5 Years Ago

5 years ago today, I was preparing to go from Karlee Thompson to Karlee Webster. I remember waking up so excited for the day. I remember thinking to enjoy every second because it would soon be gone!

The day was perfect. Everything about it. I remember the first time I saw Aaron and thinking how handsome he looked. I remember thinking about how lucky I was that I got to spend the rest of my life with him! I remember thinking that this man was such a genuine, good, honest, godly man and that I knew he would love me every day of his life. And he has.

Our first five years of marriage have brought happiness, sadness, joy, frustration, anger, forgiveness, and a love I never knew possible. We have had 5 different jobs between us, lived in 3 houses, lived in 3 states, had two dogs, had a child, have been able to be a part of 2 amazing churches, gone on 3 mission trips (one to India!), been to 5 youth camps, traveled half way across the world together, seen each other at our best and our worst, prayed for each other, and much more! The Lord has been so good to us!

We have learned how to communicate better than ever before, love each other through hard times and bad times, and to have fun with each other every day! Our life is an adventure and we love having this adventure together! We have also been blessed with one amazing little boy, Brody! God has blessed us beyond belief with him.

I am so glad that Aaron choose me as his wife and that God placed him in my life. Aaron brings laughter, happiness, and joy to my life. I love you Aaron and happy 5 year anniversary!

Update on Webster Life

I have not been very good at keeping this thing updated on our life. I update Brody's blog monthly so I can always look back and see his changes every month. I thought I would update everyone a little on how the Webster's are doing.

We are happy and loving Bentonville! I'll be honest, when I first thought of moving to Arkansas I was not real up for it. However, Bentonville is totally different than you would expect and we have fallen in love with this town. The people here are some of the nicest people we have ever met. They have gone out of their way to make us feel welcomed and loved! We are so thankful and grateful for the people here and what they have done for us and what they mean to us now. We love the community feel that Bentonville has and getting involved in the community events.

We are enjoying the church as well. We have a great church family and a great youth group. We love working with the students and have loved getting to know them this past year. We have lots of fun stuff coming up with them that we are really excited about.

Brody goes to day care at the church and loves it. We are so blessed that he is able to go there. It gives me so much comfort knowing Aaron is just around the corner from him if he needs him. I am only a mile away at my job so that is nice too! The schools here are great and I am excited for Brody to be able to attend those schools when he gets old enough. We also love raising a child here. It is such a family friendly community and such a great place for Brody to grow up.

My job has gone well this year. It has been a very difficult year for me in this position but I have made it! The job this year just brought a lot of stress for a lot of different reasons. My position is changing next year so I am hoping my stress will decrease. I also hope to see whats out there for a stay at home job for after next year. We will see. I am trusting God and His plan and will for my life and see where that leads. I just feel lucky to have a job in Bentonville Public Schools. My principal was telling me yesterday that they have about 300 applicants per job posting. The fact that I got a job last year with that many applicants is astounding. There is no denying God provided this job for me and that just reaffirms His plan for us to be here. Even though I found out this year that all my loan forgiveness stuff was going to fall through and I wasnt going to get it, I still knew this was God's plan and that He would provide. Its a real bummer to be told you will get it and then right before your last year of teaching (you have to do 5 years of SPED and this is my 4th) be told you wont get it. However, we have been in the Lord's will these past 4 years of my teaching and so it is okay that I dont get it. I would rather be in God's will than anything else.

We have had some difficulties throughout this year but the Lord has seen us through them all and walked us through them. We had the loan forgiveness issue, I lost 3 family member within 6 weeks of each other and had to go back to Killeen a lot and miss many days of work, and we have had to restructure our finances. We are still trusting Him to show us some things for the future. We are in a rent house and want to buy. The rent market here is crazy expensive so it makes it hard to save up for a down payment. We have no idea what we are going to do. Our lease runs up in June and so we are looking at our options. We likely wont be able to buy because of the down payment so we will have to find a new rent house or stay where we are. It is not what we want to do at all but we arent worried. We know that the Lord will open the door for us and show us what we need to do. We feel confident that the Lord brought us to Bentonville so we are confident He will take care of us and provide. Even though we don't know how yet, we know He will.

It is crazy to think that it has been 1 year since we ventured to Bentonville for our interview with the church. We didn't know what would happen or what this year would bring. We feel so blessed to be in this community and at this church. We are thankful that God called us here and we love being here and serving Him in ministry here. We don't know what the future will bring our way but we are excited for it! We cant wait for many more years of ministry here in Bentonville!

I hope you all have a great summer! Mine starts in a week so I am pumped!!!!

God bless,
Karlee

2013 - New Years Resolution??

