Kristin McLendon: July 2009

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Proud to call him my husband

Last weekend, as you know, we traveled to Perry for a good time with Robert's family. Also on the agenda for the weekend was for Robert to speak at First Love on Saturday night. I am so proud and honored to call him my husband.

To listen to the word he delivered last Saturday night, click here.

Enjoy!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

The past year...

There aren't words to describe how excited I am about moving from our apartment to a house--yesterday was fantabulous! Having a back door and saying "Maddie go outside" and she goes and does her business--and three flights of stairs aren't involved...oh, there aren't words..but now this is a horrible run-on sentence, so it must stop!

All that to say, we are really excited, but the apartment life has been good to us. No grass to cut, a very well manicured lawn, a big beautiful pool waiting for us at all times, air conditioner broke (and it did) maintenance men were there in a jiffy. Our own dryer wouldn't work--within a day maintenance men were outside cutting a hole in the side of the building for us. If we weren't home and the ups man decided to visit we had some awesome ladies in the front office that would gladly sign for us--so we didn't have to sit around and wait or go hunt down the ups office (because a year later, I have no idea where that would be!). A view of the mountain--especially when it snowed--was magnificent. The lake we have had to walk our new puppy around...oh, the memories of our first attempt and she couldn't make it all the way around and we had to carry her home. Now she runs the entire length of it. Good thing. Don't think I could carry this now 40 pound puppy home. Our prayer room that I've spent many of hours in--that has turned into Amelia's room--but she still calls it her prayer room with a bed in it. That rooms been good to us. And having Amelia here has been extra special. And finally, there is a special spot I'm really going to miss from this apartment and it is this--picture taken just a few moments ago from the cell phone:

Our porch. It's been really good to me. There were moments that I would curl up in warm pj pants, sweatshirt, hoodie over the head, blankets and socks just to be out there. There were times I was dripping with sweat, but refused to come in. Jesus and I hung out here. A lot. Our prayer room is great--but Jesus and I really like to be outside together. A lone. Before the rest of the day got busy. This is where it started.

Thank you Jesus for this Secret Place with You. Thank you for the sweet moments You and I have shared here. Thank you for the tears you've wiped away here. Thank you for the sweet revelation of Your Word here. Thank you for Your sweet whispers.

Okay, Just heard Robert's alarm go off--so back to the new place to finish up painting today so we can finally really start to move...but in closing, how 'bout you? Where is your special place for you and the Lord?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Day one...

Day one in our new home consisted of painting the upstairs. This is a picture of Maddie and Robert taking a break from painting! Aren't they too cute? :-) A special thank you to Amelia and Grace Ann for spending their day off painting our new home!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

M.I.A.

I've been M.I.A. this week on our blog--and I have so much to share with you and lots of fun pictures from our trip last weekend to Perry to share....but there's a reason I've been M.I.A. and it is this:

Can you find Maddie? Yeah, we are moving this week! Sad thing is, the boxes in the forefront of that picture are empty--we finally got our hands on some boxes this afternoon. Where's the Cadre shop when you need them---they supplied all our boxes for our last move--that was exactly one year ago!

We are moving oh, about a mile around the corner, closer to the church (we currently live 3 miles from the church and now we will live 1.5 miles from the church) and to a home that has a fenced in yard! Hallelujiah! So, if you think about it, pray for us this weekend! :)

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Sunflowers!

You might think I finally became a johnny on the spot blogger like I so often mention about wanting to become-not so much. We just happen to be in Perry and my McMom and I bought our cameras together, the same ones, last fall, so she had a cord I could borrow!

So lucky for you, you get pictures as they happen on this road trip. We got here this evening in time for a yummy home cooked meal and then McMom suggested we ride out to a field of sunflowers. Did she even know how much I love sunflowers?? I don't think so, but I was so excited!!!

We hooked Maddie in her seatbelt, camera in hand and headed out. I absolutely love when Maddie gets to run free. Having spent these first 8 months of her life in an apartment, I love to see her run. And run she did. Enjoy the pics! :)

Inside the hunting lodge, Maddie thought she'd check out the bobcat:

Attempt number one to get a family photo...notice Maddie between our legs:

There we go:

Maddie loved the freedom:

McDad explaining all the little flowers inside the big flower:

Maddie on the run:

Looking pretty:

**We ended up having technical difficulties posting--so as current as I thought this might be when we begun, but now it's Friday night and we finally got 'em up. Oh, well. It was worth a try! :)

Labels: maddie, perry, sunflowers

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

I'm a big girl now...

I'm a big girl now! 8 months old today! Aren't I cute?

Labels: maddie

Monday, July 13, 2009

Because we have no shame and y'all are our friends...

I give in! As mentioned in an earlier blog about camp I said I wouldn't divulge this information...but we love you and love you being apart of our crazy lives...so here you go! Here's the clip to Robert and I and our Taylor Swift "performance." You'll have to press play, then use the scroll bar at the bottom to fast forward to the 37:50ish mark to see it--unless you want to watch the 37:50 minutes before we come out! :)

Enjoy my friends.

