My Husband is Cool

Not even a year ago, our family was eating Saturday morning breakfast at Austin Diner (one of my faves) and Nate was tossing around the idea "what would it look like if local musicians could find a way to give of their time and talent to benefit the city they live in?". As he's talking out loud to himself about this I'm thinking "Oh, uh uh, yeah. That sounds great", which could have been translated as "Gosh, I freaking love this french toast."

We had no idea that morning what was in store for us with that question.

Today...meet Music for the City.

This is Nate's baby and I am SO proud of what he has done with this. It started out as just a fleeting thought and has turned into an already respected and sought after Non-Profit here in Austin.

Music for the City has received press from News8 Austin, a front page article in the Austin Business Journal, an article in the Austin American Statesman and many many mentions on people's blogs, tweets and facebook pages.

One of their biggest accomplishments was in January when they threw a benefit concert (in a mere two days) that raised over $17,000 for a rescue center in Haiti called Real Hope for Haiti.

On May 8th, Music for the City releases their first compilation album, filled with austin musicians and the songs they donated to benefit kids in crisis and victims of domestic abuse.

I am proud of Nate and feel blessed to be married to someone who cares so much about people...and a little jealous that he has such great ideas:).

My husband is really freaking cool.

Fashion Blog Phenomenon

There is a whole world of fashion blogging out there and I have stumbled upon it...

I have been quite the little fashion-blog-reader lately. There are a few that I find time to stalk in between projects at work and I'll share them with you in a bit. These girls are creative, talented, fashionable and way too cool...all of which I thought I was but am slowly learning that I'm not. I mean, getting the "best dressed" award at Temple High School doesn't really qualify you as being fashionable out in the real world, does it? Oh, wait...I didn't get that award, Rebekah did. So, I'm not even fashionable enough for T-town? So sad.

I used to think I was creatively fashionable but realize now that picking out the cute dress on the front rack at Target doesn't count. These girls have the ability to accessorize and arrange outfits in a way I can only dream about. Check them out:

www.adoredaustin.com Indiana Adams is in my city group at Austin City Life and is one of the top fashion bloggers in the country (I think)!
http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/ This girl has impeccable style and I love her decorating and cooking tips too!
http://www.kendieveryday.blogspot.com/ Not only is Kendi fashionable but she has me laughing outloud at my desk some days.
http://thistimetomorrow-krystal.blogspot.com/ Just found this one and have really enjoyed reading it.

Betsy Grace Navarro

So, I'd like to share a few things about our latest and greatest: Betsy Grace.
I am head over heels for her. I am head over heels for all three of my girls. Each one of them are so special to me and for very different reasons. Jessica and I have a special bond because it was just the two of us for five years. She is mature and wise beyond her years. Ava and I will forever but heads but she is so full of life and hilarious to be around. And Betsy...well...she's a little miracle and a testament of God's grace in my life, Nate's life and in our marriage.

Nate and I have been through things that most marriages would not survive and sometimes we look at Betsy and see grace all over her because had we not persevered through the hard times, she would not be here.

She is quiet, so sweet and has a smile that will light up the room. Sometimes she just looks at me and I almost feel for a second that she gets it. She gets that she is grace and she gets what she means to me.

Here is a note that Nate wrote about her on facebook right after she was born:


Betsy Grace arrived on December 19th, 2009, three weeks early and right on time! She weighs 8 pounds 12 oz, is 21 inches long, and is a mama's girl for sure!

We gave her the name Betsy after Melissa's "gran" whom our entire family loves deeply. We gave her the name Grace because to Meliss and I she is a beautiful picture of just that.

Those of you that know Meliss and I know that our first 5 years of marriage have been a rollercoaster....and not a kid-friendly Disney World kind of rollercoaster.....more like an old carny rollercoaster that comes off the tracks and takes out the dude selling corn dogs and cotton candy......ok......bad analogy.

Our marriage has had some unbelievable highs: the greatest being the births of Ava and Betsy Grace, helping start a church that we love, and the friends we have made along the way.

We have also had some devestating lows...lows that most relationships don't survive...lows that have left friendships broken...lows that have forced us to cling to and belive in something that we have often been close to but rarely understood...GRACE.

To be brutally honest we found out "we were pregnant" with Betsy Grace at a time when we thought our marriage wasn't going to survive...

But we did...were here...she's here....and it's GRACE.

And so it takes a village......

Over the last week we have been reflecting not only on God's grace and Betsy Grace, but we have been blown away by the grace that has come our way through our families, our church, and our friends.

Melissa's family watched our girls while we were at the hospital.

Our jobs gave us plenty of time off work.

Many friends have come to visit.

We were given baby stuff galore....beds, bedding, clothes, changing table, diapers, carseat, and the list goes on and on and on.

We have been loved well by our families, our church, and our friends.Thank you so much. Your friendship and generosity has been grace to us as we welcome Betsy Grace into the Navarro family!

So it has been 7 years since I met beautiful Melissa Jones at The Blind Pig Pub on 6th street. I was a skinny kid with long hair who played in a rock band and she was the prettiest girl who ever gave me the time of day. We would stay at the bar till the lights came up, hit "the Onion" for some late night pizza, and talk for hours....blissfully unaware of what the future would hold...

My how things have changed...

I got a haircut,a job, and am not quite so slender...late night pizza has been replaced with late night diaper changing...and 7 years in we have 3 daughters, 2 dogs, a thousand regrets, and are currently in the market for a minivan...wow!

The pain has been real....but so has the grace!

December 28th, 2009 finds me grateful for the grace that has come my way through the unconditional love, forgiveness, and healing found in Jesus,through my best friend Melissa Jones Navarro,our daughters Jessica, Ava, and Betsy Grace, our families close and far, our church, and friends like you.

Hugs all the way around,

Nate

What to Write About

My brain isn't big enough to sort out all of the thoughts that pass through it on a daily basis. I think about things like: work, kids, Nate, fashion, social justice, how to begin to help the homeless and what that looks like, how to fit in grabbing lunch with certain friends to catch up, outspoken people who take politics too seriously, racism, adopting a child, praying for Haiti to open up their adoption again, reminding myself to pray for friends who have asked for it, wanting people to think I'm funny, wanting my husband to think I'm pretty, not wanting him to think anyone else is pretty, reminding myself we live in Austin, TX where all the pretty girls roam, praying for couples who are going through hard times, how to keep a clean house with three kids and a job, how in the world to keep up with laundry, loving my neighbors, loving my friends, how I need to be kind and thoughtful and encouraging to my husband, how badly I need to lose weight, how I need to be content with who God made me, how to stay home with my kids, how to love my children better, how bad I want that cute pair of shoes, reminding myself I have more shoes than I need and that I can't take them to heaven with me, instilling in my children the command to love others before ourselves...

This is why my head hurts at night.

These are some of the things I'll blog about as they are what's on my mind. Keep checking back...