Happy Birthday Peanut!

When  you adopt a shelter dog, there are certain things you will never know.  Background, age and BIRTHDAY are a few.  So, we decided to pick a day around when we adopted her and call that her birthday.  In order to help our memory, we chose Veterans Day. 11/11/11 was her first birthday with us! Here are some silly pictures from our silly celebration.  Sometimes I look at these and just laugh at how ridiculous I am :)  Oh well, you only live once.  Why not have fun being silly. :)

 Since cake isn't good for dogs, she got chicken.

She wasn't sure what to do about the candle, but she knew she wanted that chicken!

She was not a fan of the homemade party hat.  Pretty sure she wouldn't have liked a store bought one either though. 

For those of you who are die hard Chick-Fil-A fans (as are we) do not fret.  I did not waste one of my precious 8 pieces on my sweet canine.  We had been to Chick-Fil-A twice that day, and I wanted to save room for a shake.  So, 15 pieces for me (divided between lunch and dinner, of course) and 1 for my pup is a fare shake, I think.  After all, she is a pretty good dog :)

Love the FALL!

OK,
So, I wrote this post around November... haha.  Well, better late than never!

We have had some lovely fall weather around here, so I wanted to celebrate it before winter arrived :)  Here are some pictures of campus, lovely trees and our little family.  Enjoy!

The pond on campus.

 Arnold T. Olson Chapel

 Spontaneous family portrait

 Happy Fall Flowers!

 Have I mentioned how much I love candy corn and sugar cookies? :)

Creativity is not my gift, hence following the straight lines that are already in a pumpkin.

Mike's says "pumpkin" in Hebrew. Guess that's what happens when you study it all the time.

 Our house at the shelter.

Not sure if you can tell in the picture, but there are dog treats and candy corn floating around inside her skeleton rib cage :)

Remembering John Stott

 We drove out to Wheaton a few days ago.  They were having a memorial service for John Stott and Mike and I wanted to go.  I must confess, I have not completely read any of his books, but I look forward to doing so.  It was a beautiful, inspiring, challenging, encouraging and convicting service.  Made me stop to think about what am I really living life for.  Am I living for me? Or for God? 

A verse shared by Tim Keller during the service:
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
~Hebrews 13:7


Here is a link to an article written several years ago about him.

From the article:
More than his books, documents, or institutions, Stott's most important legacy to the church has been his wisdom. Thoroughly biblical, disarmingly open, shrewdly discerning, Stott's thought has helped guide the evangelical movement as it engaged social concerns, the charismatic movement, female clergy, homosexuality, and challenges to core doctrines.


I'm so glad we have so many outstanding leaders and faithful servants of the gospel to imitate.  God has generously provided us with these people, knowing that we are weak and sometimes dense, and need clear examples of how to live.

The Many Names of Virginia Peanut

a.k.a :
Peanut
Peanut Butter
Nutter Butter
Butter Bean
Bean
The Nut
Fur Child
Sweet Pea
Little One
Tiny Dancer (video explanation below, though it doesn't really do her justice)