What a weekend!!!

Friday afternoon I headed to the much anticipated Deeper Still Conference in Birmingham to hear Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer and none other than THE Beth Moore with Mom, Mrs. Adams and Tonya.
The first night, Kay spoke.  Can I just tell you how AMAZING that woman is to be 77 years old and still speaking (and rocking skinny jeans and boots)???  She took us through the book of Matthew in an hour and a half.  No joke.  I have been blessed to do her studies since I was in middle school.  I also have to say she's a fellow Tennessee Temple Alumni.  : )
I had never heard Priscilla speak, never even done one of her Bible Studies before, but I tell you what, she ROCKED.  My book list grew after hearing her. 
Then that time finally came... the moment Tonya and I had been waiting for... it was Beth's turn.  That woman did NOT disappoint.  I was so challenged to find that Treasure in the midst of the disappointment or just in the little things cause it is there.  Luke 2 was brought to life in a new way for me.  We watched her walk out of that room and as she did, she stopped and I watched a woman tell her that she had been through the same thing has Beth.  Beth just hugged her.  It was such an incredible moment to watch.
The 3 of them got together for a panel session which was a question and answer time.  It got pretty funny, but it was neat to see them being so real with everyone.  The poor handful of men that were there were probably ready to get out of there by this point.
It was also a blessing to get to worship with Travis Cottrell again.  He did an amazing job leading the worship for the almost 14,000 women that were in attendance of this conference.
I was so ready to get out of town for the weekend, but I was so ready to come home.  I was ready for Hanging of the Green... ready to see Matt... ready to be back with the High Schoolers.  Hanging of the Green did not disappoint this year.  Matt did a great job pulling it all together.  The kids sang and acted well.  It seemed to go by really fast this year.  Like I think we blinked and this whole semester has flown by. 
I'm home sick today.  The sinus issues have finally done me in.  I fought it all weekend- determined to get through it- and by late last night I had to just give in.  Hopefully a day of recouperation will do me some good and I'll be back to at least half way normal by tomorrow.  We have a week filled with Christmas parties, banquets and concerts.  The last part of this week I'm going to be cooking a lot... Anyone out there got any good Christmas party recipes???

Time is just a flyin' by...

It's almost the end of the 2nd of December.  We have already been through 2 Tech Rehearsals and Dress Rehearsal for this year's Hanging of the Green.  The end of this year is really starting to fly.
Life is just as crazy as ever.  Thanksgiving was spent at my parent's house with some family friends.  We had 4 little girls under the age of 7 running around.  It was lots of fun... and a little chaotic.  :)  Matt was new to them and boy, did the 2 year old fall in love.  Can't say I blame her though.  :)  I worked the day after Thanksgiving and watched the Alabama/Auburn game with a few co-workers.  Saturday I had a bunch of the teenagers over for what is known as "The First Annual Pancake/Waffle Breakfast", which will undoubtedly become an annual event.  Hopefully next year we will have a little more kitchen space.  I'm pretty sure I made around 60 pancakes and Kevin & Rachel made around 10 or so waffles.  We have such a great group of kids in our student choir. 
Of course, all this led into Hanging of the Green week, which is always fun, but also a little chaotic.  Sunday afternoon was spent setting up for HoG.  Monday through Wednesday brought rehearsals.  I spent 5 hours working on a seating chart for the event.  The hard thing was I had to guess their heights.  All went well though and we only had to do a few moves.  This year's Hanging of the Green will be this Sunday, December 5 @ 6pm.  Its going to be awesome!  Everyone should come.
I am now officially signed up as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator.  I'm still waiting on my kit to arrive, but I'm excited.  I had prayed that there would be a special deal for the sign up if I should do this.  Sure enough, for the first time ever, they were offering the kit at half price!  HALF PRICE!!!!  So, I'm nervous, but I can't wait to get it and get started.  I also sold 5 of my frayed fabric broaches last weekend.  They have become quite popular.  Our etsy shop set up has been delayed, but stay tuned cause it's coming soon!!!
Whew... That's a lot.  Really that encompasses one week.  December is another busy month.  Lots of fun ahead!!!

Grandma

Today is the anniversary of my Grandma's death.  She was killed unexpectedly in a train/car accident when I was 7.  I remember so vividly when my dad woke us up very early.  I knew something was wrong and I knew it was Grandma.  I've been told I am a lot like her- in the good ways of course.  We both love bright, fun colors, designs, etc.  She was a bit crafty, a bit crazy, and I remember her as being fun.  On this anniversary of her being gone, I find myself sad that she isn't here to share in our wedding and everything leading up to it.  I also found myself extremely thankful that I still have my mom.  I know she's missing her mom today.  I'm glad I've got her around cause I know I wouldn't have made it without her.

