Fort Worth Nature Center

We had a beautiful day here on Saturday so we decided to spend some time outdoors! It was so hard to believe it was January!
We went to the Fort Worth Nature Center; it was such a cool place, we were bummed we hadn't found it before now! We love to hike and we did lots of that! There are about 25 miles worth of trails at this park and we made a small dent into that by hiking about 4 miles!
We were so tired when we finished, but we had a great time! There was lots of great scenery. We would really like to go back when its actually spring and see how pretty it is with all the leaves.

  



 

 

Now we are bracing ourselves for a major cold front with the potential of snow/sleet/freezing rain. They (as in the weather people) are saying the wind chill on Tuesday and Wednesday could feel like 0. Its hard to believe they are calling for snow when on Saturday it was 78 degrees! The only way I will be "okay" with the snow is if I can stay home from work at least one day!

O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

Psalms 8:1



Life...

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33 (KJV)

I am so excited that, thus far, I am doing well with my memory verses! I know, I know its only one verse and its a fairly easy one at that! BUT I have memorized it and I am excited about starting February verse!

I am using a portion of a book program that Donald had to use when he was in his first year here and had to take a class called Spiritual Formation. I am memorizing the verses from the section called "Be Christ's Disciple" and coincidentally enough there are 12 verses in this section and so I will be memorizing all twelve of them! (Well, that's the plan!)

I have decided to memorize all of the verses in King James Version (KJV) because I've been told that its easier to memorize using this version because there are so many "thees and thous" and you really have to think about each word. 

Life in general...
Last night was the first Metochai meeting of the semester and it was a great time! I love getting together with all of those ladies- its always a great time of worship, Bible study and fellowship!

The weather for the past few days has been absolutely gorgeous! It's kind of chilly in the morning, but by 10 or 11am the sun is shinning! We've gotten into the upper sixties and lower seventies! But there is a cold front coming on Monday-Wednesday and with that they are calling for a chance of a "Wintry Mix", which here in Texas means- close everything and stay in your house!

School is underway, but it hasn't gotten too crazy, yet. I am so blessed to have Donald for a husband! Even though he goes to work and school, most days when I come home from work and he has done the dishes or vacuumed the living room, which is so nice because usually that means we get more time together in the evening.  Thank you sweet hubby!!

In two weeks I will be taking the other test that I need for my Texas teaching certificate.  I need to buckle down and start studying! After I pass this test I will pay to get my certificate and I will be a certified teacher in Texas! BUT I will taking another test- I really need to be ESL certified because that is such a big deal here and most schools won't even look at you unless you are. Please pray for me as I prepare for both of these tests and look forward to finding a teaching job (hopefully)!

We are looking forward to going to have dinner with some friends from church this evening! It should be a great time of fellowship!

"And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Luke 9:23 (KJV)

February's Verse

P.S. Happy Birthday to my Mommom Rudderow and my Uncle Hack! 

Back to school....

Today Donald went back to school- back to the books, back to studying, back to class, and back to balancing work/school/wife...again! Donald started his 4th semester, his FORTH semester.  I cannot believe we've already been here that long! It seems like we just moved here, but alas, after this semester we will be half way DONE! (Woohoo)! It's always bittersweet when school goes back because, while I love that we are getting closer and closer to the end, it also means that Donald will be spending most nights studying.  But while he is studying, I won't be too lonely!  My class will start up again on Tuesday nights and Metochai meetings and officer meetings begin again now too.  So I'll be busy being the good seminary wife that I am by going to class and serving with a bunch of wonderful ladies at Metochai.  I also won't feel as guilty about going to the gym 2 or 3 days a week because I'll know that he'll be busy with school work!

Can I brag on Donald for a minute?  This past semester he got 3 A's and a B+! With these grades he was able to make it onto the Dean's List! (Dean's List is a lot harder to achieve here than it is in undergrad.  In undergrad, Dean's List is a 3.5GPA, here it's 3.9GPA, so you have to work extra hard!) I am SO proud of him and all his hard work! (Guess all those late nights paid off huh?!?)

It's going to be another tough semester for Donald.  He'll be taking Greek, Systematic Theology, The Christian Home, and Baptist Heritage, a full load for sure!

Will you join me in praying for him this semester? Pray for him as he studies and goes to class and while he balances school and work.

P.S. In case you were wondering, Metochai is a seminary wives group here on campus. We get together once a month for a time of worship, a speaker, and table fellowship.  It's a great way to get to know other seminary wives! I'm serving as the publicity officer and I so enjoy getting to know all the ladies that I serve with!

