Nathan is 23 today!  In honor of his 23rd birthday.....23 Reasons why I love Nathan Moore.....

1.  He is a great brother


2.  He LOVES Jesus

3. He married Rachael...and is a great husband


4. He asked me to take his engagement pictures


5.  He makes funny faces


6.  He likes good music.

7.  He's a mac guy...and was before it was cool


8.  He is friends with the Waffle House Guys (the picture makes me laugh EVERY time I see it :) )


9.  He had an underwear showdown with my man.......not sure who won that one


10. He loves Callie.........and she loves him........


11.  He is a model (or likes to pretend)


12. He is a member of the Happy Hands Club


13. He likes to have food fights with me....good thing we have Sydney to clean it up


14.  He thinks it is fashionable to wear doilies on his head....


15.  He is not a picky eater......


16. He created phusebox and advertises with this goat


17.  He followed God and went to New York..and totally fit right in


18. He took me with him when he moved to New York (I'm in one of those boxes)


19. He talked to me about how he should propose to Rachael


20.  He thought these ladies were as funny as I did


21. He helped organize Paint the Town


22.  Whenever he came home from New York he always made to to go out to eat with me...just me and him

23.  We like to laugh really hard late at night about silly things





Those times are my favorite!

Make sure you wish this awesome guy a Happy Birthday!!!

I love you, Brother!

Today is Jonathan's 21st Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday, Jonathan!
Here are 21 reasons I Love Jonathan.....
1.  He is a good brother

2.  He LOVES Jesus

3.  He loves others

4.  He loves Sydney

5.  He has a servant heart

6.  He loves working with the youth group
(no pic....sorry)
7.  He is smart

8.  He is funny

9. He doesn't love this world....material things are not important to him
10.  He likes lobster

11. He stayed with me while Matt was working so I didn't have to stay by myself.
12. He handed Starburst out to strangers on the subway in NYC

13. He doesn't like TV
14. He is buddies with my husband

15. He is a sharp dresser

16. He loves Sandy as much as I do
17. He is tall

18.  He makes other people feel special
19. He has a heart for missons

20. He is random

21.  He is the great Jonathan Philip Moore...

So wish him a Happy Birthday!!!!!
or he might turn gangsta....

So for those of you who find it funny that I am a germ-a-phobe, I must admit that I have a rash on my hands and I have a suspicion it is from using too much hand sanitizer.  Yes, go ahead and laugh.  And I will add that I type this as I drink airborne to keep from getting my high schoolers flu germs....some things will never change....hope every one had a good day

In case you were wondering, I did indeed get out of school for snow on Thursday and Friday.  On Friday, Matt got off work at 7 AM and then we went to Shoney's.....


Yea for the breakfast buffet!
Then we went to Edwin Warner Park to play in the snow.....

We had a snowball fight....

And lots of fun!

Snow days are the best :)

Come on...SNOW!  I feel like a 3rd grader, but I want to get out of work tomorrow :)  For those of you that don't know, I am the STARS counselor at Fairview High School, so when they get out of school, I get out of work.  Nice, huh?  I hear if you sleep with yout pjs inside out that it makes it snow...I might have to try that.  

So, in case you didn't know...I love stats.  My new health magazine had a whole page devoted to interesting stats and I thought I would share some of them with you...I promise you will find them interesting, so keep reading...

52 percent of Americans can name at least 2 members of the cartoon Simpsons family
28 percent of Americans can name at least 2 freedoms granted in the First Amendment
21 percent of Americans believe that the right to own a pet is one of them

800 millions of gallons of gas are used each year for lawn mowers
It takes 11 new cars to create the same amount of pollution that one lawn mower makes in an hour
There were 11 millions of gallons of crude oil spilled by the Exxon Valdex in the largest oil spill in U.S. history
There are 17 millions of gallons of fuel spilled each year while filling lawn mowers, tractors, and the like

A rewiew of 22,131 public swimming pools found 97 percent had health-regulation violations

Interesting, huh?  Anyone want to go to Sports Com?

