New things

Well...God is good!

We have served at Solid Life Church for about 6 years now and have loved every minute of it. We moved to Colorado to be the Youth Pastors at the church and most recently moved into the Worship Pastor position. Through every turn of the road we have felt God had ordained each step and allowed our ministry to flourish under His plan.

All of that being said, we are very excited about the next assignment God has for us.

About 7 weeks ago we sat down before a work trip and discussed with each other our current ministry assignment and if we felt God was changing any of it. We both felt strongly God was speaking to us about a change coming and were very excited, but also very hesitant, as we know change is not always easy. We knew we needed to first make sure it was God speaking and then second talk to our Pastors about our feelings.

For those of you that know us well, you know that moving here meant we were able to be just up the road from most of Melissa's family. You may also know that we have formed amazing friendships...lifelong friendships...and have always felt this is where we would be the rest of our lives. That is what makes these "feelings" we were feeling so difficult. One of the things we asked each other is if we felt we were being moved locally or out of the state. We both felt that a local move was not what was going to happen.

With all of this "feeling" going on we met with our Pastors (Russ and Becky) and shared with them that we felt God was working on our hearts regarding a new assignment. We told them we had no idea where, when, or how but that we needed them to be the first to know.

We then proceeded to do all the things you would normally do when you know where you are moving....we listed our house...started packing...and told our family. All of this without knowing what God had planned but knowing we simply needed to trust that He had it under control.

About a week after speaking with Russ and Becky we spoke to a friend of ours that had a large church and who was losing their Worship Pastor of 8 years due to her getting married and moving out of state. Coincidentally, we found this church through the person their resigning worship pastor was marrying. We began talking to this pastor and his wife about their vision for their church and how we would possibly fit. There is a much bigger more elaborate story about how our conversations went...but our blog would be too long if we went that detail...but trust us...God has a perfect plan!!!

This past weekend we were invited to visit with this pastor and their staff as well as lead worship for their 3 weekend services. The weekend went amazingly and seems to be a perfect fit.

So...we are excited to say that we will be packing up all of our stuff, four kids, two dogs, two cars...and tons of memories and moving to L.A....that is...Lower Alabama!

I know you're thinkin...what??? But after visiting this church and the city where they are planted (Mobile, Al) you would get it. They have such a burden for un-churched people and have done some amazing things to change their world. Check out their website: http://myriver.tv and make sure you check out their most recent project called "Generations".

I know you will all have tons of questions, so feel free to call us anytime. We love all of you and are very excited about this next assignment! Please pray for us for a couple things:

1. Easy transition for the kids
2. House to sell quickly
3. Melissa's business
4. New home purchase
5. Continual trust in Him


Again, God is good!

Cary and Melissa

Carson's 6th Birthday & Mother's Day

Carson is OBSESSED with dinosaurs and all thing paleontology related, so we, of course planned a dinosaur party complete with a dinosaur dig in the new play set's sandbox...but alas, we were rained out. Thankfully, a friend of mine came to our rescue, and helped us secure a local church's play park, which is, by the way, amazing, and the dinosaur party was on...I changed the planned dig to fossil making with crayola clay and plastic dinosaurs. It was so much fun! Totally going to plan a party here on purpose. :)











So I missed Nathaniel & Lo on Easter...but isn't this a cute pic of them? LOVE that they live here now! :)




this picture cracks me up :)








Love this sweet girl :)




Mother's Day this year was really nice! We met up at my mom's for dinner and hung out all together. Cary asked what I wanted to do for lunch, and I said either eat out or eat in our backyard, so we combined the two...got take out and ate on our deck. :) I loved it! Here's a pic that I love from Mother's Day. :)

Easter & Other Things

We had our church's annual Easter Egg Hunt. The boys had so much fun, and it was fun to see the three older boys totally get the egg hunt thing, have a great time, and then tell me "but it's really about Jesus, Mom." :)









We decided to combine the boys birthday money and get the boys a play set for the back yard, so Cary worked on that for a week or two.... I need to take a finished picture, but the boys LOVE IT. Best idea... And our trees were especially pretty around this time too.






