I found a little corner of the world to blog in this afternoon. I’m in Hutchinson, MN today…found a little place called Zellas. It has a good little vibe to it for a smallish town. Great food - says it’s homegrown local fare…definitely get the mashed potatoes if you come in…or is it spelled potatos? Who really knows…I think it’s a regional thing…I’ll go with potatoes.

I’ve been out on the road this week with Chris Tomlin and the boys. The “boy bus” is the home of much laughter I can assure you. I think I’ve laughed a solid 3 hours these past few days. Thank the Lord that God gave me two older brothers to help prepare me for my husband and all the other guys that we get to be in community with. I feel I have a special ability to endure…well…boys!  It’s one of the biggest joys of our lives to get to travel with these wonderful people and then getting to help plant Passion City Church in Atlanta, GA with them makes these surely the best years of our lives…

This summer has been the busiest I can remember…I’ve also just blinked and it’s almost over! School starts for us in just a few weeks - we will have a 4th grader & a 2nd grader this year - hard to believe…and our youngest is 3…she will enjoy preschool a few days a week. The kids are thriving right now, loving life and I love how the church has become one of their most favorite things in life! That brings us great joy…

We have traveled together as a family this summer and had some visits from family. Nathan has continued to travel with Matt Redman, playing piano for him and directing the band and then I have my turn at the road on my own…it creates a great mix for us, keeps us on our toes and we just don’t get tired of getting to be a part of the things that God is doing around us!

We are excited to be planning a new record for me! We are mapping out time to write in September & October and hopefully we will record soon thereafter. My heart starts fluttering when I think about recording again. It’s always an incredible process…and honestly I get excited because I get all the attention I want from the best producer in the world…the one and only, Nathan Nockels. We look forward with expectation to the songs that God will breathe on us as we open ourselves up to Him and look to him for direction!

Much love to all of you! I pray you are finding a place to connect to God - a church where you can sense He is moving with people who are setting their eyes and hearts on things above… That is what I’m most thankful for this Friday in August, sitting in a small town cafe…my church and the people in it and around me who just see the world in an amazing way and believe in a God that is willing to use us to change it.

Love,
Christy

I’m so happy to be in 2010!  I mean, last year was great…I released my first solo project “Life Light Up”, I was a part of two great tours (HELLO LOVE and Glory In The Highest) with my long- time friend and fellow worship leader, Chris Tomlin…but NEW is always good and always welcomed in our household!  I already did my spring cleaning… I cleaned like crazy when we put all the Christmas decorations back in the basement.  It was so therapeutic!  I even moved some furniture around, organized a few junk drawers and tried to implement a “sock bin” for all the socks we have floating around….well, 2 “sock bins” - one for dirty socks and one for clean socks.  It didn’t work.  It lasted about 3 days and then there were dirty socks in the clean bin and clean socks in the dirty bin and then of course the regular amount of socks still under beds, between the wall and the couch, and of course the ones that go in the dryer but completely vanish after that.  Anyway…whether the new systems fail or completely flourish around here, we’re happy to be falling forward into the new!

I’m still beaming about Passion 2010 - I tell people all the time…being a part of Passion Conferences and Passion City Church is one of the greatest joys of my life.  Getting to serve the students is truly life changing.  To see their faces and their lives, ready to go anywhere and do anything that God is asking them is a priceless treasure…  I think one of the most unique moments of the new year was sitting around the lunch table with the rest of the Passion band, just after the last session of Passion ended and students were scurrying home…  We looked around and realized that this was the first Passion Conference that we were not in a rush to catch a flight home to Tennessee or Texas…all of us live here in Atlanta now!  We sat together, leisurely sharing our favorite moments of Passion 2010 over the last bit of food left in catering.  With a glow and a grin on our faces from the events of the week, it’s evident that we each know the unique honor it is to lead the students of this movement in worship and to be starting Passion City Church together…  Is it all perfect?  No, definitely not…but it’s good and it’s a season of life I believe we are all cherishing deeply.

