Upturn

Life has taken a turn for the better.

Stating this makes it sound like life was awful earlier, but honestly...it was pretty rough there for a bit. Since Friday, everything seems to have changed. My attitude is positive. My mood is happy. Work is going well for me back at Lutheran. Busy at times (but, honestly, what job isn't?), but generally great. I was told by two separate coworkers yesterday how happy each was that I came back to work with them. That really builds up the soul. Also, today is Phillip's first day of work at his new job. While this isn't exactly his dream job, we're both SO pleased for him to have a good, steady position with great hours (especially since baby time is just a few short weeks away!).

The biggest influencer on my upturn in life, though, is definitely credited to this past Saturday's happenings. Not only did I have a fantastic baby shower with family (including Mom O. from Ohio and the most loving and wonderful cousin, Leslie, who FLEW IN FROM NORTH CAROLINA JUST TO BE AT MY BABY SHOWER) in the afternoon where Little One received so many necessary and great gifts, but then I was able to celebrate dear Hillary's upcoming wedding at her bridal shower, and finally end the day with a very large, great, and all-around awesome gathering of the most loving friends imaginable. I didn't expect such a great turn out or so much food, so it was overwhelming in the best way possible! I just loved celebrating our baby and, while it's embarrassing being the only one opening so many gifts, I appreciate every item we were given so, so much. I feel much more prepared as a soon-to-be mother and I'm really getting so excited and anxious to meet my sweet baby!

From Kari's instagram

Thank you, Lord, for your blessings.

Monday

There hasn't been too much happening around here lately. I apologize (<<I always put two 'p's in that word!) for the quietness around the blog as of late. There's been work, movie watching, and a little fun thrown in, too.

First, I'm going to insist you all go HERE and watch this video of some of our amazing Velocity students performing their skit. They did this in youth service a few weeks ago, but this past weekend they were asked to perform in all three main services. The subject matter is rather difficult to swallow, but I'm so proud of them. I can't watch it without crying due to the song, the lyrics, and the awesome kids.

Speaking of youth, I have some pictures from the final night of the Velocity series "The Battle Within".

It. Was. Hilarious.

There was an ongoing fight skit between Mortimer (aka Brian) and The Tolleson Terror (aka Steve) throughout the series which culminated on this final night. Brian, dressed as you see below, was talking and jerking with a Harry Caray influence, while Steve, New Life's lead pastor, was all ridiculous in his bearded get-up. It was great and the kids were loving it. Actually, Missy and I were probably laughing the loudest.

Phill created the whole boxing ring theme you see in the background complete with ceiling drop down mic!

Velocity worship.

On St. Patrick's Day the man and I went to a Reds vs. Indians spring training game (ahem, Reds win!, cough, ahem...).

Finally, Thursday night arrived. The night we had been anticipating for weeks, nay, MONTHS!

(This may or may not be my iPhone lock screen wallpaper)

THE HUNGER GAMES!!! 

Phill wore his homemade bad-ass shirt (it looks awesome, right?!)and I wore my Katniss get up braid, cargo pants, boots and all. I was the Girl On Fire. Boom. It was pretty awesome.

THEN! Friday, I had the pleasure of meeting some great ladies I know from technology alone. Isn't that great?! Yay for Internet and Instagram friends and brunch!

Missing a few ladies from this pic. Aren't they lovely?

Finally, due to the awesome Internet relationship of myself and Mandy, Phill and I went to Jester'Z Improv for some laughyoufaceoffness on Saturday night.

Apparently more happened in this week than I originally eluded to at the beginning of this post. 

Woops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family Staycation

Last week Phillip and I were fortunate to spend time with my Aunt Cathy, my brother, and my momma! We didn't really have anything planned other than planning to enjoy each others company. It was nice and relaxed.

We had dinner with my aunt when she arrived Saturday evening, grabbed Trey from the airport Tuesday, hit up Cheba Hut (of course), went on a beautiful run through the wash, ate loads of pizza, grabbed Mom from the airport Thursday, ate some more good food, played games while listening to David Bowie, went to the Desert Botanical Garden, said goodbye to Aunt Cathy Saturday morning, took a day trip to Sedona, dropped Trey off at the airport Sunday morning, went to church, took glorious naps, Velocity Sunday night, I got super sick all day Monday until I finally felt about 95% better by evening and we decided to dine with the old folk at Furr's. Lastly, I took my momma to the airport Tuesday morning and now it's back to normal life around here! I miss my family. :-( Here are some amazing pictures from our Sedona trip.

