Blessings

Remember that post entitled "LAUGHTER" I did 2 weeks ago about really missing my friends? Well, I just wanted to share what God did for me after that post.....

Being in the position of a pastor's wife and one that seems to be more of a nomad, it's easy to compare one church to the next as well as houses, friends, etc. Being in one place for 9 years I guess spoiled me a bit because we got to purchase a home, make it our own, develop and nurture relationships for many, many years. I also lost a lot of close relationships during those 9 years for various reasons but I had other friends during those losses that held me up and helped me heal. Those were precious, precious times. Tears come to my eyes when I think about Tammy and Dawn being there to hold my hands the day Mike resigned at Grace (Thanks you two!).(Sorry, that was kind of a random thought) Anyway, we are in our 3rd year here....a different church, a different town, a different state, and different friends. While I still haven't formed a close enough relationship with anyone that can "hold my hand" in difficult circumstances, a friend here who has moved a lot, helped me to see that those relationships can not and may not ever be replaced and that's OK. It doesn't mean I won't have close friendships but it does mean that they WILL be different than what I have. I have to nurture new relationships and appreciate them for what they are. The insecure side of me is scared to take the initiative and the needy side of me is just going to have to sometimes!

So after the post where I shared my heart about missing my friends, the following happened:

1. (Monday)One of those friends called me for some spiritual advice regarding some problems in her life. We talked for several days off and on and well, it felt good to be there for her.....

2. (Monday) A new couple in town who will be a church stater for our association called and invited us over for supper for next Friday night.

3. (Monday) Haven's best friend Maddie came over to play and her mother Kyle came in and stayed a while just to chat. It was nice to catch up with her because we are usually just trading kids.

4. (Tuesday) I had an unusual draw to a new friend that was for the most part, an online relationship. I felt like I knew her so well through the posts she made on Facebook and by reading her heart in her blog. God was just urging me to connect with her (and has been for a long time but my insecurities held me back! What I have missed out on for not being obedient!). So we had made lunch plans the week before but things came up and we had rescheduled for last week. We finally went to lunch together and it was like water to a thirsty soul for me! She had just the right words I needed and I felt a real connection to her. She is also a BAPTIST minister's wife.....YAY! Thanks RONNIE! I can't wait to spend more time with you!

5. (Tuesday) Sandi, a friend that lives up here at the lake, asked me to go shopping with her on Friday. Sandi and I have a shared love for Target!

6. (Wednesday)Mike and I were in town alone (Haven was at a friend's house) and we decided to eat at Applebee's for lunch. We walked in and Ronnie (the new friend in #4)and her husband were there eating lunch there too! They asked us to join them so I got to spend time with Ronnie 2 days in a row. I know God ordained that little meeting for us!

7. (Wednesday) I got a call from my forever friend Appi who helped me work through a decision to go back to work or not. She's my rock and I treasure her advice which always is scripture based. I love you Appi!

8. (Thursday) Mason's first middle school basketball game was on Thursday and I got to spend some time with Lana and Jennifer as we worked the concession stand, two friends whose sons are friends with Mason.

9.(Friday) Fun day of shopping with Sandi and her 2 sweet boys in Farmington! Thanks Sandi! You are my favorite shopping partner!

10. (Sunday) Jennifer, whose son is Chance(Mason's best friend), attends our church now. The boys had baseball practice on Sunday so she asked me to walk with her while her other son, Bodie, and Haven rode their bikes. She shared with me that she was assured of her salvation back in October and that there have been changes in her life since then. She knew the exact date of the change and her surrender to Christ. She thought she was a Christian all this time and had tons of "book" knowledge from the bible but now she was sure that she is heaven bound! What a blessing that was to hear!!!!! Maybe we have made a difference here!

I know all that probably sounds like a typical week for you, but for me to have that much contact with the friends in my life was amazing.......especially after posting my sorrows over relationships I had been missing. It was all from God! A typical week for me in the winter is to only see people at church on Sundays and Wednesdays. I don't work and we live 30 minutes from town. It can be so depressing in winters here!

What did God show me last week? He showed me that I do have friends here and while the dynamics of the relationships are different, the relationships are a gift from HIM. He also reinforced that HE IS JEHOVAH JIREH, my provider. Being a provider is more than just financial provision. I had emotional needs and He met them for me!

Some of you may think I'm pathetic and I quiet often think that myself, but I felt like sharing how God worked and moved in my life last week. Maybe some of you out there have some emotional needs that you need to hand over to God. Trust Him! HE is able! He loves you and wants you to depend on Him!

"Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.'" ~Lamentations 3:22-24

OUR TEENAGER!

Thirteen years ago was the most exciting, scary, frustrating (laboring ALL day), tiring, yet exhilarating day of my life. No words can explain the feelings you have when you become a mother for the first time. As Mason has now hit 13, those exact feelings (exciting, scary, frustrating, tiring, and exhilarating) ALL come to mind again when I think about the next 5-9 years!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MASON!!

