A First

Yesterday was an exciting day for the Kings. Greg had his first opportunity to lead our church through God's Word during our Sunday services. I was so proud of his diligence in preparing the material and seeking to share God's message with our community. It was a long day of teaching as our church has two morning services and then an identical service in the evening at another location in Boston. But it was wonderful to watch God supply Greg with His strength. I was personally blessed to connect with God through Greg's message on Acts 25 & 26 all six(?) times I got to hear it!

One of the things I've always admired about Greg is how he faithfully digs deeply into the background, meaning, and application of scripture. I remember going to him in Turkey once before we were even dating and asking if he could help me better understand the necessity of blood for sanctification in the Bible. (One of my dear friends in Turkey was asking about this.) Greg expertly walked me through the Old and New Testament, pulling out the significance of bloodshed. I remember walking away thinking, "Wow, God. You have given him a gift of teaching Your Word with depth and accuracy."

Yesterday was a great opportunity for Greg to teach our community. He'll be the first to admit he has a lot to learn about teaching in that context, but I know many were blessed by how he faithfully handled the Word and relied on the Spirit yesterday. I'm personally excited to watch him grow as he has more opportunities to teach in the future.

Bringing the Old Testament to life

As you see in the picture below, Ayse's been particularly into the Psalms lately.

Greg & I are proud of her commitment to God's Word. I think I caught her deep in prayer in this picture.

Unlike our kitten, Greg and I have been into Genesis and Exodus recently, partly because I'm doing a Bible study on the tabernacle and Greg's studying Hebrew. But Greg's also been checking out some really interesting documentaries from the library on the land of the Pentateuch. I admit I was skeptical of finding them worth my time, but after watching a few minutes, I was hooked!

A week off

Drew & Carrie visited us last weekend. It was wonderful to have them with us in Boston! I don't have any great pictures, so you should see Carrie's wonderful post from last week. Miss you guys already! (Why did you have to post a morning picture of me?!)

In other news, I took most of last week off of work to prepare myself for the schoolyear ahead (ah). And it happened to be our anniversary last Wednesday as well. We celebrated by going out to dinner, and Greg gave me a gorgeous bouquet of my favorite flowers! They still look perfect this evening! We also went to the beach that day (a sandy one that is).

Here's my hubbie of three years chillin' at a rocky beach in Rockport.

Oh, doesn't this just make you want to come visit?

I love New England's rocky shorelines...

One of my favorite "new" spots in Boston. This used to be where the expressway went before they finished the "big dig" tunnels under the city. Now it's a long park with tons of benches, tables, fountains, and grass! I wish I had a picture of Carrie and me walking in the fountain with all the little kiddies! (I think our husbands were a tad bit embarrassed.)

Baby Zek

Our friends John & Elisa had their baby boy a couple weeks ago, and I just realized I didn't blog about it! So you must check out their new blog dedicated to Ezekiel. I got to hold him a little tonight, and I fell in love all over again! Look how cute his little chin is!

Did you receive our newsletter?

I tried to figure out a way to post our newsletter in blogger, and I kept running into roadblocks with publishing a pdf. So if you have not received our letter and would like it, shoot me an email at kimber.king@gmail.com and I'll send it your way. I had a lot of fun creating it (and making Greg read and edit it).

Let me know what you think! I wouldn't be surprised if it takes us another three years to do this again! Ugh!

In other news, Drew & Carrie arrive in less than 48 hours!!!

Oh Texas, my Texas

I did not expect to be ambushed by memories and sentimentality as my plane landed in Austin on Wednesday. But that is what happened. I actually teared up on the plane as a flood of wonderful memories filled my mind and heart. What a pleasant surprise, especially when my greatest expectation of Texas was experiencing heat misery (which definitely occurred at times).

I spent two days in Austin, Texas for a work conference this past week. It was a great conference with the highest value being the people I met, conference attendees and organizers as well as friends from "prior lives." Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera! Ugh! So I'll steal some pictures from people's blogs for this post. I want to tell you about the people I got to see from my "prior lives."

First, my Baylor classmate, Jaime, generously went to work a little late and met me for an hour Thursday morning. Talk about an hilarious exchange as we tried to catch up on over six years of life after Baylor in about an hour! We tried to describe our significant others (which was quite a task—really, how do I sum up Greg in a few minutes?!), talked about our career paths, life in Austin and Boston, and of course we reminisced to Baylor and some of our strange professors and classes. Thanks for reconnecting, Jaime (and for the caramel machiatto)!

