Easter

We had a great Easter with Kevin's family!! On Friday night we went to Salt Lick to get everyone's BBQ fix!! On Saturday Kevin smoked his favorite sausage fatty!! Then we all went out a rented a boat and hung out on Lake Travis for a few hours!!! That night, we went to Reale's Pizza Cafe!! SOO GOOD!

On Sunday we had an amazing Easter service at The Austin Stone!! We had over $10k people in the Erwin Center. It was a great morning celebrating our Risen King! Check out Matt's Sermon here!!

After church we had an Easter lunch and traded Easter Baskets!!! Great weekend with family!

Sunday's Coming

Good Friday

Remember this day and His complete sacrifice. We deserved nothing...He gave us EVERYTHING. No longer bound by sin, ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!!

"For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." 1 Peter 2:21-25

Happy San Jacinto Day!

For those of you who don't know, my dad instilled in me and my sister a passion for Texas History! My dad was a history major in college and taught history in a high school before becoming an administrator. Our family loves Texas through and through and we appreciate its history and were we came from. So today is San Jacinto Day! Below is written by my father about today! Enjoy!!

The famous Texas Capitol painting depicting Santa Anna's surrender at San Jacinto.

"175 years ago today, a small army of 800 men led by General Sam Houston cornered Santa Anna’s army of 1200 men along the San Jacinto River and the Buffalo Bayou.  A month and half earlier, Texians declared Texas an independent republic, and statesman Lorenzo de Zavala wrote a constitution for the new country.  Texas had had enough of the despotic and dictatorial leadership under El Presidente and Generalissimo Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.  Santa Anna and his army swept through Texas, killing all defenders of the Alamo (including William Travis, David Crockett, and Jim Bowie) and massacred all the Texians who surrendered at Goliad under Col. James Fannin.  Santa Anna had done the same thing in other Mexican states which rebelled to his undemocratic government, such as Yucatan.

At 3:30 in the afternoon, Houston’s army (which included a cavalryman named Mirabeau Lamar) quietly walked across through the tall grass toward Santa Anna’s encampment in a grove of live oak trees.  They were not seen by the Mexican army until they were upon them, with Santa Anna indisposed with the “Yellow Rose of Texas” – or so legend has it.  The battle was over in 18 minutes, with only 9 Texians killed compared to 630 of the Mexian army killed and 730 captured.  The Texians shouted during the battle, “Remember the Alamo, Remember Goliad.”

The declaration of independence made on March 2nd was now official, and Texas was an independent country for almost 10 years before joining the Union.  Considered by historians as one of the most decisive battles in the history of the world, this event directly  led to the United States expansion from coast to coast – Manifest Destiny.  The Texian’s flag at San Jacinto now hangs behind the Speaker of the House’s podium in the Texas Capitol Building, as does the painting below which hangs in the Senate Chamber.

Freedom has a price, as we certainly know today, and as we should remember from our forefathers who fought and died for the liberties we now enjoy."

~ Dr. Neil Dugger

New Hair

I was getting tired of the old one color hair, and I was having a ton of gray hair, so we needed to add some highlights! And we trimmed it up too!!

Easter at The Austin Stone

So this year for Easter, my church, Austin Stone Community is having ONE BIG Easter Service! We usually have 4 services at each of our 2 campuses every Sunday. So this will be a time for the entire church body to come together! It will be at 10:30am at the Frank Erwin Center (that is where the UT basketball team plays)!!

This Easter, we'll have more people worshipping our risen Lord together than we have capacity available in all the services at both of our campuses. So, this year we have a unique opportunity to come together for one service at the Frank Erwin Center in the heart of Austin.

We'll have plenty of seats and plenty of parking for you to bring your family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors with you as we celebrate the most pivotal event in all of history – the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So if you are going to be in town for Easter, please join us, you don't want to miss out this amazing experience!

We will also be having a FOOD DRIVE! Our response to God's grace through the resurrected Christ is to share the good news! We do this by sharing what has happened and how Christ is changing our lives. We also do this by serving our city as a demonstration of the redemption and restoration that He will bring to the world.

As you celebrate Easter this year, please also join us in serving our city. The For the City Network has many ways to get involved in a variety of areas and be "for the city" year-round. A great first step to serve Austin is by bringing non-perishable food items and hygiene products to the Frank Erwin Center on Easter Sunday.

These items will be donated to the Capital Area Food Bank, one of the nonprofits at The For the City Center. The CAFB distributes 70,000 lbs. of food per day to over 48,000 people every week as part of its mission to nourish hungry people and lead the community in ending hunger.

WHAT TO BRING:

NON-PERISHABLE FOOD ITEMS

• Canned Proteins (tuna, salmon, chicken, peanut butter)
• Canned Fruits in Own Juices or Light Syrup (Pineapples, peaches, pears)
• 100% Fruit Juices (all sizes, including juice boxes)
• Grains (pasta, whole wheat pasta, rice, brown rice, macaroni and cheese)
• Condiments (tomato-based sauces, light soy sauce, ketchup, mustard, light salad dressings)
• Low Sodium/No Salt Added Canned Vegetables (mixed, green beans, corn)
• Soups (beef stew, chili, chicken noodle, turkey and rice)
• Multigrain Cereal (Cheerios, corn flakes, Grape-Nuts, Raisin Bran)
• Peanut Butter

HYGIENE PRODUCTS

• Diapers (adult and youth)
• Deodorant (for men and women)
• Feminine products

District Manager

So let me just say that I am floored! In my first month of doing Arbonne, I am a DISTRICT MANAGER!!! :) I have heard of people doing that, but thought that was pretty unrealistic. You can earn district manager of a 2 or 3 month period, and I did it in one month!!! :) Now I know some people are thinking oh she's is just really good at sales or whatever. But honestly I didn't do anything special. I had a few parties and then I signed my sister up as a consultant under me and her volume gets added to my total volume and she totally rocked it in her two parties last week! So thank you Ashley for working hard and helping me promote to district! Anyways, so far Arbonne has been great to me!! :)

If anyone is interested in hosting a party for me or learning more about the products let me know!!!