Who are my vendors?

I get this question so much from brides to be so I thought I would write a helpful blog to let you know who I am using to pull off our big day. I have been blessed beyond belief and the most wonderful people are playing a part in our wedding. I would recommend any of them to you in a heart beat.

First and foremost, my wedding planner is Denise Myers. She is amazing and can take absolutely any idea you have in your head and turn it into the most magnificent wedding. She is also my florist, and I have never seen anyone do flowers like this girl can! Her website is www.trusoweddings.com.

My photographer is Mary Anne Morgan. I love her pictures so much! She was a must have for Scott, and actually the only thing he really asked for was for Mary Anne to do our pictures. She is able to read your personalities and put them into pictures. She spends so much time editing and making sure everything is perfect. Her website is www.maryannemorganphotos.com.

Our videographer is Keith from Apollo Productions. He did my sister-in-law's wedding in December and we loved his work so much we hired him. His website is www.apolloproductions.com.

Our reception will take place at the Carl House and the inhouse Chef there will be handling all of our catering. The Chef is amazing and I have never tasted food so good. I will be a bride that eats on my wedding day for sure!

Our wedding favors are being made by CupKates. I found her through church and she creates the most wonderful desserts. Her website is http://cupkatesforyou.blogspot.com/

I am sure I am forgetting something but I will post again!

Beautiful Sunrise

Driving home from boot camp this morning I was surprised by the most beautiful sunrise. It was 7am and even though I was surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Atlanta Traffic it was so peaceful. The sunrise took me back to when I was a child. I used to wake up so early and I loved opening my window to see the sun. I used to ask my mom why the sun was so beautiful in the morning. She told me it was Jesus smiling over me and saying hi. I thought of that this morning and just thought maybe my mom was right. It is not every morning that we have a beautiful sunrise because God wants us to appreciate his beauty. If he gave us one every morning we would grow to get used to it and not appreciate it as much. I believe God is providing us with an image of his love for us. He wants you to know he is still there watching over you. My prayer for you today is that you can see God in the beauty of the world. Whether it be through nature, other people, or a specific city this is my prayer. Hope you have a good day!

Here is a devotional from intouch.org

Childlike Faith

On our own, we are unable to choose salvation. God’s Spirit must first convict us of our spiritual need. Specifically, He nudges—that is, He almost places a discomfort within our hearts—and reveals sin. This imperfection in our lives creates the need for a Savior to redeem us.

Do you ever wonder, then, how young children can be saved? Can they truly grasp the depth of their sin and their need for redemption? In most cases, probably not. Yet both my son and daughter genuinely received Jesus at the tender age of five.

Thankfully, almighty God is a gentle Father who meets us right where we are. Preschoolers can understand the basics of right and wrong—and the difference between obedience and defiance. The Lord can place within a young heart the desire to obey and follow Christ. Then, as that little one learns at home or church, God gives him a yearning and sense of need for Jesus. It is a simple longing without the deep, more complex understanding of an adult.

In many ways, however, the unencumbered faith that children have is what He desires of us, but with more understanding and gratitude, of course. What a gift! If we were expected to understand spiritual matters in great depth prior to salvation, none of us would qualify for the gift.

The lifelong process of spiritual maturation begins the moment a person is saved. Prayer and Scripture are essential, as is the role of other Christians. Each of us should be teaching those less mature—especially children—about Jesus. God uses believers to reveal young ones’ need for the Savior.

I can't believe we are one month away!

Today marks the one month away point for our wedding! I just can't believe we are almost there! Scott is beginning to get more and more nervous. I think it is finally starting to set in. I have finished my vows FINALLY! I started writing them last summer, and have now just become content with the way they sound. It is so easy to write to the one you love but it is so hard to keep them short. I started with about 5 pages and now I am down to a page and a half. haha Scott on the other hand is the last minute kind of person. I know he has started but who knows when he will finish. I also got Scott's wedding present. We decided to get each other gifts from the heart. I can't tell you what his is but lets just say I think it will make him emotional! I am so proud of it because Scott says I am more analytical than creative. Well, do I have news for him! I pulled out my creative side.

My wedding planner finished our menus! She is so talented in so many ways. I just tell her what I like and she makes it happen. It is almost as though she reads my mind! Tomorrow night Scott and I start dance lessons again! We wanted to do them closer to the wedding so Scott would remember the moves! We are so excited, so hopefully we will have a surprise for you all for our first dance. On Saturday night, our friends Craig and Kristen are coming over for dinner and maybe some Taboo! Craig is singing our first song with his guitar! On Saturday he is going to sing for us and we will attempt to dance to make sure we have some kind of rhythm!

