TONS of stuff

so, yea..i'm busy.

Just realized it's been WELLLL over a month since my last post. I should've guessed this was going to happen. The fall is always just nuts. We are running from one thing to the next. Ministry has been great. What a treat to work with my husband. It's a major blessing. We enjoy spending time with students on the weekends and throughout the week.

So if you have been around my blog for any time period, you have seen me post about food/diet/lifestyle stuff in different seasons. Welllll we are back to doing something that is different and challenging and good. We are making the shift to being a non-processed family. What does this mean mostly...we cook & eat at home primarily. But not only do we cook, but we do a lot from scratch, made the shift to 100% Whole Wheat, organic and ditching old snacks for fruits/veggies/cheese. It's hard, but good. Did I mention I dropped sodas. WHAT?! Yes, I was drinking one coke a day for MONTHS. I went cold turkey and now on my 3rd week of just water. yahoo! (headaches were NUTS the first 2 days, but didn't occur on day 3)

Why the change...yet again? Well I've lived with abdomen pain for the last year and I was tired of it. I knew after eating clean in April (and feeling great) that I needed to change the way I ate. But to do the Whole 30 challenge again just didn't seem feasible with our schedule and lifestyle with students. So after stumbling upon www.100daysofrealfood.com and reading a little, I realized this family eats normal food, you know, food Teddy and I would both enjoy, with a healthy spin. Where as the Whole30 was a struggle at times to eat whatever we made. At this point we have enjoy everything except a soup we made last night. (we didn't even save the left overs because we knew we wouldn't eat them).

Here are all the recipes I've tried so far:
Refried Beans 
Kale Chips
Whole Wheat Biscuits
Granola Bars/Cereal
Berry Sauce (for yogurt)
Whole Grain Cornbread
Popcorn Trick
Whole Chicken in Crockpot
Applesauce
Fruit, Nut, Berry Muffins
Whole Wheat Pizza Pockets (teddy liked, I didn't)
Peanut Squash Soup (didn't like)
Enchilada (soo good)

So I mentioned abdomen pain up there. Well after multiple doctor visits, we had discovered that I have gallstones. :( So there is a high chance that I will have my gallbladder removed here in the next few weeks. I'm ready to be done with the pain I feel, especially after a high-fat meal. So that is another reason to say No to fast food and yes to cooking non processed stuff at home. I've had multiple gallbladder attacks in the last couple of weeks. I hear the gallbladder surgery is pretty short and sweet with only 3 incisions with about a 3-7 day recovery. So that is good. I will keep you posted & you can pray for this situation. I'm about 2 appointments out from figuring out for sure if I will have surgery or not.

Ok, that is enough for now. We'll see how I do as far as updating. If I have 3-7 days to recover from surgery, I will have a lot of couch time/computer time. :) I already thought in my head that I might sign up for netflix for that free one month for that time. So I can watch TV on my laptop to kill time. Anyways, check back soon to hear more about our new lifestyle change & how it's working for us.

-Kelli

first week down.

First Tech game!

Teddy and I experienced our first week on campus last week....together!!

As many of you know, I worked for Cru as soon as I graduated from Tech & Teddy went through fire academy & EMT school, followed by working out at the county jail for over a year in their medical department as an EMT. Yes, we went on summer project together this past summer and that was our VERY first experience of doing ministry together. But summer projects are different. We are training students who already have a relationship with Jesus and helping them to consider what it looks like to reach out to their co-workers, focus on their relationship with Jesus & others, and let people into their lives so they can experience real community.So to finally be on campus together after a year of raising support is SO great!

Sweet Aniyah

Doing campus ministry is VERY different from summer projects. We are out meeting students who may not know much about Cru, who may know nothing about Jesus, who have zero interest in walking with God while in college, who grew up going to church & think they are a Christian just because of that but never have actually accepted Christ. We are on campus to break down misconceptions about Christianity and come along students WHEREVER they are. Period. So, the person who has a relationship with Christ, doesn't have a relationship, is questioning their relationship, hates God, is pondering who Jesus Christ etc etc...We exist on campus for them.

