I love to Swag

Swagging is great fun, and as far as cost analysis goes, it goes like this: I spend nothing, and I get stuff for free. Beautiful idea.

Are you familiar with Swagbucks? If not, you should be. It's a search engine that as you search, gives you Swagbucks (swag) that you can then redeem for various things. I signed up hoping to get a $5 Amazon card here or there, but to date, I have earned $50 worth of free food from Restaurants.com.

The last gift card we got was used at the Oak Steakhouse in downtown Charleston for our last date night in SC as a not-married couple. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed my tasty veal parmesan!! YUMMY.

Anyways, what you do is enable Swagbucks to be an option for how you search the internet (instead of using Google in the top right corner, use Swagbucks). The more you search, the more likely you are to win swagbucks. Also, right now you can download their toolbar, which will give you a swag code every day to be entered on the site for swagbucks.

It's a great deal, really. You sign up for free, you search the internet (which you probably do a lot of anyways), and you earn Swagbucks. Then, trade your swagbucks in for gift cards and voila! You're a winner and get a free dinner (or books, or CDs, or a PS3...I'm just sayin'.)

It's seriously worth a look-see, and it would help MY account out if you'd register with the link below! If you're a Swagbucks user already, let me know what you do to earn lots of Swag and how you've cashed yours in!

Christ is our prize

Got news today that a guy I ministered alongside in Mexico, a fellow Latino-lover, was taken off of life support after trying to end his life.

His death hit me hard this morning, as he wasn't the type of person I would have "pegged" to try and die. He loved the Lord and he loved people. He cared for others and it showed. I'm thankful to him that on that trip, when I was harassed by an airline employee, he was the one to stand up to him and tell him to knock it off.Oh, so sad to see the life of one who loved Christ ended in such a way.

However, it's because Christ loved him and he loved Jesus too that I know I will see him again in heaven. What a sadness - this suffering on earth - and what rejoicing awaits us in heaven, when we come face-to-face with our Savior. How I long for heaven - but may my lifesong be, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Just like this song by David Crowder Band, we must remember that the Lord is our prize - a deep, intimate, loving relationship with the King of the universe is what we should strive for - not growing weary of this world he has placed us in, but always striving forward for the prize of knowing and loving God.

"He is jealous for me,
Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If his grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves." - David Crowder Band

Blog silence

Sorry it has been so silent on here in the last few weeks (honestly, not sure how long it has been, I haven't checked but I don't remember what I last posted.Although, I noticed I am not the only one who seems to have been silent lately in the blog-o-sphere, so I guess I'm in good company.

Life has been crazy. School is back in session and I'm auditing a few classes for "personal enrichment." Work has been busier too, which is generally nice :)

Oh yeah - wedding planning. That's the other thing on my plate. How could I leave that off? It has been a trip, and all I can say is that I love Jesus and His grace and I love that He is a perfect example of love and forgiveness, because I suck at those things on my own strength.

I'm SO unbelievably excited to be married and to begin building a life with my best friend. Seriously, I am READY to be his wife...I guess we could elope and make the next six weeks a lot easier, huh? Tempting.

Anyways, things are clicking along and I know the next few weeks will fly by. Before I know it, I'll be in NYC - Maryville - Walking down the aisle - Flying away with my husband for our honeymoon. Bliss. Cannot wait.

What a man....

Two months from today, I'll be walking down an aisle, wearing white, giving thanks to God for His many blessings, and marrying my best friend.

Don't listen to me if I complain about wedding planning - I am blessed beyond belief and my complaints are nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt at saying I am discontent in what God has given me. Shame on me. "Godliness with contentment is great gain." I want to be content, and why shouldn't I be?

I have been blessed to be given a man who is strong, sensitive, loving, funny and above all, seeks and pursues Jesus, more than he pursues me. As long as he has his priorities in that order, we'll be just fine :) He is - aside from my salvation - the greatest blessing of my life.

So, while I have SO much to be thankful for today, I just wanted to take this opportunity to boast in what my God has done - he has given me life, and he is giving it to me abundantly.

Friday with Fuzzy-Face

Ben loves sticks, much to Adrian's chagrin. Friday was a great example of both Ben's love of sticks and his stubborn determination, which we wish he would use for good and not evil :) Anyways, watch and see how his wood-loving tendencies met with his determination as Benny conquered the stick/rope swing at the river. Enjoy watching mi perro loco!

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