Its 2013!!! How in the world have we made it 2013. I remember when it went from 1999 to 2000 and I thought "Wow. It 2000. I cant imagine when we get to 2010." Now its 2013!

So last year I made New Years Resolutions. You can read them here if you want to see what they were. I was going to update monthly and updated 1 time. Ha! So much for doing that. So Ill update on how I did now.

1) Get closer to God! This is the most important to me! I do feel like I got closer to God this year. I have learned to trust more and worry less. Still working on it - but better!
2) Read the whole Bible. I have tried doing this several times but have not succeeded - I hope to this year! Sadly, I did not accomplish this. I am really disappointed in myself. I am going to try again!
3) Go on 1 date a month with my husband and be intentional about growing our relationship. We did really well with this this year and did it monthly! I hope to keep this up. Love that time with him!
4) Run a 5K without stopping - I am doing Couch to 5K to try and accomplish this! Nope - thats all Im going to say about this one.
5) Get more organized and stay organized!!! I feel like I have always been somewhat organized.  Since Brody has come we just have so MUCH stuff. I want to get rid of a lot and declutter and organize. I mean like labeled tubs the works! This will be a slow work in progress but I will get there! I have gotten better at this but still working on organizing. It is a work in progress! :)
6) Lose the last 7-9 pounds of baby weight. This is hard since I am breastfeeding but I hope to! I have lost all but 3 pounds of baby weight. Now, either my scale is wrong or Arkansas makes me a few pounds heavier :). Every time I go home to Killeen I am a few pounds lighter in like 12 hours - I know thats not possible haha.
7) Encourage at least 1 person a week. I have dont pretty well with this. I hope to keep doing it and get better!!
8) Send more mail. Fail
9) Save as much money as possible! Working on it. With the move and new salaries expenses etc its been harder but we are trying!!!
10) Read 10 books. I usually read 4-5, so I am doubling it this year! I did ok. I think i read 6-7.
11) Be more open and honest about my feelings. I tend to keep them to myself sometimes. I have done much better. Too much sometimes.
12) Pray more and listen more when I pray!!! I am more! I can still do more and am working on that!!
13) Worry less! Better - but I still want to improve!
14) Keep track of Brody's growth and changes in pictures. I feel like I have done this well.
15) Journal to Brody more. I journaled alot to him via his blog but not as much in his journal. I want to more in his journal this year!

Well, there you have it. My 2012 resolutions disected! So what are my resolutions this year?!

I am not officially setting any. I feel like setting them but this extra pressure on me and therefore I tend to not do it. I am setting to live out a healthy, spiritual, fun filled year with lots of treasured time with friends and family. A lot of goals will fall into place if I do this. For example, worry less and read my Bible in a year. If I am living a deeply spiritual life I will want to read my Bible more and trust God more and worry less. See, just falls into place. :)

 I am excited for this year and to see what God has in store for me! Anyone want to share their resolutions this year?!

Kar

Stuck in the truck!

Yesterday I had one of the scariest moments of my life. It went a little something like this.

I was looking for my external hard drive in the house and couldnt find it. I decided to go look in the truck. Brody was playing and walking around and when I started to head out he wanted to go with me. So I picked him up and we headed out to Aaron's truck. I unlocked the car and Brody grabbed the keys to play with them. He does this all the time so I didnt thing anything about it. I opened the front door and set him in the seat so I could look all around the front for it. I didnt see it so decided to check in the back. So before I opened the back door I closed the front door and just let Brody continue sitting in the front while I checked quickly. I didnt want him to fall out so that is why I closed the front door. He still had the keys. As I am looking in the back, I hear a click of the door but it didnt register that Brody could have hit lock instead of unlock. So I finish looking in the back seat and close the back door. As soon as the door closed, panic sunk in as I thought, what if he locked it? As I go to open the front door I realize he did.

Now at first he was just sitting there playing with the keys happy. So I was not too scared yet. I was trying to tell him to keep pushing the buttons (as much as a 14 month old can understand that through a window) hoping he might hit the unlock. Well he did keep pushing them, but he pushed the alarm button. So I run inside and get Aaron quickly. He comes out and just kind of stands there like what do we do. Brody is still holding the keys so Aaron goes to the driver side and I stay at the passenger side. We keep saying "Play with the keys Brody, hit the button." His thumb was literally ON THE UNLOCK! But he other thumb was on the lock button and that is the one he kept pushing. We were ready to open the door super quick if he hit unlock. After about 5 or so minutes of this he drops the keys between the door and seat. I tell Aaron to go get a hanger and try to unlock it. I go grab my phone and call AAA.

