Valentine's Day Cookies

Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday! I love how the world is filled with pink and hearts and flowers and chocolate and chocolate covered strawberries. I love love! 

Last year around Valentine's Day, I was trying to figure out how to raise money for a missions trip. Casey convinced me to sell cookies. So I did, and I was amazed at the response! It ended up turning into a side business for me so I get to make lots of cookies!

This year I decided to share the love on Valentine's Day. A few months back, I felt God leading me to donate the money I received to an orphanage. I'd connected with a friend, Katie, who is currently in Brazil doing missions work and I thought it would be really cool to give the money to an orphanage there. What I didn't know was that the host missionaries she's staying with have spent the last few years raising funding to open an orphanage! So that was that and I partnered with Jubilee Orphanage. 

The Jubilee Foundation is truly amazing. They've been helping families in the community with things like food, clothing, and school supplies. Katie sends me their stories often as she meets the people the foundation has helped. The foundation currently owns land for the orphanage and needs to raise enough funds to start their building plans. I'm so grateful that I was able to be a part of this and not only raise money for the orphanage but also awareness. I hope it put a spark in someone's heart to pray for and support Jubilee Orphanage.

Enjoy some photos of the cookies I made! I don't know how many cookies we made total. Hundreds, definitely. Maybe over a thousand. It was a ton of baking and hard work, and I was grateful for the help and support from my mom, her husband, my sweet guy, and my cousin. I couldn't have done it without them!

Coffee Date

One thing I want to do more is pull out my DSLR more often. I've become so accustomed to just using my iPhone. I was going through photos from Singapore and realized that I only pulled out my camera twice! What?? I can't even believe myself.

While being in Singapore was obviously super special and different and exciting, one of my favorite things to do is document the daily stuff with photos. Hence why I have over 10,000 photos on my iPhone. Oops.

Here are a few snapshots we took a few months back at Rhino Coffee. We went for breakfast (and coffee... duh) and ended up hanging out and chatting for several hours. I don't think I could even tell you a single thing we talked about, but it was one of my favorite "dates". Spending hours talking to my favorite human (and looking at my favorite human *heart eyes*) while drinking coffee... it truly can't be beat.

Let Them Receive Him

Do you ever find yourself thinking, “Wow, that person is being so rude.” “He seems to be such a grumpy person.” “She seems to always be aggravated and frustrated.”

I do. And generally I think nothing of it and go back to my own business.

But today I found myself thinking this about someone and then my mind went to, “I don’t know what he’s going through. He could be facing something really difficult right now.” And my perspective changed.

I truly believe that was God leading my thoughts, reminding me that I don’t always know what people are going through, and sometimes the way they act isn’t out of spite or because they’re cold or mean. It’s because they’re hurt. Lonely. Sad. Anxious. Guilty. Depressed. Burdened.

It’s in those moments that it’s so important to let our light shine for Jesus. He can heal every hurt they have. He can rescue them from their sin and guilt. He can take away their anxiety and depression. He is everything they need, and it is my responsibility as a Christian to act like Christ so they have a safe place to run to.

The other night, Baron spoke about being fishers of men (I hope to do a reflection on his sermon soon, because it truly impacted me), and one of his points was that to be a fisher of men, we have to be a friend. We have to care about the person. Their interests, their struggles, their accomplishments. And when someone opens up to us and starts talking, that means they have received us. And once they have received us as a friend, they will be able to accept Christ as well.

Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

Matthew 10:40

Today I encourage you to take an extra moment to talk to the person who wants to chat. To give a smile to someone who seems sad. To give an encouraging word to a friend you have. It may lead them to Christ.

Louisiana Sneax Day

It's not often we get snow around here and when we do, the entire city closes down. So today we had an at-home snow day! It was absolutely freezing outside, so our outdoor excursions were very short, but we enjoyed spending the day in front of the fire drinking hot chocolate. And I baked up some samples for my upcoming Valentine's Day cookie sale!

Kayleigh and Ethan moved in while I was in Singapore, and having Ethan here is so much fun. I've never been around such young kids before, so it's a whole new world. Everything is new to him. He repeats everything we say. And he's decided he loves me and is always coming to hang out with me. It's my favorite. I'm so glad I got to spend my snow day with my most favorite little human!

Be Yourself. We Need You.

