Faces of the Field House

As most of you know, Matt started working at the FH at the beginning of January and ever since then it has been our mission to get to know the students. The FH is a great place with many great kids... there are just so many of them (Praise the Lord) that it makes this job a little harder, and at times, learning all their names impossible. But, Matt is doing an unbelievable job, and its a great thing the Lord has given him an unbelievable memory. :) During the last month or so, we have been having students over to our tiny, little apartment to play games and hang out. It has been so much fun and such a blessing to have students who want to give up their Friday night to hang out here. Its always so funny when they get here now, because all the boys know it has become their job to rearrange ALL our furniture. We have to move everything around just so we can play. :) We have taught the students MOW, our new favorite card game, and it has been a hit! Here are a few pictures of the kids who have come to hang with us...

(notice the kitchen table in the living room with every single chair we own around it :) haha.)

Getting to know all these great students has been such a blessing to us. Matt is doing an unbelievable job with all the students and has received numerous emails from parents explaining that he is just what the FH needed. I have been so proud of him and all he is doing at the FH. He is so gifted when it comes to working with high schoolers and does an awesome job of bringing the Word. Everyday I pray that the Lord would continue to give him favor with all the students, bless all he puts his hand too, and most importantly that people would see Jesus in him. That is what is most important and the purpose of why we are here, to see these high schoolers grab ahold of the Lord and experience all HE can do in and through their lives!

We feel so blessed to have this opportunity to be serving at such a great church and to share the love of Christ with these kids. Please continue to be praying for the FH, Matt's ministry to these high school students, and the search for a middle school pastor.

"He must become greater; I must become less." John 3:30

goodbye shaggy, hello hottie

shaggy and cute to...

short and sexy!!!

Love you baby!! You're lookin' so good :)

Hillbilly Heaven

Oh, the many characters that are my husband. And, now I get to enjoy Peter too. They were in heaven working on this together, just laughing and carefully counting out their steps. It was quite entertaining! We are excited to have Peter around with us... even if he does bring out the hillbilly in Matt. ok, ok, I admit... Matt would do this if Peter wasn't here!

Just working on a little Hillbilly dance...

Those teeth are just disgusting... But, those boys are pretty funny!!

bored and in love...

so, matt and i got a new computer and we are REALLY enjoying its new capabilities... saw this photo booth thing on a friends blog and thought we would try it out. so fun. we were a little late on our timing and couldn't figure out slowing the camera down, so some are blurry :)

we are a little bored on this sunday night... can you tell??

meet randy

meet Randy Raymond Ryans II... or Triple R. Also known as my husband. :) Randy has been Matt's alter-ego, if you will, for some time now. More to come on my first meeting... it was pretty memorable if you can imagine.

Randy meets Rhonda Routter, love at first sight.

Everyone has someone out there... even Randy.

Happy Valentines Day!!

i heart crafts

I love to be crafty - sewing, painting, and any do-it-yourself project. I never seem to like the same things for very long, so I am always changing things around. When I was a little girl, I would rearrange the furniture in my room a dozen times each year... I probably drove my parents crazy. Sorry mom and dad :) So, now that we have our own little love nest, I have been doing some changing. This is our sofa... it actually was my parents sofa when they first got married. This sofa will be 26 years old this August and has seen a lot of love. It was originally an awful brown zebra print (no offense mom), then my parents changed it to denim. When we got it, we changed it to black and white.... I went through a wierd "everything has to be black and white" stage during our first year - not so warm and inviting. So, I have now changed this lovely sofa once again. Added some pillows, covered it with cream and through in some fun patterned pillows... hoping to get more fun fabrics soon!

black and white to...

cream and blue!

(hoping to add touches of green and maybe brown... can I do that with a black frame??)
The patterned pillow is actually a scarf... a great idea I got from a DIY magazine
I monogrammed (actually just iron-on :) ) our shower curtain
I had a random canvas, so I had some fun! :)

If you are like me and love to experiment with your love nest, you should check out my new favorite website: www.younghouselove.com They are a sweet young married couple, expecting their first baby, and loving to decorate their new home enexpensively and with original DIY ideas!! Check them out and you will get some great ideas!!

beautiful, pure, white

beautiful, white snow is my favorite thing.... who would have known that moving to texas (and leaving my winter coat in st. louis) would mean seeing snow?? it has been cold here, but not too bad. But, that has not stopped this beautiful event... it has not stopped snowing all day long! I do not like the cold weather, but if it is snowing, I could care less what the weather is like... its just so beautiful. It always reminds me of the verse from Isaiah, "... though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (1:18). How great is our sweet Jesus who washes us clean? Following this verse is "If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land..." What a great promise. Lord, please give me a willing and obedient heart to your word and your working!

My favorite part is the trees... I love to see the snow draped over the trees and it is just the best when driving down a road that has trees making a snowy tunnel over the road :)

Thank you Lord for washing me clean. I know I am in need of a good scrub every once in a while, and to come forth as white as this beautiful snow! Keep it comin'!!

livin' on love...

so, today has been a strange day... I feel very pensive (probably because all I have done is sit around and do 4 loads of laundry and take a nap:) ). I have been sick lately, had a very wierd appetite and bored really, which could be the reason I'm sharing the events of my pensive, somewhat odd thinking from a lazy day. I normally don't like to just blog for the heck of blogging, but why not? Why not be real? So, here it is.

Today... I have thought a lot about love and marriage, money and marriage, financial stress, and how GOOD our God is. Love is such a funny thing, and I think I like it best when DC Talk said "LOVE is a VERB" (my husband would be really proud of me for that one). Love is a choice - daily, a decision to be shown and to be able to recieve and as I have thought today, I have had a broken heart and a grateful heart... thinking about a girl I didn't even know who was married a little before us and is now no longer married - heartbreak. What happened? Why? And even though its not even any of my business, I ask the Lord for comfort and healing. And, thinking about my wonderfully sweet husband who loves to play video games, dream of getting a second chance to be the high school basketball star, randomly dance and sing, eat chick-fil-a for every meal and yet does everything possible to bless and spoil me... Me a selfish, not-nice-all-the-time girl who is in desperate need of a Savior's saving. And I think, Why me? and Thank you Lord for the blessings! I have been blessed with an amazing husband who is a great listener and understand-er. All this and still LOVE is not enough... we still need our good, providing, loving, saving, redeeming God who carries us through all the financial stresses, selfish days, and wonderfully blessed days inbetween. Even when we are about to return our precious baby (the Macbook who we have affectionately named, Maci) because we need money to pay the bills, and even when I feel like some things are out of my control, well ALL things are, I am so grateful to have a Wonderful Savior, Mighty God, Almighty Provider of a God to trust and hope in. Praise be "to Him who is able to to immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glorly in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" Ephesians 4:20 Praise be to our good God, for HE is so good and HIS love lasts forever. I have realized that marriage is not about love, or how well and great and deeply you can love your mate, but about how deeply you can love our Lord and then out of the overflow of that, and only out of that overflow, can we love our mate.

Also, part of my thinking today, my sister-in-love, sweet Shelly was released from the hospital yesterday and will now be able to enjoy the rest of her bedresting days at home with her beautiful kids! wohoo!