The Life of a McDonald's Value Menu Item

Bless the Lord, Oh my Soul!

2010-08-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

I've been doing Kelly Minter's Ruth study this summer. It is a really fantastic study of this small book in the Old Testament! Even though the book is only 4 chapters long, it is jammed pack with great biblical truth and application for everyday life. It is definitely on my recommendation list!

But that's not really why I'm writing today. It has been a looooooooooooong time since my last blog, and today I just feel compelled to share with you (by you, I mean all of the 2 people that actually read my blog and that is even being pretty generous)....okay, I feel so very compelled to share Psalm 103 with the blog world today. It has absolutely captivated me! Here is what I wrote in my journal about these 22 verses:

Psalm 103 - Absolutely enamoring when I think about the depths of God's unfailing love, forgiveness...His capacity, willingness, and ability to show me grace and mercy. He knows who I really am, He knows what I'm made of (mostly not good things). Yet he chooses to forgive me of all unrighteousness. Even when I deliberately go out of my way to sin.

So here it is...Psalm 103. Praying it will captivate your heart and open your heart to truly understand how wide, how deep and how far reaching the love of Christ is for you, beloved.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins (Hallelujah!!), nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame (or he knows how we are formed), he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children,
To those who keep his covenant, and remember to do his commandments.
The LORD established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

Bless the LORD, O you angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!
Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!
Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

I hate it when my dog is smarter than me...

2010-03-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

This morning Anthony left for work before me, which doesn't happen really ever at all. After the dogs were finished with their meal, I opened the back door to let them roam outside and take care of their business before I had to gate them into the laundry room for the day. A few minutes later I gathered my things and grabbed two treats out of the pantry. Wrex was right at my heels which is exactly where he spends most of his time when I am at home. I went to the back door and began to call Zoe into the house. She really likes to ignore me when I call her inside, and so, over the years I have developed little tricks to get her inside. One of them is to knock on the door. I called her name for about a minute and then began knocking on the door. A few minutes later I was growing pretty frustrated that she still hadn't come inside yet. So finally I turned around to look at Wrex and saw Zoe standing in the doorway into the laundry room. She had been there all along and now she was just staring at me and seemed to be trying to figure out why I was calling her because she was already inside. I wish I had a picture of the look on her face to share with you.

CoachKetcham.com

2010-02-14T13:40:00.001-08:00

This week I was asked to guest blog at CoachKetcham.com

Check it out!

What a way to start the day

2010-01-16T16:57:00.000-08:00

I'll be honest. I haven't even titled this post yet. I'm not sure where it's going to head and I figure it will be easier and more fitting to title it when I am finished.

Do you ever have one of those mornings that from the moment you wake up your mind is swirling with so many different things? As I opened my eyes to greet the daylight, my mind began going down almost a mental list of people, events, decisions to be made and situations to figure out. Too much to think about, especially when me thinking about it will rarely help it find a solution or shed new light on the situation. So, I just start over with them all again, saying them again in my head (or else I would wake up Anthony and he would be reminded that he married a spazz). What a blessing to be able to start my day that way. I know that sounds strange. The way I look at it is that God is so good that He is ready for me first thing every morning. I don't have to wait for him to wake up more, or to have a cup of coffee first. He's ready, willing and more than able to listen. The best part is that He actually has the wisdom and strength to work all of those many things out for His glory.

What a way to start the day. OK, so I'll use that for the title.

Please Christmas Don't be late!!

2009-12-13T13:46:00.000-08:00

Today I find myself searching for things to do that will keep me busy. I'll be totally transparent with you, I left church today feeling totally lonely. It is not very often that I come home straight away after church. Usually, I am off to have lunch with friends or family, or both. Today, it seemed that everyone had somewhere to be, except for me. So, knowing that my doggies would really enjoy running around in the sun, I headed home. I can't even remember now if I ate anything for lunch, which would explain the ache in my stomach. I'll attend to that later.

For now, I'll tell you how grateful Anthony and I are to be seeing this semester of our lives coming to an end. After next week, we will both be done with school for a few weeks. We are mainly grateful that his semester is over and tremendouslly thankful that in the Spring he will only be taking one class on campus. And that it is over at 7:45. Gone are the 3 days a week of classes - 2 of which he didn't get home until almost 11 pm. Which makes it difficult for us to spend anytime together whatsoever, since my day begins by 6:30 the next morning.

