Seriously this summer is just flying by! I wish it was easy to stay on top of things but I feel like I am always playing catch up on EVERYTHING! So I think the best way for me to wrap up the month of June is through pictures because if you know anything about me you know that I LOVE pictures! So last blog post was June 9th so lets pick up from there!
(WARNING: LONG POST thats what happens when you go a WHOLE month without blogging)
Ok I pulled some pictures pre-June 9th but you'll forgive me right?!
So 3 years ago when we started Solace church it was a small group of misfits trying to figure out how this whole Church Planting thing works (we are still misfits and still trying to figure out how it works but we're getting there). When we started 3 years ago our "Children's Ministry" had 2 kids (the pastor and his wife's 2 kids). At the time we didn't even pray for more kids because the current building we were in wasn't too ideal for Children's Ministry growth. Cindi our pastor's wife would take her kids back and teach them. It wasn't until about a year into it we had another family with kids join the church they had 3 kids all around the same age as the other 2 so we were still good. Shortly around that same time, we had a young couple start coming to church who were expecting their first child and she was born a year ago March and since then we have had about 5 other little ones become members of this small ministry. We got to the point where we needed a little ones room so the older kids could learn and Cindi could focus on teaching them. And now that we are in a much more ideal location for that to happen we now have TWO rooms! This is very exciting for our congregation and its such a blessing to have the little ones look forward to "playing with friends at church!"
It took awhile for summer to get to us here in Missouri so we had some summer nights spent by the fire with smores, cigars and friends!
Like I said Summer didn't show up right away and with that brought lots of storm clouds and some time spent in the storm shelter (never fun).
Mentoring and bowling! 
Much like the first thing I talked about we (Solace) are growing and learning a lot right now. Church planting is hard and we don't know what we are doing but we love it and we make it work! Our family is nothing like a Church family that I have ever been able to be a part of and its exciting and scary all at the same time! Pray for us if you think about it! We are approaching our 3rd year as a church and approaching new and difficult struggles within the church and within ourselves.
This summer I am trying hard to cut back on Soda but its so hard because I LOVE DIET COKE! But I discovered a new love and its Sonic's Diet Peach Green Tea! It's so wonderful! Yay for less Soda!
Cuddle nights with this guy!
And in my attempt at less soda I tried drinking some fresh fruit water! This has strawberries and raspberries with crushed ice of course!
And as per the usual we ate a lot of Applebees half price appetizers after shows.
Life can be hectic and just flat out hard! I pass this church everyday on my way to work and I am just in love with this building and especially the red door! Oh my! So one day on my way to work I stopped and took a picture and just thanked God for being able to find beauty in the small things. This one simple thing has made a world of difference. Just STOP and find beauty in TODAY!
Remember how I said we got a lot of rain in June?! Here is a picture (not mine) of one of our streets that was flooded and the crazy thing is this happened in 45 mins! It was so insane!
More cuddles with this dude!
June was also the month for seeing great friends! My dear friends in Lybecker (Dan (Lindsy's husband), Dewey, and Chris) from Washington played the same show that Levi The Poet played! All such dear sweet friends and we had so much fun in the short time they were here! Here are a few pictures from those days.
June 21st! The First Official day of Summer! I am a summer girl! I love the heat! So this is my favorite time of year! I had to start the day out right with a Starbucks of course!
I even bought some popsicles for everyone at work!
We had show that night and I got super stressed out and this was the result of that stress (oops! NO SODA Courtnie!)
But we made a party out of the show that night with Root Beer Floats, popsicles, and beach balls!
My baby nephew Kessler turned 2! I was so sad I couldn't be with the family for his party but I got sent some pretty dang cute pictures from them all! He loves "Buddy and Woody"
One of the super exciting things is that I actually found a maxi skirt that wasnt too long on me! Yay! And I LOVE the color!
June 25-26th! One of my super close friends is on tour right now with her band Of Course Not and I miss her like crazy she's been gone all summer long but their tour did come through Joplin and they had a day off here which also happened to be her birthday so we celebrated with a pool party at a mansion of a strangers house (who was housing the other touring band they were with) and had so much fun! She is still on the road and I miss her too freaking much! Hurry home Torey!
