fun fun fun

Teddy has been off work since Thursday. It has been great!

We went to the Sugarland concert on Thursday night! You might remember that we were supposed to go to this concert because of the surprise gift on our one year anniversary. We had a BLAST! Loved loved loved all three bands.

Before the concert:


Matt Nathanson: You might recognize his song Come on get Higher


Little Big Town: THEY WERE AWESOME. They have some of the best harmonies I've ever heard live. I knew a lot more of their music than what I thought! GREAT!!



Sugarland: Absolutely wonderful! They played for an hour & half straight. SCORE. I just sang my little heart out! We had great seats...Teddy did AWESOME with this surprise!


Having SO much fun!


Singing Stay (crowd fav!)

All three bands singing one last song. AMAZING!



Friday night we went to the drive in theatre. We had purchased a living social deal back in January and needed to use it before Tuesday (expires). We picked up my sister/jason's pups because we were going to be dog sitting and headed to the place. We thought we were going to get a parking space because traffic was crazy...but our screen was fine! We saw Kung Fu Panda 2 & Thor. We didn't stay for majority of Thor. It was Teddy's first time to the drive in! :)

Terrible picture of me...but it was the only one of both of us for his first movie experience! :)

The pups enjoying their first drive-in movie!



Saturday night we play Taboo and Catchphrase with Lori/Richard and Lisa/Jeremy over at the Bollens house. We laughed ALOT. Girls won Taboo and boys won catch phrase.

Tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY! my 25th birthday! holy moly! :) I'm excited for the day! Teddy got another day off of work for my birthday. He switched shifts so he could spend the day with me! So far my friends/family have showered me with love already. I got a pretty necklace (from Katie), Sugarland CD (from Misty), and a giftcard to Old Navy (from Amy/Jason). I have 3 birthday cards sitting on the kitchen table just waiting to be opened tomorrow from my momma, my grandma, and my mother-in-law. I'm excitedddd!

You might notice that I'm tanner in that picture up there. That is because in the last 7 days I have laid out 5 days. With Cotter, Lori, and twice with 3 times with Teddy. I've enjoyed my time with those ladies! Kim comes back tomorrow from being in Houston--i'm excited for her & Brett to be back here until we leave for Colorado!

My next post I will talk about our support presentation this morning at a church here in town. :)
-Kells

sleeping stories

When Teddy and I got married we had no idea what to expect when it comes to sleeping habits. Luckily, neither of us are crazy sleepers. We don't normally have to fight for covers or push the other one back on their side. We stay put!

At times Teddy likes to talk in his sleep. Typically, he falls asleep before me. I will stay up reading or on my computer. It will happen around 1-2 hours in the beginning of him sleeping.

Two nights ago we got to bed late after hanging out with friends. So his "show" happened around 12:30am. He literally dove out of the bed head first landing hard on the floor. I was already asleep, but this clearly woke me up. I heard, "What the heck?" from him (asleep). I initially thought he fell out of bed on accident.

I asked him what in the world he was doing (a tad annoyed). He said (while obviously still out of it) he was looking for the small square pillows. Got back in bed and went back to snoozing. I woke him up probably 10 minutes later because he really weirded me out. He proceeded to tell me he was dreaming about Cheese-it's (the small squares) and that there were some on the floor. He was awake at this point when he was talking.

Needless to say, we are still laughing about this. And this is a definite first. I told him to cut it out because he will start scaring me if he isn't careful. :) And yes, I know he really can't help it...

-Kells

forgive...AND forget?

On this quiet Sunday afternoon I was spending time with the Lord. I'm currently doing a study on Hebrews and really enjoy it. I have never done a study on Hebrews and I have learned a lot. Many of the studies have been perfect timing for what I'm struggling with that day. God is pretty awesome for that. :)

This afternoon was a study on Hebrews 8:1-13. Going from the old covenant to the new one (Jesus!). At the end of the passage it talks about God being merciful and not remembering out sins any longer.

What I really wanted to share was a little inspiration story from the study. It was a great reminder!

Enjoy:

I was thanking the Father today for his mercy. I began listing the sins he'd forgiven. One by one I thanked God for forgiving my stumbles and tumbles. My motives were pure and my heart was thankful, but my understanding of God was wrong. It was when I used the word "remember" that it hit me...

God doesn't just forgive, he forgets. He erases the board. He destroys the evidence. He burns the microfilm. He cleans the computer.

No, he doesn't remember. But I do, you do. You still remember. You're like me. You still remember what you did before you changed. In the cellar of your heart lurk the ghosts of yesterday's sins. Sins you've confessed; errors of which you've repented; damage you've done your best to repair.

