Home Remedies

Yesterday I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with mild bronchitis and a sinus infection. (diagnosed sounds so serious, but I didn't know what else to call it). The doctor prescribed to me a Z-Pak and told me to use Mucinex D and a Neti Pot. I have used it twice and have not yet formed an opinion on whether or not I like it. Instead, I unintentionally found 2 things that have cleared up my nasal passages just as much if not more so than this little pot.

1. Hot bath/shower. The hot steam from these things should be no surprise to anyone, it is the oldest trick in the book to helping a cough/cold.

2. Three day old Rosa's salsa. Now this trick may not be as familiar to many of you. If you are unaware, Rosa's salsa becomes hotter and hotter the longer the ingredients have to blend together. So if you are eating it as leftovers, it is guaranteed to be hotter than when you originally ate it. Day 3 salsa is a great trick to making your nose run like crazy because of it's "hot-ness"!

After these discoveries, I think pretty highly of myself to recommend home remedies. Although I have not tried the following, I think it's safe to say they will work as well to help open up your nasal passages:

• Eating Indian food (it doesn't matter if you are so stopped up that you can't taste it)
• Sitting in a Sauna (don't be a baby once you start to sweat, you should give it at least 30 min.)
• Drinking LOTS of fluids (Gatorade has been my drink of choice these past 2 days)
• Watch lots of Law and Order (CSI or SVU but SVU is slightly more disturbing)

Okay so that last one may not help with the nasal passages, but it's a great way to pass time while sitting at home with no energy to do anything else. If you want a good sleep remedy, I suggest you watch the State of the Union Address which is what I am doing right now. Is that okay to say? Oops.

Until next time,

Kim

A glimpse of Heaven

3 years ago Redeemer Church had it's first service as a church plant from Southcrest. For my first few college years, I attended Southcrest and went to the University service there. During my junior year of college, Dusty Thompson announced that he would be leaving Southcrest and starting a church called Redeemer; which would be part of the Acts 29 church planting network. I followed Dusty to Redeemer. Redeemer is the first church that I have known and loved as my own, the church that has grown me unlike anything else, the church that I willingly became a member of, serve at, and give to on my own apart from my parents or any other influence. Redeemer holds such a special place in my heart, and tonight I was able to experience a special celebration with our church home. For 3 years, Southcrest has financially helped Redeemer get on its feet. They have prayed over us for years, and are faithful in their support of our church. Tonight, we celebrated being financially freed from Southcrest! This was not a celebration of cutting ties, but rather a celebration of the gospel increasing among the people in Lubbock because of Southcrest's willingness to send out some of their best to start Redeemer.

We met at Southcrest tonight for a celebration service. I went to Southcrest for 2 1/2 years, but I had never actually been in their main sanctuary. I never interacted with anyone other than the university students, and I never got to know the church that parented Redeemer. Southcrest is a Southern Baptist church. Redeemer is not. Southcrest people say "Amen" after things they really like in the sermon. Redeemer does not. Southcrest's congregation has LOTS of people over age 50. Redeemer is primarily 35 and under. Southcrest claps when they sing worship. Redeemer does not. Southcrest loves the Lord, believes in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and teaches from the Bible. Redeemer does too. Tonight I saw something so special. Right down the street from one another are two churches who are completely different in personality, but we have the most important thing in common: a love for Christ and to make his name known. For a little bit, I saw a glimpse of what Heaven will be like. A diverse group of people all loving and worshiping the same God.

Thanks Southcrest and Redeemer for the love you have for Christ and the church body.

www.redeemerlubbock.org
www.acts29network.org
www.southcrest.org

Kim

late wedding presents

We got a wedding present in the mail today. A $100 gift card to Target! It is so fun to check the mail and receive this 5 months after we are married because it was completely unexpected. Although the giver of this gift apologized for being late, I think I may start doing the "late wedding present" tactic. It is such a fun surprise and is much needed 5 months in rather than during the rush of the other gifts :).

This picture is completely irrelevant to wedding presents, but I haven't posted a picture in a while and I like this one. It is from Brett's cousins wedding that we went to in the beginning of this month!

Short and sweet is how I'll keep it today.

Much love to you all ,

Kim

kids say the darndest things

We've been back for a week and I'm already blogging a second time, so as you can see...I do better with structure! This week has been really great. Tech students went back to school on Wednesday, and as Campus Crusade we had the opportunity to pass out 500 bags with a bible and the book Jesus Without Religion by Rick James to freshmen in the dorms. It has been wonderful to be back with my staff team (I love the community we have) and I rejoiced today getting to be back at our church home, Redeemer. Now I have to share with you this story from church this morning. This particular story has nothing to do with Jesus, but with the 4 and 5 year old kids we teach Sunday school to, so here it goes.

