Teenager!

Troy is a teenager!!  We started his day with donuts and ended his day at church with cake and presents!  He even ran a cross country meet during the day and placed third in the district!  He had a busy day, for sure!!

This year he didn't really want a party so he decided he would ask Papa to take him and a buddy fishing.  Of course, my dad jumped on that opportunity and he and Troy and Michael spent a Saturday on Lake Waco catching all the big bass they could!

Troy was also extremely blessed to be taken to New Mexico by his grandparents for the Hot Air Balloon Festival.  He missed a day of school, drove to the metroplex and flew into New Mexico.  He spent the weekend riding the sky tram and watching the hot air balloons.  The pictures he took were so good and it looked like they had an amazing time.  What a special and memorable birthday for him.

From baby to teenager...

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

8 years old

9 years old

10 years old

























11 years old

12 years old

13 years old

Good-bye Globe Life Park

Today was the last Ranger game in Globe Life Park. We started with lunch at the new Texas Live venue and then headed over to the game. Nolan Ryan threw out the first pitch and the game was full of videos replaying all the highlights from the stadium over the last 25 years. I definitely have a few highlights of my own!

Richard and I had one of our very first dates in this stadium. It quickly became “our place.”  We now go to Opening Day every year and try to go to several games throughout each season. 

We were there when we were soooo close to winning the World Series!! 

And lastly, our wedding! It was the perfect spot to say I Do for us! 

This stadium will forever hold some of my favorite memories and I’m so glad we were able to make one more today as we said good-bye to Globe Life Park.

Enlarging opportunities

Over the last 8 months Richard and I have been in prayer for our next steps for following the Lord’s leading toward bringing something out to Axtell.  You can read a little about that  HERE.  As the months have passed I kept wondering if we had missed something, but the Lord said to be still so I tried my best to be obedient.  He reminded me over and over that just because I am still does not mean He is still. Then, in April we were approached by my ex-husband’s new father in law with an idea.  He was losing his youth pastor and thought maybe Richard could come on staff to help train his existing youth employee and also share his own wisdom in church planting with us and help us take our core group and get them connected well within the safety of his church before going solo out in Axtell.  We prayed about it and felt the Lord leading us to join in that partnership.  So as of August 15th, Richard will join the staff out at Crossroads Fellowship! 

I love the Lord’s faithfulness to us when we are faithful to Him.  We could have easily disregarded the word of “be still” and plowed ahead with our own knowledge and forced something to come about, but I am so glad we didn’t. I feel a peace about this step that I haven’t had since January and it’s a great spot to be in!! I am so excited to see the opportunities the Lord leads us to that we would have missed had we not been patient...the new friendships, the new wisdom we can tap into, the knowledge we can impart to others around us. The pieces are slowly moving and I’m glad He is in charge because I would have already messed it up good!!  Praise Jesus that He knows!!

6 years

The last week was jam packed with so many things and as soon as baseball was over, the boys headed to church camp so we knew we needed to take advantage of being alone and get out of town for our anniversary.  We weren’t really sure what we wanted to do and tossed around several ideas; Fredericksburg and the wine trail, Fort Worth and the stockyards, San Antonio and the river walk, Galveston, float the river, or Dallas which is our usual spot.  Friday morning we woke up still with no plan. Nothing was jumping out at us. We packed bags for a few different options and just started driving. Once we go into Waco we decided to just flip a coin to see if we should go north or south and maybe that would help us decide. The coin said south so that narrowed it down a bit.  We stopped in Georgetown for lunch and needed to decide whether to head west or continue on south so we flipped again and the coin said south again. So San Antonio is was!

We found a last minute hotel right on the river walk and enjoyed the weekend sight seeing and eating and relaxing. We’ve never been the type to not have a plan but it worked out pretty good this time to just hit the road in search of adventure! We saw the Alamo and rode the river boat and did a lot of people watching as we strolled up and down the river. As the weekend came to a close we both agreed that we are thankful for the slow paced, less crowded atmosphere of country living.

State

All four boys competed in State competitions this week! Between baseball and FFA we have all been spread out all over Texas!  Koby headed out early Monday morning with the school and the boys and I decided to decorate the car for a week full of fun!

Troy and Kelby’s tournament was a few hours away so we got a hotel and loaded up Monday morning. I think they loved all extra stuff as much as playing ball! After their first game Monday night we enjoyed the pool and hot tub and then Tuesday morning my dad picked them up to go fishing during the day. Then,Wednesday they played Putt-Putt and went to a movie.  They lost out on Wednesday night but both boys had great games all week and loved the experience of playing at the State level.

We were even about to pull up Teague’s game live and watch it from the pool!

Teague’s tournament was closer to home so we didn’t have to get a hotel or travel but he did invite a friend over to play one day and we had a slumber party in my room one night together to try to make his week just as fun. Although winning State Champs on Thursday night is about as fun as it gets!!

 

And last, Koby was in the metroplex all week competing with FFA. What a crazy, hectic week!!