Poor guy.

Take 2. Sheesh.

It's so beautiful, it hardly seems real, right? I'm so blessed with my great family and the opportunity to see such beautiful creation in my lifetime.

Week of Prayer v. 2

This prayer room really is spectacular. I give such high praise to New Life for initiating such a great thing. I signed up to pray from 12AM-1AM last night. I'm pleased that I was able to go a couple days into the week of prayer because it allowed me to see the evidence of prayer all over the room from others coming through, praying to God, and praising Him. What made my time there even better was Phillip arriving for his scheduled time at 1AM allowing for shared prayer time. We held hands, bowed our heads, and lifted our shared prayers to the Lord.

There are 4 different wall spaces: Welcome Wall, Wailing Wall, Worship {I-can't-really-remember-the-name-of-it wall} Wall, & the World Wall. You can see some of the Wailing Wall to the back right with post-it notes lifting up names of those to be prayed for who need Jesus in their lives and the Worship wall to the left with musical instruments near & paints and written words giving thanks to God and sharing discovered truths.

There are multiple stations throughout the room, too, with different prompts and ideas for prayer. Worship music. Scented oils. Our shoes were removed, for this is holy ground.

This may sound a bit much for some, but I promise you it really is simply a perfect prayer house of worship. I am a skeptic for things different and obscure. Yet, I truly love this. This past Sunday evening at the worship night service, it was said that many times people say we can't afford to take the time to pray, when in actuality we can't afford not to pray. This really resonated with me. I do not typically pray much. I have started praying more frequently recently as there is a lot of uncertainty in mine and Phillip's lives, but I generally don't think much of it. I'm not very well connected. There. I said it. This week, starting with my weekend at UCYC with the high school kids, has jump-started my spiritual life. It's wonderful, but, honestly, also a bit scary! When you invite God in, you have to expect things to happen! For me, not knowing exactly what could having, trying to have blind faith and acceptance of the unknown, is frightening!

I'm so thankful for prayer.
Communicate with God.

DECEMBER

It's arrived.

My favorite time of year is here. I've been giddy for months weeks, but now that Thanksgiving has passed and December has arrived, the rest of the country is saying I'm allowed to celebrate full force! The tree is up and decorated, I've crafted a few special decorations for our tiny space, happy lights adorn the patio, and a bit of sparkly garland is draped across the living room windows.

...Ahh, I love it.

I'm almost, almost, sad I won't be able to cherish it all the way up until the big day since we'll be away from our little home here.

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I realized I never posted the pictures I took from the church picnic a few weeks back! I apologize in advance to my cold weather friends who will hate seeing all the sunshine...or just the thought of a picnic in November...

Nevertheless, we had such a fun time and the church raised a ton more money than agreed upon for Brian to have his hair cut off. Bouncy houses, a dunk tank, food, and shaving the youth pastor's head--sounds like a fun time :-)

New Life's new teaching pastor Pat McCulla!

Pie eating contest

Little Skyler!

He kept looking at the phone rather than the lens. Oh well. He's sweet, so it's ok.

1. Lead pastor Steve  2. Elaine Jenkins

Cutey baby alert!

1. Brad & Sean  2. Phillip & Dalton {obviously, Phill won}

Before & After!

Shivering

Phillip, taking revenge on his boss

Alright, I'm tired so it's back to relaxing, listening to Hunger Games on disk, and heading to the gym.

Have a happy weekend!

Concert: Avett Brothers

Don't you just love Phill's face? Haha

Opening act: Jessica Lee Mayfield

Jessica Lee Mayfield

My favorite hipsters from the concert

Holla! THE AVETT BROTHERS!!!

Yes. This is real life.

I considered making these pictures larger, but I figured it would take approximately 18,078,314 years to scroll to the bottom of the page. For some reason Blogger is being impossible and won't let me upload the videos I recorded at the concert. Stupid computers. Stupid websites. Trust me. It was such a spectacular concert.

These brothers put on a real show.