Happy Birthday!

To my husband, my love, and my very best friend!

 
Things I love and appreciate about you, Donald-

• You are so diligent in your studies- both for school and in God's word. 
• You are committed to prayer
• Your heart for ministry
• You make me laugh
• You hold my hand
• You make me feel safe and secure
• You are so patient and understanding, especially with me-- even when I lose my patience!
• You are trustworthy
• You are constantly striving to be more like Christ
• You love me unconditionally

I love you and I am so thankful God has brought you into my life!

You are the best husband a girl could ask for.

Psalm 71:19

"Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,

You who have done great things.

Who, O God, is like you?"

(NIV)

"You spread out the skies

Over empty space

Said, "Let there be light"

To a dark and formless world

Your light was born"

-Wonderful Maker

Trip to Virginia

We began our Christmas celebration a little early this year. We didn't want to pack our gifts to each other, so we opened them the day before we left. We decided we would just spend $50 total this year on gifts to each other, so we only had a few gifts to exchange. But we had a good time anyway and its always nice to open presents, even there are only 2 to open!

We pulled out of our parking lot at 1:47pm on Wednesday (13 minutes ahead of schedule!) and arrived at my parents house on Thursday at 5pm. We stopped a total of 3 times the entire trip-once for gas on Wednesday PM, in Jackson, TN to sleep, and once on Thursday for lunch and gas! I packed dinner for Wednesday, got breakfast and gas before we got on the road on Thursday AM and made it to my parents house in time for dinner. We made great time and had a great time together along the way.

On Christmas Eve we started the day (well afternoon) with breakfast at Bob Evans with my parents, my brother and his family, and my two sisters. It was a great way to start the celebrations. We then made our way to Donald's parents house where we got ready for the Christmas Eve Candle Light Service. It was a great time of worship. Two of our nieces sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" with the Children's Choir, we had communion, and Donald did a "mini sermon" before we sang Silent Night and lite the candles. After the service we had dinner and exchanged gifts with Donald's brother and sister and their families.

On Christmas Day we woke up with Donald's parents and two of our nieces. We spent sometime with them and then we went to my parents to have Christmas and an early dinner. My mom fixed a non-traditional dinner this year- steaks! I am a big fan of "tradition" but this dinner was worth the change. (Hopefully it's the new tradition). After dinner we had to run my sister to the AmTrak station and we then went back to Donald's parents for a late dinner. (Yes, we did lots of running and lots of eating between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!)

When we were at my parents house on Christmas Day it began to SNOW! And continued to snow for the next 24ish hours-blah! I say "blah" because I am not a huge fan of being cold or snow and it kinda altered some of our plans. Church ended up being cancelled on Sunday because of the snow. Donald was going to preach Sunday Morning, so we were kinda bummed for that. But we did get to keep our youngest nephew for the night which was lots of fun!

On Monday we went back to my parent's house were we spent a few hours there and got to see my grandparents who were heading back home to Florida from New Jersey. Monday evening/ Tuesday morning we got to spend with Donald's sister and our nephew. We had a great time with them going out to dinner and having cinnamon rolls for breakfast with them. Donald and Jared played and wrestled while Jackie and I chatted. We went back to my parents house to watch the Eagles game (Side note: We are Redskins fans, but my parents are Eagles fans- we did wear our new Redskins shirts though to show our support for "our boys"!) On Wednesday we spent the day visiting friends. I had lunch we with my best friend Sara and Donald had lunch with his brother. We then went to Donald's best friends house to visit with him, his wife and daughter. We then went to dinner with my parents, my brother and family, and one of my sisters (the other one is on an AmTrak, remember?!?!) We had a great time visiting with them and saying bye to my sweet, sweet niece! (Shww...I getting tired all over again just typing this out!)

On Thursday we loaded up the car again and headed to Lynchburg- our other "home"! We got to spend lots of times with our good friends and got to see some of our church family there. We spent a great deal of the time just relaxing, before heading for Texas again on Saturday. Before we left town we "visited" Liberty and our old apartment!

On Saturday, we did lots of driving and covered many, many miles! We just stopped twice on Saturday for gas both times and then we stopped around 10 just outside of Little Rock, AR for the night. We got up bright and early Sunday and we were on the road again by 6:20am. We pulled back into our parking lot at 11:30am on Sunday! We wanted to get home as early as we could since we didn't have an extra day before going back to work.

We had a great time and we are so thankful we were able to take some time off to spend Christmas with our families! Even though it was a little crazy and hectic at times, we wouldn't change the memories we made with each other and our families!