Introducing...

I could not be more excited to announce my new shop, 

Missionary Kerrie's 

with you all!

I have been sewing these hand-made, padded envelope clutch bags for weeks and am thrilled to finally show what I've been up to!  

These bags work great as a handbag or even as an iPad case! I've been toting mine around for days with everything from my Bible, phone, wallet, sunglasses or keys inside.

Every penny earned from these bags will go to fund mine and Wade's mission trip to India in January 2013.  We have been once before in 2009 and are so looking forward to going again -- this time trekking through the villages throughout the Himalayas and checking on the churches as well as sharing the gospel with the Indian and Nepali people and possibly providing some medical care.

   

I've also got a facebook page that is also launching today and I would LOVE for you to visit and "like" my page, and if you want to share it with your facebook friends to help our cause, I would be so so grateful.  

Missionary Kerrie's Facebook Page.

I leave you with some product photos that my lovely friend took for me. (She likes to be anonymous)

Bag: Missionary Kerrie's, Dress: Altar'd State, Nails: "Khloe had a little Lam-Lam" by Nicole (OPI)

Bags: Missionary Kerrie's, Top: Target, Jeans: Gap Outlet, Necklace: Le Mode Accessories, Nails: "Khloe had a little Lam-Lam" by Nicole (OPI)

I hope you will visit my shop and consider supporting us as missionaries to India.

**please note that any orders placed between now and March 12th will be shipped on the 12th when I get back from out-of-town.  Also, I've got some awesome guest posts for you while I'm gone from bloggers who live life on a mission! Be sure to check them out. First one is tomorrow**

Tuesday Challenge/Link-up

I wish I had a great story to share this week about how I am living my life on a mission for Jesus, but to be honest, this was a hard week!  It was super full and a little bit stressful. I did have a meeting with a group of amazing college girls from Sanford University whom I will be taking to Mexico for a mission trip geared towards the young women on The Canal that I'm really excited about -- next month!

Also, I've been working really hard on a big project/fundraising effort for mine and Wade's mission trip to India in January 2013. -- MORE ON THAT TOMORROW!!
(Can you tell I'm excited??)

And the story of how we got our deposit for our India trip is amazing! I must share:
We had only 4 weeks to get our $500/person deposit in for this trip and we were discussing where we were going to get the money. Wade scheduled a few extra shifts at work in preparation.  But not ten minutes after our conversation, we got a call that we were left $1,000 in the will of a wonderful woman, Mrs. Sue.
I'm sure you can do the math, but that is exactly what we needed for our deposit!
God is so amazing!

So, I guess I spent my week in preparation for things to come.

Last weeks Tuesday Challenge was to buy a meal for the person behind you in a drive-thru or in line at a restaurant.  I've loved hearing the stories from this week already!  I've been so amazed at the amount of non-bloggers who read The Williams' Post via facebook who are participating!  Love it!

I felt like this would be an easy challenge, but I was nervous as I pulled up to the Chick-fil-A window this week and asked to pay the bill for the person behind me!  He was a really cute old man (I have a thing for Oldies. I just love them) who was by himself in his truck.

Yes, I snuck a photo!

What I didn't expect, was the feeling I had when I drove away and saw this man try to pay in my rear-view mirror.  I felt full. Goose-bumpy, ya know?  I prayed for this stranger the whole ride home.

Did you participate? Or do you have a post about living your life for God?  A post on what God is teaching you or doing in your life?  I'd love to hear about it! Link up or leave a comment!

<div align="center"><a href="http://kerriewade.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Tuesday Challenge" src="http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j370/kerwilliams/tuesdaychallenge3.jpg"/></a></div>

This week's challenge: 
Write an encouraging note to someone you know.
"Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing"
- 1 Thess. 5:11

Be sure to spend time in prayer, seeking God and asking Him who He has in mind for you to write you letter/note to.  Someone needs it.  Let Him lead you.

My husband, the minister.

With my sister's wedding fast approaching, an interesting turn of events has ensued.

My uncle, who was scheduled to officiate the wedding has been having some health problems and it was decided that traveling across a few states wouldn't be the best idea for him.

So close to the Big Day, one would think that the bride would be freaking out, right?

Not my sister! She had a plan.

That's right, ladies and gents, my man - whom I now refer to as Rev. Wade - is now a licensed minister and will be officiating my sister's wedding, this Saturday!

It's like a scene straight out of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. people!  (remember when Joey got licensed and did Monica's wedding?)  Surely I'm not the only show addict out there!

He's nervous but I'm ecstatic - as are the rest of my family!

