures, but I am too exhausted to upload them right now...but promise to do so soon.

If anyone is local and would like to help...We will be at Desperation Church tom 10-7 and then We are having an outside service in the park at 10am Sunday Morning. Which I am pumped about!!!

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Psalm 9:9-10

Tornado vs 100 mph Straight Line Wind

Whatever you want to call it...It made an impact!

What a way to wake up this morning

I sleep pretty heavy...so I didn't hear any of the bad weather until my power went off, in turn causing my fan to stop, and waking me up

Once I realized what was going on, It sounded like a Tornado was outside my window. ( I am now aware that it actually was)

I have a one level house, so there isn't really anywhere to go. I just layed back down and hoped for the best.

I am thankfully able to say that I did not have any serious damage. Most of my neighbors are not able to say that though. I soon realized that Warrior was hit pretty severely.

My heart breaks for these families whose world was turned upside down this morning.

I drove over many powerlines just to get out of my neighborhood. I didn't see a powerline that wasn't snapped in  half.

My neighbors fence was uprooted, cement and all!

Here are a few pics I took of surrounding damage a couple streets down from me

mending the roof

basically all powerlines now look like this

there is house under that tree...

Praying for all that were affected in this storm, for the Safety of those that will be affected by the storms to come, and for those who have already lost loved ones

Prayers are also going up to those in Cullman and for our church . As I type... a tornado is going straight through the city of downtown Cullman. Pray, Pray, Pray!

One thing is for sure...Desperation Church will have some serious outreach opportunities

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

Mark 4:39

Everyone be smart and stay safe!

Antiquing We Will Go

Yesterday I paid a visit to the Antique mall in Gardendale

and found several really good deals!

my favorite find of the day!

I have been in my house 3 years and have yet to completely decorate. I LOVE decorating but it is just so expensive.

I recently discovered home improvement/decorating Blogs and have fallen in love. People share very thrifty ways to create and decorate. I love a good project and love love saving money, so I have a few in the works:0) Plus it gives you a bigger sense of accomplishment when you create/design things on your own.

These items will be displayed in my kitchen. I have to refinish and distress paint a couple things, but will post pics once I place them in their home!

I also picked up a couple ferns for my porch.

Big and BEAUTIFUL!

They look great

I got them from a friend who is starting a flower and produce business in Morris, Alabama

It's called Pedals and Produce.

Her prices are good and if she doesnt have something, she can get it

These ferns were $10 and much bigger than Wal-Mart and Lowes' which are the same price.

SO GO BY AND SEE HER!!!

Well, spending some time with my Dad tonight. Hope everyone has a wonderful evening!

While I Was Slacking

Since I failed to blog at all last week...

I thought I would go ahead and share the recipes from the meals I made

Monday night was our last small group and we all brought party/snack food

I decided to branch out from the typical pig in the blankets and make Kabobs

shrimp and sausage kabobs

ingredients:

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4cup soy sauce

3tbsp fresh parsley ( I just used the kind from the spice rack)

2tbsp chopped onion

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1clove garlic, minced

instructions:

mix all ingreients together. Marinate 2 to 3 hours. thread meat on wooden skewers. Broil 3-4 min on each side. Baste occasionally with reserved marinade

I only marinated the shrimp...not smoked sausage...and I only let it sit for about 30 min.

I brushed the marinade on the sausage, once on the skewer

Finished product!

*************************

I also cooked Tue night

I know...Watch  out... I'm outta control! haha

Tuesday night dinner consisted of

roasted green beans

get fresh green beans

 spread them on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic salt

cook on 400 degrees for about 20 min

Roasted potatoes

dice red potatoes

put in pan with some vegetable oil

sprinkle wih salt, pepper, and rosemary

cover pan and cook potatoes until they are tender

Chicken a la spinach

ingredients:

4oz cream cheese, softened

1pkg( 9-10oz) fozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained

1 1/4 c shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

6tbsp grated parmesan cheese, divided

6 boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

1 egg

10 ritz crackers crushed

1 1/2 c spaghetti sauce, heated

instructions:

Heat oven to 375

Mix cream chz, spinach, 1c mozzarella and 3 tbsp parmesan chz until well blended

pound chicken

starting at one short end of each breast, roll up chicken tightly. secure with wooden toothpick if desired

Beat egg in shallow dish. Mix remaining parmesan chz and crackers in separate shallow dish. Dip chicken in egg. then roll in crumb mixture to evenly coat. Place seam-side down, in 13x9 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake 30 min or until chicken is done. Remove. serve chicken topped with spaghetti sauce and remaining cheese.

then, Dig in!!!

My God is not dead, He's surely Alive!

This week has flown by! A lot has happened and their was a lot I had planned on blogging about, but failed to find the time.

I'm just going to share the most important...The weekend!

This weekend started off with Secret Church. You can read about it here

I have wanted to attend secret church since I read Radical. I tried to get tickets, but they sold out in about 2 minutes...so needless to say I did not get any. This has been a problem, so this time they also offered it via simulcast. My friend, Mallory, invited me and several other friends to watch it at her in-laws.

I originally was a Little bummed that I could not be a part of it at the actual church, but I think I actually prefer the simulcast thing. We were hearing the exact same thing the people at the church were and during the 10 min breaks we were able to get up and get food or stretch or whatever.

I really enjoyed it and Platt most definitely challenged me. Every secret church has a different topic. He preached on Crucifixion, salvation, and the Glory of God. It lasted from 6pm to 12:30am. It did not seem like 6 hours though. It was so intriguing that the time really flew by.

