Eventful Month

What an eventful month it has been! From carving a turkey at the end of November, grading papers for report cards and progress reports, Christmas productions, college get-togethers, to a sprained ankle, Eric and I were ready for a break. A break is what we had! We returned Saturday from a trip to Atlanta to see our families for Christmas. An entire week was spent with immediate and extended family on both sides, some of whom we had not seen in a year! It was refreshing to see family and have some time away. In addition to celebrating the birth and life of Christ, Eric and I were able to celebrate the life of our niece and nephew, Noah and Emily. We do not see them often, so most of our pictures are of them. To see our Christmas pictures, click on the "Miller Memories" link on the top right side of our blog underneath our picture. Now that we're home, Eric is back at work and I am doing work around the house for us and for school, preparing for the new year ahead.

Happy Birthday, Cara!

Hey, Cara!

The theme last night at Sweet Sisters was finding rest when stRESTed, especially around the holidays. We had so much fun wearing our lounge clothes while sharing ways to relax and rest. Tara closed out the night with a devotion about the first Christmas from the book of Luke. Your very sweet sisters in Christ wanted to wish you a happy birthday, so enjoy the video they made for you. We hope your birthday is extra special!

Lots of love and Jesus bear hugs!
Your SHBC Sweet Sisters

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

6th Anniversary: Salt and Pepper

Six years ago I married the love of my life and my best friend. Eric and I were married in Jacksonville, FL in 2002. I have absolutely no regrets. I knew soon after we began dating that Eric was God's perfect match for me. We complement each other and make a great team, just like salt and pepper. Having Eric as my handsome husband is a daily reminder of God's sovereignty, perfect plan, and unconditional love for me. It is a true blessing and honor to be the wife of Eric Miller. Happy Anniversary, Handsome!

Matthew 19:6 ". . . What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

What We've Been Up To

The Grocery Game

Lately, Eric and I have learned of a way to save money on groceries. We have been "couponing" since the end of September, in addition to participating in the grocery game (thegrocerygame.com). Eric and I enjoy hearing the cashier tell us that we saved more than we spent.
This is a picture of groceries I purchased one day. The total for everything was eleven dollars! The shampoo and conditioner was free!
This is a picture of all the other products we've purchased for nothing or next-to-nothing!

A Kitchen Blessing

We were blessed with an early Christmas present from my parents: WELL-NEEDED pots and pans. The pans we received for our wedding have been more than loved and were "fried". We have had fun using them!


Snow

Friday was a very cold day up here in North Carolina. We awoke to see a shower of snow outside our window. Although the snow did not "stick" around for long, it was beautiful to watch.


Decorating for Christmas

Today Eric and I continued one of our Miller family traditions: decorating for Christmas the Saturday before Thanksgiving! We savored our time together while we listened to Christmas music and decorated our cozy apartment. Here are some pictures of our decorations.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My favorite part of decorating today was Eric leading us in a time of prayer - of lifting up this Christmas season. Our prayer is that Christ will be our focus of CHRISTmas and that everything we do will exalt his name. We are so blessed to serve such a humble Savior - a humble savior who left His throne in heaven to dwell among men and bring salvation!

Watching God Work

What could be better than a night with college kids? Tonight marks another exciting milestone in the Miller household. Tonight Eric and I had the opportunity to jump-start a college/singles ministry at our church, Stony Hill Baptist Church. We had about ten people attend, in addition to our youth pastor Jody and his wife Sarah.

http://stonyhill.org

The night started with a game of basketball and some time to socialize. A pizza dinner was next, followed by some prizes, silly contests, and some games. The night ended with a devotion; Eric challenged the group to stay devoted to God, just as Paul was so faithful to do.

Eric and I have been really burdened for college students. They are a group often overlooked, but these students are in such a crucial time in their lives - a time when they will stick with their faith or abandon it. We know for a fact that the Lord was in this night. God provided in amazing ways throuh donations from the community. We are so thankful for these many provisions. We are also thankful for Jody being a sounding board and available to help out. Everything came together. We were blessed by watching God's hand in the event as he orchestrated all the details and went above and beyond answering our prayers.