Oh, I am praying peace over this Christmas season - both for us and for all of you! That this Christmas we would know Christ more, love Him more and serve Him with more joy in our hearts than ever before. That this Christmas God would reveal Himself to be Almighty in our lives and in yours. I think we all need to be reminded of His strength and sovereignty. I pray that we are all reminded in a new and refreshing way of the Savior who was born in a manger, so that we would have eternal life.

Love you all!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2009-12-05T19:45:00.000-08:00

One of the best parts of Christmas for me is being able to buy gifts for the people that I love. I am beginning to wonder if somewhere inside of me is the spiritual gift of giving just dying to get out. My husband would say that is just me trying to find a godly way to say that I like to shop. There is just something about getting something incredible for my loved ones, it makes me feel such great joy. And the best part is that it really doesn't matter to me whether they can get me something equally as surprising....for me it really is about the giving.

Speaking of giving, I can't even think of Christmas without knowing that because of Christmas I have been given the most incredible free gift of all time, a relationship with my Savior. It gives me great hope to think of the night that all of heaven watched as Christ the Savior was born. To think about the look on Mary and Joseph's face, on the faces of the Wise Men and the Shepherds, as they worshipped the baby who would become the great Lamb of God. I am filled with joy everytime I remember the gift that God has given me, that He loved me so much that even though I am a sinner, Christ died for me.

What a wonderful Savior! It is my hope that this Christmas season we would all remember that Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day, that He is head over heels in love with us, and that each day is a humbling reminder of our need for a Savior.

It delights God to give us this gift of salvation, just like it delights me to give gifts to the people that I love. We love because He first loved us. We give because He first gave to us. Have you accepted His gift? He is waiting just for you, He cares just for you. He is pursuing a relationship with you. I'm so grateful God that you pursue me, and that you have forgiven me.

I promised I would update my blog....

2009-11-16T16:10:00.000-08:00

So here goes!! Hope you enjoy it Ketcham! You probably won't even check it! HA!

Since it is Thanksgiving, I think I'd like to take a bit of time to do just that - be thankful!

Anthony and I moved into our new house about 7 months ago, and are finally starting to finish up decorating and furnishing it. I'm thankful that God continues to provide us with everything that we need and even goes so far as to bless us with awesome surprises every now and then!

We are in the 11th week of school now, I think...might be wrong on that. But the point is that I'm thankful to have made it this far and to still be loving it everyday. Sure, sometimes my kids make me want to throw myself on the floor and pitch a fit like a three year old. But sometimes, they just make me smile and laugh so much. I'm thankful to have a job that is so much fun.

And while I'm on the topic of work, I am beyond thankful for all of the people that I work with. I am blessed to be part of such an amazing staff and especially to be part of the Social studies department with all of the coolest people in world. Thanks to all of you for making me feel so welcome and for answering all of my dumb questions.

Next week Anthony and I are going to go on a cruise!! I'm thankful to be going on vacation with my super hot husband, and to get to spend some time with each other! This year has been so crazy hectic with his school and work schedule and everything. It's going to be fun to just get away for a few days - and to go scuba diving!!

Every day I am becoming more and more thankful for my LORD. Thankful for his steadfast love, neverending mercy and grace, His strength and faithfulness. Thankful that He came near to me and continues to draw near to me, every moment of every day.

It's time for YACS, so I must go. So what about you, what are you thankful for?
Love you!

We're Getting Closer!!!

2009-01-29T08:30:00.001-08:00

I thought I would update everyone on the progress of our new house. I took some new pictures last week, and have not had a moment to put them up yet, but here they are!!

Our outside is just nearly finished now! They poured our driveway and sidewalks last week. We are waiting to find out if the driveway will have to be ripped out and re-poured. The landscape guys are telling us that the pad was poured too high, and that we could have drainange problems along the side of our lot. We should find out today or tomorrow if we can have some french drains installed to fix the problem or if the driveway will need to be re-done. Pray with us that the drains will address the issue, if not, then having the driveway re-done will delay completion by 2-3 weeks! Yes, I said weeks!

