1st Camping of the Season

This weekend we went on our first camping trip of the season! Randy & Brittany came with us and we had a BLAST! We got to Yankton on Friday and got camp set up.  

We went swimming for the first time this summer and it was COLD! If you haven't caught South Dakota on the national news yet, we are having some major flooding and the Dam is spilling out TONS of water which keeps the water temps pretty darn cold. But on a hot day there is no better place to be than in the water.  

 We had campfires each night complete with smores and sunflower seeds which are of course, necessities!

The boys started their day with some catch on Saturday.

Saturday night my favorite rock band was playing in Memorial Park in Yankton. Max & I saw them last year for our birthdays and this time they were even more amazing. These guys love Jesus and bring the rock. What is better than that?!

 The opened with "Feed the Machine". It was insane!

 Here we are after having our faces melted...

by these guys.

 After the concert we went back & made some popcorn over the campfire. Such a fun & relaxing camping weekend!

This is a picture of Gavin's Point Dam from Saturday. Like I said earlier, we are having some major flooding in the state. Right now 2 of our dams have more water flowing over them than Niagara Falls. It is crazy to watch. And since this picture was taken the water has significantly increased. We are camping in Yankton again this next weekend with the Masters family and will have even crazier photos & videos of the water then.

Stolen

This little man...

Has stolen our hearts!

Being an Uncle...

& Auntie is the BEST!!!

We love you Gabe!

Gabriel James

On Tuesday, May 3rd we became an Aunt & Uncle for the very first time. Max's brother is now a proud daddy to Gabriel James. He was born at 10:39pm. He weighed 7lbs 5oz and was 19 inches long. He is a total cutie. We are so blessed to have him in our lives. Here are some pictures from that day and the days following.

Meet Gabe:

E-mail from God

One night a couple weeks ago I was laying in bed just spending some time praying. I had been specifically praying for closeness with God and just to always have that longing to know him even greater. I had also been praying as usual for patience and peace as we wait to grow our family. Towards the end of my prayer I prayed again for closeness to God and to remember that each stuggle is part of a bigger plan and that God uses our struggles in many ways. At the end I asked God to speak my heart.
And I am not kidding at all, as I prayed those last words I heard my phone make the noise that lets me know that I have gotten an email. I laughed to myself because my heart jumped when I heard that sound as I asked God to speak to my heart. How silly to think even for an instant that God sends emails! And then I went to sleep...
The next morning I got up and went to check my phone. I looked at the email that I had recieved the night before and it was a link to a post from a blog that I follow written by Kelly Needham. The post was called Unexpected Rope.  You can read it here: http://kellyneedham.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/unexpected-rope/
If you just read her post you understand that this was no coincidence. God spoke right to me through her words. Answering the questions and thoughts that I had prayed the night before. Showing me how he uses my pain and struggles to bring me closer to him. It was also a reminder that God works through us, using our struggles and triumphs to help others and glorify him. How amazing is that??

Inspiration

If you want to get inspired by faith to make changes in your life, in either a physical sense or in any area of your life I would highly recommend this book to you!

From the moment I heard about this book I couldn't wait to read it and it did NOT disappoint! Each chapter inspires you and is set up so perfectly with bible verses, main points, and even a yummy recipe at the end of the chapter. It was exactly what I had hoped for when I bought it and even much more. If you want to be healthier and haven't been able to stick with it I would definitely recommend this book to you. But as I said before it is inspiring for ALL areas of your life.
It took concepts and scripture that I know and love and brought them up in ways that made sense to me. It  brought up a lot of the ideas I had known all along but hadn't put to use in the obvious ways I should in my life. I hope it can inspire you wherever you are in your journey!

Contentment

A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough.
1 Timothy 6:6-8
I have blogged about being thankful before and I think it is SOO important to take time to see all that we have been given and give thanks for it. It helps us to stop those unwanted thoughts of jealousy and greed. We all have those thoughts of wanting something our neighbor has,wishing we were skinnier, made more money, the list could go on and on. But if we learn to stop ourselves when we have these thoughts and focus on what we do have we gain a peace that is worth more than any of those things we thought we wanted could ever give us.
I could take a post about contenment so many directions but in this post I wanted to specifically share how I have also found contentment useful in getting my body in much healthier shape. You see, I used to eat whatever I wanted whenever I felt like it and when I tried to exercise some control here and there I would let my mind dwell on how good that food would have been and tell myself I was missing out.
I realized that I was letting food control me. So instead I have taught myself to be content with enough. And why shouldn't I be! I have learned to stop eating when I feel like I have had enough and am content, instead of when I am full. And it has been wonderful. I have realized that I am not missing out on anything and I feel a thousand times better now that I have control over food in my life. I have made the decision that it will not control me and don't have to worry because I know that I want to be healthy and everyday the decisions I make lead me down that path.
Being content in all areas of my life is such a blessing. I am content because I know that God has a plan and will always provide ENOUGH for me.

Lately...

Life has been a little crazy the last month and we have been more than a little busy. Things should start slowing down after this week and I will get back to blogging. But for now, here are some things that have been happening in our life!
1. 1st and most importantly: Max defended his Thesis and PASSED!!! This is huge people. We are more than excited and can't wait for the new opportunities that will come from him having a Masters degree. Needless to say I couldn't be more proud of my hubby.
2. Since Valentines Day I have been helping out at my Mom's daycare off and on while one of her workers is on maternity leave. This will be my last week. This both helps my baby fever and makes it worse all at the same time. :) It has definitely been fun though!
3. Our business continues to be busy and we are thankful.
4. We started a new daily devotional together (a gift from my awesome best friend Layne) and we love it. It is called The One Year Daily Love Language Devotional. An awesome way to connect with your spouse and God. Check it out!
 
6. I went to a babyshower for my future nephew (on the Masters side). And I got to feel him kicking away. It was awesome and I can't wait to meet him in person next month and become an Aunt for the first time!

Well, that is a quick update on our life at the moment. Stay tuned for more soon!