What's Been Happening...

Hello friends and family!

It's been a while since I've been on here but there is so much that has happened in our family over the last few months. The Lord has been so very faithful as He has lead us and provided for us! Here is a quick look at all that has happened.

 Kyle GRADUATED from Southern Seminary on May 16th!!

He received his masters in Family Ministry and Discipleship. I am SO very proud of him for his hard work over the last 6 years as he took classes and worked hard to provide for his family!!

Both of our families came to Kentucky to encourage us and support us as Kyle graduated!

Three weeks later... WE MOVED TO TEXAS!!!

The Lord provided a massive truck for us to move our little apartment in. 

 Our girls were so excited to see the BIG yellow truck and even to this day, when Kaitlin sees a big Penske truck driving past us, she yells out "there's our big truck!" haha... 

 So many guys came to help Kyle load the truck and a few girls came too to help me clean the apt. We could not have done it all without their amazing help! My parents also stayed in Louisville for THREE weeks to help us pack up and move. My Mom helped me drive our car and the girls to Texas too. SUCH A BLESSING! 

 Then came all the many sad goodbyes. There were many tears shed and so many friendships that we hold so very dear. We still consider Kentucky our family's home because of the many years, friendships, and memories that we shared there.

 Our dear friends threw us a going away party! It meant so very much! 

 These wonderful friends were our Louisville family. We love them all (plus many others not pictured) so very much! 

TEXAS

Back in March, when my Grandfather died in Texas, the Lord miraculously provided for our family to fly down and attend his funeral. While we were in Texas, we both felt individually the Lord drawing our hearts to be apart of my home church, Calvary Bible. We went out for a date together and Kyle brought up the desire in his heart and I excitedly echoed that the Lord had placed the same desire in my heart. Knowing what a solid church it is, we felt that we could plug in there in hopes to be trained for further ministry in the future. We don't know if the Lord will call us to full-time ministry in the future or just lay-ministry, but either way, we wanted to be connected into a church that could provide us with much training. 

We began to pray that if the Lord wanted us in Texas that He would provide a job and a home for us. Within just two months the Lord had provided BOTH! In June, Kyle started working for Voss Lighting, a 75 year old Christian Lighting Company. He loves his job and works with wonderful, godly men. We also began renting my Grandparents' home for a season until we find our new family home here. The house is on 5 acres of land and we get to wake up to beautiful Texas sunrises and enjoy the shade of a ton of trees that surround our house. Did I mention... its a HOUSE? We've always lived in apartments our whole married life so living in a house with a yard has been such a blessing for our family! 

Our girls absolutely LOVE playing in their big yard! They daily go outside to collect bugs and feathers. :-)

Our family is so very thankful for the ways that He is leading us and for all the provisions He has made for us during this season of life. We are thrilled to be in Texas now, although we miss our Georgia and Kentucky family. We are excited to see how the Lord will grow us and lead us as we seek to be faithful in each season. 

New Book: "Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full: Gospel Meditations For Busy Moms"

Watch Video Here

Tonight I started to read a little booklet that I got at the CBMW conference this week called: Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms by Gloria Furman. (The entire book was just published this March! I can't wait to buy it!)






Just in the short first introductory chapter my heart was spoken to as I read the words from another mom with young children who wrote of looking to Christ and His gospel for your strength and not to the world.

I must share some of my favorite quotes thus far:

"It doesn't matter where you are from or what your circumstances are; the greatest reality a mother can appreciate and rest in is the work that Jesus has done on the cross on our behalf. " (pg. 14)

"Day and night, moment by moment, we must choose to rest in Jesus. That's what it means to treasure Christ when your hands are full, whether you have one child or a dozen. " (pg. 15)

"Because of the gospel, we mothers can rejoice as we find our hands full of blessings in Jesus, because all we know is Grace. " (pg. 15)

This here is my favorite quote of them all:

"The gospel stands above and beyond all the most practical, family-friendly, or cost-effective philosophies of mothering. The good news of Jesus Christ is superior to our to-do lists and metaphorical mother-of-the-year trophies. This is because the greatest problem a mother has is not a lack of creativity, accomplishment, or skill, but her inability to Love God and others as Jesus loves her (John 13:34)." (pg. 18)

WOW!!! What conviction! What humility that brings to ponder that my greatest problem is not that I completely fail at mothering many days... or that I can't keep my house clean with toddlers... it's that I cannot love God or others apart from Christ! Instead of focusing on all of my failures and struggles as a mom, I need to focus on God and how I stand before Him.

Because of Christ: FORGIVEN!

I cannot wait to delve into this book and learn more about applying the truth of the gospel to motherhood. My heart longs to grow in this and to be found faithful!

New Books to Read!

At the CBMW Conference that I attended yesterday, each person received a free bag of books to take home. I'm super excited about a couple of them, specifically for women and mothers. Here are the titles:

Christ in the Chaos: How the Gospel Changes Motherhood

by Kimm Crandall

I'm pretty sure that I NEED to read this book! haha... Chaos? Motherhood? Yup! I need it! :-) 

The Measure of Success: Uncovering the Biblical Perspective on Women, Work, and the Home

by Carolyn McCully with Nora Shank

I read Carolyn's book "Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? Trusting God with a Hope Deferred" as a single adult and loved her heart and writing! I can't wait to see what this new book has to offer!

Check out an interview with Carolyn HERE about her new book!