There’s something to the reality that Nathan and I can’t really hide anywhere right now…we’ve got way too many people who would come after us!  Not that we’d want to hide, but Nathan and I can be a little bit “homebody-ish” for sure…  It’s sometimes an invasion of the heart to have people like that around you who really care about what’s going on in your world.  You have to be willing to open up and get past the surface stuff that we’re all really good at.  You have to let them peel back some layers until the real you shows whenever you’re together.  Do you have those kind of people around?  A “tribe” (for us it’s our church) or a little family of people that won’t let you escape for very long? I hope you do…and if you don’t, I truly pray that you’ll find yourselves connected to them in 2010… Sometimes it takes putting one foot in front of the other and darkening the doors of the church that you might have given up on months ago…or making the phone call or email that’s been on your mind to make.  For some of us, it’s just not a natural feeling to let people into your world…but it’s for our good and we’re called to it as believers…

2010 has already been the sweetest few weeks of my life… My husband Nathan has been turning out the tunes in the basement - he just turned in the Passion Awakening record that is due out March 9th of this year!  Look for it, it’s the best yet!  I have a song on it called “Healing Is In Your Hands” and I’m singing on several others… Our little group of friends got together and wrote this past Fall and many of the songs that are featured on Awakening came from that time together…  I’ll also be headed out on some of the Passion World Tour stops!  I’m so excited to visit new places and meet students in other parts of the world who are carrying the same heart & vision… to see the glory of God shine in all the earth…even in the darkest places.   - 268generation.com

I’ll try to stay in touch more in 2010 as well!

Blessings!

Christy Nockels

Phil. 2: 1-4 says,  ”If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

What to write… There’s not a lack of things to write, it’s choosing what to write about. I was just thinking too, I really have no cohesive way to share all my thoughts tonight.  This might all be very random…so hang with me.

It’s been a busy few months for us, hence me just now updating my blog…oops.  I really do think of it every other day, but the stuff of life comes first when you have kids, leaving an absence of space to just sit and articulate life in this season…  I was just talking about this with my husband last night.  We figured out that because our son is almost 9 ½, we’re pretty much on the back half of his life at home with us…  How can this be?  Seems like yesterday that our 9lb 14oz baby boy came into this world…yes, you read that right…  Anyway, when I think it through, I realize that the “stuff of life” really does matter a ton to a spirited, nine year old boy…and to the two beautiful daughters we’re raising here.  So we run the errands, we make it to the music lessons, we search until the favorite stuffed toy is found, we read the favorite bedtime stories, use pink bubbles in the bathtub and make the sandwich just the right way! Life is full and sometimes I don’t recognize the memorable moments when they land on me…like our two year old fluttering through the house in the new butterfly costume that grandma just sent…so precious…but wait…did she just dump the whole plate of cookies I just baked onto the floor? Yes, just take a deep breath and enjoy this season, whatever it brings… I’d rather find ways to enjoy it now than regret that I didn’t later. The truth is that one of these days I know I’ll miss that tiny butterfly fluttering around here, making grand messes.  Annie Rose…she’s truly delightful and her chubby legs are one of my favorite things in the world right now…

An epic moment through and through for us this last month was Nathan having the honor of baptizing Noah and Elliana, our two oldest children.  It was truly one of our sweetest moments as a family.  Nathan had me share a little bit about Elliana and how I’ve seen Christ in her since she made the choice to follow Him.  In Elliana, I already see a love for God’s Word and an artistic way of sharing Truth… it’s so fun to watch. Nathan shared about Noah, through his tears, about the passion that we see in him and how we pray he’ll use every bit of it for the glory of God throughout his life. Nathan pretty much had everyone tearing up as he said, “this is my only son and I get the honor of baptizing him today”…  Our pastor, Louie, stood in the water with Nathan, with just our core PCC family gathered around…what a beautiful day!