I am very interested as to how many were saved through this, as people from all over were able to take part in it this time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning was our First annual Easter Carnival at Church!

For those who do not know... I am part of a church plant in Cullman, Alabama. Desperation Church , pastored by Andy Heis, Officially had their first service this past September. We had one pre-launch service a month prior to that, during the summer months along with Prayer and Worship every Wednesday and many outreach projects to get the word out.

We have been continuing to have prayer and worship services each Wednesday night, two services on Sunday morning and small groups during the week. God has absolutely blown us away with how fast the church is growing. Not just in number, but with people who are on fire for God and searching/striving to go deeper in their walk with Christ. We have been able to witness many life changes, salvation, and chains that have been broken in such a short amount of time. I get chills as I type this because God is just so incredibly Awesome!!!!

For the past month and a half we have been planning our first Easter Carnival. We have anointed it in prayer and done much preparation... The goal was to simply share the love of Christ with people who might not come to church, but will come to a carnival. Once they are there... We pour out God's love on them, and invite them to church. A lot of people go to church on Easter, but do not go any other Sunday of the year. We just needed to be sure the invitation was extended to as many people as possible.

We were praying and hoping for about 1,000 people

I don't think any of us were expecting what actually happened...

6,000 people came!!!!

We are absolutely blown away and in awe of what God is doing!!!

We have no clue where all these people came from. The awesome thing is that most of the advertisement was done by word of mouth. We had a banner on the side of our church and maybe sent out mailers? I'm not positive on that...and other that that we announced it at church services and spread the word by mouth. How awesome is that?!?

a few carnival games...

This sumo wrestling thing was so funny!

I was serving as a "med team member" in case their were any emergencies, but doubled as a "face painter" because the line was WAY backed up.

This was my first butterfly

Who could be in the helicopter???

The Easter Bunny!!!

A sea of people....this is only a corner of the square they were in

15,000 eggs dropped from the sky!

Let the madness begin!!!

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Saturday night at 6pm we had our first of 4 Easter services. I attended this one, since I had to work today. It was incredible. The presence of God was heavy and I am thankful to be able to experience this on a regular basis. It was our prayer for 1,000 people to attend the services and that we would see 100 salvations

After it's all said and done...

1,077 people heard the Word and experienced God's presence, and most importantly

53 more people will now enter the gates of Heaven!!!

All of the Praise and Glory goes to our father, Jesus Christ!!!

He is ALIVE!!!!

None of this is a result of anything that we, at DC, did but a result of God and His glory.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I had to work today...Of course I would rather have been off , but it's not so bad being at work when you love your co-workers. We brought food and had a feast. SO SO GOOD!!!

We also had a visitor

:0)

after I got off work, I went and ate...AGAIN... at my Mom's

Never too old for an Easter basket!

I hope everyone has had a Wonderful Easter and has spent the day remembering what Our Savior did for us and How much he loves His Children

"But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed"

Isaiah 53:5

Dinner for 2

I have made a new committment to cook at least one meal, preferably something new, each week.

My mom is a good cook, so thankfully I took after her and I'm usually pretty good at it. I don't generally cook much because it seems like a waste of time and a lot of times a waste of food.

I love leftovers, but after eating the same thing a couple of times in a row...I'm over it.

Growing up in a family of 6...it has been adjustment not to cook too much food and having a ton left over

Lately...I'd say probably the past year...cooking has been close to non-existant

So I'm making changes!

Last night I made some Boneless pork loin chops

As far as meat goes... I don't branch out much because I don't know what to do

These were on sale at publix so I planned to just figure it out



I sprinkled the meat with meat tenderizer and then some Garlic Salt

Then I made a marinade using half a stick of butter and 3 Tbsp of Worcesteshire sauce

Wasn't sure what to cook it on so I baked it at 350 degrees for 10 min on each side

Served it with zuccini and squash that I sauteed and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese

and then some rice with veggies mixed in

It was actually very tasty!

I have missed cooking and looking forward to new endeavors in the future!

What I'm Loving Friday

I think technically, according to most of the blogs I read, It's supposed to be "what I'm Loving Wednesday" but I'm a couple days late...and that's o.k.

So I present to you "What I'm Loving Friday"!

I'm Loving...

COUPONING!

I took my first trip to Publix this week and saved more than I spent!

"One in a Million" Bible Study

I don't generally do formatted Bible Studies. I just read my Bible (which I'm still doing the one year Bible) and then read the study portion of it, but I am really loving this! It really Challenges me and Priscilla Shirer is the bomb.com:0)

I am Loving Spring and longer daylight hours!

which means more time outside

I fixed up my front porch! not quite done with my yard...I airated(sp?) it and spread grass seed and fertilizer yesterday evening though before the rain...hoping for pretty green grass in a couple weeks!

I am Loving my latest home decorationg project, which involves these fabulous plates

...and the color Red!

details to come!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and your canoe makes it safely home tonight! ;0)

Gone Fishin'

So I'm Back!!!

OVER Jet Lag and back in the swing of things

I still plan on telling all about Africa

things have been incredibly busy since I have been back and I want to focus on what I'm writing

but it was INCREDIBLE! and I can't wait to tell about it

Last night after small group and after the worst of the storms had passed

My sister and I headed to Prattville to see my Dad!

He took off work and we slept in, hung out and went fishing

and what a beautiful day it was to go!

first cast and I caught a bass!

not generally one to brag...but I dominated today

just sayin' ;0)

Breanna was a little sad that she wasn't having much luck

she finally caught a brim!

my biggest bass of the day

close up

Daddy caught the trophy ;0)

Beautiful Day!