More cuddles with this guy!
Something odd that I realized while driving to work one day this month is that I have never consider myself a morning person like AT ALL! But now I would say that I am! Getting out of bed is SO hard but once I do I absolutely love morning and I love that my commute takes me through downtown! Its the simple things!
I did a whole lot of this. Counting change upon change. This was a bit insane though! This was one gas station bag. Why did they have so many $1 coins?!?
Even though working for US Bank isn't my ideal job and passion I have learned to love it. The people that I work with and for are simply great and help me make it through the days (even when crazy people sit outside the branch 32 mins before we open because they need to withdraw their social security checks). This picture is from the Retirement Celebration for our Regional President. I've known him for years prior to working for him at the bank he was involved in the ministry at The Bridge and he is just an all round great man with a really big heart! His presence will be missed at USB!
We're almost there guys! We are nearing the end of my June events! Are you still with me?!? (Looks like we lost a few but if you're still reading thank you!)
Alright somewhat ill-relevant BUT I have this friend who is a realtor in Phoenix and she posted some pictures of some neat things from some houses she had recently shown and this was one of them! A BUILT IN espresso machine!!! I would LOVE to have this in my house someday!
And now for the MAIN EVENT......
New Kids on The Block, 98*, and Boyz II Men in Oklahoma City!!! Yes you read that right! It was such a fun day/night! Kristen and I left early Saturday Morning and headed west for day of Treasure Hunting and Boy Band seeing! Here are some fun photos from the concert!
So heres the story here; We paid like $40 bucks for our nosebleed seats but they were still decent and we were just stoked to be there! We just get to our seats and two random girls walk up to us and tell us they have 2 extra tickets down below because their sister and her friend bailed on them and they were looking for two girls with really cool shirts on who looked like they'd be fun to share the show with so we moved from nosebleed to "Club Level" seats which we were like $100 tickets! It ruled! I was less than 500 yards away from Nick Lachey!!! OMG!
Boyz II Men seriously ruled and were my favorite if I have to be honest! Yes those are rose petals falling from the rafters while they sang "I'll make love to you."
Nick Lachey less than 500 yards away from me!!!!!
New Kids on the Block just being super epic!
Did I mentioned we had a blast?!?
Just a super cute vintage burger joint I wish we could have tried! How cute is that place?!? Next time I will try it!
At the end of June Dry Bones moved out of the booth and went full online store. It was/is bitter sweet! Etsy is a lot of work but its more work at your own pace and not as costly. But it was a great 8 months at Rangeline and who knows maybe we will be back.
Yay! We made it through June!!!
JULY is here and I am so excited for this month, I don't really even have reason to be but I am!
I started the month out great by doing some camping with some friends and some River floating on the 4th of July! Yay for holidays!
Camping and fire pits with friends! 
Fun times on Elk River! Happy Birthday America!
Yeah thats a Diet Coke (But its a holiday!)
Rum popsicles from River Friends!
July 5th Celebration time! I love Sparklers!
Another big day I FINALLY became a Gold Member!
So if I didn't already love everything 1950's and 60's now its even a greater love as I have finally started watching Mad Men on Netflix! Oh my word I love everything from the dresses to the decor. While listing items on Etsy the other night I notice Don Draper drinking from the very cups I was listing on Etsy! Now thats super fun! Yay for Mad Men Era vintage!
More snuggles with this little cutie!
Well thanks for sticking it out with me! I hope to be MUCH better in July! Let's see how that goes! But as I wrap this post I leave you with the big lesson from the month of June that I learned and that was to simply find beauty in today. We are all going to have days that FLAT OUT SUCK! But if you stop for a minute and find the small beauties in the day it can radically change the outcome of your day! So I leave you will that! Find beauty in today! Its there just look for it!
Love you guys!
Oh p.s. Head on over to my friend Jessica's blog and check out the Giveaway Dry Bones is sponsoring this week, maybe you'll be the lucky winner!
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