Once Again Reminded...

So I've been waiting for tonight for a few days now. Tonight you could see Venus and Jupiter lined up in the southwest sky. They will not be lined up this closely together again until 2015. They were so bright and sparkly. It was just beautiful. I went out to see them. Then I came and got Ethan and we looked at them together. Then we had to run across the street to pick up something from a friend and we showed her too. It seriously was neat to me just to stand outside on the balcony and watch these two planets glisten in the sky. They are so huge and so far away. I mean it's a whole other planet! Two of them. It was stunning.

I am always taken aback by the sky. Seriously, we are so tiny. Our lives really are just a vapor. The fact that God chooses us, chooses to show himself to us and have relationships with us, is just amazing. It's really beyond comprehension sometimes. He just loves us that much and lets us in on the beauty and complexity of his creation. It is so vast we can't comprehend how big it is and yet we can stand on the balcony and look at it. Pretty cool.

Since the Last Time...

So it's been a while. I seem to write that a lot. I am not a good blogger. I know that.
But since the last time I posted:
1. We went to see the Impressionist Exhibit at the Kimbell. It was seriously one of the coolest things we've done here. The paintings we got to see up close were unreal.

2.My mom and sister visited. We literally shopped til we dropped. We spent an ungodly amount of time at the Shoe Gypsy (but can you really ever spend too much time in a shoe store?). Got some way fun flats for Christmas from Mom.

3. We got to visit with our fun friend from college, Andy. He was driving through town and he spent the night. So good to see him!

4. We saw COLDPLAY! It was the most incredible concert we've ever been to. It was a magical musical experience. You may laugh at me for that, but seriously, it was!

5. Ethan's family came to visit. It was a blast! We had a lot of fun hanging out with them. It had been way too long since we'd seen them.

6. We got a keyboard!! Ethan's parents gave us a a great keyboard for Christmas a little early! It has been so much fun to play again. Ethan and I love it!

7. We saw Four Christmases. It was really funny!

8. Thanksgiving! We went to Mission Arlington to work with my sweetest friend Heather. We delivered turkeys and hot meals to about 460 people or so. Overall, the Mission served about 20,000 people. It was truly a joy to serve others that morning. Also, since we didn't go home for the holidays, my aunt Anita had us over to their house in Dallas for a big Thanksgiving feast. It was a great time with fabulous food. My cousin, Issey, is an amazing cook. Even most the vegan stuff was wonderful!

9. We decorated for Christmas. Our tree is up, the wreath is hanging, the nativity is displayed. It looks so pretty in our tiny apartment living room.

10. Finally, we are resting! We are taking a break from school work and writing papers and are enjoying doing nothing! It is a wonderful feeling!

Nothing new...

Here's a picture from Puerto Rico. We got to visit the highest waterfall in the country. It was beautiful! Didn't get to stay long, just enough time to snap a picture. That was a great trip!

Things are going great. I went to a conference this past weekend for work. I was not looking forward to it at all and sure there were some parts that I did not enjoy one bit, but I learned some wonderful things. We got to hear from women that have been working with children for up to 40 years and just benefit from their wisdom. My assistant teacher and I both tried to emulate as much as possible today and it literally changed the game in our classroom. It was the smoothest Monday we have ever experienced so far this school year. I am so thankful for it! God really knew we needed it.

Ethan has a lot going on at the church right now and he is also really busy with school. It's midterms time! I am hoping that he stays calm and well rested. I know he'll be great! Sometimes it is just hard to stay focused when things get crazy.

Well that's it for now. If you get a second and want to read a cool passage of Scripture, try Psalm 34:12-16. Really spoke to me yesterday in church. It was a nice reminder of how to live.

Have a fun day

Just some thoughts...

Well, here's a picture from camping, in the hammock. I didn't realize at the time that my hair is crazy, but that's what happens with curly hair in the outdoors.

