Manager of the KC Royals, Trey Hillman, Guest Speaker

Come on out to Anderson Mill Baptist Church this Sunday, February 1st, to hear Guest Speaker, Trey Hillman, Manager of the Kansas City Royals! He will be speaking in the 8:30am & 11:00am services...you won't want to miss it! Come hear Trey talk about his journey from the Minor Leagues to Japan and now to the Major Leagues as a baseball manager and how Jesus Christ changed his life! Guest blues/gospel artist, Danny Brooks, will be performing as well! All of this excitement will be followed by Family Open Gym from 2-4pm in the AMBC Gym. Bring the whole family to play volleyball, basketball, racquetball or use the indoor track/weight room for FREE! Hope to see you then!

Prayer Update

Praise the Lord! Leslie has regained full conciousness and will be released from the hospital sometime tonight! She has a severe concussion, Grade 3, which is the worst kind that you can have without suffering any lasting effects. Please pray for a full recovery and also that the family can get home safely, the roads are still in bad shape from the ice storm. I forgot to tell you previously that today is her birthday. Anderson was able to call and tell her 'Happy Birthday!' She started crying at the sound of his sweet little voice. Thank you SO much for the prayers! Praise God for his overwhelming grace!

Urgent Prayer

Please pray for Aaron's sister Leslie (or Aunt Weswie as Anderson calls her). She fell and hit her head on the ice while helping one of her students onto the bus after school. At that point the paramedic said she was awake but unresponsive. SW Missouri is under a severe ice storm so it took them 2-3 hours for the ambulance and Aaron's parents to get to the hospital located 20 minutes away. Upon arrival to the hospital, Leslie was responsive but in and out of consciousness. They are running tests and Aaron's parents are waiting to see her and hopefully get some answers. Please pray for healing for Leslie, peace for the family and wisdom for the doctors. I will update you as we get updates! Thanks!

Beautiful Bathing Babies...

I entered these 2 pictures of the boys into the Live with Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Search! You can go to this link to see the details of the contest! Be sure to watch the show every day during the week of March 9th because even if they are not in the finals, there is still a chance that their pictures could be displayed on the show or online in the Beautiful Baby Gallery! I know that the chances are highly unlikely since so many babies are entered
(not because they aren't cute enough:), but it is still fun to think that you might see their pictures on TV! These are pictures of them taking baths in the kitchen sink at the ranch the day after Christmas! We have pictures of all 3 of the grandsons taking a bath in the ranch kitchen sink...it's a new Vick family tradition of sorts...and usually where they take their baths when at the ranch, unless they take them in the ice chest! I know that my nephew Caleb's picture was entered into the contest too so look for him as well, although I don't know which picture was sent in for him!

Silly Anderson...

Sweet EJ...

Mystery Camp

The 4 of us went away to Mystery Camp this past weekend with the AMBC Student Ministry. It was exciting because the students had no idea where we were going, who the speaker was, who the band would be, what activities would take place, etc. They had to wait until we arrived Friday night to find out the details. All they knew was the time we would leave the church and the time we would return!

I had the privilege of leading the students in 2 team-building sessions during the weekend so Aaron and the boys decided to come along too! It was so much fun going away to camp as a family and it was the boys 1st camp experience! Now that the surprise is over, I can tell you what the weekend entailed:

We drove out to Camp Buckner in Burnet on Friday evening and I was very impressed with the facilities there! Our little family had our own lodge room which was top notch and the cafeteria food was very good for camp food! And believe me I should know! The speaker for the weekend was Chris, a youth minister in Burleson, who Scott used to work with before coming to AMBC. He did an excellent job discussing the theme for the weekend "Gifted," which was basically a focus on the fact that as Christians, we are all apart of the Body of Christ and have each been given spiritual gifts. The team-building sessions reinforced this theme. The band for the weekend was Look to the Sky from Abilene and they were excellent! I highly recommend them. We really enjoyed getting away and getting to know the students better and of course Anderson and EJ had a blast! They got to go down to the barn and see some goats, horses and a donkey. Anderson also enjoyed playing with the other adult leaders as well as Chris' kids, Carsyn, Drew and Reece. EJ loved the attention he received from the youth girls!

To close out the weekend, Look to the Sky performed in The Modern service at AMBC this morning! Again, excellent! Our family decided to sponsor a child through a group that the band is partnered with called Mission of Mercy. We let Anderson pick out which child he wanted and he chose a little girl from Honduras named Johana. We are going to use this project to teach the boys about giving and praying, so that this little girl and many others can not only have food, shelter, etc. but can also attend a school where they will get an education and more importantly, learn about Jesus!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Checking out the goats...

Playing with one of the balloons leftover from team-building...

Playing soccer with Reece...

Listening to the band with Randy...

All-Star Anderson

Aaron made this little video of Anderson as a test run for a new program he was trying out for church. The pictures are not recent but the video is cute and shows Anderson's love for sports. I call it Anderson's 1st Sports Highlight Video! Enjoy!

