M.I.A

Geez Louise!! I had almost forgotten about my blog! Things have been pretty busy around here and this has been put on the back burner.

I started working at our church and I absolutely love it. I have made some incredible friends and feel so blessed with this job. It's very laid back and everyone is so great to work with. Reminds me a lot of Little Lambs, which as you all know I LOVED! :)

I met a new friend, Heidi, who also works at Asbury. We instantly became friends. We are so much alike that it is scary. She is married to a great guy named Jay and he and Jon have become friends as well, which is so fun. They also have an adorable little boy named Hayden. He is SO cute and chunky. I feel really blessed to have found the Smiths. :)

I have started a little business called Pouts and Pigtails. You can find my stuff at http://www.etsy.com/shop/poutsandpigtails. I am *HOPING* to buy a monogramming machine sometime in the near future. Lucky for me, my sweet sister in law said she would teach me how to use her Moms. I am REALLY excited about it. Watch out because everything is about to be monogrammed! :)

Jon is still doing great. He has been INSANELY busy at work. They are getting ready for their annual confrence. Orginially it was suppose to be at the Opry Land Hotel, but due to the flooding that occured they have moved it to VEGAS. He is BEYOND excited about this. I SO want to go with him, but I have to work and he will be really busy so I wouldn't really see him anyways. I am excited for him because he hasn't been anywhere since our Honeymoon. I know he will have a blast. :)

Another reason I opted out of Vegas is because....Mom, Michael, Kadie, Lily, Brad, Natalie, Kemp and Daisy are ALL going to Disney World in September! I am SO excited to see my sweet babies faces when they see Disney for the first time. (Techinically its not Kemps first time, but he was only 2 when he went for the first time) Mom and I are actually flying out of Huntsville and the others are driving. We got a CHEAP flight out of here. Birmingham was trying to do all kind of crazy connections, so we were happy to find the one from H'ville to Orlando with NO stops. We are staying at the Port Orleans-French Quarter. I am giving Lily Bippity Boppity Boutique for her birthday and Kemp Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party for his. Needless to say, we are going to have a blast! 60 days...........Come on September 27th!!!!!!! :)

Well, I need to finish up the laundry and get dinner on before Jon gets home!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Graduates!

So Jon and I are officially graduates of Financial Peace University. It is a bittersweet feeling for sure. We SO enjoyed the class. We NEVER missed one class. We stayed committed to each other and to God to do this. We are in such a better place than we were 13 weeks ago. By December we will have NO debt. Yes you read that right..we will be DEBT FREE!!

I can't wait for that day. I WILL be calling Daves radio show and letting him know! :) We not only learned how to get out debt, but how to send our kids to college with NO student loans, where to invest our money and how to buy a house with a 15 year loan. I am SO glad we took this class before we ever thought about buying a house. I didn't know there was any other loan besides the 30. We had a bunch of people in our class already change their loan from a 30 year to a 15 year.

We have really been working out butts off to get DEBT FREE. I have even gotten another job at our Church and every penny I make from that job goes to bills.

For anyone who has any debt at all, I highly suggest the class. I can't URGE you enough to take it. It has forever changed the way Jon and I live. We now live by a budget and while its hard, its the best thing in the world.

If you are interested in the class please go to www.daveramsey.com and find a class in your area. It will be the hardest, yet the best thing you can ever do for yourself. :)

Life is so good. We are so blessed. I just can't say it enough.

"If you will live like no one else, LATER YOU CAN LIVE LIKE NO ONE ELSE!"- Dave Ramsey

What a year!

I can't believe its almost been a year since Jon lost his job in Auburn. What a year we have had!

I will never forget calling my Daddy in tears and him saying to me, "You can't see it now, but this is all part of the bigger picture." I can remember being annoyed that he had said that. Jon and I were freaking out and thats the advice he had for me?!?

But, boy was he right! It WAS all part of the bigger picture. We have since moved on to bigger and better things. Our marriage is at a great place, both of our jobs ROCK, our finances are getting on track, we have the most adorable Chihuahua ever, (yes, mom, CHI CHI is cute too!) and most importantly we have found a Church that is AMAZZZZINNG. (Cornerstone was awesome, but Asbury is pretty awesome too!)

We are definitely in a much better place than we could have ever dreamed. If you would have asked me a year ago if I would be moving to Huntsville, I would probably have laughed! I never would have dreamed we would have ended up here! But, I am so glad God knew all along we would be here. :)

So, thanks to everyone who has prayed for us in the past year. While it was the most trying year of my life, it was also the year I grew the most in my life. I learned to TRUST TRUST TRUST in my Awesome, NEVER FAILING God more than I ever had in my life.

Blessings and Peace,

Well, once again I have been MIA for a few weeks! I've actually been really really busy here lately.

I took a full time job being a nanny and I am absolutely loving it. The family is just precious and I couldn't have found a better one to work for. It is a LOT less stressful being a nanny than it is working in child care!! Michele, the Mom, is home while I am there. She actually had surgery yesterday on her knee, which is why I became their nanny. She was unable to pick up her kids and do things we take for granted! Anyway, I am really enjoying it and so happy that God worked things out the way He did!

Last weekend, I went home to help Natalie with Cottontails. It was fun. The booth looked GREAT. Had a ton of compliments on it! (Good job Natalie and Brad!) I think Cottontails was really good this year. I can't wait until I can go when I am preggers because they have the CUTEST children's clothing. I will be BROKE when that happens! haha.

Jon and I are officially living on a budget. 3 weeks now and we are right on track. I complained and gripped about it, but can honestly say it is changing our lives. We are living on an envelope system and it is amazing. We have been staying right on track with our budget with the envelope system. :)

YAY, one of my favorite person just called to say hello! Thanks, Kelley. I wish I was going to Disney with you and Pat Pat! Have fun you guys! Love you both to death! Have fun and be careful!

Well, I need to finish getting ready for work!

Blessings and Peace,

MIA....

Ok...I know I have been totally MIA from the blogging world lately. But, to be honest, I haven't had that much to Blog about!

Jon and I have 2 special visitors come and stay with us. Kemp came and stayed with us for the week back in January, then my Mom came and stayed with us the next week. We had fun hosting them here! Kemp was an angel of course. He really truly is one of the sweetest boys in this world. Has THE best manners of any 5 year old boy I know! We had fun and I hated to tell him bye!

Mom came the next week and stayed a few days to help me make some KnickNats earrings. We made over 200 pair! We worked our butts off on those. They looked really good once they were done!

Speaking of Knick Nats, don't forget about Cotton Tails March 5,6, and 7th at the BJCC. I will be there Friday and Saturday to help! So, come by and see us! (And maybe buy some earrings! haha!)

I think I mentioned Jon and I taking Financial Peace University at Asbury. We are LOVING this class. We have learned SO much and have only been to 5 classes! We are working on living on a budget. Which, if you know me, is EXTREMELY hard. I am learning to ask myself, "Do I NEED this or do I WANT this?!" It is a real eye opener to say the least. Even if you have NO debt, I highly recommend this class. You will benefit from it GREATLY! I promise! :)

Well, like I said, we don't have much going on! SO, I guess thats all for now!

Blessings and Peace,

Here I am...

This video was shown today at Church. It REALLY touched me. Every time I watch I cry. It really is incredible. Please watch it....

All the way my savior leads me..

I just heard this song on Pandora. It brought tears to my eyes. Please listen to it. I think you will all enjoy it.