Christmas 2010

Over Christmas we got to visit with both of our families which is always great.  Next Christmas will be very different with Abby Ruth here as well as all of her cousins (1st, 2nd, so on ) and friends on the way!  We can't wait.  I didn't get too many pics but a few videos over the break.  I'm going to have to steal pics from others that were with us! 

First we went to the Trammells and spent lots of time seeing the whole family and family friends.

Above:  Mollie and I are due one week apart and we are both having girls!  This picture makes me look way ahead of her when I'm actually the week behind.  The angle and Mollie's black shirt don't help!!  Below you can see better!

Above:  There are two other families that the Trammell's are very good friends with and they each have a grandchild on the way too.  The four of us are due all within a three week time period!  I can't wait to see how it actually turns out!

Here are a fun video for your enjoyment:

After leaving the Trammell's we headed to FM to be with my family.  I don't have any pics at all from home :(.  We had a good time there too but hated that our Caldwell Christmas was canceled due to the snow.  I was looking forward to it!

One of my gifts that I recieved for Christmas was the book by the Duggars (19 and Counting family) and so far I'm loving it!  I can't wait to share some of it with you... I know you think I may be strange for wanting to read it but I have a ton of respect for that family.  That doesn't mean I want that many children by any means!!  They are great Christian parents and the book is very encouraging... especially when our cable is about to be turned off on Jan. 21st.  It has actually made me excited about having it cut off instead of dreading it.  Will share more later!

Abby Ruth

For those of you who don't know (and if you don't, that means you didn't read the last blog! jk!) we have decided to name our daughter Abby Ruth.  Originally we were going to spell it "Abbey" but have decided to stick to the most common spelling of "Abby".  The reason behind this is that we have already had a few ppl spell it this way and don't want her to go through life having to correct ppl.  As a former school teacher, I know how many different spellings come through and have often had to correct names of my students.  Not that Abbey is totally strange in it's spelling, but I still don't want her name to be mispelled in her yearbooks, name tags, and so on.  So with all that being said it will be Abby, but we will be calling her Abby Ruth.

William starts painting the pink walls tonight... will keep you posted.  Will also try to post soon on our recent Christmas festivities!

21 1/2 Weeks Along

I've been meaning to get this post up for a week and just haven't gotten to it.  William and I are keeping pretty busy with work, Christmas, and purging our house so that this baby and all that comes with her will have a place to fit!  The "guest room" which is now the "baby's room" is coming along.  We sold my stationary bike last week and are currently trying to sell a chest of drawers right now!  (Let me know if you are interested!!)  We went and bought the paint this past weekend... pink paint!  Here I am eating my own words about never painting a room pink!  I have a few art projects to work on but can't get started b/c I need William to first prime a couple things.  It's getting there and it's becoming more and more real every day.

Below is my picture at 21wks and then again from 16 wks...

We are really looking forward to seeing our families over Christmas and glad that we get to see everybody this year!

Now that I think that all the family knows the name we have picked I will share with you... hope you read this far!  Her name is going to be Abbey Ruth.  We just like Abbey and Ruth was my grandmother's name.  We plan to call her both as of now and if it shortens down the road that's okay.

IT'S A GIRL!

William and I are super excited to be having a little girl coming our way this spring!  I was pretty convinced it was a boy and surprised to find out otherwise!  I didn't care either way but now that we know, I wouldn't want it anything else.  I know this is the baby the Lord picked out just for us and I can't wait to meet her!  The big question now is pink or yellow walls?!  I'm leaning towards pink which I said I'd never do (never say never, right?!).  Haha.

Attached is her picture... I love her little nose!  Not sure who she looks like quite yet.  Honestly, I hope she takes most everything after her daddy, but I would like her to have my curly hair!

Thanksgiving and more...

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday this past weekend and got to see both of our parents and some family.  We headed to Clinton Wed. and stayed at the Trammell house and ate some fantastic food.  My mother-in-law wouldn't let me bring anything (and I offered!) but it was so nice being able to just relax.  After subbing so much and babysitting everyday, I have been worn out!  Friday we left Clinton and headed to Fort Mill.  Sat. I went with my mom and sis to David's Bridal to get my bridesmaid's dress for Katie's wedding on May 28 - one month after my due date.  I got it a few sizes bigger than my normal size but I'm still worried I won't fit into it.  I will use this as extra motivation to loose the weight faster!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures this past weekend, so I have none to post.  William and I did however buy our Christmas present to each other - a video camera.  We went to Best Buy on Sat. and they still had the same Black Friday price for the camera and I think we got a good deal on it.  I think it will be neat to have videos from before the baby comes so that one day they can watch it.  It would be neat to see our moms pregnant and the nursery's coming together before we were born.

