Tarleton Visit

We took Koby to visit Tarleton. The college was beautiful and rich with tradition. Stephenville is a cute, little college town and reminds me a lot of Lubbock. He’s still not sure where he will end up, but he enjoyed looking around and learning more about Tarleton. After the tour we tried a local restaurant called The Purple Goat. It had delicious, original dishes and a great atmosphere. We will see where he ends up in August, but I would ecstatic if he chooses Tarleton! 

Snowpacalypse 2021

On Thursday, February 11, we left school with sleeting rain that had already iced over our cars and the roads starting to ice over, as well. We ended up having a snow day Friday because the driving conditions were so bad. Then on Sunday, February 14th another winter storm blew in that took Texas below freezing for almost a week dumping 3-4 inches of snow on the ground. Most of Texas lost power and we were out of school the whole week due to all the weather related issues. 

In Axtell, we lost power on Sunday and after 24 hours we decided to find a generator to try to be able to stay in the house. The fireplace wasn’t warming it enough to be comfortable. Thank goodness we had a huge stash of food and a gas range so we were able to cook and eat and once Richard and Koby got the generator set up we all moved into our room to conserve heat. We lived like that for about 3 days and on Tuesday, February 16th the power started to flash on and off for a few hours at a time. We were able to real quick do a load of dishes or jump in the shower and cook dinner using the over.m, but then it would go out again. By Wednesday, February 17th it had come back on and we felt good about it staying on. 

After we came out of survival mode, we drove down to the Leathers’ for a little sledding. It was nice to have some fun and enjoy the snow. This experience is not one I’ll soon forget and definitely not one I want to repeat! 

Scouting out Florida

Amber, mom and I all went to Florida to scout out and meet with all the people who are helping out with the wedding. We tasted cake, sampled the wedding dinner, spoke with the florist, looked at the resort rooms and ate at a ton of cool restaurants. It was a nice little vacation and really got us all excited for the wedding in a few short months. 

Snow Day

We had the most amazing snow day! The snow started falling in the morning and it lasted all day long. The flakes were so big and so beautiful. We enjoyed every bit of it. We built snowmen, had a snowball fight, ate snow, warmed by the fire, made snow ice cream, ate soup and played board games. Every moment was so magical! 

See ya soon Gramps

In a very unexpected and untimely turn of events, Steve met Jesus on January 9, 2021. As he was fighting his cancer, some of the meds turned on his transplanted kidney and they stopped working. We are just devastated and having a hard time wrapping our minds around Gramps not being here. This week has been hard, but also ripe for discussing hard topics. We know the Lord will cover us and the Abbe family and that Steve received his ultimate healing, we just hate that will have a hole in our hearts now from his presence being missed at every turn. We were able to experience family in a unique way with Steve and I will always cherish that. 

Emily gave the boys a token with Steve’s thumbprint on it that I thought was so special and a great way to keep him close at hand.

2021 Word of the Year

 

This year I heard the word Breakthrough. This seems a little difficult to ”do” so I’m not real sure what to make of this word. I looked it up in the dictionary and this definition struck me...

Breakthrough: warfare; an offensive military assault that penetrates and carries beyond a defensive line; an act of moving through or beyond an obstacle. 

I know there are many area in my life where I would say I’m still waiting for things. So perhaps this is the year one or multiple of those things comes to pass? My friend also heard the word fulfillment, which would also be along those same lines. I do know that the areas I continually lift up to the Lord have been struggles and have not come easy, so I think that is why the warfare definition stuck with me. 

As I look back over a decade full of words I can see growth and increased intensity and intimacy. Perhaps 2021 will be a culmination of all my words into something huge?!? I can’t wait to find out! 

NYE 2020

We were at our usual spot this year. With all the boys getting older, we are almost able to run the whole store with just our family. Kelby and Koby did bring a friend for company, but other than that, it was just us for the night. The store wasn’t too busy this year due to cold and rainy weather so the guys played Risk to pass the time when it was slow. For dinner, we ordered fajitas and at midnight we toasted with sparkling grape juice. We are all hoping 2021 looks a bit different than 2020! 

My One Word wrap up

Enlarge was given to me back in 2019 and I carried it over into 2020. Two years with so many testimonies surrounding this word yet I feel like I could keep this word forever.  

2019 was filled with a new ministry at Crossroads, stepping out to leading a Table Top group, capturing my massive familye all in one place, being a part of a huge kidney testimony and sharing my testimony in big places. I wasn’t sure what else God had in store but I was eager to find out. 

2020 came in just as any other year, but quickly spiraled south. By March our nation was in complete lock down due to the coronavirus. Even with the upheaval of our world I felt like this year offered more than what I would have received had it been a “normal” year. In March, I was able to pray over Tanna and her RA and she is now able to exercise and work out again. From the months of March until June we really did adhere to the lockdown guidelines and during that time I spent so much time with the Lord. The knowledge and wisdom I received during those few months has been unmatched in my whole life. I’m so thankful for the time were allowed to just be with Him! In July, we began to act on some things we heard, one of which is the church does not stop, pandemic or not, we are called to be salt and light. So we started moving forward in that word to open our home to Axtell people. By mid August we hosted our first gathering and kept meeting all semester. Each week we would have a different couple of people and we would get to hear their story and background then the next week it would be new people. As much as I want it to look a certain way, I realize these are crazy times and gone is the “church” as we once knew it. Which is a great thing...just hard to navigate next steps. 

So after 2 years, we are still moving forward, slowly, and praying for His direction on how to serve Axtell better and bring His kingdom in a mighty way to this community. As much as I wish it were easy, I know the growing and stretching and enlarging don’t come in seasons of ease and it’s in those seasons we most often see the most fruit!