CHAMPIONS!!!

The sweet smell of victory is in Simpsonville, KY tonight (Unfortunately, the smell of victory is of cedar wood chips and stinky donkeys). I kinda smelled like a hamster at the end of the night. Never the less, I (Jared) have never been more proud of an accolade in life than this one. The picture below is of the undefeated
DONKEY BALL CHAMPIONS!(From left to right: Ken Hyde, Tommy Redding, Matt Garner, Jared Norris,
Donna Beale, Cindy Childers)
Anticipation built all day for a community event that we were asked to be a part of. I have never had such fear and excitement intermingled in my daily emotions. Never before had I been asked to ride a donkey. Let alone ride a donkey while playing basketball. I got to the gym early to mingle with the donkeys. I helped the owner load them up to move his truck, so I could get used to them and them to me. It was all part of my strategy. What can I say? I'm a cutthroat Donkey Ball player. Anyway, we were given instructions on how to ride, fall off safely, and play the game. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we had to sign the waivers as well.

The donkey I'm pulling in this picture is named "Johnny Knoxville." Johnny and I became quick friends. He successfully led our team to victory in the first game by allowing me to ride him and score all 6 points. Just in case you were wondering, most of these donkeys you can't ride! However, Johnny was cool.


The donkey in this picture was not cool. We weren't that close of friends. I don't even know his name. The nerve of him not introducing himself. In fact, the guy who owns these donkeys set me up with this donkey on purpose. So, what did I do? I tried to tame this beast. Jesus did it on palm Sunday. The Holy Spirit dwells within me, so why not give it a try? I have faith, but evidently not enough.

This video is me getting bucked off. This was the hardest hit all night for me.

This video is longer, but hang on, I get tossed like a rag doll. You wouldn't think that riding a 3 foot midget donkey would be that bad, but it stings...it stings real bad.



Notice in this one the guy in the blue shirt chasing his donkey all over the floor. Thats Tommy Redding our church administrator, and rebounding machine in Donkey Ball. I just think its really funny to watch him run in circles.



I will end on a good note. This is proof that I actually scored points in Donkey Basketball.

I will have to admit this night brought so much laughter and joy. I had the best time in the world. It's great to have people walk up to you at the end of the night and say, "you made the show worth it." That statement was made in reference to my amazing donkey taming skills. This may be an odd statement as well, but tonight was a great outreach to the community. I pray that God will use Donkey Basketball to help those in our community know that this church truly loves them. When it was all over I literally praised God for this opportunity. God got all the glory tonight for the aches, pains, smiles, laughter, and love that was poured out. The night was worth it! We are blessed beyond belief. In all seriousness, it truly was one of those few times in life where you can say, "It was magical night." Tonight will be a night I never forget, and you better believe I will pass this down through the ages.

For further pictures and videos of Donkey Ball, check out the Hunters blog. A link is on the sidebar at the top.

Tonight's the Big Night...

...and I will admit. I'm getting kind of nervous. Tonight my husband will attempt to play basketball, while riding a donkey. If he makes it through this in one peice, I will be amazed.

All of the guys playing Donkey Basketball were given a sheet of donkey "don'ts." This list includes things like, don't pull the donkey's hair (duh!), don't stand behind the donkey, keep your hands out of the donkey's mouth, etc. The flyer actually says, "Each donkey is selected for its ability to buck, duck, walk, run or lay down. Each is different. Be advised that you may fall off, be bucked off or ducked off your donkey. This is part of the show."

Well, folks, a show it will be. Pictures will be coming...stay tuned!

Eat and Be Content

Southern Seminary has a women's ministry called Pendergraph. Pendergraph sponsors about 1 event/month on campus for wives of students and for female students. Since I now fall into both categories, I decided that maybe I should try one of the events out. So, I called up Emily and we decided that last night we would brave Pendergraph together.

What I am about to say has completely nothing to do with this blog entry, but I believe that it is worth noting. Last night when we walked in, I promise you, that at least 15 of the 75 women in that room were either noticeably pregnant or had a newborn in their hands. This in and of itself is enough to deter any woman from attending seminary events--"It" really must be in the water!!!

Moving On...

The subject of last night's lecture was "Eat and Be Content." David Kotter, a man whose qualifications on speaking I cannot recall, gave a lecture on glorifying God in the way that we eat. Now, David Kotter is probably about 6'4 and seriously can't weigh more than 150 lbs. So, when he walked on stage, I will admit...I was skeptical. I wondered what this man could possibly tell overweight women about losing weight for the glory of God. FYI...Kotter normally gives 6 hour lectures on the topic, but he mashed all of his ideas into our 40 minute meeting last night.

The basis for his ministry stems from 1 Corinthians 10:31:
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

From this verse, he gathers that God is very interested in the way that we eat. Gluttony is often an unspoken sin. Kotter defines gluttony as "Habitually eating to excess." There are instances in the Bible where the Israelites or even Jesus himself sat down and feasted as a celebration. These feasts are not the gluttonous acts that Kotter speaks of. It is the daily decision to allow the amount of food we consume exceed the amount of food we actually need.