Sweet Aeson

Sweet Celah

Just today I had a sweet freshman text me asking me to help her answer tough questions from a friend who's dad recently died. She didn't know what to say. I had the opportunity to point her to Christ & a few articles I recommended from www.everystudent.com . I met her this past Friday. She mentioned she wanted to know how to share her faith, so I passed off a small four point outline on what it means to be a Christian and told her to use it. We went through it together & I told her to pass it on. Just 3 days later this friend came to her asking her questions about what she believes. God's timing is legit. This is why I'm on campus. I want to be a resource for ANY type of student.

It was a great first week. We met tons of new students. Teddy had his first freshman bible study and 8 guys showed up for their dorm study! We are looking forward to another week on campus!

This weekend we got to go to the first tech football game! We were blessed with free tickets! We enjoyed time with friends and students at our cru tailgate & at the game. We also got to spend some time with some best friends on Friday night (Calder & Ceri) and their sweet little baby Celah. AND one of my good friends Shelley has been in town this past week. So I got to spend some time with her & meet her sweet new baby too (Aniyah) and play with her 3 yr old on Wednesday and Sunday at the pool! It was a fun weekend! :)


 -Kelli

busy.

Update time...
 Teddy and I have been busy. Last week we had a meeting every day for work. After those initial meetings we have had extra meetings to work on things that are specific for our role on our team, plus chasing whatever details we have been assigned. On top of that I've been doing a little training for new people on the team. We have spent A LOT of time with our co-workers. Luckily, we love them & thoroughly enjoy being around them. They are like family.

I'm also still enjoying getting settled into our home. I've painted a bed-side table (first time to do this), hung several curtains, decorating here and there, and mostly just trying to keep up with cleaning a bigger home. I have one other piece of furniture to paint at this point. I brush painted the side table, but this piece I will probably spray paint (after I sand and prime it!). I like little pops of color. Our kitchen sink constantly has dishes which is the result of us TRYING to eat at home more. That is hard. I think I would be OK eating at home daily, if I had someone do the dishes. :) Not one of my favorite chores. But I do enjoy a clean kitchen. It's a newer thing for me. If my kitchen is picked up & clean and the rest of the house is in shambles, I feel fine.

I love having a washer and dryer in my house. It's in our bathroom (it's a larger space)...so it's really easy when you get ready to hop into the shower you just throw your clothes into the washer machine. EASY. I usually do one load every week. Instead of hauling off a few loads multiple times during the month to a laundry mat. My only problem now is that fact that I've let this last load sit in my dryer for 3 days. Opps. That obviously isn't allowed (nor smart) at a laundry mat...so yea, that is something I need to work on. Putting away clothes has never been a strong suit of mine. :)

The weather here in Lubbock has been WONDERFUL. For some reason it has been in the high 80's/low 90's the past week. We have gotten rain too the past 4 evenings. I'm gussing it's the rain that is making thigns cool off. Whatever it is, I am loving it. Our house faces West. So the back side of our house is warm in the mornings and the front side hot in the evenings due to the sun. It's very noticeable. So I have loved that our A/C isn't running non-stop & I'm not sweating sitting under a fan in our living room while eating dinner. :)We even spent an evening out on our porch hanging out watching a lightning storm roll in. I LOVE having a porch.

Yesterday was Teddy's birthday! He turned 25! We spent the evening with friends. We went to On the Border for dinner, then headed back to some friends house to eat cake/icecream and play poker. It was a really fun time! Then today we went to eat brunch at The Pancake house. We have never been there but it is a local place that I've always heard about. It was delicious! Then we killed some time at Bed Bath & Beyond/Old Navy before heading to a movie. We saw The Odd life of Timothy Green. It was precious. We both really enjoyed the movie! Over all, this birthday was a success!!

