Torn Over Controversy

If you are a part of any social media networking site you know of all the controversy going on... you name it, its happening....

just a few in case you missed out: 

-It's an election year- it seems as if the opponent bashing gets worse and worse every year.

-Tim Tebo- criticized for standing up for his faith. We teach kids to always stand up for what they believe in and this is a GREAT example of a young man in the PUBLIC eye who is doing just that, STANDING UP FOR WHAT HE BELIEVES IN, and what does the media do? They make fun of him, mock him and put him down for it.  I absolutely am disgusted.  

-and now Chick-fil-a... again just stating ones personal views and getting absolutely bashed for it.  Then... to make things better, when people decide to "stand firm in their faith" - as the Bible has instructed us to do, we get mocked and criticized too. 

I know that not everyone is going to be on the same page as me here but I feel it is only fair that as a Christian I stand up for what I believe in.  I am not trying to force my beliefs on anyone else or even judge them for having different views on such things.  I try my very hardest to extend love even in times of disagreements and will be the first to admit I am not perfect.  I find it hard to believe that some people who disagree with my stance can not merely agree to disagree in love but they delete me as a friend.  

I guess the point of this post is that I am just frustrated.  My heart aches and I waned to share that... share that I am praying for our nation and its people.... one of my friends posted this verse and I thought it was more than fitting.

“To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in You I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in You will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.

Show me Your Ways, O Lord, teach me Your Paths; guide me in Your Truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, O Lord, Your Great Mercy and Love, for They are from of old. Remember Not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to Your Love remember me, for You Are Good, O Lord.

Good and Upright Is The Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in His Ways. He guides the humble in What Is Right and teaches them His Way. All The Ways of The Lord are Loving and Faithful for those who keep The Demands of His Covenant. For the sake of Your Name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. Who, then, is the man that fears The Lord? He Will instruc

t him in The Way chosen for him. He Will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants Will inherit The Land. The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He Makes His Covenant Known to them. My eyes are ever on The Lord, for Only He Will release my feet from the snare.

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away All my sins. See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me! Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in You. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my Hope Is In You.

Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles!”

Psalm 25

Wee-Bit-Wednesday!

feel free to head on over and link up!!!

 {one} have you ever been on tv?

actually yes.
but nothing super exciting... I have been on tv several times being interview by the news people for random things- like my senior year of high school they came to interview us about applying and getting accepted into colleges... My parents recorded it for me and then I loaned the tape to a friend- she moved and I have never heard from her since then... maybe now that there is facebook I should look her up. hmm. {two} what was the best movie you saw last year?ummm haha if any of you know me you know I fall asleep the second a movie comes on.  It's not that I don't like moves because there are a handful that I do enjoy and I like comedy's and romantic movies but I just can't seem to stay awake- night or day! K & I did go see Valentine's Day and I would have to say I did enjoy that movie even though there wasn't a lot of meat to the story line... or maybe that is why I did like it haha who knows.
{three} do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?tucked and I have to have the top sheet folded over the part of the comforter that is closest to our faces to keep it clean (i'm super ocd about this ... thats how mom always tucked me in and now its a must, still working on training hubs- he doesn't find it important lol)
{four} do you cut coupons?actually i love to! but the only problem is that i usually forget to use them/ take them with me to the store so they usually expire before i can use them.  I have even been known to buy a paper just to cut out the coupons.  i love coupons!
{five} do you ever count your steps when you walk?never.
{six} what sauce do you dip your chicken nuggets in?umm...ketchup? maybe honey mustard- but only at Chick-fil-A.
{seven} do you have any magazine subscriptions?no.although I do receive the Baylor Line magazine (from my college alumni association), and the Alphi Chi Omega Lyre Wire magazine.
{eight} when was the last time you wrote a letter on paper?well lets see, I guess about a week before Christmas because that is when we finally finished up our Thank You notes from our wedding (did it take any of you nearly six months to finish these or are we just slackers!?) and let me just tell you we wrote HUNDREDS! so fun!
{nine} what’s your favorite fruit pie?do what? fruit PIE? I'm thinkin like cobbler maybe? I don't care for any fruit pies. I'll go with pumpkin pie or CHOCOLATE pie. If we can go with cobbler then I'm going to say PEACH!! MMMM!
{ten} black olives or green olives?BOTH! i love olives!! probably black a tiny bit more.
your turn!

