Family Photo Session

This year for Mom's birthday and Father's day, Brian, Parker, Lindsay, and I surprised my parents with a family photo session! We have been so blessed over the past 6 years to have almost every important event documented by the amazing Courtney Navey of Always Autumn Studios. He has photographed our pregnancy with Brody, Brody as an newborn, Levi as a newborn, our 10 year anniversary, Aven's homecoming, Parker and Lindsay's engagement, wedding, pregnancy with Emme, and Emme as a newborn. We have so many pictures around are homes taken by him, so we decided we needed a few more of the WHOLE family.

Protection

This is just one of those moments in life that needs to be documented to remind me of the Lord's protection in our lives. He is so good to us. There are so many times that the Lord puts his hand of protection over us and we don't even know it! There are so many days that could end completely different....this day was one of them.

On Tuesday June 18th, I was heading home from spending the day at my parents house. Brian was in Texas, so I decided I would stop by our dear friends Brooks and Alice's house for the kids to spend a little bit of time with their "third set of grandparents".  We had been there a couple of hours, so I started packing up our stuff and putting the kids shoes on to leave.  I heard a strange sound come from my phone, and an alert came that said..

EMERGENCY ALERT. Tornado Warning in this area til 6:50pm. Take shelter now. Check local media. -NWS 

I had never gotten anything like this on my phone before, so I knew it must be serious. I immediately called my dad, who always knows what is going on with the weather:) When I told him where I was, he warned me that there was a tornado that was supposed to come right through that area. We turned on the news and everything warned that there was a tornado coming through Harris Crossroads which is exactly where Brooks and Alice's house sits. My dad told me to stay where I was and not leave. At this point the sky wasnt even dark and there was no rain. About 5 minutes later, the wind picked up and it started raining. The kids had been standing by the window watching the storm come up, and almost as soon as I told them to get away from the window, I saw a roof fly past the house! I was on the phone with my dad and of course I started freaking out. He told me to grab the kids, put them in the middle hallway of the house and cover them with blankets if I needed to. The kids were scared, but did great. The storm passed quickly and we went outside to see the damage. The "roof" I saw fly past the window was a car port that had literally been picked up by the wind, smashed into the roof of my Explorer, and then carried all the way across the road into the woods. When we walked to the other side of the house, we realized that a tornado had touched down. Trees were snapped off like twigs, the road was blocked by huge trees, and the vents underneath the house had literally been sucked out by the pressure. I was shaking. It was one of those moments that you don't feel strong enough to be "mom". My dad was putting on his shoes and out the door the minute he heard me saying on the phone that things were bad. But on top of all of that, when they were driving to get to me, they were seconds away from being hit by a hydroplaning tanker truck. Talk about a day that could have ended so differently! When my parents got to me, I collapsed. He and my mom were there quickly, and I am so thankful! If my phone had not alerted me about the storm, and my dad had not told me to stay where I was, I would have been on the road with my three kids while the storm hit! The Lord put his hand of protection over me and my family!

My explorer was drivable but after the insurance company looked at it, they totaled it. Apparently the roof is the most expensive part of a car to fix. We have been talking about getting a van ever since Aven got home. The Explorer fits everyone just fine, but it isn't exactly spacious:) We have not had a car payment for a couple of years and really were not wanting to start that again.  We started looking for a van and were so blessed to find one this week that fit everything we were wanting! I have been so thankful this week knowing that we didn't just choose to get a new car for comfort purposes, or choose to have another car payment. The Lord blessed us with an amazing deal, money saved up, and knowing people who own a car dealership to get a van and continue to not have a car payment. I am so thankful! The Lord knows our needs!

July 4th with Exchange Church

Our first official event as Exchange Church was the Rolesville 4th of July Celebration!  Between 6,000-8,000 come to this event each year. They have amazing fireworks, great food, and lots of fun things for the kids! We set up a free photo booth and met over 150 families. It was a BLAST!

2nd Annual Kohout/Daniel Mountain Trip

We made our 2nd annual trip to Boone with our closest friends, the Daniels! We are so thankful for amazing grandparents that keep our kids so we can have some much needed time away! I hope we are still taking this trip every year when our kids are grown!

One season down......

We have our first T-ball season under our belt and probably a hundred more to go between all of the sports that Brody and Levi (and Aven) will play in their lifetime! Brody had such a great season and loved every minute of it. It was pretty comical watching twelve 4-5 year olds all running for the ball each time it was hit, playing in the dirt when they got bored, and sometimes forgetting where first base was! We loved watching Brody have fun, and he loved having his own little cheering section at each game. He always looked to make sure we were watching him and would wave when he saw his brother and sister cheering for him. Way to go, Brody! We loved every minute watching you play!

Home 6 months

HOME. 6. months. I love that word...HOME. This is definitely Aven's home now. We are her family. She loves her grandparents and our friends.  She is growing up so much! She is running around chasing her brothers now. She has 4 teeth. She is healthy....finally! No more cough and running nose thanks to figuring out her dairy allergy. She is doing great now going into childcare at church. She isn't scared of strangers anymore and may even let some hold her occasionally:) We love you, baby girl! We are so blessed to call you OURS!

Exchange Church Commission/Launch

Its been a year and a half in the making. Exchange Church. There is so much to tell, too much to write in a blog post. Years ago the Lord began laying church planting on Brian's heart. A few years ago, he began talking with the elders of our church about a local church plant out of our current church North Wake. In January of 2012, we entered into North Wake's Church Planting Residency along with 6 other couples. In June, we committed to planting a church with the Martin Family! Exactly one year later (May 19, 2013), we were commissioned from North Wake Church along with other families to plant Exchange Church in Rolesville! North Wake has been our church home for 10 years and we will miss everyone so much! We are so excited to see what the Lord has for Exchange Church in the Rolesville Community.

Our official launch date was June 2nd, 2013. We are meeting on Sunday nights in North Wake's building as we get established as a church body. In October, we will be launching at the new Rolesville High school!