We celebrated Mason's birthday by taking him and some of his friends skating in Farmington, New Mexico on Friday night. The friends that joined him were Chance Hine, Brandon Steuver, Kyle Killough, and Clyde Leonard.....

We haven't been skating in several years and they had so much fun!

This was Haven's first time to skate at a rink and she was on fire!!! She was so good at it!

Today was his actual birthday and he spent it attending church and going to baseball practice. Haven helped make him his favorite strawberry cake for a little celebration at home today....

I sure love this kid and pray that he will seek God's will in every step of his life. Only 5 more years and he will become an official adult! That's crazy!! And God help us (LITERALLY) as we prepare him for that. WE LOVE YOU MASON!

Yard Fun!

After spending all day Saturday waiting on the boys at the ski resort, we declared Sunday "Haven Day" and she got to call the shots! This was our first time to play in the snow this year! Can you believe that?

She wanted to build a snowman but the snow was way too hard so we started out with some sledding behind the 4-wheeler.....


The new landscaping in the church yard messed up our usual sledding hill.

Isn't this the cutest picture?!!!!

Because of the new landscaping, there is a huge lump of snow at the bottom of the hill and ......

HAVEN GOT VERY FRUSTRATED!

The above picture was "Why are taking my picture?!!!!"

So she was done. And inside watching TV sounded much better for her.

Meanwhile, Mason was on a mission to create a snow ramp to practice his jumps from that big lump of snow that Haven was so frustrated with.
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And he was pretty successful and landed some pretty awesome jumps!

Well looky, it's a picture of the photographer!

Then Landon joins us outside and realizes that Mason's jumps look fun and thinks he will give it a try....

He did awesome as well and the boys had a blast on "Haven's Day"!!! Haven did end up coming back out for a snow ball fight she wanted to have (which is pretty painful when the snow is this hard!)

Oh and we're still searching for that "perfect" hat for Mike!!

Ski Time!

Now that everyone is well again, the boys finally got to hit the slopes for some ski time on Saturday! We went to Durango Mt. Resort and it was a gorgeous day to be there!

Mason's friend Kyle and his mom Lana were skiing as well, so the boys got to hang out with them

Below you can barely see Landon as he hits the bottom of the mountain...

Haven was a "wanna-be skier"

She did get to meet the DMR Snow Monsters and that brightened her day!

Skiing is such an expensive hobby! Mother was asking me all about it tonight so I thought I would educate my Alabama buddies on what it's like to prepare for a day on the slopes.

Gear needed before you even get there:

Waterproof pants/bib $16 and up

Waterproof coat with layers of clothing underneath $20 and up

Helmet $35 to $50

Goggles $22 to $60

(These are thrifty Lori's prices because I buy from Target or thrift stores. You can quadruple these prices shopping in specialty shops in Durango)

Mason purchased his own snowboard after our first winter here. He paid $200 for the board, $100 for the first set of bindings, and then $100 for an upgraded set up bindings because the first pair didn't fit right. UGGGGG! That's $400 for his snowboard. What we didn't know at the time, was that you can rent your board for the season for around $150. This really is a great option for kids because as they grow, the longer their board/skis need to be. Hopefully, Mason's board will last him a while since he was already tall when he got it....then he can resale it and get some money back.

OK now to go to the resort and ski:

Ski rental $18-$22

Lift Tickets $37-$58 (depending on age)

This is all for just one day of skiing (per kid)!!! This year we lucked up with Landon....they offer a yearly pass for 4th graders for just $10 and we went with the season rental for his skis for $135. Because Mason owns his board, all we have to pay for this year is his pass in. If we buy for half day, his pass is $29 but that will go up to $40 after his birthday. A yearly pass for Mason would have been $349 but we didn't feel we would get to go enough to pay for that.

So it is one expensive hobby/sport but my boys absolutely love it!

Ski pass= $40

Season ski rental= $135

Ski helmets= $30

My boy's happiness=PRICELESS!

Laughter

As I was taking a shower this morning, a thought came to mind and that thought was "I can't remember the last time I laughed".....sad, I know. I mean that kind of laugh so hard your belly hurts kind of laugh. And that made me REALLY miss these people......

I miss these relationships and have not quiet found these type relationships here. I knew you girls were irreplaceable!! I am struggling through another winter here, maybe some of you in Alabama can understand what it's like to be inside for a week after this week of snow there. I'm learning though that it's not the snow that's making it hard here; it's the absence of these type friendships. I miss our family and I miss my friends. Pray for me~

Lori

Elder Leadership

Something HUGE has happened in the life of Vallecito Church....HUGE! Yep, you guessed it......we have adopted elder leadership. Although our church is a Baptist church, many of it's members don't like for us to be referred to as Baptist..."it's a community church" is what I've heard from some. (Yes, there is a pretty big stigma to being Baptist if you were raised Pentecostal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, etc). Therefore, they have been somewhat of a democracy, everyone making the decisions at a very formal business meeting. The church was first established by a Baptist group and later was determined to be just a community church because so many people from different backgrounds came here to live in this little valley. Then the church returned back under the Baptist denomination many years ago.

