Sprinkled with LOVE!

my brother and his wife are expecting their second baby girl very soon. SO very excited! to make them feel oh so special both of our families "sprinkled" them with a little love. dinner was eaten and gifts were opened.

we have such a loving and close-knit family. jessica is a sister to me. we have known each other for 10 years. wow...the time has flown by! she has been my sweet sister in law since october of 2006. i have had the opportunity to know her on many levels. from quoting every movie we have seen. to talking about babies. husbands. and most importantly our Heavenly Father. i am so lucky to have her in our family. i never have to worry about how silly i might look when i cry because she is the type who will be crying right with me.  she is happy for me when i am happy and she is sad when i am sad. she has a compassionate heart. she truly brings joy to our family.

i love my big brother. i was happy when he married the love of his life and have become even more happy for him with the birth of his baby. you never cease to make me laugh when i'm around you. you're smile is contagious. you are passionate about what you do. i love knowing i have a brother who is a jack of all trades. from raising chickens to growing a garden. i promise to come over for free food. you just wait! i'm very proud of all that you have accomplished, josh! one proud sister.

love you josh & jessica!!!

Sweet treats---my mom's homemade chocolate cake. 

Sprinkled with LOVE!

Preggers-- a sweet niece & a handsome nephew due 2 months apart. 

a soul was saved with the loss of another

last year was a happy year for us. 2012 - a year of many firsts. my first days working at harbour view. our first marriage conference. my first 5k run. my first 8k run. buying our first house.

even in the happiest of years there always seems to be some anguish. in november my uncle eddy unfortunately took his life. why? that is a question we will never begin to understand. his farewell was unexpected and I miss him a great deal. i was at work when i found out the news. i was devastated. my heart was overwhelmed with great sadness. how could he not know that he was loved? by me. by family. by God. how did he not know that we would stand beside him? these questions and more will never be answered. i do not dwell on the questions because i have hope. 

i have hope. i do know that i will see my uncle again where we will spend eternity together. years ago, my dad had the opportunity to walk my uncle into a life of following Jesus Christ. praise God! that is what we cling to. knowing we will see him again. 

the pain in me seemed too much to bear. but God said, "I'm not finished with this yet!" he makes beautiful things out of ashes. he turns the right wrong. he creates good where the devil intends evil. he makes us new. he transformed this story from one of sorrow to one of rejoicing. 

God has reached into the hearts of my family and changed us through this tragedy. through my uncle eddy's tragedy our family remains strong. through this tragedy my cousin has decided to FOLLOW JESUS. she was desolate. she was searching. she felt abandoned. forsaken. God found her in the midst of her grief. God found her in the midst of her questions and her agony. God found her! you see, God doesn't just allow sadness to happen without a perfect powerful plan. his plan is much greater than ours. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9, NIV)." God had a plan that would be used for a greater good. an unexplainable plan. 

a soul was saved with the loss of another. remember this when you don't understand why God would allow you to experience such hurt. such pain. loss. God has a greater plan that we can't see. that we can't understand. He tells us ---"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)." he is a loving God. a gracious God. my uncle surely did not die in vain. one more life will enter the kingdom of heaven because of his death. rejoice with me. celebrate with me. 

we love & miss our uncle eddy

2012 --- a year for weddings

2012 is the year for WEDDINGS...we have seven weddings that we're going to. wow! love is in the air! i seriously get all giddy inside when i hear that another friend of mine is engaged. it is such a fun & exciting time in life. it makes me think back to when we got engaged & how happy i felt.



before bryan & i got married i had a bridal shower where a group of lovely ladies gave me cards with words of wisdom & advice on them. i was looking through our "wedding book" last week & came across the cards. i read through each of them again. i smiled. i want my girlfriends to get the same advice that i did.  


to all my lovely ladies who will tie the knot this year, here is some advice for you: (written by some very wise, special, & important ladies in my life) 


~always respect each others opinions & thoughts. remember to say "i love you" everyday! - Alicia.


