I want to be Peter Pan. I don't want to grow up. I don't want to be an adult with real responsibilities. But, apparently it's too late for me...if it's not too late for you: Run! Save yourself!

Lately, there has been a lot weighing on my heart and mind. Most of it is normal, adult-y life stuff, but more and more I find myself worrying and praying for the high school students in our youth group.

They are battling some pretty dark stuff that I have never had to encounter. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around what some of them have had to experience. My heart breaks for them and I just wish that they didn't have to grow up so quickly.

My prayer is that I can show them an ounce of the grace and love that Christ shows me. I know that growing up is unavoidable (insert sadness, despair, weeping and mourning), but I know that my hope and identity is in Christ and I pray that these students will find that in Him too.

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snow day

Today I took a snow day and took full advantage of it. I slept in, ran (on the treadmill, not in the snow), binged on Friends, baked some delicious muffins and then made a great dinner. I feel like a regular 'ole housewife!

Alex, on the other hand, scraped the car, shoveled the driveway and trudged his way to the office and worked all day. I definitely got the better end of the stick. Tomorrow we will both be going to work and resume normal activities.

Happy snow day!

happy friday the 13th

So far Friday the 13th isn't shaping up to be very spooky at all. Right now, the hype is all about the 14th. We had a normal week and are ready to welcome the weekend.

Tonight our high school youth group (which we help lead) is hosting a Parent's Night Out fundraiser. The parents drop off their kids for us to babysit and then they get to enjoy a childless night out. We try to do this once a quarter as a service to the parents in our church, but also to help our students raise money for mission trips, retreats, etc.

Other than that we don't have a lot on the schedule this weekend. I'm sure we'll do something for Valentine's Day and this Sunday I will officially start training for the Go! half marathon. I have eight weeks to get race ready, so as long as I stick to my schedule, I'll be good to go. This week I've stumbled across some good links that I wanted to share, enjoy!

We love this restaurant and I'm so excited at the recognition that it' getting

Lately I have been binge watching Friends on Netflix so this article caught my eye

Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart...how could this not be funny?!?

In case you haven't noticed, Valentines Day is tomorrow...this is a cute DIY Valentine

I've got my eye out for a new couch (ours is a bit too small and white) and I really like this one

My Mom signed me up to receive a crock pot recipe every day in the month of February, I may try this one

This is an experiment I may try...and regret

It's no secret that I'm a Bond fan and I am really excited for the new release in November

I'm all for these price changes

Lastly, there has been a lot of hype for 50 Shades of Grey, which I will not be seeing or supporting, but I do support Ellen and this video she put together... and this video too

Have a great weekend!

don't worry, it's not (very) contagious

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Alex and I try to have some sort of adventure planned each month. However, January didn't really lend itself to adventuring, so I'm feeling a little antsy. Luckily, at the end of the month I'm heading north to the Windy City with my dad and Alex is headed south to Wildcat Country aka Lexington, Kentucky. He is going with his dad and older brother, Paul, to visit Greg, his younger brother. We all miss having Greg around, so I'm really glad that they get to go see him.

I'm looking forward to shaking up our routines and getting to spend some extra time with my dad. I'm sure we will learn a lot at our continuing education classes and eat enough to satisfy us until next year's conference.