Memorable Moment #12: Friends in Rogers

Welp. What can I say about some of my favorite people. We love them.... We miss them... We wish we got to see them at least once every two months. haha

Seriously, we learned how to have friends as a couple after we had lived in Rogers for about a year. It was great getting to know them and we will always remember all the fun we had together. .

A few things to remember:

-Thailand trip with Gina.

-Getting to be with Gina all through her pregnancy and stuff. Love the outcome... Little Miss Brynn Marie.

-Planning baby showers with Carmen, Gina, and Liesel for Carmen, Gina, and Liesel.

-All the get togethers where we played games and stuff.

-Rock band, Wii, and Wiffle Ball

-"The worst trip ever" to Branson. Still makes me laugh.

-The graduation party they had for me at Carmen and Andrews.

-Getting lost in New York with Liesel and Nate. Malcolm X Blvd??

-Nate getting to work with Cory and Brian everyday.

-Nate's face when Brian came to say bye on moving day. Sad. I have never seen Nate have a better friend.

Memorable Moment #11: College Graduation

University of Arkansas

Walton College of Business

May 2008

Bachelor of Science is Business Administration

Emphasis in Human Resources, with Minor in Marketing

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Thanks Mom and Dad for supporting me in all my education from Kindergarten to College Graduation. I made it through because of you.

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It was (and still is) a beautiful thing to think about..... No more school!

Memorable Moment #10: Whoop Whoop Small Group

In August 2005, when I moved to Rogers where Nate had already been a youth pastor for a couple months.... I met the most wonderful girls disguised as 7th graders. I wasn't sure about being pushed into the middle school ministry at church, but it quickly became where I was supposed to be. These girls were not only my first small group as a youth pastor's wife, they taught me just as much as I hope I thought them.

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I will always remember "Whoop Whoop Small Group" and how we all grew up together... physically and spiritually. We went from passing the magic pencil and chasing rabbits, to really caring about each other and learning about God together. We all understand the purpose of a small group. We all learned to let others talk, and to listen. Every week we would get closer as we talked about what God was showing us in each lesson.

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I am overwhelmingly proud of these girls! Leaving them was and still is the hardest part of moving. I am still praying for them, and probably will always be. I look forward to watching them continue to grow in the Lord and wish to always keep in touch.

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Love and miss you girls so much!

Thanks for all the memories!

Good luck with your Senior year in high school!

Memorable Moment #9: Washington DC

My dad is on the Rural Electric Co-Op, and gets to go to DC every summer for a meeting. My mom always goes with him to site see, and we got to tag along one summer. It was a great trip. I learned that I really like history.... just didn't know much about it because I had coaches for all my history classes in high school.

Nate was loving every minute of it. It was great to stand places that so many important people have stood. My mom knew her way around so we got to see a lot that week. We hope to go back with them soon!

Good Ol Abe. Had to do it.

National Cathedral was pretty neat... One of my mom's favorite places.

Library of Congress

A real C3PO.

Loved looking at the capital!

Museum of Natural History

Mount Vernon was our favorite! We were there all day.

Mom and I in the garden at Mount Vernon.

Us with George, Martha, and some grand kids.

George again.

Union Station.

Memorable Moment #8: Thailand

Being on staff at a larger church gave Nate and I many opportunities to serve on mission trips. When our church was asked to lead a week long camp for Ms and MKs in Thailand, we jumped on it. It was a wonderful week full of leading students and families that were hungry for worship. We went almost three years ago and are still talking about it. I know that this was a trip that we will never forget and something I will always be thankful we got to experience.

I learned that I was terrified to fly over the ocean for 17 hours. It probably wouldn't have been as bad if Nate had been with me, but he was there for a week before me and a week after me. I didn't get out of my seat in any of the four flights there or back. It was crazy.... but I am glad that I had Gina with me so I didn't have a panic attack.

This is where we stayed. We really ruffed it. haha. It was a nice resort on the Indian Ocean. It was kinda like Mexico in that we were told not to drink the water, or eat anything that had been washed in it and not cooked. So I brushed my teeth with bottled water, but ate salad for every meal.... and ended up getting a parasite.

We liked "Sa Wa Di Ca" Ronald.

We had a few afternoons to go look around, and some of us decided to go ride the elephants. This was one of the greatest things that I have ever done. It was so much fun. I can remember Nate and I thinking how nuts it was that we were riding an elephant in Thailand. Definitely a great memory with some great people!

There were also little baby elephants, that were people's pets, on the beach.

One of my favorite pictures of Nate leading worship for all the families. All the MKs were on stage with him. It is beautiful to watch families that have given everything to follow Christ worshipping in a way they only get to do once a year.

Weird chips.

Our one taste of American food while we were there.

Shopping in "Mike Mall." We thought all the manikins were funny.

Nate broke his nose while we were there. That was an adventure too. He went down a water slide in a cannonball.... and when he hit the water his knee hit his nose. Ouch. We went to the emergency room and all the little Thai nurses were laughing at us and we couldn't understand anything. What a mess. Good news was he didn't have to have it reset.

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Overall, it was one amazing trip.

INSANITY

O yes we did! Nate and I have started INSANITY! We have been through three days of the toughest work outs either of us have ever done. But, after 60 days hopefully our results will be worth it.

Gotta get in shape for our Bahamas trip!