Zilker Botanical Gardens

This afternoon we checked out Zilker Botanical Gardens. It's in Austin so we had a little bit of a drive. It was trafficy since we got going later this afternoon but we got there just fine and it was actually better that we went later on because the temps weren't as sky high as they are earlier in the day. Even still it was over 100 degrees when we got there at 5pm-ish.

This plant was hanging from a giant oak tree. Isn't it cool? I really like it.

I get to call Adam's Dad "Dad" now, so I will say Dad took this pic of the 4 of us when we arrived. Don't we look happy?

Ring pic. Y'all will probably be seeing lots of these. We are proud of this ring.

There was a koi pond in the Oriental Garden. The koi were ginormous.

See? Adam is showing you.

Lily pads. I like lilypads. There were dragon flies. and I looked down in the pond and saw a head and asked Adam to come and look at the frog. But then it disappeared under the lilies and swam away and it was a turtle. I apologized for not knowing animal heads better.

Pretty flowers. They look so cool instead of 103 degrees. It's all a mind game.


Adam needed to jump.


The walk of friends.

Ok this was fun. There were butterfly seats in the butterfly gardens. Marco matched the blue and black butterfly so he got to take pics in that seat.

I was the monarch. Because I like color and polka dots and because this one looked the most girly. Anyway my seat was magical and actually turned me in to a real butterfly for a while. Check out the progression...

Adam had to subdue his butterfly. But he conquered. I was so proud.

One to close with... =)

Some Pics 1

Adam and his dad sitting outside towards the end of a hot day. Taking some cool pics of the 'neopolitan' clouds. There was a low flying plane they were waving to.

We visited Best Buy so Adam could get a new cell phone - which he desperately needed. Then we swung through Sam's Club - I picked up a cute summer dress. Then we walked over to Dollar Tree. Always fun for some photos.

We were able to see Harry Potter. Loved it! I really need to reread the books. I want to read them out loud to Adam. I also plan to read them out loud to our kids one day. After Harry Potter we ate out at Mama Fu's. It's similar to Pei Wei. I had a DELICIOUS tofu cashew dish. Yum! Then as we walked back to the car we snapped a few photos. Gotta catch these moments in time.

Engagement Story (From Erin's Perspective)

Monday, July 20 was the day Adam and I celebrated 11 months of dating.

Since we had arrived in Kyle, TX Adam had been scouting out places where he could take some photos. He was on the lookout for rustic buildings. We had a leisurly,vacationy morning at home then Adam asked his dad if he could borrow the car so we could head out to downtown Kyle to take some pics. We'd noticed a few potential spots and Adam wanted to check them out. I was wearing my jean shorts and Love Lets Live T-Shirt, hadn't showered, hadn't combed my hair, didn't have on makeup. Since we were taking pics I told Adam he could just edit my skin (which he is good at doing now). So we got to downtown Kyle and there is a little Thrift Store that we wanted to check out (only OUR engagement story involves a thrift store, I know, and I love it!) We browsed around. Looked at shoes. I found an amazing quilt topper - it was unfinished -as in- not bound. It was super colorful squares of fabric and whenever I find those in the CA thrift stores they are always pricey. Vintage quilts are popular. So I pulled it off the hanger and found the price tag.. $3.00!! 3 dollars! I was like, "Adam. We are getting this. I can definitely fit it in my suitcase. I left room." He lovingly carried it around for me while we continuted to browse.

We circled around the store and stopped at the dresses. There I noticed a dress that was a color that Adam loves. I glanced at it and thought 'Hmmm.. I wonder if Adam will like this?' so I pulled it off the rack and said, "Hey, Adam, what do you think of this?" He said, "It's nice." I thought, 'I need to know if he really likes this or not.' So I said, "I need to know if you love it or if I should hang it back up." He said, "I really like it. I think it's nice." Decision made. We headed to the dressing rooms. I tried the dress on and walked out and Adam loved it. For $8.00 we got a quilt and a dress. I was stoked!

I was able to change into the dress. Adam and I thought that would be cooler to wear so the pics would be a little nicer. We headed across the street to a red caboose. We snapped some photos. Then we wandered across the tracks to a run down, beat up shack. I asked Adam to make sure it was empty inside. So he knocked on the walls and said stuff like, "Hey is anyone in there?" "We're just taking pictures." "I'm black..... and I know martial arts." =)

We took some more photos. Tried some different poses. (Oh the things I do for Adam... poor Erin..) Then Adam said, "Do you want a picture together of us for our 11 month?" I said, "Yes!" I was thinking of the whole mash-your-faces-together-and-take-a-self-portrait-deal, but Adam decided to use an old ice chest to set the camera on to take a timed photograph. He's done that lots of times before so it was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to make me suspect anything.

