Shane & Shane w/Bethany Dillon

Over 3 months ago I heard Bethany Dillon would be in concert with Shane and Shane at a local church. I love Bethany Dillon. She is an amazing young woman who at 16 was writing songs that told of her incredibly mature and deep relationship with the Lord. I have been challenged and encouraged by her music for years. Her songs truly put so many of my own struggles, emotions and thoughts to music. Although she is several years younger than me, I admire her walk with Jesus and her artistic ability! So...I was excited! I was introduced to Shane and Shane in college and like them also, just not quite as much as Bethany Dillon. So I got my ticket and recruited some girls to go with me. Here we are! Love them!

Bethany opened for Shane and Shane and was her usual, humble and witty self. She played a couple new songs and a few old...but definitely not enough for me! I was kinda bummed, but thankful to hear a few.

Shane and Shane followed with an awesome night of worship. They have a gift of putting on a unique, fun, light hearted show lavished with truth and scripture. The are so talented! It was a great concert!

By about half way through we were all rather hungry. However, Rebecca came more prepared than the rest of us. Just had to include this picture of her eating her Starbuck's sandwich in the middle of S&S's set. If you knew her, you would expect nothing less! I love her, and I'm so thankful she keeps me spontaneous, flexible and laughing!

Meeting Curious George

Cohen and I frequent Barnes and Noble for some good train time. For those who don't know, they have a train table with all the trains, bridges and tunnels we don't have at home. It's a great place to go when it's crazy hot, bitter cold, or Mommy needs to go to Pier 1 next door. We stopped in one day last week and the story time lady told us Curious George would be there Satruday. I immediately made plans in my head to come back! Cohen had seen CG a few times on t.v. and would love to see him in real life. We invited Cohen's best friend Reid along for the ride. He was so excited and when CG walked in, he not so quietly repeated how "BIG" he was. He was mesmerized by him for a little bit, but by book #2 he was ready to meet him and play with Reid.

Thankfully, they offered for us to take a picture with him. After meeting Cat in the Hat in Florida he's much more comfortable with oversized cartoon characters and was not scared...as long as Mommy was with him. Reid's mommy and my sweet friend, Pam, was gracious enough to take our picture.

Next it was Pam and Reid's turn. So cute! It was definitely a memorable moment!

After CG left, the boys played with the trains before heading to lunch at Panera. Cohen was right at home with this familiar train table and his best friend. He held nothing back including loud banging of the trains. Thankfully, Reid was not intimidated and played along. However, I had to remind him several times we were in a bookstore not at the park, to which he was unconcerned. Pam and I did get some catch up time at lunch while the boys ate their yogurt and sandwiches. It was a sweet time of fellowship and making memories.

First signs of Fall

Fall has arrived and I love every cool, crisp day. Our house is littered with pumpkins and fall flowers. I have made my first batch of pumpkin bread and adorned our front entryway with straw, scarecrows, and mums. I have been soaking up the season the best I can but one thing has been missing...Daddy! Hector's three-weeks away wrapped up just in time for him to lead worship for our college ministry Fall Retreat. He was blessed to have the opportunity but having it begin the day he arrived home after 3 weeks, meant we went with him. We were thankful for awesome college minister and his wife made that possible! So we headed up to the mountains for a quick "retreat" with about 40 college students. So, this was our first Fall event as a family. The weather was rainy, but the colors were beautiful. It was fun to just get away for a day or so and stay in a little cabin. Cohen did great! He and I would listen to the music and then leave for the message. They had a HUGE couch he loved playing on. (See his "cheesy" smile below.) We hung out during the services playing with an assortment of balls or trucks. Here he is braving the rain and the mud.

Hector loves to lead worship any chance he can and especially for our college students! It was a treat for him. We took a "hay ride" (15 min, ride going 50 mph in a trailer lined with hay) up to an overlook where Hector joined the students in some caving. Cohen was anxious to go along, but instead he sat with me and waited...not so patiently at the end. It was quite the experience from what I heard.

We also tagged along to Desoto Falls. We had been here once before with some friends but it was about 20 degrees and freezing. It was beautiful to see them this time of year. Cohen was not intimidated at all by the height.

(They look a lot closer to the edge than they are...)

It was a quick trip, but the highlight was just having Daddy around again! I also got to spend some time with the college minister's wife and sweet twins. They only live around the corner but we don't spend enough time together. This was a great excuse to hang out and catch up, even if it was cold and dark on the porch of our little cabin while we waited for our babies to fall asleep. I so wish I had a picture of this! She's a sweet friend, huge encouragement and awesome example of a godly wife and mother! We were grateful for a 24-hr. escape and a chance to be a part of a weekend where God moved in the hearts of students!

