January 19, 2012

A New Address

Though we don't know what our new mailing address will be just yet... I do have a new BLOG address for you.

I have wanted to change the .com for this blog for a long time.  Something about having our first and last names on it made me a little uneasy.  So from now on, I will be posting at my new .com....

http://inallthings1peter411.blogspot.com/

everything is the same, just a different location.  Please sign up over there to receive my updates!  Thanks faithful followers!

(I promise more info soon on the move!  So far we have had a showing every day but one since friday!!  Crazy!)

Would Jesus listen to Jay-Z?

My hubby officially has his own blog (mostly because this one was too "frou-frou").  :)  So I'm claiming this one and may make some edits accordingly :)

His first post is one that has been brewing for a while.  He has great insight to some cultural blind spots in the area of entertainment.  Hop on over and take a look.  (He's awesome)

www.clintdarst.blogspot.com

January 9, 2012

Happy New Year! (a tad late)

We spent this last week in Chattanooga TN with 5,000 Campus Outreach students and staff!  Some of the best preachers in the country were there.  It. was. amazing.  It was time well spent for us, ministering to college students (with no babies!) and enjoying the city.  We are really tired(physically), but refreshed (spiritually) as well.  And SO VERY glad to be home!

2011 was a year of refining for us.  The Lord's commitment was evident.  Many life circumstances were difficult and unexpected, but the Lord used them to make us more like Him.  And so, it was very very good.  2012 will have its' difficulty for sure, but we are excited for a fresh start.  This year will be different than any other.  In ways we know and in ways we don't know just yet.  The Lord has been up to a lot in and among us.

If you are on Facebook you may have noticed some chatter about some "news" for us.  Though I still can't share ALL the details, I can let you in on a major part of it.  As of tonight around midnight, our house goes live online, for sale!  This is long in the making for us.  We have known it was going to happen since last summer, but the reality is setting in.  We are excited and anxious and hopeful for all this means!

The full news about whats up will be posted later this week. ;)

 May the Lord be made great in 2012.  In transition, in moving, in parenting, and in a new normal.  Happy New Year!

December 21, 2011

Oh, December

December has been a little chaotic for us.  With the end of Clint's first seminary semester, crunch time for our ministry schedule, sickness running through the house, and preparing for Christmas, its been a little nuts.  We have been trying to usher in the baby Christ by doing daily (ha) devotions and crafts from Truth in the Tinsel (which I highly recommend!).  Though it hasn't been as "Christmasy" as I'd hoped, we are still making memories.  I feel like Christmas is never as ideal as I hope...I keep hanging on to the hope of next year being less crazy.  Hopefully this time, that will be true.

I was encouraged by my friend Carrie's blog recently.  She says it so well, and I think our ideals can be unfair because of what others holidays look like.  Hello, Pottery Barn December catalog!  You know why its unfair to look at those pictures and think "I wish my house could be like that during Christmas"?  NO ONE LIVES IN THOSE HOUSES!  It's an epiphany I had this week as I attempted to wash dishes, make a Mary popsicle craft, read scripture to a 3 year old and balance a cranky 14 month old on my hip.  This is what Christmas looks like here.  All day Veggie Tales Little Drummer Boy marathons because the whole family is too sick to do anything else, half done advent devotions because I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, no lights up anywhere in the house (except the tree) because I can't find a drop cord, and no. Christmas. cards.

But you know what?  My baby knows which Little People is Jesus,  my 3 year old knows about an angel named Gabriel visiting 2 women with news of babies to come, and believe me, we know the story of the little drummer boy.  Baby steps.  And though I may not be living up to the mom bloggers I read, I know this.  We are being faithful in the chaotic, sick, clingy, imperfect reality that is our life.

So, here are a few pics of the (few documented) December happenings around here.....
We love shatterproof ornaments...

Decorating the tree.  

playing together.  One of my most favorite things in life right now.

Nias learns to watercolor.  What a big boy.

December 1, 2011

Chelsea {Senior}

Whats more fun than taking pictures?  Taking Senior pictures of your little sister in the town you guys grew up spending holidays and summers in!  Chels asked me to do this a long time ago, but we couldn't get our schedules together until Thanksgiving weekend.  We were blessed with a perfect (not too cold) wednesday and headed out to find some rustic fun alleys and buildings in the T.O.B.
Here are some of my favorites

                                                          Blue door...blue eyes...wow

                                                             Biggest smile in the world.

                                      Nothing like bubbles to get the facial expressions going!

                                                        My elementary school. Heart.

                                                                Love this...just love it.

Chels and her love, the basketball court.  I love how this turned out!