to the mothers in my life.

To my mothers,

I have been thinking about the mother I want to be for Zoey and her future siblings. I started to think about all the women that have had an influence on me becoming who I am today and became overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with a sense of joy, thankfulness, and the urge to share the impact you’ve made.

You have taught me to mother.

You have taught me to nourish.

You have taught me to influence.

You have taught me to encourage.

You have taught me to advocate.

You have taught me to embrace, accept, relate.

You have taught me to listen.

You have taught me to forgive.

You have taught me to understand, endure, persevere.

You have taught me to be generous.

You have taught me to be humble.

You have taught me to be authentic.

You have taught me to be faithful.

You have taught me to be honest, transparent, real.

You have taught me to love.

So thank you mothers of my life. You have made a huge and lasting impact. I am forever grateful for the blessings you have been to me! 

-kaylee

What we are up to in 2012!

NEWS #1: If you haven't heard yet, we are expecting our first baby in October! We are thrilled to become parents! The pregnancy has been pretty good and our baby is developing wonderfully! Our next ultrasound is May 1st and we will (hopefully) find out if we are having a boy or a girl! They tried to get a sneak peek at the 14 week ultrasound but baby Falkner was moving around too much to get a clear shot! Looks like we have a little athlete on our hands! If you take a look at the ultrasound, by the belly, you can see a hand waving! 

NEWS #2: Our next exciting news is that we are moving to Australia. That's right. We are moving to Australia May 5th! We are so excited to transition into this next phase of life that God has in store for us! We have enjoyed our time in Arizona, but you can't beat living on the beaches of Australia. We are literally selling everything we have besides 2 suitcases of our favorite things and hopping on a plane.

When we tell people, half of them think we are doing something exciting and half of them think we are being totally crazy! My heart is filled with a whirlwind of emotions as we prepare to leave in 2 weeks. I am overjoyed and excited for the adventure, but my heart aches to leave my family and some of the amazing people in my life here. We have God, we have each other, and we have family and friends that love and support us no matter what. And that makes a world of a difference when your moving across the world. 

-kaylee (aka.. mother falkner haha)

The Big Apple

Our trip to NYC in August was very fun. It was great to see some of Scotty's oldest friends. We stayed at the historical Jane Hotel in west village. While we had a blast and made some memories, for me it was a definite culture shock. Everything from walking around Greenwich Village being submerged into a part of the city where "The Village People" are from (think YMCA), to walking the streets of the Upper East Side and the shopping on 5th ave. However, no matter what part of Manhattan we were in, there were numerous amounts of homeless people, which was heart breaking. It was so hard to try and enjoy my vacation when every 2 minutes we would pass someone begging for money.

Ironically, on the plane ride there I read "When Helping Hurts" and Scotty had just finished "Generous Justice". Both books about our social responsibility as Christians to the hurting, poor, and marginalized.
It was a challenge to find our responsibility to these people while we were there. Where does one draw the line from "loving thy neighbor as oneself" and trying to avoid positively reinforcing their dependency? It was a huge struggle for me, but Scotty kept repeating Tim Kellers words, "if one is to err, better to err on the side of generosity". These words have continued to run through my mind as I try to learn more about my individual role with social justice and responsibility as a follower of Christ.

Matthew 25: 45 "Truly I tell you, Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."



Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity - Hosanna 



Love God and love His people. Amen.

Honeymoonin'

Here are a few pictures of the us moonin' in Kauai. The island is absolutely beautiful! We had a lot of beach days and lazy days just relaxing an recovering from wedding planning and graduation craziness!

One of the days we hiked through the famous Na'pali coast to a gorgeous waterfall. It was more than 100 feet high! The hike was pretty gnarly, and we were so not prepared! (especially since I accidentally left the sack lunches on the counter)! It was totally worth it though!