Easter Weekend

Here are some pictures from the weekend...

This is Val eating a chocolate thing with wine inside...she says it was good but this face says otherwise

Ava...

This was a Free Matthew West concert at Chick-fil-a in Pearland
Brantley...

I love this picture for a few reasons.... April and Ava are precious but Dad in Hilarious in the background...
Matthew is a pretty funny guy...

He's married ladies!
I was messing around with the effects on my new computer
It was as awkward as it looks...
Easter Egg hunting



This is my favorite one of the two of them...

I love how full his mouth is.


In our Easter dresses

I will post now Jonathan Paul!

So life has been kind of busy. I finally have an intern and it has been amazing this last week and a half how much help she is. Just being able to delegate some things out has relieved me quite a bit. Currently the projects going on here at the Belton Church of Christ consist of Retreats-one for high school and one for middle school (that the one Sharon is doing!), the every present Sunday morning and Wednesday night classes, and of course camp! Camp is a lot of fun but it is a lot of work.


In the meantime here are some pictures from Sing Song back in February and From the FOG's (Fellowship Of God - the singles group) Murder Mystery Dinner.



I call this one..."What is church like?"



Murder Mystery Dinner

Have a Magical Day...

I know I know...

It's been a while. I get it. Lots of things have happened in my life since last I blogged. For starters, I am a full time youth minister! I am officially a youth minister at the Belton Church of Christ. Pretty cool.

I have my own apartment. I love it! It has been a blessings to live with the people from the church but it is also a blessing to have the funds to have my own place. Here are a few pictures of that.
My niece Ava is growing up and is beautiful. She has a lot of fun with her big brother. For more pictures of them you can look at Jeff and April's blog.Other than that things have been flying by. I had class in Abilene last week. Christian Spiritual Formation with David Wray. A wonderful class. Rich in content and spiritual practice.

Got to see lots of people over the holidays and enjoyed every minute I got to spend with them.

I hope things went well for you over Christmas.

Be Blessed!!!

Better Life Challenge

Well, when people haven't blogged for a while there is generally this paragraph at the beginning of the "come back blog" that apologizes for not writing and thanks the readers for continuing to be loyal and read the blog (even though there is nothing there). I will not do this. I will not apologize for not blogging. I will not fall to the pressure to keep you all entertained with my witty words and useless comments on the world that surrounds us...BUT I will say thanks for still reading-you must be a lot like me and have nothing better to do OR be avoiding something you need to do but don't want to do; if you are in one of these positions-enjoy my mumblings.

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The Better Life Challenge- This will be the last challenge of the year and will carry me and whoever decides to join me through the new year hopefully creating a habit thus continuing beyond the time period set and developing a better way of living.
Here's the challenge:
Floss once a day: Some of you do this anyway but I have recently become aware of how very important for the well being of my teeth, as well as my wallet, it is to floss. I don't like to do it. It hurts, it takes time, and it makes me bleed but the doctors say "the more you do it the less it hurts and the less it bleeds." Whatever-we'll just have to see-I've been flossing for a week and I still bleed!
Remove contacts 4 times a week: I am one of those people who does EVERYTHING in my contacts. I don't like to wear my glasses so I don't take my contacts out. This is bad. I got an eye infection back in March because of this and have been doing better since then but still-I wear them too long-so I will take them out.
Work out 4 times a week: I like to work out but I'm not consistent so I'm going to try to be. I know 4 times isn't that much for most people but really...do you know me?
Drink more water:I don't drink enough water. Back in the 64 for 64 I felt so good and I think it was because I was so hydrated all the time so I'm gonna try to do better about that.
Veggies, eat them: I'm gonna try, don't judge me. Just for a little history on veggies in my family growing up I will quote my sister-in-law concerning trying to get Jeff (brother) to eat vegetables: "Delicious , it has tons of recipes that all sneak in puréed veggies so kids never suspect the foods they are eating taste good and are good for them. Actually I most excited about this for my oldest child…Jeff:)just kidding:) Who worse then Ty about eating his veggies. He even “fake” eats them trying to trick Ty so he will eat them.…Seriously folks it’s that bad!!"

So anyway, there it is. The Better Life Challenge. It will not officially start until November 1 and it will run until December 31, two months. The delayed start is simply because I will need to make a chart to keep track of all of these things. If you are interested in a copy of the chart so that you may take part in the Better Life Challenge let me know and I will email it to you once I get it finished. So until November 1....

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Ethics.....What should a graduate level class centered on Ethics consist of? I have my own ideas and it was nothing like my class so I am interested in whether I am justified in my disappointment. Let me know...