Well-needed Weekends

Two weekends ago Eric and I were blessed to accompany the youth of our church to the Fall Retreat: Refuel, Refresh, Refocus. How awe-inspiring it was to witness the Lord at work among the youth of our church.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Last weekend my parents drove up from Georgia to visit us. It was so refreshing to see family! We had a wonderful time visiting and relaxing together.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Miller Haven

Upon request from family in Georgia, here is a video of The Miller Haven - our apartment on the campus of Southeastern Seminary. Eric and I have been at Southeastern for the last six years, and five of those years have been spent living in Bostwick Hall. Although small, our cozy Bostwick apartment has been a haven to us - a place of peace during this busy and challenging season of our lives. Enjoy!
(Turn up your speakers to hear the music.)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Stepping Up the Faith

I am continuing to make my journey through the Psalms of Ascent as I complete Beth Moore's Bible study Stepping UP. I have learned so much the last several weeks! Each Psalm I have read and studied is very applicable to my life right now. I'm thankful for the women I am able to fellowship with at Bible study and the God I am able to grow closer to. At the end of each Psalm studied, Beth provides a place for readers to write their own Psalm. I started a collection of the "psalms" I have written. I'm calling them Stepping Up the Faith, because that is exactly what the study makes me do.

(This is a picture I took of the Binkley Chapel stairs at
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.)

Read Psalm 124:1-8 before reading "my psalm".

Woven Blessings

What a busy past several weeks it has been, but blessings have still been woven in!

The biggest blessing of my life, besides coming to know Christ, was becoming Eric Miller's wife! My handsome husband grew older this month. He turned 29 on September 13th. We had so much fun spending time together. Eric wanted a low key, relaxing birthday, and that is how the day was. We woke up, opened presents, went to breakfast, went to pick out some shoes for Eric, went to lunch, watched football, went to dinner, came home and had cookie cake, and chilaxed some more. I also took Eric out for crab legs the night before. Here are some pictures from the special day.

(Eric's GA cookie cake)

(Eric sporting gifts from his mom: a new GA shirt and Gomer Pyle DVDs)

(The sunset from the parking lot at Moe's - yes, Eric wanted Moe's for dinner)

(Me with my handsome birthday boy)

Another September blessing from the Lord was beginning a new Bible study with the ladies at my church. It is an amazing study of the Psalms of Ascent, a challenge to step up with Christ and a reminder that the way up with God is down through humility. I've learned so much already. I can't wait to see what else the Lord has to teach me through this journey.

Baptism was another blessing of the month. Several of the youth that Eric and I work with were baptized at Falls Lake. I am so excited about what the Lord is doing in each of their lives. They are each so special and a joy to have as a part of our church. I'm so proud of them! Our pastor began the service with an explanation of baptism which included a Gospel presentation; this was really cool because there were several men fishing who heard it!

(Bailey)

(Carly)

(Liz)

(The sunset during the baptismal service was absolutely beautiful - a reminder of God's presence.)

Eric and I received another blessing last night. We went on a date to see Fireproof and then went out to dinner. What a powerful movie! This movie is a must-see for everyone! It touched on so many aspects of life and spirituality. The movie spurned some great conversation for us at dinner. I really enjoyed spending quality time with Eric. Visit the website below to preview the movie and to find out more information.

Eric and I had a blessing of fun today as we tried what several of our friends have recently done: seeing what we would have looked like in past yearbooks. I hope you enjoy our pictures! Try it for yourself at http://www.yearbookyourself.com/.

Although September has been busy and stressful, God has clearly woven many blessings into our lives: another birthday to celebrate, a date night to commemorate, a baptism to congratulate, a Bible study to educate, and silly pictures to replicate. We can't wait to see what the Lord will weave into our lives next!

