He Popped the Question!!! :)

August 15 was planned to be like any other Sunday.  I went to church and sang with the choir.  Matt made faces at me from the piano.  Ate lunch with the fam then headed to home to get my house ready to show.  I was pretty excited about SWAT starting back.  I sure have missed seeing all of those kids on a weekly basis.  It was during SWAT that things took a bit of a change...
I helped register new students then sat in the rehearsal for a little while.  I sang on praise team that evening so I had to leave early for rehearsal, which normally isn't a big deal, but Matt requested me to come back in around 5:50 for sponsor prayer time.  I thought that was odd, but he is always trying new things, so I just let it go.  I made it back in the room right at 5:50 and he asked me to get all the sponsors in the room.  So, we lined up in the front of the room.  Matt asked Jess to pray over the sponsors, but asked the kids not to leave because he had one more announcement.  After the prayer, Matt says, "You kids know I love you right?"  After some loud screams from the kids, Matt goes, "Well there is someone in this place right now who I love more than you guys.  And I need to ask her a question."  The kids were all SCREAMING!  I am stunned.  Matt turned and looked at me and said "Are you surprised?"  The next thing I know, he is down on one knee.  He takes my hand and tells the kids to be quiet.  He says "I have loved you since the day I met you and God knew that we would be together. I am just so thankful that you are in my life.  Will you marry me?"  Then, he asked me if he could kiss me.  So, we had our first kiss in front of everyone. 

It was a perfect night.  One I'll remember forever.  We even have video (which I probably shouldn't mention how many times I have watched it). I am so glad God brought him into my life.  I can't wait for all of the "adventures" we will have together.

Generation Rising- 2010 SWAT Choir Tour

"I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make Your faithfulness known through all generations." Psalm 89:1

It's hard to believe we've almost been back from the 2010 Choir Tour to New Orleans for a week. We took a total of 109 people- 85 teens and 24 adults. It was such a blessing for me to watch God work in the lives of each of these kids and have Him work in my life. The kids performed a total of 9 concerts. The final concert being the Homecoming concert at Whitesburg on Sunday night. We participated in every kind of mission project you can imagine. The concert at the correctional facility I would say goes down as the most interesting. We did quite a bit of prayer walking, cleaning, and other random work projects. We picked up trash in Covington, LA. I got to go with the senior girls to help at a crisis pregnancy center too.

We had bus issues as well. It started with a cracked bus window on Saturday on our way to the camp in MS. Then on our way to the 2nd church on Sunday, I was very, very asleep and felt a thud. I opened my eyes to Matt turned around in his seat looking at me with his eyes VERY wide then we smelled this wretched burning smell. We had blown a tire. If that wasn't enough, Monday on the way to the correctional facility, the other bus got stuck pretty deep in some mud. Never a lack of 'adventure'.

I had a great evening devotional group. Maybe I should rephrase that. I had a "SPIFFY" group. I was paired up with our music minister, Martin, and we had 9 of the kids plus our team mascot- Gnomey. Each of the kids had such different personalities, but they all flowed together so well. I want the same group every year!

We read the book "Forgotten God" by Frances Chan. We learned about the Holy Spirit. It was such an amazing book. So often, we squelch what the Holy Spirit is doing. During the Wednesday night service, we saw the Holy Spirit move in an amazing way. God is so good!

We spent our "fun" day in New Orleans. We started on a 2 hour swamp tour, where I found myself holding a baby alligator. EW!!! Then we headed to Jackson Square for the big group picture and for lunch. The kids were given the option to tour St. Louis cathedral, get beignets at Cafe Du Monde or shop for souveniers. Matt and I were considered the "old people" as we chose to lead the group going to tour the cathedral. It was GORGEOUS! The next tour was of Mardi Gras World, which is where the floats are made for the Mardi Gras parade. It was a crafty person's dream come true. Holy Cow!!! It was so, so, so amazing! Such intricate detail! Papa Waller (our bus driver) took us to the 9th ward to see some of the damage. It was very sombering. Our last tour was of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Such a beautiful campus! The staff was super friendly. We even got to see the piano Jesus Loves Me and Just as I Am were written on.

I was completely exhausted by the time we got back. However, I found myself missing the kids a great deal. I really enjoy them. I can't wait for next year's choir tour/mission trip.

Getting caught up...