It was good to see some of you that I have seen in a while this weekend...
Chris and Stacey-God's blessings on your continued work in Bryan
Chris and Becky-God's blessings on your work in SA and on you weddings plans and marriage
Bordo-Keep letting God use you at FC. Those kids are so lucky to have you and your family there. He will bless you.
Austin-Work hard and figure out what to do with your life...(I like the skiing thing)
Clint-God's got amazing plans for you and I feel truly blessed to share a friendship with you. Thanks for letting me be a part of your life. Come see me.
Deanna- I love so much what we have and I thank God for you. You are always in my thoughts and prayers and especially as you look for a job. I love you (but not your cat-no offense)!

For all the rest of you...Be Blessed!!!

Vegetarian update...

I failed! I lose! I did not complete the Vegetarian diet and I am proud of it. My body needs meat. I blame it on Adam and Eve.

Be blessed!!!

In Response to an inquiring mind...

Today is day one of Meat Free Week times 2. Yes I know what you are thinking- 14 days Mandy? Seriously is that a challenge? The answer is YES IT IS! I eat meat every day like most people, what I do not eat every day are vegetables, unlike most people. So the goal of this 14 day challenge is not only to abstain from eating meat for 14 days, but also to learn to like some other things like salad and any vegetable that's not corn or green beans.

That said- here I go. If you have any recipes for vegetarian meals you would like to send me you can email them to msnelson06@gmail.com OR leave a comment with it there.

The no meat eating began as of 12:00 a.m. September 4 and will be complete 12:00 a.m. September 18. I already long for that day.

B e blessed!!!

The Crafty Shack

Ladies and gentlemen with baby girls:

This just in:
You can buy cute little bows for your baby girls hair for really cheap.
I know this might be a pathetic little plug but I looked at the bows and they really are cute. April Nelson, my sister-in-law, has worked hard on these bows for her baby girl and has decided, after much encouragement, to put them out there in case anyone is interested in ordering them.

Click on the link to the right titled "The Crafty Shack" or just click here to go check them out!

Be Blessed!!!

A Jersey and a Diamond Ring

I went to the Astros game Friday night with Alison and we had a blast. We were walking around the 4th level concourse (where our seats were b/c I'm a youth minster) and we saw this really cool deck outside. I started thinking and we started talking about how cool it would be to be proposed to at a baseball game. My personal preference would be a 'Stros game but I suppose any team would do (except the yanks!). I told her the guy that proposes to me at a baseball game with an Astros jersey in one hand and a diamond ring (a little one) in the other would win my heart. Like most of you would she laughed at me but nonetheless-it's true.

Besides even if he didn't win my heart I would say yes long enough to get the jersey and run! :o)

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On a different note. I only got three suggestions for the next challenge and they were all from the same person and they were all pretty good. For a list of them click on the comments link from the previous post and look at Chris Fields comment. Chris- I think I am gonna try the vegetarian thing but I don't know that I could do it for a month. I might go for two weeks and see where I get. I don't really like veggies so even 14 days will be really hard. I haven't made a decision yet. I am shooting to have the next challenge ready by mid-August so look for details then. I am still taking suggestions so let me know if you have one!

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I hope all is going well with every one. Leave me a comment-I would love to know what you are up to and what I can be praying about for you!

Be Blessed!!!

Today is the Day!

First I would like to say thank you to those of you who still check and see if I have written. As you have probably suspected I have been kind of busy. The last two weeks I have been at camp Koinonia-The camp I grew up going to and now have returned to with my youth group. It's a good camp. I might write more about that on Convicted later. Anyway-Thank you for still believing that I exist somewhere in this vast expanse.

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Now for some very exciting news that most of you already know...My niece was born on July5. She is precious! Here are some pictures.




Her name is Ava Michelle Nelson. She weighed 9lbs. 5oz. and was 21 inches long. She has a full head of hair as you can tell and her big brother loves her very very much. It was fun to go down and see them! Yay for babies!

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And the last topic for the day but certainly not the most important nor pressing is the 64 for 64. Today is the last day and I cannot tell you how excited i am. The adventure has been long and challenging but with the help of the Lord God Almighty in Heaven I have persevered. It was harder to keep up with the challenge when I was in town because when you're at camp and you only get one soda a day and that's at dinner, it makes it easy to choose the path of truth and light. But alas, i am not sad to see this one come to an end. Diet Dr. Pepper in the morning is a Mandy necessity. Some drink coffee. Some drink tea. Some eat donuts. I have even know people to go straight to the source and down a couple of packets of pure sugar in the mornings. For me it's Diet Dr. Pepper. Oh tomorrow will be a great great day!

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What's next? I have deemed this the year of challenges. I started with the iPod challenge and went to completion. Then came the 64 for 64 water challenge which is almost over. What now? I have an idea but I am open to suggestions. Anyone have a grand challenge idea? Let me know!

Be Blessed!!!