St. Anne's Church

After seeing the Pool of Bethesda, we went into St. Anne's church.  

This church is located on the traditional site of Mary's birth and St. Anne is traditionally known as Mary's mother.

I loved this beautiful wrought iron cross outside of the church.

Outside of the church.

Our group entering the church.

This church had the most glorious acoustics and as we entered, another tour group was seated and had been singing.

We joined in with them.

They were from West Virginia.  

As we sang together I was immediately transported to First Baptist Church, Sulphur Springs with many of the song we sang, including "Alleluia".

One woman from their group had called her mother on her cell phone and we sang a song she loved.  

What a precious blessing.  

I am amazed by technology sometimes, it's power to connect us in ways that would have never previously been imagined.

The group from West Virginia left and we were able to sit and sing some songs together.

I felt in my soul I had been to church as I walked out the doors.

For me, it was one of the most glorious experiences of the trip.

St. Anne's Church

After seeing the Pool of Bethesda, we went into St. Anne's church.  

This church is located on the traditional site of Mary's birth and St. Anne is traditionally known as Mary's mother.

I loved this beautiful wrought iron cross outside of the church.

Outside of the church.

Our group entering the church.

This church had the most glorious acoustics and as we entered, another tour group was seated and had been singing.

We joined in with them.

They were from West Virginia.  

As we sang together I was immediately transported to First Baptist Church, Sulphur Springs with many of the song we sang, including "Alleluia".

One woman from their group had called her mother on her cell phone and we sang a song she loved.  

What a precious blessing.  

I am amazed by technology sometimes, it's power to connect us in ways that would have never previously been imagined.

The group from West Virginia left and we were able to sit and sing some songs together.

I felt in my soul I had been to church as I walked out the doors.

For me, it was one of the most glorious experiences of the trip.

Friday Favorites!

I'm linking up today for Friday Favorites with Andrea, Erika, and Narci, and just had to share some of the things I'm loving this week.  I also wanted to say hi to my new followers!  Thanks so much for joining me on this blogging journey. :)

1.  Cutest commercial!

I saw this commercial this week and just had to track it down on YouTube to share it with y'all -- so adorable!

2.  Liebster Award!

Sweet Anna at Park Avenue Blogger nominated me for the Liebster award and I am thrilled!  Anna writes the cutest posts.  She and her hubby took a trip to Italy, which she will be recapping soon, so you should definitely hop over and check it out!  She is also a teacher and wrote a special prayer thursday about going back to school.  It was so inspiring.  Thanks, Anna!

The Liebster award is given to bloggers who have 200 or fewer followers as a way to build community and get to know bloggers better. :)

The rules are to post 11 things about yourself and then answer the questions the person nominated you posted.  Then, you get to nominate some bloggers and write questions for them.

Here are my 11 things:
1.  You've Got Mail is quite possibly my favorite movie of all time.  I saw it in the theater 3 times when it came out!  Perhaps part of this love has to do with #6 and it brings in my favorite book of all time, Pride and Prejudice.
2.  I was named after my maternal grandfather, which is why I spell Carroll with two Rs and two Ls.
3.  I grew up in a small town in Northeast Texas and my great-grandmother, my grandparents, and my family all lived on the same street.
4.  I met my husband at a Baylor men's basketball game 9 years after I had graduated with my undergrad.  We overlapped our time in college by 2 years, but never knew each other -- further proof that God's timing is perfect!
5.  I cannot wink.  I've tried and tried, but I can't close one eye without closing the other.
6.  NYC is one of my favorite places on the planet.  I love the energy of the city and have always thought it would be amazing to live there for a season.
7.  I also love musical theater and my dream career would be to star on Broadway.  I love watching musicals live, in movies, and have gotten to be in few.  A lot of times I wish life could be a musical where we just break out into song and choreographed steps!
8.  I'm a girly girl at heart.  A weekend that includes a mani/pedi, shopping, and lunch with the girls will always be a favorite for me.
9.  My faith is an essential part of who I am.  I am a believer in the complete and saving grace of Jesus Christ and am eternally grateful for the abundant love God has for all of us.
10.  My dream vacation would be a tie between Italy, England and Greece.  Actually, I have a lot more places I want to see and love to travel.
11.  I love to cook and host people.  Preparing menus and trying new recipes are fun adventures to me.

