Thursday, March 27, 2008

Anniversary (continued), Friends and Easter

Ok, here is my last little bit about our anniversary. I had to show you the ring Chris got me. I have been eyeing it for several years at James Avery and am so excited that it is now mine. I did have to ask if the fact that he got me a ring with a black stone in it was his way of telling me that this how he has felt about our first year of marriage, doom and gloom.

We also got each other cards. Here is the picture of the card I got for Chris.



Here is the picture of the card Chris got for me.


I guess we really were meant for each other.

Last Thursday, my friend, Elisabeth, came into town to visit her family. I was able to take Delaney and run over there and visit with Lis and rock baby Ella to sleep. It makes my heart so happy to see my friends blessed with families. I love seeing how much their kids remind me of them and watching them grow up into amazing, talented children of God. I can't wait to see what God has in store for beautiful Ella. Don't you all think that Elizabeth should start a blog so we can keep up with Lis and Ella??



Here are some other pictures of my weekend with Delaney. (Incase you forgot, I have been babysitting for the Needham's since Delaney was about 8 months old. The Needham's are like a second family to me and both the kids were in our wedding.) Somehow Dylan managed to escape this weekend without getting his picture taken.

On Friday night, Katy, our niece and other flower girl, spent the night with Delaney. They crashed in the living room while watching movies.


Apparently, Ben and Lilly had a sleep over too.


The Needham's have a huge gym at their house so the girls had to help me work out Saturday morning.



Delaney had never decorated Easter Eggs before so she had a blast making all of the eggs look like members of her family and my family.

Squirtle the Turtle.


Me, Chris and Allie



Delaney and her egg.



I don't know if Chris was quite as amused as I was that
she made his egg bald and have a goatee.


Allie and her egg.
It was a great weekend, but we were glad to go back home. We have had something every night this week and will spend this weekend getting ready for my cousin, Staci's, arrival from California. She has never been to Texas before and is really excited. Well I better get back to work.
Love.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

UGH!!!!!

IT IS 4:00 AND I JUST NOW REALIZED THAT I FORGOT TO PUT ON MASCARA TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, March 24, 2008

More prayers

I promise a more upbeat and positive update later tonight/tomorrow. I have tons of fun pictures from our weekend with the Needham's to share.


I wanted to once again turn to my blogger friends who are so faithful in prayer and ask you to lift up all of the people who will be attending the memorial for Aaron Williamson today at 4:00. Paul, Aaron's dad, came by the office this morning and was his normal perky self and prayed and spoke to each of us at the office. The strength and peace God provides amazes me. Our firm will be sitting with the family as our firm is like a family of its own. For those of you who do not know, 4 years ago our firm sat as family at the funeral of another one of our attorney's who lost his 18 yr. old son in a tragic accident. We are only a firm of 22 people so for us to have to grieve through both of these tragedies in such a short period of time is very hard on us. We have several family events a year and there are always kids running around up here. Most of us have watch these kids grow up and have even babysat some of them.

Please especially pray for the students that will be in attendance. Paul told each of us to expect a difficult and realistic service. They will not sugar-coat Aaron's suicide; they will deal with it head-on as being wrong, sinful (but forgiven by Christ's salvation), and part of Satan's influence in this world. They will also make the service a true celebration of Aaron's life, and use this horrific tragedy as an opportunity to minister to everyone in attendance about the certainty of God's love and our salvation through Jesus Christ. Paul summed it up perfectly this morning, saying "If you can stand it, it will be awesome." I know that God is faithful to save in any circumstance.




I hear the Savior say,“Thy strength indeed is small; Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all." Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Prayers

Please pray for the Williamson family. Paul Williamson is one of the managing partners at the law firm I work for. He called a few minutes ago to let us know that his son, Aaron, passed away today. I do not have any other details at this time. Aaron was a senior at AHS and he and his family are members of Trinity Fellowship.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:2-4

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

My Wonderful Wife

Hi, this is Chris. Amy's husband. I know from time to time Amy talks about me on her blog. I just think its time I talked about her. She is always so caring and thoughtful of other people. I just want you to know what an amazing person she is. She has a heart of gold and when the time comes she will be be the most amazing mother there is. She is a devoted Christ Follower. She is the reason that I am who I am to this day. I love you baby! Thank you for all you have done for me!!

Christopher

I am back

Well it was a great weekend, but I am glad to be back. I guess I should catch everyone up a little before I tell you about our trip.

