Where did December go??

That's what I thought to myself when I logged onto this thing.  Can't believe my posting has been so sparse lately.  Oh wait, yes I can believe it.  It's because I've just kind of floated through December, half awake.

Growing a baby and no caffeine equals very very tired mommy.  I could sleep all day long!  Literally, a couple of days I woke up and then went back to sleep like an hour later!  I should take this opportunity to give a shout out to my absolutely wonderful, sweet husband.  He has been so gracious to me while I've been sickly and tired really helping out and doing things like getting everyone's breakfast so I can sleep (and bring mine to me in bed so I don't lose it before I put it in!).  He also has to do most of the dishes because our sink has a mysterious smell we can't seem to get rid of right now and it literally turns my stomach over.  Can hardly be around it.  Chris already said I had a "super sniffer" as it is, so pregnancy has turned it into like superpower levels.  Except it definitely works against me, not in my favor!  All that to say 1) my husband is amazing and I love him dearly and 2) this is the reason I am not getting around to things like blogging these days.  And there's my personal update. One of these days, hopefully pretty soon, the tune will be changing.  It's just a phase, and it will pass :)  And then pregnant bliss will ensue. At least that's how it worked the other two times, anyway :)

We had ourselves a quiet little Christmas here at the house.  I'm kind of in denial that the holidays are over, mostly because for us they're not!  We leave next week to visit family, so the kids will have two more Christmases before it's all said and done.  With just us and the kids, it felt a little empty at moments since we weren't with any of our family, but it was still a sweet time.  And we had company for Christmas lunch.  Some friends from the church came over and they brought some really yummy food with them, so that was really nice!  I also made a chocolate cake from scratch and an eggnog cheesecake, both of which were a hit.  I do love baking :) We went over one night and decorated gingerbread houses with friends, went to look at Christmas lights (we went to River Oaks- like the richest neighborhood in Houston-these houses were so amazing!), and we even found Santa outside at one of the houses which was fun!  We also had our really awesome church Christmas party that you can see pics on my Facebook page if you want to.  It was such a great night!

Our gingerbread house turned out to be quite interesting....had to be rescued because it kept falling apart!

Um, don't you just want to eat that up??....

Santa! Had to bribe Addison because he knew it wasn't the real santa.  We actually told him the story this year of the real St. Nicolas, so I don't really know what he thinks about the "other" Santas.  He didn't talk about it much, but also didn't seem too upset or disappointed about it all, either! 

A quick pose before tearing into the presents!

They were really happy with their gifts! (They opened ours and G-ma and G-pa's presents here)

Of course you know who was right in the middle of it.  Yes, that's a Christmas shirt. Not a sweater- I can't do the sweaters.  But I thought this shirt was funny because it says, "Sorry Santa- I ate the cookies." It was so fitting.

Our Christmas lunch crew.  Such fun!

And we got an early Christmas present: we got to see little baby Pate for the first time at my first doctor's appt a few days before Christmas.  Of course, at this stage he/she just looks like a little bean blob in there, but she zoomed in so you could see the little flicker heart beating.  It's amazing every time.  Something so tiny with a beating heart. I am happy to suffer through all the symptoms when I remember that is what's going on inside of me :)

The part that is the dotted line is baby- the other part is the yolk sac which will soon become part of the placenta.  According to the pics, the due date(s) are anywhere from Aug 8-10th.  Who knows!

I really hate to lump sum all of Christmas into one post, but that's what it is.  I resolve to get back into better blogging habits in the new year.  So, here's hoping!  Hope all of you have enjoyed your holiday!  Peace out from the Pate house.

So...

You thought we just went off the grid after that last post, didn't you...that we snuck away in Florida and decided not to come back. It has been a while. I have to admit, after writing that last post I thought to myself that the next post would be kind of a downer compared to that. Never thought I could top myself. But we did.

But before I get ahead of myself, I should say that we did indeed have a lovely time in Florida.  We got to spend time with such amazing people, and it was so refreshing and timely to be encouraged and recharged. I can't believe that I didn't take a single picture with any of the said amazing people- shame on me. I do have some great pics of the beach, though :)  But we truly are so blessed and thankful to belong to such a great spiritual family (Every Nation). They truly do value relationships and do so much to encourage you and make you feel like you're not just the new kid on the block with a little church (like we felt). We didn't feel that way anymore after being around everyone. It is an invaluable support system, and I know so many pastors do not have that so we are grateful.

Pics from our sunrise beach morning. I took a series from when the sun just came up until we left. The colors didn't transfer well at all here- it's so much more vivid and colorful!

 A couple from the resort... it was all so beautiful! I'm peaceful just looking at these :)

Throughout the week I found myself feeling a little "off". That's just about the only way I could describe it. Little more tired than usual, emotional, really hungry, and bloated beyond belief.  So during our break on Thurs before our Christmas ball that evening, I decided to go to the store and buy a pregnancy test. Honestly, I really didn't think I was pregnant. I had my suspicions, but I had felt like that before and thought I was and wasn't. Plus, I have very irregular cycles and all that stuff so I didn't think all that much of it.  But I was thinking about it. So I just wanted to put my mind at ease- because honestly if I wasn't, then I was going to consume large amounts of caffeine because I was so exhausted.  It would affect what I would put in my body the remaining time we were gone.  So I think I was a little in disbelief when a little plus sign immediately appeared on that test.  I walked out of the bathroom to Chris who was awaiting the results and I could barely talk.  Just kind of laugh in a I'm-in-shock kind of way where words just get knocked out of you. And there you have it.  I don't even think the pee dried on the stick (TMI??) before we got on the phone and called our family. We're not those kind of people that can keep a secret like that for a long time.  Besides, almost everybody that does that does it out of fear in case something bad happens.  So for us it's almost like a step of faith to just put it out there because we trust God, He is the creator of life, and He must know what He's doing. (We keep telling ourselves that). When He says it's time, it's time! And although this is a crazy season of life right now, we do want another baby and didn't want our kids to be too much older before it happened.  So we're excited.

