Convicted

Well, I haven't updated in a while...

I hope everyone had a Christmas filled with joy, laughter and precious time with family. I also hope everyone took time to worship the Lord in their own way, remembering that it was his birthday. I tried really hard this Christmas to ignore all of the hustle and bustle and the presents and just remember that Jesus was born in a manger and then died a death he did not deserve so that I could live a life that I do not deserve. And, when I say I do not deserve it, I mean...I do not deserve it. Of course, human nature kicked in and I realized on the way home from Temple that I hadn't prayed in a couple of days.

I have really been convicted today about some things. I spent about an hour lying in bed this morning praying about things. One of the things I feel pretty convicted about is that I am surrounded by people in Austin that "get" the gospel. I mean, really "get" it. It convicts me because I realize I'm not there yet. I am trying every day to learn more about God and what he wants for us, as his followers. I still don't quite "get" it yet. The bible is pretty clear about who we are supposed to reach out to...orphans, widows and the poor. I have friends who live this out on a daily basis. This shouldn't just be something we "volunteer" to do. We should live it. It should be on our hearts, in our minds and should show in our actions. I do not live this out. I am pretty good about doing something "missional" once a month, but I don't "live" it. I feel God wanting more from me.

I pray that God gives me a heart for His people, particularly the widows, orphans and the poor. I pray that I start to "get" the gospel more and more each day.

Here are some people I look up to and strive to be like:

www.dreamingbigdreams.wordpress.com
www.muchhasbeengiven.blogspot.com
www.mpaustin.org

New York Trip

Jess and I had an amazing time in New York. We had some very gracious hosts (Lisa and ruben, Drew and Ashley and Isaac) and we made some really great memories.

I told you guys a little about the first half of our trip and I'll tell a little more as I post pics.

The first two pics are of Jess and me at the Austin airport...ready for New York!

The first thing we did when we got into New York was head to Drew's school. It was a really great school...very creative education oriented. This little girl in the next picture is Ginger. She was taking a ballet class there that day and she fell in love with Jessica. Her nanny informed us that her imaginary friend's name is Jessica so she must have thought her imaginary friend had come to see her! She was an extremely precocious little girl.

Later that night, Jess and I went to the Broadway production of Mary Poppins. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The entire show was great and at the very end, she flew out over the crowd in the last scene.

After Mary Poppins, we walked around Times Square and Rockefeller Center and that is where most of these next pictures are from.

On Saturday, Jess and I visited the Museum of Natural History. We saw an awesome IMAX movie about Sea Creatures and the beginning times when Dinosaurs walked the Earth. It was another favorite part of the trip. We also walked through a butterfly observatory and butterflies were flying EVERYWHERE around us. They would land on your body and your clothes. They were beautiful!

Later that night, we met up with Robert Allen (old friend from Belton) whose mom, Laura Messer, I used to work for. He lives in New York and manages a store there called Jack Rabbit Sports. They sell clothing and gear for running, biking, swimming and triathalons. They would be the "RunTex" of New York. (For you Austinites, you know what that means.)

This is a picture of us on Lisa's rooftop of her apartment building. You can see the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn and all of New Jersey from her rooftop.

And last...but definitely not least...this might be another favorite moment on the trip...

He was on our flight home...Hook 'em!!

Again, we had an amazing time and made some wonderful mother/daughter memories. Now...looking forward to Ava's tenth!!

I promise to post pics from New York...

Either today or tomorrow. I haven't stopped since we got off of the plane so when I get a free second...they'll be up here!

New York

Ok...I wanted to give a half-way-through-the-trip summary.:
(For those of you who don't know, I am in New York with Jess for her 10th birthday. It's a mother/daughter trip that I will make again with Ava for her 10th. )

We arrived yesterday around noon and came straight to my friend Lisa's apartment. Her apartment is amazing and is in such a cool, hip part of town. We unpacked our bags and relaxed for a while at her apartment until she got home and then we visited with her a bit. She is a purse designer here in New York (www.lisakornman.com) and she is such a gracious hostess.

