Celebrating 5 years of marriage!

We celebrated five years of marriage last weekend in Gatlinburg with my brother and his wife. We had a great time with them and enjoyed relaxing by the fire in our cabin. We went skiing, shopping and did a little exploring! It was very cold and even snowed!
I still can't believe Robby and I have be married for five years! I am so thankful the Lord gave me an amazing husband who loves me even though I can be a pain! I love him with all my hear and look forward to the next five years! I wonder how our lives will look then?
Here are some picture of the trip!

Thanksgiving 2008

The Farmers spent their Thanksgiving mostly in a car as usual. Now, I am trying not to sound negative but just once in my married life I would like to spend Thanksgiving at my home with my husband and my little Sammy. Maybe one day!

The holiday was good though and I have a lot to be thankful for and as I prayed and prepared for all the travel I came up with a short list of things I was thankful for. Here are a few:

*Being a daughter of the King

*A loving, forgiving husband

* Family, even if they drive me crazy, at least I have them!

*Wonderful Friends

*Good health

*Wonderful church family

*Mine and Robby's jobs

*My little dog, Sammy

*Living in America

*Freedom

*Love

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

20 Something's Get Together

Our church, CrossPointe, has a group called the 20 Something's. Basicly if your in the age range of 20 - 30 you can be apart of this group! This past weekend our courageous leaders Danielle and Reynold planned a fun get together at Jamie and Claire Herndon's family farm. Let's just say we had a lot of fun! But the pictures can speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Being the aunt

I love being an Aunt! My niece Bryanna and my mom took a trip down to Columbus to see me two weeks ago. Here are some pictures...enjoy!

My effort to save money

I made an effort a couple weeks ago to save money. How, you might ask? Well I paid a visit to Wal-mart. They are the low price place...right?

Now I have to say in college I loved Wal-mart, it was really the only place in Troy to shop for groceries, toiletries and house hold items. But Since I have moved to Columbus Wal-mart is kind of out of my way. You see Publix is right down the street from my house so it's very convenient to go to.

My experience at the low price place was needless to say terrible a couple Friday's ago. I went on a Friday night around 8 p.m. I needed groceries and the basic toiletries for the house. After wondering around a big store for over an hour (never once could find someone to ask where anything was) I finally found most of the items I was looking for. Then I had to find a check out counter that was open. Lucky me, I found two and of course the lines at these counters were a mile long!! I really don't understand why they don't open more check out lines. So after waiting 17 minutes (yes I was looking at my watch with a very unhappy look on my face) I finally got to put my stuff that I had spent over an hour looking for on the belt to be swiped. The cashier was somewhat friendly. She had to bag all my groceries and then I had to put them all in the buggy. Then I had to push my own cart out in the rain to load them into my car. Once the buggy was empty do you think I could find any empty cart holder to put my buggy in? NO!
So although I might have saved a couple extra dollar going to the low price place, was it really worth it? At Publix the employees are actually around the store to help you find what you are looking for. At Publix there are always plenty of check out lines open and then they also bag your groceries, put them in the cart, take them to your car and take the buggy back with them! So I am here to say yes, I might have saved a few extra dollar but it was not worth what I had to go through to do it!

I will still remain a faith Publix shopper even though I might pay an extra $.30 for my milk! and like there logo says, its a pretty pleasurable experience!

Sisters

I love that God works in amazing ways and turns bad things into good things. My parents got divorced when my twin brother and I were 18 months old. Of course we don't remember this but there are a lot of other things in my childhood that remind me of it. It wasn't all bad but I did always have an empty place in my heart because of a missing father.

My dad remarried when we were 3 years old to a very sweet lady, Donna. And they had two beautiful daughters Katie and Lauren. I love them so much, and I am sure they have no idea how much...although I tell them all the time. Lauren is 21 and goes to University of Montevallo. She pledged Chi Omega a year ago and it made me so happy because I was a Chi O in college too. Kaite is 16 and just got her first car. I am so thankful that God put them in my life. I love being the big sister and being able to bless them with new clothes, fun adventures and going to get pedicures.