So that moves us along to the present. Most of the reason it's been so long since I've blogged is because I picked up some germ while we were traveling, and by the time we landed in Houston I was not feeling well.  When you're pregnant you can hardly take anything, especially in the beginning, so I spent all of last week sick "toughing it out". Just a bad cold or something, but it took a long time to get better sans drugs!  And now that has gotten better (but sadly Chris is now getting over it), but every pregnancy symptom in the book is coming on pretty strong. So I've been just making it through the day this week, basically. That sounds bad I know, but it's true.  I'm still trying to continue to have a good attitude and be thankful the reason I'm feeling so terrible is because life is happening and growing inside of me, it's just hard when you're up against a battle of raging hormones :)  I would appreciate your prayers, dear friends and family! This too shall pass soon, but I'd really love to feel more like myself and for my family to survive me during this time as well :)  Because I want to be excited and happy, especially with Christmas coming up.  I'm one of the biggest lovers of Christmas you'll find, but I haven't been too merry. Okay you get the picture. I'm done whining!

A new season in the life of the Pates has begun.  The kids are really excited.  Addison was so cute- he told like everybody he saw at church (good thing we were telling people!), and he's been coming up with all kinds of names.  They both seem to be very aware of the fact that I haven't been well, and sometimes they show concern for me.  It's very sweet.  This baby is lucky to have the most amazing big brother and sister in the world!

Well, that's all I have for now. A major life announcement will have to do.  I had planned on doing some Christmas-y posts by now, but oh well!  There's still time, I guess :)  Peace out from the Pate house.

Good Morning.

Actually, I should really say great morning or fabulous morning or amazing morning.  Because I'm sitting on a balcony overlooking the Atlantic ocean drinking my morning coffee as I write you today. This was the traveling part I spoke about previously. And now you can see why I was so eager to be at this moment.

This. Is exactly what we needed. We are in Jacksonville, Fl for a pastor's conference, which on its own would be awesome enough. But we came down a day early to have an (early) anniversary celebration and stayed at this amazing resort right on the beach. We ate in the dining room last night with panaramic views of the ocean behind us and then spent a cozy evening in warming our feet by the fireplace in our room and just being. Time to actually sit and look at each other, talk, and enjoy each other's company without a million things competing for our attention.

We rose early this morning, walked down to the beach and saw the sunrise.  Picked up some cool sea shells and just sat there in front of the mighty ocean feeling the gentle beginnings of sunshine cover our faces.  It's funny how you don't realize how noisy your life has become until there's silence. The soothing sound of the tide rolling in and out has been the soundtrack to our day, carrying peace as the waves crash down on the shore and drawing out everything unlovely and unwanted in my soul and returning it out into the vast sea.  There's a lot of good noise in my life. The sound of my children's laughter and delight would have been a fitting harmony to the song of the ocean. (Although mommy and daddy need time away, too, so we are glad they are home enjoying their time with G-ma, G-pa, and Aunt Jordo)  But there's noise that has crept in that I don't like. So I'm happily recalibrating with an overabundance of silence, trying to iron out the seemingly permanent  tension wrinkle between my eyes. We both are.  I haven't seen Chris relax in, well, I don't really know how long. So I will say it's been both long overdue and very timely at the same time.  And we are enjoying every moment of it and not so secretly wishing we had about one or two more days of it.

But we are also excited to be at the conference. Being around people, when our soul and spirit are properly refreshed, actually energizes us.  We just work like that, and it's probably weird to some people. These relationships with other pastors and friends are very encouraging, life giving, and just as needed as the relaxation we're currently enjoying. So really it's the best of all of it.  Having this time of rest and being together before hand will allow us to maximize our experience the rest of the week.  And come home to the family we love and the life and job we love and be better people. We are so grateful.  God is good.

I took a ton of pics early this morning, but to tell you the truth I don't want to take the time to load them right now, because I think we're about to go for another walk (like exercise pace) on the beach before we move on.  I did snap this one off the computer so you can see where I'm writing from this morning.

Yep.  I'm here. Peace out from the (temporary) Pate house.

Life is Good

 in the Pate hood.

Yes, it is.  These have been exciting days around here. Specifically in the life of City Life Church. It's just been one of those momentum weeks, which we definitely welcome! Especially considering that in the life of church planting there are so many highs and lows that some weeks are quite the opposite. So you just have do decide you're not going to be governed by your emotions and how you feel about it, or even what you can see with your eyes and the circumstances. Otherwise, it's just an emotional roller coaster that wears you out very quickly. It's a faith thing. It's a this is what God called us to do thing. So just as with the negative emotions we don't get carried away with the positive emotions and good moments, either.  However, I have to admit it's really nice to just stop and celebrate what God is doing sometimes. So that's what I'm doing.

