One Life.

I swear I will never wait this long to blog again. Seriously, this is ridiculous! So much has gone on that it will be impossible for me to fit it all in here. I will do my best to cover the important stuff but make no promises that I will remember everything! Here goes nothing…

Summertime Shenanigans.

I think we appreciate each "season" for different reasons. Pedro and I are particularly fond of summertime because we enjoy the sunshine! Afterall, everything is better with a tan!  Summertime brought some of our very favorite friends together and we enjoyed doing life together while we could.  Some of our closest friends are helping lead Hope In Motion Institute, which has been going amazing!  Other than that, we spent our freetime this summer making memories with our friends studying God's word together,  geocaching (which is like treasure hunting with the world...google it), watching movies, swimming and hot tubbing, and finding plenty of time to eat. We didnt sleep much, but it was worth it. 

As part of the seasons of life, there are rainy days and times of drought. That seems to apply most in relation to the patterns of opportunities our lives. We have no idea what tomorrow will entail, but we know it will be exciting! We are maximaizing every moment we are given and trying to remember to enjoy the journey...even if we have to pencil it in.

We hit the big one year in July! One year seems anticlimactic when you have been together over 7 years, but we know that one year of marriage is a huge accomplishment. If year one is the hardest in marriage as they say, then we are off to a fab start! We managed to find a few days to sneak away and be alone to celebrate. It was perfect.

Hope in Motion Institute wrapped up at the end of the summer and it was more than we could’ve imagined. It was so successful in fact, that we are now hosting a Fall term of the institute and will be also doing a Spring semester as well! We are so proud of the young people who are dedicating their time to this ministry.

In August we thought we would be moving back to Nashville. But sometimes our plans are just that…plans. I got called for a long-term subbing position and went in for the interview.  Substitute teaching seemed like a perfect fit to our lifestyle and a job I could accept or deny each day. Basically it was a very non-committal option. To our great surprise, I was called almost immediately after the interview and offered a 3^rd grade full –time teaching job. Confused, I made certainly the lines of communication were clear in the interview and they understood I had no experience in the field. They insisted that they had faith I could do the job and pass the certification testing without the schooling. Trusting God to open or shut the door, I took the test and passed on the spot. I became a teacher that day.

God continues to teach us that we can walk confidently into any situation and know that He will equip us.  I feel so honored that I get to pour into and help mold the lives of 16 kids in my classroom everyday.  Our plan, for now, is to be in Fort Myers at least through May to fulfill my commitment as a teacher. After that, the sky is the limit! We absolutely loved Nashville and could totally see ourselves settling down there at some point down the road.

Pedro has been on the road like crazy lately between doing shows with KJ52, Anthem Lights and speaking with Hope In Motion.  He is slowing down for a bit now to focus on some new endeavors that we will release at a later date. He turned the big 2-5 in September, hard to believe he was 17 when we started dating.

Finally Fall.

We started off October out on the road in Charlotte, NC.  It was such a blast to explore downtown Charlotte and then finish off the weekend with him performing a huge show with TobyMac, Brandon Heath, The Almost,  and KJ52. We really do love the opportunities to travel we have been given. We cannot wait for November to get here… it seriously cannot get here quick enough! We are planning to be in NYC to do the Hope In Motion presentation in schools there. New York City is one of our favorite places and particularly special because we got engaged there! Then we are heading straight from there to Miami to go on a week-long cruise. We will be on the Music Boat Cruise where Pedro will be performing. Shortly after that will be my birthday and then Thanksgiving! The holidays are our favorite time of the year with great weather and family! We were hoping for seasons this year, but maybe next year we will actually be somewhere that it gets below 85 degrees.

We are celebrating the small things right now and loving getting to be part of things like my little brother Josiah entering high school and watching him bloom into quite the singer and musician at his performing arts school. We still have Babyman all the time and just adore that sweet boy like if he were our own! We have so many friends getting married and having babies all around us and we are loving seeing our friends grow up and start new lives. Our most recent adventure is that we are moving into a new place here in Fort Myers. Not sure how we are going to find the time to pack and move but we have 3 days to do so! Ready or not, here we go!

God is so faithful to us and we pray that as we continue to pursue Him and become like Him, we will be most effective in this life and as it effects eternity. I hope our journeys serve as a testimony of God’s grace to you. Thank you for loving us enough to keep up with us.

The bottom line is that we only get one life to live and we are going to make sure that we make the most of every moment...not in a reckless way, but in an abandoned-to-self, committed to the Kingdom kind of way.

The 

     Nomad 

                Newlyweds