My Softball Gal!

My Haven girl is finally getting to play a team sport!

She is playing Softball and her team name is the Cupcakes....I know....pretty awful team name and she wanted to quit when she heard it!

The team...well, let's just say they are improving but we've lost every game so far.  She has gotten a few hits and this is where she plays

But she loves it and she is awfully cute in he little uniform, isn't she?

A More Decorated Home

Just thought I would share pics of the house once it was decorated.  Here's our new furniture for the very spacious living room......

Landon finally got his own room to decorate!  When we lived in Holly Pond, we had a 3 bedroom house so when Haven came along, Landon's "room" was down in the basement because he slept with Mason anyway every night.  Needless to say, he didn't spend much time in his "room" because it was in a damp, dark basement.  In Colorado, he had to share a room with Haven.  So here, he finally got his own room to decorate and as you can see, it has a music theme

I had so much fun helping him decorate as we got all my old records and put them on his wall.  He wanted to listen to all the songs so thanks to You Tube, we did.  He really appreciates all music and I love that about him!

Mason kept the whole Alabama Crimson Tide theme.  I did promise him a "Fathead" for his wall when he can decide which one he wants.

It made me sad that he did not want to display his trophies.  He realized all the trophies he got in Alabama where not a result of anything he accomplished but were given just for participation so they really don't mean much to him now.  Maybe now that he is not far from high school sports, he'll start a new trophy case with some well deserved awards!  He did still want all those team pictures we paid for during the years on his wall so I made a nice little arrangement for him...............

Haven's room has a cute little horse theme.  I actually have the curtains for her room now and it is officially complete!  I'll have to say that since we've been here, Haven rarely plays in her room and keeps it really neat because she is ALWAYS outside playing.  I love it!  We had to leave her bicycle in Colorado because we ran out of room in the moving truck so we bought her a new one here.  She stayed on that bike all the time!  A week after we bought it, my sister-in-law ran over it because Haven left it behind her truck.  So she is now on her 3rd bike and loves it just as much.   She has to ride it to church for every service.  So cute!

This is our sun room....they put in outdoor carpet and it's a neat little reading room.  Lucee seems to think it is her bedroom too!

And this is our dining room....I really want to change the color scheme here and have done a lot of shopping to find something I like better but I just have not found it yet. 

I still need to pick out curtains for both the dining room and living room and that has been a challenge for me because they have such large windows.  Wish I could hire a designor to just do it for me but they are a little pricey.  I'm not good at all with arranging or designing but I do love this house and it is good enough for us.  The great part about the house is that it has a huge laundry room and several closets for storage so I feel much more organized now. 

WELCOME TO OUR CASA!

SWEET HOME ALABAMA

We're here and I'm loving it! Here's pics of our new church and home.....

Sycamore Baptist Church

This next picture shows how close our home is to the church

This is the pastorium and I LOVE it! The men have done so much to update it and even let me pick out flooring, counter tops, paint colors, etc. It is 4 bedrooms so no one has to share a room now.

I took a few pictures of the inside before we started unloading the truck. This is the bathroom that they totally gutted for me......

I wish I had taken a "before" picture. It was a blue tile 1950's bathroom complete with a blue toilet! I was so happy with the change!!

Below is the kitchen. They replaced the floor and counter tops before we arrived. They are now working on new cabinet doors and replacing the hardware. Before, everything was white...white floor, white counter tops, white cabinets and white appliances. Looks much better now!

This is our living room. It's very spacious and I love the windows and hardwood floors!


Now, this is dangerous. The pic below is taken from my front door and what you see there is a Dollar General. Yes, we live this close to Dollar General! Very convenient but we visit there way too often!

This is taken from our back door......

These make me REALLY happy!

I love seeing daffodils in February! And in my yard!! Oh how I've missed the colors of spring!! This next pic is a view of the back of the house

Nice, big back yard

Everything is so very well groomed around here and they are planting more shrubbery in the back of the house. They do all the up keep of the yard and shrubs so I am feeling a little spoiled around here!

I love this Bradford Pear tree in our yard too!

Playing around with the camera, I took this picture and it's a favorite!

