Patton would like to send a very special thank you to Dutch. He's grateful for Dutch's hospitality the whole month of July in Murfreesboro. He had a great time on all the rides in the car, trips in/out of the doggie door, and new friends to pal around with. There's nothing like family. :) (oh, and Mr. and Mrs. T - you're the greatest too)
love,
Patton

Amsterdam Bound!

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
We're headed to Amsterdam! We leave tomorrow (Monday, June 30th) for a 12 day outreach to The Netherlands. Our team consists of 23 eager people: 7 staff members, 2 babies, 4 kids, and 10 excited guys and girls. We are made up of a lot of different parts - 4 married couples, 6 kiddos, 6 college students, 4 real-world working stiffs, 9 guys, 14 girls, about 10 who have never been overseas and about 6 who have lived overseas at some point - but we are all venturing with one heart: to make the name of Jesus known in The Netherlands.

We would like to ask any of you who read this while we are away to be in prayer for our trip. We are believing that God would reach people from any of the 155 nations that are represented in the city. This is such a unique opportunity to meet so many from across the globe who can carry the seeds of good news back to their nations.

What can you pray for?

• Salvation!
• Favor in meeting hungry people
  
• Unity on our team
• The power of the Holy Spirit to be displayed
• Safety

Germany
Allison and I will also be spending about 11 days in Germany just outside of Frankfurt. We are convening there for ICON - the international gathering of all AMI missionaries that occurs every other summer. The conference is a time for missionaries to rest, enjoy one another, and receive fresh vision and encouragement in their calling. We are so blessed to get to join these teams from everywhere from Eastern Asia, to Morocco, to the Middle East, to Mongolia. We're excited to hear what God is doing the world over and how he is using ordinary people like you and us to impact nations forever for Christ.



God is so good and we are anxious to get to Amsterdam and begin telling others of his love. Pray that we would catch a fresh vision for missions and God's love for the world over! We'll have plenty of pictures and stories to share when we get back! (July 22nd)

My how we've grown!

Just a little tribute to Patton's 6 month birthday....

This was Patton's first and most loved toy. Today it had to be retired. He drug it around when the duck was twice his size and this morning before it's proper burial, it was without all 4 squeakers, any stuffing, or really much life at all. It's been inside and out, to Murfressboro, to bed with him each night in the crate, and on many car rides (he responds to the squeakers if he runs off). He now has a couple others that resemble the duck but are really a mouse and a pheasant, but we will still refer to them as his duck. It's the term he learned to fetch for. So here's to you Patton... Happy 6 Months Old!

Home Sweet Home

Well, for Greg anyway. After my trip to the beach, we headed to TX for another wedding. Hey...it's what we do best these days. You didn't have to twist Greg's arm for the opportunity to head to Austin, TX (his old college stompin' grounds) for this one. It was one of those rare times when all of the guys were together (not 1 missing) and the laughs were many. The food was delicious, and Greg loves to hear me say that I officially ate the best BBQ I have ever had (and I'm a TN girl!) at the Salt Lick in Austin. John and Laura Rugh's wedding was one of the sweetest we've been to and we're so excited for their life together! Congrats guys.

Next we headed to Houston for 4 days. It was such a delight to catch up with some that are so close to our hearts, spend time w/ Greg's mom in her last days in TX, and share what all the Lord has been doing in Knoxville. It was cool to share a simple dichotomy of feeling right where the Lord has us in TN and, yet, haven't even scratched the surface what he wants to do here! What a sweet joy.

In our travels in the last month, what a joy it is to see your faces. Ya'll are a gift. We covet your prayers for our ministry and share every treasure with you as you walk in faith with us for what God has in Knoxville!


Mr. & Mrs. John Rugh and all the boys of Lakewood UMC

Brion, Mike, & Greg and Kevin & Greg

A little R&R

Jennifer, Paige, me, Sarah Beth and Tiffany

I love the beach!