This is so my favorite time of year…October through December really.  Autumn is my favorite in particular, and it’s starting to look a bit like it around these parts.  Nathan has been on tour with Matt Redman, who has been touring this fall with Casting Crowns.  As you may know, Nathan and I have traveled together for years and rarely apart, so this was an adjustment for us!  He only did the first part of the tour and as I’m finishing this blog he has just walked through the door… The kids will be so excited to wake up and see that Daddy’s home!  We have saved the pumpkin patch outing for his return home. It’s always a highlight, though somehow in the past few years we’ve picked the only autumn day that it reached well above 90 degrees outside. We’re hoping for a cooler one this year…it makes for a better pumpkin hunt when you’re not in a tank top and flip flops…

I look forward to some great days at home this season, I’m not traveling much until Christmas-time.  I’ll be heading out on the “Glory in the Highest” Christmas tour with our good friend, Chris Tomlin and our pastor, Louie Giglio. I’m getting really excited the more I think about it…  I finally got to hear the record this week and it’s amazing! It actually sounds the way it felt recording these beautiful worship songs together…some old, some new.  I’m blessed to have been a part of it and to get to carry the songs on tour this December with some of my favorite people!

So…like many of you, I was able to see U2 this month.  My friend Janet asked me to go with her and we were two peas in a pod…  So there I was in the Georgia Dome with tens of thousands of others, to see a band I’ve followed and loved since the 7^th grade.  My favorite moment of the night was “Magnificent” – I remember the first time I heard this song…I was on the bus, while on the Hello Love tour, watching U2 play on Letterman. When I saw Bono sing this song I had to leave the room afterwards because I was on the “boy bus” and I didn’t want them to make fun of me for being weepy!  This song really moved me…for some reason it made me remember some of my very first conversations with God as a child. As a singer and a worship leader, I recognize when someone is carrying a message with intentionality and I respect it… Watching them the other night was so heartening!  They have the unique ability to lay the message of the gospel inside the cradle of some downright amazing music and send it out into total darkness…it’s beautiful to watch.  I also loved the fact that Bono pretty much had 70,000 people interceding for a woman in Southeast Asia - during “Walk On” - before they even knew what was happening. So…call me crazy, but I was fully engaged with God at a rock concert and I ended up talking to Him all the way home in my car that night…and then some.  It has even inspired a worship song or two. I hope someone could say the same about hearing me sing recently…

“ I thank You… for noises day and night, and loud music, and loud noise that passes for music: Today I offer this racket to You as the praise of “everything that has breath” in this house (Psalm 150:6) and thank You with each decibel of devotion.” -  from Powerful Prayers for Your Children by David & Heather Kopp – “The Music of Loose Ends”

“Make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Ephesians 5:19 - 20

Love,

Christy

So we were just in Houston…KSBJ invited us in with Phillips, Craig & Dean for a concert in Sugarland…it was such a great night. We always love returning to a warm, Houston crowd! It’s also the only city that my hair can get big from humidity and it’s okay…it’s Texas!  We had to have our Lupe Tortilla Fajitas of course; thankfully there was one right by the church…nothing like Mexican food at 10pm.  We’d like to say thank you to KSBJ for having us in and for playing the new single “No Not One”…after all these years they still play our songs and we are truly grateful for the commitment they have to ministry in the Houston area.

We are headed home this morning, full force into a fall schedule. I find I’m always ready for routine when summer ends and always ready for a new season… It’s amazing how we begin to crave what is next…we almost feel a pull as each season has prepared us for the next.  When I say a fall schedule, that includes the kids in school and all that goes along with that…Nathan on the road with Matt Redman some…me leading worship at various conferences and events…and it also means that Passion City Church will move forward with more public gatherings starting September 20th. Passioncitychurch.com I’m so excited and full of hope for what is to come in the great city of Atlanta…our new home.

