Maternity leave, moving, and all around madness

What in the world have we been doing?!

First, let's start off by saying our hearts had been leaning towards church planting for a year or so but we brushed it aside. Then it came up again when I was 8.5 months pregnant and oddly, it felt like the right time. Ha! So we decided we would take the leap of faith and everything we knew would change... All with a newborn... And a toddler! 

So we had Brooks on April 13th and began considering buying a house within the following weeks. Touring houses with 2 under 2 is not an easy task by any means. Thankfully most houses we looked at had little girls toys all over, praise hands!

late may/early june:

We told our current lead pastor about our change in ministry and arranged to go to training in Orlando for church planting funding. Around the same time we went to tour a house and my parents were luckily pulling into town to visit at the exact time. It was great to have their wisdom when buying our first house! We decided to put an offer down that night. Then spent the weekend counter offering. Meanwhile, we went to midland to celebrate Stephanie's 30th birthday!! 

The next week we sadly told our current church that we would be leaving to prepare to plant a church. With tears in our eyes we hugged everyone. So filled with excitement and sadness. That afternoon we packed up and headed to Codys parents. We did get one day of "fun" in the middle of all this ;) we found out that Evynn LOVES the water! Cody and I left the next morning with Brooks to Orlando, Florida while Evynn spent the week with our parents. I was in Florida with Brooks for 4 days the first week of June and cody stayed in orlando for the whole 8 days.

 I wish I could say we went to Florida for vaca but no way, it was an all day conference. Brooks and I were in tow for 4 days of the training so I took frequent nursing breaks during the classes. Everyone was so sweet about us bringing our (then) 7 week old. 

I flew back (by myself for the first time!!) with Brooks on Saturday and God gave me so much peace during the flight. Ps. I hate flying. I landed, got our car back, and went to my parents to hug Evynn. The next day we went to church then got Evynn ready to be a flower girl in my friend Kylie's wedding! We spent the next few days in Sherman catching up with friends and waiting for Cody to fly back on Tuesday.

By mid June we got home from being gone for a week and a half and started packing.

No joke, I never completely unpacked our suitcases from the trip! I sold everything we hadn't touched, looked at, or thought about in the last 4 years. We finally had it all packed and ready for closing day! 

We signed our life away, got the keys to our house on Friday June 23rd, picked out paint and started painting! We had most of it painted by that evening. Thanks HUGE to our parents who even stayed late while we took the littles home! Our parents helped so much that weekend with painting, moving and unpacking. I had 1 week left of maternity leave at this point and spent every minute free settling in even more.

The following weeks Cody finished his job as youth pastor, I started back to work full time, we repainted our whole kitchen, got new kitchen floors, met our wonderful neighbors, had friends over for my birthday, a birthday party for Evynn and have had family and friends stay the night several times.

Needless to say, we are wiped! We are loving our home and how cozy it is for our busy young family! 

So there's that! We're back in the big city! We're so excited about our new home, new community, and new adventure for our family. The Lord has been faithful through every time and has shown His plan all along. It hasn't all been smooth but whew, we have learned a lot.

Currently Cody is working on his Ministry Team Development and the funding portion. We are looking for people to support us in a variety of ways and excited to see how God provides!

The newborn? He's greaat! I haven't been able to hold and swoon over him like I did with Evynn partly because with a toddler you just can't but also we've been doing a million other things!! But he's been a champ, traveling in the car and on a plane. Sleeping (all night!!!) in hotel rooms and multiple houses. He's cooing and smiling and melting our hearts. He's not a fan of loud noises and doesn't like when he's not getting attention. 

Evynn is miss personality who is talking in little 2-3 work sentences. She cares for brother like nobody's business and has the patience of a gnat. I think all the change/mom and dad always working on something has been hard on her but here soon she'll have our full attention back and a house full of fun to enjoy :) 

Thankfully my recovery this maternity leave has been easier (did I have a choice?!). Would I ever suggest someone to change everything, move, etc. with a newborn? No but I'm glad the Lord aligned it all so I could be 100% present during it all. 

Please join us in prayer for our new chapter! For our new ministry and Cody to grow, learn, and prepare. For our home to be a place to welcome people, disciple our children, and love our family.

Evynn Claire's County Fair

Back in January I noticed Evynn really enjoyed watching shows with barn yard animals. My mind started racing, and I started to think of how we could incorporate that into her 2nd birthday party. Doesn't everyone plan kids birthday parties 6 months in advance?! I found the perfect traveling petting zoo through Whitley Acres just outside of Lubbock, and I quickly booked the "mini" petting zoo for our smallest guests we would be expecting come July!