Back to it!!!!!!!

It's that time of year again. Back to the busy life. I can definitely tell that work has started back for me: early mornings, eating on paper plates for dinner, grading papers, having lessons to plan, wearing suits, attending meetings, having sore feet, posting fewer blogs, and having less time. Now that I'm back at work it feels like I never left! The inside of my school building was renovated over the summer, so I couldn't set up my classroom early.I started out teaching Composition and a SAT prep class, but that changed the first week students were back. My schedule changed this week: 1st Period Planning, English III (American Lit.), Honors Composition, Lunch (at 12:35!), and Regular Composition. As you can imagine, the papers to read are already starting to come in! Although the school year started out kind of crazy, I do love working with high school students. I truly care about them and look forward to seeing them. I miss my lazy days of summer, but I love being back at my mission field of Franklinton High School. Here are some pictures of my classroom before I cleaned it up and after I cleaned it up (and before students came back and my desk got messy).

The Friday before school began I had a day of fun. Two years ago I taught an exchange student from Germany. She came back to visit this summer and invited me to come see her and her brother. A true treat! That evening Eric and I helped at the Family Fun Fair at our church. We had so much fun riding the little tractors and trying on a fireman suit!

Eric racing Jody

Now that I've been back at school I have a normal routine again. Eric and I have still been able to spend some time together, too. Last Friday Eric and I had the opportunity to visit with the Dew's and have time to chat and play a game. On Monday night we went to the Livingston's to watch the TN game. We are so thankful for the friendships God has blessed us with! Last night Eric and I went out to dinner and then went to BestBuy. We had so much fun! We played tennis on the Wii and played guitar hero for an hour!!!!!!! Free fun! Back to it again on Monday, though!

Last Sunday I had the absolute priviledge of sitting under Eric's preaching at Angier Avenue Baptist Church. Eric was filling in for his pastor friend that went out of town. The Lord used Eric there and really spoke through him. I am so proud of Eric's willingness to teach God's Word! I love him more and more each day!

We now have the opportunity again to serve at church through AWANA. Last year we worked with T&T (3rd-6th Grade) and this year I am working with Sparks (K-2nd Grade) and Eric is working with games (preschool through seniors in high school). It is truly a blessing and a refreshment to work with children on Wed. nights and help them hide God's Word in their hearts!

Continue to pray that the Lord will give us wisdom about the future and that in the present we will serve the Lord wholeheartedly right where we are!

Savoring Food and Freedom

Summer is quickly drawing to a close as I do my best to savor my last week of freedom. I have enjoyed my summer so much but it is time to return to work. While I finish up my last week off, Eric is working hard on his school work and attending another class. I'm so proud of Eric! I really wanted to make him a nice meal to enjoy tonight after a long day in class, and this time the results were much better than the "kitchen disaster". I made Eric Bruschetta 'n Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts served with vegies, followed by chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. This is a must-try recipe. Eric is a picky eater and he really liked it. All the credit goes to kraftfoods.com! Here's the link to the recipe and the video demonstration: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/bruschetta-n-cheese-stuffed-
chicken-90708.aspx. Enjoy!

An Outpouring of Power

Are you looking for a really inspiring story to read? I came across one today. This week I have been reading verses throughout Scripture with the word directed in them. One of the verses for today was Acts 10:22. That one verse led me to read Acts 10 and 11. I highly encourage you to read those two chapters. I've read over them before, but as God's Word always does it taught me something new and different today. Here's a summary of the story:

