Life for the Slate's over the past 8 weeks have been eventful...to say the least. We made our move to Ruston at the end of June and have had a smoother transition than I could have ever imagined! I didn't know what it would be like moving back to Ruston as an adult, and not a college student, but our time here has been filled with many many people in and out of our house, lunches and coffee with the college students, and laughs with old friends. We have been so blessed in our time here! Matt is loving his ministry at the church. God has given him the heart, desire and gift for discipleship and we are already seeing God's hand moving in ourselves and the college students around us.

I started working at Cedar Creek School last week. I am the Assistant Director of Development which means I help with the fundraising, event planning, and alumni. I am working 3 days a week and I'm really enjoying  my time at the school and my days off! The school year will be eventful, as always, but full of fun events and meeting lots of people.

I have the say though, the biggest change in our life is when I found out that Baby Slate is arriving Feb. 28! Yep...Matt and I are finally going to be parents! God has been so good and we know this is a precious, precious gift from Him! I actually found out 3 days before I moved to Ruston. Matt had already packed up the u-haul and headed to Ruston. He left on Monday, I found out on Tuesday, and didn't see him until I pulled into Ruston at our new home on Friday. I couldn't tell him the news over the phone, so waiting until Friday was extremely hard. We had tried and prayed for this baby for a year and here God was giving us this gift in the mist of all the changes! I pulled up to the house that Friday night and Matt was standing at the front door with a dozen roses to welcome me home. I don't think he had any idea the news I was about the bring. We walked throughout the house to see where he had put all the furniture and when we got to one of the guest rooms, I turned to him and asked if he was ready to make this room a nursery? He said," yeah...one day." And then I told him the news! We are so excited and everything has gone well so far. I am 13 weeks along and have been feeling good for the most part! I go back to the doctor this Friday and mom's going to get to come with me! How much fun!!!!

Matt and I spent the weekend in Ruston. I love going but we have to cram so much stuff in while we are there. By the time we spend 5 hours driving there on Friday and 5 hours driving back to Houston on Sunday, we have a good 1 day to get everything done that need to be before our move.

I met with a school there about a possible job position. I really think it'll be a neat opportunity and it's very similar to the job I currently hold. We did that Saturday morning and then spent the rest of the day looking a houses. I think we looked at 9 of them to be exact. House after house after house and there was nothing we loved...or really liked for that matter. It's just such a big investment so we decided we would rent (again!) if we didn't like anything. After we looked at the last house with our realtor, we drove passed a house that was for sale by owner. We figure it couldn't hurt to call so we did and were very surprised to hear what they told us about the house. It was really cute, on a private lake, (you have no idea how excited my husband is about that since he loves to fish!) it has mostly been redone, it was on the low in of our price range, and the people who owned it were great...they even decided they would pay for our realtor, along with several other awesome things we asked for in our contract! We walked in and were literally stunned! We loved it. We didn't just like it o.k. and were settling with it...we wanted this to be our first house! The inside is really cute but the outdoor deck, patio, and dock make the space great for what we are going to Ruston to do. Matt will be a college pastor on a church staff there and our desire all along has been that God would allow us to have a home that those kids would feel welcomed in and loved. I couldn't have asked for anything that would fit us better! God is so good and has confirmed the move back to Louisiana time after time. It seemed like right when I began to give up and get discouraged...we took a turn down a road, stumbled upon a little white house, and God blew us away with HIS kindness and provision for our life!

So much has happened since I've last written. (It was Thanksgiving after all!!!!  ) Life in the big city has been good. Matt and I are both staying very busy with work and everything else that's going on. Just to let everyone know, life for the Slate's is changing! And no...I'm not pregnant...we are moving back to Louisiana! Back in January, we were approached by a church in Ruston, LA who had been looking for a College Pastor. We went to visit and hear all about the situation. After alot of prayer and going back and forth to Ruston, we accepted the position of Director of Student Ministries at CrossRoads Church. We are both very excited about this opportunity to serve the Lord on the Louisianan Tech University campus.

We will not move until the end of June. Pray that God continues to give us a vision for this position and that he will have the perfect house for us to buy! We will continue to make the 5 1/2 hour trip every few weeks until we can find something! It's such an exciting time for us!

We will miss our friends and family here in Houston and Second Baptist School. God has been so good to us these past 4 years here. We will definitely be back in the fall to watch the Eagles play some football and meet our new nephew or niece who will be arriving in October!

Kristen