CRAZY WEATHER

Yesterday was a beautiful day.. 70 degrees and sun shining! Around 10:30 last night, Kyle and I were getting ready for bed when all of the sudden it sounded like there were baseballs being thrown at our house from every direction! Poor Milo and Chief didn't know what to think about this, ha! We opened all the blinds so we could watch and sure enough there was hail bigger than golfballs coming down! The hail only lasted for about 15 minutes thankfully!! We were afraid we'd have some windows to replace if it had lasted any longer. Here is a pic of the hail... you know Kyle, Mr. Explorer, he had to go out and grab some! ;)

As you can see, the hail wasn't quite baseball sized, but a little larger than a golfball!

FIREPROOF "The Love Dare"

Kyle and I watched this movie Sunday night. Although the quality of this movie was not great (the acting was pretty awful actually), overall the movie was really good! The message was awesome and very inspiring. It's a movie about a young married couple on the brink of divorce. As this husband and wife are both at their wits end and about to call it quits, the husband's father challenges his son to a "love dare" that lasts 40 days. He gives him a journal with specific instructions on what to do each day. These "instructions" are all Biblical principals on how to treat your spouse and really just how to treat people in general by walking in love. The husband is not saved at the start of the movie and ends up surrendering his life to Christ about half way through this "love dare". I don't want to spoil the movie, but I think this is a great movie for everyone to watch. As I said before, it's certainly not oscar winning material, but it had me in tears by the end of the movie... I know I know, it doesn't take much to make me cry! Kyle got quite a kick out of looking over at me with mascara running down my face, as he often does when we watch movies together!! He enjoyed the movie as well and we both give it a two thumbs up for its uplifting message. Check it out the next time you're looking to have a movie night in, but to all you sensitive ladies out there.. make sure to keep some kleenexes handy!

PINK IMPACT 2009

This weekend was A-MAZING! Pink Impact is a women's conference put on every year by our church... Gateway Church in Southlake!

The theme of this year's conference was "and then..."
"In every life story, there are moments when the sky of our situation grows dark, ominous clouds of despair roll in, calamity appears certain and then God steps onto the stage of our story, the potential outcome is altered, the conclusion is changed, a new chapter begins. Throughout the ages, women have waited with anticipation for God to enter the arena of their circumstances. Today, the story continues.. the plot thickens… and we eagerly await our next “God-moment” to unfold."

The conference started Thursday night with a welcome party, then we began by worshiping with Kari Jobe who is such an amazing artist and worship leader. She is one of the associate worship pastors at our church and also just released a new album, self-titled Kari Jobe. This CD is being sold nationally and she has traveled internationally to share the gospel and the love of God through music. She is truly anointed and has such a beautiful heart to serve God, so needless to say worshiping with her is always absolutely incredible.

Click on Kari Jobe to get more info or to listen to some of her songs. Her music has been such a blessing to Kyle and me both! I encourage everyone who enjoys peaceful and uplifting music to grab one of her CD's!

Also on Thursday night we had the pleasure of listening to a message from our Senior Pastor, Robert Morris, who never fails to deliver something powerful and straight from the heart of God. On Friday, we were so priveleged to have Marilyn Hickey speak at the church! This woman walks with such authority and had a great deal of wisdom to share through her message. It was truly a blessing to have her... wherever she is, His presence is also!Friday evening we worshiped with Miriam Webster of Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia; yet another amazingly talented worship artist whose voice and energy I am positive touched the heart of every woman in the room as we praised God together!Next up, Holly Wagner was with us Friday evening as well as Saturday morning. Holly Wagner has a women's ministry in CA called "God Chicks". She had such an incredible amount of energy as she spoke about fighting the fight as women of God and standing strong in our faith. Her words were so full of life and she was a true inspiration!I ended this experience on Saturday for lunch at McAllisters with my good friend, Lucy! We chatted the afternoon away over a couple of "spud ole's" (humungo "Texas-sized" baked potatoes smothered in chilli, cheese, red onion and jalepeno)... mmmm, gotta love McAllisters! We of course solved all the problems of the world over lunch... like us women always do ;o)

Lucy, Heaven and I... Pink Impact Day 2

Again, I'll say this weekend was AMAZING! I definitely walked out of the conference feeling empowered and knowing the authority I have in Christ over the situations in my life! This was my first Pink Impact and I can say for sure that I'll be attending again in the future! The next one is in April 2010 and you can get details about the conference by clicking right here! So all you ladies in my life who don't live near, start planning your trip now!! :o)

FACES & PLACES (this post is super long!)

I thought I'd fill everyone in on what's been happening over the past year or so, since I've been procrastinating at starting this blog for so long now!

BEAUTIFUL NEW BABIES OF 2008

Jeff and Jen's handsome little man, Xander Allgood, was born on January 2nd, 2008!