Life is nuts, I will try to keep up.
-Kelli

I'm backkk

I was doing so well with this blog...but whoops...a month has flown by.

So much has happened.
1) We went on a staff (summer project) retreat at Big Cedar Lodge in Arkansas & spent the 4th there too. It was a blast! I spent my days going from the lake, to a pool, then back to the lake. We ate great food with people that became our good friends in 6 weeks.

Our view on our retreat!

Heading to watch fireworks!!

relax.

 2) There was a staff appreciation banquet. Our growth team honored us in front of everyone. They said some really sweet things. My girls gave me flowers & they made the trip back to DFW & Lubbock. They just rode our cup holders. :)

Heading to banquet

 3) We got back to Ft. Worth loaded up our last bit of furniture & things that had been at my parents house throughout this past year while raising support.  We rented a uhaul truck & made the trip back to Lubbock.
4) We have spent time hanging with our Lubbock friends, meeting new staff friends, raising some support, getting our house put together, going on dates, seeing some of our best friends have their first baby, and resting.

Celah! (say-la)

Museum Date!

Game night with friends

Bought these to work on our yard!!

Our first dinner guest in our home!

We are leaving tomorrow for a family reunion in Breckenridge, Colorado! We cannot wait to be up in the mountains. The high is 70 there & low 48...YES! Then we head on a staff retreat with our new staff team here at Texas Tech. We will spend time bonding as a team, planning some for the semester, and enjoy getting to know one another.

Starting Aug 5th we will be go, go, go. Next time we will have a break will be Thanksgiving (NOVEMBER!!). We are really looking forward to all this too! I will try to be better at blogging again. You know...it just comes and goes, but there is plenty to be blogged about now a-days!


-Kelli

American Idol show!

Every thursday we get the day completely off. This week we went to a show in the afternoon & then borrowed a car (we don't have ours here) to go on a date! We decided to go to dinner and the American Idol show.

This deserved a blog post just for it self because it was so fun & I took lots of pictures.

If you know me well, you know I love American Idol. I have watched all seasons and dragged many friends through season after season...especially my roommates through college. :) So we arrived in Branson and I saw a commercial on TV about Branson show. At first I thought it was kind of embarrassing that their time on AI landed them with a gig in Branson, MO. But after I got passed that (took me 1.2 seconds) I got really excited and KNEW I was going to go. Total there will be 15 AI contestants here through out the summer season. They split them into 3 groups & the first group was the round I really wanted to see.

This is who we saw perform:

Elliot

-Elliot Yamin (Season 5--3rd place.)....this guy was one of my favorites on this season. He lost to Katherine Mcphee & Taylor Hicks. Those two went NO WHERE (except now Katherine is on Smash) & Elliot had 2 bigger hit songs. Clearly, he should've won. I had his first CD & walked away from the evening with his newest one that came out 2 months ago. I loved him on the show, love his CD's, and can officially say I loved him live too. He sang most of his own music! 

-Lee Dewyze (Season 9 Winner)...I enjoyed him on idol too. He was competing with Crystal Bowersox and that season I was fine with either winning. We both really enjoyed his music this particular evening. His new CD comes out in the fall & Teddy mentioned that he would buy it. He has a folk sound that is catchy. I will say that out of the 5 he seemed to have the least amount of energy on the stage in group numbers & when he sang by himself. (He was the last one to perform & my phone died before I could get a picture of him by himself)

Blake!

playing with the sound box

-Blake Lewis (Season 6--2nd place)...I also loved Blake on his season. I wanted him to win over Jordan Sparks. I bought his CD the second it came out. I was sucked in by his cool beat boxing skills and his ability to arrange music. He actually mentioned at this concert that he was the first person in idol history to arrange his own music. (Now, all of them arrange the piece they are doing) He did beat boxing & played with a sound box for part of the night. I'm still amazed that he is able to make so many different noises. He was great this evening! He did a few covers, but mostly his own music.