The kids are doing well but Landon has had some school adjustment problems. His room is too crowded, and messy, and the boy who sits next to him likes to cheat off of his paper...stuff like that. Mason has done great and went to his first sleepover with 4 friends the other night. He would much rather be in Colorado still though. Haven is loving every part of it. It is such a blessing to live near my brother's family and we see them just about every day. The church family has been really good to us during our transition and now we just wait to see all the good things God is going to do for our family at Sycamore Baptist Church!

A Week of Goodbyes

Before discussing our time in Alabama so far, I have too many pics to share of our last week in Colorado. While trying to pack up our belongings, life continued with basketball games, going away parties, and work. One day while driving to Durango, I was blessed to see this sunset...

The beauty of Colorado is indescribable and this picture doesn't even do justice for how it was seeing it in person. I will definitely MISS the scenery of Colorado.

Haven had a Valentine's party on the 14th at school so I got to see her teacher and classmates one last time. She has never claimed anyone as her boyfriend so for the first time ever, she named Ashton as her boyfriend and she thinks he is AWESOME! LOL!

Like her Mama, she is a little taller than her man! (ha-ha)

I am going to miss her teacher Mrs. Meier. She was awesome and loves my child!

While Haven didn't have a goodbye party from anyone, she did bring home a ton of stuff given to her by her teacher including the t-shirt she has on with her class picture on it, a framed pic of the class that they all signed, a stuffed monkey, and a monkey sling bag FULL of stuff for her to play with on the ride to Bama. (Can you say "teacher's pet"?!)

Landon's music teacher at BES gave him a surprise pizza party at DRUM on the his last Thursday there. It was super sweet and Landon was speechless as he asked him to give a going away speech!

They played one last song together before leaving

The Ladies at Vallecito gave me a luncheon on Friday before moving. It was such a precious time as they were such an encouragement to me. I also shared some final thoughts with them as we ate a wonderful Italian meal together

How sweet it was for them to decorate with Bama stuff! I sure am going to miss these wonderful, godly women!!

The men had a special breakfast on Saturday for Mike and presented him with this leather art that Dan Throckmorton made for Mike....

I know that was made with a lot of love and it will forever be very special to us!

On Sunday, the church had cake and coffee after the service to say goodbye

It was a hard day but also a blessing to feel so loved by so many. Mason was given a party on Friday night by the basketball team at Pine Valley Church. On Saturday, they played their league tournament and after a very contoversial last game, they won!!

As we were in double overtime, I just prayed and asked God to please let Mason have this win. I knew it was going to be hard anyway, but a win would be much better than a loss on his last time to play with these boys. So I just want to publically thank God for answering my prayers. As soon as they won, everyone started crying and hugging Mason. They wanted him to accept to winning trophy and of all days, I didn't have my camera with me. They all started saying their goodbyes and watching 14 year old boys cry was so tough!! Then we decided to all go out for pizza at Iron Horse. After done there, everyone had to say their goodbyes again and here we go again with the tears! It was so tough!

While thinking that was behind us, most of them all showed up at church on Sunday morning!! What a blessing it was to see the church full of our church family and our friends!

So once again for a 3rd time, Mason's friends said goodbye AGAIN and more tears!! This is a picture of them all going to "bear hug" Mason

While one always wants to leave on a good note, it sure makes it sadder! Our hearts were very blessed by the love shown to us by everyone in Vallecito and Bayfield.

One last family picture at Vallecito the day before moving

And then moving day.......

It was a gorgeous day and was very hard to open our eyes for a picture because the sun was so bright and reflected off of the snow.

There to say goodbye was Connie Allen who helped me SOOOOOOOOOOO much in packing and loading everything.

She sure made everything so much less stressful!! Thank you CONNIE!!!

Also there was Bill and Joy Brooks.....

This couple is such a great example of what I want to be "when I grow up"...LOL! They are so kind and have a servant's heart. I am a better person for knowing them.

As I drove out of Vallecito, my heart was breaking as we were leaving that chapter of our lives behind. God worked and moved in that valley while we were there and truly GREW us.

