Labor Day Fun

I know that it is nearing the end of September and boy has it been a crazy month! So crazy that I haven't even blogged about our wonderful/relaxing Labor Day trip to Lake Grandbury! We had such an awesome weekend! It was a success on so many levels! We were able to "get away", the kiddos did great sleeping out of their beds at home for a couple of nights, we were able to play and rest at the same time and refuel our hearts a little bit as well. It is definitely a place where we love to go! Thanks so much again to Andrew's parents for making the lake such an amazing and beautiful place! Here are some pics:

This picture doesn't look forced does it?! ;) Austin and Audrey pretty much know the drill by now!

We got a chance to borrow these jet skis again for the day and as always it was a blast! The kids love them and Andrew and I LOVE our ski dates where we drive the jet skis all over Lake Grandbury! So fun!

Off they go...

The kiddos also loved riding around in the golf cart!

Andrew took Sunday morning off for the 1st time in a full year! We had a wonderful morning of "Church" as a family. "By Him all things were created." We had fun with the sidewalk chalk as you can see!

Andrew found a turtle and the kiddos loved watching it make its way back to the water. We even named it, but I forgot what it was. :)

Mr. Turtle - he was a good sport...

Sweet Ainsley had a blast at the lake too! How precious is that smile?!

My Brother is a Married Man!

On August 29th my little bro married an incredible woman who is one of the most loving and servant-minded people I have ever met. We were so excited when Cory started casually dating Kristin a little over a year ago and to watch them fall so easily in love with each other has been so fun! They were definitely created for each other and compliment one another very well.

Here is my version of their story: Cory and Kristin (and my sis Suzanne) were good friends in college and they dated for a very brief time at one point, but Cory decided that he wasn't quite ready for an official "girlfriend" since he was just coming out of a different relationship that didn't work out. It was a good and bad thing since Cory did need more time to grow. Kristin, Suzanne and I weren't too happy about it, but for the most part we understood. Kristin and Cory remained friends and graduated from SFA and went their separate ways. After baby Ainsley was born last year, Suzanne was staying with us for a while to help us adjust to 3 kiddos under 3. (Bless my incredible sis!:) Kristin was living close by and Suzanne met her for coffee one night in McKinney. When Suzanne got home we began talking about where Kristin was in life and as we were talking we realized that Cory was kinda in the same spot and that they should talk and reconnect a little bit since they didn't live too far from each other. I texted Cory that night and pretty much told him that he let Kristin get away and that he needed to hang out with her asap. (I definitely pulled out my big sis card!;) With a little coaxing, he called Kristin and the rest is history! Suzanne and I like to say that we got to hand pick our sis-in-law! Kristin is such a beautiful person from the inside-out and we are more than thrilled to have her in our family as our new sis! Here are some pics from the fun wedding weekend that we had. I didn't take the best pics, but they are still fun! Enjoy!

Here is the bride and groom-to-be at their rehersal dinner. Aren't they so cute?!

Two of my favorite people in the world!

With our new sis!

Bride and Bridesmaid shot before she walked down the isle.

My parents look so great in this pic!

Sisters

One last pic with Cory before he is a married man!

Andrew performed the ceremony and he did such an incredible job making it so personal to Cory and Kristin. Weddings are such an awesome way to praise the Lord for the amazing people He puts into our lives to shape and mold us! (Def not the best pic!)

Our Nana was such an awesome help throughout the weekend! (As always!)

Thank you, Nana! What would we do without you?!

My boy being silly.

Austin and Audrey hung out on the dance floor all night! We love to dance! ;)

Ainsley got in the action on the dance floor too.

Audrey as cute as ever.

He was having a blast!!

The newlyweds

Not a good pic, but I LOVED Kristin's cake! So pretty and so her!

Mother/Son dance

LOVE this pic of Ainsley with Papa! They look so much alike to me.

My cousin Brad with his beautiful daughter Hallie. It was so fun hanging out with family that we don't get to see very often!

And here is our attempt at a family pic at the end of the night... Just not happening, but E for effort! ;)

Cory and Kristin,

We are so proud of you guys and love you both so much! We can't wait to see how the Lord uses your marriage to shape and to impact other people for His glory! Thanks for letting us pour our little bit of marriage advice into you and for asking us to be a part of the 2nd biggest decision you will ever make in your lifetime! It was such an amazing wedding and weekend!

blessings,

andrew and angie

Austin's Big 1st Day...

...of Preschool! I just can't believe it!


In my mind he should still look like this.

or this...

or even this...

But instead, I am having to come to grips that my sweet little boy is growing up. He has been so excited for the 1st day of school for weeks now and it was so fun for him to pick out his new Spider man backpack and for him to ask EVERY DAY if it was the day he gets to start school. (He even had a hard time going to sleep the night before!) So, we brought the whole family up to his new school to get some pictures and to drop him off for the 1st time.

Sweet brother and sis pic! Audrey didn't quite get that Austin was going to school and she wasn't, but she was excited all the same to be a part of the process. I can't believe that we will be doing the same thing next year with her!

All three kiddos before we marched into the school.

Daddy giving Austin his last pep talk for the day as they walk into the school.

Austin with one of his new teachers, Ms. Glory.

Austin walked right on in the classroom and began exploring all the toy options. Here he is with one of his buds, Hudson. We are so excited that he gets to be in a class with such a fun friend!

Austin posing with Daddy...