Those who know me best know that I love the beach. Well, not necessarily the sand, but simply what it stands for. A little R&R. Some sweet friends and I from college headed down to a wedding in SC and then continued on to NC for some sun, no make up, t-shirts, and eating-in for a extra couple days. The weather was wonderful, the wedding was sweet, and the agenda-less days were so refreshing. Thanks girls for a great week!

We have not forgotten you!

It's been a while! We haven't forgotten about you. :) May has kept us traveling a bit welcoming Greg's parents to the state of TN (Murfreesboro to be exact), graduation parties, and working quite a bit at our part time jobs. We're loving the spring weather here (minus the allergies for Greg), and Greg is logging the miles on the frisbee golf course, ultimate frisbee field, and a little on the pavement running with me. It's funny how May often seems like a month spent "getting ready" for what's ahead.

What is ahead?? Glad you asked!

I'm heading to a college friend's wedding in SC this weekend and then really excited to spend a few days in NC at a dear friend's beach house. Nothing like endless sun, beach walks, and grilling with 5 great college buddies. Get ready Paige, Sarah Beth, Jennifer, and Christin!

TX here we come! We'll be in TX May 29th for John and (soon to be Laura) Rugh's wedding in Wimberly, TX. The wedding will be wonderful, but I think for Greg and his buddies, the time together is priceless. For a group of guys that were inseparable all the way through Seminary, the time is treasured. Their families, wives, and friends are a delight for me too. There promises to be good food in Austin, many laughs, and pictures taken.

The 2nd half of our TX trip we'll head to Houston to raise support for our trip to Amsterdam and some upcoming needs for the Fall. We're really excited to see faces that we dearly love and cherish and to share what all the Lord has done in our 9 months here. This will also be a last chance to visit with Greg's mom in TX as she is there finishing up her teaching career. We're so proud of you, Mrs. T! Can't wait to have you in TN with us. :)

I'll leave you with some pics...mostly of Patton. The next post promises to include our faces. Thanks for reading and call us if we're in your area!


Patton after a fabulous day playing in the creek.

Yeah! Mr. and Mrs. T live in TN!

Greg trimming his little bonsai tree...I mean Patton.

Dutch Trevathan and Patton. They are going to have a wonderful time while we're in Amsterdam! Thanks Mr. and Mrs. T for having him. You'll have your hands full.

This is where Patton rides when we take him to Murfreesboro. Too cute.

I've been tagged!

Patton & I at the park this weekend.

I've been tagged by Tracy Preskenis, a sweet friend of mine from Boston. She and her hubby are now in Hurst, TX, and they just welcomed their newest son, Reeve, to the family. Wesley is a big brother. So cute!

This is how this works:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their name, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

The Questions and My Answers. . .

What I was doing 10 years ago?:
Ha! I was finishing my sophomore year of highschool...eagarly anticipating my driver's liscense. I was playing basketball and tennis for Bearden High and getting ready for a summer of mission trips and church camps. I loved highschool! Wonder where I'll be in 10 more years?!

Five Snacks I enjoy:
In a perfect, non weight-gaining world. . .
1. Moist yellow cake with chocolate frosting (I copy Tracy)
2. Cherry Limeades from Sonic (I copy Tracy again)
3. Peanut M&Ms
4. Chips (Munchos to be specific)
5. A tall glass of sweet tea from McDonalds

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Pay taxes :)
2. Pray. Give. And Go... generously!
3. Pay for someone else's need that they couldn't afford (school, car, house, etc.)
4. Buy a house perfect for whatever stage our family was in
5. Guarantee myself little get-a-way vacations for the rest of my life

Six jobs that I have had:
1. Countless babysitting jobs from age 12
2. Lifeguard ('98-'03)
3. Camp Counsleor at Camp Ozark ('01-'02)
4. Managaer of the Women's Tennis Team at UT ('00-'04)
5. Inventory Planner of the Mobile Div. @ Tweeter Home Entertainment, Boston, MA ('04-'07)
6. 20-somethings Pastors at Antioch Community Church ('07-present)

Three of my habits:
1. Loving all things pink
2. I'm a people person...the more the better!
3. Watching many episodes of Jon&Kate Plus 8 (when we had cable)

Four places I have lived:
1. Knoxville, TN
2. Brighton, MA
3. Watertown, MA
4. Knoxville, TN

People I Want to Get to Know Better: (A nice way of saying TAG!)
1. Morgan Teague
2. Jennifer Eidemiller
3. Sarah Bianchi
4. Tiffany Brown

I know you were missing it...

