weekend reading.

a few blog posts/articles caught my attention recently and i can't seem to stop thinking about them, so i wanted to share them on here so you could think about them, too.

grab another cup of coffee and enjoy.

rain down revival
beth moore

"I'm tired of giving God an inch and expecting a mile. I want to go with Him wherever He's going."

when you're done with pundits, soul wrestling & looking at the sky: {25 things i learned from staying with katie davis}
ann voskamp

"Our actual theology is best expressed in our actual hospitality. // And I don't mean that hospitality is one quaint ministry for those good in the kitchen and keeping their house picked up. Hospitality isn't for the good housekeepers -- it's the grid of life for anyone keeping company with Christ. Hospitality is meant to shape our churches and politics, our work and our schools, our home and our faith and our schedules and our meals and our lives."

get ready for all those babies
and the follow-up, revisiting "all those babies"
marv knox, editor, the baptist standard

"If Texas' conservative moral values prompt our state to implement one of the nation's most stringent abortion codes, then we should accept the responsibility for all those babies we will bring into the world. We need to do right by them."

and because all of those are quite heavy, here's something to make you laugh...

happy weekend!

thankful thursday: celebrate.

if you know me at all, you know i love any reason to celebrate anything. lucky for me, the last week or so has provided multiple opportunities to celebrate, and for that i am thankful.

1. july 4th.
in the 24 hours surrounding the 4th of july, the husband and i went to three different cookouts, complete with pool parties, cookie cake, blue bell, and fireworks. that, my friends, is a successful independence day.

i've always wanted to take one of these pictures. thank you, nicole, for finally making that dream a reality. 

2. twister relief concert.
on july 6th, moore's own toby keith hosted a massive, all-day concert to raise money for tornado relief efforts throughout oklahoma. somehow (God's favor, i'm convinced), our friend, amy, scored tickets on the THIRD ROW. it was so hot, and so long, but it didn't matter, because GARTH BROOKS. garth freaking brooks, y'all. also, WILLIE. and ronnie, and trisha, and carrie, and toby. and to top it all off, the night ended with fireworks -- all around the stadium. it was magical. this day for sure goes down as my favorite day in oklahoma so far. so thankful to spend it with fun friends, too!

3. ice cream.
yesterday i discovered july is national ice cream month. thank you, ronald reagan, and thank you, blue bell, braum's, chickfila milkshakes, and my new favorite, talenti gelato, for giving me so many ways to enjoy my beloved frozen treat. i plan to celebrate every single day, especially sunday, july 21st, which i now know is national ice cream day. mark your calendars, people.

4. emails.
when i checked my email first thing this morning, i had emails from both my mom and my mother-in-law waiting for me. i wish i could somehow let you read both of them in their entirety. they both gave me reason to celebrate! mom's was a rundown of a normal day in her summer work life at buckner -- ESL classes, nutrition classes, summer feeding programs, job trainings... you know, just changing people's lives. no big deal. my mother-in-law's was full of stories from the apartment ministry she leads with her church. she's so faithful every week -- even when it's a hot summer in texas. it's been kinda slow recently, but she said last night she had kids piling into her suburban wanting to go to church with her. so fun! i'm so proud of and constantly inspired by my mom and mother-in-law. i'm so thankful to have such incredible examples of godly women in my life!

5. 7-11 day.
today is july 11th, or 7-11, which means you can get a free slurpee at participating 7-eleven stores! and by participating i mean, every 7-eleven store except the ones in oklahoma. after work today, i called my friend, shanae, and convinced her (it wasn't hard) we needed to introduce her 3-year-old, davis, to slurpees (right before dinner... oops). we raced to the nearest 7-eleven, mouths watering, only to discover 7-elevens in oklahoma "are under different ownership and don't participate." whatever that means. so maybe we had to pay for our slurpees, but we still got to celebrate 7-11 day!

what have you been thankful for this week?