So check this out...
My dad went up to New York to help my brother move.  I wanted them to be able to do something fun together (you know, father son bonding) so today I checked the Yankees schedule and found out that they were playing tonight.  I looked at ticketmaster and the cheapest tickets were $50.00 a piece plus all of the fees.  I looked on ebay and found some good seats for a good price, so I bid on them.  I won the auction.  The seller wanted to e-mail the ticketfast tickets to the buyer.  Well, I wanted her to e-mail them to Nathan, but I was not sure of his e-mail address.  So, I e-mailed the seller and told her that I had to find out what his e-mail address was and that I would e-mail her ASAP.  So, a few hours later I e-mail her the payment for the tickets along with his e-mail address.  I talked to Nathan on the phone and he was excited about getting to go to the game since it will be his last one before coming home.  So around 5:00 I check my ebay stuff and I have a message from her saying "If you were not going to pay for the tickets, why didn't you tell me.  Now they are going to go to waste."  So, I e-mailed her and told her that I had indeed paid for the tickets.  While I was doing that she e-mailed my gmail address, responded to the e-mail I sent her right after the auction about having to find Nathan's e-mail address, and said that since she had not heard from me she e-mailed the tickets to her brother in Long Island and he had already left for the game.  I told her how uncool that was and asked if her brother could meet my brother and give him the tickets I paid for since this was his last chance to get to go to a Yankees game before he moves.  She has not responded.  I looked on ticketmaster and they had already stopped selling tickets because it was too close to game time.  So, because of some stupid girl on ebay who does not know how to check her e-mail, my bother and dad do not get to go to the game and have their father son bonding and my brother will not be able to go before he moves.  GRRRRR.  I am so mad.  I want to cry.  I feel many things.  Just wanted to share that so you could be mad and want to cry as well....

So, last weekend Matt and I went to Hendersonville to help people whose houses were damaged by the tornados that came through recently.  It was craziness.  Friday we woke his brother Andrew up on his day out of school and convinced him to come help us.  We went to a house and helped a family try to find things inside that were salvageable.  Matt found several old photo albums and some old newspapers with the daughter in them from being on her high school basketball team.  It was obvious that the house we were at was a really nice house.  Amazingly, it looked like someone had just decided to take the brink all around the house off, as well as the roof.  So all that was left was the inside, kinds like a doll house.  Unfortunately, I do not have pictures to show you.  We went back on Saturday and took the J-Mo with us.  I was able to get some pictures that day.  I will share some with you....








That house had 10 people in it that decided to go to the other side of the house and get in a closet before the storm hit.







And this house...


was across the street from this house...


Pretty crazy, huh?

These were all in one neighborhood.  There are more in my photo box.  Amazingly, no one was killed, as was written in the poster on the right which says, "God is good, nobody died here."



We ended up in the yard of Matt's 6th grade teacher.  Her husband had planted trees back in the 70s that were uprooted and desroyed.  We spent several hours moving all the branches/trunks, etc. out to the street so they could be picked up.  They had been at home when the storm hit, but they survived.  We ate lunch with some fire fighters and they told us that the tornado had struck an electric company nearby.  The employees did not really have any where to go, so they held on to each other around a steel pole.  Unfortunately, the son of the owner, who was in his 30s got sucked into the storm right out of his fathers arms and did not survive.  That breaks my heart.  I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that family is going through, along with the other families who lost loved ones in the storm.  It would be devestating to lose your house and everything you own as well.  And it hits so close to home...only 45 minutes away.  Anyways, sorry if this is a downer, but I wanted to share what we experienced.  If anyone wants to go up there and help, there is still lots more to do.  And for all you boys out there, let this be a lesson to you that when your mother tells you to get in the closet, you should go instead of starring out the window watching the storm...

