January 2013

Started the new year with a full plate! Micah and I joined a challenge where we are embarking on the Paleo diet in hopes of being more health conscience as well as to lose a bit of weight. Yeah, I know, "typical new year's goal"... But hey the way I look at it is I haven't given up, I've consistently been striving towards losing weight, just haven't found something I've wanted to commit to and stick with. All "diets" work for someone if they're willing to stick with it. I know my biggest hurdle is exercise, finding something I can enjoy, otherwise its not something I'll stick with. So far Micah has proven results as he has stuck with exercise for the past year and a half. He has slimmed down by over 50 pounds and built up muscle. He is eating healthier and feeling a lot better!

Also on our plate... We listed our house for sale mid-December and in a month and a half had 13 showings! Talk about keeping the house clean with 2 toddlers - it's been a chore to say the least! We've been thankful for the activity though. To give a bit of back story here it all began towards the end of August. I started feeling impressed, nudged to inquire about Rick and Teri's old house, currently owned by his brother in law Ryan but being rented out. I honestly was not sure why I was feeling this, we were completely content with our home and had no reason to want to move. However I could not get away from these feelings, it constantly bombarded my thoughts, dreams, prayer time... So several weeks later, maybe mid-September I shared this with Micah thinking maybe we should just ask if Ryan would even sell his house and for how much. It took Micah a couple weeks before he even felt comfortable. So in a very nonchalant way Micah inquired about the house with no further details. We learned the house was much more than we could afford. I quickly grew discouraged and thought well that settles that, must not be God. To which my husband replies, "Don't put God in a box, He can do anything." I kept that in mind and tried to still move on but it was still there. Why did we need to move anyway, it still was unclear to me. Now don't get me wrong, it's a nice house, still a 3 bedroom but with more square footage, a bonus room and a pool, not to mention location is great and it's just a few houses down from Micah's parents. I began circling the house in prayer believing that if we were supposed to be there, God would work out the details and bring clarity.
Then November 10th Micah's dad's retina detached in his only good eye. To make a very long story not so long it became apparent to both Micah and I that God wanted us closer to his parents to help take care of them as they get older. A couple weeks after Gary's eye surgery Micah was in a meeting with Rick and as they were discussing the current state of Gary's eye Rick asked what Micah was thinking. To which he replied, "I'd like to buy your old house." Rick thought a moment and said he liked the idea, it'd be a great fit and said let's make it happen. Without disclosing all the details we could only praise God for his guiding and provision. December 12th we officially had our house on the market. Being slow season for houses to sell we didn't anticipate much activity but I felt like God's timing would be perfect and we'd have an offer by the first week of February. The renters are in the other house till the end of February so we wouldn't be able to get in until March anyway.  With 13 showings, that was quite a bit of activity!

A few other tidbits on our plate besides, diet, selling a house, and Micah's dad currently being blind...Micah oversees 5th grade through college and career in addition to our Discovery program. He also took the Discovery students on a 2 day trip to New Braunfels, is planning a trip to the Czech Republic and is a great dad and husband!

For me besides cleaning, cleaning and cleaning I have enjoyed the beautiful January weather in south Texas and playing outside with the boys, packing boxes, going through a book called "Desperate, hope for the mom who needs to breath" by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson with a dear friend ~ Vanessa (we meet Tuesday evenings after kids are in bed). Our friendship has blossomed and truly been a blessing. I'm also working on memorizing 24 new verses this year, 2 a month, reading/praying through the Bible for Mack, recording prayers in a new Noteworthy Bible we got for the boys (Micah is doing the same for Parker). I'm also teaching a class on sexual purity to the Discovery girls. And helping with our moms & tots group at church.

The boys continue to grow and mature into little mighty men of God. I'm so blessed to be at home with them every day! They drive me a little crazy sometimes but there's no place I'd rather be. They are my ministry and my home is my mission field!

And here's a little photo journal for the month!

Parker and his friend Olivia Blauvelt holding hands at dinner.

Mack reading his Bible

Got my "Desperate" book in the mail!

The Bibles Micah and I are recording prayers in for the boys

The scripture journal I'm using to memorize my 24 verses for the year.

Parker's first basketball game - he loved it!

Eating dinner outside

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Mack loves to exercise with his daddy

Micah on a trip with his Discovery students

Fun and Productive Family Day

We had quite the productive day! I made breakfast while Micah mowed the grass. Then we cleaned and organized the garage while adding stuff to and inventorying the attic. Had the palm trees trimmed, changed light bulbs and reinstalled smoke detectors with new batteries. After lunch and naps we all washed the car and played in the water. And finally we went grocery shopping. Had dinner, played with the boys and prepped tomorrow's crockpot lunch. After the boys were asleep we ended our day snuggling in bed with a movie. Now that's what I call a fun and productive family day!!!

Change is in the Air...

I feel like my mind is about to crash with overload of information I want to transfer to this blog and my fingers just can't keep up...