This is a picture of the inside of the house from the entry. So, you are looking right through the entryway and stairs into the family room (the fireplace and windows).

Those are the best pictures I have right now, everything is still dusty and dirty and being worked on.
I will keep you all posted on a move-in date. We are so excited and feel all together blessed to finally be having our own home again. It is truly a gift from God. This past year has really helped us appreciate the little things - having the refrigerator in the Kitchen and not the garage, having your own silver ware, sitting on a couch and not lawn furniture :) and so many other little things.
We can't wait to share it with all of you!

Our New House

2008-11-24T09:07:00.001-08:00

I've been meaning to give a little update on our new house....so here you go!

This is a picture of the house on November 5th.

Construction is well under way, we are already finished framing, electrical wiring and plumbing.

And here it on November 13th.

We haven't made much progress on the outside over the past few weeks. Except our super nice port-a-potty!! :) Sorry everyone, I know you'll be terribly disappointed, but when you visit Casa Svajda you'll have to use the bathroom INside! ; )

And in that picture you can see our brick sitting out front, ready to be put on.

They've made a lot of progress inside though - added Anthony's network box in the study, added some special touches that Anthony & I decided to do at the very last minute, and have added exterior doors a few days ago.

I promise to be much more diligent about putting up pictures for everyone to see! I cannot even begin to tell you how ready Anthony and I are to have our own home again, we cannot wait!!!

We are projecting that the house will be complete by the end of January, so sometime after that we will have a house-warming party - keep your eyes peeled for the invite, you won't want to miss it!!

Love you all and miss you too! I pray that you all have very very very Happy Thanksgiving, and that you get to spend it with friends and family and know how blessed you are! Don't forget to give thanks to God for all that you have - and to have an attitude of gratitude! (That's a shout out to a ridiculous song that I used to sing in Children's Choir)

May God bless you richly!

<3>

So I had this thought....

2008-10-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

As I was blow-drying my hair this morning. I was thinking about how many times I have been so unsure of stepping out and being obedient in what I felt like God was asking me to do. I was so terribly unsure, and absolutely doubtful. And I was thinking back through some of those times, a thought occured to me, you should always trust the One with the plan.

When you were little and your family took a road trip, did you ever try to direct your mom (or dad) on which way you thought they should go, where to turn, what exit to take?

Those of you who know me well, know that my husband has an affectionate nick name for me - "Kristen-Kristen." I have given him so many back seat, or passenger seat, instructions in our relationship, he finally branded me as his own personal GPS navigation system. So instead of Tom-Tom, he asks his Kristen-Kristen.

That was a total digression from my point, but it came to mind, so I thought I would mention it.

Back on topic now....

I would be willing to bet that very few of us, if any, were brave enough to correct our fathers on the direction he should take on a road trip. And so if we are so unquestioning of our earthly fathers, trusting that they know where they are going and how to get there (which is a real faith act, considering they may not have had a clue!) - why is it that we are so quick to question whether God's way really is the right way?

Why must we incessantly ask God to speak more clearly, repeat Himself or turn on the neon exit signs? Why is it so difficult for us to trust that He holds the map? Not only that, but He made the map for goodness sake!

We question Him at each turn, wanting to know why we went right when left looked so much easier.

God helped me see the big picture on this yesterday, He helped me see that my questioning and constant doubt is a testimony to how in-control and powerful I believe Him to be.

So let's all stop talking to God as though He does not have our best interests, our eternal good, in mind and let's trust Him and take the paths He directs us on, knowing that if there was a better way, He would have shown us.

When pride comes then comes disgrace...

2008-10-22T12:12:00.001-07:00

This week in Living Free, we are studying that one of our priority missions as Christians should be to glorify God. In fact, it should be the main mission of our lives. And Day 3's study started out with a very pointed and painfully truthful scripture found in Proverbs 11:2,

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."

I don't know about you, but my pride is not typically a topic that I am fond of discussing with anyone, but least with my God. He is the person that my pride works directly against, and to be completely truthful with you, it brings me shame.

And I love that today, God has pointed out to me that when I'm full of myself, that is the moment of true disgrace.