Last week in our new members' class we had 13 people, which is awesome. Then on Saturday a big group of us went and helped an organization that helps people get on their feet and transition from being homeless to having a place to live and a job. Our church gave money, shopped for groceries, and then came that day to help assemble baskets to help 25 families have a meal for Thanksgiving. It was a great experience for the kids, too, as they came along and helped. The men actually ended up helping a single mom move into her new apartment. The lady in charge was saying it was a really big deal for that woman to see men helping her just for the sake of helping, not trying to get something out of her in return. Sad, but a great opportunity to bless someone. It was really a blessing to this organization, and they were talking about what an amazing spirit our church had and even noted how blown away they were with our diversity. We especially love hearing that :) So, go us! Am I bragging on Chris and myself? Nah. Am I bragging on our people? Every chance I can get. Best people in the world.

Forming the assembly line to put together the baskets.

Working hard. But there's always time to be silly, of course.

           Addison is into this muscle pose thing, obviously :)

This was our group, minus three that weren't in this pic. Love these guys.

Then we topped off the week with record attendance (for the year they've been in the theater, and certainly in the six months we've been here) Sunday morning. And I am going to brag on my man for a second ('cause he would not do that for himself) and say he was on fi-yah when he was getting his preach way on speaking. Yep, good week in the life.

Now we have this week to look forward to. Our activity church wise has slown down, but it's being replaced with a HUGE to-do list to get our house ready to have a big Thanksgiving, get ready to have family here, and finally to go out of town. More on that very exciting last part later.  So although I'm a little stressed out in all the prep work part of it, I'm super excited for this week. And the next. I won't share many more details about this week- I'll save it for more posts. It makes me happy when there's too many wonderful things to share in one post because of the danger of awesomeness overload.

But alas, I must go because the huge list I mentioned earlier is digging itself into my head like a bad, out of tune, broken record- thus making it impossible to have many free moments without feeling really guilty about it. That's where that darn achiever theme (Strengths Finder survey) becomes the blessing and the curse! Enjoy your night/day (whatever time it is when you read this), my friends. Peace out from the Pate house.

Little bit of this and that

I seem to be having this problem lately about blurring the lines of actual reality and things that go on in my head. For instance, I will have a conversation in my head about something someone wrote me or texted me, and because I thought about it so much sometimes I actually think it happened. And then I don't actually do it.  Interesting, I know. Senile, even. Can we just chalk it up to stress and call it a day? All that to say I have done the same thing here.  Inspiration will hit me and I will write an entire blog in my head, and then I get on here and am almost shocked at what is last documented in relation to what I thought was on here. Yikes.

I'm just going to go ahead and go list style on you today. There's things to say but probably too random to try to string together in paragraph form... so here's the little dump from my brain about things making me smile lately.

1. Got to go see one of my all time favoritest artists, Brooke Fraser, at the House of Blues Tues night. It was awesome to have a night out with my super duper husband, and having a concert at a cool venue like HOB was certainly bonus. What was not bonus, however, was that we didn't realize we'd be standing the whole time. Our feet were killing us by the time it was over and we felt really old, but it was still an amazing show. I mean, who can sing like her?? Plus she's really funny and quirky so there was humor throughout.  Like when the band started playing the opening number and she was in the bathroom, so she came out on stage and after the song was over proceeded to tell us all about her experience. And we totally had another one of those we-really-love-living-in-the-city times.

2. Peppermint mochas and peppermint hand soaps. My mind has been on the holidays constantly. And that always makes me happy. I'm going to be taking lots of pics of the amazing decorations (that are all already up) around the city. And our own decorations are coming out very soon, oh yes they are. Gonna change it up a little bit this year.  Happiness

3. Lots of teeth around here lately. Missing, that is. I don't even know that I've mentioned it on here (but most of you know anyway) that Cadence is now missing her front two teeth. Knocked loose and then out before their time, sadly. The second one that was knocked loose came out a week or two ago. Don't know what it is about Pate kids and tooth trauma, but the same thing happened to Addison, if you'll remember.... and he lost another today.  This one was on it's own though. So much so that the adult tooth is already coming in. Even the dog was loosing his baby teeth around the same time.  Geez!

4. Saw Megamind on Monday. Seriously, that movie was so funny! And clever. We really had to talk Addison into not telling on us for sneaking in our own candy to the theater. Mr. Justice police did not think that was a good idea. He asked if it was illegal, and we lied said not exactly, but we explained how they didn't want you to do that because they'd just rather you come and spend all your money there. So he says, "So they're greedy." And with that he has justified us bringing our own candy into the theater and all is right in his world. So funny, that one. It will be interesting indeed to observe how his overdeveloped sense of oughtness will play out as he grows older.

5. Cadence is a very entertaining person to carry on a conversation with. Mostly because she usually tracks with you for the most part and then all of a sudden she twists off into her own interpretation of what's going on and then it becomes very interesting...For example- we were talking to her about going to serve families that don't have much food here in a couple of weeks, and she started saying yay!!  Aw, that's sweet that she's so excited about that we thought. Then she says, "But I don't know how to do that. You have to teach me how to do that." We were a little confused until we realized she was talking about surfing. She thought we were talking about going surfing. And then we all got a good laugh.

6. It's been a little rainy and muggy the last few days, but the weather has been so absolutely delightful around here. Houston even has days that aren't humid. Who knew? Didn't know she had that in her, but we welcome the chill in the dry air.

7. Yay for two weekends in a row of family. Last weekend Chris's mom and sister (aka Nana and Aunt Alesha) came down for a conference so we got to hang out.  This past weekend my bro, uncle Bryce and his girlfriend came from school because they had a free weekend and were missing us :) We so enjoyed our time. Being so far away from everyone now it's always nice to have that familiar feeling of family around. Especially for the kiddos. I only got one silly picture while they were here- shame on me for not taking more!