"Thank you GOD for the Vallecito mission and we pray that YOU would continue to move in and around that area for Your glory"-- Amen

Moving Day

It's a very quiet morning on this very hectic day that lays before us. I can't believe the time has come. And it has been a lot harder than I expected. As excited as I am to get back to Alabama, closing a chapter of your life is tough. We love the people here so much and feel so much love back from them. Mason has had to tell his friends goodbye over and over because they keep showing back up. And watching him tell his girlfriend goodbye was more heart wrenching than I expected. It is 7:13am and I am exhausted. We slept on the floor last night with hardly any cover and I did not sleep well. We packed the moving truck to the brim last night and realized we are going to have to leave some things behind. This morning we have to finish packing the car and van to see what else we can bring along. This will put us behind already but oh well...you do what you have to do. Many people have offered to help us and I have been so overwhelmed having to keep living life while having to pack "life" up also that I didn't have times that I could tell them when to come over to help. However, Connie Allen just forced her way over and worked her little heart out day after day after day to help us. I want to be like Connie. I want to spend my time serving others no matter what the cost. Thank you Connnie!
So here I go....time to wake everyone up and start a new journey. Let the chaos begin and may God carry us through the changes for His glory and may Vallecito Church continue to exhalt and praise the name of Jesus!
Good bye Colorado!

Kings and Snowmen

Mason was crowned KING at the Bayfield Middle School Dance on Friday! Sydney Milner was crowned Queen (and no, that is not Mason's girlfriend).
Check out his plush crown!

We've gotten snow for 4 days now. If there was ever a month to NOT move out of Colorado in, it would be February! It's usually the month with the most snow. But God's timing is not our timing so we'll press on. Landon finally got out and played in it the other day and built his first "all by himself" snowman!

Good job Landon!

A New Chapter....

Most of you know already, but there will be a new chapter in the life of the Owen family. On Feb. 21st, we will pull out of the gorgeous state of Colorado and head back to Alabama the Beautiful. We felt God calling us out to Colorado for a mission and we now feel that mission is complete. It has been a wonderful, personally challenging journey and I am a better person for it. God has taught me so much over the past 3 yrs, 4 months and as hard as it may have been on me at times, I am grateful for the exerience.

Vallecito Church had many needs when we first arrived. They needed to heal from a tough experience with their last pastor. They needed unity and forgiveness from one another to move forward. They needed leadership established within the church body. And they needed personal growth towards a Savior that loves them unconditionally. God has used Mike to help them meet their needs. The people of Vallecito Church have embraced God's Word, Mike's teachings based on God's Word, and one another. I have never seen a more unified church.

We have been treated with the utmost care and respect by the Vallecito Church family. They have honored their pastor, treated us like family, and loved our kids. While it is very hard for them to understand why we feel it is time to leave, God will bless their faithfulness, their love for Him, and will send a new Shepherd that will lead the church to a new level. Please pray for Vallecito Church as they wait for God's next plan, that this will increase their faith in God as they depend on Him through this process.

Our new chapter will begin in Sylcauga, Alabama, at a church called Sycamore Baptist Church. They contacted Mike back in October so this has been a process that we have prayed over for 3 months. Many people think we are "in a hurry" to leave but interviewing/meeting with another church is not something that you can discuss with people. What they don't realize is that this has been covered in prayer and God's direction for a while. I wish I could share the whole story with you on how this all happened, but for the sake of others, I will refrain. What God did to show us that this plan was from Him was pretty amazing and we must trust that. I feel very blessed to be moving to the same town that my brother Robby and his family live. My kids have never lived near cousins; I'm sure that will be an adjustment for both us and them, but I can't wait!

How do the kids feel? Landon and Haven are thrilled! Mason, on the other hand, is struggling. He's not scared of not fitting in, or starting a new school, or not having friends (his cousins will help with that)....he just doesn't want to leave his friends here. He is very popular and the whole community is aware of his athletic skills. We've even had random people that we don't even know offer him a bedroom to live in until he graduates; they're seeing the hopes of state championships fading with Mason moving. Mason will be moving to a much larger school and will probably have to fight for positions that were easily given to him here. But that's OK...that is what is going to make him a better athlete. He also has a girlfriend that he will be leaving behind which makes it harder. Please pray for him over the next 2 weeks because "goodbyes" are so hard!

I began this blog to tell our story of leaving the comforts of Alabama and heading to our "Samaria". Will I continue it? I'm not sure at this point. I do enjoy having our lives chronicled so that I can look back and reflect. But we are heading back to "Judea" to serve and help rebuild another one of Christ's flocks. And many of you who still read this will again be a regular part of lives. So maybe so, maybe not......just stay tuned and we'll all see!