I’ve been closing with the song “By Our Love” when we’ve led worship in various places and I continue to be challenged to live what I sing. When I stand in front of the mirror, before I step on stage, lately I’ve breathed the prayer…”by Your Spirit Lord”…not by power, not by might, not by persuasive speech or song, but by the Spirit of God let me shine…let me live LOVE.  I think we all want that… We sometimes just don’t know how to get there. So instead of trying to figure it out in those moments when I’m walking out to lead people in worship and suddenly feel extremely small and normal for the task ahead…it’s always best to just posture my heart around Him and the idea of His Spirit leading, guiding, working, healing and loving completely and beautifully through us. I hope as Christ followers we never rely on our songs or anthems to lead us to His spirit…but that we would rely on the Spirit of God in us to rise up and be carriers of His song and His presence…

I long for this to be a part of my day, everyday…to not just sing a language that some can understand…but to live LOVE by His Spirit, for that will transcend any language barrier and open the heart like nothing else… God make that true in us…

June has been FULL, what can I say?  First of all, thank you so much for those of you who went out and bought the record and have taken the time to tell me about it - I’m so grateful!  I have loved reading your comments and feedback on everything, it truly is so encouraging.  We spend so much time shaping the songs and trying to really steward them well, so it means so much when you let us know how God is using them in your lives!

We launched the record in Tulsa, OK on June 2nd - Tulsa is my old homestead and stomping grounds!  Did that sound Oklahoma enough for you? My parents are still in that area, so it was so fun to have them join us for a concert by the river in Jenks, OK with KXOJ.  The station was so good to us, we’re so grateful for an amazing turn out that night.  Kristian Stanfill, my label-mate and friend joined my husband and I that night for quite a special night…  I know that Kristian made many new fans in Oklahoma!  There were many familiar faces in the crowd that night - I loved getting to see so many old friends!  The next morning we headed out to Sacramento to spend some time with the kind people at K-LOVE.  They were gracious enough to let me spend some time on the air, joined by Kristian and my husband Nathan, I got to sing and share about the songs as our “big brother” Chris Tomlin co-hosted the morning and gave us very heroic introductions!  We’re so grateful for Chris…for his leadership and his heart to champion others.  One of the other highlights of my June was celebrating Christmas in Nashville while being a part of Tomlin’s new Christmas record. It was recorded live with a few hundred worship leaders over 2 nights.  I have a feeling this record will be a favorite for many…the singing that night was angelic and heavenly!  I can’t wait to hear the finished project this Fall!

Upon returning home we celebrated Nathan’s birthday on June 8th, then our 14th wedding anniversary on June 16th, then Father’s Day and now coming up…our youngest, Annie Rose, will be turning TWO on what is also the anniversary of our moving to Atlanta, GA one year ago!  So…June was and is FULL… But it’s a fullness that I cherish right now…there’s truly so much to be thankful for.  June is the month that I remember what an amazing guy I married!  With his birthday, our anniversary and Father’s Day, Nathan is very celebrated around here!  We’ve had several “group hugs” lately.  Not “group hugs” in the sense that you say, “group hug!” - no - these happen spontaneously and it all starts with ME I’ve found…  If I walk over and hug Nathan (even when I think the kids are not paying any attention) it NEVER fails…I always feel another little body come along side me and grab on, then another, and now…the littlest comes up and puts her arms around my legs…and there we are, all 5 of us…they don’t know we’re group hugging, they are just getting in on loving their Dad!  The sweetest thing about it is that we’re always quiet…we never really announce that we’re hugging or say anything…it’s just a safe, quiet embrace.  Pretty sweet moments… and in them I realize that I have allot of persuasion over the hearts of my children…

Things are quieting down for us around here a bit…we know to savor these weeks!  We know that God builds them in for us to rest and to store away moments of down time… to remember we’ve retreated when things pick up again soon!  We’ll take a vacation in early July and then start rehearsing for some events coming later in the summer.  I’m looking forward to sharing these songs on the road…can’t wait!  I hope to see you this summer!