We then headed to Drew's school and watched him play the piano for a three year old ballet class. You could tell the little girls LOVED him and they were so precious in their little tutu's. For those of you who don't know this little fact, Drew teaches quite the group of famous children: Apple (Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter), Ed Burns' son (who I saw), Steve Nash's twins and some other actress...can't remember her name. Anyway, this one little girl named Ginger fell in love with Jessica. Her nanny told us that she has had an imaginary friend named Jessica for a while and we think she thought her imaginary friend had come to life. Jessica loved it. Ginger hopped in a picture with us so you will meet her later when I post pictures.

We left Drew's school and grabbed a burger at Edwards (www.edwardsnyc.com) in Tribeca. Very cool little place. We had fun sitting there eating and people watching.

At 7:30 we headed over to Times Square to the New Amsterdam Theater to watch Mary Poppins. It was fantastic. I would highly recommend it. The girl who played Mary Poppins did an amazing job and it made me want to come home and watch the movie. I forget how great that movie is. After Mary Poppins, we walked around Times Square so that Jess could see the huge billboards and lights and then we walked over to Rockefeller Center and took pictures in front of the tree. Had so much fun! We didn't get home until 1am and we were both exhausted!

This morning, we woke up, had coffee with Lisa, met Drew for brunch at this place called The Diner (www.thedinernyc.com) which was awesome. It's in Lisa's neighborhood. After brunch, Jess and I headed to the Museum of Natural History. That was really fun for both of us.

We are at Lisa's apartment right now about to get ready for a Christmas party. I will add more later and post pictures. I have documented the entire trip!

Sanity

Let's all take a moment and pray for my sanity as today begins an extremely busy next 8 days. Jessica and I leave tomorrow for New York (yay!) and we get home on Monday.

On Monday night, we are eating dinner with family for her birthday.

On Tuesday night, we are hosting a party at our house for these three homeless/poor families and their combined 11 kids. (I won't have to do too much because everyone from our Church and even friends of ours who don't go to our Church are helping with this party). I am excited about this one because these kids have never had Christmas. We have presents for each of the kids, mattresses for the ones that don't have beds, clothes for all of them, a huge bag of groceries for each family, a family Christmas picture by Jen Cota, Christmas cookies that they get to ice and decorate, a Christmas Bingo game we get to play with them and then food and drinks they can enjoy at the party.

On Wednesday night, we have dinner with some new friends we met.

On Thursday, I am hosting 15 ten year old girls for a SLUMBER party at our house for Jess' birthday party. That's right...15!! I'm sure you're wondering where they all will sleep. Valid question...I haven't figured that out yet.

On Friday, we are AGAIN hosting a Christmas Sweater Party that Gran so graciously loaned me four Christmas sweaters for. We invited everyone from our Church and 49 people have already responded that they are coming. 40 have not responded.

So...raise your hand if you're thinking I'm crazy.

Ok...now raise your hand if you know me and know that I work best under pressure.

(I raised my hand for crazy)

Let's see how this goes...

I'm honestly not a blogger. You might even try to get back on here in a week and the site is down. But...let's see if I can make this interesting enough for people to read. I'll start off with a little snipit about the Navarros.

We met in Austin. Married in Austin. Lived in Austin for a year afer that while Nate traveled in a rock band. Had Ava Jean Navarro. Moved to Belton (where Melissa is from). Nate quit the band and started painting and then leading worship. Moved back to Austin to help start a Church, which we are still a part of, called Austin City Life. Nate is the Director of Missional Community at ACL. We are living out the meaning of being a Christian and learning every day with this community of people how to love Jesus more and in turn, love people more. We don't have it down perfectly yet. Probably never will. But here's to us never ceasing on trying our hardest.

We live in a cute old house with our beautiful daughters, Jessica and Ava. Nate loves UT football and Thunderbird coffee. Melissa loves Christmas time and Enchiladas y Mas. Jessica loves her friends at school and Ava loves staying up until midnight. Our whole family loves having an open door policy at our house that people are actually taking advantage of.

So...again, we'll see how this goes.