My Husband

My husband is seriously so amazing! I know I always proclaim Elias' greatness on here, but I often fail to mention Gus' awesomeness. I just have to say that I have a great Godly man that loves his family. I honestly hope that our little boy grows up to be like his daddy. There is no greater role model for Elias. Gus is loving, devoted, caring, supportive, FUN, humorous, and most importantly he loves the Lord! My message to Elias is: Watch your daddy. He knows how to serve God and he knows how to love his wife. Your daddy knows how to go above and beyond to be a loving father to his little boy. Watch and follow him. He will lead you the right way!

The Beginning

Exactly 11 years ago my life completely changed. I walked into that youth service at First Assembly of God a typical 15 year old girl, but I left a new creation. My life, my heart, my future, my goals, my everything was changed. That was the night I realized that God was real, His Son had died for me, and that His love for me was great enough to accept me as I was.
I can remember every detail of that night and that moment where I gave everything I had to the Lord. I literally felt as though a huge burden and weight was lifted off of me. I remember the incredible sense of love and joy I felt. Since that night living my life for the Lord has not always been easy. In all honesty there have been times when my faith has been weak and I have doubted Him and His truth. In those moments all I have to do is remember September 17, 1997 and every doubt vanishes. I KNOW that night was real. I KNOW that night I encountered God. I KNOW that what I felt was not emotions created by me or by a human being. I KNOW it was true. It was my moment with Him.
All I have and all that I am (at least all the good parts of me) I owe to my God, my Savior. Thank you Lord for that moment that has led me to a lifetime and eventually an eternity of serving and loving you!

I love the lyrics to this song:
I have known you now for many years
And life has not always gone perfectly
Gentle whispers followed by the storms
And life has caused tears to fall

But if you ask has it been worth the price
And would I do it over again

I would give my life all over again
I'd run to you with no regrets
On my knees I give my all to you
For your Kingdom's sake

Praise the LORD.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Psalm 106:1

Pictures!

This is his take off postition.

How could you deny anything to this sweet face?!

Preparing to jump!

Climbing is second only to jumping.

He is always full of big smiles at the pool! He feels right at home in the water.

He is saying "cheese" on his way to his first day of school.

Jumping!

Elias is all about jumping now! For the past few weeks we hear "I dump, I dump, I dump" (which translates to I jump) all day long. He jumps on things (and people, especially me), couches, sidewalks, steps, etc. He jumps on stuff, off of things, onto things, and into things. It is really cute because every jump, even the tiniest ones, require him to swing his arms back as far as they will go, bring them forward again and JUMP! He attempted to jump out of his high chair the other day and landed on his back. He had the biggest knot on his little head! We both cried. He cried because it hurt, and I cried because I should not have let that happen.
This Tuesday he will start 'preschool'. He will be going 2 days a week from 9am-2pm so that I can work. I know he will love it, and honestly so will I! It is nice to have a job that allows me to get out of the 'mom mode' that I can easily get stuck in. Not that I don't LOVE being a mom, but I need work that requires use from the other parts of my brain. If you don't use it, you lose it!

Happy Birthday, Gravity!

It has been almost 2 weeks since we celebrated Gravity's birthday. (That is the name of our college and career ministry.) What a great year it has been! God has again been sooooo good to us and allowed Gus and I to get to know some incredible people. When the idea to take on the college and career ministry at FWC, Gus and I were bombarded with a multitude of emotions. The idea was an abrupt surprise to us both. We begin to seriously consider that God was shifting our ministry focus. Under all the questions and all the emotions regarding the college ministry, there was an immense peace. I knew that our focus needed to be on the college age and young adults. From there God took over and just began to "wow" us! Let me preface my next few sentences by saying that Gus and I LOVED youth ministry. We absolutely loved our students and ministering to them. However, with Gravity I feel home. I know that this feeling is due to God's amazing love. He has used our Gravity students to show ME his love in an overwhelming way. I constantly thank God for allowing me to know them and love them. I am thankful that he has allowed me to show His love to them. Their passion and total authenticity is exciting and contagious. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do through them! How awesome that I get to go along for the ride too. Lives are going to be changed! Wait and you will see.

In other news, I think they deleted the pic I had of those shoes! Funny!
Elias' newest phrase is "I am that hero!". Again this one is from Larryboy. Just when I think that kid can't get cuter, he goes and learns something like that!

Check out Elias' new shoes!

Okay, so NOT REALLY! I found these today and seriously cannot believe they market these shoes for baby boys!!!! Are you kidding me? Wow! Starting a little young with the sexual images, you think? How is this considered cool or cute? Would it be "cute" to put a pair of shoes on a baby girl with a sexualized (not sure if that is a word) silhouette of a man on them? I think it is pretty obvious that a man designed these shoes. Sad!!

In other (real) news this week:
Our anniversary trip went great! We stayed in Chattanooga and went to Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain! It was a wonderful, refreshing weekend.

Elias' new word of the week is "mom-is" which translates to Thomas, as in the train. He has also started calling Gus "Dus" instead of Daddy. He told me the other night, "I want Dus". I said, "You want Gus?" His reply, "Day" (yes). We realized he constantly hears people calling his daddy Gus at church. Someone is always looking for him! The cuteness never ends with this kid!