Here are Anna's 11 questions for me:

1. If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Greece

2. Why do you blog?  
I blog to remember my life.  In fact, the very event that spurred me to blog was dropping an entire tray of food in the middle of the cafeteria!  I knew I needed to start writing down some of these crazy adventures, so I wouldn't forget what all happened in my life! :)

3. What is your favorite food?  Mexican food.  All day.  Every day.

4. What does your typical day look like? 
Wake up, do a little exercise (if not working out after work.  Lately, I've been using this pin and it has made me sore!), have my quiet time (I'm loving She Reads Truth and First15.org), get ready for the day and drive to work.  I spend my day meeting with students and enjoy my work a lot.  After work, either I meet the hubs at the gym to workout or we head home and either cook something from our Pinterest boards (our key to meal planning) or eat leftovers.  Occasionally, I may have a Junior League meeting, book club, etc. in the evenings as well.  Really, G and I are homebodies and I love spending my evenings with him and also writing and reading blogs! :)

5. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?  
Calligraphy!  I have a beginner calligraphy set on my birthday wish list and would love to take a class.

6. What do you miss most about being a kid?  I don't know.  I still feel pretty much like a kid at heart!  

7. What is your dream job?  
Star in a Broadway musical, host a TV show on the Travel Channel, speak at church retreats, write

8. What are your goals for this year/month?  
Continue writing here, read two books, and work on my series on fear at Hope and Holiness.

9. Pink or red lipstick?  Pink (Chanel's Boy is my favorite shade of all time!)

10. What cheers you up?  Flowers, sweet texts from Grady

11. What is your greatest strength? 
Being passionate about things I believe in keeps me motivated to press forward when I might shrink pack or give up.

I nominate:

Erica @ The McGrath Family 
Habitual Spender
Finley @ In it for Love 

Here are your 11 questions:
1.  What is your favorite season?
2.  What is your favorite childhood memory?
3.  If you were an animal, what would you be?
4.  How do you describe your style?
5.  Beach or Mountains?
6.  What is your favorite book?
7.  When you have free time, what do you like to do?
8.  How many different cities/towns have you lived in?
9.  If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
10.  What is your favorite scent?
11.  What do you want to be when you grow up?

3.  Target Giveaway

Also, this week I got to participate in my first giveaway ever thanks to Whitney!  Hop on over to enter to win a $75 gift card. :)

Those are my favorites this week!  Hope you have a fabulous weekend. :)  Can't wait to read what your Friday favorites are!! :)

Friday Favorites!

I'm linking up today for Friday Favorites with Andrea, Erika, and Narci, and just had to share some of the things I'm loving this week.  I also wanted to say hi to my new followers!  Thanks so much for joining me on this blogging journey. :)

1.  Cutest commercial!

I saw this commercial this week and just had to track it down on YouTube to share it with y'all -- so adorable!

2.  Liebster Award!

Sweet Anna at Park Avenue Blogger nominated me for the Liebster award and I am thrilled!  Anna writes the cutest posts.  She and her hubby took a trip to Italy, which she will be recapping soon, so you should definitely hop over and check it out!  She is also a teacher and wrote a special prayer thursday about going back to school.  It was so inspiring.  Thanks, Anna!

The Liebster award is given to bloggers who have 200 or fewer followers as a way to build community and get to know bloggers better. :)

The rules are to post 11 things about yourself and then answer the questions the person nominated you posted.  Then, you get to nominate some bloggers and write questions for them.

Here are my 11 things:
1.  You've Got Mail is quite possibly my favorite movie of all time.  I saw it in the theater 3 times when it came out!  Perhaps part of this love has to do with #6 and it brings in my favorite book of all time, Pride and Prejudice.
2.  I was named after my maternal grandfather, which is why I spell Carroll with two Rs and two Ls.
3.  I grew up in a small town in Northeast Texas and my great-grandmother, my grandparents, and my family all lived on the same street.
4.  I met my husband at a Baylor men's basketball game 9 years after I had graduated with my undergrad.  We overlapped our time in college by 2 years, but never knew each other -- further proof that God's timing is perfect!
5.  I cannot wink.  I've tried and tried, but I can't close one eye without closing the other.
6.  NYC is one of my favorite places on the planet.  I love the energy of the city and have always thought it would be amazing to live there for a season.
7.  I also love musical theater and my dream career would be to star on Broadway.  I love watching musicals live, in movies, and have gotten to be in few.  A lot of times I wish life could be a musical where we just break out into song and choreographed steps!
8.  I'm a girly girl at heart.  A weekend that includes a mani/pedi, shopping, and lunch with the girls will always be a favorite for me.
9.  My faith is an essential part of who I am.  I am a believer in the complete and saving grace of Jesus Christ and am eternally grateful for the abundant love God has for all of us.
10.  My dream vacation would be a tie between Italy, England and Greece.  Actually, I have a lot more places I want to see and love to travel.
11.  I love to cook and host people.  Preparing menus and trying new recipes are fun adventures to me.