It's been so long since I posted, that I don't even know where to start. To summarize the end of the year, I went to the beach with Matt to see Sara. It was a great relaxing weekend. I needed it before worked kicked into full gear as we had "system enhancement" coming up. I went to several concerts by the Huntsville Community Chorus. One of the highlights of the fall was the Madison County Parade of Homes. Matt and I wouldn't visit any houses that were less than half a million dollars. Like either of us could afford that. The best one was the 2.2 million dollar house we saw out in Madison. It was HUGE and BEAUTIFUL! Both of us are obsessed with houses and HGTV house shows. I actually had to ban myself from the mls site for a while. We also had the Middle School County Fair where we dressed up as Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables. "System Enhancement" at work came right after that. I was working 6 days a week and working 12 hour days. We had an early family Thanksgiving with Matt, the Adams' family, and Destinee's boyfriend, Chris. My family and the Adams' were all out of town for Thanksgiving, so I spent Thanksgiving with Matt at the Bandy's house then went back to Matt's to watch the first Lord of the Rings movie. After that, things really began to pick up because it was Christmas time. The whole first week after Thanksgiving was filled with Hanging of the Green set up and rehearsals. It seemed like there were concerts and parties all the time. We spent Christmas in Indiana with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It was fun, but I was ready to come back and sleep in my bed. New Year's Eve, Matt hosted a party at his house, which meant I cooked. haha... It was really fun to just chill, watch movies and watch the ball drop. Now to start 2010...
Birthday week began and was the most marvelous week ever. I love the week, the month, etc. I still don't really care for cold. I was actually kinda dreading my actual birthday. It was on a Wednesday and that meant everything was super busy and rushed. I woke up and decided to make the best of it. I got to work to find that Stacey- one of the Executive Asst.- had picked up Chick-fil-a for breakfast for all of my bosses, him and our V.P. to celebrate with. Way to start things off with a bang! Yippee!!! Lisa and I celebrated with cupcakes. I met my parents for lunch at Cheddar's (super yummy) where I recieved my birthday gift (a GPS). After I left work, I stopped by my parent's church to see everyone there. I was headed to the church for choir practice when I got a text from Matt asking me to stop by his office before I went to the choir room. When I got there, he handed me a bouquet of (49) pink roses. I was so surprised. He also gave me a gift card to Little Rosie's. The plan was already to go out to dinner after choir, so I wasn't expecting anything else. He took me to Chili's, where we had the "DTR" or defining of the relationship. So, it was official... we are dating... It was a GREAT birthday! It snowed the next day causing us to get sent home early from work and a delay the morning after that. My family decided to celebrate my birthday on Saturday (1/9). So, Matt and I joined them at PF Chang's, then headed to my parent's house for cake and games. Kim, Rebekah and I did our usual girls birthday celebration. We did dinner PF Changs and a movie. The rest of January has almost been a blur. We've had 3 snows that have caused the credit union to delay opening or send us home early (very, very rare occurences). This was the first Valentine's I have gotten to spend with someone, so that was pretty exciting. We went to PF Changs then to see the movie "Blindside". Excellent movie! I guess that pretty much catches me up to the present. I'm planning on posting some of my scrapping, card making and other crafty things soon.

Where Did the Summer Go?

I got on to read my blog and realized just how long it had been since I had posted! It's been such a great and crazy busy summer! It's just gone by so quickly.
The end of May brought a salsa (food not dance) party hosted by the Whitesburg Baptist Church choir. It was here that I met Sara who very quickly became my best friend. Andrew and I went to Birmingham for the Hillsong concert, where we all thought the balcony was going to collapse due to there being soooo many people there. It was shaking and making me nervous. I broadened my arts horizons by going to see MacBeth at the Fantasy Playhouse. It was pretty awesome. I think Sara and I laughed a lot more than we should have.

I went to camp with the middle schoolers at Whitesburg this year. We loaded up around 130 people and headed off to Fort Faith on June 1. I was the leader for the Yellow Wombats. My group consisted of the same girls that were mine for D-Now. They were such a blessing. We had some great discussions on purity over the course of the week. I'll never forget the last night when one of them finally had gotten things settled with God and she ran ALL over camp screaming about how great God was. It was pretty amazing to watch God work in their lives.
July brought my grandparents and a trip to see the Huntsville Stars and fireworks. I don't get to see them very often, but it was nice to be able to hang out for a while.