Kimberly

Kimberly Caldwell (Season 2--7th place)...She was one that got kicked off a little too early that 2nd season. I don't normally remember ppl who are kicked early, but she was one that made an impression early into the show. She had such a fun & spunky personality on AI and a wonderful voice. We learned that she actually did a show in Branson when she was 11, so it was normal for her to be back in Branson on stage. She was great during the stage. She is SUPER comfortable on stage. Her voice was GREAT too. She did mostly cover songs and some from her own CD that recently came out.

Thia

Thia Megia (Season 10---Top 11)...Let's be honest...I don't remember her. But she was the only one out of the 5 that I didn't know & the other rounds of 5 had a handful of people I couldn't remember. She was the first one to be kicked off the live shows. But it didn't matter because she was actually REALLY good this evening. She doesn't have a CD or anything so she did all covers. But man, she has some pipes. She is only 17 & has plenty of years ahead of her to work on her music career. She was 15 on the show--the youngest ever on AI.

They did some group numbers at the beginning and a few at the end too. They kept us entertained for 2 hours and 45 mins. Considering most shows here in Branson are 1-2 hours, I was pleased. We had such a fun time singing & being SO close to them. We were on the 2nd row. :) We had the opportunity to meet them after, but both our phones were dead. So I figured there would be no proof that we met them...I would rather have photos not autographs....so we bailed. I bought Elliot's CD and we headed back to the honey (Honeysuckle Inn--our hotel for the summer).


It was a WONDERFUL date. We even splurged some and had Hibachi/sushi appetizer for dinner before the show. It was a much needed date. It's hard to get time to talk here (quality time) on summer project because we are always going to some staff meeting, event, dinner, discipleship meeting, planning our week, etc. So we had wonderful conversations & entertainment! Success!

-Kells

Branson Week #3 & #4

Time is just getting away from me here. Our schedule is SUPER busy leaving me hardly any time to blog or keep up with all my blogs I follow. I can't keep up with twitter either. I literally get days behind and just skip over those days to get to present time. I'm barely keeping up with Facebook. I've definitely missed a few important things on FB. Oh well...

A few highlights of the past couple of days:
-Going to silver dollar city with staff people
-Trying to fish on "free fishing weekend"
-Tacky bowling & Frat/Hipster skating party
-Discipleship with my 3 girls
-Watching the Bachlorette every week with staff girls :) 
-Battle of the Sexes (girls ask guys questions & guys ask girls question. The answer are given to the entire group regarding dating standards, and the "whys" behind actions etc...)
-date night with Teddy (hibachi & american idol show)
-playing games (Mafia, farkle, the pit, signs, etc)
-We did go caving, though I wouldn't claim it as a highlight. For me it surfaces many fears due to being a tad claustrophobic. I went in just to the first "room", but spent the rest of the afternoon on the outside of the cave for the cool breeze that comes with it. It was fun hanging out with people as they came out of the cave for lunch and a break. Teddy went all the way in with a group of 12 people. He came out VERY muddy and wet. But he had the time of his life!!!
-Teddy goes fishing every week with the staff guys. He is enjoying that! 

Here are lots of pictures: 

15 in Brown Trout

Beautiful Branson!

Frat/Hipster skating party...yep, those are pink shorts on Teddy

Blue team on Project Olympics

All staff ladies!

Emma sent all the Tech people a fun gift...game on!

On the way to tacky bowling with Kimbo

We went to this show. It was very good!

Blurry...but here we are with our skates on!

Out sharing our faith in Branson!

Growth team for the hipster/frat skate social!

Can't believe we only have a few more weeks left here! We are having a blast!

-Kelli

Branson SP Week #2

You would never guess that Branson, Missouri could be so much fun. It really is though! Yes, there are TONS of older people here but there are many families too with a sprinkle of college students from College of the Ozarks. This city is normally 10,000 ppl on a normal day, but during the summer is explodes with 8 million visitors. Pretty wild. I hear that during the off season it's pretty sad, quiet, and SLOW for business.