Speaking of the nursery - I got the neatest prints from William's mom and I can't wait to use them.  They will go in either boy or girl's room and are from the 50/60's so it goes perfect with my vintage theme.  I also came up with some art projects for us (meaning Heather and I) to get started on!  When looking for a best friend I highly suggest finding an artistic one!!!  haha.  So i'm getting pretty excited about decorating!

I also started the registry at Buy Buy Baby today and will finish with William.  My friend Liza was nice enough to go with me and show me what all I needed... and I am SOO thankful she did!

We go Friday to find out what we are having, but please pray that everything is looking like it's suppose to.  All I really care about is having a healthy baby - of which I think is going to be a boy! 

My bump, my bump, my lovely baby bump

The past few weeks have been busy, busy, busy!!  I have subbed at least 3 days a week and then babysat from 3-6 everyday.  The only day I didn't do either was when I went to the doctor for a sinus infection!  On Nov. 12, I had my 16 week appointment and everything in the 5 minute session seemed to be good.  Then on Sunday evening my hear starting hurting and I knew it was a sinus infection coming on so Monday when I felt worse I called the OB and they told me to come on there.  Well... they did the whole routine again!  I so wasn't expecting that and William didn't go with me either.  Since you don't know which doc you will have for delivery, they like to pass you around and I finally got the mothers of one of my past students this time.  The saying "it's all who you know" is sooo true... she offered to do a "sneak peak" and see what the baby was but I just couldn't do it to William!  So now we wait until Dec. 3 to find out, which is not far away at all!!  It's so wierd to me to think we'll actually know what it is!  I really have been thinking it's a boy, but I'm normally wrong... so we'll see how my mother's intuition actually is!  But I think I'm right this time!  haha.  This next pic is what I'm sure you have all been waiting on... the belly pic!  Sorry I waited until 16 weeks to take one but that's how it goes!

Other activities in the past few weeks include about 4-5 cake/cookie orders, William going to KY to hunt for 6 days, me staying at random places during that time, and going out to eat for Erea's lingerie shower to which I have totally lost (and still can't find) her present... talk about embarassing!  I haven't hardly had time to take a breath!  It's good to be busy b/c it passes the time esp. while waiting to find out if we are having a boy or a girl, but I can't wait to have a break.  I'm really looking forward to some down time and family time over Thanksgiving!

Oh, lastly, I ordered and received my cribbing!!  I wanted to order this b/c I wanted to be able to use w/e I bought for all the babies the Lord blesses us with!  However, I ordered a very soft, soft blue... b/c I can go either way with this.  Who says blue has to be for boys!  Once we know what we are having, we will decide on the paint color for the room!  Then I will post on how busy William is!!!!!!!  Speaking of William, he has picked up another book (his 2nd since I have known him!) - Decision Point by who other than George W. Bush himself.  He's really into it and it's been interesting to hear about it from him.

I hope that each of you have a great Thanksgiving!  And I sincerely apologize to Kirkley who I know has been sitting on the edge of her seat waiting on an update! :)

October has come to an end...

It's hard to believe that October has ended!  It actually flew by, which I'm glad for because the first few weeks we knew we were pregnant were soooo slow!  Now I am 15 weeks as of today and the official owner of a "belly band", which means, yes, my pants don't button anymore.  I've actually only worn it once... I do this little trick with looping a rubber band through my belt loop and then around the button (thanks to Elizabeth for the idea).  It really helps!  I knew I'd be subbing a lot this month and that a belly band would soon be needed!  I go next Friday for my 16 wk check up and all prayers are greatly appreciated.

Two weekends ago, we went to the mountains with William's whole family.  There are only a few times a year when the whole family is able to get together and it's always so nice to see everybody.  Below are a few pics from the trip.

Above:  The whole fam!  Incase you didn't know, Mollie is exactly one week ahead of me (so the docs say).  It's a bit embarassing that I look about 4 weeks ahead of her, but oh well, what can I do!?

Above:  How many men does it take to turn on gas logs - apparently more than 3 b/c we never had a fire!  haha, jk boys!

Above:  Men really do have this ability to go back to any stage in their life and here is the 13 year old William coming out. 

Above:  Andrew and Chad sporting Grandmama's clip-on earrings!

This year we went to our 2nd Halloween party with our Sunday School group.  Last year we won first place as the Duggars.  This year we had a theme - dead celebrities or dead beats.  It was so hard coming up with a female, but I finally did - Tammy Faye Baker.  I don't have any pics of me yet b/c I forgot my camera.  I also came up with William's costume.  First he was to be Dale Earnhart, but that feel through.  Then I came up with Billy Mays, the Oxy Clean guy.  I used about a whole bottle of dollar store mascara creating a beard on William and then sprayed his hair black.  Once again - cheap ($4 total) and simple... and guess who won best male constume!?!?  Yep - Willaim aka Billy Mays!  Lesson here is that it's all in creativity and picking somebody that everybody knows right away.  One or both of us will once again win next year! 

