It's Summertime again :)

Hello All!

I promised a recent post and here it is! Since my last post a few things have changed in the Skeen home :)

First, we've celebrated our First Year of Marriage! God has been so gracious and faithful to us in this first year! We've learned so many things about ourselves, each other, and we've seen God's faithfulness in new and deeper ways! To celebrate our anniversary, we went to San Antonio for a week. We spent time on the Riverwalk, we drove into the Texas hill country, we went and saw the new Pirates movie (thoughts?), and....we shopped! We completely finished our Christmas shopping (well...almost). It's the most ahead I've ever been when it comes to Christmas gifts - we're thrilled :)

Our time in San Antonio was refreshing. We were able to focus on time alone with the Lord and just to recharge and focus on each other. Such a wonderful gift of time the Lord gave us down there. While we were there, we happened

upon this amazing restaraunt: The Guenther House. The Guenther house is actually built inside (and outside) the preserved old house of the family who started the Pioneer Flour mill. It was so neat to learn about a piece of history I didn't know about before (I'm the huge histo

ry buff in our family....thank you, Drs. Kubricht and Johnson for inspiring my love for history :). Not only

was the history neat, but the food was INCREDIBLE!!!! I think we took more pictures of our plates than we did of ourselves :) Here are a few pictures from our trip as a whole:

We went to Gruene and Wimberley, Tx, in the hill country and we definitely enjoyed the food out there as well.....can you sense a primary theme of our trip....yum!

Another major change in our home is that I have stopped working in the Admissions Office at LeTourneau. This was a prayerful decision that was a long time coming. My time in Admissions was so valuable. In many ways, God used my time there to teach me a lot about what team work looks like and how to be a team player. He also taught me a lot about myself - how much I need Him in every task and situation, especially when I'm working in a roll I am not naturally inclined toward. Also during my employment there, God taught me a lot about reliance upon Him for grace and for strength to get through challenging times. He really taught me how to value my home and husband even more. As time passed, Michael and I really noticed how the stress of that particular position wore on me health-wise and prevented me from caring for my home and my husband and keeping those as greater priorities than work. We had several conversations and seasons of prayer and we sought God's Will and direction in this. Finally, we knew it was time for me to look for something less time consuming and straining. We began to pray for God's provision. Within a week of beginning applications I had an interview lined up with a sweet Christian family here in Longview. They had just recently moved to the area and they were looking for someone to nanny their little baby. We interview with them and enjoyed that time of fellowship immensely! They offered me the job a few days later and we accepted! God worked out all of the details of this situation so wonderfully! He humbled me with his provision and timing! I finished my time at LeTourneau, went on vacation, then came back and began nannying. So thankful for the needed change. I'm enjoying nannying very much! I've already been stretched in new ways and I see God using this new situation to teach me more about who He is and how He's created me to have a need for Him, in small and big ways! So thankful for His grace and presence.

Those are the biggest changes in our home at this point. Life continues on as normal and I find new joy, each day, in having my time with the Lord and in serving my husband. Speaking of Michael, he came home the other day with a story that humbled me incredibly and taught me to admire and respect the man of Christ that Michael truly is.

A few days ago, Michael came home a bit later than normal. When he did, he told me this story: He had been driving home when he noticed a man on the side of the road walking in the heat with a gas can. God really convicted Michael's heart to help this man, so Michael turned around and asked if he needed a ride to a gas station. His car had broken down and he had pushed it out of traffic all by himself and was walking to try and get gas. The man accepted Michael's offer and got in the car. (PS - This is not like us, to pick up a stranger on the side of the road - when I heard Michael share that he did this, I was shocked! He is all about safety and caution. I knew that God's Spirit was really leading Michael in this for his to have been willing to do something so out of the ordinary). During their ride back from the station to the man's car, Michael started talking to him about Christ. He ended up talking about how so many people claim Christianity, but it's really a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that means something. The man shared with Michael that he knows the Lord and wants to follow Him. Before he got out of the car, Michael prayed with this man. With this complete stranger! My husband prayed that he would draw close to God and lean on him for strength and grace. The man got out, thanked Michael for his help, and was gone. By the end of Michael's story I was in tears. His humility and willingness to obey God's Spirit to help someone in need was humbling enough, but his gentle boldness to talk about Christ and pray with this man threw me over the edge! I was so proud of my husband for his obedience to the Lord and for his boldness for the gospel. Such an example!

On another Michael-note, he's doing well! He keeps busy at work. He's also begun to set new, more challenging goals for himself at work to improve his understanding of other areas of the company. I'm so proud of his willingness to work hard. He is such a wonderful provider and leader in our home :)

I recently became a busy-bee and created a little garden, of sorts. I've been really wanted to pot some plants to have outside our front door. This past week, I went ahead and bought some flowers to pot. They've been doing really well. I water then every day and they just bloom and bloom. I'm so thankful!

Well....that's about all we have for now. We're heading home to Granbury this weekend to spend some time with family and with my dearest childhood friend, Jenny, who is coming in for a visit :) Hopefully my posts will be more frequent and regular!

May the Peace of Christ richly dwell within you,

Michael and Katie