the sosebee's

Time is passing quickly. Kristen’s little belly is growing, or rather our little baby girl is growing quickly now. This past week was the first time I’ve really been able to feel her kicking. And just today I got to see her kick. It’s so amazing to feel her and see her moving. How quickly we become attached to this gift of life that we can’t even hold yet. Our hearts are already captivated by this child. The Lord has blessed us richly. He is good, and we are thankful. This evening was also our first dedicated name brainstorming session. Our list is still in the 20′s so we’ve got a ways to go before unveiling that mystery. It’s kind of hard choosing a name. There’s so many good ones out there. Of course my ‘good’ differs from Kristen’s ‘good’, so we’ll have to wait until our ‘goods’ merge and the right name for this beautiful girl is discovered. Until then she will remain nameless. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated!

For the 3rd annual Sosebee Family Christmas Tree, we piled into the 2 wheel drive sleigh and headed North, back to the beautiful, wild, and untamed mountains of North Carolina where you can walk among the seas of douglas firs searching for that perfect tree.

Though, apparently the masses got a jump on us this year. It was slim pickings when we pulled onto the lot at Grandy Mountain Tree Farm. It was still fun walking through the remaining trees and searching for “our” tree. It took us longer to settle on one this year, but we found it in the end. We called the man over and he fired up the chainsaw and in a few seconds was hauling out tree up the hill to be bailed. They tied it down on the roof for us and we headed South back down the mountain.

So, if you’re ever up around Cashiers, NC and need a tree just “follow the star” to Grandy Mountain.

What a great time of year. Thanksgiving seems to kick off the holiday season. So, now it’s officially begun. I’ve already been feeling like Christmas should be next week for the last few days. On that note, I propose that we should all get the whole month off of work between Thanksgiving and Christmas. How great would that be?

On a more realistic note. We began our holiday festivities last Sunday at my Granny’s house with Thanksgiving lunch after church. Then it was off to Georgia on Thursday to Kristen’s grandmother’s for her family’s Thanksgiving meal. Isn’t it always good to be with family? But it has started to amaze me how much it changes from year-to-year as I get older. I think I’ve truly started to realize what it means to be thankful. For, I become more and more aware of the blessing of the Lord in my life as the years pass. I’ve started to transition from being thankful for what He has given me, to first and foremost being thankful for His presence in my life. That, I think, is true thanksgiving.

Though, in being thankful for the Lord in my life, I can’t go without saying that I am thankful for the things He has blessed me with as well. They go together. This year I am thankful that the Lord has given Kristen and I another year together. What a blessing. And now I’m going to see if anyone reads this blog that we haven’t told yet. We are thankful this year that the Lord has chosen to bless us and grow our family. He has blessed us with the gift of a child! To the praise of his glory. How amazing. We are still in awe that we have a baby on the way. It’s beyond exciting. Join with us in the excitement and in praying for our child.

This news has added extra fun to the holidays because we’ve been able to share it with our families. It’s a completely different dynamic on both sides, though. I’m the youngest of all my cousins on my side of the family, and Kristen is the oldest of all hers. So our kid will be the 17th among my cousins and will the 1st among Kristen’s. How the Lord has blessed us.

“For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” -Psalm 100:5

Now to enjoy the cold weather as we look forward to celebrating the advent of the Christ. May your holiday season be filled with the love of the Word made flesh.

The weekends are becoming more and more beautiful as we march on into the Fall season. The mornings are cooler and cooler, my favorite part. The air becomes crisp and you can see the season change all around you. I love it.

I feel a little guilty, though, especially on a few of these weekends out of every month because Kristen is not here to share them with me. Off to slave away at work she goes early on these Saturday mornings. Though, secretly I rather relish in the opportunity to be up so early on a Saturday. There’s plenty to be done around the apartment, and I have ample time for reading and study for my Sunday lessons. An extra pot of coffee is made and I am able to sit down at my desk and immerse myself in Paul’s world as he wrote to the Ephesians. What a blessed time! The Lord is gracious. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

I’ve also been plowing through a good ‘ole used book I purchased with some birthday money. It’s one of those books that has been referenced so many times in articles I’ve read, and in conversations that I’ve listened to, I thought I would see what all the fuss was about. I’m not even half way through and it’s already lived up to the hype. The book I’m talking about is J.C. Ryle’s, Holiness: It’s Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots.

It’s a great book. Ryle is a very accessible and clear writer. His chapters are laid out very well and it’s easy to follow his arguments as he lays them out, often in points. I summarized one of the chapters over at the Tent if you’d like a sample of how he breaks down “True Practical Holiness.” He goes into much more depth on each point, and they are filled willed Scripture references. Always encouraging and edifying to see the author pulling his points directly from Scripture.