Now I am just trying to keep Brody's attention as he is in the front seat. I start to freak out just a little here. I start thinking that my baby is going to be stuck in there a while and get hurt somehow. I turn away and hear Aaron start banging on the window and yelling "NO, NO, NO, NO" to Brody. Brody is trying to eat some pennies he found on Aaron console. PANIC!!! I just start crying and saying "He's going to choke! He's going to choke!". I tell Aaron, "Break the window!!!" He says I cant. I run into the garage crying and looking for something to break the window. Then I hear Aaron say, "He put them down!" Let me just say - you have never felt panic before until you think your child is about to be in serious danger. All I could think was, he is going to put that penny in his mouth and choke and I wont be able to get to him quick enough. Sheer panic! I really thought he might choke to death if we could not keep his mind off those pennies. Then I hear "NO, NO, NO, NO" again from Aaron. He has picked the pennies up again.

Meanwhile, I have gotten AAA and they say they will be there in 20 min or less. I think the person heard the panic in my voice when I told them my son was locked in the car because they said they would send the closest next available person over.

Crying I come over to the window and just start talking to Brody and trying to get his attention. He is screaming now. I think Aaron banging on the window and yelling scared him. BUT I am glad it did because he dropped the penny and became focused on us. He was scared and wanted us to pick him up. Then, he started getting close to the seat edge. Now, I think he is going to fall off the seat and hurt himself and I cannot get to him. Not as scary as the pennies but still scary. So I start playing peek-a-boo with him towards the back of the window. Since he is still standing I think that maybe he will slide towards the back of the seat to try and reach me and I am toward the back of the seat. It worked! Now he is just screaming, but ok standing and not about to fall off. He is pressing his face against the window smoothering it with tears and snot.

Then my mom text me and says Pop-A-Lock unlocks for free if a child is stuck. So I call them and ask how quick they can get there and they say about 10 min. I just want him out so I say ok send them. AAA was taking too long for me. Brody has been in there about 20 min by this point. As soon as I hang up AAA calls and says we are 3 miles away. We will be there in 5 min. So I call P-A-L back and say we didnt need them anymore. They AAA got there in about 5 min (seems like 30) and got him out in about 1 min. All I wanted to do was pick Brody up and hold him when we got it unlocked. He was in there about 25 total min.

Let me say, Aaron did a great job through it all! He remained calm when I did not and distracted Brody very well when I was crying and looking for something to plung through his truck window. So thankful for him and how he handled it all!!

It was a scary adventure for us! Not one I enjoyed. But I remember just praying "Lord protect him, protect him, protect him." I know the Lord heard me and distracted him from those pennies and kept him safe. I am so thankful! I held Brody a little tighter and kissed him a little more last night. Something I should do anyway.

So take note: Dont close any doors of your car if your child is in there and playing with the keys, or just dont let your kids play with keys. It was not something I thought about at all. It seems like common sense, but playing with car keys seems harmless as well. Just be cautious of the situation.

1 Peter 5:7 " Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." NLT

Karlee

Routines

Well we have been in Bentonville a little over 3 months now. I can say the Webster's are in a "routine" or a schedule now. Monday - Friday our house is rising by 5:45 am (well I am at least :) Aaron about 6:30 and Brody about 7), we get ready and all head out the door by 7:40 am. Aaron and I trade off who take Brody to school. I always do on Fridays but during the week I like to do it some days too! I dont have too because Aaron goes to church anyway (Brody's daycare is at the church) but I enjoy dropping him off. Aaron picks Brody up at 2 and has about 2 hours with B man until I get home. I get home about 4. We all play for about an hour. I start dinner around 5, 515 and we eat. We may take a walk or ride our bikes after. Bath time is about 645. More play time until about 730. Then its bottle and relax time and Brody goes down by about 8 pm. Then Aaron and I have some down time for just us. I am usually asleep by 930 :) What, I get up early?!? We have a schedule/routine that we do daily.

As I think about how much of a routine we are in and how much we do the same thing over and over, I think about my relationship with God. Do I put God into my routine of my life? Just fit him in when I have time? Do I have a "routine" relationship with Him? Do I say the same prayers and read the same scriptures often? Do I pray from 6:40 - 6:50 every morning because thats my "prayer time"?

Now, dont get me wrong, I think routines are good. I think it is good to have a set time that you spend with God. But routines/schedules can limit. I think sometimes it is good to allow yourself to do new things in your relationship with God. Pray for more time than you have set out for your daily time with him. Read more Scripture than you normally do. Challenge yourself. That is what I have been doing. Challenging myself to pray deeper. Pray more often, even if its not when I normally do it in my daily "routine" or schedule. And not routine, surface level prayers. Deep prayers. That come from the pit of me. I am challenging myself to dig in the Word more often. Every time I get a chance, even if its just one Scripture. It helps me grow. No its not in my daily "routine" but thats ok. Spontaneity  with Jesus is fun! He shows you things you may not would have seen had you not gotten out of your "routine". He calls us to pray without ceasing. Even if we dont "schedule" for it. He will honor your time with Him. He wants you to spend more time with Him getting to know Him. He wants to be your best friend. Take that time you spend on facebook/twitter/etc. and give God some of that time.