And hey, while you're here, think about linking up with my Tuesday Challenge link-up tomorrow would ya?  You can still do the Tuesday Challenge from last week, but you don't have to in order to link up! Just link up any post, sharing how you are living life on a mission or about what God is teaching you/doing in your life.  What's better than sharing with and encouraging one another? Ok I'm sure there are some things, but it's still pretty great, right?

And here's the button if you'd like to grab it ahead of time!

<div align="center"><a href="http://kerriewade.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Tuesday Challenge" src="http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j370/kerwilliams/tuesdaychallenge3.jpg"/></a></div>

*linking up with cup 1/2 full.

::'til tomorrow!::

oh... I was angry, alright.

If you had been a fly on my wall yesterday, you would probably be dead by now. Because I was not a happy camper and was looking for someone to take it out on.  And I hate bugs.

Ok, somehow my analogy got off track.

Let me be more clear:  Yesterday, I was mad.  Really mad.  And frustrated.  

With whom, you ask?  Oh, just anybody and everybody.  But mostly no one at all.

Yesterday we found out that someone else is buying the house I fell in love with.  We were planning to take Wade's dad to look at it yesterday morning and inspect it, and 30 minutes before we were to go, we got the news.  

Wade had warned me not to get attached. But I did.  And I was devastated.  

In my mind, I could hear my voice of reason telling me, "It's just a house!"  And I know that.  I do. But my voice of unreason was speaking much more loudly, screaming in fact, that I was sick of this!  I was tired of doors being shut, over and over and over again!  How many more times was God going to block the paths we were taking?

I trust God, I do. I believe in Him and know His ways are higher than my own.  I believe that He will take me where He wants me.  But I'd just like Him to reveal His plans to me already!

And I told Him that. I told Him I was mad at Him.  It sounds so silly today, and I felt like such a child in church today while I was overcome with His love and provision for me.  And I knew it was ridiculous then, while I was telling Him how fed up I was. 

But that's one of the things I love about God.  I can tell Him exactly how I'm feeling.  I mean, it's not like He doesn't know anyways, right?  So I just put it all out there. How this month has been a hard one.  How I felt like we were constantly being placed back in square one. 

source

Apparently that's where He wants us, square one.

And no matter how frustrated I get, once I've calmed down and stopped being emotional, I can honestly admit that there's no place I'd rather be than in the place where God wants me. 

source

So, I just wanted to be honest with you guys and with myself that sometimes, while I believe God and trust in Him, my flesh rears it's ugly head.  Thankfully I have a Father who is big enough to handle that.

"[He] instantly cried out, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!"

Mark 9:24

scatter-brained

I feel like I've been a huge blog-slacker lately.  Maybe you haven't noticed.  And I hope you haven't!  But I've barely been able to read any blogs this week, let alone leave many comments.  I've been getting behind on my emails, etc. etc.  And it's not that I'm busy busy busy every second of every day.  

It's all in my head!

Let me try to give you a visual...

My Calendar.

|February|

 |March|

Notice how much more full the month of March is? This is my normal life.  The bars of color mean I am out of town. And the fact that neither January nor February had any of these color bars is a rarity.

My blog has grown so much these last few months, and it may be due to the fact that I've been here and had some "down time" to be able to focus on it.  But here I am, just a few short days from my first (of many) out of town trips that include vacations, special events, and mission trips.  And my mind is buzzing.

The list of things to do before I go is large.  And I have a big project (you'll see next week) that I've been working on that has taken up so much time!  My photo an hour post makes me laugh because I think it looks like I just lounged around relaxed all day, while in my brain I was checking things off the list.  So many things were in between and I didn't want to over load the blog with a photo of every 30 minutes! Plus, I'd never get anything done if I did that!

I'm working on the 2013 India trip I'm leading (yes, this early), three upcoming mission trips to Mexico, local school/community projects -- and that's just for work.  Being gone for so much of March is stressing me out just a little bit. 

This is probably the most boring post ever but I just needed to put all of that out there!  I want y'all to know what's going on in this crazy head of mine.  

I also want to remind you guys about my Tuesday Linkup "Tuesday Challenge".  I've offered a challenge for this week which you can check out here and I will offer a new one each Tuesday!  But remember, you don't have to do the challenge to linkup.  The Link-up is for bloggers to share what they are doing for God in their lives, or what God is doing/showing them.  The challenge is merely a way to help facilitate some ideas for us to act out our faith! 

And lastly, I'll leave you with a verse I'm loving this week.

We hear the first part of this verse a lot, and it's a great reminder of what should be important to us ladies!  But I just really love verse 5.

"This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful."

We can learn so much from the women in the Bible.  From our elders. And I want to be beautiful, just like the holy women of old.