Fall and Oktoberfest!

yesterday was such a nice day! the weather here has been rather dreary but I must admit that I have kind-of enjoyed it! The cloud cover has kept the temperature around 75 degrees when usually it is still in the 90's. This weather has reminded me that fall is quickly approaching and that is something I am very excited about! It makes everything in me want to go shopping for cute fall things to decorate the house with and to change all of my flowers out for "fall colors" (this is not something I plan on doing but I like the idea!)

Yesterday, I enjoyed the afternoon with my good friend Lo- I finally got to see her and her husbands new house they bought and boy was it beautiful! She made me a delicious jack and cheddar grilled cheese! YUMMMY!! She also made some apple bread that was soo tasty and again brings me to anticipate fall! Dinner last night was free chick-fil-a sandwiches but man was it a madhouse in there! I think it took me literally 20 minutes to get a free sandwich... something worth the wait! ha

This weekend is Oktoberfest in Addison! Last year I went with my family and we had a WONDERFUFL time!! I will miss them this year but I'm sure it will still be loads of fun!

(My sisters and I at Oktoberfest last year... FUN!)

Stay tuned, more to come later!

Lots of Catching up and lots of laundry!

I do realize how slack I have been on updating here and my husband has reminded me how I am "letting all of my faithful readers down"- partly joking- partly not, so for that I am sorry!

So... Where to begin. I guess we will start with Friday night. K & I flew into NC Friday afternoon and his parents were so kind to pick us up. We grabbed chick-fil-a for lunch and headed to grandaddys house. We were there this past weekend to celebrate his 80th birthday. We got ready at his house and headed right down the street to the Country Club where we were greeted with lots of our extended family as well as some of his childhood friends. The night was spectacular and really was a tribute to his life. There was laughing and crying and singing... we did it all! Grandaddy later that night jokingly said to send what everyone had said to the funeral home for his eulogy hah! He also said "I have won all kinds of awards in my life, I've been man of the year and all that sh** but this tops them all. This is by far the BEST day of my life!" I hope one day to be like him. We wrapped up at the club and took it back to his house and just relaxed then headed to my house and my mom, brother, my husband and I all hung out.

Saturday we tried to sleep in but ended up rising around 10am or so. I had to take my ring to the jeweler to get it sized a little - he was closed for the weekend but was so kind to fix it for me anyways and I picked it up on Sunday. K was blown away with how well it looked now that it fit right, and he just loved it... as did I (duh)! ha! We then headed of to K's parents house where we met them, and his sister (and her boyfriend), his brother (and his wife and 3 kids) and we grilled out and hung out. It was fun spending time with them and enjoying the nice cool weather there. Saturday night we went to Montereys for dinner with my family and his parents. Boy were they glad to see us! This summer we had made a habit of going there a couple of times a week and I think they had missed us! We had a nice dinner and then called it a night because we were exhausted!

Sunday... the infamous 25!!!! EEK! Sunday morning K got up waay early (about 6am) to go have breakfast with one of his buddies... it was way too early for me so I stayed in bed. When I woke up around 8:30am I noticed a card on my nightstand that was addressed to me. I immediately thought it was a card from his friend congratulating us on our marriage and wondered why his name wasn't on it too but opened it anyways. It was a card that said "Happy Birthday to my Wife"... it was an extremely sweet card from my hubby (obviously) and i loved it. I had forgotten that it was my birthday, and not only my birthday but my 25th birthday! This is the first time in forever that I have merely let my birthday come and go as "nothing." I'm not sure what the reason for this is but usually EVERYone (and their mom) knows exactly when my birthday is because I start counting down months in advance. I didn't do that this year. I didn't even count down one month in advance or even a week. In fact I don't think it even occurred to me that I was having a birthday until about 3 days before, and after that I "forgot" again. I'm wondering if the whirlwind of activities surrounding us getting married had me distracted (a good distraction, by the way) or if I really disliked turning 25 so much that I decided to avoid it at all cost. I cant answer that question because I honestly don't know.

Anyways, went to church with my family sunday morning and then back to grandaddys for lunch where K's parents again met us. K's mom had made me a beautiful cake (the same as our delicious wedding cake) and we opened presents and cards, and enjoyed ourselves. I guess there is no avoiding my birthday. Happy quarter of a century to me! Sunday night K and I caught a red-eye home and didn't get back to our house till around 2:30am eek! Luckily he had the day off Monday and we just vegged and enjoyed catching up on sleep!

Tuesay, I dont remember what I did... maybe sleep while he worked? Idk... oh I started some laundry... ya.

