New Adventures

Nathan and I went on our first date on March 26, 2009. We had spent the beginning of our spring break in Picayune, Mississippi with our closest friends and drove back early because Nathan had won tickets to a Chris Tomlin concert in Little Rock. Before going to the concert, he took me to my favorite restaurant, Carino's, and took the opportunity to lay out his life plan for me. We had not been sitting down at the restaurant for 5 minutes before he jumped right in telling me how it was going to be. I am not kidding when I say that our very first conversation when we sat down in the booth began with Nathan basically telling me that he was going into the ministry, he didn't know what that meant or where he would end up, but that he did know that I was going to be there with him. First date. We weren't even labeled as "dating" yet. But he knew. And I knew. God had very clearly brought us together in the craziest way for a very specific purpose: to glorify Him in our lives together. That night Nathan made it very clear that he could not promise where ministry would take us or what it would put us doing, but that he was ready to follow wherever God lead us. Of course, I was giddy over this out-going, smooth talking, goofy boy and agreed wholeheartedly that I knew life as a pastor's wife would be unpredictable, exciting, full, and overwhelming at times. But I was sold. I knew there would be no other life that I would want to live.

Three years later, I am experiencing that first-date conversation in a real, concrete way. Life is unpredictable. Life is exciting. Life is full. And life is even overwhelming. It has been ever since that night when we verbally committed to whatever God did with us in ministry. However, we've reached one of those mile markers in life where life is unpredictable, exciting, full, and overwhelming all at the exact same time.

Last Thanksgiving, Nathan was approached about becoming the worship leader for the youth ministry at First Baptist here in Conway. Along with leading the youth in worship, he would also lead the third service there at First called Thrive. We were immediately very thrilled for this opportunity because of the wonderful leadership at First and the experience that it would provide Nathan with. We would miss our close friends and church family at Antioch, but we had been praying for guidance and experience for Nathan as he got closer to graduating and moving into full time ministry. God provided in a perfect way and we knew very easily that this was an opportunity that we could not turn down. We made the move to First Baptist at the beginning of January and were welcomed with such open arms. We were amazed by the love and kindness that we were shown by such a close group of people and were confident that God was going to do great things. And great things He has done. To look back on our six months at First makes me want to cry with joy. God has softened our hearts in so many ways. He has revealed Himself clearer than He ever has before. He has taught us the value of true fellowship. He has given us a passion for loving students and teaching them the gospel. He has brought me out of my shell. He has worked on Nathan's heart and increased his desire to teach. Nathan has been able to teach the youth several times and lead several bible studies we have had on Sunday nights and has fallen in love! He has loved leading worship and has done an amazing job (I'm not biased at all!), but his heart has really been turned towards teaching. The Lord has been abundantly faithful during all of this.

And yet He has also kept us on our toes. Several weeks ago we were approached about Nathan taking on the full time role as high school youth pastor at Antioch. We were both surprised, caught off guard, excited, thrilled, and torn at the same time. My mind was full of thoughts that crossed the whole spectrum. Wow! We could be back "home" again! We could minister to kids in the way our hearts have been leading us! But only six months into this time at First? Nathan would be able to teach! But Just when we were getting used to where we are? My parents would be thrilled that we would be in Conway indefinitely! But right when we have been put in a group of people who has loved us as their own? To say it was an emotional day is an understatement. Nathan and I sat in our kitchen floor and just let our thoughts spill out until we knew that there were no "what if's", "but's", or "how's" about it. God was opening a door that we had prayed for (without knowing it) and we would be dumb to not follow where He was leading.

So we met with Jason, we met with Bobby and Shawn, and yesterday we met with many members of the church to discuss what this new structuring of the youth ministry would look like. We are thrilled beyond belief to be stepping into this new role at Antioch. We have prayed for an opportunity to serve the Lord, serve others, and build up the Church. Neither of us thought that it would come in this way this early in our lives, but we are thankful. So thankful. We are blessed. We are eager. We are nervous. We are terrified. We are full of faith that God will provide all that we need to minister to students and their families.

