At Last...

I finally got to meet Mikias!!! On Monday morning, I loaded Annie in the car, and we ventured up to Nashville to meet Laura and the kids. Emmy seemed quite sad to see Annie go, but Annie leaped into the car. I am not sure that she knew where she was headed, but she was glad to be going! My good friend Morgan made the drive with me, and it was very nice to have some company. I was so excited to see Molly Kate and meet Mikias. We met at a park, and when we got out of the car, MK came running to me, and gave me a BIG hug! Got to love those! Mikias kept saying, "Amy!" It was so cute that he knows my name! We enjoyed a quick lunch, and spent some time playing at the park. Mikias is precious, and has the cutest smile. Both of these kids just melt my heart! I wish our visit could have been longer, but we both had to turn around, and drive back home. When we were leaving, MK said, "Can I come home with you?" How precious! I am hoping I can snag the kids for a few days once Miles comes home and my sister has Madden. I am sure she will be needing a break! What I would give for the Cuthbertsons to live closer!

The Blessings of Brokenness

I finished this book last week, but it has taken me that long to gather my thoughts and summarize them. Overall, I thoroughly benefited from reading The Blessings of Brokenness: Why God Allows Us To Go Through Hard Times, and I know the Lord had a purpose in me reading it. When I made my book list for 2010, I was searching our book shelves and this book just caught my eye. I am so glad I decided to add it to the list. This book has truly spoken to my heart, and definitely changed my perspective on the trial that the Lord is taking us through. If you are walking through any trial in your life right now, I highly encourage you to read this book. Charles Stanley is definitely "old school", but full of wisdom. While this book is very simplistic, it is also very practical and applicable.

What was the perspective change? Stanley says, "He (God) allows brokenness in our lives in order to bring about a blessing. God never breaks us in anger or wrath. Rather, God moves in our lives because he loves us too much to see us continue in our sin, remain in a lukewarm spiritual state, or go unfulfilled in his purposes for our lives. God loves us too much to see us remain as we are." God is not taking me through this trial as a punishment. He is using it as a means to make me more spiritually mature and whole. His love for me is so great that He desires to see me change, grow, and develop. Can I get an AMEN? That is a huge blessing from the Lord! That He would love me so much that He could not see me remain as I am. Thank you Father!

Listed below are a several of my favorite quotes from the book. My hope is that they will be enough of a sampling that you will be encouraged to read the book in its entirety.

"God is in the process of changing what we desire, far more than he is in the process of giving us what we desire."

"Our period of brokenness is not the end, but rather, a passage and a process to a new beginning that is even more glorious."

"His desire and purpose for us is total dependence upon him. Nothing short of complete dependence will suffice."

"When God breaks us, he does so with the purpose of putting us back together again--better than before, and ultimately, so that we might be whole."

"Our role in times of brokenness is to submit not only to what God desires to do in our lives, but also to his timetable."

"When God is at work in our spirits, we must recognize openly that the most valuable facet of our being--truly the eternal facet of our lives--is being strengthened, nourished, and refined."

"It's better to be somebody in God's eyes and nobody in the eyes of the world, than to be somebody in the eyes of the masses and nobody in the eyes of God."

"Brokenness ends when our will is broken and we yield to God in submission."

"Brokenness is the pruning process that God uses in order to produce inner fruit--his very likeness."

"Brokenness brings us to the place where we say, 'All that matters is God and his presence in my life."

In the final chapter Stanley wrote about five great blessings that come from brokenness. Each of these were very encouraging to me, so I thought I would share them with you.

1. The Blessing of Understanding God Better: we truly begin to understand the nature of God

2. The Blessing of Understanding Ourselves Better: we come to a much deeper understanding of ourselves

3. The Blessing of Increased Compassion for Others: we begin to look at other people differently

4. The Blessing of a Greater Zest for Life: we find we have a greater appreciation for all of God's gifts to us

5. The Blessing of an Increased Awareness of God's Presence: brokenness makes us more sensitive to his presence

What immense blessings that flow from brokenness! Praise be to God that He sees fit to break us and refine us in order to bring about such great blessings!

Blueberry Pound Cake

When I was a little girl this was the first cake I ever baked, and it was with my dear friend Katie. I am positive that it is what inspired my love for baking, and why I have kept baking over the years. My precious hair stylist gave me 2 pints of fresh blueberries last week, and I knew exactly what I was going to do with them...make a blueberry pound cake! I will be enjoying a slice tomorrow morning with the staff women of Campus Crusade. Definitely give this delicious one a try!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 pint fresh blueberries or

2 cups canned blueberries, drained and rinsed

DIRECTIONS:

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Sift 2 cups flour, salt, and baking powder together. Add sifted ingredients to creamed mixture and beat. Dredge berries in remaining flour. Fold berry mixture gently into creamed mixture. Pour mixture into a tube pan which has been buttered and coated with sugar. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Serves 15.

