random dreams...

someday, i want--

to own an used bookstore/coffee shop.
to open a wedding/party planning business.
to travel europe -- as many parts of it as i can.
to visit australia.
to return to russia.

--among many other things.

please pray with me!

well, this morning my little sister, cassidy, went off on a plane to honduras for 7 weeks. she and a friend, samantha, were given an amazing opportunity to live in the home of orphanage directors (bill and mary) for the next 5-6 weeks. the orphanage is home to about 22 boys ranging in age from toddler to 17 years old. cass and sam will be helping around the orphanage mainly in school type lessons. english and math especially. they also took a bunch of craft supplies with them to share with the boys. at the end of that time, our church missions team will arrive. cass and sam will join the team at the point and participate in the scheduled mission trip. which will be more interaction with the boys in the orphanage as well as more community outreach in the village.

cassidy has been so excited about the opportunity for several months. but, 7 weeks is a long time to be away from family and friends. not to mention the fact that she is giving up a big portion of her summer to do this. and the comforts at home -- like air conditioning, food they are used to, english, their own rooms (among other things). on the other hand, they will gain so much more than they are giving up for this experience.

please pray for cassidy and samantha throughout these 7 weeks for:
~safety
~staying healthy
~bonding with the boys and other children in the village
~their time with mary -- she is so excited to have girls come stay with her! she is surrounded by boys and hungers for "girl-time."
~comfort while being away from their families, especially -- and also their friends.

and you can also pray for their families here at home. i know i am going to miss cass terribly. and i can imagine it's going to be tough for scott and viv, too. and for sam's family. while we are excited for them, we are also selfishly missing them! :)

my creations

every once and awhile i feel crafty. i get inspired by so many things around me. i love to pick up a new "crafty" magazine or walk through hobby lobby or jo ann's crafts and come up with new projects. of course, i'm a bit ADD when it comes to this stuff. i get impatient halfway through a project and sometimes i don't follow through with the materials that i bought. i attribute part of that to the fact that i don't have a "craft room." someday, in my dream home, i will have a designated "craft room." with a huge table on which i can create my projects and tons of storage to store my huge supply of craft "stuff." hey, i can dream, right? ;)

anyhow, i thought i would share some of my crafty creations over the past couple years. sadly, i don't have photographs of everything i have made and given away. i am sorely tempted to take photos of every single project from handmade note cards to the larger things like jamie's bulletin board. but, it seems slightly prideful and i refrain many times. i also have buried photos before the time of digital cameras somewhere that i haven't included here.

my creations

mighty to save

so... today was the last day with our current worship pastor at tbc (tomball bible church). he's a really great worship leader that is the whole package. great voice, amazing talent on the guitar and piano, wise insight into the words of a song and the ability to tie into the sermon. he also would occasionally share a song he had written with us. really neat guy. he's brought so much to our church through music and drama.

anyhow -- today was just an amazing worship service. we sang a song that is fairly new to us. we've sung a few times in the past few months. i absolutely fell in love with it the first time we sang it. i had previously tried to find it online, but couldn't. well, tonight i finally found it! i actually even came up with a video, also. i just wanted to share the words and the music with you. it's just one of those that makes you want to raise your hands to God and sing your heart out. the video itself is poor quality, but it's so much more powerful if you can hear the words, not just read them.

everyone needs compassion
a love that's never failing
let mercy fall on me
everyone needs forgiveness
a kindness of a Savior
the hope of nations

Savior, He can move the mountains
my God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
forever, Author of Salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

so take me as You find me
all my fears and failures
fill my life again
i give my life to follow
everything i believe in
now i surrender

Savior, He can move the mountains
my God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
forever, Author of Salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

shine your light and let the whole world see
we're singing for the glory of the risen King... Jesus

Jamie's Baby Shower and the Quilt Show

Yesterday, I had the privilege of co-hostessing Jamie's baby shower along with her sister-in-law Kimberly, a good friend Mary, and Julie. I think this picture is the first one since the three of us lived together in our University Place apartment in Huntsville. Oh, the memories... haha. Jamie and I manage to meet for dinner every other month or so, but I hadn't seen Julie in way too long. It was good to hang out with both of these girls... Plus, I got to see so many girls from my Sam Houston days. I swiped this photo from Julie's blog... Thanks, Julie! :)



This is a photo of the bulletin board I made for the new little guy's nursery. It's unfinished... I'm going to add his name in the upper left corner. But, that will have to wait until he makes his arrival somewhere near June 20th. Jamie and Josh have decided to keep his name an absolute secret until then!





