Reflecting

I wanted to look back and reflect on some of the things the Lord has done in our life this year. I am not always good at remembering things and always have to write it down or I will forget. Here are some of the things the Lord has provided for us/has helped us get through when they were really tough and some of the joyful moments he has given us.

-Kyle and I both finished school. I have my Bachelor's and Kyle finished paramedic school
-We celebrated one year of marriage
-I have had 4 interviews for different jobs this past year {no new job yet, but I know the Lord has something great for me} and Kyle is in the interviewing process to work at a fire department he would LOVE to work for.
-Leading YL at Taylor
-Building relationship with our friends at Taylor and having a great team for support
-Taking a much needed vacation to Carolina Beach {Hurricane Irene couldn't keep us away and the Lord made everything work out for us to have a great trip!}
-Getting to spend time with our families
-Kyle and I have learned more about each other, what we want our marriage to be, and things we want to work on {and having sweet reminders of our love along the way}
-Having Bentley provide us with constant entertainment and to keep us working on our patience :)
-Clinging to God's word when times have felt hard and overwhelming

Here is the verse we are taking into 2012:

Psalm 111:7 "The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy"

Merry Christmas

Have a Merry Christmas! We are going to be filled to the brim with joy celebrating our Saviors' birth and a spending time with some of the people we love the most :)

Keeping with the Tradition

One of Kyle's favorite memories is cutting down a Christmas tree and then watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation {and quoting the entire movie} with his family. This year the weather did not allow us to go with Kyle's entire family {dang the rain}, so we decided to wait another week and get our Christmas tree last weekend. We took Bentley along for his first Christmas tree experience...let's just say he loved it and it was really fun to take him along.

Bentley was too excited to sit for a photo

On our way to get the tree

This picture is priceless...Bentley was taking it all in :)

Here is the winner :)

Kenny says it best

Have you heard this song? Kenny Chesney is singing what I want for Christmas {if money was not a factor}. I would love to go to a tropical location when the weather here is snowy, cold, and bitter. "I looove the sun" {that was for you Leah} and not having pale white skin is a plus too :) . Since a beach vacation will not be happening this year, I will just have to listen to this song and imagine I am at the beach :)

{source}

"Take me to the Islands put my feet in the sand,

rockin' to and fro with the rhythm of the ocean,
singin Silent Night with the palm trees ablowin'.."

A Christmas First

I saw all these cute ideas on Pinterest and knew I wanted to have some of the besties over for a gingerbread house making party. Not as many people could come as I would have hoped but it still was a great time with friends, laughing at our not so pinterest looking houses, and eating sweet treats {except for the icing that came in the kit :)} The kit we got had five small houses which was the perfect size to decorate in my opinion and we all had our own house :)

Our table setup

{inspiration}

I love that someone came up with a cute way to dress up a paper plate

{inspiration}

{recipe, recipe}

{recipe}

My house. These houses were so tiny it was hard to decorate the sides, so the roof got the most attention for my house.

Carrie's house...this one gave us a lot of laughs throughout the night. Her icing was really runny so by the time she was done it looked like a bloody gingerbread house. But the sprinkles on the roof give it the feel of not so creepy, right?

Eric's house, please note the little trees on his roof he made. We were all impressed with this gingerbread house making skills.

Tiff's house. Tiff had lots of fun eating the icing while making her house :) Sadly this cute house fell apart when she was leaving my house

I'm really glad I got to do this and I'm sure next year pinterest will inspire me to throw another party :)

It's that time of year...

It's time for family Christmas cards! Kyle's family always does photo Christmas cards and it is a tradition that we have been doing with our small family. About a month ago we got our pictures taken at Mt Echo park. I saw a deal on cincysavers.com for one hour of photography for $25, I did not want to pass up this deal so I bought one for me and Carrie so that we could get pictures taken by a pro this year. For our photo session I wanted pictures of Kyle and I celebrating our one year but also some with Bentley for Christmas cards and for the house. I won't mention the photographer because Carrie and I both were not really satisfied with our pictures. The positives are that we did not have to pay a lot, he gave us all the pictures that he took, he let me use all the props that I had brought, and edited some of them. The negatives were it took three weeks to get our pictures back, I thought his attire for the session was not professional {he showed up in sweat pants and a t-shirt}, and the photos were okay. It was cool to try out a photographer that was really reasonable but I will probably not pay to get our pictures taken again for a Christmas card :)

Here are some of the good ones...most of the pictures with props were inspired by pinterest.

