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.

You'll Have to Excuse Me...

Well, you see, the Pate Family Chronicles has been a little neglected lately and I do apologize. Let me tell you why...

All of my cyberspace focus, creative energy, and word crafting magic has been poured into teaming with Chris getting our new website up and running. 15 hours spent yesterday alone. My brain hurt and my eyes were really sick of a computer screen!! For people that have never done that kind of work, it's hard to comprehend, but it's insane. I mean, you can spend at least an hour just finding that font that makes the page magic. For just a few words. On just one of the pages. Not to mention the sometimes endless search for pictures and writing script. And let me tell you, Chris and I are painstakingly meticulous about these matters. There are still a few things that we will tweak and add/fix, but our goal was to get it up by the end of the week and it's gonna go up!

It has been really fun to put together though. Chris and I make a great team. Of course this is true in many arenas, but we flow creatively really well also. We're blessed to be able to work together so well, because some married couples would probably at each other's throats by now! The Lord is good! We're gonna look back on this crazy season one day and it's going to hold a special place in our heart. As tiring and wild as it is to have to do everything and work your tail off, there's also a lot of satisfaction along the way that comes from seeing the fruit of your labor. One day at a time! Or in the case of the site, chunks of days at a time!

Unfortunately, spending this much time on this means that I have a laundry monster in my closet that is taller than I am and a few other domestic things that have been grossly neglected! And we will be starting up school next week so that's something else I still need a little more prep work to get ready for, but again- one day at a time!! I was feeling a little stressed about that yesterday but then Addison came up to me last night, hugged me, and told me how glad he was to be homeschooled and that I was his teacher. And then nothing else mattered anymore and my heart was mush.

So the big unveiling will be today. Such a relief to throw it out there. And a little scary, too. You're throwing your heart, soul, and hard work out to the mercy and scrutiny of everyone on the other side of that screen. That's hard sometimes, but we're always thankful for people that care about us and help us improve and we just won't listen to the haters! Ha!

And now, without further ado....

City Life Church (click on it, go ahead. you want to.)

Peace out from the Pate house.

When the Children Are Away...

The parents will play.

*First I want to take a pause here and thank all of you who read this blog, who come and check it only to see that I have not, in fact, put up a new post, and you still come back. Um, thanks for that.*

Actually, the parents worked really hard first and then played :) We took the kids last week to begin their little excursion with family for a little bit. Friday we headed out to the Woodlands for a retreat with our leadership team. The hotel was super nice and in this really cool little community that had a little miniature riverwalk and tons of restaurants and stuff. It felt like we were far from Houston. We treated everyone to dinner and just hung out that night, and it was so much fun. I must say that these guys know how to have a good time!

I mean, look at us- don't we just look like fun people?? This is actually minus three of our leaders, just so you know.

Such a pretty cake, just had to photograph it! It was his actual b-day on Friday.

The sparklers were a nice touch added by the restaurant!

Then all day Saturday we had a conference room rented out where we planned, strategized, dreamed, prayed, and got pumped up about the future of CLC. We really are blessed with such quality people to build with. They are all so gifted and love the Lord. Despite everything they've all been through, they are moving forward and looking forward to the future with excitement and expectation. I could go on and on about them like a doting mom. And it's about time for CLC to be unleashed on Houston- look out H-town!

I wish I could say that after that (and a very tiring but good Sunday service) that we've just been frolicking all around Houston, floating on our every whim, enjoying our time alone sans children and exploring our cool city. Um, no. Unfortunately, although the kids are on vacation we are not. Too much to do! City Life Church has many plans of awesomeness to be revealed, and there's some people that are going to have to work their little tails off to get it done!! (that would be us) But having said that...

We did have quite a lovely Monday. We slept in- whaaa? (that was said in my minion voice from Despicable Me). That would have been lovely enough. We felt like we had a hangover from the weekend. Or at least we think that's what a hangover would be like. So we did in fact sleep in and then had a late snack lunch, went to our movie theater (we like to pretend we have some type of ownership in it since we have church there) to see Inception- hello- awesome movie, had some brazillian food for dinner, went to The Chocolate Bar for a mind-blowing experience (more about that in a moment), and then walked around the awesome Rice Village for a bit for a little browsing (insert wish-it-was-shopping). And found some awesome letters for the kids' room at Urban Outfitters that I didn't even know were on sale until I got to the check out, perfectly capping off a great day! *pausing for a sigh of happiness just recounting all of that*

Picture of said awesome letters. Yay for room projects!

So, The Chocolate Bar...where every hour is happy hour...it is to be experienced. Alas, I can only relay a few pictures to give you an idea. I feel sorry for you. So you should come to Houston and I'll take you there :) But enjoy the pictures anyway.

Oh, the chocolate covered everything that stretched on and on and on....

Is that chocolate covered cereal? Why, yes it is.

The one we couldn't resist- the chocolate covered pringle.

And not pictured is the extensive collection of chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, drinks, make your own chocolate pizza, rows and rows of chocolate gifts including dog treats, and every flavor of chocolate ice cream imaginable (which of course we got-well, not every flavor). Yeah. I think our kids might just flip out when we take them here!

And speaking of kids, while the break is nice, we do miss those guys. They're currently living it up where the wind comes sweeping down the plain and we'll see them this weekend. And I'm sure they're bringing their entertainment, charm, and big loving hearts everywhere they are.

So if we sneak away for another adventure I'll be sure to give you a peek. But mostly just more working. Not even swimming, because our pool is a broken down green mess at the moment. I know- yikes. It will be fixed, but we're a little upset at the moment because we cannot enjoy it in this 100 degree weather. It's kind of a touchy subject, which is why I've not spoken of it yet. But I guess the good news is there's something legitimately wrong so it's getting fixed- and we don't have to pay for it. So yes, this is good news.

Annnnd it's now too late to be awake. Peace out from the Pate house.