Thanksgiving and Black Friday

I always look forward to Thanksgiving each year. Not only because of the good FOOD, but because its always a time when the family is together.

This year will be hard because it will be the first year that Patrick won't be there. I would love nothing more for him to coming walking in and surprise us all on Thanksgiving. But, the likely hood of that is pretty slim. We ALL will miss you, Patrick. Can't wait to see you December 28th! Counting down the days. 38 to go.. :)

This year Jon and I have LOTS to be Thankful for. We are getting a new start at life in Huntsville, a new job, new church, and time to restore broken relationships. I am FOREVER THANKFUL for all of these things.

We will spend some of our day at Jons moms house, then the rest of the day will be spent at my parents. It is always SO hard for Jon and I to balance the day out. Trying to be at 3 different places in one day is tough. We tried it one year and it was horrible. We were at each place for like an hour or 2. We didn't even get to enjoy ourselves. (Not to mention we ate so much we made ourselves sick. Haha.) So, we decided from then on that we would have to pick and chose where we would be. Rotate it each year. :)

Another reason I love Thanksgiving is..................

BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!

Haha! SAD but TRUE. I love nothing more than sitting next to the fire Thanksgiving night, looking through the ads and scoping where I will spend my day. Last year, Mom and I made the BIGGEST mistake by going to Wal-Mart. I was seriously having anxiety attacks. Mom decided to SPLIT up from me and go get something she wanted. I can remember calling out, "MOM" and about 50 women turned around to see if it was their child calling them. HAHA. SO, I told her I can't do Wal-mart again. Unless she wants me to have a SERIOUS, SERIOUS melt down in there. HAHA. I think this year we will be going to Target, Big Lots (who always has GREAT deals), Hobby Lobby, and Michael's. We are usually DONE shopping by 10 am. :) We can seriously get some good deals! :) I HOPE to be completely done with my Christmas shopping by then!

Well, I hope you all have a VERY VERY Happy Thanksgiving. :) We ALL have LOTS to be Thankful for! :) And I am THANKFUL for each one of you who read my blog. :)

Blessings and Peace,

Jesus Freak..

So, I decided to come "home" a few days early and help my mom with the kiddos while Natalie works Christmas Village this week. I was SO glad to see Kemp and Daisy. I have missed ALL of my nieces and nephews so much! :) Of course, they were more glad to see Mr.Wiggles than me. Haha. :) Kelley, Pat's new girlfriend, came over and helped with the kiddos. They instantly fell in love with her. She was SO sweet and good with them. :) Kemp asked mom before she came over, "Is she good with children?!" HAHA. I love that. He is a funny little duck to say the least..

Anyways, on my way home I heard a song I haven't heard in years. It made me instantly think..

Who remembers the song, "Jesus Freak" by DC Talk?? I use to listen to it a lot during youth group, but haven't really heard it since then.

Here is the chorus of the song:

What will people think if they hear that I am Jesus Freak

What will people do if they find out its true

I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak

There ain't no disguising the truth

These lyrics REALLY made me stop and think. I had to think about how many times I may not have shared my Faith with someone else because I was afraid of what they may think of me.

I have finally allowed myself to "get lost" in the worship at church. To lift my hands and cry out to Christ. I had always been too concerned with who may or may not be watching me and make fun of me for raising my hands. But, I have finally gotten to the point where I don't care. I want to worship my God and I finally feel comfortable doing it.

Just recently I have learned there are some people that I know VERY well who aren't Christians. They believe that Christians aren't even real. They believe that Christians only believe in Christ because thats what their parents taught them.

That REALLY breaks my heart and makes me mad to be honest! Because, I KNOW that there is a God. There have been WAY too many things in my life that could never have happened without God.

I couldn't imagine not having a relationship with Christ. He is someone I can ALWAYS talk to. Even when no one else is there, I know He is always right there with me.

