The Holidays have been a little different for us the last couple of years since moving 1500 miles from our families. Last year we spent Thanksgiving alone and had steak. Talk about a quiet Holiday. We were lucky enough to be able to go to OK this year for Thanksgiving, but working for a church…Christmas is never a good time for us to get away. 

My parents will taking the trip out to Cali again this year for Christmas, and B’s parents will be here the week after Christmas.  I’m so thankful for parents who care enough to make the trip out to spend Christmas with us! Although I’m sure this Christmas will be consumed with planning for Baby Girl & setting up her nursery…I’m fine with that! I am looking forward to next year and all it will bring with a little one crawling around trying to pull down the Christmas tree and being more excited about the boxes her gifts come in than her actual gifts.

The mother-in-law blogged about Christmas Traditions and wanting to start some new ones with a new generation coming. I agree!  I loved Christmas as a kid (and still do!) and always looked forward to the fun traditions with my family. I want Christmas to be a wonderful time for our kids, and start some traditions that we can pass on to our kiddos.

What are some traditions that you and your family do?

What are some things your grandparents did/do for you, or you do for your grandkids?

We’re back in the OC, and we had a wonderful time in Oklahoma!!!

Before we left I made a list of places I was craving that only Oklahoma has. I did a pretty good job!

Recap of food eaten:

Rodney’s Pizza
Raising Cane’s
McAlister’s
Hideaway
Teds
Braums
Earl’s BBQ

This doesn’t include Thanksgiving Dinner(s).  I’m a little nervous to weigh in at my next doctor’s appointment.  Could be ugly…but well worth it! YUM.

We had a wonderful day with my family on Friday and getting to spend the day with our niece Taelyn.  She was only a few weeks old last time we saw her and now she’s six months! She’s pretty cute!

Uncle Brook & Aunt KK

Sunday night was our baby shower and we had a great time!!!! These girls had the right idea and served a real meal…hello bbq! What pregnant woman wants to eat crackers and tiny desserts for a baby shower? No thank you…I’m not working on fitting in a wedding gown at the end of this.  I think those hospital gowns are huge and I’ll fit just fine

 
Preggo Friends                                Aunt Cayce

Big & Little…The greatest friends ever!!

Last pic of us before babies!!!!!!!!!!

It was such a great trip, and a blast to spend time with family & friends in the great state of Oklahoma.  I’m happy to be home with my puppy and back to the norm, but vacation is always great!!

Hello December! 3 months until we meet our daughter!!

I’m taking the next few days away from the blog to spend time with family & friends! I am so excited and really enjoying our vacation!

Friday – My brother, his wife & my precious niece Taelyn are coming to my parents to spend the day.  We haven’t seen Taelyn in 6 months and I can’t wait to love on her!! So bummed that the other niece, Tallie can’t be here

Saturday – FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL!!! Gooooooooooo POKES! Spending some quality time with Brook’s brother, sister, & bro in-law.  Going to dinner with Lee & Wes Jackson…so thankful for great friends!

Sunday Part 1 – We’ll be making our grand appearance at an OKC area Lifechurch.tv Campus.  Haven’t decided which one yet.  It’ll be like Where’s Waldo. Be on the lookout!

Sunday Part 2 – Baby Shower!!!! I’ve never had one of these before for me! Kinda excited! So thankful that we were able to make it to OK and our amazing friends/family put this together for us.  Can’t wait to see everyone!!!!

Monday – Probably a little shopping with mom & then off to the airport! Home to the OC and pick up our first born.  I sure miss that little guy!

Going to be a great weekend and I’m looking forward to all the amazing time with friends and family. Be on the lookout in a few days for plenty of pictures!!

(Skipping a week on the Friday Belly Shot…I’ll still post one on Twitter & Facebook )

Hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving!

Thankful that I have a healthy beautiful little baby girl growing inside of me. I’m going to take good care of her this Thanksgiving and feed her all kinds of yummy things!!

Thankful for my husband and best friend.  I couldn’t ask for a better man and everyday is an adventure with him. (yes baby…i DO like adventures with you!! )

Thankful we get to spend this Thanksgiving with family. (We’ll miss Brook’s parents & Reagan!)

Thankful that we have some amazing friends/family throwing us a baby shower in OK! We’re so excited to bless our baby girl.

Thankful that I’m pregnant and no one will think twice when I devour an entire pumpkin pie by myself. 

Thankful for pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving my friends.  I hope it is a day filled with blessings and joy!

Another “downfall” of being a pastor’s wife is Sunday Mornings. Yeah, that’s when we go to church. But church for pastor’s wives is different. We don’t get up on Sunday Mornings as a family and make breakfast and watch cartoons with the kids in our pjs. My hubby rolls out of bed around 4am or something insane to get to the church. It’s a work day for him. Which leaves me at home alone on Sunday’s. Lately, since our church went portable, I’ve been getting up and going with him to help with set up (because im that nutty supportive wife). However, in a few months I will be home getting a baby ready all by myself.

I love to hear people talk about their Sunday mornings as a family. Coffee and donuts. Homemade pancakes. Cartoons in pjs. Getting ready and going to church as a family.

My children will never know this. Sundays will likely be a morning of craziness with mom.

I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Because we are changing lives. It’s what we do. I’m so proud of my husband and happy to support him. Even if that means no Sunday morning routines as a family. I’m proud that my kids will see my husband dedicating his life to serve the Lord and lead others to Him.  What a great example he will set for them!! (Plus, they’ll LOVE getting to watch dad on stage!)

Pastor’s Wives – What does your Sunday routine look like with the kids or just you and hubby?