8. So Cadence is always the first one up (almost always) in the mornings. We've mentioned this before. She climbs in our bed and watches cartoons and inadvertently kicks me in the ribs and hits me in the face snuggles with her half conscious parents until we get up.  With the time change she has been getting up just a little earlier than we'd like, and this particular morning she was in our bed with two My Little Ponies. And she was singing. Loud. Well, it was just so precious it was hard to be too grumpy about it (as admittedly I can be sometimes when it's early).  Somehow, in my very sleepy stupor, I had the quick thinking to reach over and grab my phone off the nightstand and start recording her.  This is what the ponies were singing to us this morning. And Chris and I rolled over, looked at each other, and started our day off with a smile. On our face and in our heart.

*I actually had to get a reenactment of the song because I just couldn't get the audio clip to post. And I'm not going to even talk about how long it took me to get this video to work and get on here. I'm just happy it finally worked. This version is better because you can see her. She colored a piece of paper for the stage for the ponies. And you can see when the song is over the ponies walk off stage. *

Just a snippet of things happening around here. Since I waited so long to post it's only a sampling but there you go. Peace out from the Pate house.

Technical Difficulties...

You'll have to excuse us, everyone. I have been working on a post for over 24 hours now trying to get a precious little video clip on here and am having major technical issues. So sorry- hope to get it on here soon.  Just wanted you to know I was thinking about you and in case you have been checking the blog over and over again anxiously awaiting the next tale of tales. As if (wow that was quite the flashback to junior high). Happy Friday night all.  And of course peace out from the Pate house.

Halloween 2010

I had the cutest ideas for my children this year for Halloween- Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Suess, Woody and Jessie from Toy Story, and other creative endeavors. What can I say- I was totally shot down from my family. Add that to the fact that I waited until two days before to go out and look for costumes since I didn't order anything from the internet and we ended up with superheroes. But don't get me wrong- that's what they wanted to be anyway. And being the Justice League fans we are it was appropriate. The only thing I wish I would have done was order Cadence a Wonder Woman costume from the internet, but Supergirl was just as cute. And another bonus is they were on sale- because I just can't bring myself to pay that kind of money for something they will wear a couple of times for a few hours on a holiday we don't even really celebrate. So it all ended up working out :)

Since we ended up with quite a few pics from over the weekend, I'm just going to direct you to my album already made- it's easier these days, plus 25 pics in a blog post is a little overwhelming, yes? Off to enjoy our cold, rainy day.  I hope that summer knows it's not allowed to return that like crazy little spurt a couple of weeks ago where we set ungodly record high temperatures. It's just not right. But this week, all is well in the weather world and I'm so happy to have some cooler air.  We all are.

Peace out from the Pate house.

Halloween 2010 Pics

Shrek the Musical

And now for the fabulous follow up from our adventure to see Shrek the Musical.  Can I just say...that show was fan.tas.tic!  We loved every minute of it!!  If you've seen any Shrek movies, it's everything you love about the movies but better because of really great music and added fun little story lines along the way.  The set was magical and really impressive, and the actors were amazing! The kids really enjoyed it as well.  And the Houston Hobby Center is quite the venue! You can go outside and hang out on these balconies surrounded by beautiful downtown scenes. And I totally took pics in the theater, which you were not really supposed to do.  But it's not like any of them turned out, so it doesn't really matter :) Enjoy the picture recap!

Photo op with the musical poster and cute souvenir ears...Cadence's ears actually have a little tiara on them, but you really can't see in the pics.  Cute kiddos, if I do say so myself :)

Some pics of the lobby at the Hobby- so cool!

Taking in the town while we wait...don't know if that city skyline will ever get old to us! Especially with the twinkling lights at night. Can't wait to see this city at Christmas time!!

 

We got really great seats on the floor in the center section! The swamp was all set up when we walked in

 Waiting with excitement!

 This was probably totally illegal...but you can't even see anything anyway! This was the finale with the whole cast on stage.

Fun times for the Pates.  We have had an eventful Halloween weekend, but I'm going to save that for a separate post hopefully tomorrow. Oops, I said I wasn't going to give you any more time frames...oh well.

Peace out from the very tired Pate house.

Excited.

We're excited because we're going to be here tonight:

Our first Broadway experience in Houston. Our thanks to "T" for the tickets!  The Hobby Center looks like quite the fabulous venue, so you can be expecting pictures to ensue. Of course, I suppose you would expect that from me anyway, right? :)  I'm not going to tell you when though, because I'm turning myself into quite the cyberspace liar, making you promises about coming here and then standing you up. So you'll see the pics when you see them I guess...

Peace out from the Pate house.

One Note at at Time

"You will ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly,--I could seize them with my hands,--out in the open air; in the woods; while walking; in the silence of the nights; early in the morning; incited by moods, which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes."

These rich words come from Beethoven upon the subject of his inspiration. One picture that is evoked from these words is the fact that inspiration is everywhere all around, and it's always in motion. Ideas, thoughts, emotions, and words are constantly swirling around and a genius like Beethoven will pull down just the right combination to put together a masterpiece that makes men marvel.


I suppose we write our lives in a similar manner. Our final selection a culmination of our choices. Once written it cannot be erased.  I don't know if I have the capacity for a masterpiece.  That is a weight I don't think I could bear under the faultiness of my own emotion, thoughts, ideas, and choices. 


But I do believe my song has already been penned with such beauty and perfection my human understanding cannot even imagine it.


So I guess my job is to know the Creator, because His song is my song. Then the choices I make out of the swirling countless possibilities will be pulled down from the heavens themselves, their divine nature overriding my own faulty humanity. And that will be a masterpiece.  