...and with Mommy. We said our goodbyes and then we left our boy for 5 hours. What next? I didn't even think what we would do past the drop off! It was SO different in our house without Austin. All I kept thinking was how QUIET it was with just the girls. We sat on our living room floor for almost 45 minutes and read books and played dolls! I have NEVER been able to sit in one spot for that long and play! Austin is a very busy and active boy. He brings us so much joy and laughter, but also a lot of noise from train and car sounds to running and playing screams. So, all three of us girls didn't know quite what to think about the quiet and calm day. I will take it though! It is going to be a great year of me being able to focus a lot of attention on my two sweet girls while A-Town is having a blast a school 10 hours a week. Going from 3 to 2 kiddos makes such a big difference! I might even be able to go shopping more often! ;) So, when I picked Austin up I asked one of his teacher's how he did and she said great except that he didn't eat or sleep during nap time. Typical Austin. He is too busy to eat and sleeping with 12 other kiddos in a room is going to be quite the adjustment for him. When we got into the car I questioned him all about the day and it sounded like he had a very fun day with new toys and friends. The one thing he said that absolutely melted my heart was, "Mommy, I missed you." I mean - talk about your heart swelling up with emotion at those precious words!

Austin,

We are so very proud of you and how big you are getting! We love how excited you are about beginning a new chapter in your life and we can't wait to see all you learn and experience this year! Remember to 1. Love Jesus 2. Work Hard 3. Be Respectful 4. Be a Leader and 5. HAVE FUN! We love you!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Thankful Thursday - Reflections of Family Camp 2009

As I have already mentioned, we had a fabulous week at Pine Cove and we definitely left that place different from when we entered it. (Remember Church camp as a high school student and the way you felt leaving the week? Pine Cove is like that, but in an adult-marriage-family sort of way:) It was filled with many great memories and precious moments for us a a couple and as a family. It is hard to be constantly served by others when you are always the one doing it. (It was wonderful though and we definitely missed it when we stepped back into the real world!) I walked away feeling refueled and refreshed as a mom, wife and pw. We loved just being another family at camp and not having to be the center of anything. We loved being able to focus just on our relationship with the Lord, each other and our kiddos for a full week. We loved no connection with "the outside world" and being able to have important and meaningful conversations without being pulled 10 million different directions at the same time. We were able to focus and create more of a vision for the future of our family and children. AND we did all that and still feel that we got a complete vacation full of fun and energy all at the same time! I think we are definitely better for going and as many people as possible should try and go and experience what a week of Pine Cove will do for your family. It will bless you beyond measure like it did us! We would like you to meet some amazing people we were with during the week:

This is Austin with MoTown. She was the awesome counselor who did our family devo (devotional) time with us each morning and she was also the camp photographer for the week. Love her!! :)

Family devo time! We love that this time has carried over to our home. Every Friday is "Family Fun Friday" b/c it's Daddy's day off, so we plan a fun activity and do a family devo in the morning going through the alphabet. For example, we started with the letter A and the verse we used was "All fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23. Then the next week was B and so on... We keep it short and simple and the kiddos love it and so do we!

Here were the fun friends who played with Audrey and Ainsley all week in Cove Kids. What a wonderful place!!

This was Austin's group for the week. Such cuties!

And here are the girls who wrangled in our boy all week. They had their work cut out for them, but they did an awesome job!

This was when we were saying our goodbyes. We loved Match Dot Com and these sweet Graves girls were some of Austin's good buds for the week.

This is Chris Willard and his wife the 'Fabulous Susan' and fam. They were the speakers for the week and we enjoyed them so much! Thank you guys for pouring into us and for encouraging us and making us laugh! Love you!

Okay, so I have to tell this story about what an incredible and unexpected gift the Lord gave us! The first night we were at Family Camp I saw this lady and you know that feeling you get when you KNOW you know someone, but just can't place them? Well, I kept looking at her and wondering how and from where do I know her face? Then after dinner we went to drop our kiddos off and I got a chance to see her name tag. It said Julie Ustruck - and it hit me! Julie and her husband Chris were our across-the-street neighbors way back about 5 years ago in Katy, TX. Why is that significant you might ask? Well, when we lived in Katy, Julie and Chris were NOT Christians and now we were at a Christian camp together! Both Andrew and I remember a specific time when we were house-sitting for this family while they were out of town and it was through that weekend that the Lord burdened us to pray for them. We knew that they were searching and we prayed for them often. So, you can imagine how incredible it was to see them and to hear their story/journey to the Lord! I felt so honored to spend time with them through the week and I truly feel it was such a gift from God that He would bless us by getting to see 2 peoples lives dramatically changed and to know that we possibly had a tiny part in it. Isn't our Lord so amazing in that way?! We love you, Ustruck Family!

This is the Graves family and they were a couple/ pastor and wife that we enjoyed spending time with during the week. It was awesome having conversations and for Cindy to just "get" what I was talking about with both of us being in ministry beside our husbands. Praise God for like-minded people! Another side note is that Steve was actually on staff at First Baptist Woodway (where we used to serve and where I grew up) right before we got there! Such a small world! Again, this couple was another one placed so strategically by the Lord to give us a dose of what we needed during this amazing week of nourishment. Graves family - love you and are praying for you! Hopefully we will go to Family Camp again next summer with you guys!

This is the Jennings family and we connected with them during the week as well. They moved to Waco the same time that we left Waco and moved to Anna. It is always fun to find out that they are friends with people we were friends with in Waco. :) What an awesome family! We want to be with you guys next year too! Love you and praise God for your sweet family!

Thanks for letting me talk so much about this one week of our lives. I guess when something impacts you so much it is worth letting people know that it was worth every dollar and minute we spent! See you next year, Pine Cove!!