Community

I wanted to share a few pictures of whats been going on lately around here with our Oregon Family.  We meet every Monday to eat, hang out and celebrate Birthdays!  This past  month we had a lot!

 On Sundays, we meet in a basement of a church down town.  We are starting an outreach post there for our group to do "outreach" in the community...  It's called the Beautiful Mess.  We will be going out in the town looking for ways to serve the neighborhood.  So this past Sunday we started painting the basement we'll be meeting in.

This past Monday we met at McMenimens for Breanna's Surprise birthday party!  The singer, Shawn McDonald just so happened to show up....I just happen to take this picture before he got there.

If you haven't been to my husband's blog recently you really should go NOW.  He's doing this really cool thing where he is trying to get $3,000 to help a man get surgery to get his vision back. Last time I checked he is only about $900 short!  How awesome is that??  Go check it out now! www.qcrashing.blogspot.com

It's Friday! A Week Review In Pictures

I'll start this post off by telling you that I've met an AMAZING friend this week.

Her name is Kylee....which confuses me every time I say it because it's like meshing my 2 brothers names together... Kyle and Lee...but not really... but I keep wanting to say it that way. I'm sure she hates this! ha! :)

ANYWAYS, She really is amazing and I am so glad my friend Holleigh introduced us.

She is originally from Ohio and moved out with her husband this past Summer.

It's nice to have another friend here who understands how hard it can be to live so far away from family.

So.... Here's Her Blog: Ramblings of a heart learning to love and how to blossom 

Go, NOW, and check out her really cute Clutch she just made! (I saw it in person and it really is as cute as it is in the pictures!)

Now, on to my very CRAZY week:

Sunday night we had our very first meeting about the Beautiful Mess in the basement we will be meeting at to do outreach...did that sentence even make since?   This whole Beautiful Mess stuff should have had it's own post but man when do I have the time...something HUGE is going on this week...

 Do you know what happens if you leave a one-year-old alone in a room with baby wipes??

Well, this is what mine does:

 Every. Single. Time. Why do I keep leaving them where she can get them??

 So, This HUGE thing that's been going on this week...and the surprise I talked about last Friday, HERE is that we are MOVING!!  Just to another place in the same area...it just has a back yard, dishwasher, bonus room (for the girls toys and guest to stay), and two bathrooms!!!! Which we don't have ANY of those things in the house we are living in now....well, I mean, we have a bathroom, just not 2. ;) So, this week every day I've been loading up my car with boxes and taking them to the new house.  I'll do a moving post soon and post more pictures.

Box tunnels are the best!

Brooke, Breanna, and Maribel

Look! Our closet is CLEAN!

 Seriously, I LOVE these pictures! I love these girls so much.

 (Don't let all these pictures fool you, they do fight a lot too!)

Yesterday morning we met one of Deci's friends from school at a local indoor gym to play.

Since Brooke is here visiting us in Oregon at the Moment, I'll leave you with a post (click HERE) from the past about the one and only Brooke and I'm thinking maybe I should get her to potty train Journey while she's here. 

And, I'll leave you with this picture.  I've never been a fan of BIG sunglasses but there is just something about Oregon that makes me feel like I can branch out...what do ya think?

Haha! These are Breanna's that she got at Forever 21 for like $2.  I think I need some! Kerrie would be proud!

Wow, That was packed FULL! Happy Friday Everyone!

Tuesday Challenge

Today I'm linking up over at The Williams Post for the Tuesday Challenge.

Although I did not do the Tuesday Challenge for this week, I'm going to write about life on a mission in Oregon and what God has been teaching me lately.  I'll have to thank Kerrie for making me step out of my comfort zone twice this month and write about something serious! ha! I'm actually guest posting on her blog on Thursday. :)

So about 2 years ago...give or take, we started praying about what God had in store for our family next.  Since before we were married, we always felt the call to "Go".  We've both gone on several mission trips to different places and always prayed that if God called us to move away from Alabama that we would.  I remember when we were engaged, our friends Chris and Lillie from First Baptist Albertville, AL were praying about moving to Maine.  We actually met with them and started praying about what it would look like for us to get married early and move to Maine with them.  We really wanted to go but after praying about it we didn't feel like it was the right time.  Then we started the Church plant (LifePoint) in Alabama not too long after this.  We definitely felt like we needed to be in Albertville at that time and LOVED being there and having a new ministry.  There is nothing like the feeling of being where God wants you and doing exactly what He has called you to do.  After about a year of the start of Lifepoint Church, our friends Neal and April were praying about moving to Oregon.  We started praying with them about us moving with them.  Again it didn't feel like God was calling us there at that time.  So 3ish years later is when we realized it was time to go.  This was about a year 1/2 or so ago.  We told our families and spent the next few months preparing with our team to move.  Last January (2011) we packed up and moved out to Oregon.