I blogged several months ago (almost 9 to be exact) about goals I had for this year, I have successfully not kept updates, lol!  I have however been excited to report I've been successful in almost all of my goals (minus losing 35 pounds)!

Well as we are about to embark on another season this year Micah and I have been talking about a lot of things. Since my fingers can't keep up with my brain, I'm going to just bullet point them for now and will come back to give further explanation.

• Micah desires to complete a full triathlon aka full ironman.  
• I will train and enter another 5K
• Mack will train for a kids 1 mile
• Purging our house
• Building relationships
• leading micro groups
• starting a discipleship program
• discipling leaders
• eating healthier
• journaling
• Setting life goals
• Writing a book
• slowing down
• sticking to the budget!!!

Well those are just a few things to get us started, I'll post more as I have time.  I'm really looking forward to getting back into the habit of blogging.

2010 Year in Review

Here's a little recap from 2010...


January:
From a 2 month old to a Toddler!  From spitting up to now spitting out food he doesn't like. Mack keeps us quite entertained, in fact we often joke "what did we do for entertainment before Mack". It has been so much fun learning the adventures of parenthood all the while trying to keep up with the daily laundry and many chores around the house.  Challenging yet rewarding! 

January also brought new MC faces and May brought a final farewell to Master's as we know it. 

2010 Goals turned into Good intentions as, well life happens.  Ready to make new ones in 2011.


February:
Axis, our youth group, officially went to 2 services on Sunday morning and increased roughly by 30%. At the end of the year we have shown an increase of more than 65%!


March:
Micah turned 27 and we took our first little get-a-way without Mack to San Antonio.  Reluctant to leave my 3 1/2 month old I didn't realize how much I needed it until we actually got away.  

April:

At the beginning of the month I was preparing for a Girl's Night with our high schoolers and in the process, had an epiphany... I am definitely called to be a stay-at-home wife/mommy. As hard and challenging as it is there's no place better to be than in the center of God's will.

May:

Micah and I had the privilege of dedicating Mack to the Lord on Mother's Day.  

June:
We had the pleasure of visiting my family in Kansas/Missouri and of course showing off our little bundle of joy.  Mack did amazing on his first airplane trip! Can't post all the pics but here's just a few...

July:
A moment of vulnerability with the post pregnancy pounds... let's not relive that, shall we.


August:
Family pictures, Youth Camp, an 8 month old, 2 teeth and officially crawling - it was a busy month!

 Micah's grandma, Ruby Crews, passed away at the age of 93.  Although I did not have the privilege of knowing her well, I am so thankful for the rich legacy she has passed down and I am honored to be named among her family.  She was a devoted woman of God, sewing quilts even at the age of 92 for less fortunate children in El Salvador.  She will be dearly missed by many.

After camp, Micah had the privilege of baptizing several of our youth students!

During camp my Junior girls adopted the name Pink Cobras.  We have grown very close over the months and enjoy time together!

September:
I celebrated my 29th birthday and we got away for a few days to San Antonio!  Also a couple of Micah's aunts came to visit.

October:
Micah and I celebrate 6 wonderful years together!


November:
Got Christmas shopping done as well as Christmas pictures taken.  Mack turned 1 on November 23rd! And Thanksgiving was a blast!


December:

It seems as though Palm Valley Church is always under construction but with constructions come the new... 

 On December 5 we had our first service in our new sanctuary 

It is such an honor to be a part of a thriving church where God is moving and lives are being transformed!


Christmas was a lot of fun this year with Mack, of course any 1 year old has more fun with the wrapping paper and boxes than the gift itself:)


Overall it has been an amazing year, to God be the Glory!

October in Review

This review is a bit late in posting but better late than never...


On the first of October Micah and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary.  This year we took a little day trip to Corpus Christie while Mack stayed with his Grammy and Grandpa.  We ate some good food, visited the Texas State Aquarium, toured the USS Lexington and most importantly enjoyed each others company.  

Family Fun
We try to keep things interesting in the Crump home and want to get into the habit of doing things that are fun with the family.  I know Mack is only 11 months but we figured that shouldn't stop us from including him.  So this month we did a couple fun projects like finger painting and carving a pumpkin.  Here's just a couple pictures.

Cleaning up after our finger painting.

Picking out a pumpkin.

Our carved pumpkin.

Axis
In the last year Axis, our high school student ministries, has had a growth increase of 65% - that's pretty phenomenal if you ask me.  Mid-month we had our 2nd annual Fusion event, where a life can be changed in just 24 hours. This years theme was Time Management.  Micah spoke and talked about not using your time for only you and having a self-centered life, but rather choosing to give your few short years hear on earth to God - to be a part of His bigger story... to surrender.  With illustrations on how to prioritize and hands on visuals I believe 66 students got it!


Well it was a great month! I'm sure so much more happened but so little time to record it all.  I'll have my hands busy next month with our little man turning 1 and Thanksgiving, beginning holiday shopping...