Ode to Milt!

Today I get to celebrate another friend! Another friend in the group of girls I mentioned in my previous post. Elizabeth Vaught, often, and more preferably known as "Milton" (her maiden name), pretty much rocks my face off. At least she makes me laugh until I feel like my face is going to fall off. She is the friend that gives you the sore cheeks from laughing so hard. She can dance with the best of 'em...she's super creative and always makes great gifts...she's so thoughtful...she's so ghetto, but so wallflower all at the same time (how does one even accomplish that?)...I could go on for days!

But most importantly, and what Milt has poured into my life, is loads of wisdom and truth. She is a wise sage at a very youthful age, and she is so Proverbs 31 to the point that I'm jealous! She loves Jesus and it shows by the way she lives her life as a true friend, a loving mother, and an awesome wife (I think Christian would second that!). Instead of a WWJD bracelet, I want a WWMD bracelet for "What Would Milt Do?" ; )

Milt, I've learned so much from you in the time we have been friends, and you are one of my very best friends...near and dear to the heart. Thank you for loving me (always!), for sharing your heart with me, and for being the amazing you that you are! So tonight, we shall go fill our bellies with pizza and shake our booties to some 80's at Boom Kinetic in YOUR honor, celebrating YOU, friend! Can't wait!

Happy Birthday, Milt!

A Season Full of New Beginnings...

If you are anything like me, you are SO SUPER thankful for new beginnings! Taking with you what you've learned through experiences in life so far, and a chance to start fresh. New beginnings can be refreshing, challenging, exciting, scary...a whole range of emotions all wrapped up in one. This has definitely been a season of new beginnings for us.

New Beginning #1: As you all well know by now, Dan and I were married on December 6th, 2008. I have felt the need to blog about that experience, but find it so overwhelming to think about actually capturing it in the confines of text in this blogosphere. I don't want to do it any injustice or leave ANYTHING out. So in effort to preserve it, all I can say is it was THE most perfect day in my life...more than I ever dreamed it would be. I married the man of my dreams who is perfect in EVERY way for just me. It brings me more joy than anything I have ever experienced to say that we did things "right," according to what we believe God intended for our dating relationship and marriage to look like. With no guilt or shame, only joy and excitement bubbling over, that day was the greatest day of my life. We are loving learning each other, growing together and being full-time roomies! I love waking up every morning and thinking, "I have the best husband ever." Here are some pics of our day....courtesy of the one, the only, Brooke Robinson

As much as I love new beginnings, they often require a goodbye. This brings me to my second "new beginning".

New Beginning #2: Because of the life I led in my past, I have often cycled friends in and out of my life. It was only when I started walking with the Lord that I realized what true friendship was and what it was always intended to be. With that realization, I have been blessed over the past four years with life-long friends...girls I know deeply, make every attempt to invest in, and know they truly care for me. One of those friends is my friend Jenny Robertson (now Shelby...YAY!). I met Jenny through a random series of events about 5 years ago when she was living in Little Rock working for the American Heart Association, and I participated in an event in Conway with my mom, who had recently had open heart surgery. It wasn't until two years later, when Jenny moved back to Fayetteville, that our path's crossed again on a mission trip to Gulfport to do hurricane relief work. That was the beginning of one of my most treasured friendships...one that makes life so much sweeter. Jenny understands me like very few do. I can tell her ANYTHING...and I mean ANYTHING...and she will love me unconditionally. We laugh harder together than I laugh with just about anyone. We have cried pretty hard together too. Jenny holds a precious place in my heart for showing me what real friendship looks like. Jenny was married last month to Matt Shelby, the PERFECT man for her, and they moved to Green Bay, WI. Though it's so hard to be away from her, and I miss her terribly, our friendship is one that spans miles and miles. I love you, Jenny, and miss your face!

