Bachelor Party Weekend

This morning I woke up at 6:00am to make a large breakfast for 7 hungry men who are headed to Tunica, AL for a weekend of golfing and poker. This weekend Nathan and several of his closest friends are having a bachelor party weekend! I wish I had a picture of all of them sitting at the table this morning with huge smiles on their faces. They are all so excited to get away from the daily grind and have some "dude" time. It was a lot of fun cooking for all of them and I think they really enjoyed it (their plates were clean). I hope they have a super fun and safe trip. I know they don't all get together very often, so I am sure they will try to enjoy every moment of the increased testosterone. I always miss Nate when he is gone, but I am so happy he can have this time with his friends.

As for my weekend, I plan to spend it crafting with Dasha! Her husband Sy is on the man trip, so we decided we are going to have a sleep over this weekend. Our plans include sewing, decoupaging, thrift store shopping, distressing a few things, and painting canvas! A wonderful weekend of craftiness....fabulous!

Side notes:

I (with the help of Wanda...lifesaver) finished sewing six 11ft panels for our great room and kitchen nook. We finished them on Monday night at Wanda's. You should of seen me and Wanda trying to measure 11ft six times while Nate laid on the bed telling us stories about his childhood. We had a blast! I can't wait to post pictures for you all. Nate and I hung them yesterday (we are such a team) and they look awesome! Another huge project down, check!

My family and two close friends (Katy and Sarah) will be here in 3 weeks! I absolutely cannot wait!!!! Since some of you may not know them and I love to tell people about my awesome friends, I want to introduce you to them!

The picture below is of me and Katy on her wedding day! She was such a beautiful bride! She and her husband Brian have been married for a little over a year. She lives in Oklahoma and still serves in the Air National Guard Full Time! In fact, she will be going to Iraq in a few short months. I met Katy when I joined the USAF in 2003. We were stationed at Wichita Falls AFB and later at Lackland AFB for our technical training. Katy has such a tender heart, but at the same time she is extremely strong and determined! Katy has seen me through some very wonderful and also very difficult times. She has been there for me for the past five years and I am so thankful for her presence in my life. Despite our physical distance, we have always stayed in touch! Each time I talk with her I am reminded of the deep love and respect that I have for her. She is like a sister to me. I am so excited she is going to be coming to Huntsville for an entire week!

The picture above is of me and Sarah the night before I left Orlando to move to Huntsville. I met Sarah when I moved to Orlando in 2006. She lives in Orlando, FL and is now engaged to her boyfriend of 4 years! She actually leased me my apartment in Orlando! My only other friend in Orlando lived almost an hour away, so I was really praying that I would meet a good friend soon after I moved there. Well, Sarah was that friend. She stepped right into my life and became the type of friend that I could tell my life story to without hesitation. The thing I love most about Sarah is her open heart. I have never seen her judge anyone. I truly believe I could tell her anything and she would love me regardless. She is one of those people who can truly look past a persons actions or past to see who they really are. She has stuck by my side since the day I met her! I am so thankful that she was placed in my life at a time when I really needed a good friend. She is such a rock in my life. She will also be coming for the entire week (despite some scheduling conflicts, which she rearranged just to be with me)!

Ladies, if you are reading this post, I hope you know how much I love you both! Thank you for being such loyal and supportive friends. I am so excited you all are coming to be with me during this special time.

When I count my blessings, I count my friends and family twice! Okay...I know that is cheesy, but it is true!

Pray for The Linc!

The kids getting ready to go swimming. Me and Angel.

I know that I have shared with most of you about the awesome new program that our church is starting called The Linc. It is an after school tutoring program for children from the Lincoln Village projects and other surrounding areas. Every Monday through Thursday, the children will participate in after school playtime, eat an evening meal, receive individual tutoring, spiritual growth mentoring, group activities, and attend weekly activities such as swimming lessons, gymnastics classes, and art classes, etc. I cannot tell you all how much work has gone into starting this program. It feels like Natalie has pretty much lived there for the past 3 weeks ;). The old building where the program will be held has been completely remodeled almost entirely by volunteers! So many people have stepped up to contribute to this program. Natalie could tell you so many awesome stories about how this program (and truly the children) have been blessed. God has been taking care of all of the needs of the program. We've had so much fun working on the building, creating fun things for the walls, organizing information, and most importantly loving on the children.