So anyway…I am so humbled that the record has made it’s way into some of your homes, your cars, your churches, your lives… I’m thankful for the Spirit of God, that as He leads, He gives us perspective and energy to execute the vision.  I need Him tremendously and depend on Him fully for that.  I do become overwhelmed at times with the task before me but He gives perspective in the sweetest way sometimes.  He gives it in a way that makes the most sense to me in this season of life.  He takes a moment to speak it in my heart language… Tonight that looked like my son, Noah, making a “pallet” on the floor so he could be next to his CD player. He wanted to listen to “Life Light Up” as he went to sleep.  God reminded me that He holds the grand vision of it all together, and that includes the humble places where He might do His work…in the heart of a child, on a pallet in the floor…  I’m thankful He’s Lord over it all…

Love,

Christy

Welcome to the new site everyone!  I can’t believe my solo project is available and hopefully will be in the hands of at least a few people today!  After all these years, it feels really right to be releasing these songs at this time of my life with sixstepsrecords. God’s timing is always perfect and I really marvel at Him today with this new release.  My husband Nathan and I have labored over this project for the past several months with much joy and wonder as God has led us through each stage of the process.  Today is like a birth to us in so many ways - it’s finally out there for all to hear and hopefully God will use it in a great way to make much of His name, and to help many to voice their hearts to God in a new way.

Music is powerful…God made it that way.  It’s an invitation to the glorious, making everyday moments a platform for praise, for heart connection, for life beyond what we see with our eyes. “Life Light Up” is filled with hundreds of those moments, where the glorious somehow filled the mundane of my life and out came song after song…  They started as prayers and simple breaths of praise while I was busy doing what was right in front of me…most of the time, mothering!  So these songs continue on in my heart, yet now I share them with you today and pray that you find yourself connected to the God who made you and called you out of darkness, into His marvelous light!

Christy Nockels

Hi Friends,  I just wanted to take some time to connect with you and give you my heartfelt “thanks” for downloading my new song, “Life Light Up”.  I am overwhelmed by the response!  It just hit radio a few weeks ago, and we’re encouraged that some stations have added it already. I got a text from my sister-in-law saying that she heard it for the first time yesterday!

If you haven’t heard it in your area, you can call and request it.  I didn’t know that until recently, but apparently you can!  We are in the last stages of finishing up the rest of the songs, and we are getting so excited about releasing the whole project in June.  My husband, Nathan, produced the album for me and I’ve really been captivated by his creativity towards these new songs.

I’m so grateful for him!

I have so enjoyed getting to be a part of the Hello Love Tour with Chris Tomlin for the past few months.  Chris has been so gracious to let me share a new song in the middle of his set, and I’ve enjoyed leading worship with him each night.  Nathan and I have been friends with Chris for a long time and we are so grateful for his friendship and support of us, and this new project.  This has been my most favorite tour to date, not only because of the incredible music, but also because of the hearts of the artists and crew.  What an amazing night we’ve had city after city, worshiping with so many people and getting to hear Chris share his heart about onemillioncan.com.  After seeing the response each night, I’m more convinced than ever before that the Church is rising up all over the world “for such a time as this.”  Also, getting to know Israel Houghton and his entire team of people on the tour has been an incredible joy!  We have become a family, united in purpose, to see Jesus lifted high and to champion “justice” for the broken places of the world.

Please pray for us as we’ve just set out on the last tour run.  Nathan and our 3 children will join up with me on the tour for a week.  The kids are excited beyond belief about getting to sleep on the “bunk bed bus!”  I look forward to them getting to experience what God is doing each night…  We will end the tour with a Good Friday celebration on April 10th in our new hometown, Atlanta, GA!   Israel will join us as we team up with Louie Giglio and Matt Redman, hosted by Passion City Church and sixstepsrecords, for what I know will be an incredible night of worship!  For more info on joining us that night please visit goodfridayatverizon.com.

