Merry Christmas!!!

Oh Christmas...

If you follow me on Twitter or are my Facebook friend, I'm sure you know very well how lonely I have been the last two weeks! Since his final day of Finals, Tony has been working like crazy every single night working 9 hour days and leaving a very lonely and sad Diamend home alone and not feeling very festive :(

So, first, I apoligize for my pathetic tweets and status updates and how depressing (and probably annoying) I must sound! Sorry! Second, with my state of lonely un-festiveness - I cannot WAIT to go home in only 2 DAYS!!

Only today and tomorrow in the office and Wednesday we get to hit the road to Illinois!!! While I am not looking forward to the weather I've been hearing about up there (especially since it is supposed to get up to 70 today in Texas) I am looking forward to a very festive, joyful, family filled white Christmas!!!

We miss our family and friends very much and I, for one, am very excited to not be lonely and my hubby forced to be stuck in a car with me for 12 hours! ;)

See you all soon!!
Diamend

Final Grade Update

Okay I got them all in...if you saw the previous post you know how God has blessed this semester. In my New Testament class i received an A. I did well enough on the final and the last bit of notes to push me from an 88% to a 91% for a final grade! God has truly blessed us in many ways this semester! And YOU have also been an amazing blessing! Knowing that you are praying and thinking of us is a wonderful feeling. We would not have gotten this far without both God and your support!

Diamend will be posting very soon with some pictures of what we have been up to! But as for me, I've been working like crazy trying to help more and more with finances since I am out of school until the 14th. Apple is a great place to work and a great company to allow me to come home for BOTH Thanksgiving and Christmas! Just another example of God's blessing and provision in our lives.

Well, I need to get going we are headed to Diamend's boss's graduation in Dallas, she's now a Dr.! Go Emily! So until next time! Love, peace, and chicken grease!

Tony B!

One Down...

Well the first semester is over and boy did I feel it! Jumping back into school was much harder than I thought it would be, but we have certainly been blessed these last months. God has encouraged us and shown His provision, which reassures us that this is exactly where we are supposed to be. I really enjoyed my classes this semester and wanted to take the time and space to tell you, briefly, some of the interesting things I learned from each class.

GREEK
In Greek I learned that the original text does reveal new truths and meanings to many passages. However, the translations that we use are very close to the original. Also in the original Greek there were no spaces, punctuation, and everything was in all caps. So, "GODISNOWHERE" could read "GOD IS NO WHERE" or "GOD IS NOW HERE". So the original translators had some work.

NEW TESTAMENT I
I learned lots of things and one that struck me was that the majority of the New Testament is taken or is referencing the Old Testament. Therefore, the Old is just as important as the New!

MINISTERING TO FAMILIES WITH TEENS
This class really changed the way I am going to do youth ministry. I found the importance of parents within the youth group. As well as the importance of ministering TO families not just with the students! You will hear much more about this is the future!

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
This class taught me the importance of the discipleship that goes on within the church. The Sunday School material should not just be selected out of a magazine, it should be selected for a purpose! A purpose that meets a goal for each group not the entire mass church body.


I stated earlier in past blogs that I wanted to share my grades with you because you are just as much apart of these classes as I am. You are praying for me, sending us gifts, and much more so that I can do these things. So I am going to post my final semester grades, not to boast or brag, but to stay accountable. I feel that many have sacrificed for us to be hear and you deserve to know if that sacrifice is paying off.


Greek - B +
Ministry of Education - A
Ministering to Families with Teens - A
New Testament I - (Don't Know Yet)
Spiritual Formations - A


Thank you ALL once again for all you do and please leave a comment so that we can pray for you and know who is visiting the blog! Diamend will have many pictures to come! We can't wait to see you all when we are home for Christmas! God Bless!!


With Great Thanks,
Tony Bianco

I LOVE Christmas!

Christmas! My favorite time of the year!

· Brightly wrapped presents
· Houses draped in lights
· The smell of cinnamon and pine
· Secret shopping trips
· Children whispering and giggling
· Old movies that make me laugh and cry
· Phone calls from friends miles away
· Chocolate covered cherries.
· Carolers

But there is something more important to it all! My devotional reminded me of that this morning:

Something important is happening, a time of celebration. The literal meaning of "Christmas" is "Christ's Mass", the celebration of Christ. We all want a joy-filled Christmas that truly celebrates Christ. Yet, the holiday season often leaves us with very little joy and a feeling of emptiness. What is the secret to a merry Christmas?

I believe that the secret to the celebration of Christmas is found in giving. Maybe we are giving the wrong gifts. Maybe we are giving gifts to the wrong people. Maybe we are not receiving the right gifts. Over the next two days, we will look at the truths surrounding a Christmas that is filled with joy and Christ Himself.
The first truth is that we must receive God's gift to us.

