Those of you who are from Savannah are familiar with Catalyst. It is a conference that Josh started and brought to Lexington as well. We hosted our first one at Immanuel Baptist Church in April, and it was a huge success. The theme was God of This City and how God wants to use us as instruments of change in the city of Lexington and in our schools and homes. Will Snipes was the speaker and used the stories of Daniel to illustrate how one teenager made such an impact in a very secular place. The band, Worth Dying For, led worship. On Sunday morning, the whole church got to experience what the students had been experiencing all week. Josh brought the message and Worth Dying For led worship. There were a lot of positive comments about the service and Josh was recognized for all the new changes he has brought to IBC in the first few months of being there. We are thankful to be at such a supportive church that recognizes the importance of youth ministry. Thank you to all of you who helped make Catalyst a success!

I stopped listening to my Daniel Bible Study session just to record my thoughts and feelings while they were fresh. This is only the second Beth Moore study I have done, and both have been life-altering and full of new spiritual insights. In the past few days I have been mourning the start of law school and what that will mean for my daily life. Now, that it is just around the corner, I have realized that soon my free time will be just a memory and the days of spontaneity will be few and far between. I love how God has a way of interrupting our pity parties and lovingly reminding us of his plans. That happened this morning while I was listening to my Daniel session. I had not gone to church this morning, partly because of not feeling good, but mostly out of self-pity and just wanting to lie around the house. I am thankful that God chose to show me a lesson anyway despite my disobedience.

In this particular session, Beth Moore was sharing how the devil will do anything to get us to live a life of selfishness and not sacrifice. Our culture breeds selfishness, and we have to be purposeful to live sacrificially as Christ called us to live. In Luke 9:23 he calls us to deny ourselves and take up our cross...and that anyone who loses his life for Christ's sake will save it. This message spoke directly to my heart because the last few days, I have been grieving over the loss of my selfishness! I have been upset that my sacrifices for law school will cost me things that I love. Beth Moore points out that unless it costs us something, it will not seem priceless. If law school was going to be easy, it wouldn't be meaningful. Unless I felt like I was giving up something, I would not value it. I have known deep in my heart for the last few months that going to law school is God's will for my life. That is not the question I have been asking myself over the last few days. Instead I have been thinking about all the ways it would make sense and be easier not to go. If I didn't go, I could get a full-time job and we wouldn't be racking up so much debt. We wouldn't have to wait to have kids. We wouldn't have to adjust our schedules and become more intentional about time management and the list goes on and on. What God reminded me of this morning is that if I buy into the culture of selfishness and about doing what is best for me, I WILL miss my calling! My calling is to go to law school in order to be the light of God in a very secular world. If we refuse to participate in sacrificial living, it will cost us our calling. God asks us to look past the inconveniences and the temporary loss of comfort in order for us live a life that means something, to live a life abundantly. Thank you, God, for interrupting my pity party this morning!

As many of you know, Kentucky is known for its horse-racing. While the Kentucky Derby is held at Churchhill Downs in Louisville, Lexington has its own racetrack--Keeneland. The racing season at Keeneland is during the month of April, so while Josh's parents were in town, we decided to go check it out. None of us had ever been to a horse race, and we all really enjoyed it. I am already looking forward to next year when we can go again!

Here are a few pictures of our day: .

I know it has been awhile since I have posted. We have been busy getting adjusted to life in Kentucky. Josh is enjoying his new job as Youth Pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church. He started a Sunday night service called The Underground, and we have been averaging more than 80 students a week! This weekend is our big Catalyst conference, and we are excited to see what God will do.

We are loving life in KY but are still waiting on our house in Savannah to sell. We won't feel completely settled until we have bought a house of our own here in Lexington. In the meantime, we are truly blessed to have been able to stay in a house owned by some members of Immanuel. It has allowed us not to have to worry about the added financial burden of paying a mortgage and rent. The house we are staying in is 25 minutes from the church and while the drive to work by horse farms is gorgeous, we are looking forward to being closer and being able to invite friends and kiddos over to our house. Please pray that we get an offer soon! Here is a picture of the incredibly nice house we have been living in for the past four months.

For those of you who don't know, Josh and I moved to Lexington, KY on December 22nd (yes, 3 days before Christmas). My parents and sister, Lauren, were kind enough to make the 3 1/2 hour drive up to help us get settled. Thank goodness for their help. The task went much quicker than expected. We were able to get everything moved in and headed to Nashville for Christmas on Tuesday, the 23rd.

Josh took a job as Pastor to Youth at Immanuel Baptist Church and will be starting on Jan. 4th. I will be working part-time at the day care at the church, and hopefully will be starting law school at UK in the fall. There are a lot of new things to look forward in 2009.

We will miss Savannah and all our friends there, but are confident that we are where God wants us and feel completely at peace about that. Please keep us updated about all of your happenings.

This past month I have have had the pleasure of catching up with four of my closest friends, three of which have babies or are pregnant! You would think that would give me the "itch" but fear not, I am "itch-free!" But I have LOVED seeing my old friends and their perfect little ones. About a month ago, I hosted a baby shower for my oldest and dearest friend, Lindsay. She and I have grown up together since birth and now she is getting ready to give birth! I still can't believe it. I loved being able to throw her a shower and thought I did a pretty good job, which is quite an accomplishment for me, since I am the opposite of Martha Stewart. She and her husband Rob are having a little girl in January. I'm praying for January 16, so she can share her birthday with "Aunt Ashley." For a present, I gave them a bunny rabbit that says "My First Bunny" on the chest. For those of you who don't know, I slept with my "Bunny" for 22 years before I had to trade him in for Josh. He has lost all his fur and color now, but I thought it was a perfect gift from me.

That night, my friend Laura and I went to have dinner with our friend Amy and her husband, Jon. They welcomed a sweet baby boy, Wyatt in September, and we were able to spend some time with their sweet family. They are great parents and it was fun to see them in that role. Amy and I ran track together in high school, and I have always known her as an MVP athlete, but she is also a great mother. And I have known Jon since middle school where he spilled chocolate milk on me:)

My final baby visit was the past weekend. Josh and I had gone to Carrollton, GA for the state cross-country meet, which is where my friend Ashley and her husband Joey live. I got to spend Saturday morning with Ashley and her new son, Jay. It was nice to sit and talk to Ashley about all the changes in her life and to see how happy she is to be a mom. I love seeing my friends as mothers, although it seems like just yesterday we were all getting married. I just hate that I live so far away from them and won't get to see them and their babies as often as I would like.