So with all of this said, would you consider praying for us in this time of transition? We have both served at Antioch in different ways over the years. We have built many relationships, we know many people, we know the church, we have worked in youth ministries. But this is different. This is a new role, a new mission, a new adventure, many new people and a new life in a sense. Pray for Nathan as he teaches, leads, and ministers to high school students in Conway. Pray that he would establish relationships that would encourage and build students up in their faith. Pray for him as he takes on a role that is brand new to him and learns how to lead in this new way. Pray for me as I support Nathan in this new role. Pray that I can minister to the kids in a very meaningful way as I spend time with them, as well. We are so thankful for the support and encouragement that has been given to us and we appreciate your prayers so much!

Weekend of Joy

It is a busy week in the Brewer house! We had a wonderful, slow, stress-free few weeks at home and now the summer rush is beginning! Thursday afternoon Nathan and I made our way to Oklahoma to be in town to see some of his close friends from high school get married! It came at a great time because we were able to spend the weekend with our Oklahoma family who we hadn't seen since mid-May. We love Nathan's family and hate that we don't get to see them all of the time, but it sure does make our time with them even sweeter! And now that we have the most precious niece on the planet, most of our visits are full of just staring at her! I had to take a lot of pictures this weekend, so I thought you all might like to see how big and beautiful little miss Gentry is getting!

She is loving tummy time, pushing herself up, and even trying to crawl! She is so active!

She had only been awake for a little over an hour when she decided she needed a nap again! We wore her out!

She woke up ready for the day and full of smiles!

We took Gentry shopping and Nathan thought it would be cute to let Sarah know we were taking wonderful care of Gentry! (This was JUST a joke to tease Sarah!)

 I thought this was perfect for a princess :)

We watched the Olympic gymnastic trials together and all of those flips made her tired just watching!

Thomas, Courtney, Me, and Nathan at rehearsal dinner Friday night. Love spending time with them!

All ready for Dena and Daniel's wedding in her pretty pink dress!

We love our sweet Gentry!

She LOVES her uncle Nathan!

Dena and Daniel's wedding was beautiful and full of joy. So happy for them!

Sarah (Nathan's sister), Nathan, and Gentry at the reception

Brother and sister

Isn't he the so handsome??

Thomas and Courtney at the reception. Their turn is coming up soon ;)

Nathan and I with the bride and groom!

We had a wonderful weekend. It was a short trip, but we got to spend such meaningful time with our awesome family and friends! Did you notice that the majority of the pictures were of Gentry? I guess babies really do change everything!

We came home late Saturday night and now, two days later, are getting ready to unpack, repack, and head to Dallas for SOAR. Life without busyness would be boring for us!

Patriotic Pride

Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest. Praise the Lord for summer vacation from school! I am having a blast doing little things that I have wanted to do all year! I check Pinterest on my phone several times a day just to keep up with all of the new ideas. I pin many things, especially for my classroom, but many times I don't get around to completing these cool projects until much later. However, some things catch my eye and I am hooked! Do you ever find those posts on Pinterest that you love so much you have to make them immediately?? This was one project I had to do right away! 

I love making wreaths and try to make one for every season, but I've had the same one on my door since the spring and it was time for a new one! Luckily, this worked out perfectly with the 4th of July being next week! I found the tutorial for this Patriotic Pride wreath over at Sky's Blog! Though this wreath looks a little complicated to make, it was really very simple! However, it is a bit time consuming. It was a several hour project to work through, but I LOVED the outcome!

I'm so excited about this new addition to our front door to celebrate the holidays next week! Nathan's brother-in-law (Gentry's daddy) is currently deployed and serving in the Air National Guard in Oman, so this will be a very meaningful 4th of July for our family. We miss Kelly very much and can't wait for him to be back home in November, but we are also so very thankful for his commitment and service to our country.

