What a ham!

Just got Micah's new school pictures. These are the first pictures, posed, that have turned out good since he was a baby.

Exhausted

Today was a truly exhausting day. I am so ready for Nate to come rescue me from work so we can grab a quiet dinner together before heading home to prepare for our high school small group tonight.

Can't wait.

Fabulous Weekend

This weekend was absolutely amazing! Not just the weather but everything about it. God blesses His people - it's true.

As I was sitting at work on Friday, I felt a stirring in my heart. I felt as if He was telling me to "get my house in order". Not like "get in order or else", but just take care of what I've been entrusted with. So I did just that. I listened.

On my way home, I was actually excited about the idea of cleaning my house. How weird?
I got home, I opened all the windows & got to work. Wow! I had a blast listening to music and getting my house in order. Little did I know the blessing that would come from simply being obedient.

When my boys came home a few hours later we were able to hang around and not have to worry about tiding up for our friends that were coming over later that evening.
On Saturday, we got up and headed out for a fabulous family day. It was glorious! I didn't have to think twice about doing laundry, dishes, cleaning - it was freeing. Sunday was much of the same. We played outside all morning, the weather was gorgeous, and went to church. Then a group of friends came over & what freedom came when I didn't have to freak out about if our house was presentable.

Sometimes I tend to feel righteous about having to keep my home in order. That's sounds so bizarre, but stay with me a moment. At times I feel as though it's not fair that I have to worry about keeping the home in order & my husband gets to have all the fun. He gets to be the fun one who plays ball in the yard while I'm scrubbing the toilets. Honestly I'm not sure he ever even thinks about the toilet, except when he's on it. :o) Like God punishes me by placing me in my role. How dare I? What a joy it is to know He trusts me enough to put such a weight on my shoulders. I don't have to be SuperMom (not sure I would look good in that outfit anyway) and I don't have to be like "so & so's wife", but I get to bless my family by keeping my house in order. My actions directly effect the mood in our home. When my husband is able to come home to a clean home it brings peace. Why wouldn't I want to make him feel that way everyday?

It's because I'm selfish. I want someone to do that for me. It's a heart issue. Once I get my heart right & realize God has placed me in the position of a homemaker (like it or not), peace comes. Of course I fight it with all that's in me - - because "it's not fair!" Oh man, let me just think about all the things that aren't fair. Truly, I don't deserve anything but God graciously gives me everything I have. He is faithful to provide as I humbly seek Him.

Wow!

Family Pictures

Our good friend, Paige Kirby, was gracious enough to snap some family pictures for us last weekend. Here are just a few of the pics she took.
The rest are on my Facebook page. Check 'em out...

Saturday fun

This morning Micah & I went to have breakfast with my mom & help her around the house. On our way to breakfast with my mom, we passed by the Temple Terrace Fire Dept, who was having an open house & knew we had to stop by after breakfast. What a great decision. We had so much fun! Micah got to climb all over a couple of fire trucks, see a couple of local bands, make crafts, eat his first sno cone - it was great. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I'm so thankful we were able to stop in. Much better than helping mom clean around the house.

For some reason this morning (totally God), I was prompted to grab my camera before leaving the house. I went picture happy. Here are just a couple of the many pictures I took.

New Bed

My little boy is growing up. Last night Nate put together Micah's new (big boy) bed. It's a bed we have been wanting from Ikea but couldn't justify spending the money. We found the same bed on craigslist for almost 1/4 of the price & we couldn't pass it up. Nate, Micah & Nate's mom, Marsha, went to New Port Richey on Monday to pick it up (what an adventure that turned into).

Last night Nate worked feverishly to get this bed together. I think he was more excited than Micah. He never had a bunk bed growing up so he was stoked to be able to provide one for Micah. Nate finished assembling bed around 9pm last night & the fun began. Micah had so much fun exploring and learning how to climb the stairs! It took him forever to calm down & go to sleep, but thankfully he slept through the night (I was worried about him getting down in the middle of the night half awake) and got down successfully this morning.

Family pictures

Tomorrow is family picture day! The last time we took family pictures was when Micah was 2 1/2 months old. The time has flown by so fast, but it's time. All of the pictures around are house are so outdated. Our dear friend, Paige, is going to get up early with us tomorrow & shoot some family portraits at one of our favorite spots, which conveniently is in our subdivision.

4 amazing years

Over the Labor Day weekend, Nate & I took a mini vacation for to celebrate our 4 year wedding anniversary (and also to get out of town for the 3 yr anniversary of Hurricane Katrina).

Our trip started off Friday after work with a great 5 hour (or so) drive. We had so much fun just being together as husband & wife. Sometimes I feel bad wanting to spend time without Micah, but that thought rarely entered my mind while we were gone. We left Micah with one of our best friends, who love him almost as much as we do, so we didn't worry about him one bit - which made our trip a whole lot more enjoyable.

After a dinner break in St. Augustine & a walk around the Cracker Barrel store, we hit the road for the rest of our drive. At this point, I took the wheel as Nate was beat. We finally got to our hotel in Savannah a little before midnight. Our hotel wasn't all that we thought it would be, but it was nice & we didn't have to share the bed with a two year old.