Above:  This pic was after the party so some of the beard is starting to run off.

This Pregnancy's "Spiritual Markers"

So I wanted to tell you a bit about God's work through this pregnancy.  You are forewarned - there is some stuff you may consider "TMI" but if you don't know, you won't see God's power through it.

It started back in April, when I really didn't want to keep teaching but we thought I needed to.  William had told me that if we weren't pregnant by the end of the next school year I could quit, although I doubt I really would have - would have felt guilty.  So we went off the good ol' BC that month, not knowing that I would get cut from my school the following month.  When I got cut, William and I talked and prayed and decided that since we wanted to try and start a family and knew I'd stay home if possible, that I would go ahead and stay at home instead of finding a new job. 

Let me explain to you that I never once thought we could just get pregnant right away.  I get rather frustrated at ppl who assume they can or plan out when they'll have children and how many and all that jazz... I feel that is stepping on God's toes and He already has a plan.

So... since I have never been "regular", I knew that it might take a long while to get pregnant.  I'd even come to the conclusion that I'd probably have to go on some medicine to help me be "regular".  The week before I had my yearly appt with the OB, I started feeling strange.  I was having a hard time waking up, I slept a lot during the day, one morning I was somewhat nauseous... so I decided to take a test and it was positive.  Well, I called the doc and when I told them Aunt Flow hadn't visited since May (and it was Sept) they wanted me in right away.  We found out that I was 6 weeks the Thursday before Labor Day weekend.

Let me also tell you this, according to those ovulation sticks, we should have been able to get pregnant in July... well if you do the math it wasn't then.  So I say this to prove that only God is in control, not us.  It happened when we weren't expecting it or when we thought it could.

I also need to tell you about something else important.  I've always had a place in my heart for adoption since I was probably 16.  After reading Radical, I was even more led to thinking about it.  William and I discussed it and decided we'd give it a year and then we'd start looking into it.  Have you even noticed how lots of couples get pregnant as soon as they adopt... well, I assumed that'd be us.  I thought God might want us to adopt now so that down the road we wouldn't think we couldn't afford it and not do it.  Keep reading...

Also due to Radical, we took on a little boy from Ethiopia to sponsor each month.  Looking back, there is a good chance we might not have done this had we known that we were already pregnant.  We might have thought we couldn't afford the extra monthly expense.   Are you putting this and the adoption stuff together?!  I truly believe that I was partially right... God wanted us to sponsor Dagnachew and commit to it before He let us know we were having a child of our own.  He knew we were going to do this long before.

We are still hoping to one day adopt.  I know the Lord has put this on my heart for a reason.  I also know things are about to get tight, and I mean tight.  (I'll be that person, the one who says "no, we can't afford to do that" and everybody thinks we are cheap... well, we will be)  I believe that the Lord is going to provide the means for us to adopt one day... whether it be a raise in William's pay or what, I don't know yet.  I am super excited to find out though.

It has just amazed me being able to really see God at work through this pregnancy and I hope that you can see it too.  The Lord is so good and I just don't understand how anybody can get through one day without Him.  I know that I would be an absolute mess and to be honest, I'd probably be a working mom without God in my life.  Trusting in Him to provide for us is the only way that I'm able to stay at home.

God bless you all!

Tucker's BIG Secret!

Well, really it's not a secret for most now, but I had to title it this to go along with my sis-n-law's blog.  If you don't already know or can't read the sign above, Tucker's BIG secret is that he's going to be a "big brother"!  (haha, I hope you like that Mollie!)

William and I are at the moment 12 weeks and 4 days pregnant with our first child!  We are both super excited, but I'm the one who is more nervous.  William is "just ready for it to be here", while I sit around and think of all that I don't know or whether or not we will be good parents and so on.  Heather told me there is a saying about "a mom is a mom from the start of the pregnancy, but a dad isn't a dad until it's here."  It's nice to finally be able to share with everyone.

As for planning, I've started "researching" prices on cribs, jogging strollers, and gliders b/c those are the first things we are going to buy.  And they will come off craigslist or from a yardsale... other than that, we'll register for most and buy what we don't get.  I was waiting to buy anything until our last appt. which was last Friday.  So when I find a deal, I will probably go ahead and purchase... it'll be strange having these things in my house (and cramped). 