Like I said, this is a simple, yet time consuming wreath to make and you can find the tutorial at Sky's Blog if you would like to make your own. If you would like to have one of these beautiful wreath's, but don't want to make it yourself, you can e-mail me at lynzielamb89@gmail.com and I will gladly make you your own for $30.00!

A Year With The Brewer's

On Monday Nathan and I celebrated our one year anniversary! This year has FLOWN by and has been full of so many new things, surprises, and joys. I graduated from college a month before the wedding, we bought our first house three weeks before the wedding, and I accepted my first teaching job two weeks before the wedding. So, thankfully, I was able to walk down the isle feeling very relieved and ready for this new stage in life! And the new didn't stop there! Here are just a few highlights from our first year of marriage:

--I began my first year of teaching first grade at the most wonderful school, Wooster Elementary.

--Sweet Morgan Summers was born!

--I spent my first holiday (Thanksgiving) away from my family.

--Nathan turned 22.

--Nathan went on a mission trip to Nicaragua for 10 days. 

--I turned 22.

--Nathan missed his first holiday (Christmas) away from his family.

--We stepped way out of our comfort zones and moved from our home church to First Baptist here in Conway as Nathan took on the role of worship leader/assistant for the youth and Thrive.

--We began welcoming a new member into our family as my brother, Taylor, proposed to his soon-to-be-wife, Jessica!

--We welcomed our sweet niece, Gentry Faith, into the world and have spoiled her ever since!

--We celebrated three years since we began dating.

--We got our first dog, Piper!

--We have celebrated with many, many friends as they walked into marriage.

--But most of all, we have loved every minute of learning how to love, live, and walk like Jesus in our relationship with each other. We have been so blessed by the way God has provided for us, lead us, and poured out his blessings on our marriage. We have realized more and more every day how inadequate we are to walk through life, but how more than adequate Jesus is to carry us. Obviously, we do not have marriage down to an art and have so many more things to learn as the years go by, but we are looking forward to this second year and all that God has in store for us!

So to celebrate all of our first year joys, Nathan planned a perfect day for us without any help from me! We started the day by going to Pinnacle Mountain to hike because I had been wanting to go back for quite some time. This is significant for us because three years ago the day after our anniversary, Nathan told me he loved me for the first time at the top of that mountain! It was definitely a hot hike and halfway through I turned to him and said, "Who's idea was this again???" Of course, it was mine :)...Here are a few pictures from the top!

After our hike, we were ready for lunch and where else would we have lunch on our anniversary but at Chik Fil A! We spent the afternoon running errands around Little Rock and then came the big surprise! Nathan told me we were staying at the Capitol Hotel where we stayed last year before going to the Bahamas! I was so excited! That area in downtown is so beautiful!

After we got ready, we headed out on the town! We walked around downtown for a while seeing some of the historical sites. I am the teacher nerd that enjoys these kinds of things! We toured the Old State House and some of the Historic Arkansas sites.

This is the old House of Representatives room--so cool!

With my new obsession with sewing, I thought this was amazing!

After touring the sites, we went to see a movie and had dinner at PF Chang's, Nathan's favorite!

And of course, a date night would not be official without dessert! Maggie Moo's is my fav!

We had a great anniversary trip in Little Rock, but Piper sure was excited when we got home!

Since we were in Little Rock all day on our actual anniversary, we ate our cake topper the next night with my parents and brother! This worked out for everyone involved because not one person in my family actually got to eat a piece of the cake at the wedding! I have been waiting for this alllll year long! 

I surprised Nathan and kept it a secret all year long--our cake topper was Funfetti, Nathan's favorite!

We loved our wedding cake so much! Angelia at Cake Art by Angelia did a fabulous job!

Our anniversary also marked our last jar of green apple jelly beans! These were our wedding favors and we STILL have a jar left after a year!

Thank you for all of the well wishes for our anniversary! We are excited for many more years to come!