As this week comes to a close, I wanted to leave you with a great devotional my sweet friend Laura sent to me this morning. She is actually my prayer partner and she has become an ultimate blessing on my life. Two years ago when I was moving up here I needed a place to live. Well, pretty much out of nowhere Laura and I ended up facebooking eachother because she went to school at Mercer's pharmacy school too. She had an extra room and wanted to know if I would live with her. I was a little hesitant at first but God kept on pushing me. We have become so close and I have gotten to watch her grow in her spiritual journey as she has also watched me grow in mine. I am a strong believer that God gives you all of these friendships. He has provided some wonderful girls to me over these past two years out of nowhere! Even just the other day I met a girl named Lauren who is getting married June 12th through my trainer. We ended up being alot alike so we decided to run after bootcamp on Wednesday. We ran for 45 minutes and in those minutes we both shared our testimonies! It was like out of nowhere but it was so wonderful! I found myself praying for her when I got home and I had just really met her. It was like we had known each other forever! God is awesome! Okay sorry now the devotional!

If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done. Matthew 6:14-15 (TEV)

In your life, you will be hurt by others; sometimes intentionally; sometimes unintentionally. How you handle that hurt determines your happiness.
When you bottle up hurt in your life and hold onto it - that is called resentment. If somebody hurt you years ago and you're still holding onto it, it will poison your life. For your own health and happiness, you must learn to forgive.
The Bible says forgive and be forgiven. In fact, Jesus says "if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done." (Matthew 6:15, TEV) They're inter-related.
It reminds me of the story - when someone told John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, "I just can't forgive that person! They hurt me too badly." Wesley's response was, "Then I hope you never sin."
For your own sake, let go of the past. If somebody hurt you, let go of it, release them. That's one of the values of prayer. It helps you unload. Forgiveness is the only way to get rid of the past. Forgive them and let it go. Get on with life. Forgiveness erases the videotape of that hurt memory that keeps playing over and over in your mind.
In my own marriage, the times I've felt closest to Kay, the times of most intimacy and oneness, have been times after a major blow-up. We've worked the thing through; we've both confessed to each other and asked forgiveness; and then we pray together. The oneness that comes out of that kind of experience just can't be explained.
When we let go of our hurts and forgive others we are reflecting the grace of our heavenly Father, who forgave us and continues to forgive us. It means we've given God our love; we've given God our lives; and, in doing that, we worship God.

Why these struggles God?

I have been reminded lately of just how much my God loves me. As a little girl you always dream of your big wedding day being perfect and wonderful. You think that the whole planning process will be smooth sailing and everything will go just the way you planned. Well, I found this to be false very quickly after getting engaged. Our engagement has been full of struggles and obstacles. It all started about an hour after we got engaged when many people I loved showed no excitement for me at all. I have learned now that I should have just ignored it but at the time my heart was too insecure to do that. It became a heart issue for me and I clinged to it for a long time. Then, two weeks after our engagement I got a phone call that my mom was in the hospital. She was put in the hospital for a blood clot and come to find out she had 10 pulmonary embolisms. That means she had 10 blood clots in her lungs, which is a very bad thing. My whole world changed right then and there. I never thought that I could possibly lose my mom at such a young age. The thought of not having her at my wedding made me so sad. She stayed in the hospital two weeks and then left. We were told she lacked protein C and Factor V Leiden. She now has to take Coumadin for the rest of her life. I found myself being so mad at God asking Why us God, we have been so faithful . God quickly answered my question by getting my mom more involved in church than ever before. She will tell you now that God rocked our world for a reason and that this struggle only happened to draw her closer to him. In Hebrews 9:14 it says How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. This is a constant reminder that Jesus died for our sins and God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for our sins. If God did not give us struggles and life was always perfect we as humans would stray. God uses struggles to draw us closer to him and he will not give you any struggle that you and him can't handle together. Sometimes he is trying to teach us something, show us his love, remind us of something, or just simply show you he is still here. It is in times of hurt and pain that the most people come to God because they have tried every other alternative and in the end only God is the answer. So even though this wedding process has been extremely stressful and I have been hurt many times, I am constantly reminded that God is awesome and great! Every struggle he gives me only draws me near to him. And the best news is that in eternity all of these struggles will fade! Amen!

When I am having a bad day or just feeling beat up by the world I sing to myself this song:

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

What a wonderful weekend:)

Our weekend started on Friday with my dad and his fiance coming into town. We went out to eat at Bonefish! Yummy! And saw the movie Date Night. Then on Saturday we went to see my grandmother to take her around to visit assisted living places. This was kind of stressful but it made my heart happy to know she would be in a safe place. She is 88 years old and has more faith than anyone I know. We also took her to get a dress for the rehearsal dinner. We are so excited that she will be able to come to all of our wedding festivities. I did not realize how much patience it took to spend a day with an 88 year old. It is super challenging and almost like babysitting. I had to dress her, make sure she did not spill any food on her, and push her in a wheelchair. Whew! By the end of the day, I crashed!

