Seven

We just had the privilege of celebrating 7 years of marriage. So hard to believe all that God has done in our lives the last 7 years. From meeting over 10 years ago at an Embry Riddle Chi Alpha service to now co-pastoring Chi Alpha at Arizona State to 3 children later... the Lord has been so good to us and has taken us on quite the adventure!

"Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." -Psalm 37:4

As a young Christian I would read this verse and think that if I wanted something badly enough that God would know and He would just give me my "desires" (kinda like a genie in the bottle kind of god). I didn't really take into consideration the first part of the verse or think about what it meant to "take delight in the Lord..".

Delight- (Noun):

1. a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment; joy; rapture.

2. something that gives great pleasure.

I am blown away at how God has blessed me beyond my wildest imaginations... As I have learned (and am continuing to learn... since the learning never does end, eh?) how to find my pleasure, enjoyment, my everything in my relationship with God ... He makes me more like Him and the things He cares about, I begin to care about... the things that grieve His heart begin to grieve my heart. That when I truly find my delight in the things of God... His desires are my desires.

Amazing that a perfect God can take our hearts of stone and reform them and make them more like His!

God knows exactly what/who we need in our lives! Shawn and I are so thankful that the Lord brought our paths together...for the way He divinely intervened in our lives. As we set out with such different plans and thought we knew what it was we wanted and what our "desires" were... God stepped in.

Someone once told me "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans". I am not sure if He laughs or not ... but I have definitely learned that even my best plans pale in comparison to God's plans for me!

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20

I am excited to see what the future holds for our family! I am confident that as we continue to take delight in the things of God and spend our lives wisely for His Kingdom... He will continue to amaze us!

As a single female I was challenged to think about this question regarding marriage.

"Can the two of you together do more for the Lord than you can on your own?"

I can answer that question, with gratitude and all glory to God, with a huge YES!!! :)

XA 2011 Banquet

Our 5th annual XA End of the Year Banquet!! As always an awesome way to end the school year.. to celebrate our graduates and all the amazing things the Lord has done throughout the school year!! Enjoy a powerful testimony from one of our students, Emily.

"Tonight was one of the best nights of my life. seriously. I love my God. I love my family. I love my family in Christ. I love Chi Alpha. I love my friends. I love me.Something was happening tonight and it was sooo good. worship was indescribable. God was shaking me, literally, and he was bring me and my parents closer, literally. tonight was a remembrance and a peak in my future - this summer and eternity.I don’t know what to say. If this is that good right now, I cannot imagine heaven and being with my God forever. Do we really get that?! FOREVER.God, thank you for the friends you’ve given me when I thought I would never have any -for you have shown me I am loved and I love You.Thank you if you are one of them. Praise God."P.S. I’M A JUNIOR (..after 1 more final)."

An Answered Prayer!

A challenge in Chi Alpha is that every student after graduation would "give a year and pray about a lifetime" - meaning they would give a year back to missions-- whether that be back to their campus, overseas or in some form of ministry. We are THRILLED to report that we will be having three of our graduates joining our staff team for next school year! Jenni- plans to come on as full time staff and will be raising support this summer.. both Maggie and Kent plan to join as part time staff. Please pray for each of them.. for God's provision... and that we would have wisdom on how to best utilize them on the campus! We are thankful that each one of them is willing to take this step and to set an example to other students!

[Pictures: 1. Michelle(Right), Emily (Left) 2. Maggie, Kent & Jenni 3. Graduates]

Red Couches

It's official: we have sold our house on 1132 N Sailors Way and we are completey moved out!

To clarify: We are not moving out of AZ... we are not leaving ASU Chi Alpha.... we are just relocating and buying a different house (during the interim we are living with my mom and hope to be in our new house in Gilbert some time in June).

Who knew that selling our red couches (not to mention many other peices of furniture and house hold items) would be so emotional!!!

It is not because the couches were in fantastic shape or were worth a lot money... as a matter fact they were torn, faded and stained...

The red couches were our first set of couches as newly-weds .. they made the move from our little apartment to our first house. So many memories around those couches... Memories as a new married couple and the countless conversations, laughter and tears... Memories of our children... bringing each baby home from the hospital....late night bottle feedings, cuddle time, reading books, watching every Toy Story movie more times than I can count... Memories of friendships... Chi Alpha Thanksgiving & Christmas gatherings... girls' brunches... so many heartfelt conversations, and times investing in relationships, prayer & ministry... SO many precious memories!

We are truly thankful for the time we had in our first home....each memory is priceless!

We look forward to all of the new cool memories and stories that will be shared in our next home (and I am excited to buy new couches!!! ).

