Four Wheeling in the Mountains

So...Will and I had the opportunity to go four wheeling in the mountains on Father's Day. I can not even begin to describe how beautiful it was. Father's Day was sort of a hard day because both of us were away from our dads but being invited to hang out with some of our church family was def. a blessing! Enjoy the pictures that we took on our journey :)

This is where we started off from.

Getting the ATVs ready.

A quarter of the way up the mountain we ran into this beautiful lake.

A little closer view.

We also got to drive through the part of the mountain where the boy scout fire happened.

It was so sad to see how much of the beautiful forest was destroyed.

We were practically at the top of the mountain at this point.

Lookout of the land below.

View of where we were.

We didn't see a moose on our ride but we were told that it was very likely that we could see one.

Will replicating a face that he made as we were coming down the mountain. A couple of those turns were really sharp and made it pretty scary.

The result of our ride was a face full of dirt. Actually lets be real...every part of our skin that was showing was full of dirt. My hair was also one big knot :)

Hard Week

Howdy!! How are you guys? I have been doing good but have had a couple of days where I just really miss my family. Will and I have been keeping pretty busy which helps me on the hard days. We have been taking walks down by the river after supper every night and that reminds me a little bit of home. I sure do miss ALL of those lakes! A couple of Mondays ago I had the opportunity to go down to Salt Lake City with one of my friends here and that was a lot of fun. She is from a fairly large city as well and just moved to Evanston so I have been able to connect with her. We went down there and spent the day at a beautiful outdoor mall. It was a refreshing time and fun to hang out and have some girl time. 


This past weekend I had to say good-bye to one of my other friends that I met here in Evanston and that was really tough. Just as I was really developing a firm friendship I had to say good-bye. I am so excited to see where God is going to take them and I know that our friendship will continue through the distance. I feel like God is teaching me a lot when it comes to friendships. Being a very shy and reserved person, it tends to take a long time for me to be able to fully open up. A lot of the time I miss the familiarity of the friends I had back home. I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer...it's just how I have been feeling lately. I feel so blessed to have made as many friends as I have already and I am excited to see how God will develop each and everyone of them.  


This week Will and I have the opportunity to watch the cutest little puppy ever. Her name is Katy and she is so much fun! I am so thankful that we were able to watch her because I really want a dog. It gives me a friend to hang out with during the day! For those of you who didn't hear how the jobs turned out, I got the one day a week nanny job! Thank you God for the income you have provided for me. I am now waiting to here back from a daycare here in town so if you want to pray about that for us we would really appreciate it! Thank you! 


I miss you all and hope to here from all of you soon! 

Discerning the Voice of God

God is so good! I am doing this study called Discerning The Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer with some fellow women from Evanston Alliance Church and God has been showing me some pretty powerful stuff. His voice is a voice of LOVE, not one of condemnation. As humans if we have questions or are contemplating something we usually want the answer to that particular thing twi seconds ago...right?! We live in such a fast paced society that sometimes we lose focus of what patience is and even more importantly what patience is in God's eyes. I like the way Priscilla put it, "Often we seek to know God's direction more than we seek to know God...God wants to speak to you because He wants you to know Him; knowing His direction is just a by-product." Amen! The answers aren't what we need (yes it's what we want most of the time), it's a relationship with Christ is what we truly need (the answers and direction will come when we chose to get closer and closer with God). 


I don't know about you guys but I am definitely guilty of this sometimes. If fact, just this past month I was really starting to wonder if I was ever going to hear back about a potential job offer. Now, I wasn't getting frustrated or losing sight of God's will but I was just starting to wonder. I knew that I didn't have to worry about where God was going to put me but I could tell I was letting my mind wander and little too much so I took it to the Lord. Within the last week I have heard back from two different places. God not only answered my prayer but He answered it abundantly. Will and I are excited to see where God is going to place me and for those of you who keep track of our prayer requests this is another one. I have complete faith that God is going to show me which one of the two is right for me and I also believe that if neither one is where He wants me He will make that clear as well. 

One of the beautiful pictures that my cousin Katie took for our one year anniversary!

