Long Overdue Update

I'm really almost ashamed to post to my blog right now because I've been so terribly delinquent in keeping up with it. My apologies to those two or three people who might be interested in reading about my life or my thoughts.

I suppose I'll give a rundown of the last seven months because it has been a whirlwind of a year thus far and I'm not expecting it to slow down. Reflecting, even if no one else is interested to hear it or if they already know it, is helpful for me in processing what God is doing in my life. Since I'm home alone tonight (Kyle at preteen DNow as a chaperone and Kelsey at her grandparent's birthday party), I must reflect to you dear people via the web.

At the end of January and beginning of February, I began training a nice lady to take my position at the seminary as I began fulltime studies again here at the seminary. For a few weeks in February, I worked 40 hours a week and took 12 hours of graduate level classes. Kudos to those who sustain that type of schedule long term. I wouldn't be able to do it. The last two weeks of school, I had nearly 100 pages of papers to write! I believe my fingers are permanently damaged from typing so much.

In February, I began substitute teaching in the Everman Independent School District, mostly in the Junior and Senior High Schools. That was an adventure. I was cussed at, forced to break up fights, had students walk out of classrooms, and asked the craziest questions by the students that, sadly, reflected their fallen worldview. But I was also hugged by students at all age levels, able to help with their classwork, and complimented by teachers and administration on how I did as a substitute.

In March, we took a youth mission trip to Arizona to help Mike and Debbie Bishop with their church plant (video from this in the previous post). Five people accepted Christ and many of us grew in Christ from the experience.

After spring classes ended in May, Kyle and I traveled home to Kentucky for our nephew Tyler's graduation from high school. Tyler rode back home with us and spent a week with us. While Tyler was in, we found out that Rylie has heart worms. The vet said that without treatment, Rylie would die a painful death in a few years. It was a difficult decision but Kyle and I opted to get treatment for her in spite of the high cost. Rylie has done well through the two required rounds of treatment and will go in next Monday to hopefully receive a clean bill of health. This was all quite hard to hear and go through so I can't imagine how it will be when Kyle and I have kids!

In June, we had a great week at Falls Creek (youth camp). Following Falls Creek, I finished up online courses for ECAP (alternative teacher certification training). The first 3 weeks of July, I attended ECAP training classes five days a week from 9-4 in West Fort Worth. The following week, I had an I-Term at SWBTS that met from 8-5ish Monday-Friday. My July was booked from head-to-toe in classes!

In the midst of ECAP training, a great young lady from the youth ministry, Kelsey Williams, moved in with us. She'll stay with us at least until she graduates from high school here in Everman in May 2012. While not replacing her parents, fulfilling parental responsibilities are certainly a new venture for Kyle and me. We're praying we will provide a stable, loving, Christian environment in which Kelsey can grow closer to the Lord and flourish.

We also suffered at the loss and suffering of a dear family in our church, the Medinas. We love this family, are saddened by the loss of their baby, and pray for Audrea's small intestine transplant at an unknown date in the future to be successful. We're amazed by the family's faith in God during this time.

A good friend, Stacy Martin, got married on July 31 to Cole Zachary and I was blessed to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. A few days following the wedding, I cut off my hair and sent in another donation to Locks of Love. I'm loving the ease and feel of the new hairdo. Justin Greer, a gentleman at our church with long, curly rocker-esque hair also cut his hair off for donation. Thanks, Justin!

This week Kyle and I took a quick trip to Mexico to look into future missions opportunities for the youth and possibly the church as a whole. We had a wonderful time (pictures are up on Facebook), met fantastic believers, and enjoyed great food in large and small cities (Zaragoza, Tio Pio, Moreles, Monclova, and Sacramento). Dr. Don Fawcett, Bro, Jose, and Bro. Jonathan were a joy and great encouragement to be around. We are hopeful God will allow us to serve in the future with some of the people we met this week.