I have been in a funk lately. My job is really crazy right now and it is wearing me down. My kids are cute and all, but they are just full of energy...is that the right way to put it? They are cute too. But I am realizing that I am having all bad days. When I am at work I am stressed and frustrated. There are many reasons for this, I am sure, but the few that I've come up with are these: I am not surrounded by the happy, positive people anymore and also my attitude is not super great. Basically, there are two options: Quit or Change. I will not quit. I love my job and I love teaching kids. So I'm pretty much left with change, which is much much harder. I have a feeling that the next several months of my life will be full of prayer and more prayer. I can't do it alone. Thankfully, I have God to rely on and lean on in my time of frustration. He is ultimately the source of joy and peace. I have got to learn to tap into that more than I am doing now. Also, I have an amazing husband who loves me and listens when I come home worn out or upset. I couldn't ask for a better partner or best friend! I also have some fabulous friends that I know pray for me and understand. They will listen too, but I know they can make me laugh. I am a pretty blessed girl! I just need to stay positive!

Can't believe September is over. Fall is officially here and I am trying to figure out how to decorate my apartment. I am not all that crafty. We will see!

Have a fun day!

Sometimes you just gotta get away...

This week was a busy one for us. We had our usual class and work schedule, but we also had to attend a conference for one of our classes. The whole conference was on the church and it was very scholarly. It pretty much made my brain hurt. After the conference, we both had to go to class and then to work. By the end of Friday, I was exhausted from thinking and busyness. So we decided what we needed was a camping trip! We wanted to get away from TV, computers, music, noise, everything. Luckily, there is a great campsite only 15 or 20 minutes away from our apartment. When I got home from work, Ethan already had the car packed and we jumped in and headed out. We got to the campsite, made a fire, set up our tent and cooked dinner. It was fabulous! We just sat in our camp chairs around the fire and talked. Sometimes we didn't talk, we just watched the fire or the stars and simply listened to the nature surrounding us that God made and put there for us to enjoy. We were really able to relax.
Saturday morning, we got up, ate breakfast, tore down camp and headed home. We spent most of Saturday shopping for Ethan's birthday. We had a great time doing that to. It was really fun just to be able to spend the whole weekend just being together. We didn't focus on school or anything. Just each other. We are very thankful for this time to decompress and highly recommend a break for anyone who feels a little stressed out.

Have a fun day

Another Week...of two...

Well, it's been another crazy few weeks. We are just really busy and it feels like we never have time to settle down. But we are really enjoying the semester so far. My kids are getting better at work and Ethan is getting used to constantly reading for school. We were going to go to Houston this weekend for a wedding, but because of the hurricane, the wedding was cancelled. So I am enjoying my day off, hanging out at home with Ethan. It has been a gorgeous day and I cannot believe that in about 24 hours we are going to be experiencing tropical storm Ike.

Ethan's birthday is coming up next weekend and we are looking at going to the Jazz Fest downtown. Hopefully that will be wonderful.

Can't believe it's already almost halfway through September. Time is really flying.

Worst Blogger Ever?

So I know I am the worst blogger ever. It has been 3 months since I've update. But a lot has been going on...

Having a long break from school was great. But it was weird to be "adults" this summer and actually have 40 hour a week jobs. It was great though. We are enjoying this new stage of our lives. Speaking of jobs...I got a promotion at work that will begin in December. I will become the Lead Teacher of a room, which provides a complete scholarship for school that Ethan and I can share. This is a huge blessing!

We had a great cookout in June, the Summer Solstice Cookout. We had about 20 friends so up and eat burgers & hotdogs and play lots of ultimate frisbee. We are very thankful for the new friends we've made here.

Our 2 year anniversary was July 1. We didn't go on a trip this year, but we did go eat at Texas de Brazil, which is incredible. If you have not eaten there, I highly suggest it! I can't believe we've been married for 2 years now. It has flown by and we are having the time of our lives.

We went to Puerto Rico on a mission trip with our church. That was one of the best trips I've been on. God worked in some amazing ways. We got to see Him do things that only He can do loved getting to tell everyone about it! We are very thankful to have had the opportunity to go on that trip together. It was neat for Ethan to see where I spent a full summer of my life right before I met him. I got to see some fun friends again. Puerto Rico is one of the most beautiful places. We enjoyed the mountains and the beach. What a blessing to get to experience God's creation in that way!

Two weeks after that, we went to Mississippi for a mission trip on the coast with a group from our church. I got to go early and spend a few days with my family first. It was really nice. The trip to the coast was very nice. We worked really hard and got a lot done. It was also really cool for Ethan and I to see the progress they have made down there. We haven't been in about 1 1/2 years and a lot has been done. Proud to be from Mississippi!