And so we are composing our life song, one note at a time.  We should write it well. 


*(And you can thank the tag line to my blog, the quote I came across, and the general fog that is Monday for the random subterranean post today.)

48 part deux.

Well, I guess it's been a little more than a week.  Sorry about that.  We've been in the post-event fog/hangover (as predicted), so I would not have had two intelligible sentences to string together for you. Still don't, but I'm going to try because I don't want to lag behind on the Chronicles of the Pate family :)

So the event went off pretty well.  We had people blitzing the campus Tues/Wed/Thurs pretty much all day long.  They were using an evangelism tool called the God Test, which is basically just a survey that gets a conversation going. The first question is "Do you believe in God?", then depending on how the person answers there are two different paths to go down.  This is not the cheesy outdated gospel track method of evangelism, but rather an engaging and relevant discussion with people about religion. Our generation really does like to talk, especially about what they think they know. And I wish I could share just some of the stories we had from people.  Let's just say that U of H is not largely Christian. Religious, maybe, but I don't know if I'd even go that far. There was a lot of answering "yes" to believing in God, but aside from that not much actual correct Biblical understanding at all.  Not to mention they met and visited with many atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, Muslims (lots of those), and others. The responses were pretty typical of our post-modern universalistic society- i.e. all streams lead to the same ocean, just be a good person and accept everyone type philosophy. There were many great opportunities with this one on one interaction, and then they were also invited to the evening events we had with the food and giveaways.

The really cool part was the fact that over the two evenings we registered 117 students that came and were able to hear about Jesus. And those were all new people they had just met that day or day before, most of them not saved.  It wasn't like they met a lot of other good little Christian kids that wanted to come to a Jesus rally- most of these students came probably because they wanted a chance to win an iPad. All of these students left with more than what they came for, even if it's just the thought planted that wasn't there before. It was really a beautiful thing. Honestly it's very refreshing being around people hearing about the legit truth of the gospel as perhaps they've never heard it. The gospel works. You can have a bunch of fanfare and tricks to get them there (which we certainly and shamelessly did), but there doesn't have to be fanfare and hype with the gospel. Good news is good news, especially if you're really needing some good news. And what made the scene even more beautiful was the overwhelming support and turnout of our church there to be a part of it all and serve those students. We are so thankful to have a group of people that truly value this generation and are passionate about reaching the campus.

Only time will reveal the fruit of this event, but for us now the real work begins. Getting these students connected into the campus ministry, and hopefully some ultimately into the church. There were many that spoke with Jermaine and seemed genuinely interested and excited about the weekly meeting on campus.  At the end of the day events don't really mean that much unless there is some real disciple making and connecting people afterwards.  It was every bit as stressful and chaotic as I predicted it to be.  There were those small details that didn't work out, and big details and circumstances out of our control but it all worked out in the end. I wish I had some better pictures to share with you, but I don't.  My camera is just okay. And we had somebody with a better camera taking pics, but he only took them the first night when it was a much smaller gathering and the church wasn't there.  But I guess you can get the idea from the few I have. It was a great week, and we're looking forward to seeing what God continues to do out of it.

We had our meeting in this open underground lounge- there were people all along the back walls also.

Worship team, doing our thing- with freaky eyes. (couldn't edit those out for some reason)

And Rice Broocks doing his thing. The gospel thing.  He actually went on campus doing the God tests, too which was really cool.  He did a great job.

That's all I got.  There's plenty more to share about it, but my brain checked out a long time ago tonight. I'll be back tomorrow for the obligatory birthday post :) Peace out from the Pate house.

This Time Next Week...

I will have already been running around, feeding five guests in our home breakfast and probably checking to make sure everything else is going okay.

I (we) will be exhausted but running on event-type adrenalin so I probably won't feel it much. That and the gallon of coffee I'll be drinking. And when it's over and everyone leaves and I will collapse.

I will be creatively calling school for that day "College and career day" where we will even get to take a field trip to the campus and see a real live college.  I'll figure out some way to make it educational. And don't worry- we won't fall behind :)

We will be making sure the food will be ready, every detail from lanyards to layout is in order, giveaways packaged up, worship team equipment ready, and everything in place for the evening.

I will probably be more concerned than I need to be about the small details, one of which I am certain will not go as planned along the way.

I will be a little bit anxious but mostly excited to meet and spend time with one of the founders of Every Nation, Rice Broocks, and watch God do His thing through the undeniable gift of evangelism He has gifted Rice with. And still amazed like I am today at how it all happened and somehow he is coming to this.

We will be praying, like we are this week.  Praying, praying. That the spirit of God would flood this campus so much and a great awakening would begin to take place.

Because a week from today, (actually Wednesday and Thursday) we have our first big outreach to the University of Houston happening. It's called 48 (48 hours to turn the campus upside down). It's the first outreach of its kind (so we are gladly the guinea pig, if you will), gathering campus ministers from all over Texas to channel their amazing energy and heart for the campus into one concentrated place for two days. They will literally blitz the campus talking with as many students as they can, using an evangelism tool EN has created called the God Test and just getting to know students. And inviting them to come to the event at night where we will have free food, big giveaways (like iPad big), followed by praise and worship and then Rice speaking.

