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.

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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.