When we got back from Mississippi, it was time to start school again. We both love our classes, but have a full semester ahead of us. We are working hard to be disciplined and keep up with everything. Work for me is crazy. I am not used to children this young and I am really trusting the Lord to give me His strength because that is the only way I am going to make it in there.

That's it for now. I will try to do better with my updates. Thanks for reading! :)

Fun in Mississippi

Ok let's see...since I last posted Ethan and I have completely finished our finals and are just waiting on grades to come out (hopefully this Friday). We got our laundry done and our apartment clean and we started packing to go to Mississippi.
We got to my parents' house Thursday and almost immediately went to the reservoir on the boat and ate catfish. It was a gorgeous night! We had gone to Jackson for my great friend, Erin's, wedding. Friday was the bridesmaid's brunch. It was so fun to see Erin and Kimmie and some other friends from college. I also got to meet all the other awesome girls. After the brunch, I went to see Kimmie at work and went home to pick up Ethan. We had planned on visiting the tutoring center that afternoon, but our car started making a super weird noise. We took it to the shop and had to leave it there to be fixed. By the time that was all over we did not have time to drive all the way out to the tutoring center. I was so sad. It really broke my heart not to be able to go. They were expecting us and I had been looking forward to it for weeks. Oh well, another day!
Friday night was the rehearsal and the dinner. It was so much fun. Dinner was beautiful and wonderful. Of course, Saturday was wedding day, but before we had to be at the church I got to go to lunch with one of my greatest friends, Kimmie. It was awesome. She's so beautiful and inspires me in so many ways. She really is an incredible woman of God. The pre-wedding activities were fun. We had lots of time to rest and hang out. Erin looked gorgeous! Her wedding was fabulous and I was completely honored to be a part of it. I love her so much!

Sunday we were able to visit our church in Madison. It was so awesome to see everyone and see how the church is doing. We really miss everyone. Then lunch at my parents' house with so many people, family and friends. It was amazing! I went shopping with my mom that afternoon and that was a good time. Monday morning we had things to do around town but then drove up to Slayden to Ethan's family. Ethan's sister graduated from high school Monday night. She is an incredible young woman and I was so proud of her! We got to spend a lot of time hanging out with the Joneses and eating good food and playing Guitar Hero with Kirby. One thing that I was able to do was have lunch with another one of my greatest friends, Elissa. She's awesome! We got to hang out and talk and I got to see her office and meet some people she works with. She is super talented and I am sure is the BEST at what she does. We drove home to Fort Worth on Thursday. It is about an 8 1/2 hour drive but it took 11 because of bad weather. We got caught in hail and everything. Rough! It was so good to be home!

This week is crazy but so much fun and so exciting! Our church is moving buildings. We are moving to our first building of our own directly across the street from where we are now. Sunday will be our service in the building so we are moving everything over there this week. The staff has been working so hard getting it all done. We had a fun cook out over there last night for the holiday, since most of them had been working all day. We are all so excited!! I may not see my husband much this week though.

I think that's it. We are just trying to settle into the summer routine. I guess I'll post after the church moves.

Have a fun day!

Can't believe it

I cannot believe that Ethan and I are finished (almost) with our first year of seminary. We have completed two semesters of graduate school. Whoa. I should be studying for my last final right now, but I have no motivation at the moment.

This semester has been so so crazy. I think I may have mentioned it before. Ethan started a new job as adult discipleship pastor at our church, which has been a huge blessing and fun for him. I have overloaded myself with responsibilities, which is not a new thing in my life, but I think this time I actually learned from it. We have really been struggling this semester with trying to find our place out here. It is so hard to make new friends in a new city. Luckily for us, at seminary almost everyone is in the same spot as you: poor, stressed, and pretty young. We have connected with several couples from school that we really like a lot. Of course we have friends from church that we love. And for me, honestly, if it hadn't been for the girls I work with, I would be lost. Ethan and I have realized how great our friends are from Mississippi. Our MC friends are so special to us. I had to finally reconcile the fact that I cannot have friends like that here right now at this very second. It takes years to develop those friendships and we have only been here a little less than 10 months. Also, we have so many other friends from home that aren't from MC that we miss dearly. Not a day goes by that we don't think about them. It's pretty tough, but we are so thankful that we have them and continue to keep a close relationship with most of them. We are really praying for God to cultivate the relationships out here this summer when most of us will have some freedom in our schedules to actually have a social life.