We have pretty much hit the pre-event ramp up already, starting to get really busy with the details and admin. end of it. It's one of those things that feels so overwhelming and big you have no choice but to trust God with it. U of H is a massive campus. It's extremely overwhelming to think that you could actually make a dent in a place like that (which we feel about Houston in general!), and yet God has ordered all of these little steps and details to make this happen.  With us only being here a few short months, there are a lot of reasons why we feel like we might not be ready, or if we just had this or that or more time...But you know what? None of that matters, because it's happening. God has a plan for this outreach, and we are just working our little tails off to make sure everything is in line for Him to execute that plan. We really do have a heart for the campus, and we believe that if God can use us to help disciple students on campus, we can literally be changing the world. These are tomorrow's leaders, movers and shakers, and influencers of the world as we will come to know it then. And the enemy is out for their souls. But so is God, and His army, His power, and His great love is unstoppable. We are just amazed that we get to take a small part in that.

So, pray for us would ya? I don't even have anything specific to ask you to pray for, because if you can think of any possible detail and area involved in an event like that we need prayer for it! We are so excited. And so thankful that many campus ministers and students are giving of their time, energy, resources, and giftings to come and partner with us on this, including some of our dear friends from Abilene so it's an extra treat to see them for this :)  You might not hear much from me between now and then, but I will keep you posted.

Peace (prayer for the peace part, please :) out from the Pate house.

September Madness!

As anticipated, blogging has been lagging a little bit lately due to the fact that this month has been so crazy! As you know we travelled the first weekend of the month to the wedding.  We had a weekend off and then the next weekend (Addison's b-day) we were in Dallas at the Every Nation Campus Ministry retreat.  Chris spoke on Sat morning, and we were so happy to have my parents drive from Oklahoma to meet up with us while we were there.  That Friday night we got to go to Medieval Times to celebrate Addison's day.  It was such a cool place!  We paid extra to have Addison "knighted" while we were there, and it was so cute!

 *I was going to post a couple of pictures of each of these events, but Blogger is being funky and won't let me- boo. So instead, I'm just putting the link to view the whole album of this stuff.*

Click here for Medieval Times pics.

Right after we got back from that weekend, Chris left Mon morning to LA for pastors' meetings for a couple of days. Which brings us to this past weekend when we had a party for Addison along with another family in our church.  They have a son Addison's age and one a little older than Cadence.  The younger one had his b-day a couple of days before Addison's so we had a party together.  I tapped into my inner Martha Stewart and made a snake cake since the party was reptile themed. I absolutely destroyed made a little mess in the kitchen to get it done but I was pleased with the results. Hindsight thinking revealed that it was somewhat of a gutsy move for me to try a from scratch recipe for the first time, making a shaped cake that I wasn't sure would turn out for a bunch of people that I had never met before (they invited some friends that we didn't know yet).  Sometimes I don't know why I do these things to myself! And then I remember it's because I actually like doing it, no matter how crazy it is to get it all done.  I'm a make-it-with-your-hands-go-all-out kinda girl, though sometimes it's near the downfall of me :)

Click here for Birthday Party pics

Throw in normal routine like school and pastoring/running a church in between all of that and you can probably guess life is a little on the busy side right now!  But this is such a great time of year. There is so much momentum that comes with fall- kind of puts a pep in your step.  I think every person I know that lives in Texas made some kind of comment on how wonderful the weather was yesterday. Including me :)  There's nothing quite like the first time you feel a hint of cool blow through the heat of summer as the sign of the transitioning of seasons. I'm hoping that the spiritual environment will reflect the physical environment and a fresh, cool breeze will blow all through what we're sowing right now and move it along with new life and growth.  Lord, let it be so!

Well, sadly that's about all you're going to get out of me right now- a mere sprinkling of facts and pictures documenting our busy month.  I have noticed about myself that when lots of busyness and things are going on I am not as inspired to blog. Which, for the sake of documentation and that being one of the main reasons I do blog, is a little contrary to what needs to happen. Maybe it's not so much a pattern. Maybe some days I'm "feelin' it" and some days I'm not. But one of the things I hate about that is I lose a lot of those little moments that are so meaningful, funny, and insightful in the need to crank out generic, matter-of-fact updates.  This is a tension I live with in my writing. Hopefully I'll be a little better about the balance so I can have my word crafting cake and eat it, too. And in the meantime, you get a front row seat to watch me try to work it out :) Here's hoping there's a little more time carved out for writing soon!  I have some ideas in the works that I might be sharing soon...Peace out from the Pate house.

Happy Birthday Addison

And, as promised, our little tribute to Addison.  I try to find songs that reflect who my kids are currently when I put together these things, as I did with Cadence earlier in the year.  I came up with the song "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson.  The innocence and levity of the sound combined with the theme of the lyrics that anything is possible and there's a big world out there to explore and "I'll find the things they say just can't be found" seemed to be a perfect fit.


Addison, you have brought so much joy into our lives.  Your thirst for knowledge and desire to know the world around you is inspiring and amazing.  We always joked about you that you were speaking complete sentences from the womb- although a little stretch probably not much! We forget that you're just a little guy sometimes. I'm sorry that we have sometimes made you be older than you are because you've always acted so far beyond your years. Your gracious heart and tender spirit touch anyone around you that you come in contact with.  You inspire and challenge me to be a better person every day, because I feel so honored and responsible to be a good steward of the great gift God has given us in you.  Seven is going to be a wonderful adventure. 


*Thank you for allowing me to be completely mushy gushy.  These guys are my heart running around outside of my body, you know.  I hope you enjoy the trip back through the years as we did to celebrate our amazing Addison James Pate.  Peace out from the Pate house.

The quality suffered a little bit turning it into a web video, but you can still see the pics pretty good.