We got to spend a little time together this past weekend just hanging out and I cherished this time.

My heart is so pleased that the Father allowed me to be a sister and I am so humble to have this responsibility! For all those sisters out there make sure you always tell your bothers or sisters how much you love them and care for them!!

October Update

So when I first started my blog I thought I will write something at least once a week. Well that is not happening but I am going to try to start doing better!

Just to recap the last month:

Robby and I went to Sea Island with our friends Jaime and Claire, Rosa and Mack and their girlfriends. We had a blast, and it was a new place I had never been. I love adventures and going to new places. Sea Island has a rich heritage; it's on the Atlantic cost and is a resort island. It is part of the group of islands known as the Golden Isles of Georgia together with Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island, and Little St. Simons Island. In 1911, Howard Coffin purchased 20,000 acres of land and began developing it as a private resort. In 1928 he began an overnight inn and lodge named “The Cloister”. The resort it now controlled privately and public access is limited.

We have also been watching a lot of football. We are Trojan fans (Troy University) but our team has struggled somewhat this year. We are ready to see them play in person in a couple weeks.

Also this past month I hit the 30 pound mark! It's taking me longer to loose this weight but I am doing it the right way and God is helping me. My biggest problem with gaining the weight has been my emotions. I could talk days about it but I will spare you! My next goal is another 20 to get me to a 50 pound weight lost, and I am hoping to do this by December 6th (My 5th year wedding anniversary)! I'll keep you posted!

Two weeks ago Robby and I attended the 3rd annual Madisyn Kemp Golf Tournament. This was to benefit my sweet niece who passed away in march from SMA. For more about her life and the disease that took her you can visit her website at http://www.madisynkemp.com/. I had a great time seeing family and visiting with my sweet Bryanna (Madisyn's sister).

Pictured below is my dad, me and my two sisters Lauren and Katie.

Well, that's all for now. Look for more soon, I promise!

My ankle

I have to put a disclaimer out there for this post:

I don't have the prettiest feet in the world; with all the years of dancing in point toes, barefooted, and dance boots my feet have taken a beating over the years (and I am only 27). So when you look at these pictures just look at the ankle!

My friend Clair and I were running our weekly trail at the park and it had been raining so we were being careful. Lately we both have been tripping a lot and we attribute that to our tennis shoes. I am going on over a year now and the support is just not there. Well I tripped yesterday and it stung a little but I kept going. When I got home last night after making dinner (taco salad) I noticed my ankle was a little swollen. I didn't think too much of this because it's done this before. (There was this one time in college when I hurt it bad, freshmen year).

Today I woke up to an even bigger ankle...what is the deal? It does sting a little and my brave, strong husband tells me I'll be fine but still I can't get over how fat my ankle is!

See pictures below, your sympathy is appreciated!

This is the normal ankle: This is the swollen ankle:

Life

Two weeks ago my mom, sister-in-law and niece came to visit me. I was so excited. See pictures!

Update

Wow, so much has been going on lately that I haven't been able to write. Last week we were at the beach all week...it was wonderful. I had a great time with Robby, my sisters and step-mom and we also met up with some friends. But God also used the time to speak to my heart, I will write about it soon.

Monday was my friend Kimberly's last day with our church, the time has come for her and Jarvis to move to Birmingham. I think most of us kept thinking the day would never come...and when the day did come it was so sad. We are losing our partners in the gospel and very good friends. Needless to say it's been a whirlwind of emotions lately. I'll write more when I get time but for now see pictures below.

Sammy's new friend

Last week Cane Wright (Kimberly and Jarvis' son) came over to play with Sammy. They had lots of fun chasing each other and tackling one another. Here are some pictures of their adventure.

The dog days of summer...

