Weekend Update

So, I'm going to be blogging over the next few weeks for the sake of Nate. That way if he gets a chance he can read it and be up to date on all that's going on at home with his family.
For those of you that stumble upon here, sorry for the boring updates.

Here's what we've been up to the past few days....

• Day 1, Thursday: We dropped Nate off at the airport then chilled at home the rest of the evening. I was preparing for our women's event, which was the following night, so I was busy cutting verses out and relaxing.
  
• Day 2, Friday: I worked from home. Micah was so wonderful. He let me work most of the day. We took breaks throughout the day to take Zoe for a walk, eat breakfast/lunch, put a puzzle together, talk, color, whatever little 3 year old boys need to do. I was semi-productive when it came to work. I got to talk to Nate for just a few minutes before his flight took off for Tokyo - yay!
  We headed up to the church to prepare for the women's event around 4:30. Micah was a wonderful kid, as usual, as we got ready helping with whatever we needed him to. Papa came to pick him up around 6, which left me an hour to finish up preparation for the event.
  God is so good. I was a little discouraged because only about 15 ladies attended our event. We had to think quick on our feet and scrap the game/activities we had planned because of the size of the group, but we still had a good time. In fact we had the opportunity to spend even more time connecting, so that was great. I spoke for about 15 minutes about the lies Satan tells us and how I combat them. Not sure how everyone else thought I did, but I think it was ok. I spoke and shared what God told me to....so it had to be great. :)
  
• Day 3, Saturday: My momma called, while I was still sleeping, to see what we were up to for the day. She ended up coming over and we hit up the yard sale at our church. Micah brought along his piggy bank and ended up finding a few great deals. Two games for $1.25 and a sidewalk chalk toy for free...can't beat that. Then we headed up to Walmart to search for a new vacuum, because ours doesn't work great. I couldn't decide...so I ended up buying 12 journals for $3 (they were only a quarter each, how could I pass that deal up?)
  We ate some decent Cuban food at a new restaurant then Micah and I relaxed most of the afternoon at home.
  Later in the evening we went over to Nate's parents house to figure out a new software program the church has purchased and eat some dinner. Nothing fancy, just a nice evening.
  
  I still hadn't heard from Nate - at this point I was going a little crazy. I did see online (gotta love technology) that his plane from Detroit to Tokyo had arrived safely as did his plane from Tokyo to Bangkok, Thailand. But I had yet to actually hear from him. (This is the longest communication gap we've ever had....and I didn'tlike it).
  
• Day 4, Sunday: We woke up and ate some eggs, shocker. We headed off to church without daddy - that was weird. An awesome thing happened during the first worship song. I was bummed that I still hadn't heard from Nate but nonetheless I was worshipping....then I got a text from my hubby!!! Again, gotta love technology. Even though the team was experiencing internet and phone issues, he was able to get on Twitter and update his status to send me a message. I felt like my heart exploded - in a good way. I knew with everything in me that he was safe (because my God is that good) but it was such a relief to finally receive communication from him.
  After church Micah and I hit up Walmart again, this time actually getting a vacuum (no more journals), then we spent some time vacuuming the house. Gross - I didn't realize how 1) dirty our floors were and 2) how awful our old vacuum was.
  For the last hour or so I've been trying to get our son to take a rest, unsuccessfully.

Missing my hubby like crazy. The house feels different without him here.

I am so blessed to have a husband who loves me but loves his Saviour more. What a great example he is to his family. Love you & miss you. Hopefully we'll get to talk soon.

Praying for Nate & the group he is traveling with (David, Norris, Todd, David, Keith & Drew). May they be blessed, safe and have a blast. The spiritual warfare is increasing as they are there - but GOD IS BIGGER. Be strong and courageous!

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.

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