Ripe Bananas

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I let bananas get too ripe. I love bananas, but I also have pretty strong gag reflexes that do not like mushy bananas. I usually eat them pretty quickly, but I was struck with a stomach bug two weeks ago and bananas have been the last thing I've wanted to eat since then. So today, seeing that I needed to get rid of my extra ripe bananas, I decided to be resourceful and make some of my Mimi's amazing banana bread! I normally only eat this yummy treat once a year. Mimi always makes banana bread on Christmas eve so that we will have breakfast on Christmas morning. It's one of my favorite family traditions! Even though it isn't Christmas, I thought it would be a great snack to bake and freeze to have for breakfast throughout the summer. I love my Mimi's recipe so much that I thought I would share it with you!

Mimi's Hawaiian Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups of all purpose flour

2 cups of sugar

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of salt

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 1/2 cups of chopped nuts(optional

3 eggs beaten

2 1/2 cups of mashed ripe bananas

1 8oz. Can crushed pineapples drained

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 1/2 cups of oil

Directions:


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts if you choose) in a bowl. Mix together.

**You really can just use a spoon to stir these ingredients, but I love to have any excuse to use my big Kitchen Aid Mixer!

3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs. Then, add other wet ingredients (mashed bananas, drained pineapple, vanilla, and oil). Mix together.

4. Pour wet ingredient mixture into dry ingredient bowl and stir just until moist.

5. Spray two 9x5x3 loaf pans with cooking spray. Then, sprinkle pans with flour and shake to cover. (I could not find my loaf pans, so I just used a deep cake pan!)

6. Pour batter into pans. Sprinkle tops with a little cinnamon. This isn't part of the original recipe, but I LOVE cinnamon, so I had to add a little extra :)

7. Bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

8. Cool on baking rack for 20 minutes before removing from pans. Remove from pans and cool completely on baking racks. Since I couldn't find my loaf pans, I am going to cut my big loaf into smaller loaves and freeze to have this summer!

Then, it's time to enjoy!

If you plan to freeze your bread, simply wrap the bread in foil and pop into the freezer!

Summertime and Sweet Words

So summer is in session and I have to say that I am LOVING it! It is amazing what only two weeks of relaxation can do for a first grade teacher! I have been able to get so many things done that just weren't possible towards the end of the school year.

Towards the end of the school year my husband began asking me for a list of things I wanted to do this summer. That is a lot harder of a question to answer when you sit down and think about it. Now that I have had two weeks to unwind and slip into summer, I have come up with my list. I am hoping to refer to this list often throughout the summer and actually accomplish all of my plans :)

1.Walk with Jesus. I have already discovered that my favorite thing about summer will be having more than enough time to spend in the Word in the mornings. During the school year it was very hard to find the perfect time to sit and spend as much time as I wanted searching the scriptures and learning from Jesus. I have already found so much joy in starting my day digging deeper into Him and discovering how to live like Him.

2.Read every book that I own. I am an avid reader and love to get lost in a good book. I am also an avid book buyer. This means that I have quite a few books that I own, but have never read. I would love to take care of these this summer!

3.Learn to sew. I greatly desire to be crafty and creative. With my Pinterest addiction growing over the last year I have seen so many things I would love to make that require sewing. So, I pulled the sewing machine out on Monday and spent an hour or so learning how to use it in the basic ways. My first project is to make curtains for my classroom bookshelves. I would also love to make curtains for my own home and some adorable baby items for my niece!

4.Lose my shyness. Some of you may think, "What? She's not shy!" Oh, but I am. It is completely stepping out my comfort zone to introduce myself and get to know new people. Many of you know my husband and know that he is nothing like this. Nathan can meet anybody and know their life story in a matter of minutes. I, on the other hand, struggle with stepping out of my shell and greatly desire to do that this summer by spending time meeting and getting to know new people.

5. Cook and bake my little heart out. I LOVE to cook and bake. I love finding new recipes and trying them out, even if I have no clue what I am doing. My pinterest cooking board is full of recipes needing to be tried, so be looking for more recipe posts in the coming weeks!