As for names, we haven't decided on whether we are sharing or not.  Many know what we are thinking about, but there is one person in particular I really wanted to surprise... we'll see.  If it is a boy, it will be a junior, but we aren't 100% on the nickname yet.  If it's a girl, we are unsure about the first name, but I know the middle and this is the part I wanted to be a surprise for that person.  I have a feeling we will end up sharing once we know, but I don't want everything monogramed.  To be honest, it's a practical thing... I want to reuse as much as possible or be able to give to others and if thier name/initials are plastered over everything, I feel that it's a waste.  Now, I don't mind one or two things and of course they are cute, but it's just not me.

I want to share with you why this baby is such a blessing to us, but I fear it will be too much for this one blog.  So my next post will have all the details!  As for now, if you would like to know how you can pray for us, my prayer requests are this:  1) for a strong and healthy baby, 2) healthy pregnancy, and 3) that the Lord's will will be done through this pregnancy/birth whether that means good and/or hard times for us.

One of these things is not like the other?!

Since last blogging, we've been staying pretty busy!  Last weekend, my parents came up and we went to the Pumpkin Festival in Pumpkintown along with Katie, Clint, and Katie's roommate, Nina.  It was great fun, but there were soooo many ppl!  It wasn't until Katie was telling us goodbye that I noticed this:  (look closely!)

Did you see that she has on two different earrings!!!  Oh how we love her!  I really can't say much b/c this summer while in church, I looked down and noticed that I had on one of my Rainbows and one of William's!!!  I never even felt the difference!  I left early and changed and made it back in time for Sunday school with nobody noticing!!

Sunday after church, we went to an apple orchard, which was a first for me!  Apparently the hot weather had caused all of the apples to have to be picked already, so we picked just a few and then bought a few more from the stand.  We later headed to Walmart to purchase some pumpkins b/c they are the cheapest there!

So this led to me wanting to carve pumpkins and I told William it was a contest... stupid me.  You never challenge William to anything.  You know those ppl who are good at everything that they do?!  Yea, I don't really like them either, but I married one!  Whom I do love!  Here are some pics from the evening:

 

Willie working hard at carving.  I took like 30 mins and he was well over an hour!  It shows too...

His is on the left, as if you couldn't already tell.  My owl didn't turn out so well, so William had to work on it as you see below.  Oh well.  Three days later, the heat has already caused both to start to wilt :(.

Lastly, I just have to share some Tucker pics/videos.  This is how I found him yesterday - pathetic!  You'd think he hates living with us!  This is out the window and therefore kind of foggy looking.

William thinks this next video is halirious... this is just a typical part of our day with Tucker!

Don't Cha Wish Your Husband was Crafty Like Mine?!

Well, I know it's been a few weeks and to be honest, I've just been slack!  Since my last post, I have been to two weddings, Classy Confections has completed 9 cakes/desserts, we got a new dishwasher, and William put in a new shelf for me!!  It was so great seeing everybody at Ellen and Dougie's weddings a couple weeks ago... especially Kirkley and Stephanie!!!  I hate I don't have any pictures, but I find that I'm often slack with taking pictures these days as well.

Let's talk about the new dishwasher... who would have thought that I would be so excited about a dishwasher.  I guess I am just getting old!  This dishwasher is AWESOME so far.  It's great being able to pull cups out and not worry about dirt or a film left behind and having to hand wash them myself.  To the person who invented the dishwasher, I thank you!

While installing the dishwasher, William had to take the entire back wall of the counter down.  I had previously spoken to him about putting an inset shelf on the backside.  When you have 1088 sq. ft, you are always looking for ways to accommodate more storage.  One day it hit me that the little tiny cabinet door beside the dishwasher led to a huge space... but you couldn't fit anything there b/c you couldn't get it through the door.  So... while William was working, he built me a shelf and the top shelf is measured specifically for my KitchenAid Mixer!  I love it and I love having a husband who can build things!

Now, for a funny moment:

While first trying to fix the original dishwasher, William worked up a sweat (gross, but it's part being married!).  So he went to grab a towel to whip his head and found one of my wraps that you use when your hair is wet.  He soon discovered that this left him free of having to whip his forehead and just left it on... and this is how I found him at work!  haha!

Hunting Island Trip

William and I took our pop-up camper to Hunting Island State Park for our two year anniversary.  It was a ton of fun and our only regret was only staying two nights!  The beach was so nice and clean and the park was too. 

Above is our set up!  Soooo much nicer than the one we had on the mission trip... if you didn't see please go back to that blog in June! 

A view of the lighthouse from the beach... not really on purpose, but for the past three years, from our honeymoon through our anniversary trips - we have seen/visited lighthouses.

The beach.

Willie swimming in the ocean... I'm not big on swimming in the ocean where I can't see the bottom.