So when we arrived here, there were no deacons or elders established within the church. Soon after we got here, Mike taught a study on the Biblical leadership of elders and deacons. Two years later, after much prayer over the matter, getting to know the congregation, and watching the men for the characteristics listed in the Bible for elders, 3 men were recommended and the church stood in agreement to enlist these 3 as elders in Vallecito Church. Mike was very nervous about this...imagine coming in and totally changing the "power" structure within the church, but knew the church needed to line up with God's Word. Now, please don't misinterpret what I am saying; the elders will not "rule" the church, but they will SERVE the church in a leadership position and while we are not doing away with business meetings, we are cutting them back to quarterly meetings. Unfortunately there was one couple who did not agree with all this but the rest of the church were very supportive. Next step will be deacons so pray along with us that God will plainly show us who they are! God Bless!

Baby Brayden is Here!

This sweet little face has made us into a Great Aunt and Great Uncle! This is James Brayden Cummings and he was due on Jan 30th so we just knew we would get to meet him in person. Kayci went to the doctor on the 29th and he told her to come back on Monday morning (Jan. 3rd) for induction if she does not go into labor herself before then. So we left on Friday, disappointed that he had not made his entrance into the world! Kayci did go in on Monday but after 19 hours of labor, Brayden actually was born around 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 4th.

Isn't he a handsome little fella?

CONGRATULATIONS KAYCI AND JAMIE!! (AND LA-LA!!)

Christmas 2010

Well the holidays have come and gone and the kids went back to school today. Our Christmas break was great except for a little sickness that we brought back with us from Alabama. This post will have lots of holiday pictures so get ready!

Christmas Eve morning, Santa left us a couple of gifts.......(this is after all the wrapping paper!)



Our Christmas Eve service went well and again, we had a great turn out from the community. We pulled out of our driveway at 5:55 pm and arrived in Alabama 22 hours later! A record trip! The roads were clear the whole way and no one was on the highway in the middle of the night. After a very welcomed shower, we spent Christmas night with the Owen side of the family....

Above are all the Owen grandchildren. I love how cousins love each other so much!

Above is Kayci and Jamie who were anxiously awaiting the birth of Baby Brayden who had not arrived at this point. Below, Mason surprised Carter with his very own baby doll before giving him his real gift!

Parker and Mason are buddies!

!

I thought it was so sweet that thru the month of December, Haven would say "I can't wait until Christmas!!!!!...I get to see my cousins!!!" not "can't wait to get presents"....it was all about family for this little one and her number one love is her cousin Sydney....

On Sunday, Mike preached at Emmanuel (per his mom's request every time we come!) and then we had the Richardson Christmas over at Mom's. This is all her grandchildren in their silly picture.....

I know I took a lot of pictures this day but I think I made them on Mom's camera (She always gets us to make the pictures for her). So I had to borrow some of these pics from my nieces. Here's Colton and Kayla....

Haven and Hannah....

Haidee and Mason sporting new hats.....

Faith, Hannah, and Hallie at Nuna's....

I sure love when this group gets together! They have so much fun together and it blesses my heart to see how much they love each other despite how little time they actually get to spend together!

Here is our family shot for the Richardson Christmas

On Monday, we all went over to see Daddy and that was a heart blessing also. As you can see, he got his left leg removed back in November and is doing very well.

Thank you for your prayers for him. Once completely healed, he will get a prosthetic leg and will hopefully walk again.

The rest of the week was filled with fun cousin time as we anxiously awaited the birth of Brayden

Above, they are in order of oldest to youngest. Below is Caleb, Carter, and Sydney.....I love these little faces!

We also got to spend some time with our 2nd cousins in Tuscaloosa at Chuck E. Cheeses and I loved getting to see my aunts and cousins. On New Year's Eve, we spent a little time playing some games....

Below is the new grandmother La-La! Mike's sister Angela was on pins and needles all week, waiting on her grandson.

Thanks to Angela, the Owen family will remember these 3 things about Christmas 2010:

1. Rubbing and walking the baby out,

2. NORMAN.....and

3. O to be a boy again at Christmas....

LOL!!! (Sorry, only the Owen's will get this)

Mama Kaye and Pop got sick while we were there which was disappointing for them and we didn't have the extra time to travel to see our friends in Cullman Co. this trip, but other than that, it was a great time!

(OH, and Baby Brayden didn't come while we were there....can you believe that!)