Weekend Fun

This weekend Stephen and I watched the Brock children.  We had a lot of fun with them playing video games and watching movies.  They are great kids who love to laugh and I couldn't help taking a few pictures of the fun we were having. 

Stephen and Brandon played Wii Boxing and Brandon was so funny I ended up recording a few seconds of it on my camera.  Click on the video to watch it.  Little Brandon definitely beat my big, strong husband, which made it even funnier.  Enjoy the pics and video!

I thought this picture was great.  Stephen was playing a video game on the computer and the kids wanted to know all about the game and how to play it.  They gathered around Stephen and watched for about 30 minutes while he explained everything and showed them how to play. There was one moment when Brandon leaned over Stephen's shoulder and put his arm around him.  He stood like that for a few moments and it was just precious.  It happened too fast for me to take a picture of though.  I am so proud of my husband, who loves children and does such a great job playing with, entertaining, and leading/teaching them. He will be a great father one day.

In the meantime, here's what I've been doing for the last week:

It's Christmas time, and that means lots of parties and goodies! It's been great to celebrate our Savior's birth with good friends and family. I'm looking forward to the next 2 weeks as we spend some quality time with both our families.

Merry Christmas!

Decorating for Christmas

I love this man.  

He does NOT like putting up Christmas lights.  

But he LOVES me.  

And I really wanted lights on our beautiful home.  

AND his dad offered to buy ALL the Christmas lights we needed if Stephen would put them up.

So he agreed to go all out and do whatever I wanted.  

I wanted to outline the house in white lights.  

And he did it.  

He climbed up on our REALLY high roof and got much too close to the edge for my comfort (and his mom's!) and made my dream happen.  

I love this man.

And I love this house.

Doesn't it look pretty!?!

It's even better in person!

THANK YOU STEPHEN!!!

Not for the Faint of Heart

A friend of mine has been on an incredible journey this year. She has been a participant of the World Race which is put on by Adventures in Missions (www.theworldrace.org). It is a year long journey that literally takes you across the planet serving in radical ways to people at each stop. My friend has been keeping a blog of her adventure and I've been living vicariously through her stories of poverty, depravity, love, and the redemptive power of Christ.

Her most recent blog has been on my mind all day. So much that I had to spend my lunch break praying over the people she writes about.

It's not for the faint of heart.

Take a moment to read the entry here and let your eyes be opened to reality. Then read through the rest of her entries.

Hope Fundraiser!

Who likes Boston Butt?!?

Boston Butt Fundraiser

Now through Nov 22nd!

Reach Orphans With Hope is having a Boston Butt Fundraiser to raise money for our orphan outreach projects including: orphan child needs, the Summer Orphan Program, and post-adoptive family support.  For those who don't know, half my time at work is dedicated to this awesome organization.  They are an orphan advocacy and humanitarian aide group for international, older orphan children.  You can find out more about them at www.reachorphanswithhope.org

Pre-Order Cost $30.00

Now through Nov 12th you can pre-order a Boston Butt by getting ahold of me or calling Reach Orphans With Hope (I answer the phones too) at 205-229-2707.  The cooked Boston Butts will be available for pick-up on Saturday, November 22nd from 8:00am - 12:00pm at The Church at Brook Hills Student Building Parking Lot.  I can bring them to Sylacauga that afternoon for all the Sylacauga folks!  Walk-up orders are also welcome on delivery day until we are sold out!

Order yours today and have it just in time for Thanksgiving crowds and Iron Bowl Parties!

Outback America

We are slowly getting caught up! A few weekends ago was Outback. This is a weekend retreat held at Farmlinks (golf course close to us) that is designed around relationship-building. You attend with a partner (typically husband/wife, father/daughter, father/son, mother/daughter, or mother/son). Stephen and I had the great privilege to attend at husband/wife coaches, meaning we got to help lead a group of husband/wife couples through the weekend. Not really teaching, because that is all done by the speakers, but helping to facilitate their times together and be their guides through the weekend. We had a great time! We had 4 couples in our group and all of them had been married less than a year! Here were the lengths of the marriages: 6 months, 4 months, 2 months, and one engaged couple! Isn't that crazy! Stephen and I were the old married couple of our group :-) And how great that we had an engaged couple - what a fantastic investment in preparing for your marriage.

Here are a few pictures of the weekend. It is truly beautiful out there and a great place to reflect on the Lord.

Another reason this weekend was special to us is because this is the location Stephen proposed to me 2 years ago. It was up on the mountain-top at Outback, and we got to go back to the exact same spot where he proposed. It was our first time to go back since that time, so we made sure to stop for a moment to reflect and be thankful. And of course to take some pictures! These pictures look almost exactly like the ones we took right after Stephen proposed - minus the showing off of a shiny new ring. :-)

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Again, we're trying to play catch-up here.  Jeff turned 50 on Sept 28th and we had a surprise party for him at our house!

We are so thankful that he is a regular part of our lives here in Sylacauga.  Jeff is a godly man who is quick to serve and to give a hug and a smile.  He is a blessing to all who know him and I always leave encouraged when spending time with him.

It was a blast throwing a surprise party for his birthday (much credit to Janet and Jayci for handling all the details and putting it together)!  Here are a few pics of us getting ready for the big event.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the actual party, but just take my word for it that it was a great one.

Jayci wrapped our presents for Jeff

Don't they look awesome!  I need her to give me lessons in bow-making!

Our fun musical card!

And of course, the cake!

Happy Birthday again Jeff.  We love you!!!  

It's been a big year for birthdays...lots of parents turning half a century old :-)  Just one more left...we'll be sure to do it big Dad!

Time Flies!

My how the time has flown.  I've thought many times that I really want to update this blog, but the reality is that I haven't had any time!  I have lots of events and pictures to share with you all and I'm going to do my best to cover a few of those over the next few days.

First of all, Stephen and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary on September 1st!  I can't believe how quickly our first year of marriage has gone by.  At the same time, I feel like we've been married for a long time because it feels so right and natural to be with Stephen.  We definitely belong together and it's hard to even imagine life any different than it is today.

For our anniversary, we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants - The Melting Pot! Mmmmm, so good and fun!  It's a fondue restaurant and every course is served fondue style, meaning you skewer the food and actually cook it at the table.  Here's some pictures of the fun:

And the absolute best part...DESSERT!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Fondue anyone?

I can taste the goodness just by looking at that picture.

We also went to a movie and then drove out to the lake and spent some time talking about our favorite things from our first year of marriage and things we're looking forward to in year 2.  Here are a few of our favorites from yr 1: honeymoon in Maui, weekend getaways in San Diego and Pasadena, serving together in Jr High ministry at Grace Community Church, Saturday morning waffles, and moving to Sylacauga.  It was definitely an exciting year with lots of new adventures.  And greater than all those things, I'm thankful for the time we got to spend learning, serving, laughing, and living as husband and wife.  What an incredible blessing marriage is!