Luke 2:8-13 "There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them; and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

God gave the greatest gift of all when He gave Jesus, a gift that only eternity can measure. Across the manger is a shadow of the cross and an empty tomb. The very heart of Christmas can be found in a familiar verse, a verse we seldom associate with the Christmas season.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son."

Christmas is not a date on the calendar but a way of life. Like the innkeeper who turned away Mary and Joseph, we are often guilty of posting a sign across the entrance of our heart and life that reads, "No room!" We can participate in every festivity of the Christmas season, but until we receive the gift of Jesus Christ, we will never truly experience Christmas.

To have a Christ-centered Christmas, we must not only recognize Him as the center of a season, but the center of our entire life as well - every part of it - every day of the year. By human standards, Jesus could and should have been born in a palace, a mansion fit for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But He came to a manger, and His birth was announced by shepherds instead of Kings; the greatest of all miracles - in the midst of total simplicity. Even today, this extraordinary Jesus comes to us in the midst of our ordinary lives. He comes to be one of us.

Think back to past Christmas holidays. Was Jesus the center of the celebration? If not, what was the focus of each holiday celebration? Evaluate past Christmases in light of your faith. If you are a Christian, evaluate past Christmases in light of its true meaning. What changes will you make this year to have a joy-filled Christmas?

PS - If you (girls) are looking for a great devotional, check this one out! Girlfriends in God at http://www.crosswalkmail.com/



Blessings,
Diamend

Festivities

With Christmas only 2 weeks away TODAY, there are tons of fun festivities leading up to it! We've had a really great couple of weeks here in Texas and enjoying our friends and the fun that the holidays brings! Tony has successfully finished his very first semester at seminary and I am soo proud of him and glad to have him all to myself until classes start again!! (I'll let him tell you how the semester ended!)

I though I'd just leave you with a few pics of the latest festivities:

Our staff week at work was full of Christmas Cheer!

Wednesday our group of friends that we get together for Thur/Fri night dinners and date nights had a Christmas party! The "Garrett Manor" Christmas Party:

Last night our dear friends the Toller's came over! It was SOO nice to catch up and hang out with them! Paula-Beth even taught me how to knit!

It has been a fun, festive couple of weeks! Tomorrow we are going with a group of friends to the Gaylord Texan ICE! It is this huge "ice city" full with sculptures and cool stuff; this year's theme is the Grinch! They keep it at 9 degrees and give you parkas to wear walking through it! It sounds like a lot of fun and we are excited! I'll have pics later in the weekend of all the cool ice sculptures and us bundles up!

While we are having fun with our new friends and all the festivites that we are finding here in Texas - we do miss our friends and family back home and cannot WAIT to come back home in only 12 DAYS!!!!

Love ya!

Diamend

Are you ready for Christmas?

I recieved my weekly email devotional today that was truly inspiring and convicting for me, and really thought that my family and friends could really get something from it:

It’s a famous line that you hear with increasing frequency as the days get shorter and the 25th of December draws closer. Christmas is an important time and we want everything to be just right. But long before we were thinking about preparing for Christmas, God had a plan to prepare us.

Before the Messiah was born, before the angel announced to Mary that she had found favor with God, before the Holy Spirit conceived a child within her, we are told the story of John the Baptist.

His birth was foretold by an angel. His father was struck mute because of his unbelief. His conception was miraculous in the sense that his parents were both well along in years and his mother was barren, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. All these details were orchestrated by God because He had a unique task for John.

Listen to what the angel prophesied about John: “Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:16, 17, NIV).

John’s role in God’s great story was to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. His calling was to help people get ready. They were not supposed to be ready to simply celebrate the coming of the Messiah but ready to receive the Messiah as Lord.
Are you ready? Has your disobedient heart been turned to the wisdom of the righteous? Have you acknowledged your failings and accepted the salvation Jesus offers? Are you ready for the day when Jesus will return?

Our gracious God and Savior, turn my heart back to You. I want my heart to be ready for You.

Question, What does being ready for the Messiah mean to you? How does this affect how you look at getting ready for Christmas?

Blessings,
Diamend

Thanksgiving!

We had an absolutely amazing trip home to Illinois!! It was sooo great to see all of our family and friends and worship with our church again!! We miss you guys already and cannot WAIT to go back for Christmas break in just 4 weeks!!

I will just leave you with LOTS of pics from the weekend:

Me and Alicia (Tony's sister)

Isn't he handsome!?

Koen and Uncle Tony hanging out

Koen learning to play guitar with Alicia

My mom, me and my sister, Stephanie - obviously having WAY too much fun!

The girls - Ginger and Lacie

Alicia and Lacie cuddling on the couch

Grandma and my momma-in-love, Amy!

And of course, I have to end this post with the cutest nephew in the world!! Isn't he adorable? And getting sooo big!

Thank you all for your prayers as we travel!!

Blessings, Diamend