Here are Anna's 11 questions for me:

1. If you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? Greece

2. Why do you blog?  
I blog to remember my life.  In fact, the very event that spurred me to blog was dropping an entire tray of food in the middle of the cafeteria!  I knew I needed to start writing down some of these crazy adventures, so I wouldn't forget what all happened in my life! :)

3. What is your favorite food?  Mexican food.  All day.  Every day.

4. What does your typical day look like? 
Wake up, do a little exercise (if not working out after work.  Lately, I've been using this pin and it has made me sore!), have my quiet time (I'm loving She Reads Truth and First15.org), get ready for the day and drive to work.  I spend my day meeting with students and enjoy my work a lot.  After work, either I meet the hubs at the gym to workout or we head home and either cook something from our Pinterest boards (our key to meal planning) or eat leftovers.  Occasionally, I may have a Junior League meeting, book club, etc. in the evenings as well.  Really, G and I are homebodies and I love spending my evenings with him and also writing and reading blogs! :)

5. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?  
Calligraphy!  I have a beginner calligraphy set on my birthday wish list and would love to take a class.

6. What do you miss most about being a kid?  I don't know.  I still feel pretty much like a kid at heart!  

7. What is your dream job?  
Star in a Broadway musical, host a TV show on the Travel Channel, speak at church retreats, write

8. What are your goals for this year/month?  
Continue writing here, read two books, and work on my series on fear at Hope and Holiness.

9. Pink or red lipstick?  Pink (Chanel's Boy is my favorite shade of all time!)

10. What cheers you up?  Flowers, sweet texts from Grady

11. What is your greatest strength? 
Being passionate about things I believe in keeps me motivated to press forward when I might shrink pack or give up.

I nominate:

Erica @ The McGrath Family 
Habitual Spender
Finley @ In it for Love 

Here are your 11 questions:
1.  What is your favorite season?
2.  What is your favorite childhood memory?
3.  If you were an animal, what would you be?
4.  How do you describe your style?
5.  Beach or Mountains?
6.  What is your favorite book?
7.  When you have free time, what do you like to do?
8.  How many different cities/towns have you lived in?
9.  If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
10.  What is your favorite scent?
11.  What do you want to be when you grow up?

3.  Target Giveaway

Also, this week I got to participate in my first giveaway ever thanks to Whitney!  Hop on over to enter to win a $75 gift card. :)

Those are my favorites this week!  Hope you have a fabulous weekend. :)  Can't wait to read what your Friday favorites are!! :)

Pool of Bethesda

This post is one in a series of posts about my trip to Israel in March 2011.
For other posts in this series, click here.

Once we left the Lion's Gate, we walked into the city.

First we passed a traditional site for Mary's birthplace.

Aren't those doors gorgeous?  I just loved all the ornate detail.

When we went inside, we saw the pool of Bethesda where Jesus performed a miracle:

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes.  

Bethesda ruins

In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.  One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

  

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”  

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”  

Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”  At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.  John 5:2-9 NRSV

And here we were right where Jesus performed an incredible miracle of healing.

I was amazed at all the unique architectural details surrounding this space.

Another unusual thing was that cats were everywhere! 

I quickly snapped a pic to remember that as well. 

Next stop St. Anne's church.

Pool of Bethesda

This post is one in a series of posts about my trip to Israel in March 2011.
For other posts in this series, click here.

Once we left the Lion's Gate, we walked into the city.

First we passed a traditional site for Mary's birthplace.

Aren't those doors gorgeous?  I just loved all the ornate detail.

When we went inside, we saw the pool of Bethesda where Jesus performed a miracle:

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes.  

Bethesda ruins

In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.  One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

  

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”  

The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”  

Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”  At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.  John 5:2-9 NRSV

And here we were right where Jesus performed an incredible miracle of healing.

I was amazed at all the unique architectural details surrounding this space.

Another unusual thing was that cats were everywhere! 

I quickly snapped a pic to remember that as well. 

Next stop St. Anne's church.