Wednesday- yesterday, K had to work early so he could get off early. I finished the laundry during the day, cooked dinner, cleaned up the dining room and the mess from our wedding reception stuff, and did some other chores. Check out how much laundry I did....

It was so funny- when K got off work he came back into our bedroom and was like "oh my gosh what have you done!?"... come to find out he thought I had been cleaning out the closet when really all the mess was our clean laundry that needed to be put away! ha!

Last night we went to the Village Church to Group Connect- the goal was to get plugged in to a home group and that we did! I am really excited and that starts in two weeks! wahoo!

Today, my baby is working and I'm going to hang out with my dear friend. Hopefully it wont be a month before I update again. :)

Mr. and Mrs.!!

I wish that I could adequately express to all of you how much fun this weekend was. and a 5 day weekend at that- Thursday through Monday full of nothing but pure bliss and fun with my family and HUSBAND! :) We are soooo very blessed to have all of you in our lives. Each one of you are so very special to us. I thank God SO MUCH that He has blessed us with you! Thank you for wanting to be a part of our big day. Wow, I'm amazed by how blessed we are!

I hope that all of you are ready for some pictures because there are some highlights that need to be made from this wonderful weekend!

Started out Thursday around noon K's grandma and mom came in town and the four of us went out to eat before K had to go to work ... you will never guess where we decided to feast... Chick-fil-A!! Niiice ha! K then left from there to go to work and the ladies and I came back to the house where they set up a beautiful table and iced a gorgeous cake for us!! Everything was so beautiful and just made the whole event complete! Here is a picture of the final decorations on the table: (They also had 2 toasting flutes and bottles of wine from Arkansas that were dressed up as bride and groom)

(See the bottles on the left? So cute!)

They soon took off for a relaxing evening at their hotel and shortly after that Sonja, Charlie and Donna flew in from the other side of the country. I met them at BJ's for our "Rehearsal Dinner" ha! Check out that picture:
They then came back to the house for a little while and hung out with me as my last night as a Miss!! KJ finally got off work and got to hang out for a lil bit also, then they headed to their hotel. A few hours later my sister Eliz & her bf, Jay, got here and a couple hours after them Mom, Pat, my baby sis, and my grandma! We had people coming in all night- it was so much fun! Mom, Pat & my baby sis Aud got my room, Cissie (my gma) got a guest room, Bubs (Elizabeth) and I shared a room and the men K & Jay got the living room. We had a full house and I got used to that this weekend, it really was a BLAST!!

Friday morning I woke up kinda early even thought I didn't want to really but that's okay, I got to talk to one of my best friends that morning :). Eliz and I went and got pedi's while KJ was with his fam, Jay and Pat were running errands for us, getting drinks and such lined up for the "reception" and doing random things I needed- man they were great! Mom and Cissie and Audrey prepared my house and Donna & Sonja ran errands (that I didn't know they were doing at the time- sneaky little things!) and fixed me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers! and a garter as well as my "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a penny for my shoe!" I was so glad they did all of that! It made the pics gorgeous!

Finally around 3:40pm we all headed up to the courthouse and was met by my great friend Janna who took lots of AMAZING pictures and even video taped the ceremony for us! (Such a God-send!) K and I handed over our marriage license to the judge and made a slight change of plans- we had planned on getting married outside on the lawn by the courthouse but ended up doing it in the courtroom because the judge suggested that outdoors may have been too noisy. The ceremony was beautiful and went on without any complications and he finally got to kiss his bride!

We then took some pictures outside the courthouse and then took the party to Green House in Denton for a nice dinner! We enjoyed the fellowship of each other!

When our tummies were filled we moved the party back to our house for the reception. We got to cut our cake, drink champagne and open some cards and gifts from our family and friends and even tossed the garter and bouquet! It was such a joyous occasion!!

Some little sneakers got my car out of the garage and totally mutilated it :) I loooved it!

K & I made our quick escape in this mess and took off to our hiding place for the night! We stayed in a really nice hotel in Plano, TX called NYLO Hotel.

Saturday morning we took it easy, hung out at the hotel, had breakfast there, and met everyone for lunch around 2pm at Denton County Burger off the square- I hiiiighly recommend it to everyone! It is a great burger! We hung out and some of the family started to trickle away. Those that stayed around came back to my house and my cousins who came in Friday afternoon went with my dad and bought me 2 trees and all the men planted them in our backyard! That was part of their wedding gift to me! They look wonderful and really dress up the backyard!