Life Lessons

Life in the White family has been anything but dull! We were blessed to welcome our new son Skyler Edward on April 12th--- weighing in at 8lbs 12oz!

So thankful that God has entrusted us with this new life! We are adjusting to life once again with a newborn and learning or relearning many life lessons...

- Learning to function on little sleep-- funny how 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep feels like we hit the jackpot!
- Relearning how to pack the diaper bag.

- Getting three kids ready for church (we had issues being on time with two children...!)

- Fitting three carseats across our backseat and deciding who to put in the middle (final decision: Skyler goes in the middle to help diffuse sibiling rivalry!)

I think the biggest lesson, is being reminded how we were created to be absolutely dependant on our heavenly Father... just as Skyler is dependant on us and requires our full attention... God desires us to be dependant on Him and wants our full attention! Just as we look into the face of our new baby boy, in awe of how perfect He has been created and filled with such love for him... Our Father looks down at His creation in awe and filled with unconditional love for each one of His children!

Thankful that God's grace is sufficient for us ALL of the time...whether it is during those sleepless nights or times when the crying feels like it will never cease... or going out to eat for the first time with three kiddos and everyone decides to have a melt down .. whatever the circumstance ... God is always there and when we are weak He is strong!

We thank God for this new season and for the completion of our family! We look forward to the many new experiences and lessons ahead for The White Family! :)

Family Photo Op

Thank you to Jennifer Jones... Awesome friend and photographer! www.jenniferjonesphoto.com

XA Holiday Fun

--- XA Costume Party

A few snapshots from the annual XA Costume Party. A team of students did a great job planning and organizing the party. As always, the costumes were extremely creative and hilarious!

In case you are not sure what the costumes are in the top picture --- this is "Candi and Shawn" --- thus the pregnant tummy, bling necklace, flower in hair... and for "Shawn" - the facial hair, flip flops, ASU hat and a Bible!!! hahaha --- Great job Emily and Michelle! As they say... Imitation is the greatest form of flattery! :)

---XA Family Thanksgiving Dinner---

The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving... we celebrated --XA Style-- at our house. We ran into a great problem... we were expecting 25 to 30 students and ended up with more like 55!!!

Shawn did a fabulous job carving the turkey ... he definitely carved it to the bone!

Thankfully, God really does multiply food!

Students brought all sorts of delicious foods!

Our house was packed and extremely loud... but to look around and see so many students- eating, laughing, playing games...building new friendships... and sharing the love our Christ... Our hearts felt very thankful and blessed to see how God has blessed the ASU XA family!

--- XA Christmas Party ---

A Fabulous way to end our Fall 2010 semester... the XA Christmas Party! We were blessed to be able to (once again) use the Joneses' Home for our Christmas Party (Thanks!!). We had a great turn out of students.... ate yummy food, played games, had the "reveal" for our XA Secret Sister and just hung out... but the coolest time of the night... is when we all gathered together in the living room, to worship together and share testimonies. Various students stood up and testified to what the Lord has done in their lives this semester.... How encouraging to hear stories of changed lives..... We are always in awe of how God can build relationships in such a short amount of time... that some of these students we literally just met about 4 months ago and we now feel like we have known them for much longer... they are truly are part of our XA Family!!

We praise God for such a vibrant semester of ministry within ASU XA!

We are thankful to the many individuals and churches that have faithfully supported us in prayer and finances! We know that without this great team of people... we cannot do what we do!

So... with humbled hearts... we thank you for your investment into the XA Family and the Kingdom of God!

We know the best is yet to come! We look to 2011.. believing God for great and mighty things to take place at Arizona State and beyond!

Please Pray:

- For students as they are back at their homes--- especially for those that are experiencing a difficult transition and may not have spiritual support from their families.

-Increased laborers for ASU XA! We are in great need for full time, part time staff and volunteers! Spark your interest? Email us! asu_xa@hotmail.com :)

- Candi's pregnancy - Baby Due, April 3rd -- pregnancy has been going very well!

- Increased Financial Support

- Vision and Wisdom in planning for 2011

Family Fall Fun!

The kids had a blast at Desert Springs Church's Harvest Festival.

We enjoyed a day of fun at a Pumpkin Patch in Chino Valley, AZ -- Freeman Farm

We met some great friends of ours there and let the kids explore and enjoy the scenery.

Little tractors, Hayride, Train ride, Corn Maze, Face Painting, Carousel and Yummy Kettle Corn

Trenton and his buddy Zander on the hayride.

(note: spider on Trenton's cheek... of course this was in honor of spiderman!)

The trio explore the farm!! Averi, Zander and Trenton

We ended the day with a delish lunch at one of our favorite Prescott venues - Prescott Brewing Company and then a walk at the square.

Thankful for days to get away with our family and share life with friends!