Tonight we had a blast of a date night eating Sushi & then on to Starbucks.  I love watching my husband devour his favorite Japanese delicatessen.   He really loves the Sushi – I do too!  Orlando changed him into a cultural junkie!!  Maybe it was walking around the world at Epcot, staying at the luxurious Portfino Bay Hotel at Universal or sneaking into Hard Rock Hotel with mom and dad, just to eat ice cream or watch a late night movie by the pool and say we did it!  Those were really, wonderfully good times!

But, now we are on to new adventures and new discoveries, as we take Wetumpka and Montgomery by storm. Ha!  We have found several great local restaurants and nature spots that we have been embracing as our new home.  The scenery is becoming more familiar and the new friends are keeping us busy.

Keith was reading a book tonight that a friend handed to him six months ago, “Velvet Elvis” by Rob Bell, pastor at Mars Hill Church.  It has really shaken his world, and dare I say changing him.  Recently, as recent as in the past 48 – 72 hours, the Lord has been churning us like butta’ (with my NY accent) – but all for the better to fashion us into His best.

We do have a great commission and a great commandment…they are very clear, and from the Lord.  Our journey now is one of preparation and transition, a daily process that demands our full attention.  It seems the days we try to sneak past the discipline of our calling – those are the worst days ever.  But the days we actually quit running from what seems like too hefty of a giant to face, the moment we face it and discipline ourselves “under the anointing” and accept our calling, those are the mightiest days ever…the most rewarding…the days we dance and celebrate in the streets.  Spiritual victory is the greatest success we can ever experience.

Ah, the challenge of a good competition…give me some spoons, a
deck of cards, scrabble, a flag and a football, a tree to climb, a race
to run, a verbal debate to conquer or any friendly game to jump
into…and I am ALL in.  Especially when the challenge involves two
teams pitted against each other.  And yes, it can get brutal!! My
latest craze is a card game called “pit” – introduced to me last year
in Saraland.

The spectator sport is simply NOT for me…i truly DETEST watching
spectator sports, i get board and feel as if I’m wasting time, just
watching.  I’d rather be participating…doing something, producing
something…or maybe I should say “proving” something.

Whatever the case, when I think back over the sheer joy I have felt
beating out the proven competitor who has commited to an easy win over
me, I can remember several, almost embarassing, victory dances, with my
hands in the air, brutally “kicking butt” at some game of Cranium, or
some summer camp sport.   The sheer joy of claiming the title of the
big “V” for victory is how does Visa say, priceless.

One thing I have learned however, is that as great as it is to win
prized and receive trophies – it will never compare to the victory of
conquering spiritual giants!  The reward of lifting my hands in the
air, praising God for helping me conquer my flesh, fight my battles and
defeat my biggest enemies!  Watching the “Goliaths” fall in my
spiritual and personal life are big “V” victories, that have the
sweetest most enjoyable after parties.   These are the greatest
successes we will ever experience in this life.  So, I ask…why pursue
any other goal, why seek any other win or success?  We all get to win
with Jesus, every time.

Hebrews 12:1 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great
cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the
sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Today is mom’s birthday, but we have been celebrating the past weekend with the family.¬† Saturday nigh, Jon, Steph & Grandma came over for a steak dinner, hosted by dad!¬† The past Tuesday the ladies in the church surprised her with a cake & party at the women’s fellowship.¬† The ladies really showered her wish lots of cash & gifts.¬† AND, tonight her long-time friend Patty is giving her a dinner party.

But the best gift of all she recieved today came in a phone call from Washington D.C. David and Missy went for Missy’s 2nd trimester checkup & they found out they are having a girl!! Mom shouted over the phone for 5 minutes, David said, shouting “Ahhh, It’s a girl!! It’s a girl!”

Congrats to my David, Missy and the future big brother Andrew, for the news of the 4th edition to the Russell/DC gang.¬† t’m so glad we are adding more pink to our family!¬† It’s going to be so much fun!

Earlier this year I started reading in Deuteronomy 29, “Prosperity after turning to the Lord” and “The Offer of Life and Death” – a very special chapter to me.¬† I frequent verse :14 often, “No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”¬† So many times, we question what does God want us to do, or how can we hear the voice of the Lord, what is he saying, what is the answer?¬† At the end of 2008, November 9th to be exact (a year of spiritual revelation in my life) – the Lord led me to this powerful passage and answered my deepest questions. Yes!¬† He does speak to us, Yes! He moves in our hearts.¬† And often speaks to us through our own words…”his word is in our mouth.”

