Today has been a wonderful day!

I slept in late - skipping my 8am class as a birthday present to myself. =o)

Then, Anne surprised me with Starbucks and an AWESOME gift! It is a movie three pack with: Mean Girls, Clueless, and She's The Man! I'm so beyond excited!!

Aaron and I went to lunch. We went to Olive Garden - it was very yummy. He still has the flu a tiny bit, so the food was making him feel gross...which makes me sad. But, it was the first time he'd REALLY been able to eat all week, so we'll take what we can get. =o)

Then, I was working on a sermon for my preaching class. I have a problem turning in a sermon on paper...it always ends up coming across SO differently when it is actually preached instead of just read. Plus, I end up changing things while I'm up there depending on a number of factors. I know that Jeter knows this...but still, I don't like that I had to only turn in a hard copy of it.

Aaron and I went to dinner with my parents at Saltgrass! It was SOOOOOOOOO yummy!!! I got great gifts! I'm very excited about my 1000 thread count sheets from my sister!! They are in the wash right now so that I can put them on my bed tonight.

Now it is time to finish up my exegesis so I can turn that in before I go to bed.

Tomorrow I head to Athens where I am directing Chi-Rho Midwinter!! Yikes!! How am I old enough to do things like that?!?

And...

HOW AM I 27?!? WEIRD!!!

So, I decided I was tired last night and went to bed at 11.

6:30 my phone wakes me up - I'm annoyed by it, but don't read the text.

I wake up at 8:45 and read the text - TCU Alert saying TCU is closed. Woohoo!

It is only then that I remember that I had an 8am class...luckily it was cancelled. Which is good, since I would have slept through it anyway.

So, I'm on a new committee at my church to come up with a new name for the church. While I am glad to be involved...I don't feel like spending my Monday evening when its rainy/icy/gross outside at the church. And, I still have 25 minutes until the meeting...so I'm not really sure what to do until then because I'm tired and cranky. *sigh*

That's all.

Wow...

So, I am preaching on Sunday at East Dallas Christian Church. This is the congregation that I grew up in from the time I was in 7th grade. I love this church, it is my home. To have the opportunity to preach there is exciting, but it is also scary. Scary in the sense that they are much more high church than the congregation that I am currently serving. But really, like I said, this is home.

So want to know what is really scaring me about preaching this Sunday?

I am preaching sermon number 3 in a series. That's right...I was given my scripture and my topic. Ok, that's not too bad, I can handle that. My topic - Communion and Baptism. Again. I can handle that.

What makes it so hard then, Debra?

I'll tell you. The fact that the parameters of the sermon were sort of laid out for me. I have to add in Disciples History of Communion and Baptism. I also have to talk about why we call them ordinances instead of sacraments (even though I tend to call the sacraments, not ordinances...).

Gah.

I feel like I'm losing my own voice by trying to cater to what my minister wants me to talk about. So, now I'm trying to let God speak through me, because this sermon is the toughest I've ever written. I want to have fun with it, and for it to retain my voice...but, man, that's tough when I'm having to do a history lesson. *sigh*

I can do it...I'm not worried about it, I'm just ready to be happy with what I've written so far...

And I introduce to you...boy.

Well, I call him Aaron since that's what his parents named him...anyway - this was taken of us at the KU Basketball game we went to in Kansas. I went to Kansas City, MO over New Years to meet his family. That's right, after a mere 2 1/2 months, we've officially met the families. Its fun. He's amazing and makes me uber happy. =o) Funny how quickly it can happen that you can't imagine your life without someone in it. =o)

I'm in a January term class with Dr. Jeter this week. Interpretation for Preaching: James, 1,2,&3 John and Jude. This class is fascinating...but I'm ready for the week to be over. I have until January 30th to write an exegesis and a sermon over a text of my choosing. We'll see what I pick. I kinda liked my sermon brief for the scripture in 1 John that I presented on today...we'll see if that is what I end up doing. I've made it through the week in a D.Min level class...makes me think that I could do it...someday. Let's be honest, I can't afford any more schooling for a long while.