This week we also glanced at Isaiah 66:2 -

"This is the one I esteem, he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word."

I love how all throughout His Word, God faithfully reveals to us exactly what it is that He is calling us to. Not sure what to do, how to behave, what to say? Turn to His Word and let it cut you right to the bone in areas of your life that desperately need to be cut out, thrown away and burned.

So today Lord, I am stepping down off of my high horse. I am stepping out of the spotlight.

I am so thankful that You love me and accept me, that You have redeemed my life from the pit, and that You have placed my feet upon a firm rock. And I am yours, wholly yours, please take control.

My Funny Dog Story

2008-10-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

Since everyone else writes about funny things that their kiddos do, I thought I would add a funny thing that my dog did yesterday. Zoe to be exact.

Yesterday morning, I got up, turned on the shower and started brushing my teeth. The next thing I knew, Zoe had jumped INTO the shower! Yes, that's right, our dog is so smart we don't even have to bathe her ourselves, she does it all by herself! What a big girl! :)

Fireproof

2008-10-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my husband and I decided to go see a movie. Neither of us had a desire to go back to work and so we headed over to the Grapevine Mills Mall and decided to have an afternoon movie date.
We headed into the theatre to watch Fireproof, I'm sure that most of you have heard of this movie. I recommend it completely - keep in mind that its not the glitzy glamoury style of Hollywood, but the story is great!
So check it out!
Here's a link to the website for the movie:
www.fireproofmymarriage.com

Letting the sunshine in...

2008-10-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Today has been a DAY! In every sense of the word....go ahead, use your imaginiation! But I had to share with you something I just read on Beth Moore's blog. She wrote, "God has overruled my weaknesses with His power and faithfulness."

I don't think that I have cried so much in a single day in MONTHS. MONTHS I tell you! And I know that some of you may not be surprised to hear that I cried about something, it was quite a surprise to me. Because, dear ones, I have been having serious discussions with the Lord over the past several months regarding my tendency to shed a tear at the drop of a hat.

And I will tell you that God has so honored my prayers to not be so stinkin' emotional about every single little thing that happens. But there are still some days when I think to myself, who turned on the faucet??? This is absolutely ridiculous!

And today was one of those days.

My morning did not start off with my usual Wrex snuggle, instead I woke up to Zoe barking her head off at the garbage truck.

And then I went and got dressed and on my way to work I realized that my shirt is something very Angela-esque - you know, Angela from The Office. (If you don't know who that is, then we obviously aren't that great of friends :) ) It has all kinds of ruffles on it, and normally I am a very conservative dresser, this is a little out there for me. And as I got out of my car at QT I realized how ridiculous it looks. Sure it was cute on the hanger, but on, nope.

I know that those may sound like sort of trivial things....so let me introduce you to the layers upon layers of what I would call "messes" that I keep finding myself, and people that I love, in lately.

It seems that every which way I turn, that area of my life is up in the air. And God has faithfully been giving me peace in the midst of some of the most trying and frustrating situations that I have ever experienced, but then at other times I feel like this season of life is NEVER going to end.

On Friday I came home, an absolute mess. And my ever-honest husband said to me, Has God left you? Has He taken His hand away from you? And I knew the answer was no. I knew that that would never ever be the case. So a big shout out to my husband who spoke the truth in love to me when I needed to hear it most. Anthony gently reminded me that I don't want to end up like the Israelites who died in the wilderness after whining, complaining and most importantly not believing that God was able to lead them victoriously into their promised land.

So today, as I am struggling against all of these crazy emotions, I am so so so very thankful that God in His mercy has overruled my weaknesses with His power and faithfulness. Today I really needed it.

Still Cloudy....

2008-10-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have read a blog that I posted earlier today, Cloudy. I have deleted the original blog, after it was brought to my attention that some of what I said had been or could be misinterpreted. I have to be honest and tell you that, as my blog titles suggest, today is cloudy for me. I am finding so many things very upsetting, and discovering some deep seated feelings, frustrations and.....feeling absolutely overwhelmed by everything that is going in my life presently. Which if you know me, you know that includes every possible situation with every single person in my life being a jumbled mess.

