Katie and I went to Andrew Peterson's Behold The Lamb of God last night. It was the most amazing Christmas program I have ever been to, and yet, it was the simplest. All it is is about 13 musicians on the stage singing songs that tell the story of Christ's birth. It starts in the Old Testament and ends with the birth of Jesus in 12 songs. Andrew Peterson wrote these songs when he was in college and has been traveling around doing this for the past 7 years I think. Each year he has a couple of special guests and this year it is Bebo Norman and Sara Groves. They aren't what makes this so wonderful though. It is so focused on God that you really forget about who is singing and you find yourself enthralled with this wonderful story that you have heard a hundred times. It is coming to Alabama Monday, December 10th in Huntsville and Tuesday, December 11th in Birmingham. Yeah, I know it is short notice but I think that everybody in the area should go. Katie and I drove an hour to see it and it was well worth it. Even for those of you in Talladega...GO TO BIRMINGHAM!!!!!! It will be worth it. It is very inexpensive. I tried to put a video on here but I am not that fancy yet so go to this link and see a video of one of my favorite songs. There are many other videos to check out too. I can not express enough how everybody should see this show. It reminds us why we even celebrate to begin with. It is not about presents, Christmas trees, and pretty decorations. It is about remembering the day that our savior came into this world to die for our sins so we did not have to.

If you feel so inclined...

I am working on my sermon for next friday. I am doing it on 1John 3. We have to do an expository sermon so basically I have to just come up with the big idea of the chapter and preach on that. This is where you come in. I'm just curious to see if I am on the right track so If you have some free time in the next few days you can read the chapter and comment with what you see as the big(main) idea of the chapter. If you have any other insights feel free to comment with those as well:)

Winter is here...

This is what I woke up to this morning...actually I woke up to someone texting me to say that we were not having church because of the weather. I am now sitting in the comfort of my warm apartment listening to the tale tale sign that winter is here...someone outside my window shoveling the snow from the sidewalk. Last year I would have been excited about his development. But, since I have now lived here through a winter, I am not in a hurry for it to get under way. I will admit that it is pretty and peaceful, but when you have to dig your car out it kind of ruins the peacefulness of it. I have to finish a paper today so I guess since I can't really go anywhere, I have no excuse for not getting it done. Although, Katie just put in White Christmas(how fitting...I know) and I might have to watch it...it is my all time favorite Christmas movie. (Thanks Hayli)

A Walton Thanksgiving

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving at Nanny and Pa's new house, which was wonderful. We actually fit our entire family in the kitchen to pray before the meal. It was great to work in the kitchen on Thanksgiving. We had three people making three different things and we never got in each other's way. We could have even had a couple more and it would have been fine. Anyway...the cake above is the cake that Aunt Patty and I decorated for the festivies. We started on the flowers and leaves the day before. Then we put it all together on Thanksgiving morning. We figured out that we spent about 6 or 7 hours on it.

Several years ago all the cousins took a picture on these very steps. Being the traditional family that we are we had to take another one since we were all together. It is getting a little harder to get everybody in the picture. We have added a few cousins...not to mention a few pounds.

Saturday was the famous Alabama vs. Auburn Game. Unfortunately we did not get to watch it together. We wanted to but everybody had to get back to be at church the next morning. That didnt keep everybody from wearing thier favorite teams colors though. As you can see we are mostly a Bama family. We let the Auburn guys hang round for fun though. It is neat to me that even though most of my cousins have grown up outside of Alabama they are all still die hard (mostly) Alabama fans with a few Auburn ones thrown in there.

Miranda and Chloe weren't there for the first picture but they came over later to show off their Crimson Tide gear. How cute is the Chloe the Bama Cheerleader? She will even yell "Roll Tide" for ya! There is no mistake that she is a Bama fan. (Don't tell her Dad...he thinks she is a GA Tech fan)

David Crowder and Friends

Saturday night I went to a David Crowder band concert in the Hammerstien ballroom in the Manhattan Center.

The opening performances were just as good as The David Crowder Band. This is Phil Wickham. His voice was very unique and the music was powerful. Please check him out, he is worth it.

David Crowder was great. He was really funny and the music was moving. If you get a chance to go to one of thier concerts go.

This is our whole group with The Myriad. They were one of the opening bands and they might have been my favorite. They are in the running for MTV 2's breakout band. It would be amazing to see such a positive band on MTV. They are in the top 6 out of 4000 bands and if they get into the top 3 they will get to perform in Time Square on December 15th. If you would like to help get them there you can go to MTV2.com and vote every day. You can vote up to 100 times a day. It only takes about 15 mintues to vote 100 times so just do it!

My First Experience With Fondant

So, here ya go...my first fondant covered cake. Not too shabby, huh? It's a pretty long process but I think the outcome is worth it for a special occasion. What's the special occasion today? Well...it just happens to be Carrie Helton's birthday. So even though I can't be there to make this for you in person...here is your birthday cake from New York. Happy Birthday Carrie!

