Beauty in Simplicity

Hello Friends and Family! I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful season of thankfulness for all God has done throughout the past year and celebrating the great gift of His Son Jesus.

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year - all the Christmas family traditions and festivities to attend are so just so wonderful. However, this year with all of the preparations for our soon-coming baby on top of all of the Christmas preparations, I'm realizing it's all quite hectic. I'm struggling with the fact that sometimes all these preparations become more stressful than enjoyable. So is it worth the stress to keep up with the to-do list? It's quite easy to get caught up in all the busyness that I loose sight of the simple beauty of this season. Now that I have the "responsibility" of keeping the family traditions as a wife and a mom, I can't help but be amazed with how well my parents kept the simplicity of Christmas. I have many fond memories of setting up the Christmas tree as a family, decorating Christmas cookies together, and celebrating the holiday together, but somehow my mom and dad kept things calm, simple, and special throughout the Christmas season. One of my favorite traditions as a family happened each night in December when we'd turn off all the lights except for the ones on the Christmas tree, gather around the dining table lit with candles, and spend time reading an advent devotional together. So simple but so special.

Today I saw a lady in a busy rush - her head and whole posture was leaned forward, her arms swiftly moving at her side, and her legs walking so briskly she was almost jogging. I thought to myself, wow I bet I look like that most of the time (except now being 8 months pregnant I waddle a little bit haha). How easy it can be to be in a constant posture of busyness this time of year. My prayer is that the Lord would help me to instead be in a posture of peace. After all, that's what this season is all about, the Prince of Peace who brought true, deep, and everlasting peace to mankind. If I don't allow the Lord to help me have a posture of peace, I'll likely miss out on blessing others with the love and peace He wants me to share with them. I sincerely hope each of you (and myself) can take a step back in this busy season and let the peace of God just wash over you. Let us remember there is beauty in simplicity and peace in the presence of our Savior. Merry Christmas and God bless!

Alex and I spent Thanksgiving week in Idaho with his family - so refreshing!

We visited the spot where he proposed 

The little boys with the big boys :)

Happy Thanksgiving 2016!

We went on a triple date with Alex's parents and his sister and her husband

Jack's first Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Busy and Blessed

Hello friends and family!

I can't believe it's been nearly 3 months since I last wrote a blog post! So much has happened in our lives over the course of that time and it looks like life is just picking up pace from here on out. People keep saying how great it is to enjoy this time of life because once our little one (and little ones after that) come, life will be crazy! Well if our life is already crazy, I wonder how it can get any crazier :P We've been praying about what changes may need to take place (aka what to cut out of our schedules) in order to maintain our health physically, emotionally, and spiritually as we step into this new phase of parenthood. I'm not sure what that will look like, but I'm thankful God does :)

Even though Alex and I aren't in school and don't have kids in school, since we are so involved in student ministries there was a definite change in season as the school year started. Summer was busy in it's unpredictable, wonderful way, but the school year has been busy so far with getting back into the routine of things and putting together the annual events for this time of year.

Highlights of youth ministry:

• See You at the Pole was an awesome success in our community! We had many students from all over the community gather around their schools to pray over the students and staff and to boldly declare their faith to their fellow classmates. We were so proud of our students who woke up extra early to participate in this. It is so encouraging to see them growing in their faith and boldly living it out!
• This past weekend we took our students to youth conference in Seattle. What an awesome time of worshiping together, growing in the knowledge of the Lord, and bonding as a youth group! We are thrilled that one of our girls gave her heart to the Lord for the very first time! 
• Our weekly, highschool, girls Bible study started up again and we are going through the book Crazy Love. I am so thankful I get to be part of our students lives and I get to walk with them as they grow in the Lord!

Highlights of pregnancy care ministry: 

• We have four major events at the pregnancy resource center this month so we've been very busy preparing for those! We brought a pro-life movie to our city in hopes of getting more individuals inspired about the pro-life movement, we are also sponsoring a teen girls event focused on encouraging girls to find their identity in Christ and not in the lies they tell themselves or what the world tells them, and we have two of our largest fundraising events!
• The past few weeks have been rather stressful so the Lord has had to teach me faith, how to rest, how to ask for help, and how to manage my over-achiever/perfectionist personality. So much growing!! 
• God has truly, truly proven Himself faithful in providing for every need and detail for these events. I am so excited to see the impact the Lord will make through these events! 

Highlights of family life:

• We are thrilled to announce WE'RE HAVING A BOY!!! I think he must have grown quite a bit this past month because for one, I'm growing, and also I can feel him moving a lot! Feeling his movements is my favorite part of pregnancy thus far :) I love how he reminds me how he's a part of everything we're doing. For example, at the See You at the Pole Rally as the speaker was giving the salvation message, our little boy gave me a nudge. It was so sweet and I was able to pray over him that one day He would accept the Lord as his Savior.
• I'm super in love with my husband :) I was just thinking about our love story last night and how it is my absolute favorite love story! I'm just amazed how God brought us together. I love doing life with him and I treasure the moments when we can slow down together and just be totally focused on each other. 