Pics of Patton!

Patton is officially 4 months old. I'm not sure what that means other than he has learned to jump on and off the couch, bark at sounds, shred some of his favorite toys, and enjoy car rides. On a more proud parent note, Patton has successfully learned to sit and stay and will go in his crate for a treat when we say to...for a treat, of course.

Just in the last week, he spent the day at our friend's, the Browns, property and took his first road trip to Murfreesboro to meet Greg's dad. We were surprised to see him trot through a creek, pal around with the pack of dogs, and do great in the car for long distances. He's our little buddy. Enjoy the pics.


Patton loves to stick his whole face in his water. Ta-daa!


This is Patton and Bailey Brown. Too cute.

Marathon Madness

On March 30th, Greg and I ran our little legs 13.1 miles to cross the 50 yard line of Neyland Stadium to complete the Knoxville 1/2 marathon. For running that far, it was really fun! As many true runners will tell you, it's so much more about the race itself, but more so about the journey getting there. Greg and I learned so much about commitment, discipline, and perseverance. All the early morning runs to squeeze it in an already jammed packed day, getting off the couch after a short 15 min power nap to run b/w our differing schedules, and sampling all the latest sports energy drinks was well worth it. Aside from a few blisters on my little toes, we were injury free. And as you can imagine, as the Lord is often very resourceful, we found ourselves much more committed to eating better, getting rest, and organizing our days much more effectively.

We also had the great pleasure to train with some dear friends here in Knoxville, the Bartons, and share in the experience with several from our church. The Bartons were such a blessing in training for the long runs, and we had endless conversations with our staff and church friends on how their runs were going. Ahh, the sweetness of living life with others!

Are we crazy to already be looking for another to do? It's true. We've already been looking for another one in the Fall, so we're open for suggestions! Thanks for all your encouragements and gifts along the way. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for coming out to watch and cheer!


We did it!

The glorious finish line.

Our "team victory" teammates, Tiffany and Daniel Barton

All the ACC runners!

Classic. :)

Just a little about our last 2 weeks

Through the rain this Saturday afternoon I got inspired to write my first blog. Greg's the funny one between us and actually the one that probably writes best, but maybe you'll appreciate the updates and pictures of what we've been up to in the last 2 weeks.

At the end of Feburuary, we went away for 2 days on a staff and leadership prayer retreat. Maybe to some that doesn't sound too fun, but we were so refreshed, really enjoyed hanging out with some of our favorite Knoxvillians, and got sweet time away with Jesus. We don't have any pics of us praying or anything spiritual, but we do have pictures of our newest staff member, Liam, whom you might remember seeing pictures of his birth 3 months ago. His parents are Jarrod and Jennifer, our college pastors. His little smile will melt you.

Our friends Cory and Sue were in town last weekend from Murfreesboro, TN. We had a great dinner out with them and the Reids. Sorry, no pics of the guys...you know how guys are about pics.

And, obviously we're still loving our little newest addition, Patton. He's 7.5 lbs this week and 3 months old! Greg and I decided to groom him ourselves to save a little cash. We were thinking, "How hard could that be?" Ha, it was an adventure, and let's just say that Patton looked like he got in a fight with the scissors and lost. We've since "fixed" him with little trims here and there, but we'll persevere and get better with time. He has no self-esteem, so I think we're safe there. Potty training, I would say, is done. However, he does decide that the rules don't apply to him if it's raining and will take it upon himself to go by the door sometimes. We've started actually training him to sit. We'll let you know how that goes. You might just get a pic of him with each of our posts. What can we say, we're proud parents.

Big things are on the horizon this month for us! Check back for more posts soon.



