what terror looks like

this is what my husband looks like when he's terrified. it's that nervous smile with the eyes that say "oh my gosh, please help me God, i have no idea what i'm doing." it officially took him about 5 minutes to figure out how to hold Lillie (our friends' new baby) and pat her butt at the same time to calm her down. apparently for him, it's a job for more than 2 hands :)
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but despite his best efforts to consistently show me what a horrible father he would make, he did get her to fall asleep in his arms by whispering "you love the pittsburgh steelers. go penn state. you love the penguins, etc. etc.". so for about 2.5 seconds i was completely ready to have a little one of our own until i had to run to wal-mart and, as always, was immediately cured of the baby fever. children really do turn into little devils the second they walk into that store.

our bathroom mirror

matt asked me a few weeks ago to put up a verse on our bathroom mirror to remind us and anyone who visits our lovely bathroom what our home stands for and what we, as followers of Christ, must stand for every day of our lives.

i chose a verse in colossians 3. while reading my bible this morning in the lovely morning sunshine on our balcony, i decided to read all of colossians 3 since i've been seeing a portion of it daily for the last couple weeks. i have italicized a few parts that really stand out to me as this chapter is packed with the essence of living in Christ. something i must remind myself of daily, hourly, (minutely?).

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Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him--a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

colossians 3:1-3, 9-17 (NASB)

what my husband can do with a mullet

This is what happens when church asks me to design posters for their upcoming teaching series on Cultural Christianity where they discuss people putting on a show of being a Christian but not really committing to the important parts of what it truly means to walk with Jesus. What happens? I use my husband as a model and see how ridiculous he can take it. He has quite enjoyed seeing himself on giant 24x36 posters and tv screens as "cultural christianity man" all over the church. You should definitely click on each of these to make them larger to enjoy the full effect :)

Special thanks goes out to Josh, Whitney, Aaron & Keri for almost getting arrested while wearing nativity scene outfits along with Matt as Santa Clause. Let's just say we all learned our lesson about trespassing and were reminded once again that cops in the south don't mess around.

spiritual gifts

What are your spiritual gifts? Our small group is taking this online test to determine our spiritual gifts as we study Hebrews and look for ways that we can further the body of Christ with our own gifts. It is eye opening to begin to see where I was made to be of most use. Instead of forcing myself to participate in areas I am not gifted for, I can focus my attention on working most in the way I was made to serve as a Christ follower.

It is really important when you take this test to not answer the way you WANT to be or with the answer you think is the "best" or "nicest" way to answer. If you aren't that into sharing the gospel with others or you do feel like you place a high value on money then you should answer honestly if you want the results to truly reflect who you are.

http://www.churchgrowth.org/cgi-cg/gifts.cgi?id=360001

My spiritual gifts:

Mercy - 14
Serving - 14
Shepard - 10
Giving - 8
Exhortation (giving advice) - 7
Prophecy - 6
Administration/Teaching - 5
Evangelism -3

I can see clearly that my strengths are working behind the scenes: meeting basic needs, helping the church with tasks, using my talents behind the scenes to enable others to do the work in front of the curtain. Creating art that catches peoples' eye and causes them to give what someone else has to say about the love of Jesus a chance. On the other hand, my gifts are not teaching in front of large groups or sitting down with someone I do not know to tell them about Jesus. And that's okay because God doesn't create us to be a Jack of all trades. I think He creates us to be specialized in certain areas to really rock it out at what we're good at instead of everyone being mediocre at everything.

www.kristynhogan.com

it's been fun constantly surrounded by places i've never photographed before. everything feels new here to me. so here is a sampling of some of my work from the last couple months in beautiful tennessee. and within the next week or so the kristyn hogan blog should finally be up and running and off the hook so you'll be able to see all my most recent work there. i'm pretty excited about it. and if you haven't pinched the cheeks of my pretty baby yet-enjoy: www.kristynhogan.com

my husband at 11 years old

My favorite father-in-law (he calls me his favorite daughter-in-law since he only has one or his second favorite blond since he has 2 of those and I don't mind being second :)
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Okay, that run-on sentence just wasn't going to work so let's start over. My favorite father-in-law emailed me this photo today of my darling husband and his little brother from 13 years ago. He says they were briefing the nation's press on current military actions in the Middle East.
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I say they were just being the ridiculousness that is Matt & David Hogan. And enjoying the fact that their mother dressed them in coordinating shirts with matching bowl cuts to visit dad at work ;-)
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And that little separation of the bangs Matt is sporting? In a couple years as he grew into teenage years that would become affectionately known as the "M" before it was finally banned for life from my handsome husband's head. I'll have to dig up some photos of how it morphed into a very visible "M" on the front of his forehead. Gotta love the 90's. Speaking of 90's, is it weird that I met this boy in the 90's?!?! Only 3 years after this photo was taken?!?! This July I will have known my husband for 10 years. Wow.
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So before I get all nostalgic on you, I'll leave you in peace.

cold mountain

Just finished reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. It is probably the most beautifully written book I've ever read and the stories within the story could each be and are masterpieces in their own right. I'm hesitant to watch the movie now because I love the book so much and more often than not the movies are a complete disappointment. Any thoughts? Regardless, if you even sort of appreciate beautiful writing and storytelling so full of life you start to feel a part of it, then you really should read this book. I wish it hadn't ended.
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Okay, and yes, I admit, it takes place in the 1800s. So what.

