Every year since 2009 Casey & I sit down around the end of the year and write down all of our blessings from the past year. It is always so neat to see how God blessed, provided, and proved faithful again--year after year. We both feel just a little bit better after writing down all of the blessings we encountered in 365 days. Some things are more personal or confidential, so they might not make the blog list, but there are still many to share with everyone!!
2013
Blessings
All 4 of us are healthy and well!
Lauren was able to stay at home with the children for another year
Casey was promoted to Campus Pastor at c|Life West Campus
Lauren graduated with her Masters of Science Counseling after 3 years of classes and internships
Lauren got a great internship at The Vale
Lauren was later offered a position on staff at The Vale upon graduation
Dayton turned 1 year old and had many friends and family
come to celebrate him
Casey & Lauren went on a free (highly discounted) 5
day cruise to Mexico (sans kids)
Lauren got a grant to pay for part of her last semester
Our Community Group has grown closer and provided us with
good friendships
Casey was able to go on a mission trip to Guatemala over
spring break
God continued to stretch our finances with small things
throughout the year like free meals, gifts of diapers, wipes, and formula, and
gifts of money and gift cards from unexpected people.
Sawyer needed another ear surgery and her great-grandparents offered to pay for it
Casey & Lauren were able to attend Catalyst for a
second year in a row
The new Momentum Service at the West Campus was started
and is going well
Lauren is able to bring the kids to Momentum on Wednesday
nights and lead a CG of 11th & 12th grade girls while
a volunteer babysitter watches the kids up at the church
Dayton was dedicated at church on April 7th
We found a babysitter we really trusted with a newborn and
2-year-old—Ashlee was able to watch the kids while Lauren worked in the summer
Sawyer was able to do a month of gymnastics in the summer
with her friend Avery
Sawyer was able to do swim lessons for another consecutive summer
Lauren, Sawyer, & Dayton were able to have many
playdates with their friends Kristin, Avery, & Ally in the early days of
Dayton’s life. This helped keep Lauren sane. ;)
Casey & Lauren were able to do pre-marriage counseling
with a couple for several weeks before Casey performed their wedding
So many people have contributed to babysitting our kids
when we really needed it: Casey parents, Casey’s grandmother, Lauren’s mom,
Lauren’s grandma, Ginni, & Natalie
Lauren’s best friend, Lauren Stevenson, was able to come
down to stay with her for a week when Casey was away on a mission trip
So many people brought us meals in January after Dayton
was first born
Lauren’s mom paid to have a housekeeper come to clean our
house once a month in 2013--man am I going to miss that!!!
2 great friends took some pictures of us and our kiddos
for free—Christie Harty & Ginni Rickerson!
c|Life d|Now had over 400 kids attend and many accepted Christ!
More kids than ever are attending Momentum & CGs and
many have accepted Christ!
Sawyer had a super fun 2nd Birthday Party and
Elmo made an appearance. It was a great time for her & her friends.
Casey turned 30 and we had a great surprise dinner for him
with good friends—so much fun!
Casey's parents, & grandparents as well as Lauren's parents & grandparents have babysat the kids many, many times so that we could be where we needed to be or have date nights!!
2013 was a very blessed year for us!
