More Engagement Pics

She just posted us as one of her featured sessions...

Check them out!

terakaylen.com

Go to galleries- We are the first couple!

I am so pleased with them! They are fabulous!!!

Second Anual Family Beach Trip

This past weekend, we took a sporadic trip to the beach with some of Nate's family (Donald, Nicole, Natalie, Dean, and the kids)! It was such a fun and relaxing trip! We spent all day at the beach (seriously like 10 hours a day) and ate great seafood at night. We played some serious corn hole tournaments, read, played paddle ball (Ty and Calvin are so good at this), and swam all day long. I even was able to finish my awesome book that I told you all about, "Created to be His Help Meet." This book has seriously changed how I view my role as a wife to Nathan. It has taught me SO much! I plan to write you all more of what I have learned from this great book in a later post! I am so thankful that Allison passed it on to me. It is a must read!!!!

It was so nice being able to spend time with everyone. We all have such a great time together! I am so thankful that we were able to join them again this year. It was truly refreshing.

[Sorry for the lack of pictures...I didn't even think about taking pictures until the last minute]

Engagement Pics- (Sneak- Peak)

This past weekend we had our engagement pics taken in Mooresville (where we are getting married)! We had such a great time with our photographers Tera and Wes Wages. (check them out at terakaylen.com)! We both left just bragging about how much fun we had taking pictures! Tera and her assistant Wes are newlyweds and very talented photographers! They work so well together and make taking pictures fun! Here is a sneak-peak from the shoot. I am sure there will be many more to come! We love the pictures so far...they are so us! We are so excited for the wedding! We can't wait to spend time with our closest family and friends while these two snap some shots of us!


Also, we are sending out invitations today!!! Sy and Daasha came over to help us stuff and seal them last night. We had a really good time. Thank God for great friends!

Our anticipation for our big day is building. We are truly enjoying every minute of our engagement, but we also just cannot wait to be joined in marriage! As we start to finish more and more projects, our excitement multiplies! What a blessing this time is for us!

Shower her with Prayer!

Will you all please pray for my student worker Kaasha and her family. Kaasha was due this week with her first baby, Kingston Parker, but she had some serious unexpected complications and he passed on Sunday night. It has been completely devastating for her. I went to the hospital and spent a few hours with her on Monday. She was in a horrible state of grief. I just wept and wept with her. I can't even come close to imagining the pain of losing a child that you have carried for 9 months. Please keep Kaasha and her family in your prayers.

It just so happens that I have been reading the journey of a woman who had something similar occur in her life. She is a very strong Christian woman and reading her blog has challenged me in many ways. I am so thankful that I had read her story because it is helping me to be able to empathize with Kaasha in a special way. Please take the time to visit her blog, I assure you it will challenge you. (Disclaimer: Have a box of tissues handy) http://www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com/

I would love to update you all on my exciting life but right now nothing that I am experiencing seems to be as important as asking you all to pray for a friend.

A new dining room table and the story of the cat

Nate and I had a great Fourth of July weekend! On Thursday we enjoyed the first annual EMUN cook off. There was so much food to choose from and it was all so good. It was so great seeing everyone because we don't all get together as often as we would like to. After dinner, the ladies of EMUN sat around talking about childbirth, marriage, and menopause (no joke)...it was hilarious. We had a great night with everyone.

On Friday, we grilled out at granny's. We all ate with her and then headed out to the pool for a relaxing afternoon with the family. I really enjoyed just sitting and reading by the pool for the afternoon. Especially because a friend of mine (one of the EMUN wives) gave me a great new book titled, "Created to Be His Help Meet." The woman that gave it to me said that it completely changed the way she viewed marriage and has helped her to grow so much as a wife and mother. After reading 5 chapters, I understood how reading a book based on the biblical commands for a wife could change how we view marriage. I will have to tell you all more about it as I continue to read, but I am really enjoying it thus far. It talks a lot about finding fulfillment in serving your husband and family...ultimately, being his helper for life and allowing him to lead you by taking the role of his helper. I think this is the greatest way to view marriage and it feels very natural for me. More to come on that...

Friday night we had friends over to play poker. The best part was that there was no money involved so we could just enjoy playing. We played for hours. No one wanted to stop playing, we were just having such a great time. It was a wonderful way to spend our 4th of July night!

On Saturday, we finished registering! One more thing off of our to-do list! Nate and I still can't get over how expensive everything is. We are hoping that our informed buyers will feel free to look at what we have registered for and find it at a better price! Plus, we went furniture shopping. Nate and I have been looking for a nice formal dining room table and we saw this one a couple weeks ago, but we needed more time to look around and decide if it was the one. So, we looked at several other stores and then decided to purchase this one. We are super excited to have a table that holds 10! While a lot of people do not use their formal dining rooms, we really enjoy having people over for dinner and it is not uncommon for us to have at least 8. So, we will actually have room for everyone now, which is fabulous.

As for the cat...oh my lands. This cat decided to make our covered porch it's home about 1 week after we closed on our house. We didn't feed it for one month because we thought that the cat would eventually go away, but it did not get discouraged and run to the neighbors. Instead, it started to stay for longer periods of time and meowed louder! So, about a month ago someone convinced us to feed the cat at least until we found a new home for it.

We have sent emails out to our church family asking for someone to take the cat in, but no one seems to want our persistent pet. So, to make a long story short, we continue to claim that Jinxsy (Brent just had to name her...ha ha ha) is not ours, but we are currently feeding and medicating her. I must commend Jinxsy for her persistence, but my allergies (and honestly our not wanting to have any pets) will not allow us to keep this friendly pet. If you know anyone who would like a good outdoor cat, please let me know. We would love to bring her to your porch :)!

Hope you all have a great week! I will be MIA for most of the week because I am trying to complete a large paper. The good news is that I only have 2 more weeks until summer classes are over and we go to the beach for our second annual family beach trip with the Walker clan. I can't wait!

I must end this post by saying that I can't stop thinking about how blessed I am. I have been truly blessed in the past couple of years and I am reminded of this so often. I am so thankful for everyone in my life and everything I have. Sometimes it is so easy for us to think about the things that we don't have, but it is so much better to focus on the things that we do have because when we do, it is truly amazing!

My little sister is officially Married!

As I mentioned before, this past weekend my little sister got married! It was a very nice ceremony and reception. I even managed to sing during the ceremony without bawling. Jessica looked absolutely beautiful! I am glad we were able to be there for their special day.

We continue to pray that God will watch over Jessica and Tyler for a lifetime.

Nathan and I really enjoyed spending time with my family. My ENTIRE family came to Jessica's wedding so we were able to catch up with everyone! We were excited to learn that several of our closest family members will be coming to Alabama in September to join us for our special day!!! We can't wait!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend. The lighting in the church made it very difficult for me (Nate) to take good pictures. I am sure my mom will have some better pictures and I will try to post a few once she shares them with me.

On a side note, let us all remember the men and women who serve our Country stateside and oversees. Sometimes I forget to pray for my fellow servicemen and women. I have several friends who are currently serving in Iraq (proudly and willingly I might add). Please lift them up this weekend! I am so thankful for the sacrifices they make on a regular basis.

We have a fun but busy weekend planned. Tonight Emun is having a cooking competition. tomorrow we are celebrating the Fourth with Nate's family, Saturday we have to finish registering (people are starting to ask), and Sunday Nate leaves for the Atlanta show!