As for tonight, Will and I are going to watch one of the future youths play some baseball. It is a beautiful day today so it should be fun to spend some time outside. Thank you for all of your prayers and loving advice as we are transitioning here in Evanston. We miss everyone so much and hope so here from some of you soon. We would love to here how life is going for all of you so if you have any funny stories or even just want to say hi feel free to shoot me an e-mail at kayla.j.kelly@hotmail.com Ta Ta for now!    

Traveling...Traveling...& more Traveling

WOW!!!! The last couple of weeks have been absolutely crazy. We spent a week in Billings the last week of April for District Conference and that was a lot of fun. I look forward to going to it again next year. I had the privilege of meeting some pretty cool Pastors and Pastors' wives within the Rocky Mountain District. Will and I left the conference in awe of how much God has truly blessed us. 


On April 30th, 2012 Will and I celebrated our one year anniversary. We knew we were going to be busy on our actual anniversary  so we spent the weekend before it at the Thermopolis Hot Springs. I am so glad that we not only had the opportunity to do that but also that we decided to take some time to spend as just the two of us together. Looking back over the past year of marriage almost makes me want to cry. Will has been way more than the husband I ever imagined I would have the chance to love. He makes me strive to want to grow in my faith, learn how to humbly love him more and more, and to serve others with an unconditional love that only comes from Christ. Within the ONE year that we have been married God has blessed us with two dependable cars, an apartment up in Faith Village, Will's graduation in December, a Youth Pastor position for Will, and a beautiful house! I am speechless! We pray that we can help bless others through what God has blessed us with.


After our trip to the Hot Springs, we had about three days to breathe and then it was off to Minnesota. Even though Will graduated in December, he had the opportunity to walk with his class this past weekend. The ceremony was beautiful! Brady Griffith was the student speaker and he did an amazing job. We had so much fun seeing all of our friends from Crown. We pray that God would use the class of 2012 in ways that are un-comprehendible to us. Will's family also made it over for the ceremony so that was really fun. I think it meant a lot to them to be able to see him walk. While we were there we also got the chance to visit our former co-workers. We stopped at the hospital where I used to work about an hour after we got to my parents house. Being able to see my co-workers meant so much to me. So many people asked me if I was there to work and I wanted so badly to say yes!! I miss everybody so much! I also miss all of the kids. Will also got the opportunity to see everyone at the daycare where he used to work. Over the years I have gotten to know many of the people there as well so it was fun being able to reconnect. The kids there are all so funny and cute! My mom was at a scrapbooking retreat that was fairly close to Crown, so I stopped over there to say hi to her and to everyone else that was there. I normally go with my mom on those retreats so I wish I could have stayed and done crafts with them. I miss my mom so much! 


We have now been back in Evanston for about two days and still catching up on sleep. Traveling is exhausting and we also had to get up super early several of the days on our trip. I went to bed last night not feeling the best so if you are in the mood for praying for us you can just pray that I would feel better and also for both of us to catch up on sleep. After I have caught up on some house work I will write again. Love you all and talk to you again soon!

Two Week Update

Hey everybody!!! It's been a long time since I posted last. Will and I have had a very busy but exciting last two weeks. About two weeks ago my Parents, Brother, and Grandma got the opportunity to spend a full week with us. Their "vacation" wasn't all that relaxing tho. They worked, worked, and kept working on our house. We got so much accomplished because of them. We painted the kitchen, dining room, living room, three bathrooms, and our bedroom. My dad laid carpet in our hallway downstairs and in our living room. He also fixed the sealing on our back door and put up new bronze appliances in our master bathroom. My Grandma didn't want to quite so she also painted our garage door and our front door. We are so thankful for that because we wanted to get that done at some point but we never thought it would get done while they were here. I'm sure other things got done as well but I am blanking on them right now. 


The day before they left we got a surprise visit from my other Grandma and Grandpa and my uncle Jeff. They were on their way back to Minnesota from California. It was so much fun to have so many family members in our new house. We had a big roast, potatoes, corn, green beans, and some rolls. After dinner they had to continue on their journey back home. That time is a very treasured time for me because I know that I won't get that very often. Great, and now I'm crying! :) I am so thankful that my family would take the time to come and see us. We know that Evanston isn't that exciting but we can find fun things to do. Being away from family is hard but it has also shown me how amazing God is. He is truly my provider and my comfort!