bunnies & holy week

We celebrate Christmas for months. The preparation and anticipation makes it many peoples' favorite time of year. Easter gets an obligatory morning of church and a nice meal and maybe some eggs filled with candy. And the Easter Bunny at the mall surrounded by giant carrots is not nearly as exciting as Santa with presents. And frankly a little scarier. My point- Christmas is a big deal. It is a big deal that Jesus was born and came to earth. But if Jesus was simply born and lived on earth like the rest of us, He really doesn't have much lasting impact on my life. The fact that He was born, lived a perfect life and then died for me is a bit of a bigger deal. The fact that He died to save me from myself and then conquered death and rose, that's pretty important. So why is Easter simply bunnies, painted eggs and chocolate? This year it is more to me than that. And in preparation for celebrating what Jesus did for me and for you, we are celebrating Holy Week in our home. I've always known that on Friday He was crucified and on Sunday He rose. I've known the vague details of the Last Supper and that maybe He rode in on a donkey with some palms or something. But I think there is more to it than just He rode into a town and was killed and then somehow wasn't dead anymore.
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On Sunday at church while we were reading about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, I found a time line in my bible that outlines the gospel accounts of the week leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. So Matt & I are reading the gospel accounts on the day of the week that they occurred and trying to live out the day with what Jesus did on that day in mind. Today (Tuesday) Jesus taught the crowds in some pretty intense parables that directly questioned our way of living. More on that later. For now, in case you are interested in taking a bit closer look at what really went on this week in history...
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Sunday: The Triumphal Entry
Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19
On the first day of the week Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling an ancient prophecy (Zec 9:9). The crowd welcomed Him with the words of Psalm 118:25-26, thus ascribing to Him a Messianic title as the agent of the Lord, the coming King of Israel

Monday: Clearing of the temple
Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-48
Jesus returned to the temple and found the court of the Gentiles full of traders and money changers making a large profit. Jesus drove them out and overturned their benches and tables

Tuesday: Day of controversy and parables
Matthew 21:23-24:51, Mark 11:27-13:37, Luke 20:1-21:36
In the morning in Jerusalem Jesus evaded the traps set by the priests. Then in the afternoon on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem He taught in parables and warned the people against the Pharisees. He predicted the destruction of Herod's great temple and told His disciples about future events, including His own return.

Wednesday: Day of rest
Mark 14:1 and John 12:1 seem to indicate that there was a day not specifically mentioned in the gospels before the Passover. I would imagine a day of rest was quite needed at this point with the weight of what He was about to go through on His heart.

Thursday: Passover, Last Supper
Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-23
In an upper room Jesus prepared both Himself and His disciples for His death. He gave the Passover meal a new meaning. The loaf of bread and cup of wine represented His body soon to be sacrificed and His blood soon to be shed. After singing a hymn they went to the Garden of Gesthsemane, where Jesus prayed in agony, knowing what lay ahead for Him.

Friday: Crucifixion
Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 22:66-23:56, John 18:28-19:37
Following betrayal, arrest, desertion, false trials, denial, condemnation, beatings and mockery, Jesus was required to carry His cross to The Place of the Skull, where He was crucified with two other prisoners.

Friday/Saturday: In the tomb
Jesus' body was placed in the tomb before 6:00 PM Friday night, when the Sabbath began and all work stopped, and it lay in the tomb throughout the Sabbath.

Sunday: Resurrection
Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-49, John 20
Early in the morning, women went to the tomb and found that the stone closing the tomb's entrance had been rolled back. An angel told them Jesus was alive and gave them a message. Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden, to Peter, to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and later that day to all the disciples but Thomas.

mr. hogan

I am ridiculously, insanely proud of my husband. A lot of people, including me, give him quite a bit of grief for the crazy person that he is. He's anal and orderly and when he gives himself to something, he gives himself completely, no exceptions. No excuses. He's loyal and witty and likes things to be logical. Or funny. As much as I like to give him crap for all his idiosyncrasies (see post below), I am so proud of the man that he is. I look up to him as my best friend and my protector and when I look at him my heart just swells with immense love for him.
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For the last year, pretty much without fail, he's been getting up at 6 am on the weekdays so that he can work out before he has to go to work (reference; unfailing commitment). For most of that time I've been giving him a mumbled "love you" as I roll over in bed and sleep for another hour. I prefer to do my exercising when the sun is up. But for the last couple weeks I've decided to give into his begging to go to bed and wake up with him (if anyone knows me at all they know going to bed before 10 and getting up at 6 is not in my nature). But in an effort to spend more time with this man that I love so dearly, I now enjoy the sleeping schedule of a retiree.
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Why do I say all this? Because this morning as we are leaving the gym, my husband is leaving for work and wearing his uniform. Something as seemingly normal as this immediately tugs at my heart. I'm a sentimental girl. When I see him ready in the morning to go fly an airplane, I start to think about what a good, honest, hard working man he is. How much he has accomplished and what we have yet to accomplish together. How thankful I am for everything that he does for me and how blessed I feel that God has allowed me to spend my time here on earth with such an amazing person. And I love him even more when he brings home 37 boxes of cereal from the grocery store.