Happy Birthday to Sarah!

Sarah was gone for her birthday so Katie and I threw a little dinner tonight. Katie made her famous turkey meatballs and (of course) decorated a cake.

Katie says this is her favorite one so far!

Course II Finale Cake

This was my finale cake for Course 2 of my cake decorating class. I have been working on the flowers for the past 3 weeks and then we finally finished it up and learned how to do the basketweaving on the side yesterday. It worked out perfectly because yesterday was Kristie's birthday so she had this as her birthday cake.

This is my latest cake creation. I made it for my Global Expansion of the Church class. I am making one for Kristie's birthday tomorrow so I will post pictures soon.

In other news...My cousin, Maggie, has finally posted pictures of Nanny and Pa's new house. Check it out.

The Tatums Do The Big Apple!

My cousin Kristie and her husband Trent came to visit for a long weekend. They have never been to New York before so it has been so much fun to see it through thier eyes and experience it for the first time again.

They are staying with Trent's Cousin, Jordan, in Queens. Unfortunately I have not been able to see everything with them but it has been fun hearing about what I missed. They went to see "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3-D on Friday night. I think they look pretty hot in their glasses!

I was able to spend all of Saturday and Sunday with them. It rained most of the day so we decided to get tickets to a show. We got to see RENT! It was wonderful. It my first time to see it in New York so I was so excited. Jordan is an even bigger broadway fan than me so it was lots of fun to learn about all things Broadway from him. I am pretty sure Kristie and Trent enjoyed thier first broadway experience.

Yes! We saw Wicked too! Kristie and Trent originally wanted to see Wicked but it is pretty hard to get affordable tickets to it so we decided to try our luck at the lottery. I have tried about 10 times before and never won. We were all very excited when Jordan's name was called. That meant that Kristie and Trent were going to see Wicked for about half the price of the cheepest ticket. The best part was that the tickets were for the front row! Luckily Jordan heard the man behind him(that won tickets too)say that he already had tickets. So, lucky for us we were able to buy the man's tickets and all 4 of us saw the show from the front row. It was AMAZING!!!!!! It was my 3rd time to see it but I think I could see it 100 more times and not get tired of it. We were so close we could almost reach out and touch the actors. The best part of the experience was seeing Kristie and Trent's reactions. Trent was the first one to stand during the curtain call and they are already talking about getting the cd. I have one more day with them and I am stoked because I get to celebrate Kristie's birthday wit her in NYC!

How about them apples?

How many people does it take to pick a bushel of apples? About 20 if you are a part of the Risen King Alliance Church 20's group. We went to Dr. Davie's farm in Congers, New York. We went for the hayride but decided to pick apples instead.

I enjoyed the apples way too much. They were just so good. I ate 3 apples in about 30 minutes I think. Needless to say I had a little bit of a tummy ache when I got home.

This is the farm house where Dr. Davie, who was one of the first female doctors in the U.S., lived and worked back in the late 1800's.

The farm is beautiful. It has been used for lots of movies, commercials, and SNL skits.

UPDATE

For anyone who was wondering...my talk on Friday actually went really well. I got my point across, people laughed in the right places, and my prof said it was good. That was good enough for me:)

Fall is in the air

After setting a record high on Monday we finally felt the cool down yesterday. The temperature dropped throughout the day yesterday and is cool again today. We are supposed to be down in the 60's later this week. Katie and I have been eagerly waiting the cool weather for about a month now. It is funny that a girl from the south is wishing for the cooler weather. Anyway...Katie and I have decided that we truly think that fall is our favorite time of the year. I have always affectionately referred to it as "Football Weather." That doesn’t really work here though. All of this to say that I am happy to report that fall is here! And I think I might be able to officially retire the summer clothes this weekend and pull out my winter ones! Woohoo for autumn cleaning! Once the leaves reach thier peak I will post some!

Speech 101 didn't prepare me for this...

I did well in my required speech class at Judson...but I completly fell apart when I tried to speak for 2 minutes today. Having my speech written out in front of me and basically reading from it does not cut it in Preaching 101...at least if you don't want to be ripped apart by the prof. So, I took my 12 notecards up for my 2 minute talk and started out doing pretty well without them. By the time I got to what I should have been saying on card 6 my mind completly left me and never came back. I totally forgot what my last "powerful statement" was going to be and pretty much ended with ..."ok, that's it" Yeah...all I really wanted to do at that moment was run to the bathroom and cry( I had to wait about 4 hours to do that). My Prof commented that he liked the accent, which was one of those things that I was trying to concentrate on toning down, but that I needed to basically make a point and tie it up instead of giving to many details about something that didnt matter. I assured him that I had it written much more eloquently than I had spoken it and he quickly reminded me that this was a communications class so how I communiated it was all that was important.
Anyway...Once I got home, after having to go babysit, I let God have it. How could He let me fail so badly when this is something that I know he has called me to do. Not only did He call me to take this class but I believe that public speaking(maybe a little preaching) of some sort is going to be in my future. Is this my main calling? I don't think so. But, it is going to be a large enough part of my life that God saw fit for me to take this class.
As I was wallowing in my shame and venting to God I was reminded a few of my favorite verses. Psalm 139 reminded me that God knew me before I was even formed and he knows every word that I will speak before I speak it...even if it's embarrasing. I am fearfully and wonderfully made! While reading this chapter I read the first few verses before it. Psalm 138:8 says, The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love , O Lord, endures forever do not abandon the works of your hands. I know that today was a failure but God does have a purpose for me. I most likely will not be some powerful preacher but He is going to use me...even my imperfections. When I am weak He is strong. I think I just need to learn how to be weak...maybe that is what He is teaching me. I'm not sure. What I am sure about is it's not fun and I am going to mess up. But The Father has a purpose for me and he loves me even if I totally fail at a 2 minute talk.

