Turning A New Leaf

Well, it has been a while since I have posted to this blog. Mainly because I graduated and was no longer able to participate in Art in the Park.. which was what I made the blog for! But Now that I am in a new stage of life, I have decided to continue my blogging journey & make it applicable to where I am now.

So a lot has happened since my last post.. I got married to the most wonderful man in the world.

About 5 months later, we got PREGNANT! So, as you can see, we aren't wasting any time!

SO anyways, I figured I would blog about just that- My pregnancy journey! So here I go!

I am 20 weeks pregnant- woohoo half way there! We are having a little girl and we are naming her after our great grandmothers- Evelyn Grace, but we will call her Evie!! She is due on Kerr's birthday, September 7th! He really doesn't want her to come on his birthday though because he says he just isn't ready to give up his birthday! No tea party birthday parties for him! We'll see what happens!! :)

Yours Truly,

Julie

Yogurtland Anyone?!

This week was so much fun! We took some of the kids to Yogurtland and ate as much yogurt as we possibly could! We just hung out and had a good time together! Abe beat everyone with a whopping 15 ounces of yogurt... and he was the youngest!!

We have also figured out what we are going to do for Art in the Park! We found out that so many of the families moved out of the neighborhood because the landlord was swindling money from the government, so any of the families that were living there with government assistance were forced to leave. That was so sad to hear, and I hope that they all found somewhere else to live and are doing well.

So.. Austin had a great idea! There is a little house on a street pretty close to where we live that has 10 little kids living in it with their grandma that he knew about.. so we went and talked to her about having them join Art in the Park and she said that it sounded great and to pick them up Thursday! We are so excited to add on to our Art in the Park family! Can't wait until next week!!

Nehemiah 6:9 "They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed." But I prayed, "Now strengthen my hands."

Beads & Bieber

Allie with the girls and their Valentines

Calissa showin' us what she's made of!

This week was kind of sad... We got to Art in the Park and another group of College Kids-- Youth Impact came and picked up a big group of the kids. They had no idea that we did Art in the Park with the kids, so I talked to them and they are going to try to work out another day to do their thing. It was just kind of sad, because last week so many of the kids moved away, and this week someone else came to do pretty much the same thing that we do. But we made the best of it and hung out with the kids that were still there... we decorated cooked, made valentines, jammed out to Justin Bieber and made bracelets. 

We had an all girls Art in the Park and it was fun to have some girl time! Allie was so sweet and stayed late with me to hang out with the girls a little longer after the others left!It was so fun to have her at Art in the Park and the girls just loved her! They were all making her Valentine cards and bracelets!! I have the best roommates... it is unbelievable! God is good & everything is going to work out with Art in the Park. We just need to trust in Him to take the reigns and be OK with what he chooses.

2 Samuel 7:28 Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.

Beading!

The little sweetie that i babysit-- Sam, got to come to Art in the Park today!! it was definitely different this week. So many of the kids that we were so close to moved away :( Damiya, Mercedes, Devante, Adrian, Clarissa, Calissa... and a few more no longer live in the neighborhood. It broke my heart, but I know that God has his hand in this and everything will turn around in due time. Although there were only a few kids last week, we are going to stay with the kids in this neighborhood and wait for God to reveal his plan. Please be praying for Art in the Park- all of the incredible volunteers, and all of the sweet children that are involved. We are so blessed.

Christmas Cookie Time!

I got the pleasure of spending this beautiful day with my girl Damiya! We went to HEB and picked out our supplies to make CHRISTMAS COOKIES!! She picked out jelly beans, sour gummy worms, red hots, m&m's, and skittles!! I have to admit, they were unlike any other Christmas cookies that I have ever made! We had so much fun making the cookies and decorating them together! She kept saying "This is going to be a good day, you got me a princess kit and we get to make cookies!" When I took her back to the neighborhood, she was so excited to show all of her friends the cookies she made and shared them with everyone! She is so precious and has such a joyful heart! I always love hanging out with little D!

Showing off our cookies!

Her princess shoes and crown that I got her for Christmas!

Lookin' Good!

Merry Christmas from Art in the Park!!

Today was the last Art in the Park before Christmas break, so we had a Christmas party! We made a BIG christmas tree and all decorated ornaments and filled the tree with our creations! We had such a fun time decorating the tree, and took a family christmas picture when we were all done! As a surprise, we had put together little christmas goodie bags for the kids and handed them out at the end! We also got all the kids GIANT Christmas canes! They loved them, and it was fun to kick off the Christmas cheer with Art in the Park!

Luke 2:11  "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord."

What A Treat!!

This week, Spoons Yogurt gave Art in the Park free yogurt!! So, for the art project, we took the kids to the park before we went to Spoons and had them all make thank you cards for Spoons to celebrate thanksgiving! I brought a bunch of scrapbook paper, stick on letters, and pictures of the kids and let them make get creative with their cards! They all did a wonderful job, and the cards looked great! Then we took them to spoons and they got to get their yogurt and give the employees a thank you card! It was such a fun week!!!