So, you can probably imagine that finding out that my blog this morning was felt to be too much....it sent me into experiencing tidal waves of emotion - ranging from terribly hurt to I just won't blog at all anymore. You can see how long the latter lasted....

So if you are reading this, would you pray for me today? I am in a very cloudy place.

Okay, Okay....

2008-10-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

So, I have been thinking for weeks that I really needed to start blogging again....so here goes nothing.

I have been home from Mexico (where I visited my Grandma, Uncles Bob & Jim, and my Aunt Sis) since late Tuesday night. I was both relieved and sad to be home. I really loved the trip, and seeing all of my dad's family. It was so much fun to be there to celebrate my Grandma's 90th Birthday. But most of all, I loved the people and the place. We stayed near Lake Chapala which is about an hour outside of Guadalajara. It was basically like the country here, there are a bunch of little villages (most of which were established in the 1400 and 1500s) that surround the lake. My Grandma's house is in Jocotepec and the house that my mom and I stayed at was in San Luis Soyatlan.
Truthfully, I am a little sad to be home. I am really wanting for Anthony and I to take a trip back at the end of the year, I think he would love it as much as I did. And the only reason I was excited to come home was to be with him again. That was really only the 2nd trip that I have taken without my husband, EVER.

While in Mexico, God and I really spent some incredible time together. He spoke to me so clearly and intimately on so many different things that I have been dealing and struggling with. He even revealed to me some areas in my life that I needed to address, some strongholds.

Which leads me to mention that this Saturday, tomorrow! We will be starting up our Ladies (but we're really a bunch of fun girls!) Bible study again. And we will be working through Beth Moore's study Living Free. I am excited to get started again, I have missed meeting every week together and having time to visit, encourage and love on one another.

But I do have to say that this year will be much different for me, because of a missing person. I want to cry just thinking about it, and really knowing that she won't be there has been very hard for me. Tough stuff. I guess I am just missing my friend, but I am so thankful that we got to hang out right before I went to Mexico - that was an extra special treat.

And one last thing before I go back to work, I know that many of my dearest friends have begun blogs recently too....and I am excited to read about their family happenings. But I feel kind of funny blogging because I don't have any cute little kid stories, I might have some hilarious Zoe and Wrex tales from time to time, but mostly I will just be sharing with you the work of God in my life, how I am seeing Him at work around Him and how He is stretching me, growing me, and making me new! How He is deepening my love for Him, His Word, His people and especially for my awesome, incredible, indescribable husband!

So yeah, I hope that you will stick with me, that you can follow my ramblings and that God encourages you through the work He is doing in my life!

So for now, think on this - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct Your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Leaving....

2008-07-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not gonna lie, my stomach is getting a little queasy. At 2:30 tomorrow morning I will be loading on a bus with 28 awesome people to drive to Houston. There we will get on a flight direct to Roatan, Honduras. Once we arrive in Honduras, we will be taking a boat ride to the tiny tiny island of Helene.
And this afternoon I am realizing that the very best part about it all, is that I have no idea what to expect to see, hear, feel, eat. All that I know is that God has something earth-shattering in store for us. For me. In my life. I pray that I am changed forever. That I am able to cry out "Woe to me! I am unclean a sinner, found in your presence!" I pray that because I long to be in the presence of my dear Savior, my Mighty God.
I'm just desperate for it.
It's bringing me to tears right now.
I'm so excited I can hardly sit still.
Pray for us as we go - that the Lord would protect our comings and our goings, that He would guard us and that we would run straight to Him in times of trouble or distress. Pray that we would be bold and that the people of Helene would have hearts ready to hear and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God Bless you.

Approval

2008-06-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

Friday night I spoke at a Ladies Dinner at the good ole FBCW. It was really the very first time that I have ever spoken in front of a group so large...and the truth is that I know that God has been preparing me for that night for the last few years of my life. And now I am exhausted...so tired, that it's 8:05 and everyone is in the kitchen making dinner, and I really feel more like going upstairs and crawling into bed.
But anywho, I feel such a sense of approval from my Lord. And the very best part is that I remember very little of what I said, other than the scripture and my main points. And I think that is incredibly awesome!!