{inspiration}

We love playing with our pup!

{inspiration}

{inspiration}

Here are some of the ones that were not so flattering/hard to have a dog in your picture when all he wants to do is chase squirrels/weird posing/bad ones

Hear no evil, see no evil?...not really sure why we look like this :)

Kyle and I are not good with the serious look

Awkward hand holding

The photographer had kyle act like he was posing...I told him we were celebrating one year of marriage

Again..we are not the type of people that can pull off a "look deeply into ones another eyes" photo

Weird posing

 

"Gently" wanting Bentley to look a certain way :)

Here is the one that will be coming to your mailbox soon

{inspired}

Great Joy

This past weekend we were at Camp Kern with some of our high school friends from Taylor for YL Fall Weekend. I cannot express in words how much fun it was! It is a great joy and privilege to get to share our lives with  kids from Taylor and to see how how there hearts are being changed by hearing the good news of what Jesus did for them. I was apprehensive about leading at Taylor when Kyle mentioned it during the summer while we were praying about where God wanted us but more and more I see God confirming that this is where he wants us to be. I really enjoyed getting to see my team loving on kids and hanging out with them. It was extra special getting to see Kyle love on one particular kid named Andrew. We had been praying all week that Andrew would come and after lots of text messages he  agreed to come! Kyle was thrilled and I LOVED seeing him love on Andrew and for their friendship to grow deeper. Some of our friends are still questioning and seeking to find out more about God, some are not sure if they want it, some are starting their relationship with the Lord or making it a priority in their life now, and some are starting to get a vision for wanting to impact God's kingdom for years to come. As leaders we will be there for them through it all...thanks Lord for letting us see you working in their lives and for answering our prayers!

{Taylor YL}

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy," 1 Peter 1:8

Five Down Zero To Go!!!

YOU DID IT!! You are done with Paramedic school, hooray!! No more class, clinical hours, tests, ride times, studying, homework, etc. I am extremely proud of you for studying so hard and completing what you started! Study hard for National Registry!

Thanks for helping provide for our family!

Love

your wife

Rudy, Rudy

I had mentioned that for Kyle's birthday I got us tickets to a Notre Dame football game. Saturday Kyle and I ventured to South Bend, IN to to see Notre Dame vs. Navy. Notre Dame is a really cool place and we loved walking around the campus before the game.

Here are some of the highlights/things I want to remember:

The 10% chance of rain that day turned into rain and hail the first half hour we were there. But after the rain the sun came out and it was a nice, chilly fall day :)

Kyle getting mad at a college kids smart comment when he asked a simple question.

Walking around campus, the fall trees were gorgeous! I felt for the first time I was at a legit college football game. The band was all around campus and everyone was excited for the game.

Kyle quoting the movie Rudy.

Having great seats at the game {we were not too close but also not too far away}.

Kyle saying as the Navy came out of the tunnel "how can you boo a team that runs out with the American flag". No one booed but the whole time I kept thinking this is really weird to hope that the Navy {who is in any other circumstance I would be cheering on} would lose.

Enjoy some pics from our trip

 The campus was beautiful

 Basilica of Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's Campus

 Our camera could not do justice to how pretty it was inside.

 Am I the only one that thinks a big screen tv seems out of place here?

 Loved how the band walked around campus and played.

 Touchdown Jesus

 Let the game begin!

 I had to take a picture of the cheerleaders :)

 Goooooo Irish!

 The Navy

We had a great time at Notre Dame. Thanks for letting me help you mark another thing off your bucket list husband!