getting away

mid august, we began the school year running. and i mean...running. we went from a leader retreat, to event kick-offs, to family in town, to women's retreat...and quite literally, something every night in between. we typically enjoy being busy. andy's a youth pastor, and we believe that to make disciples of Christ, we must be 'living life' with our students. which means entering their world...which means going to games and events and hanging out outside of church. we LOVE it...but if we aren't careful, we can lose our foothold, and we start to drown. one of the things i'm most thankful for in my husband...is that the moment i come to him and say "we gotta slow down"...he hears me and responds. we had reached that point right around my birthday...yes, i'm 33 now...:) andy surprised me at youth group...and in front of 72 students and college leaders, he announced that he was skipping the ministry night (that we were encouraging our students to attend) in order to take me out. he told them all that while he loved all of them...they needed to know that his wife and family are more important...and that he has been running me crazy with ministry lately and that i needed a break. and i loved this...he said "every single one of you needs to know that sometimes i have to say no to ministry, to say yes to my family"...it was several minutes worth of ranting about me and how awesome i am (which i'm certain is debatable)...but i felt so re-charged...just by his willingness to tell others publicly. and what a teachable moment for all those students. i must be the luckiest girl in this world.

he proceeded to take me out the next night...away. like to a hotel in houston away. he had arranged some

UH-MAZING college students that were willing to stay with the boys and take them to school. that's another huge blessing we have here...we don't have family close, but we have the BEST leaders in our group and i can't even believe they are willing to help us so much!

my favorite dessert in the world. cookie cake...and this was a cookie sandwich...o.my.gosh...GOOD.