Valentine's Day!!

I know this should've been posted a while ago, but it's been a little busy in the Carpenter life :)  Jerrod has always made Valentine's really special for us, even though its not my favorite holiday.  He is awesome about spoiling me and showing his love to me on any random day of the year anyway.  But we thought it would be fun to have dinner where he proposed at Michelangelo's.  It's definitely our favorite Italian restaurant in Houston.  It has a great ambiance, live piano player, live tree growing through the center of it, great food,  and also has a special meaning to us :)  We did this on Sunday night instead of Monday because Jerrod left for the 8th grade DC trip early Monday morning till Friday night.  Needless to say he was exhausted after that trip!!  And we like celebrating the night before because you don't have to order off of the prefix menu and its less crowded :)  Here are some pics from our fun night out!

Starbucks encounter today...

Today I went to Starbucks to work on my bible study homework for a few hours.  I'm in the live, Beth Moore study on James that she is currently writing.  It's at my church on Tuesday nights.... luckily she goes to our church so we are always her guenia pigs for her studies.  She's great on video, but it's even better live :)  I just love her insight and love for God's word.  Anyway, I'm sitting there with my bible open, notes scattered everywhere, and my hot grande mocha writing away when this man comes up to me and begins talking to me.  He asked me what I was working on and I told him it was a bible study on James.  He said, "oh well if it was on Jesus I could tell you anything you wanted to know, I could answer all your questions."  I said wow, really?! ( kinda laughing inside...wondering where this conversation is heading).  Then he tells me his cousin is Jesus, his aunt is Mary, he has the same last name as them, he's from Bethlehem, and he's from their royal family.  He says he knows more about Jesus than anyone else on the earth!  Wow, what confidence this man has! lol  He tells me how we aren't children of God, we are children of Adam and Abraham who God created.  He asked me if I believed in God or Jesus....and I said both.  He said well that's impossible, you have to choose, you can't believe in both.  I explained how I believe Jesus Christ came on this earth to die for our sins, but yes there is only one God, etc.  He goes on and on about how knowledgeable he is in the Bible, and how he can study something in 5 minutes and get more out of it than if I studied it for 10 years.  I wanted to share this for one because I thought it was funny, but two because God really showed me how we should always be ready to share our faith.  I'll be honest, when I was put on the spot like that my arm pits kind of started sweating! lol  It made me realize how important it is to know what you're talking about, and be ready to defend it when someone else is contradicting it.  His word is our TRUTH.  That's all we can go by, live by, and study.  I love how no matter how much we study, we always get a fresh word, something different, and begin to truly LOVE His word.  God can use anything, or anyone, no matter what you know or don't know... but just be prepared to give an answer to those who ask. :)

Go get a Starbucks drink to warm you up on this "snow day"...even though there is no snow in Houston!

Houston Half Marathon!

On Sunday I ran the Houston Half Marathon and boy was it brutal!  It rained, then poured, then rained some more, the ENTIRE race :(  Definitely the most miserable race I've done....BUT it was awesome because I had several friends run in it, and I saw about 10 different friends along the course cheering me on :)  So that made it fun and worth it.  It definitely wasn't my personal record time, but I'll blame that on the weather conditions.  I'm still deciding if I'll do another one before we move in July.  Maybe the Kenyans can teach me how it's done while we are there, lol.  I'd like to do another full marathon, but it takes over your life for about 4 months, and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that right now....I'll keep ya posted.  I need to add that Amy, Layton and my mom came in town and stayed with us from Thursday to Sunday and we had so much fun but I didn't take one single pic :(  We went to the zoo, shopping, restaurants, Jerrod's basketball game, the marathon, etc.  It was so much fun and I really appreciate them making the drive with a one and a half year old!!!  Here are some pics from race day!!

Sarah, me, and Brad at the starting line....

Blurry, but the only action shot :)  This was around mile 12.5!

So glad it's over!!! lol

My biggest fan!

And my other biggest fan!!

Happy trails...