XANDER'S 1st BIRTHDAY! January 2nd, 2009

CONGRATULATIONS to THE ALLGOOD FAMILY, who are expecting baby #2 this summer 2009!! We love you guys and can't wait to meet the next Allgood!Abbey Sky Contella, cousin Jen's sweet baby girl (whom I have not met) born in September 2008!

BJ and Lisa's princess, Miss Keegan Grace Gotte, was born on September 30, 2008!

Sophia Molina, Daniel and Lucy's 2nd little angel, was born on October 17, 2008!

Jedidiah, their 1st little miracle, turned 1 in August! (happiest baby you'll ever meet!)This family is such a huge blessing in our lives! God is so good for placing us next door to each other!! We love you guys!

Adam and Meredith's studly little man, Mr. Joseph Jon Taylor "JJ", was born on December 31, 2008!

Welcome to the world kiddos!!
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Our sweetie pie niece, Lucy Ellen, turned 3 in October!! Here's a picture she emailed to her Uncle Kyle for his birthday in November...

She's such a big girl!! :o)

MORE EXCITING NEWS!

Congrats to my big brother, Bill, and his beautiful wife, Ashley who were married in September! I now have a wonderful new sister-in-law and a precious niece, Eva Marie, who is 4 years old!They are such a beautiful family! We love you guys!! Here I am w/ the handsome GROOM...

Another congrats to our good friends, KJ and Mandy Bohn who were married on December 1st, 2008, an amazing couple who we love dearly!More congratulations to my dear, sweet friend who I love and miss so much, MISS KYLIE MAGEN MCGONIGAL and her new fiance, MR. KRIS BYMAN! Kylie and Kris will be married on August 22nd, 2009 in Omaha, Nebraska! We could not be more thrilled for this couple!

TRAVELS, VISITORS, etc.
In May, Dad, Mom (Fadell), Matty and Sailor all came for a visit! Then in the same month; Justin, Kari and Lucy came out! It was such a fun month... we love visitors!! We went to Lewisville Lake with the Fadell crew and played some sand volleyball! Then, while Justin and Kari were here, we took Lucy to the Fort Worth Zoo and had a great time despite the 100 degree Texas heat.. we also spent some time poolside with both families!!
Dad and Mom McClain also visited in 2008! We had a fun time with them relaxing around the house, Mom made some killer meatloaf and we did some shopping together too.. as usual!! ;)

Here we are at the Fort Worth Zoo!

In June, Kyle and I made a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks with the parents!! The six of us had such a wonderful time... we spent our days relaxing on the water and our evenings grilling out! We also hit up Randy's a couple times for some frozen custard (no surprise) and had dinner at the Horny Toad! We love and miss you all!!

In August, Kyle and I made a trip to San Diego, CA! We got to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma James, Uncle Mark, Aunt Shannon and their precious kids, Aunt Kristy and Jessica, Grandma Ancel, and also little sis Sailor and Mom Fadell were there! We got to see Uncle Tom, Aunt DeDe, Kyle and Danielle too! It was such a blast shopping and soaking up some California sun at the beach with family... if it weren't for Milo and Chief, we may never had come home! Kyle also spent time surfing with his Uncle Mark! One of the highlights from the trip was spending an entire day at Sea World with Mom Fadell, Grandpa James, Sailor and cousin Bailey. We all had so much fun going to the shows together then Kyle, Sailor and Bailey soaked themselves on all the water rides! We will never forget having frozen yogurt at Yogurtland every day and sometimes twice a day... best frozen yogurt on the planet! We also spent our two year wedding anniversary night in LA!! We stayed at Hotel Palomar where Lynae works... had a fabulous time with Lynae who was such a great tour guide, ha! Miss you friend!!

Here we are at breakfast w/ Mom, Grandpa and Grandma at a yummy French Bakery in San Diego!

At Sea World... Dinner w/ Lynae in LA!

Then, Lynae came to visit us on Halloween... we did what most grown ups who don't have kids do on Halloween... CARVED PUMPKINS!! ;o)Our final products...This holiday season was such a blessing getting to spend time back home with both the McClain and Fadell crews! Not only that, we all got to go to the MIAMI/KC game together in KC while we were home!

DAD (McClain) TURNS 60!!!!!!!!!! January 16, 2009

For Dad's 60th, Kyle and I drove home to help in throwing him a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY! It was such a fun evening and Dad truly was surprised!!

(pictures to come... somehow they are missing from my computer)

Welcome to the world of the Fadells in Texas!!

Since moving to Texas we aren't able see all of our wonderful family and friends from home as often as we'd like to, so we thought this would be a good way to keep everyone up to date on what's happening in our world! I should give you fair warning: "our world" is really not all that interesting... ;o)