Life is crazy, but oh so blessed! God is teaching us so much in this season and I'm thankful for that. I've begun doing a Bible study with my co-workers called the Armor of God by Pricsilla Shirer. It is SO good! I've only done week one, but I highly recommend it. Hopefully, I will find time to blog about what I'm learning through the study in the weeks to come. Anyway, blessings to you all! Enjoy the beauty of autumn :)

Life Update

Hello friends and family!

How does time fly by so quickly? I feel like each summer just goes by faster than the last. I really should write a blog on our Hawaii trip, Alex's birthday, Alex preaching in main service, being in ML for a year, our CdeBaca family trip to the Oregon Coast, Father's Day, youth camp, my trip to Idaho, my job, and of course baby news! But since I haven't had the time to do individual blogs on each of those events, I will try to fit in as much news as possible in this post :)

Let's begin with an update about Alex:
What a wonderful hubby I have! I felt absolutely spoiled to go to Hawaii for our first anniversary! It was the most peaceful (and very romantic) vacation I have ever been on. We were blessed with an amazing resort right on the ocean, gorgeous weather, and best of all just getting spend time just the two of us. I tried surfing for the first time and loved it! Alex has recently started a youtube channel with vlogs about our life and also a channel to review tech and music:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNtFQMB9zkq9_lOpqJ9l7fg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClg9VeYa-tOU76QF-MH2rvg
Not only is he really great at it, but he also loves making videos! You can check out a vlog of our Hawaii trip on the first link.

We celebrated his birthday just the two of us, had a party at our home with friends, and also celebrated with his family when they came to visit. The Sunday after his birthday he preached in main service. Words can't describe how proud I am of him! He is so good at what he does and is truly a man of many talents. I'm so blessed to be his wife! We were blessed to take 12 students to camp this year and I loved getting to see him "in action". It was absolutely awesome to see God work deeply and intimately in each of our students' lives.

This Father's day was Alex's first one as a dad! How cool is that?! He has already been such a good dad to our little one and is taking such good care of me. He's been so helpful around the home - being sure I don't use strong cleaners or take care of the cat litter. He does a great job keeping us safe and often reminds me of the need to rest. I'm so thankful God gave me such a considerate husband. He's been able to come to both of my doctor's appointments and ultrasound appointment. It means so much to experience all of this together.

Alright, now for an update on my life:
Being pregnant is such an incredible experience! I'm so thankful to be feeling better and to have renewed energy these days. We are officially 15 weeks pregnant and baby is the size of an avocado :) I can't feel (or at least haven't noticed) any movement yet, but wow our little one was moving a lot when we saw him/her on the ultrasound! It was waving its little arms, kicking its legs, and turning around. Going to our ultrasound was probably one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced! Every life is such a miracle! It is an absolute privilege to be part of what God is creating and to get to bring life into this world! We are so excited to find out the gender at the end of next month. I've also been having fun getting things put together for our gender reveal party :) We've been so blessed by friends and family who have given me maternity clothes and little things for the baby already.

I was SO blessed to get to go home to Idaho last week for four days! My childhood best friend who is now my sister-in-law was back home visiting so I really wanted to be able to spend some time with her. I had also really been missing home (Alex and I hadn't been there since Christmas) and knew it was time to see my church family and family. I was so sad Alex couldn't come because of work, but he was so sweet to let me go. The trip was SO good! It was so refreshing and life-giving to be amongst the familiar and around the people who have experienced life with me for so many years. To be loved and known is a wonderful thing. I almost cried when I saw mountains! I was able to visit our home church and see much of our church family. Also, all of my family was together for the first time since our wedding (just missing Alex). About a week before I was planning to go, my host mom from Africa contacted me and told me their entire family would be visiting Idaho while I was there!! So for the first time in 5 years we all got to spend time together! I took the kids out to ice-cream and the family came over for dinner to my parent's home as well. I spent time with my in-laws one morning and we also had a fish fry with both of our families. Alex and I are truly blessed to have the families we have. It's hard to live away from them but I know we are following God's will where we are at. As I was processing my trip, God reminded me how he placed us with families who trained us in the way of the Lord so we could one day GO and minister. It's a blessing to know so many are praying for us, loving us, and supporting us from back home. My heart was refreshed by my trip and I was able to come home with renewed energy for the call God has on our lives here in ML. God is good!

Alex surfing

Me surfing

At the luau with my love

Bryce (my brother) is home for the summer so my parents and him came to visit!

Alex's friend birthday party

Celebrating with Cassie, Alex's sister

Oregon Coast family trip

Alex preaching

Our youth camp crew

Fun times in Idaho

Reunited with my sister-in-law

My Daddy and I

My Mommy and I

The beautiful mountains!

9 weeks pregnant

10 weeks pregnant

11 weeks pregnant

12 weeks pregnant

13 weeks pregnant

14 weeks pregnant

Our little one!!! :D

Baby!

Alex and I are absolutely thrilled to announce: we're having a baby!!! We are due January 2017! It's an amazing and overwhelming realization to be the care takers of this precious life. I'm so thankful God is the giver and ultimate care-taker of life so we can look to him for guidance as we prepare for this new little blessing and as we raise him/her in the way of the Lord. One of the verses that came to me shortly after we found out we are expecting is James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." I've always known and believed children are a gift from the Lord, but having one of our own, gives me a whole new perspective on this. We are truly in awe and thankful for this gift from God! We love you already, Baby CdeBaca! :)