As I await the June 2nd release of this record, Life Light Up, my prayer is that God will be glorified in and through it, and that it will be an offering of worship that blesses His heart.  I also pray that those who hear it will experience His presence wherever they are and sing with whole hearts to our living, breathing, amazing God!

May your lives “light up!”

Christy Nockels

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Hi everyone - just wanted to update you tonight. I really thought I would do this on the first few dates of the tour - and take some pictures - but honestly I was battling some weird physical stuff on the tour… I was really sick about 10 days ago and my voice was about gone and I had to get a shot for it…either the meds made me crazy or I have had some sort of inner ear type thing going on because I felt like I was in a “fun house” for about 4 days straight. You know where you feel like you’re walking side ways…my vision was blurred, my hearing was spotty, arms were numb and tingly and my head spinning… and no, I’m not pregnant, so don’t start that rumor! : ) Not quite sure how to explain it all but I will say this - about morning three I finally just realized that God was allowing it and to be thankful in the midst of it. Sometimes for whatever reason God just allows us to be impaired so that we’re FULLY aware that we NEED Him - once that made it’s way to my heart, I really was wrecked by His love over me - that He doesn’t leave us alone or forsake us or let us even rely on ourselves…but He strengthens us by our very own weakness because we utterly have to depend on Him and rely on Him for everything we need… I’m grateful…

SO…just letting you know that you can go to a splash page on christynockels.com to see the select Chris Tomlin HELLO LOVE tour dates that I will be on this Spring. I will not be on every tour stop, only a select amount …but they are all listed on my website and you’ll also find a song on there called “Life Light Up” that you can download! It’s brand new!

I left last Wednesday and joined the tour for the first 4 dates in Hershey, PA, Newark, NJ, Baltimore, MD and Philly, PA. What an incredible time… I’m so humbled and grateful to be on Chris’s tour. Nathan and I have known Chris for over 10 years, and now live in the same great city of Atlanta, and are getting ready to serve together at Passion City Church. passioncitychurch.com The tour has already been incredible - I’ve had so much fun getting to see Chris in his element and listening to him connect with the crowd. Israel Houghton and New Breed are out with Chris as well and I’ve LOVED watching the crowd connect to both Israel and Chris - amazing! Chris has also shared all about onemillioncan.com - a website set up for you to GIVE to trusted causes all around the world through Passion. Passion doesn’t get a “cut”, neither does Chris, it’s just a sure way that you and your family can give and make a difference in the world right where you sit tonight…

I’m so enjoying a few nights at home, especially after such a physically challenging week -I head back out Thursday so I’d love your prayers! I have felt really normal today, so that’s great, and I feel peaceful tonight. We took the kids to eat at their favorite Japanese Steakhouse tonight - we had so much fun, except Annie Rose cried when the chef came out clanging things and lighting up the fire! I was just telling someone the other night that we rarely eat out when we’re home, so it was a fun… and Annie eventually warmed up to the chef and clapped for him when it was over - probably mostly just because it was over…

Anyway - when I return, our whole family packs up and flies to Chicago to be a part of Founder’s Week at Moody Bible Institute. The band, all 3 kids and a nanny! It will be an exciting week and we plan on having some museum outings with the kids…yes, it will be a circus trying to do family outings in Chicago in February, but we’re looking forward to it! : )

Grace and Peace to you!

Your friend,

Christy Nockels

p.s. - oh! I almost forgot…again, I do read all your notes (sometimes days & weeks late) but I do read them, thank you!!! Thank you for your sweet messages. I can’t always reply - I wish I could…but being a mom of 3 and having this schedule I just can’t reply when and how I’d like to! Hopefully you’ll give me grace there… and as much as I’d love to meet all of you while on tour - I can’t get any Chris Tomlin backstage stuff!! : ) lol - you guys are sweet for asking though - I wish I could - but I can’t meet up, security is tight… I know you understand!! : )

lots of love!