.MOM Conference aka Girls Weekend!

About 7 months ago I saw an ad for Lifeway's .MOM conference in Birmingham, AL. After noticing a couple of the speakers, who were women I respect, and that it fell on Hector's first weekend away during this 3-week stint that he would be gone. I contacted my friend, Leslie. She lived in Nashville at the time, and it would be a perfect spot for us to meet, get away without our kiddos, and spend time together!

Her friendship is such a huge blessing in my life! It begin about 4 years ago when her husband, Carl, became Hector's guitar tech on the "Altar and the Door" tour. He and Hector hit it off immediately and quickly developed a strong friendship. I was able to meet Leslie and hang out a couple times during that tour and it felt like we had been friends for years even though we had just met. Since then we have spent weekends at each other's houses a few times, talked on the phone for hours, and text each other endless times just to vent. When Hector called Carl to tell him I was pregnant, Carl had been planning to call us to tell us they were pregnant. We were both so excited! Hallie Kay was born exactly one month after Cohen.

Leslie and I's friendship continued to deepen as we journeyed into motherhood together with husbands who traveled regularly. About a year later, Carl worked the "Until the Whole World Hears" Tour. So, Leslie and I spent many texts and phone calls trying to encourage each other to persevere until they would be home. We were both stay-at-home Babywise mamas which meant many days of shared frustration over non-napping children and what we were doing wrong/right. We also both used homemade baby food so our freezers were full of multicolored food cubes. Her recipe suggestions were lifesavers from time to time. The similarities go on and on. It wasn't long before I realized God had given me an incredible friendship that was life-giving and encouraging! He has never failed to provide just that for me in whatever season I am in. Leslie has been the perfect balance to encouraging and challenging both spiritually and emotionally.

Shortly after that last tour, Carl and Leslie began really praying about how he could be home more with them and end the road life. God began to answer their prayers early this year. He is a gifted worship leader and was offered a job in Fresno, CA. They were reluctant at first but God began changing their hearts. In the Spring they accepted the offer, sold their house and moved within about 6 weeks. She took a little bit of my heart with her as she moved 2 more time zones away, but I'm so happy for this incredible opportunity to be closer to her family, have more time together and to be a part of a great community of believers.

I wanted to share all that to honor her, to give glory to God for our friendship and to explain why this weekend was such an exciting time!! There was a few months of uncertainty whether or not she could make it now that a plane ticket was involved. But with some gentle prodding and well begging from me...she came! I picked her up from the airport Thursday evening and we headed to Birmingham. It was a ROUGH drive. We drove through torrential rain the entire way! I'm not usually that uptight when I'm driving, but this was awful. About 3 hours later we got to our hotel. We settled in, and it was past my bedtime so I was out in no time. The next day we had a relaxing morning and headed to the conference around 12. The first day we heard Angela Thomas and Angie Smith speak and were led in worship by Avalon's Melissa Greene. It was a sweet time of worship, encouragement and being challenged with about 1400 other moms. There were women with children ranging from 1 to 11, from all over the country and with all sizes of diamond rings. We also had two breakout sessions that day which we could pick from a variety of topics. The next day we got an early start and heard Vicki Courtney and Priscilla Shirer speak as well as more great worship with Melissa and two more breakout sessions. It was truly a blessing to be a part of this event and receive such encouragement in being a mom. It ended that evening, but I couldn't leave Birmingham without making a trip to the Summit (an outdoor shopping area) for a little browsing and dinner. Not to mention, the weather was amazing! We took our time in Pottery Barn Kids and a few other stores before eating dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Yum! Then we began the trip home. The next morning I took her back to the airport so she could fly home to her sweet family that she missed so much. It was tough to have the weekend come to an end, but I am so grateful for a weekend of sweet worship and fellowship with an amazing friend and blessing from the Lord. I returned home refreshed, re-eneregized and reignited with a passion to love Cohen and lead him in the ways of the Lord.

If I were to sum up the weekend in what God challenged me with it would be this: motherhood is not my highest calling; I'm first a child of God called to glorify Him and motherhood is only part of that. God had been working on my heart leading up to this conference about being more intentional during my day and seeking more opportunities to get outside myself and my child to love on people around me. Well, He clearly confirmed that all I had been thinking was from Him. A recurrent theme from the speaking and breakout sessions was that we are called to be a light to our home and to all we come in contact with, and our children will not have a heart for people and for the world if we aren't living that out in front of them. I was overwhelmed with tons of practical information, but spiritually God was beating on my heart to get outside my routine and my obsession about being the "perfect" mom and love on people! I'm a working progress for sure. So, today I'm taking it one day at a time and praying for eyes to see opportunities and the courage to take them.