~always have a date night even when you have babies. take lots of walks together. if you're going to have a fight, make sure you look AMAZING! (this is my favorite piece of advice) don't let the sun go down on your anger. (amen!) - Lori


~talk to each other. keep lines of communication open all of the time. LOVE and RESPECT. respect him! - my sister & best friend, Sarah

~find out what way he puts his toilet paper on the holder...it will save a fight. always go on dates. make time for each other no matter how busy you are. ask his opinion! - Olivia


~don't stress the little things & as day to day life happens remember to take time for each other everyday. - Aunt Susan


~never go to bed angry, always laugh at the little things. marriage is a relationship of give & take. it's not 50/50 it's 100/100 --- always giving all of yourself to the Lord. draw closer to him & you'll grow closer together. God first, then each other. - Courtney


~never go to sleep upset with each other. make sure you include God in EVERYTHING! don't forget your girls --- you're gonna need just girl time! while giving your love to your hubby, don't forget to love yourself --- save some alone time for YOU! - Jenn Lee



~enjoy marriage & treasure all the wonderful memories because when the small arguments come along you'll remember what you truly have together. don't forget your girlfriends! - Crystal 


~love with all you have. forgive with all of your heart --- the whole heart! God first everything else second. don't burn the chicken! (hahaha) - Lacey



~keep going on dates. keep the mystery going. pick your battles...not all of them are worth fighting.- Chantel never go to sleep mad at each other. 


~always talk over each problem before it grows bigger. - Grandma (this comes from my grandma who was married to my grandpa for over 50 years. such an amazing example of love for all of us. i miss her) 


~everybody has advice but your heart knows when it's good. journal the good times so when the tough times come you can reflect back. communicate! - Ashley


here is some of my advice...keep God at the center of your marriage. this can be difficult. surrender everything to Him. including your marriage. your husband. future children. job. your life. pray together often. keep God in every aspect of your life. God cares about all of your life. not just the bad things. he wants a relationship with you. hold hands when you argue. it will be easier to forgive & not to stay mad at each other. if he makes a meal that you don't like then TELL him! don't pretend that you love it. if you pretend that you like it then he might cook it again!!


i thank all these sweet ladies for their advice! people say that the first year of marriage is the hardest...it was a transitional stage for us. we had fun. we laughed. cried. had arguments. if our 1st year was the hardest then i'm looking forward to the rest of our lives together. going on two years this june & i love him more & more everyday. 


xoxo
amanda

HOUSE Rules

when people walk into our house we want them to know who we are. what we believe. we are followers of jesus. we have fun. we laugh. act crazy. we pray. we stay up late talking. we always listen to music. that's what we do. our house is the place that we feel the safest. where we feel secure & loved.

i want our house to be inviting. vibrant. fun. relaxing. this is how it should be. this is the place where we entertain. where i create. the place where we watch movies. invite friends over. where we will soon grow a family. where i bake. light candles. decorate. paint my nails with girlfriends. our house is more than just a place to sleep.

our house is a place of prayer. with each other. with friends. with family. when people walk into our house we want them to feel the love of god all around. it should feel different. warm. it should feel safe to them.

these rules are like a mission statement for the family. it lets people know what we value and what is important to us. what we believe. these are our house rules...

"as for me and my house we will serve the lord." - joshua 24:15

happy ONE year anniversary!

we're no longer newlyweds --- we celebrated our first year anniversary in june! we had such a great first year as a married couple. it went by extremely fast! we had a ton of fun. of course, like many other couples, we also had our share of arguments & disagreements. actually those arguments & disagreements made us closer to each other. i asked bryan what he wanted to do for our anniversary, but we didn't end up planning anything...so i thought...Bryan planned the whole weekend to surprise me! all i was told was what to pack. we were able to spend our weekend on the eastern shore in cape charles, va. the weather was beautiful and the company was amazing. 


we stayed at the cozy cape charles house bed & breakfast (www.capecharleshouse.com) definitely a must! neither one of us had ever stayed at a bed & breakfast before. we LOVED it! it was so quaint and the owners were oh so sweet. 


