Cars 2

I would just like to thank my sweet friend Michaela http://michiheart.blogspot.com/ for teaching me how to make my blog not so blah! Now that it is all cute, I am much more motivated to write blogs! So I thought I would write one about the kids first trip to the movie theater last weekend!
We took them to see Cars 2, which was really cute by the way. We had been talking about it for a couple of weeks and the week leading up to the big night was super exciting. Everyday we had to discuss how many more sleeps until the movie. "After we sleep tonight we will go to Ms. Kristyn's house, then mommy will pick you up after lunch, then we come home and take a nap, then we have small group, then we sleep again..." etc etc. Everyday at dinner we had this talk.
Friday morning at breakfast I said, "Hey Nate guess what tonight is?" His face lit up and he said, "Is it already time to go to the race?" AKA go see Cars 2. He was so excited, he apparently talked about it all morning at his babysitter's house and was super excited when I arrived to pick him up. They barely took a nap at all because they were so excited about the movie and of course popcorn.
When we walked in the theater Nate's eyes spread wide when he saw how big the "TV" was. To our happy surprise the Pixar short film before the movie was a Toy Story short film! 4 bathroom breaks and a huge bag of popcorn later, the kids had seen their first movie in the theater. Nate has been racing around the house like Lightening McQueen ever since. It was so much fun.

Here are pics of the kids on the way to the theater. It was too dark inside for a good picture on my phone and my real camera is broken :(

Weekend to Remember

This past weekend, Thomas and I were blessed to be a part of the FamilyLife Weekend to Remember that took place in the Woodlands. We have been to this conference twice, but never on this side of it. We were able to join the Houston team that helps with the conference and promoting it in Houston. Our main duty for the weekend was to pray.
I have always known that prayer is important and have even been a part of pray meetings before, but this was such a unique experience in seeing God work in people's lives. It also showed us just how impactful the FamilyLife Weekend to Remember is on marriages. One example really sticks out to me. We came across a prayer request from a girl whose husband had been in Iraq in the military and when he came home he told her that he didn't love her anymore. A little while later we received a prayer request from her husband which showed that in his heart he truly did want to work things out with his wife, he did not want to leave her. The next morning the women in the prayer room were given an opportunity to pray with any women at the conference who wanted to pray with us. Guess who came to pray with me?! The girl who had written the prayer request about her husband having been in Iraq! I listened to her for a few minutes and prayed with her and told her about FamilyLife's ementoring program. When I went back into the prayer room, I mentioned that it was her that I had prayed with. It turns out that one of the couples that had been in the prayer room with us has a ministry for soldiers who have come home from war and are now having a hard time in their marriage after all that they went through. So I got a business card and walked around until I found her!
She was really excited when I told her and I got to meet her husband at this point to. They had looked into counseling for him before through the VA clinics but had not had luck. They were happy to find one that was Christian based instead of someone who just wanted to give him antidepressants.
It was so amazing to see that example and many more of God changing people's hearts and giving them the desire to work hard to save their marriages!

We also had the opportunity to meet some amazing people. Mark and Michelle Ellis are one couple that we met that are missionaries with FamilyLife now. They were SO encouraging to us and gave us great advice. It was a blessing to us to see how much they cared about us and praying for us and helping us. Michelle even told me as I was leaving "I expect you to keep in touch" :) What a blessing God has given us in meeting this couple that I feel will become good friends and mentors.
Another couple we had the privilege of meeting is Scott and Fara Gray. They are from Houston and have just been invited to join the missionary staff at FamilyLife. They were also VERY encouraging because they too, like us, had to work their way out of debt before they could apply to work with FamilyLife. They gave us hope and encouragement that God won't call if He is not going to provide. Like Mark and Michelle, Scott and Fara were also full of good helpful advice for us. They are now begining their fundraising part of their journey. A prayer request for them is that they need $4000 before September, which is when they go for their initial training. After that they will come home to finish raising support. If you would like more information on Scott and Fara and how you can help them in their ministry please contact me.
So long story short... oh wait, this blog was SOOOOOO not short... ;) We had an amazing weekend and can't wait to see what God is going to do next. Keep reading, I have set a goal that by the fall I am going to start blogging once a week. Don't worry, they won't always be this long!

http://www.familylife.com/site/c.dnJHKLNnFoG/b.5974619/k.1D5/FamilyLife_eMentoring_is_an_online_mentoring_community.htm?fromhp=eMentorbox