**There is a video in this post, so if it's not showing up in your feed...come on over by clicking here!

Whatcha think? Think we should take this show on the road! :)

Labels: summer camp, taylor swift

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Happy Birthday Heather!

So I have this friend. Her name is Heather. Let me tell you about her. You see, the Lord called me back to Richmond Hill in 2003 and I was in a time in my life that the Lord was stripping me. I won't go into details, most know the testimony, but I remember having one specific prayer. Jesus, I would like one friend. One friend, Lord. Just one. One that loves you and can walk along side me. One that can challenge me. One that can encourage me. One that can cry with me. One that can laugh with me. The Lord answered this prayer in a deep, most incredible way. A way that can only be from Him. The answer to this prayer is a magnificent woman by the name of Heather.

Heather and I have walked quite the road together. When we first met, we were both youth ministers, both single, young gals. Since our meeting, she has moved to Atlanta, then eventually back to the Hill, I stayed in the Hill while she was in Atl and now I'm in the Atl. We are now both married and she has a beautiful little boy and is an incredible mom. She stood by my side as my Matron of Honor and has taken me and my marriage to the Throne Room of Heaven.

We have cried many a tears together. We have laughed more than one ever thought possible. We have prayed and prayed. We have studied the Word together. We have held each other accountable. We have listened. We have shared way too many cups of coffee together. We have traveled to Mississippi to Missouri together.

An answer to prayer came in one friend that loves me well.

Today, we celebrate you Heather. Today is your day. Thank you for loving me.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Here's to You, Heather!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Friday, July 10, 2009

camp.

**This blog was started on Saturday, July 4th (a day in which ended up being 13 hours of laundry and never getting out of my pj's!).....and wrapped up, Friday, July 10th. Sorry for the delay and it's probably not all the info you wanted either. I'll work on that! :) For real, I had a really good conversation about my heart with my friend Heidi this week and she asked me if I had blogged about it. So, I'll get to that, I promise. For now, enjoy these crazy pics!

On the morning of July 4th, I wrote:

We made it! We hauled our luggage up 3 flights of stairs around midnight last night. Finally went to bed around 2am. I woke up 7 hours later--Robert's still asleep! I've enjoyed a quiet morning of the only sound being the washing machine/dryer attempting to rid of the smell of summer camp. Easier said than done. Poor machines. They are getting their workout today!

I'm rambling, because I really don't know where to begin. The week was incredible. I really can't formulate words at the moment. I hope each of you were able to follow our Summer Camp Blog that Annie kept up during the week and did a great job for us. Also, do we have anyone out there that watched the live feed? Incredible that we have all of summer camp on demand now and can go back and see what the Lord did in our lives.

I didn't take too many pictures this week, as we had someone there to take pictures and make videos, so my camera was not used that often, but I did manage to capture some funny pictures that I'll share with you. I'll put up some other pics from our photographer in a little bit. For now, here are mine: (Side note--God did INCREDIBLE things--but somehow I only managed to get silly pictures--which means I promise to get some other pictures up here asap!)

Kristin's personal survival kit for summer camp:

And the other factor of surviving summer camp--I turned a nook in our room into my own little prayer room. Notice the rod in the left hand corner. Thank you Suzanne Smith! And the prayer shawl from Israel--thank you Dana and Mandy!

"Morning Thing" --which was our early morning game time--was done by none other, my most precious husband and our friend Justin. Somehow I only got one pic of the two of them--as they watched their games come to life!

Robert, Annie (our Morning Thing Diva!) and Justin--Our Morning Thing Team

"Evening Activities" --were a hoot! It was our time each evening to have a really funny/hilarious time together. Tuesday Night was the Hoe Down. Here's a few pics of us. Hands off ladies! This man is mine! :)

Robert and his friend Michael:

I just think this picture is funny:

Amelia and I showing off our cowboy boots--I just had to show off my $2.99 cowboy boots from the thrift store! No worries, they were kid size and had rhinestones on them :)

Sometime during the evening, Robert decided his outfit wasn't complete and he needed a belt. A duct tape belt.

And well I ended up in this outfit for the rest of the evening because I never made it back up that forsaken hill to my room to change...so yes, I was dressed like this for worship. I did at one point decide to take my pigtails out because I found I wasn't able to take myself seriously.

Oh, Amelia. Yes, I love this girl, but really.....she is such a woman after my own heart. This was how she came walking in to find me one afternoon:

Kathy, oh, not words for how much I love this girl!

So, 3 years ago this group of girls won a meal at The Waffle House provided by Cory. These girls just graduated high school and it was their last time to camp as campers...so I had the privilege of paying Cory's debt at 7:15 in the morning :) Good times, good times! These girls have been a HUGE blessing to me this year. Don't know what I'm going to do when they scatter this fall. (From GC&SU to Australia).

