The Hickman Happenings

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Reunions

I love that God has blessed me with so many wonderful friends from all over the world. In my day to day life, I'm learning that God has given me a safe haven to lean on and trust in. It has been a hard journey to find that, and I'm so thankful for the peace I've found in having people to trust and who genuinely love me. That desire to have that love and investment in my life was most definitely born out of an amazing background of growing up in a boarding school, where the girls you lived with in the dorm became your sisters and your best friends. I'm so blessed that now, 20 and 25 years later, we still can't go very long without seeing one another. Two years ago we reunited in Dallas. This year, we reunited in Phoenix, Arizona, where my best friend, Lana, lives.We had such a good time spending our days hitting every great restaurant in the city (well, maybe not 'every', but my waistline is saying A LOT of them!), watching movies and looking at old pictures from high school (there was a whole lot of bad hair going on in those pics) and listening to a ton of 80's/90's music so we could relive the "good 'ole days"! I've known Lana since we met in Costa Rica, where our parents were in language school. We both bonded over how much resentment we had for our parents making us move to another country!! ;) I've known Camille since our parents served in Caracas, Venezuela together, and I've known Amy since my first visit to our boarding school, Christiansen Academy. She was the first person I met there, and later ended up being a roommate there numerous semesters. Lastly, my sister, Missy, and I shared most of our friends growing up, so of course she joined me for the trip!

Here's some great highlights of our time together....

Our day trip to Sedona

A Chapel in Sedona

Lana and Amy

Camille and Missy

Missy and Me

All of us

Lana and me

Amy and Amy!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Favorite Children's Book

Today I'm participating in Kelly's Korner "Show Me Your Life" posts because I cannot ever pass up an opportunity to brag on my cousin, the author. If you are looking for an AMAZING children's book that your kids will grow up and say, "One of my most special times was when you read...", then you want to get "Me With You." It's about the relationship a grandparent has with their grandchild, but it can translate to any special relationship we have in our lives. The illustrations are timeless and heartwarming. Check out this great trailer of when her book came out last year, and then RUN to your local Barnes and Noble and get one!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Birthday Hoopla!

I hesitate to blog at all anymore! I've stunk my blog up here lately, but we've had two very specials birthdays at our house that need to be written about! The photos of said birthdays may be few, but let's try to paint a pretty picture of the ones celebrated!!

We have a 12 year old in the HOUSE!!!

(McKenna is pictured in the middle)

I think that we are actually still celebrating McKenna's birthday. It seems to have been a few weeks long celebration from breaking her out of school early the weekend of her birthday to taking off to Columbia for "The Rock and Worship Roadshow" on the actual day of her birthday.

McKenna is our firstborn. We first learned to be parents through her, and she teaches us more how to do that everyday. There are so many words that describe McKenna, but here are a few...

M - marvelous C - Child of God (we're so thankful she calls God her Father!)
K - kindhearted...always thinks of others
E - everyone's friend
N - non-stop worker...amazing work ethic
N - nice, courteous, gracious
A -An AMAZING daughter

McKenna is, quite simply, a blessing to know. She shows me everyday that while she is my child, she is also my friend. I love talking to her and learning from her. She genuinely loves others and you will not find a more servant-hearted person. Our precious firstborn is growing into a beautiful young woman. Each year with you, McKenna, is a gift to us. If you know McKenna, you LOVE her!

The latest birthday in the house was for Jeff! He's 38 years young! We've had lots of fun celebrating as a family and with friends. So many people have a love for Jeff...he's known by many and a friend to all, but for us, he's an amazing husband and father. He's someone that never lets a day go by without it being evident that we are his priority. He makes us laugh. He challenges us to be better and work harder. He walks with the Father so closely that the overflow of that is the love he pours out on you when you are with him. He is never content with being the same, but he is always on a path to being better and stronger! I'm so thankful for how hard he works for us and takes care of us. One day a year is not a long enough celebration of just how we feel to know you, Jeff. You fill our hearts up! We love you!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

A Giveaway for Moms and Their Daughters

This is a great giveaway over at All Access. Check it out if you have daughters!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

We're NOT Professionals...

We are not professional bowlers, but we sure had fun taking all of my girls and my sister's girls bowling on Spring Break w/ my mom.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easter

Our Easter 2010 was wonderful! We saw almost 2000 people come out to LifeSong Church for our Easter Egg Drop/Hunt, and then over 700 come back the next day to our Easter services. We are so grateful for the lives we saw changed this Easter. I loved how Jeff said it on Sunday. He said that you won't find us doing any different service at Easter than we strive to do every single Sunday at LifeSong Church. We always want to come together on Sundays and celebrate Jesus resurrection and life because we have Victory! I can tell ya, though...celebrating Sunday was extra special! What a great thing to know that we can reach out to our community in such fun ways and meet their need for great family activities for their families, and see them come on Sunday and meet Jesus. We saw 13 salvations Sunday, and we rejoice in every one of them!

The girls had fun this Easter starting off with lots of excitement at our Egg Drop/Hunt. We had so much fun waiting on the plane to fly overhead, dropping tons of eggs out, and off we went to gather them all in our baskets. You can imagine with almost 2000 people there, the eggs were gone like THAT! Even still, candy was to be had, and very dirty faces after!

Easter morning, the girls woke up to a much more "intentional" Easter basket. This year, I felt very strongly that our emphasis needed to be more focused on the life, death and resurrection of Christ rather than filling our baskets with a lot of commercialism. We presented all four of our girls with brand new Bibles. Of course, they got candy, because who doesn't have a smile on their face after a little bit of sugar! Our prayer is that these new Bibles will be a constant reminder of our desire to see our girls walk in victory each day.

Easter Sunday afternoon was spent over a yummy Sunday lunch, naps and egg dying and hunting. It was fun spending time together on what could not have been a more gloriously beautiful day!