I feel like in the past year I have become so much stronger in my walk with Christ. I feel a lot of that is to do with me being married. I am so thankful to have a hubby who believes in the same beliefs as I do. I couldn't imagine not having a hubby who wasn't a Christian. That was ALWAYS something that was FIRST on my list for even dating someone. I would have had a really hard time dating or marrying someone who didn't believe in Christ.

I pray that I can really show my Faith to these people who are not Christians. Show them that I am a JESUS FREAK and I am NOT afraid to prove it. :)

Blessings and Peace,

KnickNats at Christmas Village!

Just a friendly reminder that:

KnickNats Designs will be at Christmas Village!

Christmas Village is held at the BJCC from Wednesday- Sunday. I will be there on Saturday to help! Natalie has texted me a picture of her booth and it really looks GREAT! I wish I was there to help her! :( I can't wait to see it in person.

I can't even begin to tell her how PROUD of her I am! Christmas Village is a HUGE thing. She deserves this! :) Congrats, Natalie! Can't wait to be there to help you! You are going to do AMAZING this week! YOU rock. Love you!

Hope to see you all out at Christmas Village this week!

First Annual Cullen Halloween Party

Happy Halloween Everyone! :) (Just one day late!)

Jon and I hosted our First Halloween Party yesterday. It was a very very fun party if I do say so myself.

Jon and I went as...

Hugh Hefner and his NEW BRUNETTE girl. (BRUNETTES do have MORE fun! hehe)

*Jon looks JUST like his dad with his hair gray like that! It freaked me out a bit!*

Everyone had cute cute costumes!

Awards for the best costumes were the following:

Best all Around:

Funniest:

Sexiest:

Tie between yours truly and Amy

Most Original: (Amelia Earhart!)

Scariest: (Just b/c he's Jason-haha)

Then we carved pumpkins:

All in all Jon and I had a great night. Thank you to everyone who came!

Blessings and Peace,

I've been at my parents this week while working at Little Lambs! I have SO enjoyed being able to see all my friends and my precious little ones I have missed so much. Laurie and I have had so much fun making those tiny handprinted ornaments. The babies are the most precious as well as the most difficult. I am going to have to do one for Miss Daisy for MY tree. She wanted to do one SO bad. Kept giving me her hand to paint. Haha. :)

I have enjoyed being here with my parents this week, but am DEFINITELY ready to get back to the ole hubby. I am ready to have a week when I am HOME and not on the go. Ready for a relaxing weekend, but I don't see that any time soon. We are hoping to go to the beach with my family for Thanksgiving. (If we can find a house big enough for all of us!) I think that would be a nice relaxing time for us. Just hope we get to go! (HINT HINT, Big T! haha!)

I am really hoping we get to go to the beach so we can hit the outlets the day after Thanksgiving. Mom and I have had a tradition of going for AT LEAST 10 years now. JUST the 2 of us. No one else likes to shop like we do! :) Actually, I am ALMOST done with my Christmas shopping! I have tried to get a few things here, a few things there. :) One I am really excited about! Can't wait to give it! How will I ever wait 2 more months?!? I am the WORST at keeping surprises! And this one I am really excited about, so not sure it will be a secret much longer. Hahahaha!

The Halloween party is getting closer and I can't wait for it! I am glad that Alabama has a "bye" weekend this weekend and can actually enjoy the day! I have to give it to Bama for playing their HEARTS out. Last week was a bit scary, but Terrance Cody (aka MOUNT CODY!) saved the day for Bama! They've got some work to do against LSU, but I think Bama can win! Roll Tide Roll! :)

Well, I guess that's it for now! I am trying to blog more often..

Blessings and Peace,

Wow, its been a while!!

I have been a complete and total slacker on my blog lately. haha. My mom had dinner with Mrs.Konie and she told me that I was in trouble for not blogging. SO, Mrs.Konie, here we go....

