learning, listening, lamenting. #blackouttuesday #blackouttuesday⚫️✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 https://www.instagram.com/p/CA8KOqPJazi/?igshid=1fxi8897r92kk

A dear friend asked me to write this for her. It also is one of Makena's middle name's meaning. . Thankful to reflect on why the Lord is worth magnifying, worthy of our fullest delight. He is the definition of good, and He is kind, just, and worthy of remembering Him in every situation. He is Jesus and He was born to redeem a people to their Maker, to their purpose and to life in true abundance. Christmas is a beautiful story, and a beautiful fulfillment to a promise from the Father, a beacon of hope and a reminder that lasting freedom from the brokenness we find too often is on its way--and it's for anyone who would hear it. https://www.instagram.com/p/B6N3bGGpQbeOzedfTLBv-WebnpxDxwfUKQhW3Q0/?igshid=epsjoxbwjbqt

It's been a wellspring for me--being in the Bible this week along with some amazing women. #samepagesummer is a reading challenge to go through the second part of the Bible--New Testament. It's a part that introduces who Jesus is, why he is important, and what his life was like. It also introduces the history of people who began following Him and believing He is who He said He was. These words on a page are much more than that. They are life-giving and remind us that there is a really good God, and Jesus came to not only show us who He is, but give us a way to be right with Him. And without Him there is no way to be whole, or know full hope, goodness, or joy. . I have a had a bad mindset this week, feeling tired and letting myself be weary. But I come to the stories and the letters in the Bible and I am reminded that I have every good thing because of Jesus. He gives me himself🤯 so I can walk in something that I can't do on my own. It gives me love when I feel empty, and faith when I feel lost. . It's a catch up day, so go ahead and read or listen through all of John and join up with us :) we are in the @youversion bible app #biblereadingchallenge #bedeeplyrooted #youversionbibleapp https://www.instagram.com/p/ByczS9blXmZfjQxuSqYXAZMUwbwm3ALT2HUqMk0/?igshid=pzwjfr80xsew

I just can't describe how relieved and excited this makes me feel. . Hundreds of hours studying . So much teamwork to help me. . 8 hours of testing . 7 weeks of waiting. . And here we are. Surprised to have results out. So so so grateful. #pe_exam #civilengineering #civilPE #engineermom https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxc_rKPFVPu/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ebcwlsue9wm

Potato Gnocchi with Butternut Squash and Chicken, mixed with a Browned Butter Sage Sauce| Uh. This is a new fall season, or date night, or comfort food tradition 😍. . My pasta cookbook said that in Italian culture, gnocchi is one of those foods that is a strict tradition. In Rome, it was eaten every Thursday with just some butter and Parmesan. In other areas it could be served on a Sunday or Saturday. It's made with different flours and vegetables, depending on season and area. All I know this particular dish will be a Shorts dinner favorite, no matter what region we are living in! 🍁 #bedeeplyrooted #foodie #foodcoma #homemade #fromscratch #gnocchi #autumneats #tasty #delicious https://www.instagram.com/p/BpSou1EFBhR/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=rey0znwnum06

All set to travel to CA--✈️ kids napping means I get some down time! . Two studies started with some church fam. 🙌🏽 I run to the Word and have a huge desire from God to get out of it all I can. I love that even in a season with littles I can have people to walk with me through scripture, the amazing story of the Bible pointing to Jesus, and all the seriously exciting implications it has on life today, here, now, always--in every role we have. . These are scripture journals from @crosswaybooks. They're pretty, simple, and perfect for packing light.👍🏽 . #deepintheword #bedeeplyrooted https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn9Mu9LBfRI/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=v7icp2yuiy21

Interesting that to those running the new school, it is a gateway to business flourishing and revitalizing the poor county. I wonder if this is done in poor urban areas and how it’s progressing for the area’s overall development. I also wonder how local churches are/or could be involved in this kind of process. Again, I do want to think holistically—the existing public school system and the kids in them. This seems like a great way to change things, but I am sure it will take a generation to see the effects. I just wish every kid had access to amazing educational opportunities and thriving culture, but hopeful to see examples like this one in Alabama.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many...” . Mark, The Gospel Of Mark . “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, . did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, . but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. . And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. . Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” . Apostle Paul, Letter to the church in Philippi #bedeeplyrooted #becauseimhis #womenoffaith #womenoftheword #holyscriptures #bibleverse #happysunday #delight #desiringgod

This is where we are—black lives cry in the streets for the black blood that bleeds. And white lives, for fear, or their version of protection, pull triggers preemptively before other things. What doesn’t matter is the matter of black. Their fear, they run, because maybe to even obey would run the risk of being done, in dust. He was young, smart, bright, smiley. Why was he in that car with those guns? Or is that just the reality. Common as a pack of gum in your bag, a gun within reach. AP classmate, volunteer. Black American young man no longer here. I pray to God we would not be blind, but if we have eyes to see we would, ears to hear we should. It’s not just a mindset to defeat. It’s a physical hold, a place to climb out of, but there’s no rocks for feet to push or lift off of. And those who pass by speak their own agendas. Too important, too much already to stop, bend down, and reach, bind, dress, or give. We aren’t the samaritan we are the calloused.

Aloha from Virginia ☀️ ———————————— Thanks to friends for lending us the kayak ❤️ #getoutdoors #norfolkva #virginiaisforlovers #virginia #adventure #spontaneous (at Norfolk, Virginia)

Definitely love filling the house with fresh flowers. But when that’s not happening, some drawn ones will do! . Creating has been a fun distraction these last few days. Lord willing, the kids and I will wake up with our main guy back in the home. 🙌🏽🙏🏽 . Also, I feel like Virginia Beach skipped the cool spring and is jumping into Summer this week 🔥☀️

Reminders of the loveliness of God’s love. It’s incomparable, endless, proven, never-failing, and overwhelming ❤️ . #ipadlettering #handlettering #unsplash #cultivateworship #worship #heartsongs #bedeeplyrooted #wellwateredwomen

Christians should be known by the same qualities of their Leader, Savior, King, and God. A God who disadvantaged Himself by abandoning Heaven’s Throne to become a frail, human baby born in an animal’s trough. And to be brought up as a human in human culture, language, hardships, and in a broken reality that is absolute poverty compared to His Eternal Glory of a home, is the example we have to follow in order to spread His good news of Gods kingdom being one on Earth as it is in Heaven. Our Christian calling isn’t just to the cross and stay there in conversion but it is to bear our own cross and go and teach as Christ taught and live as He lives with compassion, with the truth of each human’s God given quality, with justice to combat the wrongs, and righteousness to restore human relationships with God and each other.

The journey of learning with Zeke. He loves it—Numbers, puzzles galore. Pretty proud of him and blown away by how much he picks up each day. . . #babygenius #toddlerlife #ezekieljsshorts #growinguptoofast #learning #counting #jigsaw #ilovepuzzles #puzzles #animals #123 #books #readmorebooks #readeveryday #puzzlelife

Because life is too short to walk in anything less. And eternity is too important to waste time trying to walk in anything else outside God’s way. I see it and I am learning it. And I am so heartbroken for those who don’t and continue to chase after the wind to come up short and in want. You can know Him too, and He’s calling if you are listening. Ask Him to show you.