But there is a gospel solution to our problem of over-eating. Kotter said, "Jesus Christ died on the cross for me--to break the power of sin in my life." This includes the sin of over-eating. So, why does Kotter consider over-eating a sin? Well, he had a couple of reasons and I tend to agree with him.

Reason 1: Eating too much is a form of Idolatry.
Romans 16:18 says, "For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people."

1 Corinthians 6:12-13 tells us, "Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body."
Allowing food to come in and master your life...thus becoming the master that you serve...is idolatrous.

Reason 2: Foolish Eating is bad Stewardship--not knowing what is in the food that we are eating and taking care to ensure that what we put in our body is glorifying to God. We have a responsibility in being good stewards of the body that God gave us. We can do so by knowing what we're eating and eating Just Enough (Proverbs 25:16)

So, I know what you're wondering...thanks for all the Biblical reasoning...did Kotter give you any practical advice? Well, yes, to some extent, he did.

First and foremost: If we are full of Christ in our lives and feed ourselves with God's word, then we will be less likely to "satisfy" our hunger with food.

Second: The average person should have at least 25g of Fiber/day and less than 50g of Fat/day.

Third: Stay away from fat and carbs and lean towards protein and fiber.
Fourth: Share a food journal with an accountability partner. The key to this is finding someone who will lovingly rebuke you when you are failing to glorify God with your eating habits.

One fact I found interesting...3500 calories=1 lb. of fat. Walking 1 mile expends 100 calories. That means you would have to walk 35 miles to lose 1 lb. Sounds like eating healthy would be easier!

So, anyway, I would love to hear what you think about this topic. It is no secret that I have struggled with weight gain/weight loss for most of my life. There were about 3 years in college that I felt like I was at an "acceptable" weight. But, I traded marriage for my size 6 pants. LADIES...It doesn't have to be this way!!! I am figuring out that I have always lost weight for myself--to serve my own selfish desires. But, Kotter's whole purpose in this seminar was to convey that we can worship God with our bodies. That losing weight for ourselves will never work in the long run.

So, I leave you with this final verse. May you be encouraged!

"19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Bring on the Spring!!!

Let me just say...I am TIRED of cold weather!!! Before moving to Kentucky, many people told us that the winters in Kentucky wouldn't be much different than those in Tennessee. Well, I can officially say to all of you: YOU WERE WRONG! If you keep up with our blog, you saw a picture from several weeks ago when we got our first snow. I think we only got about 1 inch that night. The picture below is from our second snow, where we got about 4 inches. At this point, the cold weather, snow thing was pretty exciting. Then, we got our third snow...and didn't bother to take any pictures...because it was getting old...and then we got our ice storm last week. Again...no pictures. It was very interesting watching Jared trying to scrape the inch of ice off of the car so we could slide into work. Now, we're at the end of February, and it's snowing...again. It has been all day. Will it ever end?!?!?!? I just long for the days that we walked outside and the wind chill was above 10.

Anyway, I am done whining, because it is not all bad. There are two major benefits to the cold weather.(1)Lots of snuggling (2) Getting to drink hot chocolate from my super-cute snowman mugs. I got these mugs on sale in Nashville, IN a couple of weeks ago. The set of 4 mugs (formerly $50) was marked down to $12, so, I jumped at the good deal.

The Winter Wonderland

Super-Cute Snowman Mugs

Have a nice night...and stay warm!

Coming Soon!

Today during staff meeting I was given the opportunity of a lifetime...
to play DONKEY BASKETBALL!
I'm so excited about this opportunity to show my mad skills.

This is a community fundraiser that is held annually in Simpsonville. The city team backed out this year, so Team SBC is coming out of the minor leagues. The basic rules are:

• always stay with your donkey
• you must be on your donkey to shoot
• the team that scores the most wins

Thursday, February 28th, 6:30 pm
Please keep all obvious jokes to yourself!

Cheesecake, Tractors, & Curtains, Oh My!

Well, let me just say, we had a big weekend! We started on Wednesday night with our Valentine's Celebration. Now, I am not typically one to celebrate commercial holidays, but it was nice to take some time out to celebrate our marriage and the gift of love that God has blessed us with. We ate dinner together at home and then did a little shopping. We finished the evening at the Cheesecake Factory with some cheesecake and coffee. I know all of the desserts at the Cheesecake Factory are wonderful, but I would definitely recommend the Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake!

On Thursday night Jared's parents arrived in town for the annual Farm Machinery show. Just in case you're wondering, this is a BIG DEAL! I wasn't able to go, but Jared and his parents spent the day Friday looking at some really large Farm Machinery. Here are a few pictures just to help you understand how HUGE some of this stuff is. Lynn said, "This tractor is ready for the sippy hole." I guess because of the tall and skinny tires.

Patsy hanging out inside the rim of a combine.

We ended Friday with a yummy dinner at Claudia Sander's dinner house. You see, Colonel Sanders and his wife Claudia used to live in Shelbyville. After they got out of the KFC business, they opened this restaurant in Shelbyville. It is some good ole country cookin'!