(By the way, I think the Poop Seed trees are dead... but I dont wanna talk about it :( ha!)

While the men were planing the trees the women went shopping- Cissie bought me some new patio furniture! For dinner we ordered Chick-fil-A party trays and vegged watching movies and playing games and cards. I think everyone had a great time, I know that I did. As the night got moved along K and I took our escape again and spent the night out.

Sunday morning everyone that was around went to church together at The Village where K and I go to church and where I have been going for 2 years. We went as a group to McAllisters for lunch and then took a ride down the road for some Yogurtland! WAHOO!!! It was soooo good! ha! I had to send off my clan from the east coast so they could catch their flight and the rest of us went back to our house. K & Pat put the patio furniture together- It is reallly nice- a table and 6 chairs! They did a wonderful job! Pics to come soon, I do not think I took a picture of that yet.

Monday was a very chill day, laying around enjoying the company of the last little bit of family that was still around. They left later in the afternoon and I was swept by a great sadness when we no longer had a "full house." K was so good to me and cheered me up and we went and got our free Chick-fil-A sandwiches for Labor Day. (I think so far I have eaten CFA 3 times in this blog post so far, and I'm not done yet.) ha! We came home and started tackling some Thank You cards. We spent part of the night making our personalized Return Address labels that now have my new last name on there. WOW! Its so crazy to see that in print! :) I love it though!

So today, for most, was back to the grind. K had to go to work, all the family was gone, and here I am left with an empty house. I am so blessed to have an amazing friend who came over for the day and we caught up on the events of the weekend and life. I <3>

So here I am still trying to take in all of the events of this weekend! As K and I were sitting around after everyone left yesterday I was blown away by how LOVED and BLESSED I felt this weekend. We talked about how much everyone contributed to us and how incredibly blessed we are to have people like YOU in our lives. Seriously, it brought tears to my eyes just thinking of all the little things that you all did to make our day special. And the fact that EVERY single person that came had to travel LONG and FAR distances! It means so much to us that you all would want to be a part of our big day/ weekend! I can not tell you how much we appreciate all the prayers that you all constantly lay over us. I am overcome with joy, pure joy, it is the best feeling in the world. I hope you all know how much WE LOVE YOU!

More on Chick-fil-A ... a MUST see!

So I'm in love with Chick-fil-A right? And everyone knows that... so I figured you ALL needed to watch this. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsJHqstPuNo&feature=related

All About Us and Chickfila

Words of Wisdom from kids:

When is it okay to kiss someone?

"The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do." Howard age 8

As I sit here sipping a glass of chocolate milk I am thankful for a very good day! This morning I went to a preschool and kept 2 kids for the day, one was three the other four. I am exhausted and having a hard time writing but I did want to update with some fun stuff. So I worked for the first time since December- and man that felt good! I felt like I actually had purpose in life ha! Then I came home and hung out with the FI and then I took a much needed hour long afternoon nap. I have to say that I could get used to being done with my day between 3pm or 4pm... it was rather nice and much more enjoyable than the constant 6, 7 or even 8pm while at my old job. So yay for that today!

Also, got off "working" and had a voicemail from a Preschool/Daycare that I had called early last week. Long story short I have an interview with them on Thursday at 12:30cst so please please be praying for me!! How can you pray? That God's will be done and that no matter the outcome of the situation that He may be glorified!

This afternoon my sweet fiance took me to run some errands and then we went to dinner at Chick-fil-a. It was family night and I happened across a free kids meal! (WAHOO! free chickfila= heaven on earth!) KJ ordered a combo and I ordered a kids meal and the total was 6something dollars. He asked the guy working "hows that work?" and the guy explained when you purchase a combo Tuesday night then you get a free kids meal. I think we may have just started a new "Family Tradition" because there is always a craving needing to be filled by good old Chickfil-A! After that my sweet baby took me to Barnes and Noble for some book he wanted to get "us" but wouldn't tell me what it was because he wanted to surprise me! Anyways, ends up we get the book "All about Us"by Phillip Keel. Basically it is a book that you and your significant other fill out (be it boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, etc.). It has questions about yourself and about each other and has blanks in the book with a line where each of you answer the questions. We spent a couple of hours tonight filling that out and it really just made me love this man more! It was very refreshing and I would recommend it to anyone in a relationship that means something to them!!

Still looking for a restaurant to take everyone for dinner... heellllp!! Thanks ya'll!