A Sailer's Life For Me

As you can see by the dates of my blogs it has been quite a while since I have updated my blog. I apologize. The lack of blogging has not been a lack of activity so I am going to do my best to try and catch up on some of the events and highlights of the summer.

In July I went on my very first cruise with my dad and Scotty and had an absolute blast! The sailer's life is the life for me...no doubt. I love the sun, the water, the food, the atmosphere....I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and getting to just hang out with my dad and Scotty. I was like a little kid every night when we would come back to our room and find our towel animals...you gotta enjoy the simple things in life!

We went to Cozumel and Progresso on this cruise but have already booked a 7 day cruise for next October going to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I feel like this cruise was just a teaser and I am so ready to go back.

Unexpected Surgery

So I found this knot in my side almost two years ago and after having an MRI done which showed nothing abnormal my doctor told me it was probably a fat tumor and it was not a big deal unless it started bothering me. Fast forward to two years later and the once golf ball size tumor is now the size of a nerf football. I went to the doctor on Monday to see about getting medicine for headaches and just happened to point out the overly large tumor in my side. Before I knew it he was scheduling me to see a surgeon on Wednesday morning. After going to Dr. Aguilar (the surgeon) on Wednesday he said the lipoma needed to be taken out and asked me when I wanted to do it. Thinking "as soon as possible" would mean in the next few weeks I foolishly said "as soon as possible." Crazy me...as soon as possible ended up being on Friday at 10:15am. It has been a whirlwind week to say the least but I am home and well after having a fairly large tumor which I affectionately have named Alice, removed from my side. The tumor was about 8 inches long and about 3 inches deep so I am hoping to see a good 10lbs come off the scale this week when the fluid and swelling go down.

I was also put on a migraine prevention medicine that is supposedly going to help me lose anywhere from 60 to 100lbs so watch out world...here comes lean, mean, skinny kabes (hopefully).





this is me pre-surgery with the IV in place to get some "happy" drugs

here is my sweet daddy and nurse for the weekend

Going to the Chapel....

We've been counting down the days for months and months and now Amy Sue Morrow is finally Mrs. Cory Chandler. Their wedding was last Saturday and it was so beautiful and so sweet. I am so proud of her dad and Cory's grandfather for making it through the ceremony without getting choked up. I wont lie...I shed a few tears, especially when Cory balled his eyes out watching Amy come down the aisle. I am so excited for them both and what the next chapter of their life together is going to entail. Congrats you guys!

I didn't get many pictures at the wedding but I did take a few pictures at the nail salon the morning of the wedding of Amy and her sweet sister-in-law Lindsay who is going to pop any day now with Kaleigh Grace.



this was right about the time that I looked at Amy and said, "you're getting married today!!"

being 8 months pregnant didn't slow her down one bit....so precious!

the beautiful bride and not so shabby maid of honor :)

Welcome PARKER MICHAEL ROBIN

My friends Brandon and Mindy welcomed their little boy, Parker, into the world on April 23rd. Parker did his job and hung in there until we returned from Boston...good job! He did make his appearance a couple of weeks early but he was ready, he is healthy and he is ADORABLE. I have loved being Aunt Kabes to this little sleeping, pooping,bundle of joy.


proud Papa!

he's a gonna be a soccer playa!


not so happy right here...I think my hands were cold

Long Overdue Pictures from Boston

Sorry it has take me so long to get some pictures from our Boston trip posted. The delay is not an indication that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the trip...just that life has been incredibly busy since I got back.


a perfect end to a perfect day...mission accomplished to eat lobster in as many forms as possible the day before we left


sad but true...this might have been the highlight of my trip...getting to go to the Cheers bar for appetizers.


this is a movie theater in Davis Square (about five minutes from where we were staying) and just two weeks before our arrival U2 made a surprise stop here for a quaint little concert


This is Stacy...our contact in Boston who set up our trip.


this was the church that my group helped clean...it is so much bigger than it looks!

Needless to say we had a blast in Boston and I would love to go back really soon!

When Did This Happen?

I want to preface this with....ITS NOT A BAD THING AT ALL...but I have been asking myself all day when it happened that I went to bed and woke up as my parents? Let me explain where that question comes from. I am currently in Boston with a group of students on a mission trip and I am the designated "cook" for the week. My parents were always the ones that would coordinate meals on youth trips and so forth. Now its me making trips to buy in wholesale to feed the masses. And whats even scarier is that I really enjoy it! Not only in the feeding, but I have this overwhelming need to do a head count every time we get on and off the transit system. I am not a married and do not have kids of my own but I have figured out how to naturally nurture, wake up, feed, etc. lots and lots of college students.

Boston Update:
We are having a lot of fun in Boston and eating well. I could totally see myself living here one day...seriously! There are 40,000 college students on 50 campuses in this city so I am like a fat kid in a candy store. The last two days we have explored the city and prayer walked on the four major college campuses. Tomorrow we will be doing some servant evangelism and clean up work for a church plant that just closed on their new facility. Should be fun!

World Traveler

In the words of the great Willie Nelson...."on the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again." I reconnected this morning with someone very near and dear to my heart. It has been years since we have talked and as I was thinking through all I could catch him up on I begin to realize just how much traveling I have been fortunate to do in my 31 years of life. The bulk of that traveling has been in the form of doing missions and ministry work. Here is a rough time line:
1994ish: Arlington, TX for a mission trip
1996: Moved from Birmingham, AL to Mobile, AL to start college
1996: BCM mission trip to Tampa, FL
1998: Summer Missions to Seattle, WA
1999: BCM Mission trip to South Carolina
2000: Summer missions to Australia
2000: Moved from Mobile, AL to Ft. Worth, TX to start seminary
2001: Centrifuge in North Carolina
2001-2002: All over the place for Disciple Nows as I was living in Ft. worth Texas
2002: moved to Milledgeville,GA to work as an intern BCM director
2002-2003: moved to Acworth, GA to work for ISF and got to travel to Italy twice
2003: moved back to Birmingham to work at a law firm
2003: Centrifuge in Panama City Beach, FL
2003-2006: moved to New Orleans to finish seminary
2004: Centrifuge in Clinton, MS
2005: Centrifuge in Jenness Park, CA (first summer to direct)
2005-2006: moved to Baton Rouge, LA to work as the assistant director at the LSU BCM
2006: Monterey, Mexico
2006: Centrifuge in Jackson, TN at Union University (second summer directing)
2006-present: moved to Pineville, LA to work at Louisiana College
2007: Instanbul, Turkey for missions
2007: Centrifuge in Hawaii
2008: Centrifuge in Hawaii (again!)
2009: WE ARE LEAVING TOMORROW GOING TO BOSTON on a mission trip and I am super excited. I am not really sure what all we will be doing but pray for us. We are taking the train from New Orleans to Boston (30 hours). We will be there all week. I am sure I will have plenty of bloggable stories when I return. Keep you posted!