Then, last week I was completely blown away when my practicum supervisor agreed to let me do my practicum hours (kind of like clinicals) at the Linc with Natalie and an individual therapist that works with these same children! A miracle considering I am in Clinical Psychology and Kelly (the individual therapist) and Natalie both have a master's in Social Work. We are SO SO thankful for this wonderful opportunity. Natalie and I are so excited that we are going to be able to work together with the children that we truly love and care about. It is such a blessing for me, Nat, and the kids. While it looks like I will still be working full-time and working 10 hours a week at the Linc (which is a lot), at least I will be working with awesome people and children that I already know and love. And who knows...maybe a peace will be given that will allow me to cut back on hours at my job to allow for me to work more at the Linc. You all should pray about that as well!

Specific things to pray for:

- Pray for Natalie and the volunteers that will be caring for the children. Pray that we stay passionate and whole-heartedly care for the children. Pray that we do not burn-out, but that we all support one another and remain strong in the battle!

- Pray that the program is financially blessed. Most of the items in the building are not actually paid for yet. So, we really need donations. We are having a golf tournament on Sept. 19th! Pray that the tournament is a success.

- PRAY FOR THE CHILDREN! You wouldn't believe the kind of adversity these children have to overcome every day. Please pray for them. Pray that they will know God in a very personal way and they will grow from this program. Pray that they will graduate from high school and go to college! Pray that they will find fulfilling jobs in their adult life and come back to the Lincoln Village community and make a difference! Pray that they will break the cycle!

Other news, this weekend our church had a bridal shower for me at Wanda Tucker's house (my pseudo-mom in Huntsville). Once I get the pictures from the Tucker's, I will post them along with more about the shower. It was such a special time and I am SO thankful for such an amazing church family.

***One month and one day until we get married! Time is flying! We are so excited! It is going to be here SO SOON! HUH! ***

They say it's my birthday...nananana

I haven't been able to post in awhile. Life has bee moving at a rapid pace...well at least more rapid than I normally like. This is a big time for us and our friends. Geoff and Melinda are expecting their first baby in just a couple months, Sy and Dasha are selling everything they own and moving to Iceland the week after we get married, Natalie is trying to start a learning center for the kids we help from the inner city, and we are preparing to get married in 1 month, 1 week, and 6 days! Talk about a lot going on in just a few short months! It is an exciting and special time for us all, but it is also a time filled with lots of celebrating, projects, and to-do lists. Thus, we are all a bit "busy". At the same time, we are also trying to take everything in, to truly appreciate this special time and gather in the memories. We want to be able to look back on this time and say that we truly enjoyed every minute of it! We don't want to think of this time as a stressful period of our lives, so we are doing everything we can to RUN away from the stress. We are still trying to make time for date nights, I am still trying to cook as normal, we are still trying to serve others, we are trying to simply look at the tasks at hand instead of everything that needs to be done, and most importantly we are trying to have fun! My beautifully pregnant friend Melinda.
Sy and Dasha!

The lovely Ms. Natalie and I.

Apparently Natalie and I think we are crafty because we took on the challenge of painting a bunch of canvases for The Linc this past week. The walls looked so bare in the awesome hang-out room so we wanted to put some color on them! Here is just one sample of our many creations!

This past weekend we had our first shower at Brandon and Missy Lusk's house. We called it our "EMUN" shower. It was mainly for Nathan's co-workers and their wives and our close friends. We had such a great night with everyone. Everyone that came is very special to us and it was so fun celebrating with them. I was a little nervous (okay I was visibly shaking) when it came time to open gifts, but I got more comfortable once people starting cracking jokes. It was a great night and we truly appreciate Brandon and Missy for hosting such a great party!

Thank you Lynn for the embarrassing gift. This is a major inside joke for the people that go to the light. I had to read this book for a class and accidentaly sent a reply-all email to almost our entire church asking Natalie if I could borrow the "Vagina Monologues". I don't know if I will ever live that one down. We laughed a lot!

This past weekend we had 2 other BIG-might I say HUGE events at our house (I hope this doesn't confuse people...I don't know how not to call it "our house"...I live there now, but it is our house). Nathan (with the help of Brent) finally put up the living room fan and our big dining room chandelier! With 12 FT ceilings this is no easy task and I was so proud of them for finishing them! I even had to take some pictures... They look great and now the dining room is ready for the table, which comes TODAY! Thanks guys for being right on time!