Ok, so now that the crying has somewhat subsided, I can move on :) My family left on Friday, March 30th and Will and I left that same day for a Youth Leaders Conference in Billings, MT. The conference that we got the opportunity to attend was amazing. God revealed so many things to me that weekend. I may write a separate post on that later on but for now I will just share with you that God has really challenged me with several different things. 


With the conference being in Billings, we got the opportunity to see some of Will's family. We also got to meet the beautiful little miss Felicia. She is about three months old (Brandi if I got that wrong I am very sorry) and she is absolutely gorgeous!!! I think all babies are cute but this little one was beautiful. After the conference was over, Linda (Will's Mom) got to come back to Evanston with us. She was able to spend a full week with us as well. She is a teacher and she had spring break so she decided to spend it with us. We didn't do to much with her because we wanted her to have the opportunity to rest. Her and I did do some crafts while she was here though. She made and tie-blanket and I did some crocheting and I also made a welcome sign. I will post a blog about that hopefully tomorrow (with pictures). While she was here, she also taught me some of her recipes. One of them in particular was her homemade enchiladas. YUM!!!! Will made sure that I take not of how to make them because he misses him Momma's cooking. I took note of every little detail...hoping that the first time I make it on my own he lowers his expectations a little bit :) I had so much fun spending time with Linda and I hope that we can do it again sometime.


We dropped Linda off at the airport on Monday. Will and her have a special bond and every time she has to say goodbye to him I can see her start to tear up. Being able to see them embrace and her start to cry as she says goodbye is one of the sweetest things. Will has a special place in his heart for his mom and I know that deep down a lot of boys do too but his is a different one. He calls his mom his hero and I can tell by the way he treats her that, that is where he learned how to love me. Sorry, man I am getting emotional today! After we dropped her off we decided to stop at Target because the closest one to us is about an hour and fifteen minutes away from us. I love Target so this was kind of fun for me.


Yesterday I cleaned because after having company for about two full weeks and being busy with other things, cleaning sort of gets put on the back burner. Our house is now clean and feels put back together. Will had the opportunity to go golfing with two the youth yesterday and I walked with them. It was absolutely beautiful out yesterday. It was seventy degrees with a little breeze, partly cloudy but the sun was shining the whole day. I was enjoying every minute of it until we got home and I noticed how sunburned I got. I never would have thought that I would have gotten this sunburnt. I am not kidding you, I look like a lobster! It hurts so bad! And it's not even a pretty sunburn where when the redness fades it will be a pretty tan. No, I was wearing a t-shirt and capris. So I have a very defined line really close to my neck, half way down my arm, and right at my knees. Yeah it is beautiful!!! At least I got some color right ?! HAHAHA 


Anyways, sorry this post was so long but I figured if I was going to update you on some things I might as well update you on everything. Please be looking for my posts on my crafts and also the pictures of the updates to our house!

God's Overflowing Love

Hello again everyone!!! Will and I are absolutely loving our house. I have spent almost every day putting things away and hanging up pictures. It is sort of starting to feel like our OWN house; although, getting our first mortgage bill in the mail today may have helped with that :) HAHAHA


I will take pictures very very soon so I can update the ones that I already have on here. My family will be coming in just a little over a week and I am getting so excited. I miss seeing them all of the time. It will be my brother Calvin's spring break and he chose to come and see his sister...oh how sweet! We don't have much planned but it will be fun none the less. I do know that my mom and my grandma are going to help me paint and my dad is going to lay some carpet for us. What a blessing but I do feel bad that they are coming here and working (just know that I love you guys!!!).


I know I have said this already but God's provision is so amazing! I was just telling Will last night, I would have never thought that by the time I was 23 I would be married, would have moved away from MN, would watch the love of my life become a Youth Pastor, and would purchase our first home together. WOW! God your love is overflowing in more ways than I ever could have imagined. Thank you for all that you have provided for Will and I.


