It's Been Awhile

I have to be honest- I couldn't remember our log in to post new thoughts, so it's been awhile.

What have we been up to??

Well, the boys are now in 1st and 3rd grade. Hard to believe they are getting so BIG! They are amazing kids. I'm sure everyone thinks that about their kids though. We adore them and enjoy spending time with them. They both play soccer and excel in their academics. We're still working on Noah's speech as it's taking him awhile to get really clear enunciation of the 'f', 'th', and 'l' sounds.

Bryan is still training and insane amount of people (18-20 per day). He's playing indoor soccer when he can and leads groups of people through the 'Biggest Loser' challenges his work puts on. He also leads our homegroup and is always concocting obstacle courses and challenges for the kids.

I'm working at the boys' school full time this year. I love seeing them throughout the day and knowing what goes on in their school day. I'm still playing tennis multiple times a week, and leading a women's Bible study.

Awesome God

This week has been one of rediscovering how BIG my God is! Within the space of a week I've reconnected with several dear friends I've lost contact with along the way as well as found reconciliation with a friend that I thought was lost to me. On top of all of that, last night I went to the girls group I facilitate. This group is amazing. Now that summer is over there are 7 of us. 7 young women (early 20s) who passionately and whole heartedly long for the Lord. I showed up last night and felt that we were to have a time of prayer and waiting on the Lord. We put on some Misty Edwards cds and went wherever the Spirit led us. It was an amazing exclamation point to what the Lord is doing right now.

I got up this morning- pretty emotionally drained from the week- and my bleary eyes read the Oswald Chambers devotion for the day. It was too good- I have to share.

THE UNSURPASSED INTIMACY OF TESTED FAITH
"Jesus said to her, 'Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?' " (John 11:40)

.....Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me" (Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. "We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end..."(Hebrew 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God- trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (Hebrews 13:5-6).

A NEW Adventure

We've been in Idaho for about 6 weeks now and are starting to feel settled. The weather has been fantastic. I never thought we would move to a SMALLER town but we did and it's been great so far. This past week we took the boys to their first county fair. They had a blast. One of the casualties of the move is that I cannot find our camera battery yet- so sadly I have no pictures of the fair. However, the boys rode their first kiddie roller coaster and several 'flying' rides. Their smiles were huge. Bryan did that He-man thing with the sledge hammer trying to get the marker to hit the bell. It was hilarious. When he was done we talked about how it is more about physics than about actual strength. We saw cows, sheep, horses, pigs, chickens, and geese.

Life here moves at a slower pace and it is nice. People actually know each other and there's always time for one another. One of the friendliest places I've ever been. We have these amazing neighbors who are strong believers and have two kids the same ages as ours. It's really nice for the boys to have friends so close that can just come over at whim.

Jacob starts 1st grade next week. Hard to believe he's so big now. He writes me love notes during the day and it is just the sweetest thing. I think he's going to be one of those men who love deeply and passionately. Noah is the free spirit who lives to have fun and laugh. He has this great full body laugh that just pulls you in and fills your heart with joy.
Life is good and the Lord has been so faithful to us through the season we just came out of. More faithful, gracious, and loving than my mind can comprehend.

Contentment

Have you ever gone through a hard season in life where you grumble in your heart towards God. Things are not quite what you thought they should be or what you want them to be and it rocks your trust in God's goodness. That's the season I'm in. We went to church this Sunday and our Pastor, a man who hear's the voice of the Lord, brought God's message. Amid tears and brokeness God spoke to me. Reminding me that He is in the midst of what I'm experiencing and that our circumstances will never define His goodness. If you're interested in hearing the sermon from Sunday go to www.hillside4.org and click the podcast options.

-Teresa

Roller Coaster of Life

What a crazy roller coaster life can be. This is a season with big drops and lots of hard climbs to the top of the next hill. Being self employed with a new studio location is quite the challange. It affects every area of life, every moment of the day. Emotionally, every day is a new ride on the roller coaster. You would think that you could start to predict that ups and downs. Somehow that has not been the case. I've come to realize I'm normally an emotionally stable person and do not handle roller coaster emotions well. Bryan seems to cope emotionally a lot better.



We are learning so much through this time. In some ways, entering a new stage of marriage and family life. Learning how to flex and let go of the small stuff so that the truly important things are taken care of. A lot of life changes all at once.



In the midst of it all is our beautiful, and amazing sons, Jacob and Noah. A daily reminder that stress gets us nowhere but grumpy. They have such joy and passion for life. They haven't learned that life is hard and the struggles continious. They only know that they are fed, loved, and have freedom to run and laugh. Oh, how I need to relearn what they already know. How is it that we loose sight of that freedom? Our kids know we cherish them and we take care of them. Their job is to have fun and experience life. To ask questions and learn. I wish I had that kind of trust and dependance on my Heavenly Father.

Peanut Sauce

For those who have asked for the peanut sauce recipe. This is from the South Beach Diet Cookbook. I usually make a single recipe (as listed below) for the family or double it for company. This freezes well.

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup water
3 TB fresh lime juice
1 TB fresh, chopped ginger
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (for the kids' sake I use paprika)
1 TB brown sugar (or brown sugar substitute)
1TB sugar (or substitute equivalent)
2 cloves garlic pressed

Put everything in a heavy bottom sauce pan on high heat (I use the number 7-8 setting) and whisk continously until boils. Once boil is achieved, turn off heat, remove, and promptly serve.

Our First Post

Well, tonight we lost our 'blogger virginity' courtesy of our friends Jesse and Sarah Montes. We've had the privilege of hosting the Montes family for a few days as they travel the US. Their visit has been a wonderful stress break for us as things with the business have been really crazy in this past week. We've really enjoyed watching the kids play together and just sitting around catching up on each other lives. We realize it's been almost 5 years since we've seen them.