A deer that we saw when returning to the park one evening.  Totally didn't run off!  We even saw three deer feeding on corn at somebody's camp site.

This being our initial camping trip, there was a lot to learn:

A)  It is totally okay, even encouraged, to have yard ornaments and some sort of hanging lights (chili peppers, shot gun shells, just Christmas tree lights, etc) at your camp site.  I will be on the lookout at future yardsales for some outside decoration for our campsites.  Some even had lampposts!!

B)  Yes, you do need either fake grass or some sort of outdoor rug for outside of your camper.  I tried to get out of buying this, but this led to dirt all in the camper.

C) A tent with misquito netting is a must if you are going to be cooking outside.  For this trip we took our breakfast and lunch food but went out to eat for supper, so we were okay this time.

and D)  My mother used to always say "men must have designed this" about anything that didn't function like it should or she wanted it to and over the years, I have come to find much truth in this statement... and campground restrooms have to be one of these items.  Although, these were pretty nice and quite clean, there is still room for improvement.  They weren't thinking that some ppl (women) take longer than 3 minutes when showering and therefore when you get out you are just as wet and hot as when you went in... put in fans!!  We (women) actually use soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc... so a shelf in the shower would be helpful!  I'm sure I could come up with more, but you get the picture!

Hope you enjoyed sharing in our trip!  We want to go back next year for maybe 4 nights or so... but that remains to be seen!

Coming next... new dishwasher!!!  Is it sad that I'm excited about this!?

Happy 2 Years to us!!

So today is our 2 year anniversary and I can hardly believe it!  It's been a great two years and I really don't know how I got so lucky.  William is so good to me... he already came home at lunch with flowers, a card, and my favorite candy bar!  This past weekend we went to Hunting Island St. Park with our pop-up and had a great time.  I will blog about that tomorrow or later this week sometime.

Introducing Dagnachew!

Well, I know some of you are puzzled by the strange spelling in my post title.  Dagnachew is the newest "addition" to our family!  He is a little boy who lives in Ethopia that we are sponsoring each month through the Compassion Organization.  He's extremely cute, but apparently they don't want us taking his picture off the internet, so if you want to see him you will have to visit us!  We do have a real picture of him.

After reading "Radical", William and I both felt that we weren't really using the money God has blessed us with to glorify Him as much as we should.  Not that we've been bad with the money, we just weren't sharing it like we should.  We keep an excel spreedsheat of all that we spend (yes, I do realize we are nerds) and I noticed that everything we gave to God, whether it be tithes, buying a Bible study book, donating money, etc... it went under the miscelanous column... and God is much more important than that.  I also realized that not a lot was really under that column and we needed to fix that. 

I remembered somebody coming to speak at FCA in Clemson one time about an organization such as Compassion and I was really moved.  I didn't do anything then, probably thinking a poor college student couldn't do much... but that was wrong. 

I can promise you that a few months ago, the thought of sending of $38 each month would have made me sick on my stomach, but now it doesn't.  I know that it is helping somebody not only to live, but more importantly to hear the Gospel and grow with Christ.  I also know that God will bless us for using our resources for His glory... we are commanded to take His name to all nations.  He may not bless us with money or anything we might see on this earth, but the reward will be great.  So now you see, $38 a month is really nothing and I no longer have any hesitations about it what so ever.

I look forward to writing to Dagnachew and hearing back from him!  We will share more later!  I also look forward to seeing where God wants us to share the resources He has blessed us with next!

The Grand Finale!!

IT'S DONE!! Our bedroom redo is finally d-o-n-e, done! With the exception of making another pillow for the rocking chair and finding a white blanket for the end of the bed, it's DONE! And... I LOVE IT! It all came together just as I had in my mind and I'm very excited about it!

First, I have a couple of pictures of the new bedroom. Then, at the bottom you will find videos of the old and the new, sorry the coloring is a bit dark though in the videos.

All of my inspiration for the colors came first from the red comforter we bought with wedding money and originally had in the guest room and then scrapbook paper found at Michael's with the blue/green color.

Above: I got the "T" in the open frame from another blog that I was looking at, in which they had done a whole name in an open frame. The silhouette idea came from a tear-out "DIY" type thing from one of my magazines I get. I just took our pics and zoomed in on the computer and trace them. I don't think William was real big on doing these... but I really like how they turned out.

Above: I took just about all the empty, and some not empty, wooden frames we had around the house and painted them the red color. I liked how they were all different sizes and textures.

Above: This rocking chair was black and then we took turns painting it white. I bought the cushion for it, b/c honestly, I was tired of sewing and making things. It was just $10 and I figured it would cost me that to make it. The curtains I made from duvet covers from IKEA. I covered two photo boxes with the same fabric.