I just realized that I randomly start praying in my blogs sometimes...i'm sorry, I hope that doesn't confuse you. :) It is really weird not working right now. I have applied but we are waiting to hear back and to also see what God is going to do with that. I really miss everyone at Fairview in the Surgery Center. Do you guys want to move the hospital out here? Just kidding! Although I would like that. While I wait, I have taken up a new hobby (besides unpacking) and that is crocheting. I think I may have mentioned this before but I have taken on some new projects as I have gotten the hang of things. I am going to create a new tab and post some pictures of things I have made. I hope you enjoy them! Talk to y'all again soon!

Setting Up Home

Hello everyone!! We have officially been in our new house for about five days and it feels so good. Moving went incredibly smooth thanks to our new family at Evanston Alliance Church. We loaded everything up in about 20 minutes and unloaded everything in about 30 minutes....WOW! I still cannot believe we moved in under an hour. We felt so blessed and encouraged by how many people came to help us. Thank you Lord for number one providing us with this cozy home and number two for everyone that came and helped us move in.


It doesn't really feel like we have been there almost a full week but I guess that is a good thing. I wake up in the morning and still question if this is really my house and if Will really got a job within a month after graduating and then God whispers to me, "Kayla, I am in control and I have placed you right where I want you. I will provide for you every step of the way." What a comforting feeling! God you are so good! I have loved every minute of unpacking and setting up our new home. Every night when Will gets home from work, he is just stunned at home much I have gotten done. Now don't get me wrong, there are still boxes everywhere, but it is looking more and more like a home everyday. 


I have also started to attend a women's Bible Study on Tuesday mornings and I have been loving it. They are going through a Beth Moore study right now and it is focused on the book of James. If you haven't read the book of James you should but be prepared for God to do some work on you heart. All of the girls that attend this study are so real and transparent with each other, that it allows everyone to grow individually and as a group. My prayer is that I will be able to make some lifelong friendships in this group and that God would continue to grow me into the woman that He wants me to be.


Will and I have officially been here in Evanston, WY a little over a month and it is sort of starting to sink in that this is our home. The thing that I have enjoyed the most about our move, is being able to grow closer to Will. We have made friends quickly but having no family around gets hard sometimes, so knowing that Will is always right there with me is so comforting. He is such a wonderful, God fearing, handsome, and loving husband. I look up to him so much!


Well, enough of my blabbering :) We still do not have internet but hopefully by Monday of next week we will have it and I will be able to give you some more updates. AND, if any of you want to have a skype date to see our new house maybe we can set one up at that point as well. Love and miss you all!

We Closed On Our First House

Hello everyone!!! Sorry I haven't been on in a while...things have been kind of crazy. This morning Will and I closed on our first home. We signed many papers that said the same thing just in a little different wording and were handed our keys a little after 10! We went straight over to the house and we just stood there in disbelief. We have no words for how blessed we feel right now. God has provided for us in so many amazing ways since we got married last April. 


After we celebrated for a little bit, Will went off to work and I stayed to do some cleaning. Our house has been vacant for about six months or so, so it really needed a good scrub down. I cleaned for about five hours and realized how much I miss my mom. As I was cleaning I started to think about how much I wish my mom was there to help me and it wasn't even about the help but it was more about being able to celebrate with her. I love you mom! I have to keep telling myself I will see here in about a month. Anyways, we are planning on moving  into our house on Friday...pending the weather. We got about three inches of snow today and within the next two days we are supposed to get anywhere between 15-20 inches of snow :( OH BOY!!!! That is one thing that we would love your prayers for, good weather for moving. 


As we continue to get settled into our new house I will add more pictures for everyone to see. I may not be on the computer for awhile after Friday because we still have to get our internet set up but as soon as we do, you will be hearing from me :) Love and miss you all!

God's Love for His Children is Indescribable

WOW! What an amazing weekend! Will and I got the opportunity (along with the youth sponsors that organized the trip) to take the youth of Evanston to Snowcraze. Snowcraze is a winter retreat that is located up in Bozeman, MT. It is a weekend of fun, fellowship, growing, worshiping, and connecting with fellow believers in Christ. To be honest with you, Will and I were a little nervous to be going, considering we hadn't even been there two full weeks but God, being the amazing creator that He is, turned it into a weekend that we needed just as much as the kids. It was a weekend dedicated to getting to know the kids on a deeper level and without that it probably would have taken us a lot longer to get to know them and also to have them open up to us. We were also blessed to be able to get to know some of the youth sponsors a little better as well. 

