June and July

I realize it has been quite a while since I’ve written about what’s going on in our lives so I’m going to give a little bit of an update. I apologize in advance if this post is really lengthy, but if you’re curious, this is what we’ve been up to…

June
In June we celebrated our 1 year anniversary! I probably already wrote about this, but it was a wonderful time for us to celebrate 1 year of being husband and wife. It was a restful and relaxing weekend. We celebrated mostly on Saturday, because we had bible study with the men and woman down at the Bridge on Sunday and we didn’t necessarily do anything super spectacular, but we did sit with each other and cherish the past year. We looked at pictures from our wedding and went to Hobby Lobby to put our wedding picture book together. We also just got to hang out and enjoy each other’s company. It was perfect J I can’t really explain how amazing of a husband I have. He’s the best husband God could have ever created for me. I can’t imagine anyone else who could be as patient, loving and sensitive as Reed. It all just shows that God orchestrates beautiful things J One of my favorite things about our first year of marriage is finding a church and a place to serve (OurCalling) with Reed. It’s amazing to see how the Lord is shaping Reed through his involvement in OurCalling. By serving together, I feel as if our hearts have become more and more entwined. In serving others, God has also drawn us closer to each other. It’s amazing how much more united you feel when you have a God-given passion inside of you. And it is so amazing to share that with your spouse J

The first week of June was also the week that I started a new client at work. It has been a challenge but overall pretty good. I’ll be out at this client for another 3 weeks and then I get to start on a different one J I’m semi-nervous about this new client. It will be a lot of responsibility and a good opportunity to step up and be a leader. But I would be lying if that didn’t also bring me a bit of nervousness. I’ll be doing things that I have never done before and I want to be really good at them from the get-go. All of this reminds me of my need to feel good about myself through the work and accomplishments I have. This past Sunday at church, the guest speaker talked about the “badges” we wear to make ourselves feel as though we matter in life. We then talked about how to REALLY matter in life, because the world does not have the answer. Paul explained that he would boast in his weaknesses because he knew that we are NOTHING without Jesus and that in our weaknesses God’s power is perfected. The same is true of me. I am absolutely nothing apart from God. No matter how much money I make. No matter how well I do at work. No matter how many friends I have. We’re nothing without the power of Christ. I think in my heart I still cling to my badges. That I’m intelligent. That I’m a hard worker. That I’m “spiritual”. I think work and life has humbled me…but for the better, so that I may not exalt myself, but exalt Him who creates and gives life to all things. Also, it has helped me let go of the worldly things that I seek daily…it’s a slow process and my life is still littered with this sin, but God is patient to refine me. Because in the end there is nothing that I have that has not been given to me from above. It’s humbling, it’s hard, but it’s good because it keeps my attention focused on the one who deserves all honor and glory.

July
I guess that was kind of a mixture of June and July, but one thing we did in July that was super fun was spend the week with my family in Boerne! It was a whirlwind and went by way too fast, but it was soooo good to see family that we haven’t seen in a while. We started the week with my brother and his wife and three kids came through Dallas to stay the night before heading down to Boerne. We had a ton of fun and left the next morning to make the 5 hours trek to Boerne (with kids I think it ended up being 7 haha)! During our time in Boerne we had a fourth of July party, we went shopping with my grandma Josie, we swam with kids (a ton!) and we just played around a lot. It was all around wonderful to be with family. I’m hoping to post pictures soon so that you can get a little bit of visual too!

Since we’ve been home, Reed and I have been trying to get back into the swing of things and back into our routine. We missed a couple of Friday night Life Skills classes at the Bridge so it was really great to go back and see all of our friends. It’s amazing how much these people have touched our hearts J Okay, so enough blabbering about myself, I want to leave you guys with some updates on a few of the ladies/men that we know at the Bridge. Please feel free to pray for these men and woman…they are some amazing people and we love them dearly:

Kathryn and Marlene – These two ladies have been waiting for housing for a while and when their expected move in date of July 7th got moved back, Kathryn began to lose hope and give up even caring about getting an apartment. The biggest issue has been the people who already live in this area…they are afraid that the people moving in will bring drugs and violence to the area. I cannot vouch for all of the men/woman moving into these apartments, but I know that Kathryn and Marlene are as sweet as can be and do NOT fit into the drug/violent stereotype that these people have labeled them with. Pray for patience for them and for trust that God’s will is good. Also, specifically pray for Marlene…she was mugged on Thursday night and her body is sore and her eyes were completely black all around on Sunday when I saw her last (she’s been wearing sunglasses to hide the bruises). From what I understand, the people who mugged her stole 11 cents and her cell phone. Marlene is our fire cracker and its hard seeing her down and out. I love her enthusiasm and joy at our bible studies. Also, please pray for Kathryn and her two sons. Both have been in jail recently. One was released and the other just got moved to a state prison. She has really been down about it lately (along with feeling overwhelmed with the apartment drama and feeling like she has no stuff to fill an apartment with) so just pray that she would find joy in the Lord. Kathryn really enjoys and asks such good questions at bible study. I pray that the rest of the woman at our study have the hunger to understand and discuss God’s Word like she does. She is such a beautiful woman inside and out.

Anderson – This is one of our really good friends who recently got housing! We were actually able to help him move into his apartment (and give him an extra vacuum cleaner and tv that we had around the house) about a month ago. The sad thing about apartment moves is that we don’t usually get to see the men or woman as much anymore, so it is always encouraging and exciting when they give us a call. Recently, Anderson called Reed about some apartment “starter kits” that OurCalling recently had donated to them. It’s basically just the cleaning products and other “basics” that you would need for an apartment. We’re hoping that soon we can go visit him and deliver his kit. Also, he promised us some “soul” food…soooo I’m a little excited about that too ;)

There are many more people to update you about, but for now, I’ll leave you with these 3!

Have a wonderful day and I promise to blog more frequently for anyone who wants to hear more about what’s going on with us.