May Update

I wanted to give a quick update on the move... Things are definitely moving along and we found out last week that Cisco is hired with Davey Tree Company in Denver!! Huge answer to prayer. We have officially started packing up and getting rid of stuff and it's definitely as overwhelming as I hoped it wouldn't be. Not to mention emotional. BUT, God is so faithful and is really speaking and ministering to us an incredible amount during this time. Currently we are fine combing Craigslist, Zillow, and every other rental website known to mankind, to find a place to live. It's been a little interesting and, at times, incredibly frustrating trying to do this from another state & on a low budget, but I know we're not alone in this and many have been successful. So in other words, not impossible (I keep having to remind myself of that one). A few fine details have yet to be figured out, but we are packing up and will be moving out of our house NEXT WEEKEND. I wrote that in all caps because I'm still trying to get it to sink in my own head! I really cannot believe it and it's all incredibly surreal. By this time next month we will be residing in Colorado and living life there. Ca-ra-zy!

Once we're moved out of our place we'll be heading up north to spend a week with my family and celebrate my niece Carly's graduation from high school! Then off to Denver and a whole new life. If there is one thing I can say about this whole process it is that when God moves, He MOVES. When I am able to take my eyes of the current circumstance and whatever faith building situation is right in front of us, and look back over the course of the past few months and even few years, I can see His hand so much in all of this. At times my faith has desperately wavered and I've wondered (way too many times) if He's going to come through, going to provide. And each time He has, at the 11th hour, and not only has done so, but in a way that only HE could do and that's completely blown my mind! It's been amazing. HE IS AMAZING. It's built up our confidence in this so much. I am finding as it comes down to the wire, and Satan is bombarding my mind with fears, that there is no possible way we could do this BUT for it being from Him. When you see Him blow open every door you're faced with and provide in ways you never knew you needed, that becomes so necessary during the times when everything seems impossible. I know it's needed now and will also be in the future when we're out there and things are difficult and we're faced with more faith building situations.

I want to thank you all so much for your prayers, they are so needed and appreciated! Please keep the housing situation in your prayers, that we will find something at the time we need it and for wisdom. It's amazing how many scams there are out there! This weekend we celebrate Elias turning 4 and will also be saying good-bye to many friends that have become like family. I will try to post another update before we leave, but I can't make any promises. ;) These days I'm either a bundle of emotions or running around like a chicken with my head cut off! Fun times! :)

Violet's Big Birthday Bash

Our baby girl is 1. I have a really hard time believing this since I truly feel like we JUST brought her home. This past year definitely flew by and even more so since my "baby" never wanted to act like or be a baby. Always on the go, milestones were never eased into but taken head on and conquered in a matter of days or even a single day. Go Violet.
So for her birthday I ended up going with a woodland/flower theme that wasn't really a theme... I really just wanted to use this banner of her name that my niece made her before she was born. I'm in love with it and its colors were the inspiration for her party. It was really such a wonderful day spent with great friends and we all enjoyed delicious cupcakes made by my friend Grace of Grace Ellen Sweets (look her page up on Facebook!) :) Of course, every gathering is so bittersweet these days as we realize the lovely friends we've made, old and new, will be very missed. Thankfully (SO thankfully) some of those friends we're taking with us! Or vice versa. :) Our friend Jeremy Wilson took most of these amazing photos of the party, which I am forever grateful for. Such an amazing blessing to have these and remember these sweet times with everyone. Enjoy!