For just as in one physical body we have many parts, and these parts do not all have the same function or special use, so we, who are many, are nevertheless just one body in Christ, and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on each other].
Romans 12:4-5 AMP

God created you to be unique. He gave you a special calling, gifts, talents, personality, and passions for a reason. There is no one just like you. God created you to fill a very particular position in his kingdom that no one else can fulfill like you can.

Just like your body has many parts, so does the body of Christ, and every part must work together. The hands tie the shoes on your feet. The feet lead the rest of the body in the right direction. The mouth speaks for the entire body. Every part does not do the same thing, but we depend on every part to do its job.

God has given you a particular purpose. It may not be the same purpose or calling as your friend or your personal spiritual mentor, but the entire body of Christ is depending on you. Do not try to be exactly like someone else, or you will find yourself chasing after their calling instead of the one God designed YOU for.

Don’t be afraid to be yourself. God created you the way you are for a reason. The church needs you to be YOU. This entire world needs you to be YOU. Embrace who God made you to be.

I Said YES!!!

"We're just so relieved she said YES!"

That's what Bro. Alan kept telling people when they found out we got engaged the second day of our mission trip. Then Casey and I would just give each other a look and a smile. He knew he didn't have to worry about what my answer would be when he asked me. There was never any question.

YES!

"Why Singapore?"

That's what everyone kept asking us. We thought it was a strange question, but I guess most people don't realize how special Singapore is to us. It was the place of both of our first missions trips. It was the first place Casey held my hand. It's the place where some of our favorite people live, people we wish we could see more often, people we love and care about more than words can say.

And many of those people were there when he knelt down on one knee and asked me to marry him. That was not the plan, I later learned. He had planned to propose on Tuesday at the Merlion statue. He had not planned on the youth group of the church we were working with to insist on taking us to dinner that night. So he let them in on the secret and they made sure we made it to the Merlion after dinner. They were all surrounding us with phones and cameras as he sweetly asked me to be his wife.

And the ring! Oh, the ring. It's gorgeous. I can't help but stare at it. A lot. People ask if he picked it out himself and YES. He did. He did so good. It's absolutely perfect and so very me.

I'm beyond excited to have the privilege of marrying Casey. He is amazing and wonderful and more than I could have ever asked for or dreamed. God really outdid Himself with this one.

Our relationship hasn't always been easy or perfect by any means, but it's been a wonderful adventure, and I'm excited for what's to come. Here's to forever with my favorite human!

See Ya Soon, Singapore!

We're in the single digits, folks. Only NINE more days until take off and I'm on my way back to Singapore again! I've been wanting to go back since I returned last year. I think Singapore will always have a special place in my heart. Partly because it was my first missions trip. Partly because I made amazing friends there. Partly because it was where Casey first held my hand. There are lots of reasons.

This year's plan is the same as last year's--the team of six I'm going with will be the children's ministers at a Vacation Bible School in Singapore and a family camp meeting in Malaysia. We'll spend about a week in Singapore (a few days of VBS, a few days of sightseeing) before loading onto the bus with the rest of the church and heading to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

I'm incredibly excited because Casey is coming again AND my bestie Sarah is coming for the first time! She went to Malaysia earlier this year and is excited to be going to Singapore! (For reference, Sarah is Rachel's sister. Also you should go check out Rachel's blog!)

My first time going to Singapore was a literal dream come true. I've felt called to missions for years but had gotten myself into a position in life where it simply wasn't an option for me. I thought I would never get to go on a missions trip and I begged God daily to take away my desire to go. I mean daily. I mean crying in my car and pouring my heart out to God and begging him to take away my desire for missions. Every. Single. Day. He said no. And then He said, it's time.

Sometimes it's really hard for me to trust God, especially His timing. He often does things quite a bit differently than I would, and it's always better than I would have done. I'm really glad He doesn't let me run the show. I can truly say I'm grateful for the wait. I needed to be in a different place in life before going. I needed to learn to trust Him and rely on Him. I needed to build my relationship with Him. I needed to have more experience. All in all, it was worth it. It was worth all the tears. It was worth a passport that remained unstamped for years and years. He did everything in His timing, and it turned out perfectly.

In nine days I leave for my third missions trip. That's THREE missions trip in the span of a year. THREE missions trips that I thought would never happen. I never thought I'd go to Asia or Hawaii (which I realized I've never shared about here!). But WOW. Here I am! And also along the way I accidentally started a baking business. The last year has been a good one. A crazy one. A busy one. A wonderful one. A year I'll never ever forget.