And though you're a different person, the ghosts still linger. Though you've locked the basement door, they still haunt you. They float to meet you, spooking your soul and robbing your joy. With wordless whispers they remind you of moments when you forgot whose child you were...

Poltergeists from yesterday's pitfalls. Spiteful specters that slyly suggest, "Are you really forgiven? Sure, God forgets most of our mistakes, but do you think he could actually forget the time you..."

Was God exaggerating when he said he would cast our sins as far as the eat is from the west? Do you actually believe he would make a statement like, "I will not hold their iniquities against them" and then rub our noses in them whenever who ask for help?

You see, God is either the God of perfect grace, or he is not God. Graces forgets. Period. He who is perfect love cannot hold grudges. If he does, then he isn't perfect love. And if he isn't perfect love, you might as well put this book down and go fishing because both of us are chasing fairy tales.

But I believe in his loving forgetfulness. And I believe has has a graciously terrible memory. (From God Came Near by Max Lucado)

-Kells

a HUGE need

Update on Joining staff!

• We are currently less then a month away from heading out to Ft. Collins, Colorado for New Staff Training (NST)! We are also more than a month into raising support for the summer! At this point you should have received our support letter for NST. Please continue to pray about giving financially for our summer. We still need to raise around $8,000. If you are just a blog reader (don't receive newsletters) and want to be apart you can go HERE.

• We were asked by head staff in charge of raising support to look into finding FREE housing starting in August. Yes, that says FREE! They informed us that many new staff do this to help off set the initial cost in raising support. If we do not find free housing for 6 months-1 year that will force one of us to get a job to help pay for rent. As a result of this we will not be able to focus 100% on support raising and have freedom to travel to different cities whenever we need for appointments. And the final result of that is getting to our campus later. On average it takes a couple 6 months-1 year to raise support. This is where YOU come in.

1. Do you have a place that we could stay in for any period of time? Do you know someone who would be willing to host us? Our desire is to remain in Lubbock, but we are open to anything!
2. Do you have connections to a storage business? Or maybe you have an empty room in your house that we could store things? (In Lubbock)
3. Do you know anyone who needs a place to live starting in August? Our lease in our apartment isn’t up until February. They can extend their lease after February. 1bd/1bath 811 sq ft—The Boulders at Lakeridge (82nd & Quaker) We need someone to take over so we don’t have to pay $1,000 to break our lease! Rent is $542...a steal for this area & apartment complex!

We are really walking in faith right now that God will provide these things. We have already found ourselves doubting that any of this can happen. But then we are reminded that the God we serve is bigger than these things and He cares for us. If you have an option please contact us. Even if you can’t provide any of these things, please boldly pray with us!

You are walking through this journey with us. Thanks!
-Kells

In my leisure time I...

Read blogs about adoption. More specifically blogs about children who have been adopted from Ethiopia. Do I know these people? Nope! Most of them I find through each other. There is a big blog world out there about Ethiopia children. I love reading these stories. It ranges from being in the process, having one adopted and one biological, two adopted, 2 biological and two adopted etc.

Have a look...

Love is waiting
Bicycle Basket
Ethiopia or bust
Family from afar
Party of Five

My hope is to go here some day. And yes, adopt from here. :)


-Kells

GREAT four days

Teddy had Thursday-Sunday off from work. This was a normal thing that happened every other weekend back in Jan/Feb. Then his schedule went crazy due to people getting fired. I can't remember the last time we had 4 days off together. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

We slept in until 10 most mornings. We stay up late watching movies (never happens anymore). We ran errands together. We wrote thank you notes for support.

Thursday night we hung out with Brett/Kim and went hot tubbing! It's always great hanging out with them. I'm sad they are moving from Lubbock, but thrilled that they are joining staff too! We will be in Colorado probably living on the same dorm floor for 6 weeks. :)

Friday Teddy and I had our first picnic together! It was fun! We also fed ducks at the park! I enjoyed our time, except we got chased by stupid geese. I could hear them coming. As they got closer and closer I told Teddy I was nervous. Eventually, I had enough and took off running. Teddy gathered our stuff quickly and took off running too. As soon as we started running they chased us. We screamed and laughed alot. It ended our picnic after an hour...