He finally got it just right and stepped around the ice chest to walk toward me. As he did that he said, "Ok. We have 10 seconds." So I started counting down. "10. 9. 8. 7. 6." When I got to 6 Adam knelt down, grabbed my hand, placed a ring inside of it and said, "Will you marry me?" And at the very same time I was saying, "What is this? (Let me clarify that I wasn't saying 'What is this RING?' I was meaning 'What is this proposal - I'm astounded this is happening right now!!!!!!!!') I immediately said, "YES!" Then I cried. And Adam prayed for us. Then I cracked up. Then I cried again.

Safe

We made it! Late.

And we already ate some homemade something.. I have no idea how to spell it. I even tried to google it and still came up empty. Delicious though. . .=)

And I think me and my armpits will not be good friends these next 10 days.

P.S. It's 2:55am.

Travels

Dear Blog,
We are in the Phoenix airport - delayed. Our flight was supposed to leave at 7:40 and it is currently set to leave at 8:10pmWe ate Chinese food. We did a crossword puzzle. There is a kid here and for a long while I couldn't tell if the kid was a boy or a girl. It's a boy. I confirmed this when he went into the men's restroom and his mom went into the women's. I thoughtthere was internet here, so I thought I could post this blog, but there's not so I can't.
So much for the live action play by play. Now Adam is letting me help him on a graphic project. Designing a business card.

V_A_C_A_T_I_O_N_!

I slept in this morning. Til 9am! It was wonderful. Texas here we come.

Also, I dropped a needle on my floor this morning and I can't find it.

Also, I lost 2 pairs of tweezers in one week. I was emptying out my purse for the airplane ride I will be taking later on and I noticed the tweezers were in between the lining of my purse and my purse. CRAZY!!

Suzi, my short hair is in pigtails.

Also, I just remembered I didn't pack any shoes. I should go throw a pair in.

Bye everyone!

p.s. I don't know if this really means I'm taking a vacation from my blog or not. We'll just see what happens.

K, Bye.

a ramble

I've had a thought running through my head this past week but haven't been able to turn it into a blog.

It goes along these lines.

We hear stories of people and churches reaching out to homeless people. We all know it should happen. I've heard and had enough conversations with people around me to know that they feel the same way. That if a homeless person were to enter PBC we need to reach out to them.

So why when I'm in the throws of it, do I assume others want nothing to do with this?

I'm wondering if I'm so used to seeing it not happen that it overwhelms me when it does or I'm wondering if it happens less because all we do is talk about it and then worry what others will say or do or how they will react when it actually happens and so we stop.

Again.. not cohesive, but if I don't start throwing it out here.. it won't go anywhere too far.

Mormon - Christian - Freedom

You know how we Christians say that we are so thankful for our freedom and how in light of present times - world - government - laws - persecution etc we wonder how long we will have those freedoms? I was just thinking today of how huge the Mormon population is and how they claim to be Christians - now... Follow me with this..

We love our religious freedom and so do they. If the government - media - schools -etc continues persecuting Christians - that means Mormons too - it will be interesting to see how they step up and fight for their religious freedom the same way it will be interesting to see how we step up and fight for ours. Basically what I am saying is, we might be waging a similar war - which in the long run could allow religious freedom to stick around in the USA longer than we think it might.

I think a lot of Christians are seeing the 'light at the end of the tunnel' ..death becoming more near (maybe not physical death, but in this instance death of religious freedom) but the Mormons will fight to keep their temple ordinances and doctrine & covenants and journeys just as much as we will fight to keep being able to say "Bible" or "you're a sinner" or "pray" or "Jesus is the only way."

So I'm just saying.. the battle is not over. They (Mormons) are mysteriously on top of their game. It's amazing. But will they be fighting just as hard to keep their religious freedom if the Christian title becomes an invitation for viciousness?

Hairs

Lisa cut my hair and she is a genius. And an artist. And amazing. She also cut Mike's hair. And this all happened after 10:30pm. Adam chronicled everything. He done good. The inspiration for mine came from a green wig off google images. =)

Dear Blog,

I just want you to know that last night I broke my toenail back further than I ever have in my nearly 26 years of life.



Thanks for listening..

EDITED** Here it is in all it's glory!