Brett and I have been gone from church for an entire month with all of our travels and this was our first week back with the kids, so we wanted to hear how everyone's Christmas was and what gifts they received from Santa/parents/friends/etc. We have gone around and about 3 kiddos shared, and then it was Micah's turn. Micah goes on to say that "all of my presents were given to me by my mom and dad and wrapped by them, because SANTA ISN'T REAL AND I KNOW THAT!". It was silent. I was expecting tears, fights, questions....anything. But it was just silent. And then, another kid named Tanner says just what everyone needed to hear: "Santa is too real because no one else could afford an Xbox360. They are like a thousand dollars or something". Brett and I do everything we can to hold in our laughter, but that was all the kids wanted to hear. Someone to defend what they want desperately to believe in. No one else questioned it, no one cried, but we continued on talking about our gifts as if their world had not just been turned upside down with the news that Santa isn't real.

I love getting to spend an hour and a half with a group of 4 and 5 year olds every week. It never gets boring.

This weekend one of Brett's closest friends from high school and his wife came to visit us! It was really neat to getting to meet them and have fellowship with them. Brett went to high school in Germany so I never thought that I would get to meet any of his friends, but the Lord has been gracious in allowing me to meet 3 of his closest high school friends so far!

On a Jesus note, below is a link to a 4 minute video that you MUST watch called "Jesus Wants the Rose". It is a clip from Matt Chandler who is the pastor at The Village church in Dallas. Many of you may have heard of him because of his battle with cancer and the amazing way that he is pursuing Christ throughout all of it. This particular clip is when he spoke at a Desiring God conference in 2009. I don't want to ruin it with too many words, so just watch it. You will NOT be disappointed.

Jesus Wants the Rose

Until next time,

Kim

home sweet home

Well we are FINALLY back in Lubbock after 3 1/2 weeks! I am SO glad to be back, but of course I miss my family in Houston. I'll give you a brief update of the past few weeks...

Winter Conference - Dec. 29-Jan. 5 we were in Ft. Worth at the Omni Hotel to work our Winter Conference. It was an awesome week, but SO EXHAUSTING. Brett was on the programs team (helped run the meeting, edit video, come up with video ideas, etc) so he had to work all.the.time. I felt a little bit like a single lady at conference this year, but it was such a fun opportunity to hang out and connect with all of the students from Tech who went. I especially loved hanging out with all my Greek girls who were there. There were 9 greek girls from Tech representing 4 different houses that came! SO EXCITING! While I was there, I got to see lots of staff friends from different cities/states that I don't get to see often AND got to see the beautiful Dana Douthit who I LOVE and wish I lived closer to. We had not seen each other since my wedding (which was 5 months ago by the way) so it was great to reconnect.

Brett's Cousin's Wedding - After winter conference we headed back to Houston for Brett's cousin Kimberly's wedding. I was SO glad we got to go for several reasons. 1. I love weddings. 2. We got to see lots of Brett's family that we didn't see over Christmas. 3. We got to spend some more time with my family.

Back in Lubbock - We made the 8 1/2 hour drive back to Lubbock yesterday. Brett was sweet and drove the ENTIRE way so that I could rest. Now I realize this sounds dumb because there wasn't a particular reason that I needed to rest more than Brett, but he is just that loving :). When we got home, we kept very busy unpacking, taking down Christmas stuff, finishing up laundry, and making our grocery list. In the midst of this we found a huge puddle in our bathroom and realized the sink had been leaking for who knows how long. The nice thing about apartments: we called this morning and they gave us a whole new faucet today! No cost for us :). Another thing that happened this morning is we took Brett's car into the shop. Again. Now let me just remind some of you that we picked up Brett's car from the shop on Dec. 16th after spending a pretty penny getting that thing fixed. The same day we picked it up, it started shaking violently and the check engine light came back on! The bummer was we were leaving the next day for 3 1/2 weeks so we just left it here knowing we would come back to the same thing when we returned to Lubbock. We'll see if it was maybe just a faulty part that they installed....if not...we will gladly take donations for the new car fund :). I just don't know how much more money we are willing to throw away towards his car. But on the bright side, our staff friends The Bollens' are letting us borrow a cute kitchen table that they are not using and I am SO happy to have a table again. The Lord is gracious and He provides :).

Staff meetings started today and it is funny how in some ways it seems like they never stopped. This semester (yes I still live in semesters) will be busy, exciting, and faith stretching. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store. I am currently watching the National Championship game which I care nothing about, but I am happy to have enjoyed dinner with our great friends Seth and Brooke, and to sit next to my husband peacefully. I think I may need to take advantage of the sitting while I can; the craziness of our job will catch up with us soon.

Now that I am back to a semi-normal routine, I will TRY to blog more. Please note that I said TRY.

- Kim