fresh start

new years post...a little bit late! we've had a pretty crazy but amazing few weeks! it was our first christmas as a family and we were blessed to spend christmas with the macdonalds AND the bram fam! we missed pat and joanna tons, but we're so lucky to have such freakishly close families. isn't family a strange word if you say it a few times? hunter was spoiled rotten over christmas and fell asleep with 4 stuffed animals between his arms, unwrapped his bone by himself, and even managed to take down an entire plate of brownies and candy! and my cousin's adorable 3 year old informed her 5 year old sister and libs, "it's okay, hunter is nice". right after christmas, we got to celebrate our first anniversary! then new years! the next day we got to take the jfbc middle school students up to sharptop for winter retreat and ricky and tim were "ronnie and donnie" from panama city, we had a great time and i got to know some pretty sweet middle school girls. we're pretty excited for 2009...2008 was CRAZY! but so good! in the midst of all the holiday craziness and the transition back to the routine, it's so refreshing to know that we get a fresh start with 2009. and that we have a loving God that gives us a fresh start any time.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" - 2 Cor. 5:17

we hope to live 2009 like brand new people, getting rid of the old, throwing out the selfishness and pride and becoming more and more like Jesus.

christmas is coming!

it's pretty crazy to think about this time last year. we were living in williams with a huge tree blocking an entire street for nearly 4 months, i was writing algebra finals, ricky was shoveling LOTS of snow, and we were packing and planning like crazy for our wedding! it almost feels like christmas didn't happen last year- we were a little distracted!

now we're closing in on our first anniversary and it's our first christmas as a new family. we got to go to kansas for thanksgiving and it just really recharged me to be able to spend quality time with the bram fam and our wonderful friends. and we're going to go to ricky's parents' house for christmas and then my side of the family is cheating their holiday off from us and driving down to georgia...but this really feels like our first real holiday! we get to decide our own traditions. we have our own real tree and our own real stockings (well, hunter's is a cheap 99 cent felt one). we are blessed. and we are thankful for each of you dear friends...you are a big part of what makes this time of year so warm and joyful!

snow

it was sleeting and maybe spitting a little snow today and everyone was so excited.

then i remembered last may 15th in williams.

kind of miss that...in december. not so much in may.

young life!!

i'm laying on a comfortable couch in the sharptop assigned team house with the k-state gamecast running, pretending to be a yl staff wife...life is pretty great! ricky's doing program with tim this weekend...tag team champs! they've been doing a great job!

it's kind of strange to come to a camp where i only know a hanful of people after our time at lost canyon and all my yl camping experiences in the past! at camp, i've become so used to being in a room full of people i know and love, maybe having to learn one or two names, but i've had to hand that role to ricky this weekend! it's strange to not know the young life community here, but i know that will soon be a thing of the past.

ricky and i have been hanging out with one of his former young life leaders, who is now the area director of cherokee county, which is the county we live in, and we're really thinking and praying about being volunteer leaders. there is just something about young life that we are just intrinsically drawn to (big word, right?)...i don't know of a better way to reach lost and hurting high school kids. it just looks like Jesus. and i don't know if i'll even be able to be involved in two similar ministries at the same time between my job and yl...or if i could do that with excellence, lots to think and pray about!

for now we're just ready for a break and SO pumped to come to kansas city for ricky's first bram fam thanksgiving!! can't wait to see y'all...i'll try to have an accent by tuesday night! and hunter wishes he could come!

babies

i've noticed that more and more pictures of precious babies have been popping up on facebook, and i admit that i look at them ALL. i love babies. they are so stinking cute and it's so cool how they develop their personalities. but we are SO glad we're not in that stage of life yet!! i mean, God gets the ultimate decision on when these things happen, but we hope it will be a while longer! i love being young and newly married. i love that we get to spend so much time together. and i love hunter, but he's about as much extra responsibility as i would like right now! we are excited to have a family...someday. but the best part of right now is when your friends start having babies, you can hold them as long as you want...and then give them back!