Cary's mom came to spend a few days with us around Easter! It was such a great visit!


We finally got an updated family picture... yay for being dressed up for Easter. :)














pretty sure I'll be seeing a smile like this in his senior photos...


We then tried to get a picture of my mom with the boys too...as you can see...we missed our nice picture taking window... out of 15 shots this is probably the best one... lol!


















Also took some pics of my parents and siblings...minus Lo & Nathaniel :( next time :) Aren't they some cuties...
Austin (Tina) & Ali...


Kels & Scott...they're having a baby! (in October) :) YAY!!!!


Natalie & Ricky...getting married in Sept.


Mom & Dad :)

now to catch up...

Yeah...I've been slacking... something about the ease of facebook makes me quick to post pictures there and slow to post stories here... But Cary reminded me this weekend that I wanted this blog so that our boys would remember...little things...important things...you know...times in our life... so, now I need to catch up... at least on the highlights. :) Here goes nothing... I'll probably break this up into a few posts over the next few days.

We had Caleb dedicated in an intimate ceremony at my parents home with our Pastors, family and close friends. We stole this idea from a friend of ours. They had an intimate ceremony for their daughter's dedication, and we loved the special-ness of it. All of our boys have been dedicated in our church in a more traditional manner, but we decided to change the location for Caleb's. It was really nice! Just like with our older boys, Caleb wore the same outfit, and our pastor and my dad dedicated him together. I love that this tradition has carried on with each of them. Sweet boy that he is, slept through the whole thing and lunch after. :)










We also took a trip to Napa for our 8th anniversary. Caleb came with us, but the boys stayed with my fam...they took turns and it worked out really well! Despite a few hiccups and drama it was an AWESOME trip. I'm so thankful that Cary planned it and that we went. AMAZING...and he says we definitely need to make it a tradition! YAY! For those of you who know how much Cary travels...any place he says we need to repeat must be truly great! Our friends Brad & Megan joined us, and it made it even more fun! :) Plus, they had been to Napa before and new great places to check out. SO FUN...can't say that enough!!

We went to V. Sattui Winery and had lunch on their lawn. Their property is beautiful! the last pic in the one below is kind of funny because Brad and Cary say "go big" ALL THE TIME.





Then we went to Mondavi Vineyards for a traditional tour. Very cool and the property was so very pretty! ...are you sensing a theme here? Napa is beautiful!







There were weird statues throughout the property and Cary and Brad posed with them....we were making fun of them, and then on the tour, the guide said that the artist created the figures hoping that people would interact with them. hahahaha! :)



ignore how awful I look in the pics below...the drama I mentioned had happened the day before and I obviously was still carrying the stress. ;) I'm so thankful it didn't ruin our trip though!







They had room after room of wine barrels...couldn't believe how many....




Caleb was such a sweet baby. :)


Then we headed to our AMAZING B&B... which we found out you get fantastic rates on if you book last minute... The Farmhouse Inn. I've stayed in a lot of places, but I was in awe over every little detail of this place, and the customer service was more like a resort than a B&B....we are so going back!! Brad & Megan honeymooned here, and they raved about it, but it far exceeded my expectations! For example...when you check in, they have homemade soaps and bath salts/powders that you can take your pick of and stuff to make s'mores over their fire pit. (I made Cary get me some soap to take home...it's in a drawer in my bathroom so every time I open it I'm reminded of the amazing-ness that was this trip! :) ) There's also an on location spa, which Cary decided would serve me well to reduce the stress I was feeling, so upon our arrival, I had a surprise massage waiting! It was the most amazing massage ever.... the massage table had a water bed type surface that was heated...so, so awesome! We also had dinner at their restaurant, that definitely ranked in the top 3 meals I've ever had. If you ever have a chance to stay here...DO IT. :)

Their property was super pretty too with gardens here and there, and the rooms were amazing We stayed in the barn. I'll admit, Cary was making fun of all of my oohs and aahs over the room details.


Such an amazing time!!