Before the shower, I dropped my mom off at the airport -- she went to Pennsylvania to stay with my dad until he comes back in November. Then, I headed on to Huntsville for the shower. Much to my enjoyment, I had time to stop by the Airing of the Quilts, an annual quilt show on the square. My mom's friend Gloria is an amazing quilter and had many of her quilts out. Unfortunately, I never found Gloria but I had a lot of fun looking at all the beautiful quilts. I was wishing I had my camera to capture the quilts blowing in the breeze -- they were hanging everywhere along the square! -- but, I had to settle for using my camera phone.

oops!

i meant to post where the rest of my wedding pics are. they are unedited, uncut, and uncaptioned. but they are up! so, enjoy! i'll post more as i gather them from others (that's a big hint to those of you harboring pictures!) and hopefully the photographers pictures will be up soon also.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mcmullen.kelly/CaseyAndZacsWedding

casey's wedding

well, the wedding whirlwind is over! i can hardly believe it came and went already. the last couple weeks have been so full of wedding and shower plans and now it's all over!

wednesday night began the weekend of partying. those that were in town met up at del pueblo for a dinner. nothing special, but we got to meet some of the groomsmen that had come in. thursday the guys went to play golf and then pick up their tuxes later in the day. i spent the day preparing food and gifts for casey's lingerie shower/bachlorette party. i had a blast hanging out with the girls and just pampering casey. she got some really pretty things. we also got to get to know a little more about casey and zac's relationship. earlier in the week, cassidy and i came up with some questions for zac and then we videotaped his answers. during the shower, we asked casey the same questions, let her answer, then played his answers. it was quite hilarious. especially since zac couldn't just answer the questions... he had to do costume changes for each one. that night we headed to a house owned by a family in our church. they were incredible and let us borrow their house for the weekend so that the girls could all stay in one place. it was so neat to be able to do that. on top of that, they totally pampered us. it was like staying in a hotel!

friday i had several errands to run and the girls worked on folding the wedding programs. that evening we got up to ashelynn manor for our rehearsal. the people at ashelynn manor were great. they were very helpful and had us through the rehearsal in no time. we headed to the bake shoppe for the rehearsal dinner. then, it was on to the rosenbaum's (zac's parents) house for a party. we got to meet some extended family and just hang out. we then headed back to the ikel's to find beds for all the girls (we had acquired a couple new girls that needed beds). i helped cassidy a bit with her toast, hung out a bit with some of the girls that hadn't gone to bed, and then ashley and i headed back to my house and bed ourselves. however, when we got home, chris and chad had just gotten home from the rosenbaum's. (chad and ashley are chris' cousins). so we hung out with them a bit and cleaned up some of the leftover shower food. by this time it was about 3:30 a.m., so we decided to head to bed.

saturday morning was really special. suellen plachy invited the bridesmaids over for a brunch. she and her daughter ellie served us a wonderful array of food and let us have some girl time. and of course, it was quite a teary girl time. casey shared with each of us why she chose us to stand with her on her wedding day. we also got to have a really neat prayer time with her. it was definitely a very incredible morning. and very emotional. it's a good thing i didn't bother with make up. it would've all been cried off if i had. after that, it was on to the showers and then to ashelynn manor. things just flew by after that. we did our hair and make up, barely got dressed, and then it was time for pictures. i can't wait to see the pictures from the photographer, he seemed pretty on top of things and i think he had some creative stuff going on.

the ceremony was one of the best i've experienced -- despite the fact it was 40 minutes long, my feet were dying, the sun was in my eyes, and bugs were crawling on me -- but truly it was incredible and i was so blessed to be standing up there. it was such a sweet time. casey and zac wrote their vows, they had a couple friends sing/play guitar, and they shared communion as their first thing as husband and wife. their pastor from austin did an incredible job with the ceremony.

the reception was one big party. i got to visit with several people, but there were several i missed talking to. i guess that's par for the course... casey and zac's first dance was something only casey and zac would do. they choreographed a really fun dance to a fast paced song (the name slips me) and kept it a secret from everyone until the music came on. it was simply amazing.

it was such an incredible weekend. i loved how God was woven into so much of everything that happened. i've watched casey grow up from a young girl to a Godly woman. her relationship with zac is nothing but Christ-centered. it has been so amazing to watch casey over the past years become the woman that she is and to now watch her and zac create this relationship. i admire casey deeply and praise God for what He has done in her life. after the rehearsal friday night, i took casey for one final wedding dress fitting (a whole other story completely) and on the way casey and i had a chance to talk about a certain subject. her words to me were so touching and so wise. i could hardly believe the truth that effortlessly came from her. she is so passionate about her relationship with Christ and it just pours out of her. i thank God for her and that relationship every day.

while i'm on the subject of gushing about my sisters -- i have to say cassidy and i have had a blast planning this whole thing. cassidy and i have always had a wonderful relationship and i admire her on many levels also. she, once again, showed me her wise and beautiful spirit the past couple weeks. i absolutely love spending time with her despite the fact she is 10 years younger than me. yet, in so many ways, she is if not equal, but usually wiser than i am. i just can't even imagine what i have done to be blessed with these girls in my life. but, i am abundantly grateful! my cup runneth over!

okay -- one last gush -- i've only met a handful of casey's austin friends. this weekend i got to know them better and got to meet a few new ones. her bridesmaids were amazing girls and the way they have each affected casey's life is simply written by the hand of God. i love every single one of them and only wish they lived closer!