Future plans: Lock-out this Friday, trip to the lake with the youth after Labor Day Weekend, fulltime classes this Fall, graduation December 10th for me and Kyle (!!!), and hopefully I can begin teaching Biology at Everman High School in December or January.

Oh, yes, and I need to study for my Biology content test so I can be certified to teach. (Prayers for motivation and studiousness are much needed at this point).

It's been a season of changes and surprises. I'm hopeful about God's future work in our family and our church. I pray that I'm a supportive wife, a loving guardian, and a competent, godly teacher. Your prayers for me in that regard are greatly treasured.

Yay for a great weekend!!!

September has turned into super duper busy time for me and especially Kyle. Poor fella. Last Monday-Wednesday, he was in Birmingham, AL for a youth conference (drove the 10+ hours by himself there and back). Wednesday night he taught youth. Thursday, he had classes and then that night we had soccer practice. Friday he spent much of the day with one of our youth who will be heading off for basic training soon. Then we went to Camp Eagle for the retreat and didn't return until Sunday night.

Yesterday, he worked on homework, laundry, drove one youth to work and took another to Sonic, and then had class that night. The rest of the week is looking just as busy since he has class today, FedEx tonight, youth on Wednesday night, classes and soccer on Thursday, and Friday we have our senior retreat. The seniors will spend the night Friday night and then we'll head out early Saturday morning to go towards Tyler, TX for the retreat. Sunday night, Kyle is preaching. Oh yeah...and Rylie is being spayed this Thursday. Craziness! Hopefully things will slow down a bit, particularly on the weekends, after this week.

Our College and Career Retreat was fantabulous. The ladies I went with were wonderful, as expected, and John and Kyle had a great time as well. At 6:30pm Friday night our group hopped into the van to head to the Hill Country (beautiful!!!). We arrived at Camp Eagle at 12:30 am after a few bathroom stops and one missed road. Kyle did a great job driving to and from the camp, my little trooper. Stacy kept asking where he was taking us because it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere, literally. No one had cell phone service and we drove down a dirt road for 8 miles to get to this place. Fun times. It was great to be so disconnected and have a chance to breath. Kyle challenged us through some Bible studies on the life of Noah to be obedient in the little and big things. We shouldn't be afraid obediently pursue great things for God. Here are some pictures from our trip. I hope you enjoy them! I've added some captions that should tell a bit of what we did. Those things not captured on film to show here are: kayaking, blobbing, swimming, hiking, zip lining (at least, not on my camera), and just tons of beautiful scenery.

View from the building we stayed in at Camp Eagle

Stacy, John, and Katie with Cedar the dog (amazing retriever that would dive down in the lake, deep into the lake, to retrieve rocks we'd thrown in). John really loved him as shown in the picture. Cedar really loved John because he fed him Honey Buns. Poor thing probably has diabetes now.

Quiet time next to the river

Pierre David Deer from the wild game farm across the river

Kellie blazing up the rock cliff we were climbing (I just love her expression in this picture)

We all made it to the top alive (sans John who hung out at the bottom with Cedar).

Now begins our Sherpa trek and then rappelling!

John and Kyle went mountain biking (wonderful trails) while Stacy, Katie, and I went kayaking and Kellie studied for an exam she had today (hope you did well, Kellie!).

Update and our little monkey

Just a quick update. Tonight we have our one and probably only soccer practice for our intramural soccer team. I think we're going to name ourselves the "B Team" since we don't expect to be a real threat to the competition. We just want to play for fun. And fun it will be! We'll see how my knees hold up. I played a few games of indoor and outdoor soccer my senior year of college with no major injuries. Amazing, I know. We'll have to see how this goes. (For those of you who don't understand the context of these comments...I tend to have trouble with soccer though I love it. I've had surgery on both knees, a broken clavicle, a broken foot, several sprained ankles, busted lips, etc. I guess it's more of a nonreciprocal relationship. I love soccer; it hates me).