Saturday morning we woke up semi-early (for vacation) but didn't really "get up" until around 10. Right away we knew what we had to do. Get to Lady & Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant) as soon as possible. Thankfully we missed the crazy, wrap around the building, line for a lunch reservation and were able to get a reservation for a late lunch. Once we got our reservation we hit the streets, being complete tourists. We walked along Bay Street & the river taking in all of the tourist shops & taking random picutres. We found a cool, old cemetery and had fun walking through taking pictures and reading the old tombstones. After lunch at L&S, we had no choice but to go back to the hotel for a nap. Holy cow, L&S was amazing and we ate way too much. That night we walked along the River, stopping at all the shops & finally ending up a Spanky's, a local eatery, for a late dinner.

Sunday morning, Nate went for a run in the city & found some cool streets that he wanted us to check out later. So once we were ready, we walked down in the residential areas & took lots of random pictures. It was awesome! We probably walked at least 3 miles that day. We ended up on the far end of the city at The Pirate House for lunch. We were told by several people that it was a must. Having been there, I wouldn't tell people it's a must but it was ok. While at lunch we checked out several tour map, trying to decide which tour we should do - - we ended up deciding to scrap the tour idea & hit all the popular spots ourself. While our visits didn't include the history, we had fun. We saw St John's Cathedral, The Waving Girl statue, The Olympic Torch, The Lowe house & much more. It was a great day.

Sunday night was by far my favorite. While at a store during the day, we asked a local where we should eat. She made a suggestion & we actually followed her advice. We got dressed up and went to Jazz'd, a jazz tapas restaurant. It was something new for us & we were stoked to try it. We couldn't decide what we wanted but we did find two items that we had to try. Then we decided to have our own restaurant tour. :o) We ate appetizers at Jazz'd, then went to City Market to hear a local band play. After a bit, we walked & walked along the River before ending up The Moon River for drinks & dinner. This ended up being our favorite place of the trip - mainly because we spent so much time there. A great band was playing when we got there & 20 minutes later when our waitress finally introduced herself - - yeah, we sat unnoticed in a corner for way too long. But we decided to show her grace & ended up having a blast. Needless to say, we got a lot of free stuff.

Monday morning we slept in & checked out, but couldn't leave without one last walk around & a short shopping trip. We stopped at The Moon River to buy a shirt, Paula Deen's for souvenier's and walked through a square. Our trip home was relaxing.

This trip, our first vacation since our honeymoon, was amazing! I wouldn't have traded it for anything. It was just what we needed to reconnect & relax. It could have been longer but I'm not sure how much longer we could have been away from Micah. We sure missed him but we will totally do it again.

Savannah was amazing!

New Commitment

So, I'm making myself a new goal - blog more.

About what you ask?
About anything we want...how God's moving in our life, our family, our church, whatever we feel like sharing.

Here's what going on in our life at the moment.
Nate only has something like 13 weeks left until he's a college graduate!!! The entire time we've been together, all 6 amazing years, school has been a huge priority. We are both so stinking excited that he's almost done with this phase of his education. So, what's next?? We have no plans, but that's exactly what we're asking God. What do you have for us? Life as we know it today will stay the same (except Nate won't have school/homework/tests hanging over his head). We realize our life is not our own - so what's next is totally up to God. We are merely vessels, willing to go & do whatever he wants.

Micah - man is he getting huge. He's two and a half & totally awesome! He's completely potty trained (even at night). Praise God - no more diapers or pull ups!!! He has developed quite the imagination lately, in a good way. It's been so cool to see him discover new things, pretend & become a great little guy. We're teaching him how to talk to his Father about all things & pray over his life. I'm excited to see the man he's going to be & how he's going to love Jesus.

Me - God has been revealing a ton about His nature lately, specifically as my Father. It's incredible to me that He wants to know me, hear from me. That blows my mind. I think it's because I didn't have a relationship with a daddy growing up so my view of Him in that role has never been sharp. He's been teaching me (through my husband, His Word, other pastors) that He desires to be my daddy. He wants me to crawl up in his lap & talk to Him. How stinking cool is that?!?

Life is fabulous right now. We are seeking God as a family with all we have, following where He's leading & readying ourselves against Satan's attacks.

-Katie

To Truly Hunger

Something that God has poured out onto my soul lately, is the importance of hunger. I have recently realized how few times in my life I have been hungry. I eat all the time, but never really hunger.

This caused me to reflect on my walk with God, and as I am in pursuit of Him, I realized that I have never experienced a soul hunger after God. So my prayer has become, God make me hunger for you.

As this has become my prayer, an amazing thing has occurred...

I got hungry.

And I ate.

God has given me a hunger for him, and an awareness of my need to feast from His banquet table on a frequent basis.

As I feast, my heart becomes aware of the struggle between my flesh and my Spirit, my body truly is at battle, a heart that is created to be connected to God, dwelling in a body that is shaped and broken with sin.

How amazing it is to realize this struggle and begin the process of killing the flesh, to live in the Spirit.

Thank you God, for being my soul satisfaction, for sustaining me where food can never satisfy.

God, grow my appetite for you, and allow me to truly hunger for You.

Starved for the Savior,

Nate