My little reindeer...

Caleb is getting so big...he loves to sit in his Bumbo seat! Next week he will be four months old and I can't believe how the time has flown! Love him so much!

Christmas in Chicago

We opted to stay in Chicago this year and do Christmas with our little family. We have had a great day celebrating together. For a starter Christmas present for Bryan and I, the kids both slept until around 10 am. After everyone woke up we grabbed a light snack and then started in on opening the presents. Nathanael has never really gotten into the present thing but it didn't take him long to figure it out. I must say that he is very meticulous when he unwraps his presents...one little piece at a time. We opened our presents to each other and then Nathanael and Caleb opened their gifts from Santa.

Bryan made this video of Nathanael's first glimpse of his new fort from his Papaw and Muss. He loves it and actually will play by himself for a little while! Enjoy!

Pondering the Brevity of Life

"...yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes."

James 4:14

Life has been difficult lately. I have been having some health issues and it has really been such a refining process in my life. I have had some type of a headache since Thanksgiving and when I say that I mean at times it is dull and annoying and others it feels like my head is going to explode. Along with that 2 weeks ago my vision began to blur and I began to have tingling in my arms and legs. Bryan and I really began to get concerned and started to really pray that the Lord would heal me and that He would give us wisdom in what we needed to do. Last Wednesday night I woke up in the middle of the night with a crazy headache and it was so painful I began vomiting. This lasted for 3 days and after some research and talking to a doctor that goes to our church we decided I needed to go and get a CT scan to make sure I didn't have a tumor or some type of a brain bleed. So off we went to the ER to get checked out.

I have to say, I was really scared. To think about having something that serious was truly sobering. Everything from not being able to raise my boys to leaving my sweet man behind led me to tears. BUT then I began to think about how the Lord would use my situation for His glory and it honestly began to be okay. I really began to just pray that whatever the diagnosis I would be able to give glory to Christ and that He would be exalted through it.

We got the results back and the CT scan was negative! Praise the Lord! Even in that I just continue to think about the brevity of life and that we are only here for a little while and that our next minute of life is never promised!

I would encourage you to pray for Matt Chandler, a pastor in Dallas that has brain cancer. Pray that He would continue to honor Christ and that the Lord would give Him the strength during the treatments for the cancer. Pray that the Lord would give his wife extra grace during this time as she takes extra special care of her husband and her children.

"You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." James 5:8

My sweet man!

I am so thankful for a husband who is such a loyal and faithful friend to me. The Lord has truly blessed me with a man that protects, leads and challenges me to be more like Christ. His dedication to our family makes me fall in love with him more and more everyday. I am praying that our boys grow up to love the Lord with all their hearts just like their daddy. I am a very blessed woman to have him as my husband!

Bryan Nelson Payne, I Love you!

The Fire

I pray this video is as impacting to you as it was to me. The video speaks for itself! It is about 12 minutes but it is worth it.

SURPRISE!!! 30th Birthday Weekend!

So last Saturday was my 30th birthday. Yes I know I am getting really old. In lough of that fact my sweet husband planned a FULL Surprise 30th birthday weekend. It began on Friday night...he surprised me by having some of our friends, Jake and Debbie, come in from Nashville to spend the weekend with us. Friday night was Debbie's birthday so these guys had been scheming and planning for weeks to make this weekend extra special for us!

Friday night we went to Cite, it was a fine dining restaurant that was up on the 70th floor looking out over downtown Chicago. It was beautiful. We had a great time talking, laughing and eating. I think it might have been the record for my longest dining experience. 4 HOURS! :) After we ate we were all very tired so both couples retired to their hotel rooms for the night with a scheduled meeting time of 9:30 AM.

We got to sleep in a little bit, got ready and met down in the lobby. Little did we know that we would be going all the way to Paris. We walked a few blocks and ended up in this really cute store called the Chopping Block. There was cool cooking stuff but on the bottom floor we walked into a huge room all set up for COOKING LESSONS! Debbie and I have always wanted to take cooking lessons and our men set it up for all 4 of us...that's right they took them with us. We made food that you could find in Paris and then got to eat what we made. We had so much fun, and I would love to take a more extensive class again someday when my boys are older.

After our cooking lessons we went and checked out of our hotel and went walking down the Magnificent Mile. At the end of the Mag Mile they surprised us with an hour and a half massage. It was actually one of the best massages that I have ever had!

That night after all of this we came home to pick up my mom (who was keeping the kids) and we all went out to Morton's to get a very yummy steak. It was fun for Jake and Debbie to get to meet my mom and we all had great conversation.

I had so much fun and am so thankful for a husband who is thoughtful and plans fun things for us to do! I will post some pics of our fun weekend. :)

It's been a LONG time!

Here are some recent pics of the boys, ENJOY!