Now, one of the things that Jared's mom brought me this weekend was a sewing machine. She also taught me some of the basics of sewing. With her help (and lots of it), I was able to sew this curtain for Jared's office. This being my first sewing project, I am quite proud of myself. And, for future reference, Wal Mart is no longer selling fabric in any of its new stores and is phasing it out of all the old stores. We found that out the hard way!

Sunday morning, Jared had the opportunity to preach in "Big Church." Now, I realize that I am biased, but he did an amazing job! My husband truly has the gift of communicating (to large groups of people, that is!). Anyway, it was definitely a great finish to a very busy weekend.

We hope you guys all had a great Valentine's weekend. Love you all!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! My prayer for you is that everyday would be a celebration of the love you share with your Valentine! Have I mentioned I have the cutest Valentine EVER?! Sorry ladies, he's taken!

(Picture complements of Bynum Photography)

Good Ole' George

This past week I (Jared) had the privilege to read this book. I inhaled it, and I never read books the way I did this one. It was challenging to my faith and prayer life. It was encouraging to my personal walk with Christ. It continually brought my thoughts to the throne of God and the work of God. I want to make the statement that this is the best book I've ever read.

This book is simply a recount of the life of George Muller. The majority of it is written from his journal entries and the entries of his wives (he is not a polygamist). To give you a simple taste of this life, he was humble and focused on making sure his life glorified Christ. As a result of his discipline and commitment, Muller ran an orphanage for over 2,000 children in the mid 1800's by faith alone, never asking one person for any money. Through consistent prayer, Muller asked God to provide the means to serve the children. Muller's faith is an example to us all of how we should treat God, prayer, and the Bible. Muller had 30,000 prayers answered within 24 hrs of praying it the first time. The best part of it all is that Muller was simply a common man with a focus and a passion. We can all be this way!

Shorter Biography of George Muller
George Muller Article

The Foundations George Muller Originally Started
The George Muller Foundation

The Book

Breakfast...the most important meal of the day!

So, on our 6 hour drive home from West Tennessee at Thanksgiving, Jared and I sat down and wrote out some things that we could intentionally do to make our lives in Kentucky "happier." Now, don't get me wrong, we were not necessarily "Unhappy" in Kentucky, but we were kind of in a funk. I was still very sad about being away from my family and we had gotten into a detrimental routine of coming home from work, putting on our pajamas and watching Tivo for the evening. So, here are a couple of things we decided to do:

1. Watch only 1 show on Tivo an evening (this was made much easier by the writer's strike)
2. Get 8 hours of sleep a night--11pm-7am no matter what (we are still working on this one)
3. Exercise 3-4 times a week-This was going very well before Jared's Planter Facitis
4. Intentionally hang out with another couple/group of people at least once a week
5. Eat healthy meals
6. Eat Breakfast
7. Begin taking Vitamins

Now, all of these things are pretty typical "new year's resolutions." We just made them at Thanksgiving. And, honestly, we have done really well with all of them except for our sleeping. But, there is one thing in particular that has absolutely REVOLUTIONIZED our lives: Eating Breakfast.

In the mornings, we get up, get showers, and while I get ready, Jared makes breakfast. A typical breakfast consists of 1 egg white, 1 peice of turkey sausage, fruit and either a peice of toast or a whole grain waffle. This meal is just under 300 calories--not bad for what you're eating, right? It's amazing how much more energy we have and how much longer this ties us over than just a quick bowl of cereal. Now, I had heard that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for most of my life. But, I never was a breakfast-eater. I'd rather sleep in than eat (suprising, I know!). But, making this one change has been amazing. However, the physical benefits are not the ones that I want to write about. It's the spiritual and relational benefits that make it worth the while.

You see, Jared and I started out praying before our breakfast. Then as we ate, we got to spend a good 15-20 minutes talking about our day, the things we would do and what we were stressed about EVERY MORNING. Wow! I cannot tell you how much this has benefited our relationship! Fifteen minutes doesn't sound like a lot, but when you spend 15 minutes sharing your worry, stress and excitement with your spouse, it is truly life-changing for your relationship. In the past few weeks, Jared has started bringing a devotional book to the table. The devotions are short, but they are thought provoking and have taken our breakfast conversation to the next level--spiritual intimacy.

So, here is my challenge to you: eat breakfast. Be intentional in your time with your spouse. It will change your life!

Sweet Foot Action!

Because my brothers have convinced me to run a marathon with them, I have been trying to train, but there is a little problem. I am having massive foot pain; however, there is a solution...orthopedics. I have to get custom shoe inserts to fit my very high arches. I haven't been able to train the last two weeks, but I'm trying to stay up on it by riding a bike and using an elliptical machine (I can do these because they're low impact on my feet). I know this is a random thing to post about, but I really wanted to put my xray up. If you look closely to the side view of the foot you will notice that my heel bone (very technical term) is angled much higher than it should be, or at least thats what I'm told. My arch is about 50 degrees, but a normal arch is around 15-20 degrees. Anyway, that has caused me to have plantar fasciitis. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone just in case you're wondering. Currently, we are taking donations to cover the cost of the $500 shoe insert recommended by our doctor.