The View

Well, for the past week it seems I have unintentionally climbed up on the rooftop of my life and have been looking from a distance at what's below. Although I just kind of found myself there this time, I am a big fan of purposefully taking a step back sometimes and getting good perspective.  We get so drawn into the detail of our everyday life that we miss a lot of things, or a lot of things become bigger than they really should be.

This introspective, reflective time has been twofold. It started last week when I had some spare time and went back through some blogs from earlier this year. Though I knew it, something about seeing life at the beginning of the year, just nine months ago, made me remember we've only been here (in Houston) three months. That might seem ridiculously obvious, and yes I can count, but in so many ways it feels like we've already been here so long.  Not in a bad way, in fact mostly in good ways. But we need that little reminder so often. Why? Because there's so much work to be done. We want it all done in a day. To see the entire city come to know Jesus (well that's a little dramatic but you get the picture). We're so passionate about our mission that we want it all to happen now. With that can come impatience and unrealistic expectations for yourself. And sometimes you just need to be reminded that it's not going to happen overnight. That's it's only been three months. One. day. at. a. time.  Being faithful to what God has called us to do.  And to think that things we're working through and believing for today was but a concept of a thought of something that could be nine months ago. Wow.

Ah, but time is a funny thing.  Our small little grasp on time. Because the twofold part of my bird's eye view of my life was the total opposite. The realization that I am about to have a seven year old.  As I was putting together the slideshow that you will see on here tomorrow of seven years' worth of Addison James Pate, it felt like years were like moments. Like that time was just sucked up in some kind of vacuum. Let me tell you we sat in front of that screen to see of all of those precious moments and memories and we totally fell apart like blubbering idiots got a little emotional. And we needed that little reminder, too.  To enjoy the moments while we can because they fly away.  And you don't get them back.

So there is the little picture into my strange time warp.  I've been quite emotional about it all, really.  Thank you for humoring me and reading along.  I guess you're somewhat of a captive audience, but hey- if you read this whole thing that was your choice, now wasn't it... But like I said in the beginning of the post, I really needed to detach myself from the overwhelmingness of the day to day and take that objective glance from above.  Because from this view I see a life that is blessed more than anything I could have ever asked for in every possible area.  Some days you need to see that, you know?  Peace out from the Pate house.

Um, Teacher...

Been getting into our groove around here with school. It's been going pretty good, considering it usually takes a little bit for everyone to get settled in. This year, although Cadence is still just preschool age, she is totally into doing school. As in, she is the first one awake every day (most days) and will ask repeatedly until we begin if it's school time yet. And she sits at the table with us the entire time. And she gets mad if she runs out of things to do before Addison (which usually happens because the work load of a four year old and a second grader is just a little different). Fortunately, she loves to color and can do that for hours so that will usually tide her over after she's done. It's certainly kept me on top of my game, because I was planning on doing some small things with her, but I really wasn't expecting to have to drum up an entire preschool curriculum! I do love that she loves learning so much :)

This is a funny example of how serious she is taking this....the other day I had just helped her and I was getting Addison into his next lesson. She was coloring, but it obviously was very important to get my attention and approval at that moment so she tugs at my arm and says, "Um, teacher..." This got a gut laugh from Addison. Here is a shot of her in action. You can just see how hard she is concentrating!

So serious!

Addison continues to wow us with his level of intelligence. He has his areas that we have to work on (handwriting at the top of the list), but things like math and reading come so easy to him it's crazy. I pray for him, though, because I know the things that will challenge him will be very frustrating for him. The downside to being a natural at most things is that the things that come along your way that do not immediately come easy hit really hard. Not that I would consider myself a natural at most things, but I have to admit he comes by this pretty honestly because his daddy and I both struggle with this tendency toward the whole perfectionism thing. So we know by experience how he will have to work through that as he grows. But fortunately, we know a lot of ways to combat it too! I love this pic I took of him today as I was giving him a spelling test:

What I love is that little smirk- that "Oh I so got this one" look after I said the word. So great.

And just because I haven't posted any since we got him, here's what you'll usually find Mac doing during school. Waiting.right.there. Though the kids put him through the ringer, he comes back for more. He kinda likes those guys:)

Do you notice how light his coat has gotten? We have no idea what color he is going to wind up being!

And still waiting. Such a cute and sweet exterior, yet 100% little stinker on the inside.

Now off to enjoy the remainder of our evening. The rest of my family is tearing up some Mario Kart in the next room. And it doesn't bother Chris one bit that he "has" to do the really hard levels to help them. :) A little bit of fun before it's back to work! Peace out from the Pate house.

Wedding Pictures

Well, since there are so many pictures from the weekend, I decided just to link you to the Facebook album I made instead of trying to get a ton on here. So click the link and take a look if you want:

Wedding Pics!

Road Trip Mind Dump

Spent the weekend tucked away deep in the hill country for my cousin's very lovely outdoor wedding. You think about lots of things when you have road time to yourself. Here is just a small sampling of things that went through my mind as we were driving:

*It was really great to see my family this weekend.

*These (leftover from the reception, sent home with me) chocolate cupcakes with cappucino icing sitting next to me in the seat are super yummy.

*I'm so glad it's not raining on me like it was on the way up.

*I hope I didn't leave anything.

*I really want to know how church was today-how many people? How was the message? Chris is the man.

*I have so much to do when I get home.

*The Hill country is so so lovely.

*It's so cool to see how my cousins/brothers have/are growing up and the paths they are all on. So different, yet when we come together everyone is still close. Love that.

