Catching up #2

Ruby was a strawberry for Halloween. We decided to go to our neighbors instead of hoping they would come to our door this year and I'm glad we did. We met a few new neighbors and Ruby loved dressing up. This strawberry outfit was mine when I was young so I'm glad Ruby got to wear it too. Enzo didn't dress up but he wasn't going to get any candy anyway. :)

Catching Up part 1

Here we are in December!

It feels like the fall just began (not to mention it still feels like fall here - I miss MN seasons) and we've had a busy autumn!

This has been the busiest semester for us as Chuck and I have both been in school but God has gotten us through and we're closer to him and to each other for it.

We've grown a lot as a family, learning to lean on one another when we need to and learning to lean on God everyday. We've been praying more than ever and are excited to see what God will set before us.

On August 17th, Chuck and I celebrated 5 years of marriage and on the same day my brother Jon and best friend Suzanne got married! They planned their elopement to Hawaii before they knew it was our anniversary. So funny.

Then on October 23rd we had a reception for the newly weds in Denton at a local coffee shop. It was a great time and my family was able to be here for it. Here's a photo of my mom and sisters and I that night.

Stay tuned for further updates and cute kiddo pictures. :)

Dreadlocks Update

>> My dreads are coming along nicely. They still aren't mature but we're getting better at maintaining them and God is faithfully refining my heart and showing me that I am still prone to put faith in my appearance.
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>> It's ok to be clean, kept up and even trendy but I too often forget to praise God for His creation and His greater beauty and instead focus on my fleeting beauty and how others view it.
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>> I'm finding it hard to explain...
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>> I put dreads in so I could focus less on my appearance and more on God. I found that I can still, if left unchecked, put my focus on my appearance. Basically I'm still a sinner. No outward actions are going to change that. Only Christ can save me from myself.
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>> Thank God for that.
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We're trying to simplify.

We want our lives to be ruled by Christ, not stuff.

We feel like we own too many things. We can't use them all, or even enjoy them all when we have so many. We've found that if we have so many things they actually take away from our enjoyment because we have to clean them, organize them, or just trip over them.

We also find that we love to be generous and have found that Ruby also enjoys sharing toys and clothes. We want to instill generosity in her little heart, not a love for things and there's no better way than by example.

This is also the reason that we've consolidated our blogs. We were no longer enjoying blogging. We were anxious about not posting enough or having to put pictures on each.

We're trying to simplify.

If you'd like to see any of the old blogs content/pictures please just email one of us.