Above: This is one of my favorite things in my house now... my grandparents highboy. I moved it into our room once the painting was done and it is now my dresser. William and I both love old furniture, esp. when it has sentimental value.

Above: This picture is a little busy b/c of the two mirrows reflecting the other wall. One other project I have to do is my earring holder. I plan to take some scrapbook paper and put it behind the wiring to match the room.

Click on these to see the videos:

Old Bedroom Video #1

New Bedroom Video #1

Old Bedroom Video #2

New Bedroom Video #2

Below are a couple more pics of the old room to give you a feel for the original color.

Please leave some comments! Also, if you can tell me how to get my pictures so that you can click on them and make them larger, please let me know! I can't do it on this blog, but I can on ClassyConfections?!?!?!

Some updates...

Not too much new going on in our lives. William and I are finishing up on our room and therefore I will not post until it is completed. We have to finished the rocking chair and get a few items in their proper place and it'll be done. We have moved back in it though and I have to say that I love it! However, it does make the guest room look dark and gloomy... but I don't think I'll be talking William into redoing it anytime too soon.

I'm almost done reading Radical. I really wish I had posted more as I read, but hindsight is 20/20. I believe that ALL christian need to read this book, esp. American christians. While it speaks straight from the bible, we often tend to twist things without even realizing it and this book helped to make things more clear. Lately, I have been convicted of always trying to be a "better Christian"... I know, this sounds weird. Of course we should always learn more about Jesus and the bible in attempt to become better Christians.... but it shouldn't stop there. I am guilty of not being bold in my faith and not doing more to let others know where I stand. The main reason I do this blog is to be a witness to others. I hope and pray that things written here and even on my facebook will move in somebody's heart.

So... I bought 3 more copies of Radical just to let others borrow. I have them and plan to pass them out this week to the first three: Heather, Meredith, and Liza. Then Donna and Claire will get a turn soon after! If anybody else is interested in borrowing a copy please, please let me know! We will graciously let you borrow one... it's too worth it to not read it!

Lastly, yesterday I was walking around KMart (and embarassingly, I really like this store) and I had found a blanket to go at the end of our bed. I was excited b/c the one we had was cream and I didnt' think about it before hand, but now it doesn't match. While walking around, I come to a section of dorm stuff and one of KMart's brands, Cannon, now has a branch called, "Coexist". At first, I was pretty mad about it. The more I thought though, I was saddened by this. How sad is it that our society promotes this "coexisting" of all religions. Christians, myself included, aren't doing our part to bring others to Christ. So many people believe that all religions lead to the same place and that would be heaven b/c many wouldn't even think hell. Oprah is one of these people and she's such an influence in our society. It breaks my heart that this is what so many today believe. So, with that being said, I took my blanket and put it back where I'd found it b/c it too was made by Cannon. I couldn't stomach giving money to a company that promoted this. It even makes me second think shopping there.

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" ~John 14:6

Our Home on Wheels!

Well, we finally bought a pop-up! Since going on the mission trip earlier this summer, we've really wanted to get our own camper. Mr. George and Ms. Nancy from the Trammell's church in Clinton sold us theirs. It's in prestine condition and it's so nice knowing the previous owners (whom I absolutely adore!). We had a great time visiting with them when we went to pick the camper up. Take a quick visual tour:
We are excited to start planning some weekend trips in our camper (which is yet to be named... one will come though!) Let us know if you ever want to go on a road trip with us!!

Lastly, the painting has begun!! And I LOVE it!!! This is just a sneak peek of the paint going up... the rest will come later! My husband is doing a great job, don't you think?! I promise that I did offer to help and this is the response I got, "I got it under control." William refuses to use blue tape and therefore doesn't let me paint... trust me, I'm not complaining! haha!

Katie Gets Her Masters!!

Yesterday, Katie (my sis) graduated from Clemson with her masters in Ag. Ed. and I am so proud of her!! I have never been so proud of somebody in my life in all honesty. Katie came through a pretty rough year quite beautifully. She has grown so much in many different ways and it's been so awesome to witness. Many prayers have been answered in this past year and I can't wait to see the road that God has laid for her.

Here are a few pics of us with her before she walked and then one of her walking, though blurry. If you take careful notice, you will see that her hair is a bit damp... you see, my sister is a bit of a carefree person when it comes to certain things in life. She tells us Friday that she doesn't know what time she's suppose to be there and hasn't received anything. I get online on Sat. morning and discover that she's suppose to arrive my 9:45... she had just woken up at 9:50... a good 25 minutes away! We were quite stressed, but she pulled it off somehow... thanks to Clint I believe!