Jon and I have been doing wonderful. We are SO enjoying Madison! And couldn't be happier to be where we are. And to make matters EVEN better we have found a church that we are in awe of, Asbury Methodist. A couple of Sundays ago it was JUST Praise and Worship. I had chills the entire service. The service was one of the MOST moving services I have ever been to. If NOT, the best. I left with my cup overflowing. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was. Jon and I both left and looked at each other and said "THIS IS WHERE WERE SUPPOSE TO BE!" Jon and I have been totally blessed with finding amazing Churches. :)

Mom came and spent the week with Jon and I this week. We had a BLAST. I even tried to convince her to move into our spare bedroom. HA. I know Jon was probably ready for us to get out of his hair. Poor thing, he is now SICK as a dog! I feel so bad for him. He was suppose to go on a "MAN WEEKEND" this weekend, but he is feeling so bad, he's not going. Which, I know Jon MUST be sick to miss it. I feel bad that I am not there to take care of him. (I am in Hoover because I am working at Little Lambs on a project next week! I can't wait to see all my girls and all those adorable babies that I have missed so much!)

Jon and I are having our "First Annual Cullen Halloween Party" on Halloween night. Mom helped me decorate the house and get it ready for the party. We have found our costumes and I must say they are so cute. I will definitely make some pictures and post them when the party is over! :)

Wiggles is still just the CUTEST thing ever. I think he is beginning to have more clothes than I do! He looks SO cute in his clothes and ALWAYS has on a shirt! He is getting to be a big little boy. At the last vet appointment he weighed 5 lbs 10 oz. I laugh because he was only suppose to be 3 lbs full grown. NOT that I care. (No, mom, I wouldn't trade him for anything..) We took him to the Petsmart Halloween Costume Parade and had his picture taken! LOTS of cute Halloween costumes! This year Wiggles was Mickey Mouse. He was a darn cute Mickey Mouse, too! :) Too bad his costume was just a bit to small. (I guess its all the dog bones he's been eating! LOL!)

The next few weeks are going to be BUSY, BUSY! Halloween Party, and then...KNICK NATS at Christmas Village! I couldn't be more happy/proud of Natalie for all she is doing with her earrings! :) Way to go, Nat! :) I know Christmas Village is going to be AWESOME! I can't wait!

Well, I guess that's it for now. Jon and I are kinda boring these days..LOL!

Blessings and Peace,

1 Year Ago..

Yesterday was mine and Jons 1 year Wedding Anniversary! I can't believe it has been a year! AND, what a year it has been at that. I'm not to sure there are a lot of couples who can say they've been through what we have in our first year. Saying that, we as a couple had to learn to fully and totally trust that God had His hand in every moment of our marriage. There were many times that we were uncertain and scared about our future. I am SO incredibly blessed to have my Mom and Dad who totally supported (financially as well as morally) 110%. They were there when I cried my eyes out and just hugged me and told me it we were going to be okay. Jons Dad and Step- Mom have been amazing as well. Jon and I are so blessed. :)

And as weird as it sounds, we are better off today than we were 1 year ago! We are at a better place in our lives. We have become stronger in our walk with Christ, more mature, and I fall in love with Jon more and more every day. I am SO blessed to have such an amazing man to call my husband.

There was some drama that occurred before, during and after our wedding. One in particular that Jon and I are having a hard time getting over. It's one of those things, that I just can't seem to get passed. And, just when I think I want to start working on making them better, I am QUICKLY reminded why we are in the situation we are already.

I have prayed and prayed about the "SITUATION" but just don't know what to do anymore. I have shed way to many tears over it and am tired of crying over it. But I am simply at a loss for what to do. I would have thought a year would have been plenty of time for things to be resolved, but I guess I was totally wrong.

I am going to totally "LET GO AND LET GOD!" Because, I don't think there is another way to go.

My prayer for Jon and I is that our 2nd year will be a little less eventful than the last. And that we will continue to fully trust our AWESOME, AMAZING God in everything that WE do as a couple.

I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us!

Blessings and Peace,