And here we are to another evening activity. Thursday evening was the "Dance". This dance happens each year with a new theme. This year was "Red Carpet Awards Show throughout the Decades." I was asked to be Taylor Swift and perform. Yes, my friends. Our performance is still on the internet. Not sure I want to point you to where you can find this...I'm having flashbacks of my friends that got ahold of pictures of me being attacked in the Cayman Islands by stingrays---those pictures still reappear. So for now, enjoy these:

Grace Ann (my saving grace for Summer Camp and Summer 2009. Don't know what I would have done without her!!! No worries, I've let her know she can't return to Samford in the Fall.) Grace Ann is on the left, me, I mean Taylor Swift in the middle, and Haley. Oh, Haley. Yeah, would not have survived camp or even known where to start to plan camp without this magnificent lady.

Grace Ann and I:

Did I mention Robert was in my performance with me? We originally brought him a "preppy" outfit for the performance but mid Thursday afternoon Robert had a vision to bring back his hoe down man....hilarious. Oh, the things this man does for me. Thank you Jesus!

Alrighty, this post has been a week in the making, so we'll close on this note. Thank you for all the prayers you invested into Summer Camp. Lives were changed. You can still watch it all online by clicking here.

Labels: Jesus, summer camp

What 48 hours can do for your heart...

As mentioned in a few earlier blogs this week...I went back to the Hill to pick up our furballs that were at MeMa and Grandaddy's house for the week. I made it into a mini 48 hour vacation. The Lord blessed me with many things that were really good for me WHAT MY HEART NEEDED!

Best way to show this to you...is through PICTURES!

Have you read my two blogs about bananas yet? If not, go here and here. I didn't get any pictures with the people we hung out with, but I did manage to get some of Heidi and I and our case of bananas! :) Thank you Heidi for this adventure. The Lord used you mightily Tuesday morning in my life!

After our adventure in the park--it was off to see my godson, little man River. HE'S WALKING NOW!!! Yes, at 8 1/2 months he started walking and I got to see it! I have a video I'll post in a little bit, but here are a few of my favorite pictures that I captured of this precious little man!

River got ahold of my bible and decided he wanted to show his parents that he really likes RiverStone Church and wants to move to Kennesaw/Marietta. When you are new to RiverStone we have this thing called, Taste of RiverStone that you attend...I think River's already liking the taste of it. Just sayin:

My phone decided it didn't want to work at all while I was in the Hill--so it became a good chew toy:

This one is for Ash. He's a nalgene drinker already! (Not quite sure why this is underlining, but I'm going to give up on trying to fix it).

Yay for the few moments he still lets you sit still with him:

Off to Aunt Sandi and Uncle Roy's house to play with Maddie. Really, River, Maddie just wanted to play with you! :)

Next day it was off to the beach--rain or shine. Last time we were home, a tropical depression sat on top of Savannah and no sand made it to my toes. It was so depressing. So, this go around it rained again, but I wasn't letting it stop me. I have such a great BFF in Heather, that she was a trooper and put up with my wild ideas. We never unpacked our beach stuff from the car, but instead went for a nice leisurely walk that allowed sand in the toes (this of course was after we jumped back in the car upon our arrival to SSI when the bottom fell out of the sky!)

Here are few pics from this part of the adventure:

Such a good friend...look at that cloud! She never once complained!

Self portraits are always the best...

Oh, the marsh. How I miss you:

Back to the house to hang out with River just a little bit more (and take more pictures of course!)

Yeah, self portraits, really not the best:

Back to the parents house for a little rest by the pool and reading of the Word before dinner and hitting the road:

Maddie for some reason thought it'd be fun to play chase with Abigail around the pool. Abigail thought, not so much:

I don't know what Abigail was trying to tell me about her fascination with my chacos:

One of my favorite things about the coast (I know you can eat this off the coast, but I'm a seafood snob, so on the coast is where I eat seafood and mom know's this about me and always fulfills my longing for seafood while at home.) Low country boil--one of my absolute favs!

Abigail thinks she wants to enjoy it too:

Time to pack up....seriously...it took this much stuff.

The not so happy campers in the backseat:

Look at that nifty seat belt. Yeah, she's not a fan:

Our ride home consisted of lots of this:

And then finally this:

In closing you didn't think I could leave you out of this did you:

Remember that bee sting I mentioned a few blogs back? Well, I got stung Sunday morning and by Tuesday afternoon it was growing at a rapid rate that I ended up at Urgent Care. They gave me a steroid shot and then gave me 5 days of steroid pills...and letting me know from now on that when stung by a bee and people ask you if you are allergic, you have to say yes. Here's what it looked like right after the shot (leg is wet due to the lovely rain!) This picture really doesn't do it justice. There was a lovely red large ring that went around it that doesn't show up in this picture: (don't worry, mom measured it--it was 3 inches wide and 3.5 inches tall):

And this was Wednesday:

Okay, now I can let you go! Thanks for enjoying my mini-vacation with me!

Kristin McLendon