Mom and I road tripped it to Kentucky and Indiana in July. We've never done that before. She met up with some high school friends at Barkley Lake. I headed up to spend the weekend with Aunt Barbara. All we did was scrapbook and shop. It was glorious girl time.

August brought some sad news. My grandfather passed away. He'd been in a nursing home for a few years with Alzheimers. It meant a trip to Indiana for the funeral though. It's the first time Mom's whole side of the family had been together since Uncle Harvey's funeral in 2007. It was really good for some of us cousins to be together again. We had a great time and laughed a lot. I don't think I have laughed so hard I physically hurt. We didn't know we were all so funny. :) We would just like to get together again under better circumstances.
I've added to my list of ministries too. I joined the Women's Ministry committee a little earlier than planned. My term was to begin in January, but due to one of the ladies moving they asked me to begin in July. We just had the LIFT dinner which is our big kick off for the women's ministry department. There were over 400 women in attendance. It was fabulous! I am also a sponsor for the Student Worship Arts Team (SWAT). We had our kick off in mid-August with a BBQ. The kids were pretty excited about it. The first Sunday of rehearsal we had over 120 6th-12th graders. I'm pretty excited to see what God does in these kids lives as the year progresses.
Well, I guess that sums up the summer. I'm sure there were a lot of things I left out, but these were the highlights. I'm going to end my summer at the beach. I'm headed to Mobile to see Sara and spend Labor Day weekend resting and relaxing by the ocean. I can't wait!

God Moments

It's been awhile since I have posted. The title of my blog has become more fitting than even I thought. haha...
God has been doing so much in my life lately that I just thought that I would take some time and share it with everyone.
My mom asked me to speak at a ladies meeting several months ago. The meeting kept getting postponed, so it wasn't until Thursday, May 14, that I spoke. I think God had things keep getting in the way for a purpose now. Some of you know that my biological sister found me on Facebook recently. It shook me up for a little while, but have really had a great opportunity to get to know her and we are building quite a friendship. Well, since all that had happened, mom asked me to share it as a testimony at the meeting. The whole day of the meeting Satan kept attacking me and filling me with the thoughts of "Why would anyone want to hear that story? Others are going through far worse than you." Mom and I had multiple discussions about it that afternoon. I was so not expecting what happened that night. After I gave my testimony, one of Mara's friends that was visiting the church that night came up to me. She said, "I just wanted you to know that I gave a child up for adoption when I was 17. I have been wondering about him and the family he went to ever since. You have given me such comfort and I feel better about him and his life now." WOW!!! Never in a million years was I expecting to hear that! God is so good! If I went through that whole situation just to help that woman, than I really feel like it was worth it.
Tonight, I was at the gym walking the track and the song "I Don't Want to Go" by Avalon came on my Ipod. The chorus says, "I don't want to go somewhere if I know that You're not there, cause I know that me without you is a lie." That is something that I have been really challenged on lately. I have been in a situation for several weeks now. The end result is something that I really want and have wanted since God laid it on my heart on April 1, 2002. However, I don't want it right now if God doesn't want me to have it right now. I want it in the timing that He wants it to be in and in the exact place and position He wants it to be in. God is good and has given me a complete peace about the whole thing no matter which way it goes.
So, I have also been reading the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chin. A friend of mine is reading it and she blogged about it and sounded like something I really needed to read. I have only made it through a chapter and a half, but it is AWESOME!!!! It's really challenging me and I LOVE that! I'll blog more about it when I finish it.
I realize this blog is kind of vague, but I'm sure I'll be able to elaborate more later. I just got really excited today and wanted to share the God moments that I have had this week, and this was the best that I could do. :)

Easter and April Showers...

It's already the middle of April! Where in the world does time go? This year seems to be FLYING by! I had the privilege of participating in my church's Easter play "The Healer". It was one of the most powerful performances of the life of Jesus I have ever seen. God really did some amazing things through it. I know this cause He did so in my life. Each night I felt like God was speaking to me. I'm pretty sad it's over.