Someone asked me recently about how to find out about tour dates and stuff - I know I keep saying this, but my website is currently (for real) under construction with my new record label. I’ll write more about that later… I’m also going to be on tour this Spring (on some select dates as a “special guest”) and I’ll fill you in on that really soon as well… While the website is under construction, and when I’m able to let you know for sure, you can find info here on where I’ll be when - I have to admit, I forgot to post that I was in Marion, IL the other night…but I will try to from now on.. The dates I have this Spring are all either closed events like specific conferences and such or the tour I was telling you about.. So keep watching my FB page until my website is up…

Thanks to all of you! You’re the best! : )

Christy

It’s true…sometimes the best thing about going away is coming home…Don’t get me wrong I LOVED Hong Kong and Sydney…I’m AMAZED at what God is doing all over the world. In case you’ve ever wondered if the Church around the world is alive…it is! I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have been a small part of what God is doing around the world, to get to see it with my eyes and to experience it with our Passion family was a highlight of my life! I’m amazed at how God uses the “little” team of Passion - it’s like David and Goliath really… for this small team to tackle the “world tour” is truly a display of the Holy Spirit working in and through some very amazing people. I’m so amazed when we rolled into each city that there was already this whole world spinning - volunteers, catering, ministry partners, etc… the teams who took on each city not only committed to these cities but invested in these cities - with lasting impact. So thank you to the Morris’s, McCloskey’s, Bostics, Radford & family, Jennifer, Garrett, & the whole Passion family of lead worshipers and conference staff - all of you amaze me and I’m constantly overwhelmed by what God does through each of you when we all come together.

In Sydney I was able to spend allot of time with my friend Jill McCloghry and her husband Matty. Jill nannied for us back in 2003 and she has become a very dear friend over the years. I’ll never forget the day she told me she was going to Sydney for a Hillsong conference…I had this sinking feeling I wouldn’t see her ever again! : ) I was close… She ended up meeting Matt “Stealth” McCloghry aka “Matty” - and decided she couldn’t live without him - and I agreed that she shouldn’t- so along with her family and friends…we watched them marry almost 2 Decembers ago… They’ve lived in Sydney, where Matty’s from, ever since. So this was the first time I was able to go and see their “world”. They have already seen our new “world” in Atlanta, so we’re now grateful to know where each other resides… They took great care of me - except when Matty forgot to grab my small, carry on bag from the airport and left it just sitting there. It was lost for one whole day and I was about to throw up because my laptop was in it - along with a bunch of stuff I bought my kids in China! I’m just kidding - it actually wasn’t his fault - it was mine! Matty had my HUGE bag and it was actually quite fun watching him cram it in Mia’s little Pulsar. So yea, it was my fault - I was just too excited to see them and I walked off and left it sitting there… We did find it the next day - I think I thanked God out loud about 100 times… I was able to go to Hillsong with them for church Sunday night - it was so fun to get the feel of that “live” and get to meet some of their closest friends… We had such an amazing time…

So yea, I’m grateful tonight to have been where I just was…some very beautiful ciites…but I’m telling you, I couldn’t crane my neck far enough to see outside as I landed in Atlanta Thursday morning. I know, it’s sounds funny flying from Sydney and then lunch in Hawaii (check the new photo album), but I couldn’t get off the plane fast enough. I rode the MARTA to the North Springs station and Nathan picked me up there. I ran to the car to hug Nathan (left my bags sitting there again) and went to tickle and kiss Annie Rose in her car seat. As we drove home I looked around me, inside the car and out, and felt….peace - there’s nowhere else I wanted to be… That peace led to an all day nap (my sweet husband is so patient) and I still slept all night…

Home. Sweet. Home.