 

Denver Trip

Let's just cut to the chase: WE LOVE DENVER!! I know this might be silly, but I'm pretty sure I was born to live there. I'm a country girl with a love for large, interesting cities and if there were ever a perfect marriage between those things, it is Denver, Colorado. I'll admit, I was a little surprised that Denver is actually a CITY. Having never been there, the picture in my head was something a little more rustic and mountainy. There are big gorgeous mountains to the west, and not far away... maybe 20 minutes? But the actual city of Denver is most definitely that. A city.  Many of the buildings were much older than I expected as well, but good thing, since I adore old buildings! So many old beautiful churches, brick buildings, wonderful architecture and character, all over the place. Be still my heart....
I'll start with a picture tour of our days there:

 My first view of the gorgeous Colorado Rockies, courtesy of Southwest Airlines

 Violet's favorite stretch, which she immediately went into the second I put her down post flight

 The group, gathered in front of the Baptist Church we met to pray at each morning

 Ahem, terrible picture, but literally the only one we took of ourselves while on the trip. Enjoy

City Hall (and the one shot of the park that wasn't filled with bums)

 A really old church that has now been converted into a club. Naturally

Some of the best ice cream I've ever had and flowers crocheted onto some fencing. Both located in Highlands.

The Hostel where the group stayed at

A shot of the inside of the First Baptist church where we met to pray

A listing of the members  who fought in WWII

F

It's safe to say we wore Violet out that day...

 

Playing some epic games of Mafia

Strolling through the streets of Denver

 The Highlands area I mentioned above (ice cream and fence flowers) is the area we're praying for the church to be located in. And remember those old, beautiful churches I mentioned before? Many of them are sadly dying and nearly empty. There are literally hundreds of churches in Denver, practically one on every corner. But you'd never know it as you walk around, seeing a city that has embraced many things the Bible stands clearly against, not to mention the amount of homeless people that are all around.  It's extremely sobering. "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But  if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it." Romans 8: 24-25 
"And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in YOU." Psalm 39:7
This was the word that kept running through my head the days that I was there. HOPE. You can practically feel it, I'm not even kidding. It's crazy to even try to describe what it's like seeing the reality and feeling in your heart something quite the opposite.

I remember quite a few months ago our pastor was talking about the Titanic and using that analogy of how the world is like the Titanic sinking. We know it's sinking, know what's going to happen, and yet are we alerting people? Are we sharing the gospel with others, are we living each day like it could be our last, are we getting people on to the "life boats"? I remember sitting there and feeling so convicted, just realizing how that was NOT at all what I've been doing, my life and time has been more along the lines of chillin in first class and for the past few years, hunkered down in my cabin. That was a turning point for me, for us, for what we desired for our family. It's not a light decision to move somewhere that takes us further away from family and from those we love, believe me. But we are able to be excited because we know the things the Lord has put on our hearts and I trust that obeying Him is the best decision. We can hope, even though the way is not perfectly clear. Cisco has yet to find a job, we have yet to find a place to live....while the temptation to panic or fear is always lurking nearby, an unexplainable peace has kept it at bay. We trust that He will continue to lead us & I can honestly say that even if He were to close the doors on us moving out there, we have been incredibly blessed to have been a part of it thus far. It has changed us. The prayer meetings we had each day on the trip (as well as during our weekly home group) have stirred in us something we haven't felt or experienced in far too long. Nothing freaky or dramatic, but just a genuine moving of the Spirit and waiting on Him. There's been a restoration of dreams and desires to serve and be real, a remembering that this life is not about ourselves and our time is not our own.

I have a feeling these next few weeks/months may be trying as we wait on Him. Please keep us in prayer!
Specifics to pray for:

• A job for Cisco and for the Lord to direct his steps on where to look
• A home for our family, preferably in a safe area and affordable
• An organized brain for me (no joke) as I pack up our home and we decide what to take and what to sell/get rid of
• Timing on when to move 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

In other news, our baby girl turns 1 today! Little Violet Elizabeth was born at 9:53pm and has been a joy to our family every day since. She's a spunky, sassy, sweet little angel that is growing up WAY too fast! I love my girl and thank God every day for blessing us with her. Happy Birthday Violet!! The big celebration is on Sunday, so I'll be sure to post some awesome pictures of her tearing apart her cake. Baby girl is definitely not afraid to get her hands dirty....it's bound to be good and messy!! :)