I learn something new everyday...but I still need lots of practice

This is my newest creation. I have now completed the first course and graduated onto Course II. I'm super excited and loving every minute of it!

Dillon in New York

I knew Aunt Patty, Uncle Cal, and Dillon would love Ellen's Stardust Diner because the servers sing the entire time. I had no idea the ladies would love Dillon so much though. Two of the servers came over and sang right to him. I think he liked it more than he let on.
I love this picture. It just makes me happy! Isn't Dillon Handsome:)

The McIntires do New York

This was pretty much the scene of the trip. Like father like son. The first night they were here Aunt Patty and I went to see Mary Poppins while the boys did Time Square. The next morning we started out with the Statue of Liberty. After a little scare about the tickets we set out to see Lady Liberty herself. From the beginning of the ferry ride the boys were taking pictures. It was soo exciting to see Dillon's dream come true.

If you ever want to have a 360 degree view of the Statue of Liberty just ask Dillon. He took pictures all around from every level.

After the Statue of Liberty we went to the birthplace of Theodore Rosevelt. This was one of the many stops for Dillon on his history tour. After leaving there I got to show them some of my favorite parts of the city. I had to take Dillon to Dylan's Candy Bar. It is a candy lovers dream. Dillon took off and went straight for the sour patch kids.

Next we went to Central Park and rested our tired feet while we ate our treats from Dylans.

More adventures in cake decorating

This was my first attempt to decorate a cake for somebody. Monday was Sarah's birthday so it was a perfect excuse for me to practice my new skills. I actually had a grand idea in my head to do 3 mini cakes but it didn't quite work out.
This would be why the idea didnt quite work. After planning it all out in my head and then drawing it on paper...my icing was too stiff when I tried to ice the cake. Stiff icing does not exactly work when trying to spread it on a cake. It was ugly but it still tasted good!

Ace of Cakes...

Well, maybe not ace of cakes but I'm on my way! Why am I blogging about a cake? Well, I decided I need a hobby other than going to broadway shows because that can get rather expensive. I have always loved watching those food network shows about cake decorating so I thought I would give it a try. After a little investigating I discovered that Michael's offers cake decorating classes. They also offer alot of others as well. If you are looking for an outlet for your creativity(or like me you need to find some creativity)these classes are wonderful. Anyway, today was my first class where I actually got to do something. The finished product is the lovely star cake you see above. I know, I know...its nothing spectacular... but it's a start. This week we just started out on some of the basics like stars, dots, and a couple of borders. Next week we learn flowers! I have to bake a cake and ice it every week before I go to class and make lots of icing. It is a lot of work making the different kinds of icing(stiff, medium, and thin)but its worth it when I actually get a decorated cake out of it! Stay tuned for next week's cake. There are 3 other courses so I could possibly have another 3 months of cakes for you to see!

This is what happens when you listen to God...

I just got home from one of if not THE toughest class I have ever had. It is called proclamation and communication. It is basically a basic preaching class with a some communication aspect thrown in there. All of the information is very useful but it is very intimidating. Not only do I have to speak 3 times in class, one of which a 10 minute sermon, but I also have to do 4 exercises. The exercises involve making a website, new blog, applying for a grant, and fundraising, . Yes, these are all good things to know but I have to do all 4 in a semester while doing everything else that I have to do. To say that I am a little freaked out would be an understatement. This class is not even required for my degree but I just felt like it was something that I needed to take. UGH...anyway, for those few people who read this, I would really appreciate your prayers and if you have any suggestions on what I could do for these assignments I could use the input. If anybody needs help setting up a website or relaunching one...please let me know, I would love to help.

A Great End to the Season!

Katie, Sarah, and I went to the Jersey Shore for Labor Day weekend. We celebrated the end of summer at Katie's beach house with about 30 other people. We ate lots of good food, played lots of fun games, and laughed until our cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

It was a great relaxing weekend before school really gets started good. I decided to leave the school books at home and I just read for fun while I lounged on the beach. I got some good sun but I must admit that it was the first time I have ever been cold at the beach. I never even thought about going in the water.