It has been ridiculously long since I have updated this blog so please forgive me for my lack of updates.

We have landed in Chicago and have gotten settled in. The transition with a 2 week old was interesting and very hard. When we got here the ladies from the training program and some of the ladies from the church had planned meals for us for about 2 weeks. I can't tell you what a blessing this was. Exhaustion had taken over and I was doing everything in my power just to survive. On that note, I figured out that I couldn't do it on my own and in my own power. You would think that I have learned this by now but I was begging the Lord for His strength and He has given it to me! With a newborn it seems that things with regards to sleep will never get better and it slowly and eventually does.

We are still not sleeping much but our little Caleb is such a lover. He is so snuggly and sweet! He is also a very good eater and has little rolls on his legs to show it. Nathanael was and is very thin so to have a little one with some squish is fun. Caleb is starting to smile in reaction to Bryan and I talking to him.

Nathanael loves his baby brother and is always wanting to kiss him. It is so neat to watch him grow and to see his personality flourish. He loves to play, read and talk.

The other night he woke up at 11 pm and sounded really scared so we got him up for a bit. I was writing thank you notes at the table and he wanted to sit up there with me. We were sitting across the table from each other and he literally talked to me for about 20 minutes. I had no clue what he was saying but by the way he was talking it was REALLY important. He is also enjoying us reading to him more and more and will actually sit through a book every once in a while.

Bryan is really loving the training he is receiving here at Harvest Bible Chapel. We are very excited about what the Lord is preparing for us in Austin. It is clear that He is working and we are excited to see what He has in store for us. We are in the process of trying to build a core group of people that are willing to sacrifice their blood, sweat and tears to help us plant this church. If you know of anyone in Austin please let us know. Our website is under construction but as soon as it is done we will post that so you can all look at it. For now we have a Facebook group, Harvest Bible Chapel Austin Group.

As for me, I am loving being a wife and a mom. The Lord has really given me the strength and ability to be able to keep up with both boys, the home, and most importantly serve my husband. I am trying to be involved in a weekly Bible study when I can and we have different events for the wives of the training center guys. These have proven to be very helpful to give us some idea of what our role is in the church planting process. The wives are all super sweet and it will be great to have them as friends as we are all going through this journey together.

Swimming lessons

Nathanael just got done with two weeks of swimming lessons. Of course at this age they are just trying to help them to get comfortable with the idea of getting in the water, splashing around and blowing bubbles. We had a good time getting to watch him and interact with him in the class. We both got in the water with him but Bryan was the main one helping him with what they were teaching. I am glad that he got to do it b/c now he practices putting his face under in the bathtub and is not scared!

Nothing much else is new here with us except, I am getting bigger and it feels like it keeps getting hotter. Nathanael is beginning to try to say more and more things which is fun and hard at the same time. It is fun b/c he is trying to communicate better but hard b/c most of the time I have no idea what he is saying. If we ask him where Caleb is he points at my tummy which is really cute!!! (I am not so sure that he doesn't think that everyone's stomach is named Caleb.)

Bryan is headed to Austin tomorrow to meet with different people about the church plant and to scope out some areas that he has found on the map that might be possible locations for the church. We are praying that the Lord would provide the right people and the perfect place for Harvest Bible Chapel Austin.

You can all be praying for us in the next month or so as we enter into a really hard time of transition. Bryan is leaving on August 24th to head for Chicago and I will stay here until a few weeks after I have Caleb. We are still working through all of the exact details but I am not looking forward to being without him for that long. You can pray that I would be strong and that the Lord would help me to have a good attitude!

Back from Tennessee

As I wrote before Bryan and I went to TN for Bryan to preach a youth camp. The Lord was faithful in challenging the kids and adults with the preaching of His Word. Nathanael had a great time with his Grammy, which freed me up to support Bryan without worrying about him. I believe that the Lord changed lives and is still working in lives because of this youth camp. It makes me excited to see what the Lord has in store for us and our future ministry.

Since we have been back we have spent some extra time in Conroe with Grammy (Bryan's mom), gone to PF Chang's in The Woodland's t0 hang with family, had another doctor's appt. for Caleb, and celebrated our niece's 3rd birthday. We are busy but having a good time seeing and catching up with all of our family.

Oh and did I mention that I got a new car? It is actually a little bit bigger that your average car... I got a Ford Excursion. It is gorgeous and it drives like a dream! We decided to go ahead and get one of the biggest cars on the market to accommodate all the kids, both present and future. Bryan believes that I should have a one ton diesel so that his family will be safe and can drive it forever.

Nathanael is getting really big and loves to play golf. He has little golf clubs and will go around the house or the yard hitting anything and everything in his way. He also really loves taking rides in his papaw's golf cart! He is having a blast here because he actually has a back yard to run free and play. He wants to go outside all the time!!!

