sure and certain

A status of my Mom's on Facebook prompted me to revisit the verse we have all heard from Hebrews 1 about faith. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." As I read this verse again two words truly jump out to me when I think of the things in life that I have chosen to have faith in, sure and certain. Most of the time in life it seems like being sure or certain in anything is very hard. When someone tells us something that we don't think could be right we always ask, "Are you sure? Are you certain?".

When you really think about it, there are very few things in life that we can say we are sure and certain about, simply because of human nature. So often we make promises that we can not keep which leads those around us to question our certainty. My mom's status talked about "curve balls" that we experience in life. When I begin to think back on curve balls in my life and those around me, I see that time after time that is when our faith is most tested. And in those times when we choose to have faith in God's will, we experience the greatest blessings in our life. We may have to go through pain or be uncomfortable for a little while, but in the end we look back and see the blessings to come from it.

The one thing in my life that I am completely sure and certain of is my faith in the Lord. I know with full certainty that Jesus died on the cross and rose again to save the world from death, a death that separates us from eternal life in him. When the things of my life begin to become uncertain I turn back to my sure and certain Savior.

Happy Birthday Mama Gager!

Happy Birthday Mom!! I love you soooo much and am so glad I got to spend this weekend with you for your birthday!! You are the best!

Love,

Blake and Katie

goings on

It's Monday again. Ugh... Monday's are my least favorite day of the week. Sorry Monday, that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Blake has a pretty big week ahead of him. His finals for the 2nd quarter begin this Saturday morning and continue throughout all next week. I wasn't a big fan of finals in undergrad and I've obviously never taken a final in law school, but I can tell you one thing that I've observed....they are horrible, awful things. Actually I think I can safely say that all of law school is a horrible, awful thing. :) I am so proud of Blake for pulling through and almost surviving his second quarter. I know we are both very ready for the summer.

Work is going good for me. Just the same old, same old. Design monuments, processing orders and sometimes dealing with unhappy customers. But all in all I really do enjoy my job. My photography has slowed down a bit for the holidays and the beginning of the year, but I am really hoping it will kick into full gear over the next few months. I have several weddings booked over the next few months and am hoping to book a couple of more. I already shot one earlier this month for my friend Kristen and had an absolutely awesome time! So fun to see your friend get married and be the one to capture all those special moments.

I thought it'd be more stressful since it was my friend. But it turned out to be so much fun. I really can't wait till the next wedding! So if you know any one getting married that needs a photographer....point them my way. www.katiepenfield.com

I can't believe we are nearing the end of January. I can already tell that 2010 is going to be another year that just literally flies by. It's my mom's birthday this weekend so I will be heading to SA to celebrate. Unfortunately, because of his final, Blake won't be able to make it.

Anyways....that's about all of the goings on for the Penfield's at this time. I will share more when I know more!

definition of grace

The other day at church my pastor said something that has really stuck out in my mind for the last few days. He said, "Grace is not when God removes the pain, but when he walks through the pain with you." I thought that this was such a good definition of grace. I have realized more and more as I get older and I learn more about life that every sin or mistake you make has consequences that come along with them. Whether they are big or small, they are still consequences.

I like this definition because even in the midst of your sins God bestows grace upon you. This doesn't mean that he makes the pain of your consequences go away, but that he walks beside your through that pain, comforting and guiding you along the way.

Anyways....that's really all I have to say about that. It's a powerful one sentence statement that sums up a lot about grace. :)

married friends and ham

It's so fun having married friends that live in the same city as us. The newly married Kristen and Joey came over to our apartment last night for a dinner of Ham, mashed potatoes, dressing and rolls! My awesome boss gave everyone at work a big ham for Christmas as a gift. Blake and I had just put it in the freezer and were waiting for a time to get it out and eat it. It was so big that we just kept putting it off. Yesterday morning I was thinking, you know, we should have Kristen and Joey over to help eat that ham. :)

So over they came and quite the feast we had. Now it was a spiral cut, pre-cooked ham, but I had still never cooked a ham in my life. So I was a little concerned at how it would turn out. And while the honey glaze did boil over the pan a bit and burn in the bottom of my oven (annoying to clean), we did still have a pretty good meal.

I absolutely love cooking and love entertaining friends, so it was a perfect evening! And now we still have quite a bit of ham to show for it. It was a 6 pound ham and we ate about a fourth of it last night. So needless to say, Blake and I have been trying to come up with recipes for this next week that include ham in some way. :) Today for our Sunday lunch I made a big egg, ham and jalapeno quiche. It was soooo yummy! :)

Other ideas include: potato soup with ham, pizza with ham and maybe some kind of beans and rice that have some ham in it for flavoring. Feel free to give us any ideas that you might have. We will be working on the ham for a while. :)

Happy Birthday Dad Gager!

Happy Birthday Dad! Hope you're having an absolutely wonderful day! We are sorry that we cannot spend the day with you, but know that we love you and are thinking of you all day long!!

Love,

Blake and Katie

weddings, weddings, weddings

I just realized yesterday that by the end of this year I will have either attended or photographed at least 6 weddings this year! I love weddings so I am pretty darn excited! :) We attended/photographed our good friend Kristen's wedding on January 2. I say attended/photographed because Blake and I attended and I photographed. :) Then last night, January 9, we attended our other good friend, Amanda's, wedding. They were both absolutely beautiful and such special occasions.

Next on the list of weddings is our friend's Seth and Jennifer's that will be in March. What a super fun and blessed year this is already turning out to be! Speaking of blessings I mentioned in my last post that I would post at least once a month about blessings that are happening in our life. I want to start out the year with a few blessings, that though are not new for the year, are huge blessings none the less.

First we are so blessed to be living in Waco with a job for me and law school for Blake. While at times we wish that we had more money than we do, we truly are blessed with what we have. We have a roof over our heads, clothes on our back, food on the table every day (including some extra sweets from time to time :) ), as wells as 2 working cars and tons of different gadgets and things that are just extra perks in life! I have also been extremely blessed over the last few month with the growth of my photography business.


With all of this I can't help but praise the Lord for our lives as they are now. Everyone always tells us that one day we will look back on the first years of our marriage when we are poor and just have each other and will miss it greatly. I can see why because I am loving every minute of it! So until next time....what are your blessings for today?