I think I mentioned that last weekend, I went to Melanie's baby shower. Melanie and I have been friends since the 3rd grade and she is now expecting her first, Jacob, at the end of April. I am so excited for her and Brancent and can't wait to meet Jacob. It was great getting to see her, her mom and grandma at the shower. I also got to see my high school friend, Melissa. Melissa is a very talented seamstress and made Melanie tons of cute cart covers and other items. Melissa also gave Chris and I our first "anniversary" present. I had to share because I was ecstatic when I opened the package. I don't think Melissa knew that I have tried to add a "B" in every room of our house. (If you don't know, our last name is Bunch.) Anyway, the only room without a "B" was the kitchen. Thanks Melissa, your gift now hangs proudly on our stove.


I also ordered some of these adorable towels from Anna Maria Horner.


Ok, back to the trip...we went shopping in Dallas Thursday-Sunday. We were so tired when we got back home, but had a great time together and even squeezed in a visit with my friend RyAnn and her family.

Braxton tried to act shy.



This was Brock and Chris' attempt at making sad faces! I don't think Brock has a sad bone in his body. He has one of the best laughs I have ever heard.


Love you Ry!


When we made it back to town Sunday night, we stopped by my parents house to pick up Allie and my parents dog, Macy, so my parents could go to Dallas for a few days. I of course had to make Chris take a picture of Allie's first sleepover!!!

On Monday, our real anniversary, we slept late and lounged around the house together. It was perfect. We did make it to Canyon to revisit the site of our wedding.

Of course we had cake. I don't really know what happened to it in my parents freezer, but it tasted amazing much to my chagrin. I was really hoping it would taste bad for dieting purposes. No such luck.

I have more to post about our anniversary, but have not uploaded the pics yet. Just wanted to catch everyone up a little. This weekend we are babysitting the Needham's so I am sure that I will have lots of stories about our lives with a teenage boy and a 9 year old who thinks she is 16. Fun!!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

About to hit the road

I am a little behind on my blogging. On top of the events of Monday, I also had a midterm last night and a ton of homework I had to do before we leave to go to Dallas today to celebrate our 1st Anniversary with a weekend of shopping!! YEAH!!!

I did want to brag on Chris. Saturday was the 2 year anniversary of our first date. I totally forgot, but not Chris. I came home from Melanie's baby shower and found a really sweet card with some make-up bags I had been eyeing. My hubby is the best.

I have a lot more to blog about, but it will have to wait until we get back. Chris is loading the car right now. See you all again on Monday!!! Have a good weekend.


Monday, March 10, 2008

Too much drama for me...

This morning has been crazy!! I went to leave for work this morning and when I opened the garage door, I saw that the alley was kinda smokey. As I got in my car and drove down the alley I saw smoke coming out from under the eve of the elderly man's house that lives across the alley and one house down from us.
I immediately grabbed my phone and called 911. Thinking back on it I am amazed at the clarity God allowed me in that moment. I remembered Edwin's house number and street like it was my own. I don't even know how I knew his house number, but I did (actually God helped me). Anyway, I hopped out my car and ran up to the front door. I tapped the door knob to see if it was hot. It was not so I tried to open the door. Praise the Lord it was unlocked. As soon as I opened the door, smoke rushed out. I could not even see my hand in front of my face. I did not want to go into the house, because I had never been in there before and thought that might not be the best decision. I instead stood at the door and yelled for Edwin. I could not hear him responding. About that time, a car pulled up and 2 men jumped out. One of them was a friend of Edwin's who comes over and checks on him every once in a while. God had allowed them to come over that morning even though they never came to check on Edwin in the morning. They ran into the house and found Edwin sitting in a chair that was on fire. We think that maybe he was smoking and fell asleep. Edwin told them that they needed to get the chair out of the house!! They instead dragged him out in his pajama's. His arm was pretty badly burned, but other than that he was in pretty good shape. I ran home and got him a blanket and Chris' house shoes. (Thanks Chris!!) I also ran next door and woke up the elderly women that lived there and helped her wrangle up her 4 dogs and 1 cat!! (I don't know how you live in a townhouse and have that many animals!!) Soon after the police, fireman and paramedics arrived. Edwin refused to go to the hospital and really only cared about smoking another cigarette and going back in his house. I told the police that I had noticed that he had been leaving his garage door opened when he left the house and obviously, I thought he was suffering from dementia.
An hour later I was back at work and only suffering from mild smoke inhalation and burning eyes. Please remember to keep Edwin in your prayers today and in the days ahead. The fireman said his house was not a total loss but it would require a great deal of cleaning and some major structural repair in the back of his house. Also, please pray for Edwin's family as I am sure they will have to struggle with getting him in full time care.
Thank you God for your divine intervention and amazing arms of protection and for the fireman, policeman and paramedics who face those situations everyday.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Another Blogger

I love it when my friends start blogs. Even though I talk to them often, sometimes I just like to pull up their blog and see pictures of them. It always makes me smile and helps me feel not so far away from them. One of my best friends from HSU, Rachel, started a blog today. Don't let her modesty fool you, she has a beautiful daughter and an amazing family that I am sure everyone will fall in love with. Rachel is one of the most sweet, sincere and honest people I know. Everyone should take a trip over and welcome her to the blog world.