Friday night we hung out with Matt & Kinsey! Kins was graduating from Tech this past weekend. They came into town with their sweet new puppy Raider! I enjoyed hanging out with them and talking/laughing about marriage! :)

Saturday Teddy and I went on a hunt for another band/ring for his finger. We had to take his to get re-sized and they told us it would be 6-8 weeks because it's a custom ring. We are leaving before that time frame, so that would've been all summer. Therefore, we went to buy another ring as CHEAP as possible. We looked everywhere and didn't have much luck. Then we found one of those kiosk at the mall with chains, fake diamond earrings, rings etc. We found a ring that was $30, but Teddy talked him down to $22. :) So he now has a new ring until the other one gets done!

Saturday night we went to Kins graduation party. We also went to a Ballet recital! Two of the families on staff have girls in Ballet Lubbock. We really enjoyed it! I can't wait to have girls who might do ballet/tap stuff. I did that for a few years in my life! We also enjoyed the older girls/guy numbers. They were very impressive!

Sunday we went to church. It was a WONDERFUL service! We spent the afternoon working on support assignments & reading scripture about raising support. It was very encouraging! That evening we to to a money class at Kim/Brett's church with them. A local financial planner, Brock, led the time. It was great! Much of what was taught was based off of Dave Ramsey's book. A few new ideas was surfaced that was different from Dave. And this was more scriptural based. We also got to sign up for a free 45 min meeting with him for next Saturday. He normally charges $175/hr...so this is a blessing! With our new transition into ministry & budget changing we are thrilled to ask him questions! After that we went to Starbucks with the Marcoses. Teddy and I spent time with Jesus & they worked on thank you notes.

Overall, just GREAT time with my husband! I'm ALLLLL about quality time. That is exactly what we got for the past four days. It was wonderful! :)

-Kells

from one wife to another wife

I'm posting from another blog today! I took this from Today's Housewife I really enjoy this blog!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proverbs 18:22, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord."

My husband, a pastor, has had a more stressful week than usual. You know what kind of week I'm talking about. They happen in every profession.

So I've tried extra hard to make home stress-less. Meals ready when he was ready to eat (even if that is 9:00 at night). Things picked up around the house. Laundry done and put away. Small things that I hope make our home peaceful and calm. It's one of my favorite things about being a wife. Only I can minister to him in these important and practical ways. That's why I believe Scripture says in Proverbs that a wife is a good thing in 18:22; and in Proverbs 31:12 it says about the excellent wife, "she does [her husband] good."

How do you do your husband good? What practical ways do you show him love? How do you make your home less stressful? Let's learn from each other today!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I liked this because it's SO easy to get into a routine and completely get lost in WHY do I what I do around this house week after week. I can have selfish thoughts creep in and start to saturate my thoughts. "He should do this, I shouldn't have to for the 3rd time this week." "I'm tired of doing this..." etc etc This is definitely a struggle!

I'm reminded that I can take the day to day tasks and serve my husband. It might be chaotic at work, but he knows he can come home to a non-chaotic (looking) home. His job requires him to be on the go, non-stop, for his 12 hour shift. When he comes home he can relax and not feel the need to "Do more" around here.

One reason why I can continue to feel motivated to do this is scripture. But also because my loving husband shows his appreciation often. He constantly is thanking me for making dinner night after night, cleaning,doing laundry, bills etc. But another thing that keeps me motivated is the fact that he likes to help too. He will give me a "break" every once in a while. I'm truly grateful for his help!



Back to the questions:
How do you do your husband good? What practical ways do you show him love? How do you make your home less stressful?

annnd thats a wrap

today we had our final staff meeting! I do have a few loose ends I need to tie up to help the team next year since we won't be "here". (will be in Lubbock mostly, but not on campus)

We have our last team party tonight. It will be bittersweet. I can't even begin to express to you how much I absolutely love our staff team. There is something so right about each of us working together on a team. We get along great & laugh constantly. They have truly been my second family after college. They would do anything for us. We love them all & will miss being with them next year. Plus, one of our bestfriend couples are leaving for good. Makes it all so strange...:(

I'm currently cooking Amish Friendship bread. Never have done this ever in my life. Teddy came home from work with a bag of batter and we've followed the directions each day & today (10 days later) we are able to make it. I about destroyed my kitchen using everything. I wonder if anyone can bake without making a mess? I certainly CANNOT! :) My house smells amazing right now...cinnamon!

I'm looking forward to being home more now. I can focus on working out, the house, packing for the summer, cooking fun things, and support. We will need to start phone calls here soon. Support needs to be the main focus. I'm wanting to spend more time in focus prayer about our support during the day. 30 mins straight of specifically praying for people by name and asking God for wisdom in our decision making that comes from raising support.

