Picnic with the Partains and Cook out with the Canhams

We celebrated the 4th with our friends in Lolo.  I love how Cooper is pulling up his shorts just in case the puddle reaches them.  

Then we went to the Canhams were they were very festive.  I love the Canhams and will really miss them.  At night we enjoyed fire works from the Stewarts/Williams deck.  

We also did two amazing hikes this weekend which I will post after I take a nap!

Pictures to PUMP you up

Here is the start of our trip. We took the kids to Multanomah falls.  Its so beautiful even with 5 million people there.  

There is also some shots of our decorations.We taught about endurance so we have a man running around the world.  

The last one is of Katelyn wearing the armor of God.  She is the cutest kid...she reminds me of my sister when she was little.

More to come...

We've been PUMPed!

Nathan and i just returned from a week long mission trip in Portland.  We took our youth group to PUMP...Portland Urban Ministry Project.  The kids experienced more new things in a week than they have in a life time.  I feel like they exceeded my expectations of working hard on this trip.  The teens did an amazing job of jumping right in and making the most of every opportunity.

For me this trip was so refreshing.  It seems like we were constantly around people who all shared the same goal.  They all wanted to be better in their spiritual lives.  They were all passionate about Jesus and wanted to know him more.  I had almost forgotten how great that feels to be around a family of God.  Its gotten me thinking more about serving and how important it is.  Nathan told parents when we returned that if you say yes to God it can only be good.  How true that is.  

I hope to someday make it back to PUMP.  I have always been a huge fan of inner city ministries and hope to get the opportunity to do more soon.  

Now we start packing and are making plans to move soon.  So many life changes lately.

I will post some pictures soon of PUMP.

A visit with Morgandy

A got to visit Mo for a week.  We had a great time playing, she is so cute.

I'm puttin' the Christmas tree back up! Winter is back and summer hasn't even started!

I think we missed our summer here in Montana. This is what is left of our snow storm we had Tuesday night.  I am so thankful to get to go to Austin tomorrow!

The Mo Family in Montana...

Our family from Missouri came to see us this past week. Here is just the beginning of a great week. We went to the park after some pizza, and rolled down a great hill. I only did it once...that is not something that old people do. We also took them to Glacier National park and hiked up to Avalanche Lake. It turned out to be a perfect day with family, and God's amazing wonders. More to come in a few days...

A weekend in Portland...

This was my first weekend to be away from Nathan, thats why his face is not happy here.  I went to Portland, OR to see my family.  We had a great time and I am so grateful that I got to see some of my favorite people.  I am also very glad to be back here with my favorite person ever!

PUMP

Some of you may know that Nathan and I are taking our teens to Portland this summer.  We will be putting on a VBS at PUMP(Portland Urban Ministry Project). I am super excited about this opportunity to serve and grow and to see our teens grow.  

One of the best parts of mission trips is raising money.  Its also my least favorite part.  Asking for money is so uncomfortable, no matter how you do it.  But it also opens doors to sharing your love for Jesus and telling others why you want to spread the news.  

This past weekend we had a church wide garage sale.  I don't think that many people had faith in what God was going to do that day.  We ended up raising 15oo dollars.  It was a truly amazing day and I praise God for the things that He is already starting to do for our trip.

Childrens Museum, a hike, and McKenzie River Pizza...

The park, carousel, and a hike...

We met Angie, Cooper, and Sawyer at the park/carousel. Cooper was the only one who really cared about the carousel, the others were too little.  After naps that day, we took Mo on a hike at Blue Mountain.  The one of her by the tree is her in time out.  Its a cute picture.  Still more to come, for my mom and aunt K, the only ones who read this...

A visit from the fam...well half of them...

Here are only some of the good times we had this weekend.  I'll post more later...including pictures of all the time outs morgandy had.  She is a really good girl, in fact one of the best behaved I have ever seen.  But I still took pictures of time outs, its kinda funny...

Tagged by Myra...7 Random things about me

I will try to be random, I'm usually only good at being random when I'm not asked.

1. I live in Missoula, MT.(I think its random)

2. I have been to a place that not many other's have been(we'll call it the secret location.)

3. I have rafted the Nile River.

4. I like to take off my socks in the middle of the night.  They usually end up somewhere at the foot of the bed and I forget about them until I change the sheets.  We call it our sock garden.

5. I enjoy cleaning and don't mind doing it all the time. (Its my night time ritual)

6. I use to want to be a professional figure skater, but I never really ice skated that much.

7. I am and always have been very independent. But since I have been married I don't like not always having Nathan around. And when I'm alone I'd rather clean or go for a run then find others to hang out with.  I never would have guessed that I would end up like this. 