Ok, so not to wear out the Passion thing, but in case you don't keep up with the awards, Chris Tomlin won GMA's artist if the year.  He is by far my favorite worship leader and I was really glad that he won, not becasue awards are important, but because God is using him in a mighty way and it's cool that other people can see that and are moved by his music.  If you have never heard Chris Tomlin, you should go to itunes and check out "How Great is Our God"...it just so happens that it won song of the year.  It is an amazing song!  Love you guys!
:)
B

The new Passion CD from Passion 06 in Nashville was released today.  You can get it on itunes.  If you go to the home page, look under new releases.  Click on inspirational.  It is right there.  The tracks aren't listed (itunes mess up?), but if you click "purchase album" it downloads them all for you.  Well worth the $9.99!

So, it has been almost 3 months since Passion....and I am just now uploading my pictures!  I know, I know, I need to be more on top of things, but better late than never, huh?  Well as I was uploading them I was overcome with emotion looking at the glorious ones.  For those of you who went to Passion, I am sure you understand.  For those of you who missed it, let me explain.  During the week there was a thing called the "Go center" which was in the convention center.  It was a place to hang out, find out about ministry opportunities, and there was a place you could make worship art.  There were huge sheets on the wall and you could write whatever you wanted as worship to God.  Well, the last day of Passion the worship leaders are on stage singing "Glorious, Over Us..." when these rafters started to raise and there were sheets on each of the 4 sides of the stage. 

One side has G-L, the next O-R, the next I-O, and the last U-S.  There was bright light shining, and you could see the letters.  Then there were red lights on the sheets. 

Then all the sudden they turned black lights on and you could see the worship art that people had drawn during the week.  This was an unexpected surprise and it was overwhelming to see so many prayers to God.



















It was amazing. I had no clue what to expect when I went to Passion and I was blown away.  It seriously changed my life.  God used Passion to speak to my heart and I have not been the same since.  I felt His presence so strongly and there is nothing that could make me give that closeness back now.  My life is His and His alone.  I want only to glorify Him.  There are days (actually every day) that I fall short of this goal, but I know that God loves me and that He does not expect me to be perfect, just willing to be used by Him.  He is changing me every day and I am so greatful. 
So, I wanted to share these pictures with you and my prayer is that you will feel the closeness of God today.  There are more pictures in my photo box if you want to see them :)
Love you-
B
  

Check this out..this guy's name is Julian Beever and he does chalk drawings and gives them an amazing 3-D effect.  They are unbelieveable!













What that looks like from the side...it is 40 ft. long


And best of all...



Crazy, huh?

That's right, today is Matt's Brithday...if you get a chance, tell him "Happy Birthday!" You can reach him through the user "Sydney" who is his dog...
Sorry this is posted so late in the day! :)

My hands smell like onions.

Hello friends!
Thanks to everyone who took a few seconds to say congratulations and for making my post the most remarked...and to Jonathan for making it the most remarked again today :) I have a funny brother. Tonight I went to the "Indescribable" concert at Ryman with Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and Louie Giglio and let me just say that is was amazing. It was my second time to hear Louie's "Indescribable" sermon and it moved me just as much as the first time at Passion. It reminded me how big and amazing God is and how small I am and how lucky I am that the God of the entire UNIVERSE loves ME just as I am. In the words of Chris Tomlin, "You see the depths of my heart and you love me the same, you are amazing God"
I am so excited that I am engaged and so lucky that God brought Matt into my life and that we are going to get to serve Him together, but even more than that I am excited that Jesus loves me enough to come to this tiny speck of dust suspended in the middle of a huge galaxy to die so that I could be washed clean from my sins. That, my friends, is an indescribable feeling.