This is a book that needs to be read by the modern church. The first edition of this book was published in 1883. It’s an old book, but what testifies to it’s timelessness (really the timelessness of Scripture) is that so many of the issues that were prevalent in Ryle’s day, and that he was writing against and reacting to, are prevalent in our day. Not only are they prevalent, but many of them have been completely forgotten by the church today. And there are things that need not be forgotten. We need to remember. We need to be reminded.

“Without holiness no one will see the Lord.” -Hebrews 12:14

Did anyone happen to see it? If your month was anything like ours then I’m assuming you didn’t either. We went camping labor day weekend with the family which proved to be a lot of fun. We ate well, I’ll say that! Though, it may have been the hottest weather I’ve ever camped in. It was stifling. It reminded me of trying to go to sleep during the rainy season while on a trip in Thailand. Whew.

It also came to pass that I turned 30 years old this past month. The Lord has blessed me with another year. I’m thankful that He continues to sustain and grow me as I get older. I pray that every year I give myself more and more to knowing Him more deeply.

Let’s see, what else. Ah yes. We met with a candidate consultant with the imb to explore our options of returning overseas. It went well and we were invited to attend a job conference to look through the available field requests. It’s a long process, though. We won’t even be able to go to a conference until next year sometime. It’s still a very exciting prospect.

And finally, the 28th is here. Amazon’s big press conference. You may not be as excited as I am about this, but I been wanting to get a Kindle just about forever now, but have been waiting until they released an update. It seems that day is finally here. Will it be a touchscreen? Only time will tell.

Let’s hope October slows down a little. At least so we can enjoy the beauty of fall and the cool weather.

Last weekend you would have found us occupying both:

And if we weren’t found there, you could find us eating seafood, going out for pizza, or picnicking at Atalaya:

It was a nice, relaxing escape down to the coast. We enjoyed our time together celebrating our 2 year anniversary. How the time flies…

It’s now been 2 years since this all began.

Amazed.

Blessed.

Thankful.

Yes, that’s right. Two words you wouldn’t necessary associate together. Of course, that is unless you’re from the good ‘ole south. We love our tomatoes down here, home grown are the best variety. And it goes without saying that we love our pies, typically sweet, but we’ve found ways around that so that we can put just about anything in a pie.

The secret ingredient is this one, is definitely the tomatoes. So, be picky. Luckily we just happened to have been in Georgia this past weekend celebrating her Gramma’s 90th birthday and got to pick quite a few huge ripe tomatoes from the garden. They made the meal.

This recipe hails from Kristen’s home state of Alabama, and being the first time she made it, you’d thought she grew up doing it. It’s also featured in this months Southern Living magazine. Let me say, if you don’t have this fine publication, and you live south of the Mason Dixon line, then I suggest you pick up a copy. If I had to describe it to you, I’d say it’s about like sitting on the front porch in the rocking chairs conversing with your neighbors over the seasons happenings and everything that you’ve been making from all the fresh goods from the garden.

What a great quote from the opening of Mark Dever’s essay in Polity:

The Puritan divine Thomas Taylor observed that “the carriage of the saint through this life is like the journey of a traveler going home through a strange country.” One of the more salutary effect of travel is the energizing of our minds by sights and sounds which are strange to us. Travel increases our understanding, and broadens our sympathies.

Travel also affects our understanding of home. However many things we many learn in our travels, none are so interesting as those things which we see for the first time when we return home. We may think that all has changed, when in reality only we have.

It made me reflect on the experience of going overseas for a time, and the effects that place has on us. The Lord uses our time as we travel briefly through this life to change us and shape us.

You know those times in life when you’ve established somewhat of a routine and things seem to be moving along slowly? Maybe even moving along at normal speed? I would assume that most could sympathize with that description in some way or another. It’s in these moments that many things can occur, and we’ve got to be careful about which things do occur, for if we’re not careful, much can happen that we aren’t pleased with. The slippery slope metaphor. This is often associated with complacency as well, I think. Yet, if we are careful, these can be times that bear much fruit. Something that I hope we are all striving after.

Well, it seems to be one of those times. Not “one” as in singular, but “one” as in a season of life. A stretch of an indefinite amount of time where externally there doesn’t seem to be one single thing going on, yet internally your world is being forever changed. This is nothing but the prompting of the Holy Spirit. So much is going on in your mind and in your heart, you can barely write it down quick enough to keep up with it. This sort of revitalization comes through God’s Word, primarily, but also through many secondly resources. Namely: spouse, friends, books, work, etc. I suppose it could come from a number of places, but it’s genesis in the Word, which then seems to make everything else come to life. Beauty and possibility seem real again. A journey is begun. This is life. The only one the Lord has blessed us with, and the one He sustains everyday. His calling is higher than all others. I am blessed, and am thankful. May the Lord be glorified in all.