Or at least I think the saying goes something like that. Anyway, Sammy and I went for our morning running this morning and it was pretty hot. He did a great job though and finished with me (only 2 miles). I was getting ready with my normal routine when I walked about of the bathroom into the bedroom to find one tired puppy. I guess it was to hot and he was tired so he climbed right up into the bed and was cuddled up right in my spot! See pictures below! Poor puppy - I often wonder what dogs think. I wonder if he was thinking "this is the life"...because he sure looks like he has a great life! If I was a dog...I wonder what I would be like? Probably prissy and want to sleep in the bed, under the covers too!

Beilze Trip and my first full week at CrossPointe

A group of 30 people from our Church left on Saturday to go on a mission trip to Belize. They are working on lots of projects and ministering to the people anyway they can. Please say a special pray for the team, I am sure by now they are getting tired and weary.
On another note, my first week at CrossPointe has been wonderful. I am sad that Kimberly is leaving but I am thankful that God has brought me in to be part of the team. For the first time in a long time I feel appreciated, valued and apart of something much bigger than myself. And it's not anything anyone has said to me it's just the way the staff and church members relate to one another. So far I have learned lots but the funnest thing has been publishing the podcast...who knew I could do something like this!
Kimberly has been a wonderful teacher and I am really going to miss her, I know everyone else will too. Please pray for her and her husband Jarvis as they move to Birmingham for his job. They are really wonderful people and CrossPointe is going to miss them so much!

So the theme today is prayer! Pray for our the Belize team and Kimberly and Jarvis!

LOVE

As I was spending time with the Lord this morning I came across Deut. 6:5-7 and it reads:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

I felt so overwhelmed, I have read this before, but the Lord spoke it to me this morning in a different way. Sometime I don't even know how to love with all my heart, yet alone with all my soul and strength! Why do I struggle with love? If HE loves me that much then I should love Him and everything else in this world just as much. Is it because I have a worldly view of love? As I studied more I felt His grace upon my shoulders. You see even though we don't love like He loves, (because our love is imperfect) we still should love! I know I have a hard time showing and receiving love and that's when the 5 love languages come in handy. They are: Affirmation, Time, Gifts, Service and Touch.

Love - it's the greatest gift of all and even though we love imperfectly we still should love. So today I send out all my love to everyone and everything...even to the bugs!

Transitions…

So…it’s midnight on Sunday and I am suppose to be in the bed getting some much needed sleep for a busy week I have ahead of me. But, I am still up thinking and wondering how much my life has been in transition over the last 5 years. First it was transiting from college to married life, hello wake-up call! I love married life now, but since I wasn’t the type of girl growing up that day-dreamed about it, I really didn’t know what to expect. I am happy to report that in December, Robby and I will have been married for 5 years!
Then there was the transition to working full-time at the newspaper in Troy, then the transition to working for the university, which I loved and to this day miss. But the hardest transition so far was moving to Columbus. No friends, no family, no contacts…nothing but my faith and husband. Then there was the job transition from CSU back to the university, this was a big step in responsibility for me. I have enjoyed this job, but it’s brought about more stress in my life than I care to have! There were nights I would lay awake thinking about work, not being able to shut it off. Of course, I was trusting in the Lord but I still felt the weight on my shoulders. I don’t think I could bare the thought of standing in front of Dr. Hawkins and explaining why the campus didn’t meet the goals.
Now I am transitioning to CrossPointe…and it can’t come fast enough! I am really nervous because the one thing I don’t want to do is disappoint people. This is also a big transition in lifestyle too. Robby and I no longer have separate checking accounts (we won’t need them anymore) so my spending will be monitored now. Let’s just say I have fears about this transition but as always I am trusting in something that is greater than myself!
So here’s to transitions, each time it gives us an opportunity to grow, trust and build our faith…
Now on to some much needed sleep!

Our Spot

Welcome to our blog spot! I have finally made a blog; something I have been wanting to do for a while. What a great way to keep in touch with people and learn about others. Several of our friends have been blogging for a while and so I made up my mind it was time! I hope you enjoy The Farmers spot!