the matts…

What an amazing Christmas we have had! Saturday we got to take about 30 inner city kids to Celebration Station for a special Christmas treat… then back to their house for presents and fun. This is the same family we take care of every year, and every year it gets better and better. I feel so blessed to get to be a part of the team who helps take care of these amazing kids. Back in the day about 4 years ago, we used to get on school buses and go pick up families and bring them to a church service. Then we fed them and played games with them and brought them home. We met this family all those years ago and we are still able to minister to them now. They are all so precious, but I have an extra special place in my heart for a little boy named Roy. He is my love!

Sunday and Monday we got to be a part of some incredible services at HPC. It was my last chance to serve on the Highland weekend team- another team I have been so honored to get to be a part of. Last night we went to my dad’s house where we had an awesome time.  Then we went to my mom’s to get our Christmas PJ’s, then came home and exchanged gifts (I got the perfume I totally wanted- Covet). Today we spent the morning at my mom’s house, where all the kids and grandkids were. I got some baby practice with Taylor and Erin’s newest addition, Christian. Then we headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s for some great lunch, presents, four-wheeler riding, and pictures galore with the family. After a couple hours, it was time to go to Chris’ mama’s house for more presents!! It was definitely a fun afternoon! We had a great time. Then- as if we hadn’t eaten enough- we went back to my mom’s for roast and rice and gravy (Chris’ favorite!)

This is a wonderful life. The next couple days I will be packing up the apartment and getting ready for our trip to see the family in Texas. When we get back, it’s moving time! I can’t wait to get the house all fixed up and decorated. Then I get to prepare the nursery… only a little over 3 months to go til baby comes!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, and to all a good night!!!

This is the last time I will sit at this desk and write to you, my faithful blog readers. I wish you all the very merriest of Christmases! Don’t worry (as if you would be concerned)… I will continue to blog regularly. They might be a little more exciting now that things are going to be so different. We close on our house January 3, I begin the new job January 7, then preparation for baby kicks into high gear! Have a wonderful holiday and we hope to see you this weekend at church!!

So, I haven’t posted about it yet… I guess I am still digesting it all. Tomorrow is my last day in the office at HPC. I will be working all the Christmas services, but tomorrow’s the last day at this desk, surrounded by these people, doing this work. It’s such a weird feeling. Since I started Elevate full-time 2.5 years ago, I really thought I would be here forever. Interesting how God’s plans are always different than ours.

He has called me back to the teaching field, and in January I begin teaching resource special ed at a local inner city school. Chris and I have been praying about this for months, and God just totally opened so many doors wide open to make this happen. I told Him that He would have to make it obvious, and that’s exactly what He did. I have a job from January 7 until the baby comes, when I will take maternity leave (and still get paid part of my salary). Then in the summer, I’ll go back to school to get certified (while still getting paid, and EBRP will pay for the school, too). Next fall I will start up another school year wherever God puts me, but I know wherever it is, it will be in His plan, fulfilling my purpose.

I am SO EXCITED about going back to teaching. Inner city kids are my most favorite people in the world, and the fact that He has chosen me to impact some of their lives blows my mind. Why me? I don’t know… All I know is that He instilled in me a love and passion for them that is second to none. It will be challenging- but it will be SO worth it. The kids I taught three years ago are in still my thoughts and in my dreams. I can only hope I changed them a fraction of the way that they changed me. And now I have that opportunity again, and I am just feeling so blessed.

HPC and our pastors take such good care of the staff. This has been the biggest honor to get to serve here everyday for the last few years. What a privilege to get to learn from people like Pastors Dino & Delynn, Mike Haman, Marc Cleary, Dan Ohlerking and Michelle Gros on a daily basis. Plus the people I work with everyday have truly become family to me. They were in my wedding, they will take care of my children, they are some of my very best friends and they will be a part of our lives forever.

That being said, please don’t mourn! I am not dying… I will still be at HPC every weekend, at life groups, at women’s nights, at outreaches… still serving it up HPC-style. This is my home and it always will be.

We have a wonderful past few days. Here are some awesome things we have been able to do since Friday:

*Three Christmas parties

*A class at Woman’s Hospital

*See our baby Presley moving around in my tummy again and hear her little heart beating away!!!

*Spend time with Chris’ family in Denham Springs and have a blast

*Took the Praxis (a test that qualifies you to teach) and passed with flying colors!!

*Hang out with our favorite kids in the world for a few hours at the Winbourne Dream Center

*Be there with hundreds of families who got some Target gift cards so that they could have Christmas for their kids

I mean… all in a matter of 4 days!!!  I pray that I never forget how wonderful it is to have a crazy blessed life!

What does everyone think of the new header picture? I thought it was time for a change… We took some great Christmas pictures on Sunday with our wonderful friends David & Lauren, and that shot is definitely one of my favorites! I wanted to post some more, but it will only let me post a huge version instead of some thumbnails. So, if you wanna see all of the picture love, you can check them out in an album on facebook or myspace.

With everything going on with our 4 families, all the events and outreaches at HPC, buying a house, packing an apartment, and getting ready for baby… things have been a bit wild for us lately. I keep trying to remind myself to just slow down, breathe and enjoy the reason we do all this every year- JESUS! In all the present buying, mall  fighting, budget watching, family juggling and schedule cramming that we do, it’s hard to keep our heads above water long enough to fix our eyes on Him.

All the Chick Brunches, holiday outreaches, Christmas parties, family gatherings and silly gift exchanges are wonderful blessings, but they mean nothing unless we keep God first in our own hearts. It sounds so cliche, but Jesus is the SINGLE reason for the season, and until we really live that truth during the madness, it was all a total waste.

I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t wanna waste my life.

I’ve heard a lot about this movie coming out, The Golden Compass. The more I read on it, the more I get concerned. Here’s a blurb from an article I read. Click here to read the whole thing.

“There will be a new Children’s movie out in December called THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It is written by Phillip Pullman, a proud athiest who belongs to secular humanist societies. He hates C. S. Lewis’s Chronical’s of Narnia and has written a trilogy to show the other side. The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope that they will buy his trilogy where in the end the children kill God and everyone can do as they please. Nicole Kidman stars in the movie…”

“Pullman’s an atheist and his objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. I heard that he has made remarks that he wants to kill God in the minds of children, and that’s what his books are all about… An article written about him said “this is the most dangerous author in Britain” and that Pullman would be the writer “the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed.” Pullman said he doesn’t think it is possible that there is a God and he has great difficulty understanding the words “spiritual” and “spirituality.” 

“They are hoping that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie and then the children will want the books for Christmas. That’s the hook. Pullman says he wants the children to read the books and decide against God and the kingdom of heaven.”

If you have 5 minutes, go read the whole article. And then inform as many people as you can. This is madness!

Here are some pics from Thanksgiving of us, our brother, Chris, and cousins, Jessica, Katelyn & Melissa. (Click on them to make them bigger)

And here are the latest belly bump pictures… This is me at right around 5 months!