6.Run my first 5k. I began training for a 5k several months ago. I've had several lags in the Couch to 5k plan from being sick several times, but I am still training! I hoping to run my first 5k in July and then hopefully (crossing my fingers), start training for the Soaring Wings Half Marathon in October. We'll see how I do through the heat of the summer!

7. Scrap my first year of teaching. Several of the sweet parents in my classroom went in together and gave me a scrapbook starter as an end of the year gift. They decorated the first two pages and gave me some pictures they had taken of the kids. I have always loved scrapbooking and am excited to make a book full of memories so that I will always remember my first group of kids! I've already gone through and printed my pictures, so I am already making progress towards this goal!

8. Go fishing. I am a girly girl. I don't like touching slimy creatures like frogs, worms, or bugs. But I sure do love to go fishing! I can thank my Papa for giving me this love. However, I do not like to touch worms and I don't like to take the fish off of the hook once I have successfully caught it. So, this year, my goal is to actually bite the bullet and touch the worm and fish. Those will be interesting pictures to post! :)

9.Love my family. The Lamb and Brewer families have experienced a lot of changes over the last year and they still aren't finished changing yet! Nathan and I got married last summer, Rachel graduated from high school and started college, Taylor got engaged, sweet Gentry was born, Kelly was deployed, and Taylor will wrap up our summer by marrying Jessica on August 10th. Change is hard a lot of the time, but I have two amazing families to walk through changes with. I want to spend my free time this summer talking, playing, taking adventures, loving, living, and experiencing life with them in very intentional ways.

10.Encourage others. With an increase in my free time these days, I can't help but notice how much "stuff" is going on in everyone's life. It only takes a few minutes reading through facebook, a blog, or the newspaper to see just many people are hurting, in need, and feeling hopeless. I look forward to using my time this summer to minister to others through encouragement. And speaking of encouragement...

I spent the last few weeks of school racking my brain to figure out something sweet and uplifting to do for my first group of first graders as an end of the year gift. Of course I saw many cute ideas on Pinterest, but one of them stuck with me and I had to do it! If you have never heard of Wordle you need to check it out soon! Wordle is a website where you can create word clouds. We used these throughout the school year as we discussed using adjectives to describe different objects. They are so fun to make and super easy! I saw the idea to create a word cloud for each student using adjectives to describe them. Of course, I loved this idea because of how personal, encouraging, and uplifting it could be! I hope my kids will keep these for years to come so that they can look back and know they were loved in the first grade!

To make a word cloud, simply go to Wordle and click on "Create your own." A typing box will come up and you simple type the words that you want on your word cloud. To make a word big (like the kid's name in my examples) you simple type that word over and over with a space between each. When you think of another word that you want to put on the cloud, press enter and type the next word. If you want the word small, only type it once. If you want it larger, type it more than once. Your text box will look something like this when you are finished:

Alicia Alicia Alicia Alicia Alicia Alicia Alicia Alicia
Bright
Kind Kind Kind
Creative Creative
Hard-working
Respectful Respectful Respectful

You can type as many words as you want! When you are satisfied with your words, click on "go." I like to select my text and copy it before I press go because once go is pressed, you cannot return to that text box. I copy my text just in case I forget something or make an error. That way I can go to a new text box, paste my words and fix any errors! Once you press go, your word cloud will appear! Along the top of the wordle you will have options to change the font types, colors, and layout. You can use pre-made color schemes or customize your own. You can also create your own layout or use the "random" button to see pre-made layouts! When I was finished, I printed the word clouds out and put them in frames from the dollar store! Here are few examples of the ones I did for my kids:

So, if you are looking for new, creative, easy-to-make, thoughtful gifts to give, check out the word clouds!

**That was a little bit of an ADD jump from my summer list of things to do, but I have been meaning to share the word cloud idea for a while! Be looking for new posts about my new summer adventures to come!