I'm Back :o)

So, it's been a million years since I've posted.

When life throws lots of wonderful things at you all at once, blogging doesn't take priority. :o) I'm with my beloved, and we've been doing all sorts of things out and about, and I love spending time with him more than I love blogging! haha

But just a bit about what's going on...don't forget about me, readers!

We spent a week at his family's house. While we were there, he made me a beeeautiful hope chest, which was a bit broken after it was shipped here (it ended up a smidge too big to put in the car), so he'll fix it tomorrow or Tuesday, so that is VERY exciting! I've been desiring a hope chest for quite some time, and who would've known that my future DH would be the one to build it? :)

We got to my house this past Monday, after an uneventful drive down. On the way, we stopped to drop off two birdhouses at a store that had its grand opening on March 15; the owner wants Ben's products in her shop...we're praying this will be the huge income boost we need to get married! May God's will be done in all things!! :o)

Since we've been here, we've had plenty of fun. One day, we went to Bright Light Books, a wonderful used bookstore (it started as a Christian bookstore, so they have a very large Christian section). Between the two of us, we had $60 worth of credit there, after trading in some books, plus I had $16 left from my last trade in, so we got lots of books (the total was $100, so we paid $24):

~The Fundamentals (2 vols.)
~The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible(5 vols.), recommended in Knowing Scripture
~The New Bible Commentary, also recommended in Knowing Scripture
~The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible
~The Person and Work of Christ
~The Religious Affections
~The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination
~Matthew Henry's Commentary (unabridged in 1 vol.)

Those were all very good buys, by very godly men of the past. I'm so thankful our Lord has blessed us with their writings!

This week was also the Ligonier Ministries National Conference, which was held in Orlando. Ben and I went, and boy was it wonderful! The topic for this year was Contending for the Faith, and the speakers were R.C. Sproul, R.C. Sproul, Jr., John Piper, John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Jr., and Ravi Zacharias. It was such an edifying and informative time...I've very thankful for the opportunity we had to attend! We also bought some books there (...can you tell we love good books? *grin*). Here are the titles:
~Meet the Puritans (it was buy 2, get 1 free)
~A Taste of Heaven: Worship in the Light of Eternity
~Contending for Our All

The conference ended yesterday, and today was a blessed Sabbath. My Pastor preached an amazing sermon from the beginning of Matthew 25, the parable of the 10 Virgins(it's hard to believe he's only got 3 and a half chapters left!)...it brought me to tears more than once. I truly fear for the lost. How fearful it would be to fancy yourself a true believer, and stand before God and find out you're not, and it's too late to repent, too late to be saved; to say "Lord, Lord" to Christ and be told He never knew you, as His holy angels cast you into hell, to be tormented for eternity, knowing if you had only repented, you could be rejoicing in Heaven, enjoying God forever. May we all examine ourselves to see whether we be in the faith!

After church, Pastor and his wife invited us over to their home for Sunday dinner! That was also a huge blessing. It was a sweet time of fellowship.

Well, I better get going because folks (Ben and Mom and I...Dad is out of town) are getting hungry! :)

Many blessings,
Mary Jo