Two weeks ago (How can it possibly have already been two weeks !?!), after two long days of driving, we made it to our apartment in Spokane!  Josh spent the next two days driving - Wednesday to the ranch in Montana and Thursday to my parents' near Seattle, while the boys and I unpacked and shopped!  By Friday we were all absolutely, positively, and completely exhausted, but all of our belongings were in our new home.

All three of my boys worked sooo hard!

Last week, we spent the week alternating between resting and trying to dig out of the mess! 

By Thanksgiving Day, most things were unpacked and arranged, and we were able to enjoy a special "first Thanksgiving" in our new place.  This was the first year that we decided not to travel to be with extended family.  It was bittersweet.  While we enjoyed a very sweet day, relishing our time together at the beginning of a new season, we also really missed being with family.  Thanksgiving without cousins, Grandparents, and Aunties and Uncles felt a little lonely!

Thing 2 worked hard on this "Turkey Appetizer Platter"! :)

And I made my first turkey -
Thank goodness for youtube and Martha Stewart! :)

So there you have it.  We're here and settled and looking forward to beginning our celebration of the birth of our Savior!  This week we are homeschooling and preparing for our upcoming Christmas concert/church service schedule.

Most of our Christmas events are in Montana, but we'll head over to Western Washington for Christmas and Josh will be in Stanwood at Warm Beach the days immediately following Christmas.  To see our complete schedule click on this LINK.  Also, as always, we appreciate your continued prayers.  You can find updated prayer requests HERE!

Until next time, Blessings to you and yours! :)

Last week my sweet hubby blessed me with four days at Starbucks to "attend" an online conference.  I participated in this conference last year and was extremely blessed, so I was anxious to learn from the speakers again this year!  This year was equally  impactful.  The conference I'm referring to is Homemaking Ministries Online Conference (created by Jami Balmet from YoungWifesGuide.com - don't laugh, I'm still at least kind of a "young wife" ;) This year's focus for the conference was Finding Balance in the Home.  The conference had 17 different Christian women teaching on finding Biblical balance in different areas of life. 

Over the course of the week, I watched 20 different 45-60min. teachings on how to honor God by finding balance in life.  Considering the quantity and quality of these teachings, I could truly spend hours writing about what I learned.  However there was one main theme that came out again and again and it was the importance of determining God's priorities for your life!  The idea is that if, through prayer and Scripture study, we determine the primary priorities of our life, then we can filter every moment, every opportunity, every task, through these priorities in order to determine how to spend our time!

So, I spent many hours prayerfully considering what God's priorities are for MY life, right now, in this season.  And let me tell you, it has already had a profound impact on my life!  I am working to make every moment count for God's glory (not mine) and to be "busy" about the tasks God has given me, while allowing Him to refresh, strengthen and give me rest!

These are the men God has entrusted to me, and I want to love and serve them well!

The next two weeks will be extremely busy and will no doubt tempt me to feel overwhelmed and exhausted.  So my prayer now, as I prepare for all that is upcoming, is that God would help me listen to His voice and follow close in His footsteps.  I want to allow Him to determine how I spend me time, where I invest my energy, and what to do and not do.

Please pray for us as we prepare for multiple church services, hours of travel, miles and miles of driving, and dramatic life transition!  Pray that we will lean on the Lord and Love each other and those around us well!

You can learn more about
      our upcoming ministry schedule HERE
      our impending life transition HERE and HERE
      and specific prayer requests for the upcoming weeks HERE