Update time:

Students arrived on Tuesday the 29th. The next day was my 26th birthday. Followed by multiple days of orientation for students & only a little down time as staff. It was a busy busy busy week. We have now arrived to our "normal" week schedule as of yesterday because students started work yesterday at various places (YMCA, Mcdonalds, Branson Belle Showboat, and Silverdollar City Amusement park). It feels great to land into a routine schedule because we really haven't had a week of routine since we started raising support in August. It's truly like a breath of fresh air to be able to know when I wake up in the morning I know what I will be doing.

Here's my week in pictures (all out of order of course):

Staff girls (missing 3 moms)

My man & our adopted child Laney

Free Imax films all summer! We have seen Tornado Alley so far!

Birthday presents from the Bollens & Kimbo

Staff Hunt: Dressed like crazies & an older woman/tourist

Staff hunt. What you don't see is that teddy's pants are actually jean shorts with fishing boats/long socks. Hilarious!

Birthday flowers from my groom!

Errands with Courtni! Getting ready for the students to come!

The guest book for Branson SP. Has the documentation of students/staffs since 1991

Birthday presents from Teddy and my parents!

Youngest members of our SP. Laney & Tory

Women's director giving our first women's time talk.

Week two is in the books. We are in the middle of week 3 currently. It has been wonderful!
-Kelli

Branson SP Week #1

So many of you who read my blog are probably very aware of the complete miracle it is that this blog title is referring to Branson. I will be writing an entire blog dedicated to our crazy journey and especially for those last six days leading up to Branson. But for now I figured I would share our first week here with lovely instagram pics. :)

Couple things:
-Our staff team is 25 adults & 9 children (ranging from 4 mths-14 yrs old)
-Majority of the team are ppl we joined staff with LAST summer...it's fun!
-5 of the staff are considered "student staff". This just means they are still in college, but will be in the role of full-time staff for the summer.
-I am leading the Women's time with an intern from OSU named Courtni
- Teddy is leading Adventure Days with an intern from UT named Grayson
-I am leading my own small group. My students consist of a girl from SFA, LSU, and UofH (grad)
-Teddy is leading a small group with Brett Marcos and will have 3 guys in their group.
-We live in a hotel for these 7 weeks...it's called The Honeysuckle Inn. It's wonderful!
-It has already been wayyyy hotter than usual here. I think we are in for a pretty hot summer.
-It's sad driving up the main strip and seeing all the tornado damage. There are many things that haven't been cleaned up or rebuilt.

Now for pictures. As much as I would love to get this dumb blog to align the pics in order, I can't make it work right some times. So...just enjoy these out of order pics that are all over the blog! 

Starting our 7 1/2 hr drive from Fort Worth

So thrilled to spend the summer with Kimbo! :)

Wednesday we had a staff womens morning at the beach hanging out!

After the beach the 3 of us went to get pedi's!

Tunnel's on the way to Branson!

Staff lunch on the Branson Belle Showboat. Lunch & a show! (Sunday)

Laney Bollens. People often think she is my own child. I'm ok with that. :)

Teddy and I during our first "creative rendezvous" planned by the staff guys for the staff women!

The setup for our creative rendezvous. They made dinner for us & served us well! 

 I have tons of pictures of all the fun we are having. We do have staff meetings in the mix of all this fun stuff, but I don't take pictures of that. :) Tomorrow we have a day to set up the rest of the hotel rooms for our students. Putting together bunk beds and cleaning things up. Students arrive on Tuesday! We will have a CRAZY busy week with orientation/job training (for students)/get to know you activities.

I have said it 159,053 times that I love summer projects...but holy moly do I LOVE summer projects. What a blessing to get to experience this with my sweet husband. This will be our first experience with ministry TOGETHER. I'm pumped to see how the Lord uses this summer in our personal walk with God, with our students, and our marriage. Check back often to get more updates!

-Kelli