*That convenience store was HUGE- and the cleanest/biggest bathroom I've ever seen with each stall having it's own personal sanitizer dispenser. A definite bright spot in the road trip because I have a strong aversion to roadside bathrooms.

*I really love the new Israel Houghton album. Funky, different, and awesome.

*I dislike traveling without my husband.

*A majority of things we are coming home with smell like river.

*Really, Cadence- we have to stop for potty break so close to home? Really?

*Not only did I miss my husband this weekend, but I also missed my daddy a lot. The weekend was not the same without the main men of my life.

*Surely if I drive 76 it's not speeding enough to get pulled over. I mean, people are still passing me.

*I am very glad I have headphones because I am not in the mood for five hours of kids shows, specifically the horrific 80's rock music in the Sonic the hedgehog cartoons.

*Callie was a very beautiful bride.

*There are lots of ginormous churches around Houston. A little overwhelming sometimes.

*I'm so thankful my kids are good travelers.

*Here comes the traffic. Getting close to home :)

*The sight of the sun setting on the glass of the skyscrapers (well our version of skyscrapers anyway) is breathtaking to me. I didn't know I was going to love the city as much as I do.

*God, we love this city so. Please help us make a significant Kingdom impact in Houston.

And that was only a few :) Well I'm going to post more wedding pics soon, but I thought I'd leave you with my favorite one from the weekend. As much as I enjoyed the weekend, I'm glad to be home and so exhausted.

My beautiful cousin and my beautiful children. How sweet is this??

Peace out from the Pate house.

Monday.

I saw this tweet this morning from Lisa Bevere, one of my favorite women of God ever:

"Is it possible to have a weekend ministry hangover? Just consumed my second mocha and still in a fog..."

I had to laugh/let out a sigh of relief that we weren't the only people who felt like that! You have heard my hangover reference here before, but it's so true. And hard to explain. Sometimes I feel like we (people in the ministry) are a completely different kind of animal compared to the rest of the world of people with jobs. And I guess we are. Not going to try to attempt to get everyone to understand it, because that in itself is hard enough. Pastors already fight a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes about their line of work. (i.e. the famous "but all you do is preach on Sundays and play golf, right??") I guess there are ones out there that would only reinforce this stereotype, but that is far from the world we know. So let's suffice it to say that Monday has become a day of recovery for us, since the weekend is our busiest/hardest part of the week. And it would also suffice to say that we wouldn't be making it right now if not for these sacred, precious Mondays. As Chris has said before from the pulpit, if God Himself took a day of rest after He created everything, then we probably should, too! True for anyone, not just people in the ministry. And I'm going to stop before this becomes a mini-sermon about the importance of rest. But think about it, 'k?

Though this weekend was very tiring with lots going on, it was also wonderful because we had our sweet, sweet friends visiting from Abilene. Unfortunately because there was so much happening, Chris didn't get to join us very much. But I tried to pack in as much fun as we could in the short time they were here. They were joking while they were here that all we did was eat, and that was a little true! Part of a good Houston experience includes eating lots of yummy, amazing food. And we don't even know about all of the famous places yet! However, I don't think the girls would complain too much about that (now would you, ladies??). We did manage to squeeze in a couple of non-eating things, too. And of course they came to church yesterday, which hopefully they enjoyed! It was cool to have spiritual families collide, and nice to have old, familiar faces around in the mix with our new friends. And a bonus is that my house smelled really good and girly all weekend. Here's a few pics from our weekend excursions (wish I would have taken more...I'll have to get the ones they took too!)

One of our first stops, by request, was a cupcake bakery. And Crave did not disappoint. This was after a great lunch at the Canyon Cafe with the fabulous Heather! Thank you Heather (because I know you read this) for your Houston hospitality and vast knowledge of all things Houston! Love it!

I wish you could see these up close...such detail. But I like this pic because you can see in the background you're actually able to see them making everything.

The decor was so clean, retro, and fun. I love the expression of the workers in this pic..."Yeah, another person amazed by the awesomeness of Crave- we get that a lot."

Later that evening it was off to the Miller Outdoor Theater. I stinkin' love that place. I just think it's amazing that everything there is free. We saw this Chinese acrobat team and it was a cool show. Like the good contortionist, do you have bones in your body stuff. That was the biggest crowd I've been in here, and it was without Chris nonetheless! But as you can see I was in very good company. I love all of these faces!!

Cadence is into this whole posing thing lately. Very diva of her.

Objects in the picture may appear further than they are...it always looks like we can't see from the pics but we really could! Would have been cool to be closer, but it was good enough.

No Houston experience is complete without a trip to The Chocolate Bar (at least in my opinion). And just Rice Village in general. We walked off our Brazillian dinner by looking at a few stores, including this one. I love this picture- documenting the chocolate madness with the camera. There was a lot of whipping out the phone this weekend! I would love to see their pics, because I wish you could see these cakes up close. We were all pretty much in heaven.

Love those three ladies. So glad they are in our life. And now I'm off to enjoy the rest of our rest day. I love that it's raining- perfect chillin' weather, and we're choosing to ignore the work that means for us in the pool right now.

Before I leave, in case you missed my facebook status, this is definitely a blog-worthy quote from Addison last night. We were reading the book, You Are Special, by Max Lucado that has puppet like people in it and their creator. We were talking about how the creator guy in the book is kind of like God, and then the following conversation ensued:

Addison: "The only people that made me are God and Mommy."

Chris: "Well son, Daddy had something to do with it but you don't understand that yet."

Addison: "Well I guess you did because you drove Mommy to the hospital."

Another classic Addison moment in the books. Peace out from the Pate house.