God spoke through a vision to a centurion named Cornelius who believed in God. This vision gave Cornelius direction about someone to help his people - Peter. Cornelius took heed to God's instruction and sent some men to go bring Peter back to Caesarea. While the men were journeying to see Peter, Peter had a vision about meat that was once unclean being made clean. Verse 10:28 reveals the meaning to this vision: Peter should not call any man unholy or unclean. This vision was part of God preparing Peter to speak to people the Jews said were unclean, the gentiles. When the time arrived for God to use Peter in Caesarea, God told him so and sent the messengers for Peter to lead him there. The messengers explained that Cornelius was directed by God to hear a message from Peter. Peter went to Caesarea. When Peter arrived at the place God had called him to, Peter was obedient and available to share the gospel and God gave Him the words to speak. Peter shared a simple gospel presentation with a crowd of gentiles and they received the Holy Spirit. This led to their baptisms, and people began to share Christ with other gentiles. They realized that Christ is for everyone, not just the Jews. Some people went to Antioch and established a church there. That is also when "Christians" was first used.

As a result of people being so obedient and available, people were saved, churches were established, and a barrier was broken. This is an amazing story of the Lord displaying His grace to the gentiles, providing divine direction to His people, bringing about opportunities through obedience, and showing His powerful hand in everything!

The Beautiful Beach

This past weekend Eric and I were blessed by some special friends to spend several days at Oak Island. It was nice to get away, even though Eric got FRIED! The beach was absolutely beautiful. We had the opportunity to sit at the pier, enjoy the breeze, watch the waves, and admire in awe God's amazing creation.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

GOD has a Plan!!!!!

As you know the past month has been a time of praying for God's will regarding a ministry position in TN. As of Friday, God has closed this opportunity for ministry. We know that God has a plan for us and we continue to seek His will for our lives.

Since this door has been shut, we have been praying and reflecting on the truths of God's Word. One passage has really been an encouragement and reminder to Erin and I during this time, Proverbs 3:5-6:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your

ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

This is a reminder that God has a plan and we must trust in the Lord, even in difficult times. We know that we must continue to seek Him and He will guide us in His perfect timing. Thanks for all of your support and prayers.

Hidden Treasures

I started on a new treasure hunt this week! It has been an amazing adventure! I wrote earlier about the Beth Moore Bible study I was going through. On the 27th, the Lord impressed upon my heart another Bible study. As you know, Eric and I are going through a time of trying to discern God's will about a ministry position. During my time of waiting this week, I started thinking more about how God guides His people. Eric and I want to be 150% sure that when we take the step to move elsewhere to serve that that place is exactly where God has called us to be. How do we make sure this happens? Examining characters from the Bible who were guided by God illuminates the answer. The personal Bible study I began doing this week is called Guidance and Faith: A Study of Biblical Characters God Guided and the Faith They Had to Follow. It is not a study I bought from a store, it is just what God laid upon my heart to dig in to. As I started sifting through the topic on the 28th, I realized that this could take me over a year to study! Every little dot on the Bible passage map I put my finger on took me to another place on the map. I realized that before I really put my shovel in to see what treasure lies beneath the Bible character surface, I needed to lay a foundation on which to display my treasure when I find it. I have spent the past three days examining scripture passages with the words guidance and guide. I am already finding hidden treasure and my journey just began! I have enjoyed my time of reflection upon God's might with which He leads. He thinks of everything! God has guided people and all of creation since the beginning of time. He never changes. That means that if God was a counselor, a guide, and a leader to the Israelites a long time ago, then He is still the same to me now. One of the passages I read today was the song Moses and the sons of Israel sang to God after being delivered through the Red Sea and onto dry land. It was so amazing to read their praises to God - it felt like I was in a worship service! What I really thought was neat was reading about people thousands of years ago praising the same God I praise now. I think that is incredible! I call these hidden treasures because I set out looking for one thing and found so much more than I ever expected to. God's Word contains such amazing and priceless treasures! What I have really enjoyed about connecting the dots on my treasure map is that I have so much time to sit and soak in all the discoveries and to allow things I learned a long time ago to resurface - something that is difficult to do with my busy teaching schedule of meetings, lesson plans, grading, and everything else that comes with life. I am looking forward to the many other hidden treasures God will reveal to me in the future!
(Picture from http://www.treasurehuntsouthern.co.uk/images/pirate-treasure-map.jpg)