A Year in the Life: Fall 2015 and What's With All The Star Wars????

Fall is always super busy. School shopping, prepping for students to get back, and Halloween. Halloween is one of our busiest times because that's when Joey has the most outreaches with the Star Wars ministry. Let me give a little background on this. When Joey first had his passion for evangelism/ministry he was using a method he learned in LA with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. They did a lot of street evangelism and Kirk and Ray had a show called The Way of the Master where they film these encounters. So when Joey came back from their Ambassador's Academy he was on on fire to spread God's word.

He started going to places like the Harbor and other areas with groups of people and would share the gospel and just have a real conversation. I love the method in which they do this. It's a real, not a I'm better than you....it's a we're all sinners and I mess up too, let's look at what God says conversation. You can check out Joey's blog HERE You can imagine that not many people want to talk to a stranger. Joey had some amazing conversations and I'm sure God used Joey.

Let's fast forward to a few years later (I don't know the whole story) and Joey along with a group of guys started doing a Star Wars ministry. They created movie quality suits, invested in creating props, and started going to festivals and large events. What began as guys talking to people about God and people being hesitant turned into people waiting in line to have their picture taken (while some share the gospel or pass out gospel tracts). Our past, amazing church (Chisholm Baptist) is also involved in some of the outreaches. Below are some of the outreaches Joey and/or the guys have done.I could not be any prouder of him.

So now back to Fall 2015. Grayson started 2nd grade and Ella started Kindergarten. Grayson also celebrated turning 8 with a...can you guess??? A Star Wars party. Ella tried out cheer for the first time through Upward. She wasn't a fan but we were glad we gave it a try. We enjoyed festivals, baking, birthdays, and everything Fall.

Our matching bracelets for the first day of school. "I love you to the moon and back."

Even his sweet teacher came

Downtown Rockwall with sweet Shelby

Someone wanted to be a middle schooler that evening

That was a wrap on our Fall. Whew!! Almost done with 2015!!!

A Year in the Life: Summer 2015

When Joey and I met, we knew being in education was without a doubt what we wanted to do. We had a love for working with students and we knew we wanted a family and wanted to make sure we could have time with our kids. Although my job title and contract time has changed, it is still a blessing having spring break, a bit of time off in the summer and no Fridays in the summer so that we can continue to make memories together as a family. When I look back at pictures and think back to some of our favorite memories, they are usually in the summer.

I feel like things are so much more simple in the summer. We usually spend our time going to the library, eating ice cream, and swimming. If you ask me, that is pretty perfect. In summer, things don't have to be a big production. You can throw on some shorts, a hat, and a tee. You can live outside pretty much all day and night. I love the smell of sunblock, pool water, and the sounds of crickets at night and seeing lightning bugs. Just talking about it makes me so excited for May and June to get here!

We enjoyed many lazy days swimming, reading, and eating ice cream. We had play dates with friends and hung out with family.

celebrating Liv's birthday

helping Mommy and Daddy set up for Vacation Bible School

One of my all time favorite pictures. We love baking together

Aunt Cindy took the "big kids" to Bucees to get hyped up on candy and icees

We love Steel City Pops

celebrated mom's birthday...luau style

tough life

Soon it was Ella's birthday. She enjoyed her first trip to the American Girl doll store and using her birthday money to buy her first American Girl doll.

Then we took a mini vacation to Beaver's Bend. This was our family's first time to go there and the kids absolutely loved it. They have been asking to go back again so we may have to look at making another visit. We went with Nana, Papa, Lauren, Dusty, Sawyer, and Jansen.

When we returned we celebrated the fourth of July and spent the rest of the summer swimming and napping. Bliss!

So there you have it! We had an amazing summer full of first time experiences!