I met up with mom, dad, Destinee and the Adams' for lunch on Easter Sunday. It was nice to have every one (well, almost everyone) together. I have been craving the family time. It was short due to the matinee performance of The Healer, but mom and dad and matt and tonya came to watch, so I got to talk to them again. Then it was back to my house for "Friends Night". I cooked an Easter dinner since most of my friends weren't able to go home. It's the first time I have ever done a full holiday meal. We feasted on ham, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and green beans. Andrew made dessert- brownies cooked with Reese's inside of them with ice cream sundae toppings to go with them. It was YUM-O!

I guess the storms have really been the issue the last week or so. I have spent more time in the stairwell at work the last several days. Thankfully, I have my i-pod and a few short movies on it. Lisa and I were cutting out coupons a few days ago while we were there. People laugh as we wheel our chairs with our bags in them. I am so thankful for God's protection over my house. I have been trying to park my car under trees, light poles, etc. hopeful that something will fall on it. It never happens. Things fall all around it, but never on my car. I don't even have a hint of hail damage! Either my car has 9 lives or God really wants me to keep this car. :) haha...

I went to Chattanooga today with Katie and her friend Megan. It was so nice to have a girls day. We went to the 4 Bridges Art Show. There were some pretty interesting pieces of art there. I enjoyed it. I also got to eat at my favorite place- Sticky Fingers and drive through Temple's campus. I forgot how quiet it was on Saturdays. I totally reminisced the whole time. It made me miss the good old days and my friends. Everyone's lives are so busy and we are scattered all over the country. The fountain had no water in it. I wonder how many times it has been sudded this year. I loved the year when the ENTIRE 5th floor snuck out at our End of Year party each with a container of laundry detergent and the year when they had to shut down Bailey Ave because there were suds floating down the street. hehehe... oh the good ol' days! Or how about the time Mrs. B took the girl RA's out to Steak and Shake after curfew and we came back to find one of the girls on my floor sneaking out the window of our TV room??? Talk about being BUSTED!!! Those days had to leave us sometime, but boy am I thankful for the memories. My years at Tennessee Temple University will never be forgotten. I have had amazing roommates, was given opportunities I could have only dreamed about and was taught things that I will never, ever forget. As much as I miss those days, I am thankful for the times that I have now, in Huntsville, with my family, friends and church life. God has been so good to me.

Wow

Wow... It's been quite a week and a half for me.
It took me a little while to recoup from D-Now. Sometimes, I still don't think I have. Anyway, I have really had to find myself trusting God in some areas this week. I can't share what they are right now, but I would really appreciate it if you (whoever- if anyone- reads this) would pray for me and my situation. I know God will show Himself mighty in this. Ok, that being said, I woke up Thursday morning at 3am with severe pains in my stomach. I thought it was appendicitis. I was actually crawling on the ground in pain. Then, I suddenly found myself feverish and had the worst chills... I was wearing flannel pj pants, a sweatshirt, had flannel sheets, a quilt and a fleece blanket on top of me and could NOT get warm. Now, I hate doctors (except Dr. Patty) and hospitals, so I opted to lay there and pray really, really hard that God would take the pain away. It subsided enough to go to sleep. I wasn't sure what was wrong with me, but I knew I needed to take the day and rest. I never felt the pain again, but the feverish symptoms continued. It was so not fun. We believe it was a symptom of anxiety. *sigh*
We spent the weekend in Indiana with my grandparents. My step-cousin got married on Saturday. It was a really nice wedding. The reception was held at the old courthouse. It was the snootiest room I think I have ever been in. Pink marble about half way up the wall with shamrock green colored walls trimmed in white and gold. The chandeliers were to die for! It was AMAZING! I had a blast. We learned a lot about my dad's high school years. haha... I even pulled out old family photo albums. I always get made fun of because I cry looking at them. This time I just laughed till I cried to cover up the tears. For some reason, pictures get to me every time. I honestly think this is one of the best trips to Indy I have had in a long time. I think I just needed to get away for awhile. I told maybe 3 people I was leaving- only those who needed to know. I still feel like I am lacking on sleep.
We went and saw the movie Taken last night. It was very intense! My body physically still hurt this morning from tensing up. I can always feel the pain when I see it. It was a great movie though. I still enjoyed it. After that we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. I love spending time with friends.
So, I am hardcore into couponing and sale shopping. I have always been a bargain hunter, but I am finding myself more and more into it. I love watching the numbers drop off my price. Kroger has been my best bargaining thus far. I am still working on Publix and CVS. There is more information posted on my facebook about those deals.
I guess I need to finish my taxes and head off to bed.