Last night I had all the girls I disciple over for dinner & games. It was wonderful! We did your typical girl talk...boys! But then we got to share with one another what God did this year in our lives. What an absolute blessing that I get to sit front row of these women's lives and watch them walk with the Lord. They really do make my weeks better. I'm so honored to be apart of their lives.


I met Molly her freshman year...3 years ago! We've been meeting one on one since then. This girls love for the Lord will make you want to go spend time with Jesus!She has a beautiful gift of connecting with other women! Plus, an incredible voice that she uses to help lead worship in our ministry! She has been to Branson, MO & Zambia, AFrica on summer project!

I also met Sarah her freshman year. I was actually friends with her brother who is one year younger than me. I knew I wanted to invest time in from the get go! We've been meeting now for 3 years too! I love her consistency in life. Such a steady girl! She has been to Denver Inner City & Moscow, Russia on summer project!

I got to know Holly more her sophomore year of college because we led a Bible study together. During that time I got to disciple her for a little bit, but then a student started doing that. They continued in their discipleship relationship for a long time until Jordan (the student) graduated this past December. I knew I wanted to invest in Holly again as she entered into grad school. She started discipling other girls this year! She's incredibly silly, which I thoroughly enjoy considering I'm a nut too! :)

I met Emma her freshman year! She hung out with our group of friends and at the end of her first year of college I challenged her to allow me to disciple her and it's been the same since! We also have 3 years under our belt! Emma has grown more than any other person I seen walk in as a freshman & leave as a senior. She will graduate next May. I cannot wait to see how God continues to use her outside of college life. She truly has a gift of compassion for others! She has been to Branson, MO & Moscow, Russia on summer project!


I met Brenda last year, but started discipling her this year! She is one of our key leaders for our Destino ministry (Hispanic/Latino ministry). We spent SO much time talking to other students about Christ. We had an absolute blast working together this year. Her heart for others to know Christ really came on strong this year. She wants others to know about JESUS! She is going on her first summer project to the Dominican Republic with Destino!


I met Whitney when she was a freshmen in our leadership class (M29). I realized I didn't know many people in the first class that semester and asked her to go to lunch with me so I can get to know her. Then I helped her write her testimony and that was the start of our fun relationship. Whitney came back for her sophomore year (this year) with a heart ready for change & allowed the Lord to work in some VERY significant ways this year. She is going on her first summer project this summer to Jackson Hole, WY!
I love each other these girls. I will miss them SO much next year!

-Kells

wrapping it up!

My work for this Spring is quickly coming to a close. Students are in the middle of finals. We as a staff team are in the middle of planning (for next year) & evaluation (for this year). We spend A LOT of time doing this. Wednesday-Friday we spent 12 hours in planning & evaluation mode. We still have Monday & Tuesday left (10am-3pm) and then it's over. I actually enjoy these meetings! Plus, I love the staff team. There are definitely times we get on one topic that is a LONG conversation and I can get restless. But mostly, I like it! :) Wednesday is our "release" date. Next on schedule-continue raising support & head to Colorado around June 11th!

It feels CRAZY to me that the year is already over. I'm hoping this time next year we will be done raising our monthly support and headed to Branson for summer project. That's just my preference, but there is no telling if that will actually happen. I just LOVED Branson summer project in 2009 and would LOVE for Teddy to have that be his first experience with summer project!

It's been fun this week with raising support because there has been at least one check in the mail every day. We are currently at $1500! Many thousands left to go, but we are encouraged! I believe that puts us at 7% of our goal. Pray this would continue! Teddy is learning how to document everything & the art of writing thank you notes. He is a quick learner, which is SUPER helpful as we merge into the same job. He has spent so much time learning more and more about Crusade in the past month through staff resources online. I love seeing him SO excited!

With the end of the school year comes many parties & gatherings. I haven't had to cook much lately, which has been a much needed break! It's not that I don't like cooking...I actually do enjoy that. Especially cooking new things. It's the process of thinking about WHAT to cook. Looking for recipes. Going to the store. If I could have someone do the PRE stuff, then I would love cooking more. :) Again, this summer living in the dorms---I don't have to cook, think about cooking, or clean up after cooking. YAHOOOOOOOOO! 6 weeks of pure bliss. ;)

Here are some pictures of recent things (out of order):

Spring Banquet for TechCRU


Sweet girls at our end of the year picnic (Maddy & Emma)


One of my college roommates got married last month!


Easter with the staff team!


Life is about to get ALOT slower. Hopefully I will write more! :)
-Kells