we first ventured to the beach (because everyone know's that's my kinda place to be!) the water was still, so we were able to wade in the water for a little bit. while at the beach we strolled down by the water looking for shells. after our beach adventure we celebrated our anniversary with a delicious dinner at the aqua restaurant. aqua overlooks the chesapeake bay, so we were able to watch the sunset too. the funny thing is I wore the same dress the night before our anniversary that i wore for our dress rehearsal the night before our wedding & i didn't even realize it! 


when we were finished with dinner we headed back to the cape charles house where wine, cheese, & crackers awaited us. there was also large strawberries dipped in chocolate. yum!! 


i got some beautiful diamond earrings for our anniversary! i actually lost the first pair that i owned when we were in canada one year. i was wakeboarding & one fell out. bryan knew that i had been wanting some new ones for a while. he did a great job for sure! i also got a massage & facial gift certificate which i have yet to use...i think it's about time i do! 


we had such a great time away. i always want to make the time to go somewhere for our future anniversary's even when the kiddies come along...next year i'm hoping for somewhere further away! hmmm...maybe hawaii...capri...lots of choices. 

such a beautiful place...the couple who owns the b&b actually came to cape charles for their anniversary & ended up buying this house! they say that a lot of people have come & bought property there....funny thing was when we arrived we said, "maybe we'll just buy a house here since we can't find one around us." 

new 2nd hole earrings --- diamonds are a girls best friend!

beach time with my love! 

my love. my world. 

seriously the biggest strawberries I've ever seen! very sweet!

It takes a long time to grow an old friend

one of my friends who i've known since elementary school is tying the knot this weekend. (crystal, i'm stoked for you!) i am so glad she has found the man of her dreams. just like me. i am so happy to share with her in her special day. i'm glad to have a longtime friend like her. i had the opportunity to play hostess for her bridal shower a few weeks ago and we had a ball. she got lots of wonderful gifts for her home. the bridal shower was a peacock theme...so much so that a few of the guests thought my house was decorated like that all the time. lol. we used peacock feathers plucked from a friends peacock. i didn't have to pay for a single feather!! lucky! here are a few of the pics. 

                                      

                      

the wishing tree. a wish for a happy marriage. a wish full of tips for the new bride. all of the guests wrote a special something for crystal. she read them all aloud. some were funny. some were sweet. and some were sappy. homemade wishing tags added the final touch to the tree. i was very satisfied with them. i had so much fun planning. i love to plan parties. 

beautiful cake the wonderful Tiffany made. vanilla on top and chocolate on the bottom. yummo!

the happy couple.

homemade lamp. made of a wine glass. and a small candle.

  
              



                   

               
               

bridesmaid. bride. matron of honor.                                                          



                       
                                                                                                                   crystal with her momma.

we all got the bling! welcome to the club crystal!!! we love you!!

Losing to God will help you WIN

day 24...i've been reading a devotional called "Before you Go" by jack hempfling to prepare myself for our mission trip. bryan and i leave in less than 2 weeks for Dominican Republic! time has flown by so fast...it seemed like just yesterday we felt called to go. i can't express how excited i am to have the opportunity to go on a mission trip this year. i haven't been in a few years and have missed sharing the love of God to people in other countries. it truly is a blessing. God has blessed us financially which is a huge answer to prayer! prayer is so powerful...i can see how it works daily.

today's devotion was on pride. james 4:6-7 says,"...God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." therefore submit to God." we must submit to Him. when we don't submit, surrender, or give it all to Him we are miserable and unhappy. but when we choose to surrender all of our independence and our desires we are happy!! i want to be happy! when we humble ourselves we win the grace of God. we need Him to make it happen. he is there to work with us. we need to stop fighting for what we want and let God take control. it's a losing battle when we try to base things on our our desires. 

it is so true when people say that life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you respond to it. i can say that many times i have ruined a whole day because i couldn't get past one thing that happened to me...instead of giving it over to God and surrendering i chose to let it get to me. don't let stuff get to you. only we can choose our response. i want to remain humble for my upcoming trip, but also in my day to day life. displaying the love of Christ is what people in Dominican Republic need to see...not someone who can't get past the extreme heat, the bugs, and the different food. i choose to surrender to Him. i choose to submit to His desires. i want to win with God. we have the choice...so what's it gonna be?