Sunday we went to an awesome church service at 12stone and the pastor that is going to marry us did the sermon. Then later that afternoon we met with him. His name is Kevin Queen and he has so much wisdom and knowledge about Jesus. It was so fun because he asked us to start at the very beginning of our relationship and tell our story. We don't get to do this much so it was great that someone wanted to actually listen to us! haha He then asked us questions about eachother and what we admired about eachother. It made us stop and think about our feelings for one another. It was nice to get a little refresher of how much we meant to eachother.

Well, we are 33 days from the wedding. I just can not believe it. Pretty much everything is finished, now we just have to sit back and wait for the big day! I hope you all have a wonderful day.


Here is a devotional from InTouch! Hope you enjoy this and your day:

Grace is God’s undeserved goodness and kindness toward us without regard to our merit or worth. It is freely bestowed on all who believe the good news that Jesus is the the Son of God, and He died for their sins.

Although grace is free, it isn’t cheap—the Lord paid a high price to obtain this blessing for us. He left the wealth of heaven to come to earth so that He could redeem us and give us the riches of His celestial home. Think of what that meant in terms of Jesus’ earthly life:

The One who is Creator and Owner of all things lived on earth without possessions. He was born in a borrowed stable, had no place to lay His head during the years of His itinerant ministry, and borrowed not only a donkey for entering Jerusalem but also an upper room for the last supper. Even the tomb was not His own.

Christ also laid aside the glory He had with the Father. Although He never ceased being God while on the earth, His radiant divinity was veiled with human flesh. Being born as a helpless baby, Jesus gave up the use of His omniscience and went through all the stages of human growth and development. The Son of God descended from reigning on the Father’s throne to washing the dirty feet of His disciples.

Christ became poor but lost nothing. Jesus regained the glory of heaven and brought us along. In following Him, believers likewise lose nothing and gain everything. We die to self and gain our souls; give away riches and receive heavenly treasures; and humble ourselves to be exalted in God’s time

Whew! What a day....

Today was a very long day! I thought it would never end. It started with class at 10am.We had our first Cardio III exam at 1pm and it lasted until 4pm. Then I came home to study until 6pm. The girls from my sorority threw the brides a shower. It was so fun but it proved tonight that I am so over the wedding and ready to just be married! The weeks keep getting shorter and shorter. I never get to see Scott and that really stinks! I feel like we live states apart but really he only lives 40 miles away. Our lives are so busy and it is hard to find time in our weeks to make the drive. On an exciting note though, our future home got new carpet today! I can not wait to see it. Scott sent me pictures throughout the day but I can not wait to see it in real person.

Yesterday, Scott and I had our first "marriage" type argument. I was almost in tears and my sweet roommate was laughing at me. She thought it was funny because what we were fighting about was married people problems. Once I calmed down, I laughed with her and then cried some more. Haha all these emotions!

I remember sitting in church a few months back and the pastor saying that the number one problem in marriages is money. I found it hard to believe at the time because I thought money was just money. Nothing materialistic could ruin a marriage is what I thought. Well, yesterday our first married fight was about money! Ha! I did not realize how differently we handled money. We have sat down before to have this conversation and I thought we agreed! Scott and I both have been working through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Universtiy but I realized yesterday he has taken it a little more serious than me. I took to the defense when he told me the way he wanted our finances. I felt like he wasn't listening to me or even trying to see if my idea worked too! After thinking for a few hours we both talked again, and I have to say HE WAS RIGHT!

A lesson learned yesterday for us both was that fighting over money is not something we ever want in our marriage. God will provide one way or another as long as we follow him. We need to be responsible with our money but it does not need to be something we argue over or worry about.

We hope you have a great day!

Good Friday

I love Good Friday! Today, my school gave us the day off! It is a much needed day off but I will be spending it studying. Around 3 Scott and I are going to meet our friends Jamie and Trey at the Good Friday Event at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Louie Giglio, Kristian Standfill, and Christy Nockels will be there! We can not wait!

Good Friday reminds me of how much Jesus loves me. Today, Jesus was hung on a cross with his hands and feet nailed to the cross. They say it is the most excruciating pain anyone could ever feel. When I think about this day I think of what Jesus' Blood Can Do. I read the devotional below and wanted to share it:

Jesus’ shed blood redeems believers. This means that we are purchased from a life of slavery to sin. Furthermore, we receive forgiveness—the wrongs of our past, present, and future are totally washed away. For the rest of eternity, God views His children through the “veil” of Christ’s blood, which makes them pure and holy. Everyone who trusts in Jesus is declared no longer guilty and brought into relationship with God. This unalterable change in status from sinner to saint happens the moment a person receives Christ as Savior.

The final word, sanctified, describes the life-long maturing process that begins when a person trusts in the Savior. A saint is set apart from the rest of humanity for the purpose of making him Christ-like. Through discipleship, testing, and teaching, God “drains out” our old self and pumps the life of Jesus into our heart and life.

Hope you enjoyed this!