A Day in the Life

I love to see the Picture an Hour posts around the blogosphere and have been wanting to do one for a while.  While each and every day looks completely different for me (except for Tuesdays which are packed full of the same stuff every week), I hope you experiencing it with me! On this day, Wade picked up an extra shift at a local pharmacy so he wasn't around until the evening.  

Without further ado...

A Day in the Life of Kerrie

A Photo an Hour

|9:00am|

Drink Chai Tea smoothie. 

I'm slightly addicted.  And yes, I slept till 9am. It was glorious.

 |10:00am|

Publish the day's blog post

|11:00am|

Heading to town.

 |12:00pm|

Fabric stores and Walmart runs

|1:00pm|

Lunch (I did the Tuesday Challenge! Have you done it?)

|2:00pm|

Laundry

|3:00pm|

Sewing my life away and watching Grey's Anatomy

|4:00|

No photo. Sorry!

I was hanging out with Wade's mom though.

|5:00|

Phone calls with special people :)

|6:00pm|

I have been snacking on these all day!

|7:00pm|

Meeting up at the church about medical mission trip stuff (and I snuck in to peek on the youth)

|8:00pm|

Dinner at Sebastians! 

|9:00pm|

I saw myself on Pinterest!  (And I didn't pin myself!)

|10:00pm|

T.V. time -- watching American Idol on the DVR.

Goodnight!

7 times 7

I was chosen by the gals over at LittleStich for this [Seven x Seven] award :) Fun stuff.

We've only recently met, so to say I'm surprised is a big understatement :) Thanks for thinking of me ladies!

|Rules|

1. Link back to the blogger who nominated you. (Thanks LittleStich!)

2. Share 7 facts about yourself.

3. Share 7 blog posts that fit into 7 categories.

4. Nominate 7 award-winning blogs/bloggers.

(I feel like there should be 7 rules, right?)

|7 Facts|

1. I'm the baby in a family full of girls (except my dad of course.)

2. I will turn 30 in 2013. Oy.

3. I feel really old after that last one.

4. I drink a raspberry Chai tea smoothie with soy EVERY.SINGLE.MORNING.

5. I met my husband in Mexico.

6. Right now, my nails are painted black (except for one grey nail on each hand) and my husband hates it!

7. I'm planning a mission trip to India at the end of the year! yay!

|7 Posts|

1. Most Popular - Results
2. Most Passionate - Restless
3. Most Talented - Where Flowers Bloom
4. Most Likely to Make You Barf - Tongue & Cheek
5. Most Likely to Go Round the World in 365 Days - 2011 Travel [B]log
6. Most Yummy - Seared Duck Tacos & Chocolate Love
7. Most Challenging - The Tuesday Challenge

|7 Blogs|

1. Chelsea @ Happy Bow Lucky

2. Brooke @ Bnfunky
3. Breanne @ My World Resting on Your Love
4. Katie @ For Lauren and Lauren
5. Jenna @ The Life of the Wife
6. Michelle @ Texas Tanners
7. Erin @ Captivated by Grace

*I just want to note that I never won any yearbook superlatives in High School and I always wanted to so so so bad! haha I see how silly that is now, but it was a big deal in school.  Anywho, I hope you enjoy reading through some of my very favorite posts past!

::Well that was Fun::

**And be sure to check out my first Tuesday Challenge and read about my new link-up!  

The Tuesday Challenge

I recently posted about my desire to do more with this blog to encourage readers (and myself) to live our lives on a mission -- as missionaries -- for Jesus.  I mentioned featuring different bloggers in a guest post setting as they share what this looks like for them, and also coming up with weekly challenges to help us do this in a tangible way.  I've been thinking of some different ideas and have decided to start putting them up on Tuesdays - hence, "The Tuesday Challenge."  

There will be an option each Tuesday to link up with me, sharing how you are living for Jesus, what God is doing in your life, what He is teaching you, or even for you to share if you participated in the previous week's challenge and what you thought of it.

My hope is that we will be intentional in serving and encouraging those around us.  Some weeks the challenge will be anonymous and sometimes it will be personal.  But always, I hope that the challenges give us an opportunity to share the love of Christ. 

And remember, you can link up any posts you'd like from the week pertaining to your walk with Christ. The challenge is just an opportunity for you to have some new ways to act out your faith in your community. 

So.. without further ado... the first Tuesday Challenge is this:

|Pay the bill for the car behind you at the drive-thru.|

The employee at the window will already know how much they owe and I can promise you that they will be surprised when it's their turn to pay! They won't know who you are or why you did it, but I'd bet they will think about it and share it with their friends and family. You never know what kind of day that person is having and your small gift could be just what they need.  

