a sweet escape

Jeremy and I both had some extra time off of work for July 4th and so we randomly decided to take a drive to Dallas, do some shopping and eating, and just get away together. It was a short "trip" but just what we needed! We grabbed some donuts and hit the road! In Dallas we ate at some favorite spots, and did lots of shopping for little Mav.  H&M has the best little boy clothes ever.  He will be one stylin' dude. We were so excited when it rained most of the afternoon; we're suckers for a good rain and some reading and coffee in a bookstore. The perfect afternoon. I am so thankful that we were able to get away and just enjoy each other's company without life's normal distractions.  Here's a few pics from the trip...

my week in iPhone photos

Man this week got away from me, and I haven't posted at all! I'll be playing catch up over the next few days, but still wanted to drop off my weekly pics from my phone so I can look back at all the small moments that make up our life! Hope you've had a good week, and check back for more updates soon!

^^^spent the morning at VBS sharing about church planting in Albany, NY^^^

^^^and then spent the evening popping popcorn for tons of VBS kiddos!^^^

^^^Jeremy and I enjoyed a Gilmore Girls marathon one afternoon. My kind of afternoon!^^^

^^^we went away to Dallas for the night... just because :) Little Maverick will be changing that spontaneous side of us soon, so we thought we'd take advantage of some time off work^^^

^^^celebrated the 4th of July with family and friends!^^^

^^^sometimes Dominos pizza is the only thing that sounds good for dinner^^^

^^^27 weeks! Look how fast that green bar is filling up!^^^

^^^sometime between dinner and bedtime, I had this HUGE craving for Eggo Waffles.  I tried to ignore it and could NOT get them out of my head. So Jeremy to the rescue! He ran to the store and got the waffles and syrup, and man did they hit the spot!^^^

^^^with Jeremy out of school now, we were finally able to enjoy a workout TOGETHER at the gym! Everything is better with your best friend.^^^

^^^enjoyed 56 cent pancakes from IHOP to celebrate their 56th anniversary!^^^

^^^last night, I finished the Hunger Games book, and i highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet! It was such a good read!^^^

Send North America Conference

Jeremy and I were beyond thrilled to be heading to Dallas, Tx for the Send North America Conference.  This conference is put on by the North American Mission Board, and its main focus is church planting.  They emphasize mobilizing church planters, as well as, encouraging established churches to get on board with supporting church planters. We were invited to go by Sean Pierce, who has been our main source of contact from Albany, NY.  We were so excited to get to meet him, and some church planters from the North Eastern United States! God lined up everything for this weekend to happen, and we were so blessed by all that we learned and gathered from the conference. 

^^^Our first stop was In-N-Out Burgers... first time there and it was delicious!^^^

^^^This event was held at Prestonwood Baptist Church. Much more like a mall than a church... it was huge!^^^

 ^^^This was the booth dedicated to North East church planting. It was so neat to meet so many people passionate about this part of the United States!^^^

 ^^^Jeremy finally getting to meet Sean Pierce! He is the Director of Missions for the Hudson Valley Association and has been our main source of information and contact throughout this process.^^^

Throughout the conference there were different breakout sessions you could choose from to attend based on the different topics.  We followed the church planters track, and attended some great sessions! Jeremy and I went to most of them together, but we did split up a few times so I could go to some of the sessions geared towards women.  The picture above was from the breakout for church planting wives put on by Shauna Pilgreen and Christine Hoover.  It was so amazing! They shared several things that they had learned from their journeys as church planting wives.  It was so neat hearing their stories, and learning from women who have walked down the path that I will be walking down one day.  The other breakouts we attended were great too, and we both left with so much information! 

^^^lunch the next day was Chick-Fil-A... totally hit the spot!^^^

^^^such a good reminder as we left the conference that day. Please join us in praying for the Lord to raise up more workers that will be passionate about seeing the gospel go forth to a lost world.^^^ 

^^^dinner that night... so good!^^^

^^^a little shopping at The Galleria never hurt anyone :) ^^^

^^^And of course, we had to end with lunch at Corner Bakery.^^^