So, I have made myself take a mental break tonight. And for me that means perusing the web for cool stuff. So I thought I'd share. :-) You're welcome. :-)

Item numero uno: Organization Envy.

Is it possible to covet someone's organizational containers? Because I am loving Centsational Girl's post on filing. *sigh* Maybe some day I will have the time, money, energy, etc to organize all my paper junk half as good as she has! Click here to see the post!

Cool Thing Number Two: Neckalce Love

I LOVE this jewelry from The Vintage Pearl. She has some beautiful hand-stamped necklaces. I especially love the Cup Of Love Necklace... I want to get one with Whitney's name on it. :-) Click here to see her website.

Sweet Site Three: Wedded Bliss

Even after being married almost 6 years, I still love to dream up weddings. And while I wouldn't mind getting married over again, I would still TOTALLY choose the same MAN to be at the end of the aisle. Style Me Pretty has so many pretty inspiration boards from all kinds of different weddings. This is eye candy galore, even for those already living in wedded bliss! I have them in my Google Reader and every day, its like a little piece of pretty in my life. :-)

Glee-fully Great Go-To Four: Glee Girl Greatness

Sorry about the alliteration, all. I just love me some matchy-matchy letters every now and then. On to this GREAT Glee-inspired blog... "What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear?" Add it to your Reader. now. (And btw, if you're not using a Blog Reader, get with the program already! So much fun!) Think Anthropologie meets Marth Stewart with OCD. This is a GREAT fashion blog... LOVE IT. Kinda makes me want to dress up for work more. (kinda.)

AND PS...

If you DO use a Google Reader and are looking for more blogs to read (you can never have too many!), you can add me! I actually have a couple blogs going right now... what can I say? I am trying to keep my mind busy these days. So you can add these....

Sean & Shey in California (that's this blog)

Shey's 365 Project (one picture a day, every day for 365 days)

Ok, hope you have fun for the next hour or so, perusing these websites. Happy Friday! Its back to STD stats, teen pregnancy rates and condom effectiveness for me tomorrow. Hope your weekend is equally exciting!

Lately, of course, my prayers have been centered around Whitney. For God to perform a miracle, to completely heal her... to somehow take away that complete extra set of chromosomes so that she can live a full, long, healthy and happy life on this earth with us. This would be a 'here and now' answer to prayer. I completely believe that my God is big enough, strong enough, and GOD enough to do this. And I know that many times, God does see fit to answer these 'here and now' prayers for earthly healing. But I also know that my prayer may not be answered in the way that I want it to be answered. God's answer to my prayers for Whitney may come in the form of a much 'bigger picture' answer. The tough thing about the 'bigger picture' answer to prayer is that we don't always see the answer right away, or perhaps even in this lifetime. When the heaviness of the day to day tasks sink in, it can be hard to cling to the big picture answers.

What are these 'big picture' answers to prayer? I think that more times than not, the 'big picture' answers to 'here and now' prayers are generally fulfilled in hearts being turned toward Christ. And as I am slowly (and ashamedly sometimes reluctantly) learning, there truly is no greater thing, no bigger answer to prayer than for another person to come to know the love of our Savior. I know that as we encounter the weeks and months ahead that we will meet many people-- doctors, nurses, etc-- who do not know Christ. If there could be any 'big picture' answer to our prayers for Whitney, it would be that because of her short life, and the hope that Sean and I and all of our friends and family have in Christ, that someone may come to know this same hope in Him. I don't know how heaven works, but how great would it be for that individual who comes to know Christ through the testimony of Whitney to get to see her again in heaven?

As my husband reminds me all the time, Whitney is going to be fine. And we are going to be fine. There is a greater day coming, when there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more loss and empty arms. There is a great day coming when we will all be reunited at the feet of our Father. But there are many people, so many people who have yet to discover the hope of this glorious day. So I need to be praying specifically for the people we will meet and even my some of my deareset friends who have yet to receive Christ... praying 'big picture' prayers that God will work all of this to the good of those who love Him.

So if you are wondering about a way you can pray for us, it would be that we can keep in mind the bigger picture. I'll be honest, in the day to day things we have to deal with, I often lose sight of this big picture. When I am sad and upset, the 'big picture' idea doesn't always seem to help. Colossians 4:2-6 has become a prayer of mine, and one that I would love for you to pray for us as well. Here it is:

Pray that God will open doors for us to share the reason for our hope. Pray that we will have clarity of thought and mind when those opportunities do arise. Pray that in the midst of our sadness, we may still be able to proclaim the Good News of Christ. Pray that we will be full of grace in our speech and in our actions. And pray for the hearts of those that have yet to know Christ.

I promise, no cursing and its totally SFW. :-)

January was pretty quiet... here we are playing Settlers of Catan with our kitties on our laps!
In February, Sean went to South Korea, Japan and the Philippines. here he is with a guard on the North korean border. this guys job was to shoot you if you crossed the line.
Also in Febraury, Sean and I went to las Vegas... we had a sweet suite at the Venetian... here's Sean watching Sportscenter in the bathroom...
March I went on a ladies retreat. It was fun!
Also in March, we had South American food with Tommy and Shiny... anticuchos!
April we had another Easter with Matthew West and Jim Morris. We went to dinner after church on Saturday.
May Sean and I went to Monterey for the night. It was great!
June- I got to go home and see lots of family and friends, since my parents would soon move to Egypt. Here's me with some of my HS friends.
June, again... with Bro and Momma Suzie and Grandpa
June- we also celebrated our 5th anniversary! And of course, that means jewelry, ya know!
July was a BIG month for us! We signed our adoption papers to begin the adoption process for an infant boy from Ethiopia.
July- Mom and dad came to visit the week before Dad moved to Egypt. The drove the truck all the way out to us!
July- Kyle and Anne came to see us! We went to San Fran one day...
July- I FINALLY got a Big Fat POSITIVE! (or 3 BFPs)
August- First time we got to see our baby's heartbeat!
September- Sean went to Brazil... here he is smiling with a pirannah they caught and were about to eat
October- Fall Festival at church
October- went to see MJ's movie, THIS IS IT... RIP, Michael. *sniff sniff*
November- got to spend a long weekend with my nieces in AZ! Here's Emmalia...
November- and here is my newest niece, Kaira!!
November- we spent THanksgiving in Cincinnati, and made a visit up to THE Ohio State University!
December- Our first Christmas as a family of three!

May you have a happy and safe New Year's Eve!