#Emri2012

Hey Friends,

If you have a moment please go to my friend Katie's blog and pray for sweet Emri.  This little girl has touched all of our lives since she was born two months ago. They have a long journey ahead of them, but we know that our God is bigger than what the doctors say and He is the ultimate Healer.  Please pray for Matt and Katie that God would give them peace, strength, and grace.

We love you Em! 

Catch up!

I'm still alive! Really not sure why its so hard for me to remember to do a blog post but hopefully one day I will get some blogging mojo.

So much has happened since my last post I really have no idea where to begin.  The first week of July we moved in with Luke's parents.  Luke is going back to school this fall and his parents were gracious enough to open up there home to us so He can stop working and focus on school.  We just celebrated ONE WHOLE YEAR of marriage.  Let me tell you this year has flown by.  We joke all the time that time goes by so much faster when you are married, I can't even imagine how fast it will go when we have kiddos. 

We also just got back from a week at the Beach with the Dorr/Byrd family.  We had an absolute blast.  We played countless games of volleyball, went on morning walks, ate to our hearts desire, sang karaoke at some hole in the wall, walked around Seaside almost every day, shopped, swam with what we like to call the "unwashed masses", read, and  celebrated our anniversary with a special date night which included dinner at Cafe Thirty A and watching The Dark Knight Rises.  It was such a wonderful week that went by way too fast. 

I'll leave you with some pictures (most our from my iPhone and that's why its so tiny) and a must watch video ;)

"Unwashed Masses"

                                                                

Dessert at Cafe Thirty A

Karaoke

Last night at Seaside

The next few are compliments of Kitty

My Love

More Karaoke, I believe this was "Living on a Prayer"

The girls!

WATCH THIS VIDEO!

and one more for good measure just because I love our dog.

Weekend Recap + a recipe!

We started off the weekend with Luke having a job change.  Until this weekend Luke has had to work every night till 10:00 and most weekends.  This just wasn't working for us and after praying about it we thought it was best he just find another job.  Well God answered that prayer Thursday and opened a door for a new job.  WE ARE THRILLED! 

Friday we just wanted to relax because we were so exhausted and he had worked late every night the past week.  We recently started watching LOST from the beginning so we just hung out at the house and caught up on episodes.  I also made a recipe I found on Pinterest! Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They turned out sooo good. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients :

1 package Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1 egg

1/2 cup butter

1 cup creme de la mente chips (andes mints)

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp mint extract

6 drops green food coloring 

Directions:

Preheat over to 350

Mix cookie mix, egg, butter, mint extract, and food coloring together.

Then stir in andes mints and chocolate chips.

Bake for 8 minutes and enjoy.

Saturday night we had a date night and went to Chuy's.  Luke had never eaten there before and he hates mexican but he loved it!!! 

Sunday we slept in and watched church online.  We then went to Oak Mountain State park for an adventure day!!  We went canoeing and then hiking to Peavine falls!  

Macy going for a swim!

Us at the top of the mountain.

This was one of the best weekends of my life and I am so glad Luke was off and we could enjoy it together!!! 

Photo Dump!

I finally found a way to import all my pics from the camera! So here is a little catch up in pics from the past month!!!

                                               The day we moved Luke into the apartment!

                                             A little McD's stop on the way to the airport.

                                                          Haiti

                                                     Us in Jamaica

                                               

                                                      

This has by far been the busiest month of our lives but the most memorable and happiest time!

WE'RE MARRIED!!!

I know its been weeks since I have updated but life has been so busy! We got married July 22 and the wedding was perfect! We could not have asked for a better day and we are so grateful for our family and friends who came!

We got back from our honeymoon this past Saturday.  The honeymoon was amazing! We did a 7 night cruise to Haiti, Jamaica, and Cozumel.  We had so much fun and ate our body weight in food! Hopefully I can upload pictures as soon as I find my camera cord.

In the meantime, I will leave you with some wedding pics taken by our amazing photographers, Kitty Dorr and Kenny Byrd. 

                                                                     Getting ready

                                                           Our first look at each other

                                                                        First Kiss

                                                               The Carroll Family

                                                                 The Dorr Family

Moving Day!!

Luke and I got the keys to our apartment on Saturday morning.  We were so excited and I hardly slept the night before, it felt like Christmas morning! Luke decided he would go ahead and live there until the wedding which is in 11 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It just makes sense for him to go ahead and live there since it will cut 20 minutes off his drive to work!

So Saturday we moved all the bedroom furniture and Luke's clothes in.  Then the rest of the day Luke drove to Dora to pick up a washer and dryer that someone gave us and then he drove to Tuscaloosa to pick up his TV that he left when he moved to Birmingham.  (Thanks Jake and Rusty for helping!)

I had my lingerie shower on Saturday night and it was so much fun! Thank you everyone who came and brought presents and special thanks to my Aunt Suzie, Kelly and the Addairs who hosted the party.

After the party, I met back up with Luke and we started unpacking everything and made a midnight trip to Wal Mart for things we had to have in order for him to stay there. 

Sunday we dropped Luke's car off to be worked on and then loaded up to head to Atlanta to shop for furniture at IKEA!!! We felt like we were in furniture heaven there.  The store is amazing.  We got so much stuff for the apartment for a really great price.

Here is Luke with all the boxes.

On the way home we had a wiper fiasco that made for an interesting drive.  One of the wipers on my uncles truck broke.  It just so happened to be monsooning so Luke had to drive some of the time while sitting in the middle so he could see.

                                                     Here's the wiper stuck in the upright position

We finally made it home and unloaded all of the boxes and set up most of the furniture.  I will post pics soon of the finished products. 

The weekend was so busy but I caught myself thinking several times how thankful I am for Luke becuase he did so much and went above and beyond to get things accomplished.  He is the best and I love him so much. 

12 Stones

The past few months I have felt like I am in a rut with my walk with God.  Yes I love him but I just haven't been in the same place that I was in.  This morning I've been sitting here at work thinking about how I got to this place. I started reading a devotional from an app on my iphone and today's message was on remembering all the things God has done for you.  I think it's so easy to get caught up in the worries about the future, working, money, and family that we forget to remember everything that God has done in our lives that has made us who we are today. 


"So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down.  Joshua set up the twelve stones that had beent in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.  Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over,and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the Lord and the priests came to the other side while the people watched.That day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses.  On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their parents, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Seat when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God." - Joshua 4

I just want to encourage any one who may read this that just because you are in a dry spot it doesn't mean that you are forgotten.  Just continue to pursue God and don't forget all the things that he has done for you and where he has brought you from.