Here's an old picture of Mom and me with both of my grandparents who are no longer with us:
 And this is a picture at my kindergarten graduation.  It's the last time I remember seeing Grandma.

Love you Grandma and we still miss you...

It's November?!?!?!?

It's November... already... Not only is it November, but its also mid-November.  Where in the world is time going???
Here's a brief catch up to what is going on:
1) We had engagement pictures taken by the fabulous Katie Dye (Katie Beth Photography).  We went to the new house, Earlyworks (for the awesome big red door), and to the back part of Big Spring Park.  The pictures can be found on Facebook.
2) We haven't been to the house since we took engagement pictures, but they had already put in the electrical and the ductwork.  They even switched out the master shower like we requested.  Can I tell you how excited we were about that?  We had some good leads on the sale of the condo this past weekend.  We are really praying that something will come of it soon.  I'm planning on putting my house up for sale with a realtor in the next couple of weeks.  It'll remove a little less stress and get the info on my house out there.  Not that I have had a lack of calls.  We've decided to make renting it out the absolute last resort as we don't want to have anything extra to deal with.  Trust me we don't need anything extra.
3) Wedding stuff is really coming together.  We have over 300 (out of 500) boxes completed thanks to the help of Mom, Katie, and some of our wonderful SWAT sponsors.  I've been making my thank you notes too.  I'm done with about 170 or so of those.  I met with the wedding coordinator at Whitesburg so we know have all that reserved.  It was a bit overwhelming, but I'm slowly adapting to the craziness.
4) Matt is starting his doctorate.  It's going to make things sooooo much crazier, but hey, adaptibility is one of my "core" strengths (or so the work test told me).  I'm pretty sure I'll see even less of him, but I'd rather him get it out of the way now then when we have kids.
5) I have now dropped every extra ministry I am involved in that has nothing to do with SWAT.  I realized that I do NOT under any circumstance be super stressed out with all this wedding stuff.  I was starting to feel a lot of pressure with my various ministries, so something had to give.  I still attend/help out with high school Bible study as I feel it is important that I am there for the kids for more than just Sunday's in SWAT.  I felt a big sense of relief when I dropped the last one.  It'll give me more time and opportunity to help Matt, be with the kids and plan the wedding. 
6) I did however add a new business (maybe two) to my list as well.  My friend Malea and I have gone together to open up an etsy shop.  Once we get the debit card for our account, we will be officially set up.  Desilea Boutique will officially open- hopefully- next week.  I'm also hoping to sign up to sell Stampin' Up products to earn some extra money.

Lots and lots going on right now.  I'm not sure it will EVER calm down, but you know what? I'm ok with that.  Is it stressful? YES.  But I don't think I'd know what to do with the calmness.  I love our crazy life!

House Update

The house has been coming along quickly!  I drove by last Friday morning and the brick was about 1/3 of the way finished.  By Saturday, they had almost completed bricking it!!!  It's going to slow down soon, but I'm looking forward to it getting finished!

Front of house

Back of house (Lake View)

I love that the number is IN the brick!!!

The house weathered through a multitude of storms yesterday.  I think its going to be pretty sturdy!  Now, if we could just sell the condo... 

A New Adventure: Race Day!!!

As if Matt and I weren't doing enough, we have spent the last 12 weeks training for a 5K.  We have been a part of the Run for God program at our church, where we have trained with a large number of fellow church members. 
Here is our group shot:

I have attempted running/walking the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run for the past 3 years- each year beating my time, but not yet running the whole thing.  This was Matt's first 5K experience.  He did an INCREDIBLE job finishing with a time of 27:30!!!  My time was 44:42- which was around 3 minutes off my time from last year.  I still couldn't run the whole thing, but I was happy with that due to everything that I have dealt with throughout training.  Matt has been my biggest encourager all the way to that finish line.  I'm so thankful God gave me him.  I had planned on this being my only 5K for the year, but we're all discussing running a few more that are coming up to keep ourselves going until the next Run for God training program begins in March.
Here is a pic of Matt & I before the race:

We have been all about "adventures" in our relationship.  So, this was OUR first 5K together.  What a great adventure it was!

Our New House...

They broke ground on the new house about 2 weeks ago.  Since then it seems to be going up rather quickly... ok, scratch that, it doesn't just seem to be, it is!!!  It's hard for us to keep up and get pictures as it goes by, but i thought I would share where we were at with it on here as well...
                                          

                                                               This is our backyard!!!

                                                                       October 1

                                                                        October 2

October 5

October 7

All that was done in less than a week!!!!  I drove by yesterday, and was like "WOW!!!  It actually looks like our house!!!"  I'm excited!!!

We are still waiting on his condo to sell, so it's not really ours till that happens, but we're trusting God to sell it at the right time.