Also, I miss the tutoring center so so badly! It is my heart. It was there and it is here. I am praying about looking for a job like that here. It is such a rewarding, fulfilling job; but I guess that happens when you are doing the things God made you to be passionate about. That's a whole different topic, and I don't have time to expand on that thought pattern I've had all semester.

I am very much looking forward to a somewhat relaxing summer. We are going on two mission trips, one to Puerto Rico and one back to Mississippi. Our church is very focused on missions, so we are really looking forward to those things. We are taking a one night trip to Dallas for our anniversary. That should be pretty awesome. I cannot believe we have been married almost 2 whole years!

We are also excited about our trip back to Mississippi next week. I am in my sweet friend Erin's wedding and just two days after that, Ethan's sister graduates from high school. It was perfect timing. We are looking forward to time with family, friends, and home.


So, you know I have to put pictures in every post. I love pictures!
Here are some from the weekend my parents came to visit. We went to the Fort Worth Main Street Art Festival. We got to see Dr. John!!!

Travels

We made it to and from both Mississippi and California safely and not too exhausted. Our trip to Mississippi was wonderful. We got to see some good friends from college and watching Kyle and LeAnn get married was so great! We spent a few hours with my family before driving back to Texas.


















California was amazing. We were in Los Angeles for the Awaken conference at Mosaic Church. I ran into some old friends from church in Mississippi. We got to hear Erwin McManus, Bill Hybels, Nancy Ortberg, Wayne Cordeiro, Rick McKinley, Dan Kimball, and many many others. They were so encouraging to listen to. It was pretty much this think tank of ideas about leadership, evangelism, and culture. I took like 18 pages of notes and have to read them to remember everything we were able to hear. It really was incredible.
On top of all that, we were able to go to Hollywood, the Chinese Theater, Santa Monica Beach, downtown LA, a Dodgers game, the Rose Bowl, and Rodeo Drive. It was totally cool. I was geeked out the whole time, even though we didn't see anyone famous. We really had a good time getting away from school and being able to relax. Looking forward to going back there some day!
























We have a lot coming up also. We are approaching finals, so we have papers due and tests to study for. When that is all over in about a week and a half, we'll start working our full time jobs. We are not taking any summer classes. We need some time to relax. Also, this summer we are going on mission trips to Puerto Rico and the gulf coast of Mississippi. We are greatly looking forward to those. Please be praying for us. We have so much going on and we are just trying don't want to be overwhelmed. I cannot believe we have almost finished two semesters of seminary graduate school. It is crazy! But we are having a good time, learning a lot, growing a ton, and trying to enjoy everything.

Coming up...

Ethan and I have quite a fun week coming up! We are leaving tomorrow for Mississippi for Kyle and LeAnn's wedding. We are totally excited about seeing them get married and sharing in that special day with them. We are also excited to see some friends that we haven't seen in a while. We get back from Mississippi on Sunday and bright and early Monday morning we leave for California. That's right...Los Angeles!! We are going to a conference there with our church. We cannot wait. The conference is going to be amazing and I am ready to see what all I will learn. Also, I have always wanted to go to LA so this is a really exciting week for me! Next week, we'll have a lot of updates!
Be praying for our safe travels and open hearts to learn all the things God has for us. We are ready!

Centennial

This year is the 100th anniversary of Southwestern. So that is pretty cool to be enrolled in the 100th class at the seminary. They have really been blowing up this whole birthday thing and it all culminated today because it is the actual centennial birthday of the founding of the school. They had a special outdoor chapel on the lawn and then a big cookout (barbeque of course!) and praise and worship time. Ethan and I were going to go, but seeing as we have not spent a lot of quality time together lately because of midterms and the usual busyness of our lives, we decided to skip out. We were both tired anyway and did not feel like being surrounded by tons and tons of people, not to mention it was 90 degrees today. We grilled out and had a picnic and played cards. We realized one more really awesome thing about living directly across the street from the school...great seats for the fireworks show! They really went all out for this thing. We put our quilt out in the grass and kind of had our own little viewing area. It was so nice and as you may or may not know, I LOVE fireworks. I am like a little girl when I'm watching them. It was great!

We have really been learning a lot. Our classes have really been stretching us in our faith, which is always good. We are very thankful for our profs who push us and challenge us to rethink things. Not necessarily because you're wrong, but just to make you think. It's wonderful!

