Going Deeper in the Word

I recently started a new way of reading and studying the Bible that I am super pumped about, so I wanted to share it with y’all (sometimes I like to talk like an American).  I tend to be a very goal-oriented person and for years, since I was a teenager, my goal has always been to read the Bible from cover to cover each year.  I don’t think there is any right way or wrong way to read the Bible but I recently decided to change it up.  My friends were telling me a few weeks ago about this website called http://ifequip.com.  It’s just one short passage of Scripture every day (right now we’re working our way through Acts) Monday-Friday and at the end of the passage there is the same daily question:  If you believe this is true, what does this mean about:

God?

You?

The world?

I read the passage along with the footnotes of my study Bible so that I can get as much out of it as possible and then I journal the answers to those questions.  At the end of it, there is a 2-minute video clip of 2 Christian women discussing what they got out of it (example: Matt Chandler’s wife, Angie Smith, Lisa Harper who is a Christian author, etc.).  I am getting SO much more out of it than trying to read 4 chapters of the Bible every day without stopping to think about what I’m reading or how it might apply to me.  The whole thing takes 10-15 minutes, so it’s very doable time-wise.  I still am reading other parts of my Bible some days, especially on the week-ends, but I feel like my soul is being fed in a different way by chewing over small pieces instead of trying to inhale huge chunks at a time.  There are several of us ladies from church that are doing this but it is open to any and all! :)

Iowa Days 6 + 7

It is taking me far too long to finish these vacation blog posts. Our last 2 full days in Iowa we did a lot less, so I didn’t take as many pictures. This was on the way to Spirit Lake from our resort (a 5-minute drive) There was a family staying a few cabins down from our’s who we connected with.  They had 4 boys who our kids played with.  On Friday afternoon, Jared and the other Dad took the kids swimming while I went down to the beach and chatted with the Mom while relaxing on loungers. They have quite a life story and they ended up praying for me, too, which I appreciated. A house in Spirit Lake on the way to the park There were some big houses right by the lake close to our resort They had their own private canal in their backyards to get to the lake This is a gift shop where I picked up a couple of Mother’s Day gifts. Being in a gift shop on crutches was not incredibly easy, especially while trying to carry the gifts. Another view of the lake while driving around it We went back to the park at the school that we had gone to earlier in the week. I loved capturing the big houses and the scenery we saw along the way. We didn’t want to have a whole bunch of dishes to do the night before we left, so we went to Los Pueblos Mexican + American Grill. Everyone who worked there was Spanish (we were thinking it may be family owned and run) and their Mexican food was SO good. Everything was under $10, too, which we also liked. I enjoyed the decor, too. I thought the clouds looked cool. Iowa was a really random place to go but we all had a great time.  We had a good mixture of relaxing, going out and doing things, enjoying the resort and spending time together as a family. It was a gift from God to be able to get away and have that time together. :)

Iowa Day 5 Part 2

Here are the rest of the pictures from that day that didn’t fit in my previous post. Before we left Sioux Falls, we stopped by Once Upon a Child so I could buy a few things. Our niece, Jade, was born while we were away, so I found some cute outfits for her and a couple of t-shirts for Blake. There was a big excavated canyon right along the highway when we were leaving Sioux Falls that was absolutely beautiful! At first I thought this was a farm but then we looked closer and we’re pretty sure it’s a church There were hundreds of windmills off the highway I missed this sign the last time we passed it because it was night, so I’m glad I got it this time even though it was raining. I love when the sun’s rays shine through the clouds like this.  I can’t help but think about God’s glory every time.

Iowa Day 5

On Thursday, May 8, we took a day trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was 1.5 hours away from where we were staying, so we did a lot of driving that day. I also took a lot of pictures. Vick’s Corner is a gas station/store that was opened in 1930. It started as a hamburger place with living quarters above the original station. :) Scenery along the highway There were many windmills in the area

There were quite a number of big houses along the highway as well

I wanted a picture of an Iowa license plate and this one made me smile I think this was the town of Rock Rapids, Iowa I saw a few of these and they reminded me of the little coffee shops where my sister and brother-in-law live in Washington state Our first stop (after Jared picked up a coffee) was Falls Park We went up an elevator to a lookout point and the kids sat down in the elevator A birds eye view of the beautiful park We could see St. Joseph Cathedral up on a hill, which was our next stop This was the souvenir shop/lookout point We saw this as we left the park This was on the other side of the street from the cathedral I LOVE all the intricate detail

Getting up all those stairs was a fair amount of work for me.

We got there at 12:00, which as it turned out, was when a mass service was starting. We ended up sitting in the back and joining them for the first part of the service until our kids couldn’t sit quietly anymore.

The beauty left me almost speechless The priest spoke and would sing and then the congregants would sing back. I love how the sound rang in there.

This was at the back of the sanctuary

This was taken from the front steps of the cathedral There are random statues downtown Our next stop was Wendy’s for lunch and then a Butterfly House/Marine Cove. The marine cove was just one fair-sized room. We could touch the sting rays

2 Small Horn Sharks. The instructions were to pet them on the top middle of their bodies. Haley didn’t understand and picked one up! I quickly made her put it back. Yikes!

The shark on the right is an albino Each of the kids and Jared went in the “bubble” A lion fish The butterfly house was beautiful and full of over 800 tropical butterflies They didn’t get a room. They like to mate out in the open.

This is a Blue Morpho butterfly. It is a gorgeous shade of blue when it’s flying but you can’t see the blue when it lands.

This might be a Cabbage White butterfly Lunch time I loved all the flowers, too The world’s largest moth is actually quite pretty A Zebra Longwing Butterfly

There were 3 different play structures on the grounds, so we let the kids play after we were done inside

Jared played, too Play structure #2 Play structure #3 Plus there was this thing that Kiera climbed up I’ll save the rest of the pictures for the next blog post, as I kept getting an error when trying to post this.