Black and White Officially

Adam and I went to his dorm Black and White Party. I think it was the 3rd year for this and it was fun! Everything was decorated with newspaper - which I LOVED and there was great food. There was a black and white movie playing on the wall. They also had an award ceremony for things like Messiest Room, Most Opposite Roomates and things like that. Everyone was very festive. Maybe I'll dig around for some more pics.

I think Adam and I should have won an award for officially BEING black and white.

The Classy Side

This was taken at a formal event that Adam took me to. I've been a fan of 'the floating head' since going to Israel where I learned the technique from David. I think this is the best photo for capturing the floating head EVER though.

Dark Ages

I went to Stater Brothers today to get a sandwich. (They have Sandwich of the Week deals and you get a great sandwich for $2.99). When I was approaching the entrance I saw a lady standing there and she was talking on a PAY PHONE. I never even notice pay phones anymore! I thought to myself, "Who talks on pay phones? She doesn't have a cell phone? Maybe she left it at home. I think she is talking to her kid. Maybe her kid is borrowing her cell phone. Especially since it's summer..."

Poor lady.. talking on a pay phone.

Brain Excerpts

This has really turned more into a religious blog. I was never trying for it to be that way - I also wasn't trying to have it be non-religious. I love posting about life and love and friends and food and all those things that are blessings.. as well as the rougher things, things that make me sad, hurtful things that have made me grow. I think what it is is that I've just been learning and experiencing so much lately that I want to share it - in simple hope of passing it along to someone who may read it and be struck in similar ways. My main encouragement is for people to know and grow in the Lord and to make disciples. I want to challenge people.

I truly believe things have gotten unbalanced. My life is unbalanced - I'll be the first to admit that and Mom will be the second to admit it. But the balance I'm talking of here is: ...

...Christianity. I think we've bought too much into the American gospel. The believer who only wants:

1. Expositional Preaching (I myself have a harder time paying attention if the sermon is from "Various Texts" - it's nice having it move in order. I'm working on it though. There is no reason for me to not pay attention. Summerfest is a great time to challenge myself in this),

2. The song set that is 4-5 songs in the beginning of the service with a scriptural interlude between songs -(hymns?, praise songs?, drums?, new songs?, old songs?, electric guitar?, raise hands?, clap?, stand? sit?, I mean seriously people - it's worship - it's MUUUUSIC - the ONLY thing you should be worrying about is what is going through your heart - if you are truly worshiping God you should be able to worship no matter the musical setting) exactly 20 minutes.

3.Sunday School, Children's Ministry, going to a Bible study on Thursday night and AWANA on Wed.

Not too many of these things were part of the original NT church. I've heard it said that the NT church consisted of: The Word, Praying, Breaking Bread and Baptizing . . To that I would add - A place to exercise Spiritual Gifts and Church Discipline. That should be church. It's basic isn't it?

Music can contribute - yes, we see that all over Psalms. Children's ministry/Sunday School can be helpful - yes, but nowhere is it seen in scripture (unless I'm missing it?).

Why do we add so much to church? What is the point? Why is the church so busy? Why is everyone worn out? Why do 70% of youth walk away from the Lord when they graduate from High School? Why is the 'General Fund' so low? Why do we have building projects going on? Why do people have to go through a Baptism Class in order to get baptized? And then, why do they have to read a 2 page testimony? Did people dress up in their finest clothes in Acts when they went to church? Were there choirs? Why are we so distracted? Why have we added 89 points to the original few?

I don't have a solution. I just think that people are so just going with the flow of the Church that they haven't even stopped to consider what it is they are doing, what they are a part of. It's a lovely hammock Satan has us swinging in. So breezy and comfy with the allusion that we deserve it and have earned it. These rights to have comfortable church where we can worship distraction free and complain if it's not how we think it should be. Who cares if a baby cries during church? Who cares if you gotta bring a toy or 12 to keep them occupied? It shouldn't be a problem. People should just be so excited to hear the word and pray and have communion and witness baptism and use their gifts. That should be it. That should be church.

I think we've made it too hard and nobody really realizes it.

Stuff

This pic makes me laugh. Especially because Esther is normally pretty stinkin' hesitant and scared of everything. Obviously not the case with the buffalo...

I've had this song stuck in my head. I forgot about it until the movie Up came out. Then this then it wouldn't leave my head and I would sing it to Adam. Isn't he lucky? He has such a good girlfriend.

Shania Twain More CMT Music More CMT Music Videos

P.S. Adam you wanna stencil me her shirt? I like it.