This recipe can be found in Southern Sideboards, a cookbook compiled by the Junior League of Jackson, MS. It is one of my favorites!

What is the Latest?

It has been a few weeks since I posted about our current situation, and several people have asked what is the latest. I decided it was time to give some details. How am I doing you might ask? Let's just say I am persevering by the grace of God! I have good days, and bad days, but at least there is a mix! Most days I am content in the place the Lord has us right now. There are days though that I long to be in the future, and know that we will eventually have a child. I will share a cool story with you that happened last Sunday. I had already left church, but I saw a good friend standing in the hallway, so I ran back inside real quick just to say hello. While I was talking to her she introduced me to her friend that has the cutest blonde hair, blue-eyed boys that appeared really close in age. I asked her and she replied, "Yep, 16 months!" I was not surprised, and said, "well if we ever have a child, I can promise you that we will do nothing to prevent the next one." She just laughed, because that was exactly what had happened to them. She actually went to the same doctor I am seeing in Memphis. The first time she got pregnant, it was a tubal pregnancy. About 6 months later she got pregnant with her first boy, and then the next once came about 7 months after he was born. I was definitely encouraged by her success, and thought it was so sweet of the Lord to give me that moment. Isn't He good to us?!? He does indeed know our needs!

As for now, I am back on the pill. Yes, that is birth control. Strange that they would put you on the pill in order to get you pregnant. The reason is that it induces a cycle, and it is one of the main ways to prevent PCOS. It basically keeps the cyst from growing. After that, I will start the shots again, and go for Round 2. My heart is definitely anxious, and I do have some fears. With PCOS you have a 50% chance of miscarriage, while it is normally 15%. That is a pretty big difference. I believe it is because you produce a poorer quality egg. I definitely fear doing this whole process again, and having another miscarriage. However, I know the Lord will not give me more than I can handle. If that is what He chooses, then I know that it is part of His refining in my life. Without a doubt, I truly feel like I have been through the fire (well, I guess I am still in it). At the same time though, I feel like I have come to know my Savior in a incredibly intimate way. I truly feel like my relationship with Him has been taken to new depths, and it is really sweet. For this reason alone, I give praise to the Father for this trial. He ultimately knows what is best, and I will continue to trust in and rest in His truths.

Thank you for your faithfulness in continuing to pray for us! We are beyond grateful for the love and support you have shown towards us!

Just Curious!?!

SO, I read about this on another blog, and decided I would give it a try too! I would love to know who is out there and who is reading about life with the Coles! I've never done this before, and I am just interested to see whose checking this thing out! Calling everyone from lookers to regular commenters...Give me a holler!

Oh, and how do you like the new design?!?! It was LONG overdue, but I am so tickled it is finally up!

He Has RISEN!

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday as we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ! Stephen Taylor delivered the message at Grace Bible, and he spoke on the importance of the resurrection, and why we as believers should rejoice in it. He said, "The cross does not mean anything without the resurrection." He painted a wonderful picture of what life would be like if Christ had not risen, versus the life we have in Christ because He has indeed risen! He said if Christ did not rise, we would have no hope, no security, no identity, no eternal reward, and so on. But, because Christ has risen, we have hope, we have a citizenship in heaven, we have eternal life, we are a child of God and our identity lies in Him, we are forgiven, we are counted as righteous, we are freed from our sin, and we have a Father! There are an abundant amount of reasons to rejoice in the resurrection, and we ought to give thanks to the Lord for both the Cross and the Resurrection!

After hearing this encouraging message, we went to Kyle's grandparents house for a delicious Easter lunch! I definitely enjoyed the eating...probably a little too much! :) All the boys went to watch the Rebels baseball game, while the women did a little reading and napping. I actually ended up watching the game on TV, and was sad to see the Rebels lose! When everyone got back to the house, we heard this chirping noise upstairs. It sounded like a bird, so we sent some of the kids up to see what was making the noise. A baby squirrel had got caught in a mouse trap in a closet. The kids were able to rescue it, and we all sat on the porch watching it after they let it go. I said, "We look like a bunch of MS rednecks out here." Uncle Cliff then said, "We ARE a bunch of MS rednecks!" I had to take some pictures of our new furry friend, because he was really cute!