Ok, so I was waiting to make this post until I had some pictures, but they are on my dad's camera and there is no telling when I will get them off...so, I'll go ahead and tell you without the photos and hopefully add them later. Dun, dun, dun...Matt and I are engaged! He proposed on Thursday night. For those who are interested in the story of how, read on...
One of the first things Matt and I ever did together was watch the movie Top Gun. I had never seen it and he invited me over to watch it. That was on a cold March day almost 4 years ago. We have not seen the movie since. So, the other day we were walking our dogs around the neighborhood (we have the same one since he lives down the street! :) ) and he said that he wanted to go eat sushi and watch Top Gun on Thursday night. I thought it was cute that he was planning something for us to do together. So, he picked me up, we ate sushi, and then came back to my house to watch the movie. For those of you who have watched a movie with me, you know that it is a feat to get me to stay awake for a whole movie. That night was no exception. I was starting to fall asleep and Matt kept trying to keep me awake. About an hour into the movie Kelly McGillis is chasing Tom Cruise, he on his motorcycle and her in her convertable and when she reaches him she tells him for the first time that she is falling for him. At this point the DVD cuts out and all the sudden Matt is standing there on the screen in a bomber jacket with patches on it and avaiator sunglasses on, looking very much like Maverick, and he says something along the lines of, "Bethany, thank you for you support over the years and for being my wing woman. I am now going to turn things over to the man sitting beside you" at which point Matt got off the couch, on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I was SHOCKED! I was totally not expecting any of this. Matt had to get me out of my shocked state long enough to say "YES!" Then his family and Elizabeth came over to celebrate with us and my family. I kept looking at my ring (which is gorgeous if I do say so...Matt picked it out!) trying to figure out what had just happened. We talked on New Years Eve about how we wanted to get married sometime this year, but I was not expecting a ring until at least March. Lucky for me, it came early in an incredibly creative way that makes me smile. We are thinking about September 9th. My sister recommended that day because it was my grandparents anniversary (my grandfather passed away in December, soon after their 62nd (I think) wedding anniversary). My grandfather LOVED Matt and I know he would have been excited about us getting married, so the date is kinda a tribute to him. We are also thinking about getting married in Nashville because it is a central location from Murfreesboro (where we live now and have many friends), Clarksville (where my parents and probably myself will be living) and Hendersonville (where Matt's family is). We have had much fun planing in the last few days. My parents, Matt, and I all sat in front of the fire and talked about plans as the snow fell on Saturday morning. Elizabeth has helped me look through magazines and such today. I am very excited! I just wanted to share the good news with all of my phusebox friends!
:)

Today is a good day...Why?  You ask?  Well, first it is Jonathan's birthday and without today I wuld not have my funny Jonathan.  He is a great brother!  Second, I went to Sams to get his biurthday cake and got my very own Sams card.  Now, I know this is not that exciting to most of you, but I am pumped :)  Third, U2 won a Grammy for album of the year, among many others.  I love How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and love that I got to see them in concert twice this year.  They not only make good music, but Bono fights poverty in Africa which is something I am very passionate about.  So, even though it has been rainy outside and I have somehow managed to get sick, the good outweighs the bad.  I hope you have all had good days as well!

In case you were wondering, my dogs drive me nuts!  Whoever thought it was a good idea to take these furry four-legged animals and have them live in our houses anyway?  I mean seriously, ponder that for a moment.  Was it some man back in the day of Jesus that saw a dog out in the wilderness and decided it was a good idea to keep him as a pet?  And what did his wife say when he told her this idea?  Just wondering...

P.S.most of the time I love my dogs, just not when we have company like we do right now because they bark like crazy...

Yea for phusebox being back! Elizabeth is coming back tomorrow. Yea for that as well! I hope everyone had a good Christmas. We went to my dad's church in Clarksville and I really enjoyed being able to worship on Christmas. I can't believe some churches decided to close...pure madness I tell you! What do they think they meaning of Christmas is exactly? To have the day off to open presents at home? Not quite, it's about celebrating Jesus's birth and where better to do that then at church with other believers? Anyways, I am climbing off of my soap box now, my point was just to say that I enjoyed being able to worship on Christmas and I hope you all had the same opportunity. Only 2 days until New Years Eve! Anybody have any big plans?

For those of you who are in college and thinking about getting your Masters, don't do it!  Especially if it involves a thesis.  The end.