time flies when you're having fun

To say that this spring has been busy would be an understatement. We have been running around non-stop. What have we been doing? Well, we went on such an amazing mission trip to Memphis over spring break and had such a great time with the students we took, as well as with the kids in the community there. Surprisingly enough, I didn't take any of the small children home with me, not even the five month old little guy I held for as long as I could, but I sure was tempted to bring one home! I loved them all! After Memphis, it was crunch time for Tyler's last semester of school and lots of showers to help out with for me. Easter came before we knew it and next up was Maddox's first birthday! It was such a fun day and even though Maddox had pneumonia, he had a great day! He is such a big boy and I love every moment I spend with him! As of today, Tyler is done with all his undergraduate work. He graduates this upcoming Saturday morning! I am so proud of him. He has worked extremely hard and has been so dedicated to all of his classes over the last two years! He is a great student, but he is excited for the break that he is about to have. Now begins the fun of looking at and praying about masters programs/seminaries. I think he would study the rest of his life if he could. The next two weeks are going to be all about celebrating his graduation and 25th birthday on May 10th. I will post pictures later! We are excited for the time we are in right now and looking forward to what is to come, including the birth of our 2nd nephew, Jude, and our 3rd wedding anniversary, as well as slowing down a little to enjoy the summer!!

so it's been a while...

Well I obviously took a little vacation from blogging. It honestly is a hard thing to keep up with. I always think about things to blog when I am away from the computer and then I forget all about it by the time we get home. We had a great winter spending the holidays with our wonderful family and friends, added a new entertainment room to our house, enjoyed a few fun snow days together (although I was sick for both), rejoiced as a some of our friends welcomed their baby girls, practiced parenthood by staying a week with Maddox, celebrated my 25th birthday with WAY TOO MUCH cake, and had oh so much fun through it all.

So what now? We have been unbelievable busy. Tyler got to enjoy two weekend retreats to New Life Ranch. He got to enjoy a weekend with some great men from our Mosaic congregation at this year's men's retreat and then he led worship for Blast (the camp for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade kids) a few weeks later. In between his two weekend retreats, I was given the opportunity to go on a planning trip to Memphis to prepare for our mission trip with the 7th, 8th, and 9th grade mosaic students over spring break. Before I went on the planning trip I was pretty excited, but semi nervous about going over spring break, but after we got home from planning I just wanted to go back! I am so excited about the opportunities we will have while we are there. The potential to build relationship is huge as well. I am so excited!! We are just praying that we will be vessels for God to use for His Name and His Glory while we are there!

Although our minds are on Memphis a lot right now, we are also looking forward to Tyler's quick approaching GRADUATION! It is so close and we are so excited about his finishing school and hopefully finding a job within that field sometime in the near future! I am a proud wife! He has been so dedicated to his classes while also balancing a full-time job, working at the church on Saturdays, investing in his cell guys lives, spending time with our family, friends, and small group, and making our marriage a priority.

So that is it for now! We have had such an exciting winter and are ready for what will be coming up this spring and summer. We already got a taste of spring at the Razorback baseball game today...we are looking forward to many more of those!

slowing down

After a two week spree of non-stop going and doing, Tyler and I are finally getting some, and I stress some, down time and rest. ESPN is also beginning to feel loved instead of neglected...we are horrible parents!, and I am finally finding time to blog again, which I find very therapeutic! We have cheered the Cardinals to a

win over the Nationals (shown in our previous post), been trained for another year as cell leaders, celebrated the marriage of two of our best friends --Woohoo Boyers!--

spent time with old friends,

and are now diving into Draw Near! LIfe has been crazy, but good, and

we are excited for the time of rest.

We met with our community group for the first time on Sunday and we absolutely love them. We had dinner and then did a prayer walk in our community, and finished the night with some Coldstone (birthday cake remix for me, but for some reason Tyler did not want to share :)!) discussing our individual experiences during the time of prayer for our community. We were able to go with my cousin, Ashley, and her husband, Stewart, to pray at the Bentonville High School. It was such a special time to spend with them and to pray for the students, teachers, administrators, etc. We know many people who spend most of their days at the high school, so it was a great opportunity to specifically pray for them as we hope that they might Draw Near to God. I, personally, am really looking forward to this intentional time of Drawing Near to Lord, as well as giving Him all that I cannot control and allowing Him to lead and guide me in His plans and His timing! We base our intent on the scripture of James 4:8 "Draw near to God and He will Draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." As an end to our post today, I am going to write out the Draw Near theme song that was written by some very talented musicians at FBC. It is such a great prayer to cry out to God each day.

Draw Near

Break down our pride

our hearts you know.

Sinners we are

needing strength to let go.

Tear down the walls

we've built up inside;

idols we hold

give us strength to let go

Cleanse now our hands.

Turn us back again.

You are our first love,

Jesus our first love.

At the cross You gave it all,

so all we give to You.

All You are is all we need,

so all we want is You.

Draw near to us.

Draw near to us.

As we draw near to You.

We will draw near to You.

This song can be found and downloaded from the following site

http://drawnear.fellowshipnwa.org/

weekend of fun

We just enjoyed a great weekend with our friends and family! We were given the opportunity to celebrate with our friends, the McLellands, for their ten year wedding anniversary.

Next we headed to St. Louis to spend time with the Kenyon family and celebrate Beth's birthday by going to a Cardinals game! It was such a fun weekend and we feel so blessed to have so many amazing people in our life that we get to spend time with!

"every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights..." James 1:17

welcome to the world of blogging

Well, we are officially bloggers! After a long, crazy search of a background we like and how to apply it to our blog, we are on our way. I am hoping that I will remember to update our blog on a more regular basis than I have been known to do in the past. We are just finishing a crazy summer that was filled with many exciting events, such as our first nephew joining the family, two great sets of friends embarking on married life, houseboat camp, and much more, as well as the sad day of our very good friends moving to Dallas! Pictures of these events will be uploaded soon:)! I hope to often put up pictures to go along with our post, as I know that I, being a picture person, would want to see them if I were the reader. I think this should about do it for our first post, being that we have just made it home after a fun night with great friends (oh how we have been greatly blessed by such fun and encouraging friends and examples...thank you Lord!) and will now end our evening in bed (with espn laying in between us) watching no other than our favor show ever...FRIENDS!

My brother, his wife, and his son

maddox

jeremy and abby cavness

great friends...we miss you!