As an added bonus, I'd be willing to bet that the cashier will want to know why you're getting the tab.  This is a great opportunity for you to share with them that you wanted to do show love to a stranger because of the love Christ has for us.

So, this week, while you're at starbucks, Chick-fil-A, or any other drive-thru, take the challenge and trust God with what happens next.

It's just money.  Jesus gave so much more than that. His payment is our example:

"For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold and silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God." 

1 Peter 1:18 - 19

Be sure to come back next Tuesday for our first link up!
(Here's what the link up button will look like)

While I've got a few ideas already, I would love your suggestions! Email me at
thewilliamspost@gmail.com 
If I use your suggestion I will credit your blog on that week's link-up.

*linking up with WIW @ Captivated by Grace

the reason

A lot of people have mentioned their surprise (for lack of a better word) at my reactions to the situations that have come up in my life lately.  (see here, HERE, and then here to see what I'm talking about)

Surprise is the wrong word. 

But either way, the subject has been brought up to me several times over the last week.  It has been really encouraging, but has also taken me by "surprise" -- there we go with that word again!

Maybe my reaction isn't normal.  To be honest, I feel like I should be sad.  I think some people approach me like I'm about to break, and I wonder why that's expected of me.

Sure, I'm a bit more emotional this week.

Maybe I've cried through a Grey's Anatomy marathon.. or even shed a tear over an episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians during a "sisterly" moment. (I love my sisters, and love to rejoice with them!)

But I think it is because my appreciation for the things God has given me has increased.

It's a decision to be made - to trust God no matter what. It's not always easy, and it's not that I never get sad. I do. I cried when I found out the results. 

But even in tears, there is joy. There is trust. 

Many years ago, before I was even in the picture, Wade's brother and his wife went through a really hard situation - one we later went through ourselves.  He was frustrated - it's frustrating. And he called his brother for advice.  Only brothers can be this honest.  Wade said something to this effect, "God gave his only son... to be beaten and killed like a criminal so that we could be saved. Why do you think you deserve more than that?"

It sounds harsh, but it was said in love, and it's true.

Jesus would rather DIE than live without us. 
He has already given us everything!

And I don't deserve anything. Nothing, except for what I have earned. And thanks to God, for his grace and mercy, I don't have to endure that.

Being sad doesn't mean you don't trust God.  Jesus shed tears when His good friend Lazarus died (see John 11:32-36).  But I don't lose hope. And I don't mean hope that one day I'll have a baby.  I mean the real hope. Hope in my savior.  Trust in Him.

And this is why. Please listen below.

O the blood

crimson love

price of life's demand

Shameful sin

placed on Him

The hope of every man

O the blood of Jesus washes me

O the blood of Jesus shed for me

What a sacrifice that saved my life

yes the blood it is my victory!

Savior son

Holy one

slain so I can live

See the lamb

the great I Am

who takes away my sin

O the blood of Jesus washes me

O the blood of Jesus shed for me

What a sacrifice that saved my life

yes the blood it is my victory!

O what  love

no greater love

grace how can it be?

That in my sin

yes even then

He shed His blood for me!

:O thank you Jesus:

*linking up with the cup 1/2 full link up.

*photos by Authentic Photography

Coming soon...

I also wanted to share this song. It helped me gain perspective over the last few weeks. It ministers to me each time I listen to it - which is why it's been on repeat in my life.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  And remember, when life gets overwhelming...

breath. 

He is here. 

photo drop | recommendations needed!

first morning of our "pre-surgery Getaway".
For more photos of where we stayed, check out this website!

 I really wish I had taken more photos on our getaway, 

but I left the camera in the room and just enjoyed my time with Wade. 

Shopping:
1. Pendant necklace from Le Mode Accessories
2. $12 jacket from Papaya!
3. Wade's first pair of Toms. Finally!
4. Not-so-vintage "vintage" glasses from Anthropologie.

1. Surgery
2. Encouragement from Kerry @ My Life His Mission
3. Recovery (first time outdoors = yoga pants, dirty hair, and mascara)

Yesterday:
1. Create the Character books I made for the nieces by Champion Me books. ( I made one for each niece. The characters favor the girls and their names are in the book! So cute)
2. Finally got out of the sweats, into a dress (cause jeans hurt) and hit up Walmart and Sonic for a Coke with lime :)
3. Thanks to Michelle @ Texas Tanners for the Essie nail polish she gave me - my nails are starting to grow! No biting!

***

On an unrelated note, I need a good storybook suggestion for 3rd graders! I've been asked to participate in Read Across America at the local Elementary School and have no idea what to read! They said books would be available, but I'd love to bring my own.  Any suggestions?