I got the opportunity to stay in a cabin with thirteen other girls. That many girls in one cabin made for some amazing talks, funny moments, lots of bonding times, late nights, a lot of giggles, some tears that were shed, several heads that needed to be french braided, and many friendships that were made. On Saturday the kids were able to attend two of four different sessions that they had planned and then in the afternoon it was free time. Free time consisted of either tubing or broomball. I went tubing with some of the girls from our youth group and had a ton of fun. It was a little bit different than the tubing we have in Minnesota. Minnesota is fairly flat and the hills that are "created" there are not all that tall. Well this camp that we were at was located in the mountains, so let me tell you no hills needed to be created. I got quite the workout! I am still trying to get used to this elevation change. On Sunday, the kids were able to choose whether or not they wanted to go skiing or go to the Hot Springs. Being the inexperienced skier that I am I naturally chose the Hot Springs. I had never been to the Hot Springs before so I was pretty excited. This particular one that we went to had some of the pools inside and some outside. The middle school girls did end up talking me into going to the one outside and they even talked me into getting into the snow and then jumping into the pool....BRRRRRR!


Every night and also on Monday morning the kids got the opportunity to go to Chapel. Worship was led by the wonderful Elijah Scheidler and the message titled "Follow Me" was given by Brian Wiggins. Chapel was a time for the kids (and leaders) to focus solely on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit was definitely present and felt by everyone. Being able to see God's children worship with their whole hearts was something that I cannot explain. The only thing I could do was smile and let the tears run down my face. Seeing lives changed and hearts transformed was such a blessing from God. Being able to see the transparency of God working in Elijah's life and the boldness that it took for Brian to let God speak through him helped the kids to truly understand what it means to have Christ working in their lives. Two of the songs that really effected everyone at Snowcraze were "The Stand" by Hillsong and "You won't Relent" by Misty Edwards/ Jesus Culture. "The Stand" is a song that talks about standing before Christ and offering our heart completely to Him. It also talks about standing before Him in awe and abandoning our hearts to Him because He gave it ALL for us. "You won't Relent" is a song that talks about God not giving up until He has all of us. It is also a song for believers to declare that we will set God as a seal upon our hearts. Both of these songs were sung as promises to God that we would give Him our whole life. The Holy Spirit really worked in and through Elijah and Brian. 


Something that Elijah said that really challenged me was, "We need to abide in Jesus and surrender all of our fears and failures to Him in order to truly hear what He is saying to us." Being in a new place, away from all of my friends and family, it is hard not to let fear in. But the minute I let that consume my mind God's voice seems to get muffled. By abiding in Christ and surrendering that fear of the unknown to God, I will be able to  clearly hear what God wants me to do. Brian also said that, "God has us exactly where He wants us. He is going to use us in the here and now." This weekend was a great reminder that God was the one that has brought us to Evanston, WY and He is the one that is going to use us! I am so thankful for the kids and leaders of the Evanston Youth Group! 


Below are two links to those two songs I had mentioned earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEJnePjJZaM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAQ61KH7qRc

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello everyone! Happy Valentine's Day! I pray you had a fantastic day spending it with the people that you love most. Although this is Will and I's third Valentine's Day together, it feels so different as a married couple. Being married to Will has been one of the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. The love that Will has shown me is unexplainable and to know that the love from our Savior is so much bigger than any love that we will ever feel here on earth and is literally unexplainable, just blows my mind.

Our Valentine's Day was just a day of fun! We didn't do too much but we sure had fun!! I looked for a Valentine's Day card for Will for a very long time. I just couldn't find one that said, "This is the one!" So, I kept looking and looking and looking, until...cue the lights and the music...TADA! I had finally found the one! It was definitely not an over the top love card. No, rather it was a card that made me literally laugh out loud in the store. It was PERFECT!!! I also bought him a shirt that says, "I put the MAN in romance!" (You can find a picture of both the card and the shirt on facebook.) We laughed for about an hour after I gave it to him and then we finished out the night with some pizza and a movie. I also taught myself how to crochet while watching the movie. Overall, it was a great first Valentine's Day as a married couple! Thank you for the husband you have given me Lord! Goodnight everyone!!

