It Seems Like Only Yesterday....

Four years ago, I married my best friend. I can't believe it has been four years! It has been an awesome journey together. Of course, there has been struggles along the way. But those struggles have made us stronger together as a couple. God has blessed me with an amazing husband. He is a man that loves the Lord with His whole heart. I admire my husband because he is not afraid to follow the Lord's leading in His life. His passion for ministry, life, and family is inspiring. I love you, Jared. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for our lives! Happy Anniversary!
-AGM

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! I am so thankful for my father. I wanted to share a little about him. Dad is the hardest working man I know. He works day and night to provide for his family. Because of my dad 's (and mom's) sacrifice and hard work, my sister and I had a wonderful life (still do). My dad is always there for Ashley and me. Whenever I call, he is always there to pick up the phone to talk, to answer my questions, or to just listen. Just to know that your dad is always there is an awesome gift. Growing up, I never once went a day without hearing my dad say he loved me. As a child and now as an adult, I know I am loved and cherished by my father. It melts my heart to see him as a Papa. Giana is greatly loved by my father. 

I love you, Dad. You are a wonderful father and a dear Papa. Thank you for being a part of our lives! You are truly a blessing to us all.

-AGM

Veggie Burger, Anyone?

Jared has been on a Daniel Fast for two weeks. The history of this fast comes from Daniel 1. Daniel and his friends (Jews in captivity) asked to not eat of the king's food. Instead, Daniel asked the chief of staff to allow them to eat a diet of vegetables and water. At the end of ten days, Daniel and his friends were stronger than the king's men who ate of the king's food. Pretty cool story! I wanted to help Jared out with the fast by making some vegetarian recipes. I found a recipe for black bean burgers and thought I would share on the blog. They actually came out pretty good!

Black Bean Burgers
1 can (15oz) black beans (drained)
3 red potatoes (grated)
1 cup frozen veggies (thawed)
1/4 cup chopped onion
salt and pepper for seasoning

Mash the black beans with a potato masher and then add the remaining ingredients and mix together.
Form the mixture into four patties.
Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan. Add the patties and cook for 3 minutes on each side.

Enjoy! -AGM

Forgive Lately?

Proverbs 3:3

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Deuteronomy 6:5-6

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

 The Lord gave me these verses this week during my Bible reading. It's so amazing how God gives you what you need in your life whether it's through a message, an encouragement from a friend or your husband, or the Bible. Jared spoke on forgiveness last night and I knew that with these verses the Lord was preparing my heart for last night's message. The Bible says to love the Lord with your whole heart and to write steadfast love and faithfulness on it. Seems so easy to say: "Oh yeah, I love the Lord with my whole heart..." Then the Lord brought the following question to my mind: How can I be following this command if my heart has bitterness and resentment in it? I can't be. Ouch. I know that for me it's so easy to justify the bitterness and resentment when it's from others wrongdoing. But the Lord isn't saying here that it's ok to share bitterness with love in my heart. He is saying my heart should be filled and written with love for Him. If I am loving the Lord with my whole might, I will have no room in it for bitterness and resentment. I need to forgive in order to rid myself of bitterness and resentment. Jared shared this quote last night from C.S. Lewis: "Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive." I can easily SAY : I forgive you or them, but to make it a heart change is so hard!  Jared also said forgiveness is a constant behavior. I am not just automatically "cured" of this resentment and bitterness, because I prayed a prayer. But asking the Lord to rid me of it, forgiving those that have wronged me, and searching and changing my heart is making the right steps to ridding myself of it. This forgiveness thing needs to be constant in my life. Taking the verses and message from last night, I searched my heart. I asked the Lord to rid me of resentment and to fill my heart with love for Him.I hope these verses and sermon notes are an encouragement to you as they were to me.
Thanks for reading! -AGM

Sermon Notes:
Radical Forgiveness

1. Forgiveness is truly a Christian virtue (Luke 6:37; 1 Peter 4:8; Luke 23:34)

2. Forgiveness is difficult because we do not understand it properly...
What forgiveness is not....
Justifying evil
Overlooking Abuse
Restoring relationships
(There was a lot more but I didn't get them all)

What forgiveness is....
A matter of the heart
Constant behavior
(Matthew 18:21-35)

Final Thoughts:
Forgiveness is not an option for Christians.
We will forgive to the extent we appreciate how much we have been forgiven.-wow!

Trust Issues

It is amazing how much my daughter trusts me.  I have a little game that I play with her.  I throw her up in the air and catch her again (a simple/normal dad game).  The older she gets...8 months this week, the higher I throw her.  She laughs, smiles, and looks up to play the game again.  Giana instinctively knows that I will catch her again and again.  I see this same instinctive behavior in her each week for her swim lessons.  Giana simply knows that Amanda isn’t going to let go of her in the pool...she trusts her fully!

 

This idea of trust got me thinking about my relationship with our Heavenly Father (an elementary truth that I am being reminded of over and over again).  So here goes: I say that, "God wants my best, He is for me, and He will never leave me"...but when was the last time I threw myself in the air (hyperbolic speech here) and allowed my Heavenly Father to catch me?  When was the last time I took a huge risk and stepped out in faith where God totally had to come through on my behalf?  If we read the New Testament it is pretty clear that God is not calling us to live a safe life. He is calling us to live a life surrendered under His Lordship where we simply have to TRUST Him and allow God to do only what God can do!

So how about it?  Who else needs to throw themselves in the air and allow God to catch them?

Our Daddy/Daughter Game

Grammy & Giana before her swim lesson

Amanda & Giana in her swim lesson

-JNM

Happy 8 months Giana Grace!

  Giana turns 8 months today! She has been on the move nonstop since she started crawling. She is standing up like a big girl too. Let's just say mommy is getting her exercise! We have had a wonderful start to the summer months. Walking with friends, grilling out, going to the parks, and enjoying the sunshine makes this last week of school seem to go on forever! 

Memorial Day weekend was gorgeous. On Saturday morning, we asked Jared's parents to come to see Giana's swim lesson for the first time. They were proud grandparents to say the least!  Also, Jared's best friend JJ came for the weekend to visit. JJ is a missionary to Togo with his wife Melissa and new beautiful baby girl, Amelia Capri.  Isn't that a gorgeous name for a girl? Love. We took JJ to Holland-one of my favorite places. It was a gorgeous day to shop downtown, and walk the pier. While we were in Holland, Giana had her first experience on the sand. I'll let her picture tell you how much she liked it. We met a great girl Whitney who just moved here from Texas. I have been attempting to show her around GR, although I am the worst at directions and still get lost after living here for almost 4 years...fun times! Well, that's my brief update on the past few weeks. I hope you enjoy the new pictures. I couldn't resist the sand one. ;)

Have a great day! -AGM

                            Memorial Day Dress from Nana                 Fun in the sand ;)

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 Holland Pier

 Standing up like a big girl!