So many times we will talk about what we “think or feel” in our hearts, and through that talking comes the moments of definement.¬† We just have to settle our hearts and believe with faith enough to speak, or talk it out.¬† God will confirm His plan for us in our conversations.

This year I am on a journey to know his word and his voice more clearly.¬† I felt led to begin this bible study, beginning with “Prosperity after turning to the Lord” in Deut. chapter 29 and reading through the entire bible this year.¬† Kind of strange to start reading a book 175 pages into the story, the end with the beginning – but for some reason, that’s how God wants me to experience this journey.

Today, continuing my reading through the bible in a year, I walked through 1 Samuel chapters 19, 20 and 21 – an interesting story about the love of two best friends, David and Jonathan.¬† David has killed Goliath at this point and is living in Saul’s kingdom, but Saul, the King is very jealous of David’s fame in his city…so the King has set out to kill David. Spears have been thrown,¬† David has been doing some running – but son of a jealous king and his best friend, Jonathan is coming to his rescue.¬† A holy-bond has been created, and sealed with the promise of lifelong covenant friendship.¬† Jonathan comes to his rescue in a creative & secretive way and informs David out in a field one day that death certainly awaits him if he returns Saul’s Kingdom.

David now on the run, comes to a prophets house asking for some bread and for a sword.¬† The only sword the prophet had was (1 Sam 21:9) “Goliath’s old sword, the Philistine whom David killed, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod”

What a revelation, that the enemies we defeat in our past, continue to bring us victory in our future!¬† This sword, from David’s enemy, was made available to him to defeat his next enemy.¬† Catch that?¬† God uses our past ENEMIES weapons, to help us defeat our enemies of the future!! WOW!¬†¬† We must defeat our enemies TODAY!¬† We must not fear as everyone else will in the face of our giants.¬† God will use that victory over and over again in our life to strengthen us for our future journey.

Trust today that this impending victory you face in your battle, will surely continue to bring you success, over and over and over again in your future!  But we must defeat them today!

Dinner date under the Five Guys stars‚Ķa pick me up for my sweet hubbie who has been sick all week.¬† The Jr. Cheeseburger hit the spot.¬† Next, off to Blockbuster to rent the couple flick, “Fireproof” – can’t wait!

Pic:  0306091805.jpg

Originally uploaded by Jenn Hudson

Dad’s wordle today from gradyrussell.org – it’s so cool that God is in the "Center"

Originally uploaded by Jenn Hudson

Keith’s Wordle of his Twitter – so Cool!

Originally uploaded by Jenn Hudson

When scanning on flatbed scanner at a high resolution, one scan can take up to 10 minutes or longer.¬† Here’s a few shortcuts I started doing to save time:

• ROUND 1: Fill up the flatbed with as many pics as possible, around 4 – 6.¬† Then scan all of the images at once, using the “auto number save” feature (on the Epson Scan Software) to store the multi-pic original scan doc.
• ROUND 2:¬† Once all of the pictures are scanned in, then I go to the folder where the images are stored, and preview the first “original” image with my multiple pics in one .jpg file.¬† I have 4 pics on my “001″ file, so I copy “001″ (ctrl+c) and paste (ctrl+v) to the folder THREE additional times, giving me FOUR versions of the original file “001″ – “001 – copy” – “001 – copy1″ & “001 – copy 2″ – or however your systems stores identical file names.
• ROUND 3:¬† Open each pic individually in the edit software (i-photo or Preview).¬† Crop out each individual pic & save.
• ROUND 4:¬† Rename each file as needed.

Even though it creates a few more steps on the back in – it truly speeds up the process!

My favorite picture of Grandma & Grandpa

Originally uploaded by Jenn Hudson

Yes, W-O-R-D-L-E, like “turtle” with a W Рmy new tech addiction. A wordle is basically a “word cloud” of the most used words on a site, powered by some fancy code.  I love the genius of it, and the addictive nature of seeing “how it will turn out” ALONG with the creative license they give us to graphically design our own unique “cloud” with fonts, colors & layouts.  If you need a fun, quick break from monotony, give it a try!

So here it is…the official “Wordle” of JennBlog Рfrom today 3.5.09.

jennblog wordle 3.5.09

Originally uploaded by Jenn Hudson