So, I had the farm animals taken care of, now I went between a full barnyard theme party or county fair. I ended up leaning towards a party with lots of plaid and gingham and decided county fair all the way. I really loved the idea of having mini pies as well which actually was part of my love for the county fair theme, and didn't end up making them once the party arrived!

I wanted some plain ribbons to decorate with since county fairs are full of awards for animals/produce/baked goods/etc. but couldn't find any. So, after many hours and lots of yardstick paper and I made tons of cute ribbons! 

All that to say, once the actual day arrived, I was SO excited to see this party come together!! I happened to also work the four (12 hour) days leading up to the party so I couldn't be more thankful for my family and Claire aka the party planning committee for helping throw it all together early Saturday! Not to mention, we were in our new house so projects are ongoing around here but the party was the perfect "open house". 

I will say, I planned the time at 11am to avoid colliding with toddler naps, but getting everything ready for a morning/lunch party was no easy feat. The clock was running so much faster than I was and I feel like we barely had it all together in time! 

decor:

backdrop-lattice from home depot

banners- burlap from hobby lobby, homemade fabric strip banner, and homemade paper ribbon banner

wooden crates to display cupcakes-I've had these for years and they've been in countless parties

red tickets

bandanas

small hay stacks

little cardboard products crates

chalkboard signs

fondant barn/animals purchased through local upcycle site 

the smallest party hats made from extra paper

menu:

crockpot pulled pork/slider buns

chips

corn dogs pigs in a blanket

I really thought it would be easy to find frozen corn dogs the day of the party, but I couldn't find them!

 I also thought I wouldn't wear my hair in a pony tail for the party but time ran out, ya know?!

fruit: strawberries, grapes, watermelon

veggies: carrots, broccoli,  tomatoes, and ranch

cupcakes with mini funnel cakes on top

I did buy cupcakes from the store bakery but I made the funnel cakes the morning of.

We needed zero more toys for our already full play room so we asked for no toys, instead people could bring a card or write a card at the party for Evynn to read when she is 18. I found this idea on Pinterest and decided it would be perfect for people to leave some love without crowding our house with more toys, ha!

our entry way with the "summer boardwalk" candle of course!

We borrowed the wheelbarrow from a friend to use as the "cooler" as well as some hay. We threw down some blankets for additional seating.

trying to sneak a cupcake ;)

word got out that she reallyyyy wanted a cupcake so we went on and started the singing. She was excited but also little shy about everyone singing to her. She has the sweetest little shy face that we knew she would do, so glad we got a picture of it!

that cupcake was the first of.. several ha! And she wouldn't let any go to waste. In this picture she left some icing on the wheelbarrow, but turned around and wiped it right off and ate it. She did proceed to kiss brothers cheek and leave some icing remnants on him ;)

the animals consisted of a pig, goats, a duck, bunnies, and turtles. I thought the pig was soo cute! Dirty, but cute. He was in character too, getting water from the water bowl and making a mud area. The duck was sitting right in the water. And the toddlers would occasionally eat the animal feed. Ha!

We drew "snouts" on the pink cups for an additional touch and made a kissing booth for photo ops!

I missed snapping a pic but Evynn got a new wagon from her mimi and pop which already got worn in with several wagon rides during the party!

After the party Evynn got to open her tricycle from nana and papa. she was excited, but not willing to let go of her watermelon ;)

Thank you to everyone who came to our party! I know several close friends of ours were out of town and we hate to have missed them! 

This party was soooo fun to brain storm about and get creative! Now, onto the next! :)

the fourth of july

We made a quick and spontaneous decision to go home in time for the 4th of July a few weeks ago. We spent the rest of the week working on our ministry team (more on that later). 

We drove into my hometown at 6:30pm, literally just enough time to get a quick swim in, eat a hot dog, then off to fireworks. My parents, my best friend Claire, and our family of 4 then went to the local firework show. We had told Evynn beforehand that fireworks were loud so she was prepared and actually did well! We had ear muffs for Brooks so he wasn't too phased. Evynn is still telling her little story of that night "fireworks. loud. clap. bosh (popsicle)" hahah!

The next morning, literally 14 hours after arriving, we hit the road and went to Codys parents for the rest of the week! 

Our life is such a whirlwind right now, the occasional relaxing in the pool with our families has been very needed!!