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 "Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do."

 

Its all happening.....

Do you ever feel like life is happening so fast?? I do. Lots of things have been happening in our life lately.

• Brody turned 1: How in the world do I have a 1 year old?? Seems like yesterday I was finding out I was pregnant!

I am so thankful for a healthy, happy, baby boy that I have had the pleasure of raising for the last year. I hope and pray I am a good example for him and that he wants to follow in my footsteps.

I am so thankful for my parents and their example and I hope I am 1/2 the parents they were to me.

• We moved!! We really did love Houston. But we LOVE Bentonville. I was a little skeptical about a smaller town, but it is so much nicer to get to places within 10 minutes without I-10, 610, I 45, etc. 

• We both started jobs. We both really like our jobs and are both very thankful for them. People in both our workplaces are so nice. 

• Brody started daily daycare. He is doing just wonderful! He plays well, feeds himself lunch, puts himself down for  nap, and the teachers are loving him. Couldnt be more thankful!

• Attending a new church -we love our new church and church people. They are so nice and welcoming. We have already fallen in love with them. 

The Lord has truly blessed us. We have made an easy and smooth transition and we just praise Him!!

A New Life

Well life has been crazy since the last post. Here is a little recap of the Webster Life the past few months!

My last post, I posted about Senior Sunday coming up. The next weekend after Senior Sunday, Aaron, Brody, and I headed to Bentonville, AR to interview for the youth pastor position at Bentonville Church of the Nazarene. This was an interview we had bathed in prayer.

It was a good weekend. It was very busy. We liked the town and the people were very nice. Aaron was fairly certain by the time we left that we needed to come to Bentonville to start ministry here. I, on the other hand, was a little unsure. The town was small, I would have to leave the students that I adore and have built great relationships with, leave friends in Houston, leave my job, etc. But as I prayed the Lord showed me that these were all excuses about ME and MY insecurities. None of them were about God and Him not wanting us to come - but about me being nervous. After a lot of prayer, I felt the same peace as Aaron that we needed to come to Bentonville.

The next Sunday we told the church and our students, one of the hardest things we have had to do! I think it came as a shock to many and not a lot was said that day.

School ended and we headed to camp! Camp was a great week!! It was also one of the hardest weeks I have had in a while. It was really hard going through it knowing it was our last with TSM students. Many tears were shed and that week Aaron and I both "let go".

After getting back from camp, the next week was spent packing the house up. Boy do we have alot of "stuff". I tried to get rid of lots of things! I still feel like I have so much. My mom came that week and helped a lot! My dad came at the end of the week and it was great spending time with him. This week I also had a job interview and got a job at Lincoln Junior High over a phone interview. Totally a God thing!! For every job, there are 200 applicants. I am so blessed to have this job!! Thank you Lord for providing! We also had a wonderful going away party! Thanks to all who helped make that possible and who came!

Then we headed to Jacksonville, FL for a family vacation, just the 3 of us. Thanks Kayce for letting us stay with you!! We did a lot of relaxation and much needed recouping!! After a week in FL we headed home!!

We got home and got in full swing of finishing packing and cleaning. We packed our truck up Monday June 25th and went to Dallas that night. Thanks to all who helped!! You made it so much quicker! We arrived in Bentonville the afternoon of June 26th. We moved in June 27th. Thanks for all the help - it was done in 1 hour!!! With the help of Aaron's parents, our house was set up by June 29th!! And Kourt, Nat, and Lisa stopped by on Saturday along with Jared and that was just great!

We have been in Bentonville a little over a week now and already have fallen in love with this town. It is much smaller than Houston but that is a good thing! :) You can get practically anywhere in 15 minutes TOPS! The people here are so NICE!! We have said over and over we just cannot get over how nice people are here. For instance, at the fireworks show last night we met a couple. After 1 hour of talking they gave us their number, said drop by to swim anytime, and if we ever need dinner just call and say we are on the way and they will have dinner ready when we get there. Really? Who are these people?? :) The people are just awesome and the community feeling is so great! Now, dont get me wrong. We loved the people in Houston!!! We just really like the atmosphere here!

The Lord has confirmed to us many times that we are right were He wants us!! We feel confident we made the right decision in our move. Although it was SUPER difficult to leave the people in Houston, we know we followed the Lord and that offers a peace that cannot be compared or given any other way than through Jesus! We are SO excited to be in Bentonville and get to know the people here and see what the Lord will do through us here!

Well thats a recap of our life!! Enjoy!

Karlee