Rachel & Landyn Reese at my wedding.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

I can not even imagine what God was thinking...

when he allowed the announcement about the new Beth Moore Bible Study to catch my eye on the church web site. The title of the study is Loving Well. Silly old, newly wed me, thought it would be about loving your husband/family/kids well. Sounded good to me. I am always looking for new ways to show Chris and other loved ones my affection more. I walked into class last night, bought the book and sat down and immediately flipped it over to see just how Beth Moore was going to help me love my hubby more. This is what I read instead..."Are you loving well? Some people are a joy to love, some people are difficult to love, and we all have to deal with some people who are humanly impossible to love. God wants to demonstrate His might by doing through us what we can not possible do on our own. He wants us to learn to love all of these types of people-and love them well." WHAT??? That is not what I signed up for!! Why in the world would God think that I needed this class?? Oh yeah, I know why!! DANG IT!!! I won't share the names of all those people that immediately popped into my head when I thought of people that are difficult to love, people who have hurt me before, people I don't necessarily trust, etc., but lets just say the list was long. I often fall into the rut of not challenging myself when it comes to doing and being the Christian God has called me to be. I mean I do good and act the right way most of the time so that should be enough. Right?? Nope. God is calling me to love better, love EVERYONE better. I can already tell that the next 4 weeks are going to be a humbling experience and I hope I am up to the task. I will keep you posted on my epiphanies about loving well.
In other news, I lost 1.2 lbs. Not a vast improvement but a little better. I learned some new tips last night at my WW meeting and am hoping to see an improvement again next week.
PS. Chris thought I should have added to my survey of things you might not know about me that I scramble eggs for Allie every morning. See I love Allie well.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God and he who loves is born of God and is coming to know and understand God. 1 John 4:7

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

New Survey

You know that I am a sucker for surveys. I have seen this one floating around on a few blogs and since no one tagged me on it :( I have decided that I am going to do it anyway.
10 years ago:
I was having a major case of senioritis. I was also helping my mom take care of her mother who had cancer. She passed away 9 days later. I miss her so much and can't wait to see her again in the presence of our amazing God. Just so this survey is not totally depressing, my grandmother used to own a cafe in town. She was known across the Panhandle for her 6" tall Meringue Pies. I used to love to go to her cafe and help her with the cash register when I was little.
Things on my to-do list today:
- Go to Ulta to get make-up
- Go to Target and see if I can find a neat little thank you gift for Chris.
- Go to Weight Watchers
- Go to new Beth Moore Bible Study at church
- Spend a little time with my amazing husband
- Crash
What would I do if I were suddenly made a billionaire: I don't think my mind can quite grasp a billion dollars...I would probably pay off our cars, buy a new house, pay for the rest of my brothers' school, give away a lot to several charities and set up a revocable living trust (that is all I do all day and I know that I would need one to avoid tax issues).
Three of my bad habits:
1. Asking Chris where my cell phone is. I do this a lot, most of the times it is meant as a rhetorical question and me just talking out loud, but it still annoys him.
2. Being late.
3. Returning phone calls (See I admit it Ry!!)
Five jobs I have had:
1. Salesperson at Trolley Car Bridal
2. Salesperson at Bealls
3. Checker at United
4. Trinity Baptist Youth Intern
5. Courier
Five things people don't know about me:
1. I won the first gymnastics meet I ever competed in and I am pretty sure I can still do my floor routine.
2. I hate the feel of thirsty stones and turn them over and put my glass on the cork part.
3. I was captain of the varsity girls basketball team in high school.
4. I had a cat when I was little that had a clubbed foot and I named her Jessica (aka Juicy) after the little girl that got stuck in that well.
5. I ran over the retarded newspaper lady on her handicapped bike while backing out of the driveway when I was 16. The worst part is that I left her laying on the ground behind my car so I could run inside and get my dad. (FYI: The newspaper lady walked away with a skinned knee and elbow. Although, she did always pull over to the side of the road and get off of her bike when she saw me driving down the street after that so I guess the emotional trauma was more than the physical.)
Don't you all feel like you know me better now? That could be a bad thing!!

Monday, March 03, 2008

Words of Affirmation

As any couple should, Chris and I read The Five Love Languages. Chris' love language is hands down words of affirmation. I know that I do not always do a good job of making Chris feel and know how much I appreciate him and how proud of him for the man of God that he is growing into each day. I am always searching for ways to tell him how much I love and admire him. Today I stumbled across this 30-Day Husband Encouragement Challenge for Wives. Some of the things are so simple, but I think it will give me a goal everyday to uplift Chris in a new way and hopefully over the course of the next 30 days some of them will become habit.