New Beginning #3: This past week has been the most recent series of goodbye's, but also some hello's! We said goodbye to Transfer and CLC last week. It was hard....really hard...but we know the Lord has called us to Victory Church, so there is MUCH peace in that! CLC has been Dan's family for the past five years, and they are so wonderful. We have felt so loved by the kids at Transfer and the congregation at CLC, and feel blessed to have been part of that ministry. Dan spoke in both services on Sunday morning, and as his wife, I feel the liberty to say, HE BROUGHT IT! He was amazing. He shared is heart, and I think his heart is beautiful. You can watch or listen to his talk here. Dan will transition to OKC on Saturday of this week, with his first youth service there being next Wednesday! We went over last Saturday for a little party with the youth leaders, and had a BLAST! We are SOOO excited to be a part of this new ministry, and can't wait to see what God has in store. We know it's going to be HUGE! We are so hungry to be used, and KNOW this is just the place. We have been so welcomed and accomodated, and already love the heart of this church and the people there. Please continue to pray for us as we make this big step!

Last little new beginning tid-bit, and this is funny...as you know, we are trying to sell/rent/barter/trade for gummy bears...whatever we can get...our house here right now. We are working with an agent who is a dear friend of ours, and he found a renter! For some reason, I was wanting to meet this person...not sure why...just did. Apparently, this is not the norm in the renting process, so I was told by my husband who knows all. ; ) But, I still wanted to meet the potential renter. When our agent told the person about this request, they were frustrated because we had strung them out for a week, and were now wanting to meet them and they needed to make a decision...understandable. When Dan was telling me all of this, I said in all of my girliness and glory, "Dan! This is OUR house! I LOVE this house! We watched our first movie together in this house! We fell in love in this house! We had our first kiss in this house! We came home to this house after we got married!!!" I didn't have to add anything else to my list because he was looking at me like I was NUTS! Finally, I said, "I think I'm too emotionally attached...you just handle this." And so he is, and I believe we have it rented!! GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!

"Where da GOLD at?"

In honor of St. Paddy's Day...one of the funniest things ever. I laugh HARD at this every year. N-joy, and "get da GOLD!!!!!"

OOOOOklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains!

I chose the picture in our blog header because it is one of our favorite engagement pics, but it will be pretty appropriate soon, as we are...drumroll please.........MOVING TO OKLAHOMA!!!!

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Dan has accepted the youth pastor position at an amazing church in Oklahoma City called Victory Church. They have multiple campuses, but their home church is in OKC and ranges from 6,000 to 8,000 in attendance. Dan will be moving in April, and I will join him in early May after the Leadership Conference for my job is complete on May 8. We are SUPER excited about this opportunity and are sure this is where the Lord wants us to be! This is such an honor for Dan to be pursued by a church of this caliber, and I am honored to serve with him. opportunity and are fully confident this is where the Lord w

If you would like, you can pray for us in the following capacity(s) as we transition.

1. People say we are crazy to move right now, because it involves quiting jobs when there are very few to be had, and selling a house! The big thing right now is for our house to sell or rent at an amount that will not cause us to go in the red, which is tough to do these days!
2. For us to find a house in OKC (preferably with a tornado shelter!) that will allow us to lease-to-purchase until we can get rid of ours here. We found one we love, but will have to convince the builder to go the lease-to-purchase route.
3. Work for me. I am having to leave a job that I love in order to move to OKC, and we will need a double income...especially if we have to cover our mortgage here for a while. I am in talks with the church about a marketing position for the production arm of the church, so hopefully that will work out for us!
4. Please pray for Dan's youth group here as we transition out. He fills a "father figure" role for a lot of these kids, and they are heartbroken that he is leaving. Pray that his spot would be filled quickly and with the perfect person for a seamless transition.
5. Finally, pray for us as we step into this new role. Pray that Dan would be FILLED with wonderful ideas and wisdom, and that the numbers would grow from the first day we are there! Pray that kids lives would be touched through this ministry and through Dan. Pray that our marriage will grow as our ministry there grows.

We love you guys, and hope you will share in our excitement with us! Most of you know I grew up in Oklahoma City, and honestly never thought for one second that I would be back there. However, I am very excited to see what the Lord has planned for us, as He promises it is more than we could ever imagine when we listen to and follow Him. So that's what we are doing! Oklahoma will no longer be just cowboys, indians and tornados! We will be there too, so we hope you will come visit!