God's Comfort in Simple Reminders

Isn't God good!!! I can not even begin to tell you just how blessed Will and I feel. We have felt so welcomed here in Evanston by our church family that we feel like we have known everyone for years. This past week I have been thinking a lot about what a church family truly means and to go a little further what brothers and sisters in Christ truly means. Sometimes I think we get into such a rhythm of the familiarity of life that we lose sight of the work that God is doing around the world. What do I mean by that? Well, living in Apple Valley, MN my whole life (which I miss very much) and going to Crown College, I seemed to have a limited view of who my brothers and sisters in Christ truly are. I felt so comfortable and content with where God had me that I just thought the only brothers and sister in Christ that I would ever have were the people that lived near me in MN. HAHAHA! God showed me a thing or two. He has opened my eyes to not only my new brothers and sisters in Christ but also to the fact that there are Christians all over the world that are my brothers and sisters in Christ.  God's family is constantly growing, which means mine is too!

Tomorrow will be a week that we have officially been in Evanston, WY. It has been a challenging but rewarding week. Challenging in the sense that we are learning to call some place else our home, learning what Will's hours look like as a Youth Pastor, and being away from friends and family. Rewarding in the fact that we have already made some great friendships, been welcomed into Lana's home until ours in ready, and learning how to invest in the students lives. This past Thursday was Will's first Thursday leading the Youth Group. Will and I thought it would been good if we each shared our testimony for the first week. That way we are able to be vulnerable with the students and hopefully they will in turn be vulnerable with us. It seemed like the kids responded really well to our testimonies and we just pray that God will use them for His Glory. As I was listening to Will's testimony, I was really missing my family and being the worry-wort that I am, wondering how in the world God is going to use two 23 year olds to minister to these kids. I'll be honest I was distracted and even though I have heard Will's testimony several times before, God still wanted to teach/ show me something through his testimony. Will shared a verse that I have heard several times before but being able to hear in from my husband and right when I needed it, it gave me a real sense of peace and comfort. The verse was;

Philippians 1:6

New International Version (NIV)

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

God has us right where he wants us and he has already started a good work in and through us, but that's not the best part. The best part is that He is going to carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. God is going to be with us every step of the way. We will never be alone in this ministry. All we have to be are God's hands and feet and He will do the rest!! :) 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Our Trip from MN to WY

The last thing we did before we left Crown was clean out our fridge.

This was the view that my mom and I got to look at for about 23 hours!

The first part of our drive was really foggy but we hit a point where it suddenly went away and the beautiful sun came out.

Will's first time driving the U-Haul...Bill looks a little scared.

The beautiful sunrise on our second day of driving!!!

We would like you to meet the sycho birds that we meet in MT.

This was one of the most beautiful mountain passes I have ever been through!

Hands up!!

Tunnel Number One!

Tunnel Number Two!

God's wonderful creation!!!

We made it! Now it is time to say goodbye to our U-Haul.

My travel buddy!

Will's travel buddy!

This wonderful lady is Lana! And she has been kind enough to let us live with her while we finish closing on our townhouse. Thanks Lana!

Our New Home

Hello Everyone!!!! Will and I are officially in Evanston, WY and slowly but surely adjusting to life out in the wild west :) Ok, ok, ok so it's not really the wild west but it's much more country than Apple Valley, MN. Today has been the hardest day thus far because I had to say goodbye to my mom. We dropped my father-in-law and my mom off at the Salt Lake City airport this morning and I think that was what solidified the fact that this is now our new home for me. Leaving them at the airport and having to walk back to the car was one of the hardest things I have had to do. To me it was kind of like a leap of faith; because now is the time in our life where Will and I are not only going to have to lean on each other but most importantly on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ during this time of transition. I am so excited to begin this journey in our lives but as I say that I am also a little scared and nervous. I know that God has some great plans for us here in Evanston and we are excited to see what they are!