Yesterday, I had one of the best days I had had in a long time. I went into work and shared with my boss some prayer concerns I have. She loves to hear them and pray for you. So I ended up talking to her for an hour. It was lovely. She is such an amazing woman of God and prayer warrior. She let me into her private prayer and devotional life and allowed me to learn from her. I want the kind of prayer life she has...and not when I'm older but right now! I realized with her encouragement that it is possible. She was so uplifting to me. We were both very open and honest and God really used her and that time with her to love on me. I went back to my classroom feeling so good and also shared my prayer concerns with the teacher I work under, Tricia. She's so great and encouraging also. She went to her teacher meeting, led of course by our boss, and came back with tears in her eyes and let me know that she was able to pray for me during the meeting and that she felt honored to do so. Later that afternoon, my boss stopped me in the hall with tears in her eyes to tell me that when Tricia prayed for me, it was very powerful. This coming from the incredible prayer warrior. I almost cried right there. Then, this morning another teacher who I am close to, Zhanna, told me that she and her family prayed for me during their family prayer time. Well that was it, I teared up in front of all the kids. It was beautiful. What an amazing thing God has created in the relationship between women. I felt so loved and cared for by these sweet people I have only known for 6 months or so. I know God is working in that place and that God is answering the prayers of those women in a mighty way! I'm so thankful and humbled for the kind of love God allowed me to experience yesterday and this morning. He is truly LOVE!

Weird Weather

Well, everyone has been telling us that the weather in Texas is the craziest you'll ever experience. I keep trying to tell them that in Mississippi it is exactly the same, but no one believes me. Oh well. However, we did get to experience some weird weather patterns the past few days. Let me recount them for you:

Monday: rainy and cold

Tuesday: cold and sunny

Wednesday: cold morning, warm afternoon and sunny

Thursday: freezing, rainy, sleeting, and finally snowing

I was at work when the snow began, but after I got home and we ate dinner, Ethan and I decided to go for a walk around campus because it really was pretty. We were frozen when we got back, but it was worth it.

One really cool thing about this weather is that in my class at work, we are in a weather unit. We just started it on Monday and thought it was really cool that we got to see some rain on Monday. We had no clue that in four days, God would give us rain, sleet, snow, wind, sun, cold, and warm. It has been really neat to be able to teach the kids during all the weird weather. Here are some pictures of them enjoying the snow.

...

It's been a while since I've updated, so I thought I'd put some new stuff up. We are still staying busy. With midterms right around the corner, we are trying to stay focused. Ethan is getting over some cold/cough stuff and I am doing my best to avoid it. The weather is perfect right now. We both wish we did not have any responsibilities so we could just stay outside all day. I have planted a small indoor herb garden to hopefully help me want to cook more fun things. I hope I am taking care of it the right way because I really want that cilantro to grow! We have some really cool opportunities coming up, one of which is a conference in California. Ethan gets to go because he is on staff at the church, but I get to go to be the additional woman on the trip with our children's minister. It's in Los Angeles the first week of April and we are both just busting to go. Other than that, our lives have not changed much. God has continued being faithful, especially in the small things. We are so grateful!

My Kids

I have a great job! I am an assistant teacher at the daycare on the campus of the seminary. I work in the 4 year old room and my kids are incredible! Just thought I'd share some of the faces that I see five days a week...

Mavericks/Lakers

For Christmas, I got Ethan tickets to the Mavericks game this weekend. It was incredible! Ethan really enjoyed his first pro basketball game! Here are some pictures from the evening.

Exciting News

As of this morning, Ethan is officially the pastor of discipleship/administration at Bear Creek! We could not be more excited about this step in our lives. God has blessed us tremendously with a church body that is so loving and we are ready to continue serving alongside them in this capacity. Ethan has his first day on the job tomorrow and cannot wait! We are so thankful for this opportunity. Please pray for Ethan as he starts this new job.

Also, classes have started up again. We are both taking a full load of classes and are already a bit overwhelmed by the work load. These classes will help us both so much and we are praying that we can keep up and give the adequate amount of time to our studies. We would love for you to join us in that prayer.

Thank you for praying! We feel it and God is obviously answering our prayers. Thanks for keeping up with us also. It is always nice to know there are people who care!