Dying Easter eggs! We only had 7 because

Kyle's sisters kept eating them!

Guess we will need to buy 2 dozen next year!

My Easter Basket from Kyle...

he gave me a certificate redeemable

for a steam mop! I am so excited!

Kyle's Easter Basket

My Easter happy from Mrs. Cyndi!

Kyle was a little hungry

after watching those Rebels!

Rescuing the squirrel

They captured him in a really

nice hat box.

Releasing our new furry friend!

Hope your Easter was a wonderful, and action-packed as ours!

Extreme Makeover: Steak Edition

When the Extreme Makeover episode aired on television, Kyle and all of our students were in Italy for Spring Break. Many wanted to watch it, so my Dad mailed me a DVD, and we had a viewing party at our house. One of the student's uncle owns the Big Texan in Amarillo, Texas. He shipped us four 72 ounce steaks, and we had Extreme Makeover: Steak Edition. I have never seen so much meat in my life, and there are tons of people who have eaten this steak by themselves. I think the world record was 8 minutes and 52 seconds! It was a fun evening, but I have never had so many people in my house at once! There were people lining the stairs just to watch the show! I guess a man will never turn down a good steak, and good television!

This is what a 72 oz. steak looks like!

Can you imagine eating that?!?

A 72 oz. steak chopped up!

Lots of people watching

Extreme Makeover Hattiesburg!

I Need a Savior

"And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him." Matthew 27:28-31

As we celebrate Easter this weekend, we can often rush through it just like any other holiday. We get wrapped up in what we are going to wear to the Easter service, did we get everything for the Easter basket, or do we have everything for Easter lunch. Our minds can easily become focused on other things, and we do not take the time to reflect upon why we even celebrate Easter. Since yesterday was Good Friday, this morning I took some time to reflect upon the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, his death on the cross, and his burial. I read through chapter 19 of the book of John and chapter 27 of the book of Matthew. As I read through the scriptures my mind and my heart were instantly focused upon Jesus and the cross. Every time I read this story my first thought is "He did it for me!" At that very moment, Jesus took upon the wrath of God, and He did it for me. He took upon the sins of the world - mine and yours - so that we could be counted as righteous in the eyes of the Lord. It reminds me of the song "In Christ Alone". One line says, "Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied - For every sin on Him was laid; Here in the death of Christ I live." Because of Jesus' death on the cross, we have eternal life! We have a relationship with our Father! This gives us reason to rejoice, and celebrate Easter. My prayer for you is that at some point this weekend, you would have time to reflect upon the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. May our hearts be eternally grateful for His sacrifice, and the blood that was shed so that we might have eternal life!

"When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." John 19:30

In thinking about Good Friday, all I could think about is how much I need a Savior. This song immediately came to my mind. Think about the words as you watch this video. Hope you enjoy it.

And, one more thing.... click here to read an excellent post about Good Friday. This was written by a friend of mine who works for Going Beyond Ministries.

Oxford in the Spring

I absolutely LOVE Oxford in the Spring! It is almost like the town comes alive after the long winter, well long for us Southerners. There are many things I love about the Spring in Oxford: hanging out in The Grove, baseball season, sitting on the balcony at Square Books, strolls around the Square, Double Decker (my favorite weekend), the Farmers Market, and last but not least, the beautiful flowers! There are flowers blooming everywhere, and they always seem to brighten my day! I tried to capture the beauty in a few pictures, but you really just have to see it in person. So, come spend the day with me in Oxford, and you can take in the beauty!

Only in Mississippi

On Wednesday night we went on a double date with our dear friends the Daniels. We all were craving catfish, but had the hardest time finding a place that served catfish, and was open on Wednesday night. Most are open Thursday through Sunday. After calling about eight different places, we found the Catfish Hut! We jumped in the car, and headed over to Enid, MS. We knew this place was definitely going to be a local dive, because it was located on Enid Dam Road. After calling for directions twice, we landed upon the hut! Just a little disclaimer here: we are from Oxford, MS not NYC. However, it was like city meets country at this restaurant. Everyone in the place took a look at us, and our waitress said, "Ya'll not from around here?" We had a GREAT time, laughed a lot, and the catfish was pretty good...nothing on Old Taylor though. If you are ever near Enid, you might just want to catch a bite to eat at the Catfish Hut!

Missy and Me

Kyle and Craig

The Southern Alphabet

My favorite was K - Kin-person:

What's related to ya

and ya can't help it.

Kyle and Me

Missy and Craig

Ole Miss apron that the waitress

informed me I should buy!