Kyle and I are leaving on Friday for a retreat with part of the college and career class. I am really excited about the opportunity to get to know the ladies more who will be going. They are so much fun! I hope to post pictures of the trip soon (Note to self: remember to take your camera and charge your batteries and download the pictures you currently have on the camera).

Oh yeah, here's quick update on Rylie for all of you who care (Mom does because she calls Rylie her granddog since we don't have children yet). Here's a picture of Rylie on the way home from Lake Mineral Wells State Park. We stopped by DQ and gave her a small ice cream as a treat for her good behavior (she's just like Kyle in her love for ice cream) and this is a picture of her after her post-ice cream nap. :)We took her up there on Labor Day weekend to go hiking. She did really well on the car ride there and back. She did fairly well during the hike except towards the end when she got tired (she's still a puppy). The car was back up the hill but she only wanted to walk downhill because it was easier. She didn't understand that she had to go uphill to stop hiking and to get to rest (very deep and applicable to life but I won't go there). We're having her spayed on September 18 so I hope all of that goes well.

Some of you may know that she's been getting out lately and we first thought that someone was letting her out because we couldn't find any spot that she would've climbed under. Next we figured out there there were some spots in the fence where the chain-link wasn't attached to the top bar so she could put her weight on it and climb up it, wiggling herself out to freedom. Last Saturday we were outside fixing all of these suspected routes of escape. I was outside the fence helping Kyle secure the chain-link to the top bar. All of a sudden Rylie begins to climb the chain-link fence to get outside to me. She put her paws in the holes and climbed up and over. I wish I had a video because she strained terribly to make it and it's a very cute face. But now she must remain tied up in the backyard until we think of some solution. We're leaning towards the underground electrice fence but we aren't sure yet. In the meantime, she's awfully pitiful being tied up all the time. Poor thing. Anyone have any advice? We'll gladly consider it!

New Rylie Photos

Rylie's been growing like a weed. She's a sweetheart and it's great to see Kyle enjoying her so much (he was severely deprived as a child, never getting to experience the joy of a pet because of his pet allergies). Kyle was mowing the backyard so I had to tie her to the tree in the front yard. I looked out the front door and she was digging full-force with both front paws in the empty flowerbed by the tree. When I came out to take photos, she was proudly laying in the nice new hole she had dug. Good thing we hadn't planted flowers yet!

Quick Update

I haven't blogged in a few weeks so I thought I would put up a quick update until I have the chance to really post something. Okay...what's been going on...hmmm...

We had DNow this past weekend and around 25 youth showed up and we had a wonderful weekend. Kyle's messages were good, the teachers were excellent, and I think everyone had a good time. I think it was a time of spiritual growth and unity for the youth ministry. Josh Reardon flew in from KY to lead worship. He did a great job and I was glad to see Kyle getting to hang out with an old friend.

Rylie is growing like a weed. Kyle said we should stop feeding her so she'll stay little. I tried to explain that it didn't work that way but he didn't understand (silly boys). We're still trying to teach her how to walk on a leash but she's pretty well comprehended sit (in calm situations). She's gotten stay down about 75% of the time in non-distracting environments.

Mom and MawMaw are coming out next Monday so I'm excited about that. They're driving out and bringing a piano that Mom bought at an estate sale. They'll be here during Spring Break but I'll still have to work most of the week.

School is going well. I am about to start researching for a paper on Christian Perfectionism, a doctrine that Wesley developed that Christians could become perfect in this life (it's funny that he never claimed to have reached it himself and he drastically limited his definition of sin...it'll be interesting to research).

That's about all for now. I hope to post DNow pictures soon. I'm still behind on a few other sets of pictures. Sorry! Have a spectacular week!

Oh, yeah...I had jury duty on Friday and Monday. Our group sat through 6 plea bargains...very boring stuff but I'm glad I could help our judicial system.

Rylie!

We got an adorable puppy on Sunday. Check out the pictures. I'm sure there will be more to come. When I have the chance, I hope to post Super Bowl pictures and College and Career pictures and then write more about little Rylie. Come visit soon before she grows up!