Tag You're It

Alane tagged me and here is what I have to do:

1. Choose the 4th folder where I store my pictures on the computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

So here is my picture:

This is my good looking husband striking a pose outside of the Alamo. We went to San Antonio this past summer for our 5 year anniversary trip. We had a blast and it was SO nice to get away and relax! I love you Aaron, thanks for 5 1/2 wonderful years of marriage and 2 beautiful boys!

Now I Tag:
1. Ashley A.
2. Karen F.
3. Misty R.
4. Lori W.

Have Fun!

Little Jumping Bean

Here is a video of EJ from yesterday (7 months old). He is jumping in his little seat for the 1st time. Enjoy!

Livin' On A Prayer...

It's been awhile since I posted because I have been sick AGAIN! We just keep passing it around over here at our house! Please pray that we can all get healthy and STAY that way for awhile! More importantly, please pray for my friend Melissa and her family because her father passed away early yesterday morning. The funeral is Saturday followed by her 30th birthday on Sunday. Also, please pray for my friend Becky who is due to have her baby any day now! Keep praying for my cousin Sissy and her family because her husband passed away right before the New Year. Finally, pray for my friend Ashley's brother Cameron, who has a MRSA staph infection in his leg. Pray that the Lord God Almighty will make his presence evident in a mighty way in all 4 of these situations and that He will bring peace, comfort and healing as needed! Thanks for the prayers! Let me know if there is anything I can pray about for you!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!

Philippians 4:6-7

I'll Do It Better In My Next 30 Years...

Well, we made it through our New Year's celebration...barely! Aaron has been sicky so he has pretty much been in bed for the last 2 days! We never did get things organized or our Christmas decorations put away but He did make it out of bed long enough for us to make it to our New Year's Eve party, where we enjoyed eating good food (too much!), fellowshipping with great friends, and playing Mexican Train and Wii, among other games! Thankfully the boys cooperated and went to sleep early at the party house so that we could stay up and enjoy the party. As soon as midnight hit, we toasted our sparkling cider, kissed and loaded up the car to go home...Aaron was wiped out and I am OLD now...you know, now that I have passed the 30 mark! Today we laid around the house watching TV. We watched everything from the Rose Parade, football bowl games, as well as What I Like About You and Friends Marathons! We never did watch any movies...too many other good things to watch on TV! Anderson also watched some of his own stuff on his TV...like Thomas, Bob the Builder, Baby Einstein, the Little Mermaid, etc! He likes to start up his own videos and then he is on the go while the video plays in the background...after awhile he gets bored and changes the video! His new favorite phrase is "Wanna do it myself" or "Wanna help myself!" Such a test of my patience...

So now that the celebrating is over, it is time for the resolutions...ok, I don't actually do resolutions because I would never stick to them...but here is a list of 9 things I plan to do more of in 2009:

1. Watch the Today Show (my new favorite TV show!) Along with that, watch more TCU Football and other TCU sports since I have missed so much in 2008 (Way to go 2008 Poinsettia Bowl Champions!) Don't want to neglect my Frogs!

2. Remodel the house as we get the time and money and do a better job of keeping up with the daily housekeeping!

3. Play Wii Fit (one of my favorite new Christmas gifts...to help me get in shape while the boys take naps!) and Increase Fit Camp difficulty (goal is to lose 20 more lbs and 2 more sizes!) Along with this is continuing my quest for eating healthy (less red meat, less fried food, less sweets, more fruits and veggies, less eating out, smaller portions, not eating late at night, less cokes, more water, etc) We've got to get back into the habit of cooking and eating at home...and for that matter, back into a daily routine of any kind...we have gotten out of the habit over the holidays!

4. Enjoy movie night with my hubby once a week (after the boys go to bed!)...since it is impossible to do date night once a week, this will give us more quality time together

5. Do more things that are unique to Austin and the Hill Country...there are so many fun things to do here...so as the boys get older, we can do more and more things together

6. Start a skincare regimen...I figure now that I am 30 I should start taking care of my skin...don't wanna start looking my age!...anything I do will be more than I have ever done, which is basically nothing besides the occasional wash and the even more rare moisturizer

7. Spend more time alone with God as well as more time to myself (which will include doing some reading, something I LOVE but NEVER get to do!)...when you are a 'stay at home' mom with 2 kids, it is hard to find any time alone...I told Aaron that for my next birthday, I just want some time to myself...I think I will rent a hotel room down the street and just get away...he just laughed at me as usual (He loves the drama that goes along with being married to me!)

8. Spend more time writing...I have SO many ideas and thoughts in my head...I need to write them down and clear some space in there! They have been building up over the years! And along with this, I plan to tell more people about Jesus...not just through my writing but through any opportunity that God gives me!

9. Practice patience...not my best quality, slow down, focus more on my boys and try not be be so stressed!

In closing, here is a song to help motivate us to stick to our 'resolutions' and start off the New Year on the right foot! It is called Hope Now, by Addison Road. Enjoy!