Going Deeper

In this picture are 41 women from my church. Our church is pretty tiny considering churches we've been a part of in the past- and 41 women on a retreat is pretty amazing! I'm a part of the leadership team for our women's ministry and helped plan this year's retreat. Our church is super diverse- the youngest woman that came was 18 and the oldest was 78, I believe. I've never been a part of a church like Horizons. Horizons is made up of so many different people, that truly work together, and fellowship with one another despite age, race, past, and stage of life. I could not be more proud to be a part of the team that leads them. Our theme was Going Deeper. Our speaker did a great job teaching us about the next steps that we need to take in our relationship with God. It was a time where I was just able to take in the teaching and mull over it. I still need to go back through my notes and really think about what things I need to change in my life.
Retreats are so needed, and are a great time to get away! Us young mom's really appreciate this time! But most of all, this retreat was fun! Other than being their "Pastor's Wife," I'm also known as the one that makes them play crazy games! Oh my- I've never laughed so hard. My favorite game this year was when they were all blindfolded into 2 long lines, and they had to pass a raw biscuit from the front of the line to the back. Talk about hilarious! We had so much fun- they are such good sports!
Our time in Texas has had it's ups and downs. I could not have come back from this weekend more proud of our women. I'm so grateful to be a part of a church where I've been stretched to be friends with those I normally wouldn't have approached. I'm grateful to see racial barriers being broken. I'm grateful for women older than me who have loved on me and taken me under their wing. I'm grateful for goofy friends that I can laugh with. I'm grateful for the spirit of worship that is crafted when 41 women seek God in one accord. I'm thankful for God meeting us where we're at, and always waiting for us to come to him. I'm thankful for a husband who encourages times like this in my life. I'm excited for the future- for the plans God has for our little church, and for the plans he has for me and the woman he's shaping me to become.

Dallas Blooms

I absolutely LOVE living by a big city. It has so much to offer and we don't have to go far to do some really cool things. This week is spring break and even though we are not in school, I think we still deserve to do some fun stuff! Yesterday I took the girls to the Dallas Arboretum with some friends and their kiddos. It was so beautiful to see all the flowers in bloom. They had fairy tale houses all over the place that we searched for to find. Halle was so excited to see Bell's castle and the Little Mermaids house and so on. It was a little chilly in the morning but warmed up as the day went on. Halle got her face painted for the first time and thought it was so cool. Lily was a trooper on the long day. As you can see, she fell on the sidewalk and has a battle wound to show for it! Here's some pics of our day...

Party time!

Valentine's Day has come and gone, and we celebrated in style one week after the big day. I wasn't feeling well on V-day so we postponed our little party until this week. I tried to get a few pictures of the girls in their attire, unfortunately couldn't get them both looking and smiling!






We had a fun lunch of heart-shaped PB & J, fruit salad, and a few other things for the grown ups. Of course there were games- you can see them on their heart hunt and playing pass the heart balloon. And of course, we frosted our own sugar cookies!







And here are a few other pictures from around the house lately- as you can see the girls love their daddy!

Iced in!

I have been so bad about updating our blog lately. I don't know if it's been that we've been busy or that nothing really exciting has been happening. As most of you have heard, Dallas has been under ice for the past 4 days- and today we are under snow! I'd take snow any day over ice! We have not left the house in 4 days and literally can't! They have no way of removing the ice here- there are hardly such thing as plows. Thankfully we've had enough food and entertainment to get us through. We did run out of milk today so one of us will have to brave the elements!

Here's a few pictures of our big girl lately- she has started her first dance class and loves it! She has also been working on writing her letters, and you can see she's teaching her teddy how to write as well!






And here's little girl, always into something!






Check out this homemade birthday gift I made for Halle's friend, Violet. Just hot glue , scissors, and some felt!

So thankful for friends

This past weekend, two of my favorite people made the trek down to Dallas. My friends, Kristin and Diana, whom I met 11 years ago, paid me a visit! My wonderful husband was so amazing and had a Daddy-daughter weekend with his girls while us "big" girls headed to Dallas. We spend one night in Dallas and one night in Ft. Worth. We had the perfect combination of doing activities and a perfect amount of just hanging out. Then we spent a day with Brian and the kiddos and they got to see what my life is really like here. Our highlight would probably be the Stockyards in Ft. Worth. We experienced our first rodeo and lots and lots of cowboys! I'm so thankful for such wonderful friends who have been through the best times of life with me and the worst over the past 11 years. Even though there are many miles between where we all live, California-Michigan, we have remained like sisters. Love you girls!

Back to life...

Oh my- life has been crazy these past few weeks. After the craziness of Christmas, we were all hit with the stomach flu which was passed on to Brian's whole family and mine, minus my brother! It was the worst! Then Brian and I had an out of town trip, so we are just returning to our normal life! Despite the sickness of death, we enjoyed seeing both of our families over the holidays. The time went so fast! Here's a quick update on the past few weeks.

Lily turned 1!!



My sweet girl is 1, and I can't believe it! She's such a sweetie and so different from Halle. We call her the destroyer! She is into everything and is such a busy girl. She is in the second percentile for her weight and is most definitely a peanut! She is such a joy and I love watching her learn new things each day. We had a low key birthday celebration with my family and that girl loved her birthday cake! We love you Lils!





Brian and I traveled to The Gathering, which was a conference in Jacksonville, FL for all Wesleyan pastors and their spouses. This was such a great time for us to get away. It was just too much fun seeing people that we've knows from Spring Lake and Marion, plus lots of friends from IWU. It was fun for me to see Brian reunite with so many friends from college and for me to catch up with some friends. It was a great time for us to be poured into and for us to have a break. I was so thankful that my parents were able to stay with our girls while we went away. Thanks Mom and Dad! Here we are with some of Brian's friends from college and their wives.




The day after my parents left, our church hosted a Winter Women's Tea. I'm on the leadership team for our women's ministry and we planned a rocking tea. We had people sign up to decorate their own table with a theme and bring their own tea set. It was fun to see how different every one was decorated. My favorite part was the game we played where each table had to perform, "I'm a Little Teapot," to a different genre of music. The opera group won- I really enjoyed the rap group and the jazz group. Here's me and my leadership team- I love these ladies!




It snowed! Yes, people believe I've brought the snow, bc it apparently never snows here, but has since we've lived here. I love it, so the girls can experience the fun of snow. We did not waste any time getting out in it and building our snowman!