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.