A couple fun books for Kyle:

Manhood Restored: How the Gospel Makes Men Whole

by Eric Mason

Prepare Them To Shepherd: Test, Train, Affirm, and Send the Next Generation of Pastors

by Brian Croft

For Both of Us:

Risky Gospel: Abandon Fear and Build Something Awesome

by Owen Strachan

CBMW Conference 2014

Today I enjoyed the privilege of attending a conference by the Counsel on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood as a pre-conference to the Together For the Gospel conference, happening here in Kentucky these next three days.

Here is a video of what we got to expect from the conference:

We were not disappointed and by the time I finished taking notes off each session, my thumb was more than sore! Haha...

If you're not familiar with the term "Complementarianism", you can read more in this fun read called Complementarianism for Dummies. 

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

*See Here for the Live Blog from the Conference. *

"Complementarianism is important because God has created men and women different. These differences need to be recognized and taken account of in the course of Christian discipleship." -Ligeon Duncan

"Men and women face different temptations. If we don't recognize this, we fail in Christian discipleship." -Ligeon Duncan

Kevin DeYoung spoke about the "eager posture" of men and women. The woman's biblical posture is to be a helper to her husband. The man's biblical posture is to lead his wife. "The most important posture in complementarianism is not for the woman to sit down but for the man to stand up."

Complementarianism is not about forcing women to submit or making them slaves to their husbands who rule them with iron fists. Rather, its encouraging men to STEP UP and take on their God-given roles of servant-leadership in their homes and for the wife to willingly support and submit to him as her leader and head.

For the Women's Panel, there were a couple quotes that really stood out to me too:

"Respect your husband through the little kindnesses that were characteristic of your dating." - Candice Watters

"When you see things you desire to change in your husband, pray for him in that. This is work and growth that only God can do." - Jodi Ware

Lastly, I must post a fun picture of my dear friends who attended the conference with me. We then enjoyed lunch together at Zoe's Kitchen. It was my first time eating there and Oh My Goodness! How have I been missing out on this Mediterranean food? I LOVE greek-style food! Yum!

To read some wonderful articles for women, specifically, check out this link for the CBMW. 

Family Christmas Memories

I know we're almost a month out from Christmas but I wanted to posted just a few more fun memories to the blog so our family can reminisce the wonderful time we had together.

This year all the cousins were finally old enough to have a Christmas Eve Slumber party! My brother and his wife had our little family over to spend the night so our kids could all wake up on Christmas morning together. I have to admit this is one of my favorite memories from this year!





Sorry the photos are blurry! The kids were excited! PaPop and Grammie gave all the grandkids matching puppy dog blankets to snuggle with on Christmas Eve. My girls still LOVE their blankets, even a month later!





Beautiful, sweet Abigail!





Opening presents Christmas morning!





Princess dresses from Grammie and PaPop!





"Stuffy" from Doc McStuffins from Uncie, Aunt Lisa, and the boys!





A beautiful Cinderella dress, tiara, shoes, jewelry, and purse from Mimi and Papa C.





Kaitlin wasn't as into opening gifts as Abigail but she enjoyed seeing what everyone else got! :-)






The girls were definitely very blessed by their family with many fun books and toys!



Christmas breakfast!






Abigail and Grammie





Abigail and Kaitlin (and Cedie)





Cousins!

Christmas in Texas Recap

Our family had planned to stay home this year for Christmas and celebrate it with Kyle's parents. However, upon my Granddad's health becoming weaker, some of our family encouraged us that it would be a good time to come down and see him. Kyle's parents graciously gave up "their turn" to have us for Christmas and let us go be a blessing to my family during this time.

Upon arriving in Texas, we enjoyed a wonderful Saturday at my parent's home with my brother and his family and my grandparents (who now live with my parents). Sunday morning we got up and headed to church to visit some sweet friends. After church I called to check in and my Dad told me that my Granddad had a severe stroke that morning while we were gone and they were at the hospital with him. We headed right up to the hospital to see how he was doing. Sadly, at that time he had lost the use of his right side, his speech, his vision had been affected, and he was not passing their swallow test.

 My parents, Grandmother, and Uncle and Aunt were all there with him, watching over him and caring for him as they could.

 At age 91, my Granddad is not a quitter though and he quickly showed them that he could still take care of himself. The next day, he was feeding himself food and swallowing! Praise God! As the last couple of weeks have gone on, he has regained more movement in his right side and can even walk a little! He can say a few things but most words are still mumbles. He recognizes us and communicates the best he can.

Our Christmas plans were immediately changed when all of this happened! Our week turned into loving on and visiting Granddad as much as we could. Christmas day we all went up to see him and take him his gifts.

Many of our family gathered in this room with our beloved Granddad! 

Kaitlin getting to talk with Granddad

 I will never forget the tears of joy that welled up in his eyes when he saw the boys open their gifts with excitement from Grandmother and Granddad! He loves all his great-grands so much!

Kaitlin opening her gift with Uncie. 

 Abigail opening her gift. (She, of course, had to dress as a princess to go see Granddad!)

 Grandmother and Granddad with their great-grands (minus 4 who were not there).

Sweet Christmas kisses! I love my grandparents SO much!

 For my entire life, 29 years, my Granddad has faithfully read the Christmas story to us EVERY YEAR  on Christmas Day, as cousins and siblings gather around him. This year, since he could not talk, my brother read the Christmas story to him. I cry just remembering this moment! There are no words for the emotions and memories that go into this picture. My brother, as all of us, has such great respect and admiration for this man of God!

 My amazing, faithful, and strong Grandparents. They have lived a beautiful, God-fearing life together that three generations after them are now living to see. So blessed by their testimony during this time! 

On New Years Day 2014, my Granddad celebrated his 92nd birthday with family gathered around him in the hospital. He is now in a rehab facility to do some physical therapy in hopes of helping him regain strength. 

Merry Christmas