She is currently looking for a job either teaching ag ed or somehow involved with agriculture... so if you know of anything let us know!! haha! She will be doing a long-term sub for the first 8 weeks of school for a biology class (yuck). It's hard to imagine her teaching teenagers, but I know she will do a great job. It's hard for me be believe that she's actually 23 year old!!! I can't get it out of my head that she's not 16... haha.

Pictured below are a few shots from the celebration we had at our house. We enjoyed a low country boil (which William did an outstanding job of boiling!) and of course, a Classy Confections cake!! Click here if you want to see more pics of the cake!

Below is Katie with her new GPS and milk bucket from mama and daddy!

One last funny story:

Katie also didn't open her cap and gown until she arrived at Clemson. She went to put her gown on and quickly discovered that her arms were sewn up... or so she thought. She didn't realized that this was just part of the gown and there was another hole for her arms to actually come out of. She was quite upset and had no clue what she was going to do about it at first... this just cracked me up! At least she'd aready obtained her degree! And here is the reenactment:

Gotta love her!

Giving

So I'm a little behind in the Radical book, about 2-3 chapters behind actually, but what's new with that?! The other week we discussed the chapter about giving to the needy and poor and it really hit a spot in me. I'm currently reading that same chapter in the book right now and feeling very convicted.

William and I are very good with our money. I don't say that to boast, but I know that we save and budget wisely. But I'm learning that isn't enough. I know that I said "our money" both we both know that it is really God's money... but when it comes to giving I sometimes forget this. We save for the future, we buy smartly... see a pattern... we, we, we. I want to really start praying and seeing where God wants us to give His money. I put this out there because I want to be held accountable for this. I think if I write it for others to see, then I will be more determined to do it.

For a long time, I've felt strongly about helping the poor, but I rarely do it. This past July in DC, a man need 60 something cents to get his metro card paid to go where ever it was he was going. I didn't do anything and I felt totally guilty. I know people say you shouldn't give money b/c they might buy drugs, alcohol, etc with it, but there are times when we just have to trust others with not our money, but God's money. If they spend it on that crap, then it's on their hands and not ours. Of course we should pray about what they do with the money we give them. Yesterday, while checking out at BiLo, the cashier asked me if I'd like to buy a meal for the homeless. Once again, I didn't do it and I felt guilty afterwards. There I was buying food to make meals for the next two weeks and I couldn't buy ONE meal for the homeless. Now, I do like to know for sure where and how the money I give is being spent, but I could have just trusted God to use it for His glory.

I plan to really start praying about where I can give or what I can give up in my life so that I can give more to the poor. I once heard a speaker say that for every time salvation is mentioned in the bible, helping the poor is mentioned 3 times!! God so desires for us to help the needy and I don't do a good job... at all! This has really been on my heart lately. This past week, I donated clothes, books, stuff that we didn't want anymore to a thrift store called SOS. I researched and found out that they support some missionaries and homeless places. I felt much better giving my items to them and knowing how the money that they make would be spent.

Giving money isn't easy for me, I'll admit it. It's something I need to and will pray about. We tithe like we're suppose to but we've already factored that into our budget and therefore it doesn't really hurt. When I do give more money, it's often from our "excess" and that isn't right. In Radical, David Platt states, "We are fine with thinking of affluence, comfort, and material possessions as blessings... Jesus tells us they can be dangerous obstacles." This really hit home with me... how often do I think I've been blessed when I may be spending money on things I don't need instead of on things somebody does need!? Too often honestly. Even though I'm not working and we already live on William's salary, we live in complete luxury when compared to the rest of the world. Platt states that we live in the top 15% of the world's wealth... and trust me, we don't have a huge budget. We already live without things, but we could do more. I've come to a place where I'm content with our house, all 1100 square feet of it. We could be here another 5-10 years with two children and still be okay. Our society might not think so, but I'm not living to impress them.

Another thing I struggle with is always wanting to make more money so that I can do things like crafts, decorate my house, etc. We have the necessaties, and while it's not wrong to want to do these things, I focus too much on how I could use the money for me. Why not babysit and give the money to the poor... that idea hurts me big time and I'll admit it.

I also struggle with wanting to save money. This can be as sinful as spending money on stuff. If it's in our savings account, I feel like it's "untouchable". That is unless we need a car or a dishwasher or something to improve our living style. We aren't entrusted with God's money to hoard it up. I know we are to save and that we need to, but there just might be a time with God calls us to dip into that fund for Him. Who better to trust our next car or children's college education to than God??

Now, once again this has been quite the post. I hope and pray that you will hold me accountable to giving to the needy. I also hope you might be inspired as well.