Oh and today is my birthday! I woke up today and Nathan had left a cute little outfit (he actually picked it out, which is SO not Nathan) on the counter for me and I got to eat lunch with Natalie and Nicole at a neat little place called Dallas Mills. It has been an interesting day to say the least...maybe I will tell you more about that in another post. Nate and I plan to eat dinner at this awesome restaurant downtown called The Chophouse. I am not one of those people who are big on birthdays. I actually enjoy celebrating other people's birthdays more than my own come to think of it. But never-the-less, I am truly thankful for yet another wonderful year of life! God has showered me with blessings this past year and today I am trying to focus on each and every one of them!

A great weekend...

I had such a great weekend! We hoped that we would have a relaxing and yet productive weekend and that is exactly what we got. It was so fabulous that I just had to tell you all about it. I am so thankful for weekends like these!

Nate and I stayed in on Friday night for some quiet time alone. We ordered Terrinovas and sat and talked for hours. It was such a great night! I just love when we can put life on hold in order to really listen to one another. Nights like these are our favorite!

On Saturday, Nate and I ate lunch with his granny and then came home with plans to go swimming with Donald and Nicole and the kids, but it ended up raining so instead we took a nap!After my little nap (Nathan ended up sleeping for hours...he was so tired), I woke up with a lot of energy and ended up completing several DIY wedding projects! Plus, earlier this week I had purchased some canvas (for next to nothing) and decided that I was going to turn into Ms. Craft and create us some pictures for our home! Keep in mind that I am not naturally creative, but I am cheap and that spurs me to take on the challenge of pretty much any DIY project in order to save us some money! Might I also say that I am always very happy and excited when I can do these type of projects and Nathan always shares in my joy! He and Brent held the stencils while I painted and helped hang the finish product. Nathan was so proud of me!

Here is my final creation for our guest bedroom! Next up, pictures for above our kitchen cabinets. I can't wait!

After our afternoon of relaxation and fun projects, we picked up Ty and Tess (it was Nicole's birthday so we wanted to give them some time out with friends) and took them putt-putt golfing. Tess made it about 5 holes before Nathan was toting her club and ball around, but we had so much fun!

Nate and Ty at Putt-Putt! They are so much fun!

After golfing, Ty and Nathan watched Transformers while Tess and I baked cookies! It was quite a mess but we had so much fun! I love how willing kids are to learn! I think it is so important to allow children the opportunity to learn even if it slows down your process or they make mistakes! While our cookies tasted more like pancakes (according to Ty), I think Tess enjoyed making them and that is what matters!

Licking the beaters...yummy! "Clean up, Clean up, everybody everywhere..."

Our night ended with Cheaper by the Dozen and Ty and Tess taking Nathan and Brent to "jail". Laughter filled our house on Saturday night because of these kids. We love them so much! They add such joy to our lives!

On Sunday I sang on praise team and it was awesome! Our friend Alan conducted communion and told us of how thankful he is for our church family and the encouragement they provide not only to him but others. It reminded me of how thankful I personally am for such a great community of people who are so willing to serve not only one another, but also our community and anyone else who states a need. I have never belonged to a church like "The Light" and I am so thankful that I am a part of such a wonderful community! I am constantly challenged when I walk through the doors of our little warehouse or when I see someone from church so selflessly serving others because of the love they have for Christ. You all rock...thank you!

Nate, Brent, and I enjoyed a "good little" Sunday afternoon. We went to the pool for a bit and went out to dinner at Jason's Deli, which is delicious! Brent is one of our best friends. He is such a humble servant. We always enjoy his company!

Sunday evening I enjoyed a long phone conversation with my brother Trinity and his daughter Cadence (she is 4!). I miss them SO much! It is amazing how our siblings change...how we change! I am so proud of Trinity. He is such a wonderful husband, father of two (they just had their second child Colton), and business man. I know that he has been challenged a lot lately and I would ask that you all would lift him up in prayer. There comes a point in every ones life when they reflect on the past and he is at that point in his life. Please pray that he would have peace and forgiveness in this challenging time! Living in Alabama is a blessing, but at the same time it can be very difficult being away from the ones I love! I love him and his family SO SO very much and miss them dearly. I can't wait until they are here in less than 2 months!

Me, Trinity, and Cadence at my sister's wedding!

So that was my great weekend! I know this is a long post but I wanted to share my joy with you all! Have a great week!