Liam Justice at almost 4 months.



We're just getting practice, but Greg's a natural...or Liam makes it look easy.


Me, Sue, and Sarah Beth - good friends from college and now!


Patton hates the vacuum and Greg was clever enough to tie his favorite toy to it and see what he'd do. He ran and stood b/w my legs like, "Mom, what are you going to do?" Hysterical.


Patton Trevathan at 3 months. How's his hair look? :)

Snow!

So, it's snowing in Knoxville! It has managed to snow a little a few times this winter, but this one is actually sticking! After three winters in Boston it is fun to see a little white on the ground again. It's nothing like the snowfall they've been getting up north this year, but it's a welcome sight for a day or two.

Patton seemed to enjoy the snow. He managed to get it all over his nose as he was sniffing around the yard. Here are a few pics of the eventful day:



Playing in the snow


Snow on the schnoz


This pic has nothing to do with the snow... we just think it's awesome and wanted to put it on the blog!

Patton Puppy!

We have a puppy! It took us a little while to get him a featured spot on the blog, but Patton is here in full force. The General arrived in our home on January 22nd and he's been a delight ever since. We named him Patton after General Patton... well, sort of. Allison and I got engaged in Patton Park in Beverly, Mass. The park is named after the General, but we like the name because of the sentimental value (aawwww).
The girl we got him from said that he hadn't been sleeping all the way through the night, but he hasn't woken us up once at night yet! He is our backup alarm in the morning, however. It's actually kind of nice because there's no snooze on him! He's already pretty well potty trained in just 4 weeks. It didn't take him very long to decide that we are his people. He follows us around everywhere and looks for us when we're not in the same room as him. We've wanted a dog for so long, so it's such a blessing to finally have one and for him to be so much fun! So, here are a few pics of some of the fun things he does that make us smile (check out his YouTube videos at the bottom of the blog too!):


Day one... just being cute. He even came in a little camo shirt with a star on it!


The first bath... ha! This still makes us laugh.


The undeniable look... feed me!


In the laundry basket trying to get his giraffe.


Laid out! So funny, puppies are just like little babies in the way they can just sleep in the strangest positions.

The Whirlwind that was the Holidays!

Wow! What a crazy few weeks we had in December. It all started with a 50+ person white elephant gift exchange! Talk about wild. I was given the emcee duties and had a blast calling the shots as the wacky gifts kept coming. We also got to go to a wedding. Our new friends Chris and Amy got married in Virginia and we made the trip up for the special day. We have felt so blessed in Knoxville in that since we've been here we've been witness to so many huge life events - baptisms, babies, and weddings!

The craziness continued as my parents came into town for Christmas, so we got to spend the day with both Allison's parents and mine. We had a great time, ate some great food, and had a lot of fun going to church together, eating out, and opening presents. After that we headed down to Atlanta to see my brothers (Matt & his wife Bobby and Britt) and our nieces (Kaitlyn, Anna, and Lauren). How much fun it was! I think after all the company in Knoxville and playing a jungle gym in Atlanta Allison and I were about as spent as we could have been though!

For New Years we went to Raleigh to visit our friends (Adam & Steph Parken). People came from across the nation - Knoxville (us), Boston (Big Mike & Beth), and San Antonio (Dave & Beth) - to reunite and have a blast! We played a lot of Nintendo Wii and Killer Uno. Pair that with a fantastic meal and some awesome fondue and it was a night to remember.

And after all that Allison and I came home and passed out for a week! Ha ha. It was wild, but fun and while I don't know that we'd be willing to do it all again I know we wouldn't trade the memories for anything.




White elephant goodness.


Kely, David and myself with Chris at his wedding.


Ho ho ho!


The dads at Christmas dinner.


The whole fam!


My brothers Britt and Matt being really intelligent with me... intelligence is typically not a big part of us getting together. Those are our Christmas presents on our head.



Lauren, Anna, and Kaitlyn... so beautiful and so much fun!



New years Eve with the girls... the guys in an intense game of Wii bowling.