New Perspective

I have really meant to be much better about posting, but it just doesn't always happen. It's amazing how busy I've been even though I haven't been working. The room is coming together slowly, but nicely. I think (hope) that we can paint next week and then put everything into it's proper place. I will have before and after pics for you!

This summer I have spent a lot of time reading too. Now, it's not uncommon for me to read a lot during the summer but it is uncommon for me to be reading nonfiction. I have only read one fiction book this summer. I have had to restrain from reading fiction b/c I know I won't read my other books if I don't. This summer I have finished the Bible study "Experiencing God" and am currently doing a Bible study with the book titled "How People Change". I am also reading "Radical" with my church at the moment. (And in two weekends, I start another study on the New Testament). I hope I'm not overdoing it, but my need and want to learn more about God and the Bible has really increased over the past few months.

I highly recommend all of the books mentioned above, but I especially recomment "Radical". It really speaks to the heart and has changed me. Or rather, God has changed me through reading it. It's about how we as Christian Americans have put a Christian twist on the "American Dream". I'll admit that I used to want this so called dream of a nice house, a few children, couple cars, and maybe a boat. After reading this book though, my perspective and desires has totally changed.

All of the books have really had a major influence on my new perspective. I have also prayed, asking God to change my perspective to be more like His. I should advise you that if you do pray this, it will happen. To be honest, it's really a scary thing to me. While I know God has given me this new prespective to see things how He does and to glorify Him through me, it also means that He expects me to use it. This is scary to me. I know I shouldn't be afraid to talk to somebody about Christ or to confront a bro/sis in Christ about something, but it is! I know this is the Lord's command for my life, our lives really. It is also extremely exciting to thing that He is using me and wants to use me! No matter how smooth or rough life is, I will always have this and that is really unfathomable!

This new prespective God has given me breaks my heart many times b/c I know what I see breaks His. You can't turn on the tv without seeing something that is unbiblical. Our generation accepts waaaaay too much and it's really heartbreaking. We've become a generation that is accepting of homesexuality, sex/living together before marriage, and much more ... these are even often accepting within the church. There is so much that the Bible specifically says not to do, but we do it or allow others to do it anyways. Now don't think I don't have my share of sin. I struggle everyday with sin, as we all do and always will. I've done things that I really regret and pray didn't cause another to stumble.

I know this is a looong blog and I know I may step on a few feet, but I'm just expressing what's on my mind/heart lately. Anyways, I hope to keep better updates on my thoughts, studies, and randomness in our life!

Curtains and Buttons

Today I finally got the curtains sewed with the exception of where I turned them inside-out... but that won't take long at all. I also found buttons that I wanted! I had to have 16 of the same one, so I had to go with the burgandy color, but it didn't matter since I am covering them. I have done one of them and was very pleased with how it turned out! The two pics below are the curtains, which don't have the buttons on the tabs yet, and two buttons - one original and one covered with the fabric. Hope you like!

I have wondered a time or two if this is too much work... and the answer is probably so. But to me it's worth it to have something unique and knowing that I made it. I know that nobody else

will have a room quite like ours! And lastly, it's cheaper for the most part. I know to some people it would be worth the money to pay somebody else to do it. There are few things that I'm willing to pay somebody else to do... who am I kidding, I (we) only pay for things that we cannot do ourselves! haha! If William and/or I can do it ourselves, we will. If you want to pay us to do it for you, we will! haha!

Sneak Peak

So, I have finally begun on projects for our bedroom. Evn though this past week was very busy! I have started the curtains, which are duvet covers from IKEA that I am cutting up into panels. I also decided that I wanted to add red tabs with buttons on them... both of which are more work. I now think that I'm going to cover buttons with the red and white fabric to match. I keep adding to my work load, but hopefully it will all be worth it in the end!

This first picture gives you a glimpse of the room colors. The red pillow is part of a quilt and sham set that we bought with some wedding money. It was originally in the guest room, but I decided I wanted it in our room. The blue/teal pillow is one that I made this past week and I will make a matching one to go along. The color of the walls will be just a bit lighter than that pillow. And lastly, the red and white fabric will be the curtains and maybe a throw pillow or two.
Below is a picture or my "workspace" and the duvet that I was cutting up.

Here are all 16 tabs that I made the other day... they took a while, especially when turning them inside out!

Other projects on my "bedroom redo" list include:

*painting or stripping our rocking chair

*painting picture frams

*making a seat cushion for the rocking chair

*finishing more pillows for the bed/chair

*painting the room!

*either find baskets or cover boxes for our nightstands

*etc...

On another note, yesterday we had our family's annual "Cousin's Day" on my dad's side. We went to Boone, NC for the day and had a great time visiting with everybody! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures up there, but I did capture this pic of Katie sleeping on the ride back. She was out like a light the entire ride!