(This is stolen from his Flickr account. Maybe family?)

Thursday evening after a fun hotel happy hour and getting to know some of the conference organizers (who are also my account reps for our office's recruiting software) a little better, I took a walk over to meet Amy and baby Audrey at Chuy's. Even though the walk was definitely one of those "heat misery" moments, it was a beautiful little hike along the Colorado River and a very popular hiking/biking path. (I think I was the only one NOT in work-out clothes.) Amy and Audrey were as beautiful as ever, and I think I'm a better person after spending a couple hours with the two of them. I especially enjoyed our conversation about storing up treasures in heaven, finding and connecting with community, and of course being a mom. Thanks for sharing life with me, Amy! Those of you who know Audrey just wouldn’t believe how big she is; what a happy, talkative little girl!

(Stolen from the Douglas' blog -
See more pictures of Amy & Audrey here.)

My conference ended at noon on Friday, and I scurried to meet Baylor and First Woodway friend Sarah for lunch near the Capitol where she works. Again, it was a crazy hour of playing six-years catch-up. I was thrilled to hear about Sarah and Jon’s preparation to be part of a church plant in Austin, and it was special to reconnect with another Baylor/Woodway sister. I can’t wait to see pictures of your home, Sarah! I’ll continue to stalk you on Facebook.

(Stolen from Facebook - Sarah & her hubby Jon)

Wow! What a blessed two days God gave me in Austin! It was fun to see how He multiplied my time as I wasn’t even sure how I’d fit meeting one person into the 48 hours in Austin!

If you’ve made it this far, I just have to share a couple pictures of the Hyatt Regency in Austin because it was wonderful!
And the famous bats which come out at sunset and make their daily flight south(?) from the bridge by the patio above.
Oh Texas, my Texas…I really do miss you. I’m a changed person from the years I called you home, and you will always hold a special place in my heart.

Thunder, Bells, Books, & Babies

A few things have happened or been on my mind this week that I wanted to blog about so here goes.

1. Summer Thunderstorms.  To my amazement, the last 2+ weeks have had almost daily thunderstorms.  I even had to find shelter walking home from work once last week due to hail!  And it hailed again today.  I admittedly love these summer thunderstorms though I do lament the problems the excess rainfall causes to many basements, gardens, etc.  Over my lunch break today, I sat by a window and simply marveled at our creator God who not only designs these majestic displays but is so much more magnificent Himself than even the most glorious thunderstorm!
2. Kettlebells.  Among the random things I saw on television while staying at the Providence Biltmore a couple weeks ago was a brief clip on the benefits of kettlebell workouts.  It's effective; it looked fun; I was sold.  So I randomly found time to purchase my 15 lb (the approx. recommended weight for non-athletic woman) kettlebell last week, and it truly is a ton of fun (and a ton of work).  Youtube has been my friend in finding new ways to use this weight.  Now I just need to work on adjusting my eating habits.  Why is it that I felt less guilty eating a big bowl of ice cream a few hours after I used the kettlebell?  Shouldn't it be the other way around?
3. Two great books.  A few weeks back I picked up a good book at B&N which I have almost finished -- Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels.  It is quite introductory, but as I was just looking to infuse some additional encouragement, accountability, and tidbits of advice from a seasoned and respected brother, I have found it wonderfully beneficial.  My greatest take-away thus far is the encouragement to make time for solitude and stillness to actively listen to and speak with the Lord.  The second book is one I picked up tonight at B&N by John Stott -- The Living Church.  I'm about a third of the way through, and I love his word picture of a biblical church in a culture moving from modernism to post-modernism.  Living in Boston and working at Tufts, I find Stott's reminders of the Church's mission refreshing and much-needed.  Relativism and tolerance are preached excessively in my world, and I struggle with knowing how to live the life of Christ authentically here.
4. Babies.  Some of you know how deeply I long to start a family with Greg.  It's funny how that desire seems overwhelmingly strong and urgent at times and at other times I'm able to live with it somewhat passively.  Well, the past week has been exclusively the former.  I'm sure that's been somewhat influenced by baby Eden's recent arrival, but it's also surfaced much as Greg and I have been seeking God's leadership for life post-graduation.  I find it sad how I sense my need to be listening to the Spirit so much more when major life decisions are looming...but if this will help me grow more in my commitment to deepening my relationship with God, then I'm thankful.