We have been swimming quite a bit as well...Nathanael enjoys it and it feels really good to a pregnant woman!

We are still alive!!!

Well here we are and it is already the first of July and I haven't posted in a really long time.  My apologies to you all!  When we decided to come back to Texas we thought that we would have time to rest and relax but it has been quite the opposite.  Four days after we arrived Bryan flew back to LA to preach at the Chinese Bible Church's retreat, four days later we flew to Lubbock, TX to visit Bryan's dad and to pick up our car, then on our way home we made a pit stop to visit Bryan's grandparents in Wichita Falls.  The day we arrived to see his grandparents his Dedaddy was put into ICU.  The Lord was gracious to allow us to see him one last time before he past away about a week later.  Bryan had the privilege of preaching his funeral message and presenting the Gospel to many who have heard it all their lives and probably many who have not.  

After returning from Wichita Falls we went over to Conroe to spend some time with our dear friends, the Carlson's.  We celebrated their son's 2nd birthday and then came back home to make it time to honor my dad, Bryan, and James(my brother-in-law) on Father's day.  Three days later we left to go back out of town to my parent's lake house to relax for the weekend.  So as you can see we have gone non-stop since we have arrived.

On July 4th we are flying to Tennessee b/c Bryan is preaching at a week long youth camp with Vince Greer's church.  I am getting to go with him to be with him and support him in that!  Nathanael is getting to stay with his Grammy for the week.  I am excited to get to go with Bryan but very very sad to leave Nathanael for this long.

Our new doctor's name is Justin Gayle.  He is very personable and is always willing to spend ample time answering any questions we have.  We had our 28 week doctor's appointment last week and Caleb is growing at the average rate that he should be.  He is extremely active, moving and kicking all the time.  

It has been difficult being big pregnant and keeping up with Nathanael.  Bryan has been such a huge help with Nate... I could not do it without him.

Hopefully this helps catch you all up...I will post some new pics in the next couple of days!  

Nathanael's First 1st Birthday

The reason I say Nathanael's First 1st Birthday Party is because this is his CA party with his friends and his Texas party is in a few weeks.

We had so much fun on Saturday celebrating the 1st birthday of our little miracle baby, Nathanael.  I honestly have a hard time believing that a year has gone by but it has!  We did a little fire truck theme party and invited a few of Nathanael's little friends. Katelynn, Hudson and the Norton kids all came to play and celebrate. We had yummy Subway sandwiches to eat and lots of playtime at the park.  It was forecasted to rain all day but it ended up being one of the most beautiful days we have seen yet in SoCal.  

By the time it was gift opening time Nathanael was exhausted and just crawled up in my lap and started sucking his thumb (which means please put me to bed!).  He got some rally fun toys that he has very much enjoyed playing with over these past couple of days.  We are thankful for great friends and the fun time that we had!

One of our high school students, Hailey, came and took pictures for us so that we could just enjoy the day.  She got some really good ones! Enjoy!

too cute to resist!

Mexican Meatballs

So I had no clue what I was going to make for dinner tonight all that I knew was that it was going to be something with ground beef.  I was talking to Lori on the phone and I asked her for ideas for dinner... one of the things she said was meatballs.  Bryan is not a huge fan of meatballs so I decided to change it up a little and make some Mexican meatballs.

I dug around in my refrigerator and found some different items that are used when cooking Mexican style meals.  So, I made Mexican Meatballs and boy did they come out yummy!  I have to share what I did with you.  All of these measurements are not exact so just do what looks good to you...

Mexican Meatballs

Preheat oven to  400 degrees.

1 pound of ground meat

handful of cilantro, chopped

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

1/4 onion finely chopped

1/4 bell pepper finely chopped

handful of bread crumbs

1 egg beaten

1 big handful of grated pepper jack cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and make good size meatballs.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.  Enjoy!

I served this with black beans (I added a tbls. or so of Rotel for a little kick) and rice.  Yummy!

Can I take a nap yet?

So, I was doing some things around the house this morning and Nathanael had gotten really quiet... you know what this means.  Usually, TROUBLE!  So I go looking for him and since are apartment is tiny it didn't take me long to find him. He was in his room and this is what he was doing....

My Preacher Man

Bryan preached yesterday in the High School department at Grace.  I wasn't able to stay for the whole thing b/c Nathanael wasn't feeling well but I heard he did an outstanding job! I am posting the link were you can download it and we can listen to it together.  Thanks for loving and praying for us!  

The Lord continues to bless!

www.gracechurch.org/ministries/audiodownloads.asp?ministry_id=4

Easter Sunday

Here are a few pictures from this morning.  Nathanael is such a handsome little man!  We had a great time celebrating the resurrection of Christ this morning!  Hopefully it is something that we are mindful of year round and not just on Easter Sunday.  Enjoy the pics!