Why Oregon?  Well, first off I believe it's a place God placed on our hearts.  After we got here we discovered that the county that we live in is the #1 un-churched area in the United States.  We came out with a Team...our first Crash team in hopes to help with a church plant.  We've been here a little over a year and things are just now starting to come together... not that things haven't been happening this past year.   God had done SO much in the past year in our team.  We've learned what it means to really rely on him.  It's a great place to be when you don't know whats next and you earnestly seek God for whats next.  Honestly I've grown so much.  Oregon has changed me for the better.  To read more about the the past year you can read my one year update. 

I also wanted to say that I don't believe there is anything special about us because we moved to Oregon...and I don't think there is anything wrong with Oregon...or that Oregon is worse off that Alabama.  Or that Oregon has more "sinners" than Alabama... A friend here told me the other day that she thinks there needs to be missionaries sent to the South.  :)   I just want to encourage you to Share the Love of Christ where you are. You don't have to "Go" across the country to be a "missionary". (Check out Crashing From a Distance)

So, we've been approved to use a basement of a church in Eugene to start meeting on Sunday nights....this may not look like a typical church plant at first, with worship and preaching (but who knows) but more of getting out in the community and loving on people but having a place to invite them to join us.

And about what God has been teaching me lately: I need HIM.  I need to seek Him. Jeremiah 29:13 "You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me!"  I need to draw near to Him so He will draw near to me. James 4:8

Click the link below to join this week's link up!

Lately

So, whats been going on lately? you may ask...  WELL... nothing really but also SO MUCH! ha!  First, I was asked earlier this week to guest post on another blog! EEEEEK! It's my sister-in-law's blog. Kerrie @ Williams in Love.  I haven't written it yet, it will be on her blog sometime in March.  I'm writing about my mission as a mom.  I'm honored that she would even ask me but also so intimidated (silly I know)...she has way over 100 followers and she writes so well.  I'm not sure I can measure up, but it will be fun. :)  Kerrie has started something new on Tuesdays and I love the idea.  Check out her post from this past Tuesday HERE.

Also,  we booked tickets to fly back to Alabama for a visit this Summer and I CAN NOT WAIT!!!  It's so expensive to fly back so it looks like we will only be able to fly back once a year.  We picked a few weeks last Summer and it turned out perfect.  I miss the Alabama humidity and heat!!  Honestly, I do!  I miss all of your Southern accents also!  I love it here in Oregon but honestly 3 weeks back in Alabama once a year is SO refreshing!

 We also have been praying about whats next for the Crash team.  My husband, Q, wrote a post called The Crash Update.  If you haven't read it yet, you should. :) Please pray for us.  Q and another guy met with this church staff on Monday.  So far we haven't heard anything back but we are excited about the possibilities.

Also on Monday Deci had a play date.  One of her friends from school came over with her mom.  We don't know a lot of girls here Deci's age so it was really nice to be able to get to know this little girl and her mom better.  If you didn't know, Deci goes to school twice a week for speech.  It's a free program here.  We got to pick if we wanted someone to come to the house or for Deci to go to a school type environment.  We thought it would be fun for Deci to be around other kids and she loves it!

Just in case any of you were wondering...my hair is fading slowing, which is a good thing.  It is no longer EXTREMELY red/purple at the top.
 
Well, I feel like I haven't updated you guys on life lately...so there you go!  I'm already working on Tomorrows "A Week Review in Pictures" post and then Saturday (hopefully) I'm going to be posting a photo an hour post about my day today.... like Kerrie's post today.  So fun!

Oh, ONE MORE THING: Have extra income tax money?? Consider helping my friend Breanna go to India! :) Check out how you can help by reading THIS POST.  She only needs about $100 more to have all $500 of her deposit!