Church Attenders – What does your Sunday routine look like?? I encourage you to make it a fun family day if you aren’t already!

God has given each of us unique gifts. Sometimes I worry that I’m not using mine to the best of my ability. Do I sink into what is “easy” for me, and not step up and use what He’s given me? The great thing is, He gives everyone different types of gifts to use in different ways.  Thankfully we don’t all have the gift of teaching (ok…at least I don’t!). Thankfully we don’t all have the gift of serving or prophecy.  I think it would get a little crazy if we did!

I’ve been thinking about how my life is about to drastically change and how my role is about to change. I’m praying that God will continue to use my strengths He’s given me and open doors for me to use those gifts. As well as being a great mom and focusing on my family. Not always an easy task in our busy world, but I figure it’s what HE has called me to do and put in me and it would be a waste to ignore that!!

My top 3 Spiritual Gifts: Mercy, Serving & Administration

I encourage you to pray about what your gift are and seek God on how you can use them. Or you can go here and take a quick test to figure out what they are!

I’d love to hear your feedback.

• What are your spiritual gifts, and what are some ways you are currently use them or would like to use them better?
• If you’re a busy mom/pastor’s wife, how do you find ways to still use the gifts God has given you and focus on your family?

Pregnancy sucks.

Can I get an AMEN? Ok…at least it’s been bad for me. BUT thankfully, the Lord knew how tough it was going to be and gave me wonderful friends to suffer with

MEET TODD & WENDY:

Two of our very best friends in the entire world. They are just one week behind us, and actually have their c-section scheduled on our due date! Our babies could come on the same day. How fun would that be?? And Wendy…if your baby boy arrives before our baby girl, I’ll be very very angry. For the sake of our friendship…they better come at the same time or ME FIRST!!

MEET JOSH & JENNY: 

Jenny is practically a sister to Brook. They were raised together and their families are BFF. Thankfully upon marrying into Brook’s crazy (yet wonderful!) family I got some amazing sisters/friends. Jenny is one of those and I love her so very much! They are due on May 18th!! I can’t wait for our babies to grow up together as we drag them on our adventures all over the place!

The bummer part is that these amazing friends live about 1500 miles away from us. Sad day. However, I’m so thankful to have them. Nothing beats another woman with hormones as insane as yours to help you through.

And I’m so thankful for one amazing woman who understands. I had a loooong, hard weekend and my dear friend Andrea packed up a yummy meal and delivered it to us last night. The last thing I feel like doing is dragging my preggo, tired body into the kitchen to cook. It was amazing to have a wonderful home cooked meal. With our families so far away, I’m thankful for our church family who is willing to help out in a time of need. (Andrea…I think it’s about time for you to have another little friend for our Baby Girl!)

Thank you Lord for giving me these people! We all know I couldn’t do this thing alone. I’m sure my husband would like a vacation from the craziness that is my pregnant-self!

Bring on the babies!

We got our new crib!! I’m so excited and happy that we will have a safe crib for Baby Girl after all the drama we went through with it!  

Cute huh?? I love it! (That is NOT our bedding…yikes.)

A HUGE THANKS…. To my amazing in-laws for this gift to us. We are so thankful for parents that are so supportive of us and want to invest so much in their precious grand daughter!! Grandmother & Grandfather James…thank you, thank you, thank you! (You better come up with some cute names soon for yourselves or that’s gonna be it! I think it’s fitting right??)

I am so excited to get our baby girl’s room all set up and ready for her. Wow…only 4 months to go!

Well, we’ve been home a couple weeks now, and the experience in Israel has had some time to sink in.  I’d like to share a few of my favorite things, and most life changing.

I read the bible differently now. It’s amazing the change I’ve seen in the way I look at God’s word.  It’s more personal, and more real now.  I’ve been there, I’ve seen it.  I saw the place that God took Moses to show him the Promised Land.  I stood on the hill where Jesus preached and fed the 5,000.  I walked up the steps that Jesus took some of his final on.  I prayed in the place that Jesus cried out to God, and cried over the land.  It is so real to me.  Never again will I look at the bible as stories.

Experiencing it with my husband. We do everything together, and I can’t imagine doing this without him.   We learned and grew together.  We had a blast together! I’m so thankful that we are able to share experiences such as these, and everyday makes me look more and more forward to our future together!!

Baptism in the Jordan River. This was one of the most amazing experiences! Jesus was baptized in this place.  It was the place that he taught us how important it is to be cleansed of our sins.  He lowered himself to our level to set the example for us.  Nothing beats that!!

Spending intense quality time with family/friends. This was quite the intense trip.  Not only were we tested physically by walking a million miles a day, but we were tested spiritually.  We learned together, we were stretched together.  I’m so thankful I got to do this with this group of people.  The “family friend network” and the brave souls who joined them…you have all become my family and some of the greatest friends I could ever imagine.  Thank you for welcoming me in with open arms from day one!

It was an unbelievable trip! I can’t wait to go back

Thanks for listening to the stories, seeing the pictures and I just pray that you learned a bit reading about our experience.  I encourage you to take the trip if you ever get the opportunity! It’ll change you in so many ways!

Well….we are OFF! Our flight leaves at 5:16pm (CST) from OKC to Atlanta.  A short layover in Atlanta then then loooong flight over to Israel.  Please be praying for safe flights and everyone in our group.  Pray that Brook can rest on the plane (he’s not an automotive sleeper, i’m an anywhere sleeper).  Pray that our hearts are prepared for all we are about to take in.  It’s going to be amazing and I look forward to sharing our journey with you along the way!

Check back in tomorrow or Wednesday for a post from The Holy Land!!!

Peace in the Middle East