So I guess that I will tag my mom since she is the only one who reads/comments on this blog anymore.

Stuck faces and Dance Party '08

The first picture is what Nathan's face looked like after accepting his new job.  Its funny now be cause it is no longer stuck...

Except to mine and Coopers at our Dance Party!

Lana on her Birthday

Here I am on my Birthday.  I won this gorilla on the first try in one of those silly machines.  It was impressive

Lana's Birthday...

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A list of things we will be closer to...

The White trash rendezvous- we can make it this year.

Myra's- 11 hours

Aunt Kathy's- 6 hours

Alex- 7 hours

Mom and Dad- 18 hours

Sonic- 30 seconds

Nathan's family- 20-40 minutes

Olive Garden-50 minutes

Booches- 50 minutes

Uganda-still about 24 hours but we are closer!

Farm and Home-30 minutes

the mountains- 10ish hours, this is kinda a sad one but it will be o.k.

Royal's Stadium- 1 hourish

Astro's Stadium- 12 hourish

Josh and Jamie- still kinda far.

Missoula-24 hours, thats kinda sad so I will stop here, but over all we are closer to most things.

By the way, this list is in no particular order, just how I'm doing it.

The Verdict is in....

So most of you know that we have been applying different places for Nathan to teach next year. Yesterday Nathan had an interview to work at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, Missouri.  Sedalia is only 20 minutes from his home town. For those of you who need more help with the location its 1 hour east of Kansas City.  The interview went well, the deciding part is a whole other story...

But in the end we decided to go.  So sometime in July(probably the middle part) we will be moving down to Sedalia, MO.  We are excited to be close to his family and closer to mine.  I'm already planning to ride my bike to Leslie's house on the Katy trail, have the kids come spend the night, visit my Grando more often, go to Royal's games, and finally get to be more a part of family weekends.  And as most of you know meeting new people and making new friends is one of my favorite things to do.  

We hope you all come see us sometime and we totally plan on coming back to Missoula to visit someday.  We will both miss Missoula a lot(yes even Lana no matter how many of you like to tell me that I hate it here).  Nathan's family will be here to visit in June so you can check out the great people that we will be living near.  

OH, Congratulations Nathan on your new job!

To the love of my life...

This is a prayer that Nathan wrote in his writing class this summer.  I wanted to share it with you because he is amazing.

Father God:

I am continually amazed. Your servant David said my cup runneth over, I feel as though I am drowning in your blessings.  Perhaps, immersed is a more accurate term.  I pray that I can pour them back out onto others.  You have given me love I never imagined nor can understand.  How have you created this woman for me?  In Galatians Paul says, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."  I praise you for that verse, because I cannot comprehend the love of my future wife.  I do not deserve it, I have not earned it, I cannot simply know it.  It is much like Your love, as it has been taken on faith- "Being sure of what you hope for and certain of what we do not see." She continually expresses her love for me, her faith in me, her confidence in me through love. Her love is made true and certain through her loving actions towards me. What I cannot understand I have the greatest hope in. Every day I experience her love, I understand Your perfect love more.  "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us." How true is that; it is not that I love her but that she loves me, and I am sure, and that gives me life. I pray my new understanding makes me a better servant, a humble servant, a desperate servant.  You ask me to love my wife, "just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her." I will gladly make myself a "living sacrifice" for her; give me wisdom to do it in a way that will glorify her and You. Our love is a blessing from You, help us make it known. Our love is made perfect in You, help us share it. Grant me your wisdom, show me Your will. Protect her, and guard her life, as I cannot. Help us grow closer together emotionally and spiritually. Thank you for creating my best friend, help me love, care and provide for her. Thank you for shoving us perfect love through the gift of your Son whose name I pray, Amen.

I love you so much, Nathan. I know that we will be happy where ever we end up.  What ever we decide I know we will have peace because we have Jesus and each other.  Thank you for all your work and for wanting to give me the moon.  I can't wait to start our new adventure together. k

I love you,

L

The Miller Family

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Yellow

You're yellow, the color of joy and energy — two things you definitely bring to everyone around you. It's hard for anyone to be sad or lonely in your presence; your sunny disposition and cheery outlook just won't allow it. The warmth of your personality shines through in the kindness you show friends and family (and strangers, too). Always ready with a lighthearted joke or heartfelt compliment, you know how to make people feel good about themselves, so they can't get enough of you. Yellow is a warm and inviting color for a warm and inviting person — you!

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652