Meredith's Baby Shower

Today, I helped host a baby shower for Josh's cousin (and mine too) Meredith, her husband Matt and Baby Fisher! We decided on an "ABC" Shower Theme!This table had photos of Meredith and Matt when they were babies! The Gift table

The decorations turned out really cute! We used older toys and primary colors. Above is the diaper cake I made for them. I thought it turned out cute and I always enjoy making them!
The food table! All of the food and snacks were yummy!
Meredith opening her gifts and Wendy writing everything down for her!

Meredith with her mother, Vickie and her mother in law.

Cousins Kelli and Missy

Missy with her sweet Nanny

Me with Nanny Tuck!

And the group (from left to right): Sylvia, Nanny Tuck, Patti, April (with baby Pace), Kelli, Hannah, Meredith (with baby Fisher), Missy, ME, Wendy (with baby Bullington), Donna and Vickie! Everything turned out great and Meredith and Matt were "showered" with many gifts. We can't wait to meet "Baby Fisher!"

"The Love of a Family is Life's Greatest Blessing"-Unknown

~"The Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him." Psalm 32:10~

Pinterest Project

I finally finished one of my first big pinterest projects. I fell in love with these apothecary jars. They were so pretty and versatile. You can change them for each season/holiday. I knew I had to try and make them. I decided I would give them to my mother in law for Christmas. She got them today :) Better late than never. It took a lot of trial and error, but after few trips to the store, and some shattered glass, I think I've finally mastered them. Patti got the first batch, so even though there are some imperfections, I told her they were hand-crafted with love!! Patti, hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them! Sorry they are so late. Love you!

And just for some more cuteness....thought I would throw this sweet girl into the post!

~"Nothing is impossible with God." Luke 1:37~

Under Contract

I have been a terrible blogger lately. We have been so busy with work, church and...with what you see below.....Our New Home!! Well, I guess I can't say it is officially ours yet, but it sure does feel like it. We have officially signed all the papers and contracts, and a closing date has been set. Josh and I are so excited! We bought our first house right when we were married and lived there for about 2 1/2 years. We knew we wanted something bigger and after much prayer, decided we wanted to build our next home. So, we sold our first house, very quickly might I add, and my mother opened her home to us. That has been such a blessing, and we are so thankful for her. We have lived with her now for about 2 1/2 years (wow, time flies.) In the meantime, we purchased 3 acres of land, that we absolutely fell in love with, and knew that is where our house had to go! The land is beautiful, and has a beautiful view of the mountains!Over the last six months, we have been talking to builders and banks trying to get "our" big plans in action. But, God had other plans for us. After much prayer, we knew that God was leading us in a different direction. So, we prayed and searched for that perfect house. And we found it!!! We looked at many houses, some old, some new, but kept coming back to this one. We prayed that if it was God's will for us to be in this house, that everything would go smoothly, and it has. We also prayed that if we were looking at a home that wasn't right for us, that we would know immediately and that He would close that door, and He did (a few times.) I know it's not ours yet, and things can still fall through, but we truly feel that God has led us here, to Our New Home!! We feel so blessed to have this awesome opportunity and just praying for God to begin laying His firm foundation on our new home! We are looking forward to opening this new chapter in our lives!! (And we are still keeping the land, in hopes one day he will lead us in that direction. There will be more pictures to come :)
~ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matt. 7:24-25"~

Valentine Banquet

Sunday night, we had our Valentine Banquet at church. The youth group and the leaders put this on every year, and like every year, it was great!

After the wonderful meal, the group sang and some played instruments. We truly had a great praise and worship service! In the above picture, they were singing "Forever Reign." I have a video of them singing it, but couldn't get it to load.

This banquet was extra "sweet" because our favorite army gal, Karen, is home and was able to be there! We are so glad she is home for a few weeks! We have been missing her so much! We are so proud of her and of her service in the Army!

Had to get a picture with my favorite set of sisters!!A few of the C and C guys: Steven, Josh and Brandon And a few of the C and C girls: Karen, April, Me and Kristen And to my sweet Valentine, I love you more than you will ever know!! So glad that God chose me to be your wife! With all my heart, completely and forever!

And to the TBC Youth and youth leaders, thank you for all of your hard work! The banquet was GREAT!

I'm so thankful I have the best Valentine gift of all, God's amazing Love, Forgiveness and Salvation! Hope you do too!
Happy Valentine's Day!

~"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16~

Tanna, 31, SC

I decided to link up with my blogger friend Kelly for her "SUYL-Singles Friday." And I would like to feature a close friend of my mine and favorite single gal....Tanna! I would like for you to meet:

Tanna Lynn

Tanna is a super sweet southern belle. First and foremost, her faith is very important to her. She loves the Lord and is very involved in her church. She also sings in her church choir and has a beautiful voice! Tanna loves to have fun. She enjoys dancing, exercising, reading and just having a good time. She is a very thoughful person, always remembering your birthday and getting you something special! She is caring, loving and beautiful on the inside and out.
If you would like to know more about Tanna or meet her please leave a comment below or feel free to email me brandiern@charter.net or her tannalynn4@yahoo.com
Hope to hear from you soon....wink wink ;)
And I'd like to end with Tanna's favorite verse...
~"Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4NASB~

Saturday Morning Breakfast

Saturday morning, we met our family for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. We had a great time and some yummy food!Missy and Josh....they always take the best pictures!
Me and my sweet girl, Gracie! Love her so much!

Gracie girl and her Mama! Wick and Patti were there too, but we didn't get to take their picture. We had lots of fun and enjoy our Sat. morning breakfast time together!

~"...His compassions they fail not. They are new every morning; Great is thy faithfulness." Lam. 3:22-23~

Dave Ramsey Live!

Josh got me a wonderful surprise for Christmas. Tickets to go see......that's right, Dave Ramsey Live!! And he got us VIP passes, which meant really good and up close seating! So this past weekend, we packed up and headed to Georgia.
I was so super excited. I love Dave Ramsey. Dave teaches financial principals that are biblical based and if you stick to them, they really work. He encourages you to take control of your money, to tell your money where to go and to live on less than you make. He says "normal" is: debt, loans, credit cards and bills on top of bills. He says to "be Weird" which is also what the Lord tells us, to be different and set apart. "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2. Josh and I have taken one of his classes called Financial Peace University, but I really wanted to hear him live, so this was an awesome present!
If you can't see the above it says: "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." Proverbs 22:7 He encourages you to never borrow money including from family and friends because of the above bible verse. He says borrowing from family makes "Thanksgiving dinner taste a little different." Dave has an amazing story. You can go here to read about him. Also, if you are interested, all of the baby steps he teaches to head towards a debt free life are on his webpage, along with some other good resources!
I know you all are thinking "wow, I bet that was boring." But if you know about Dave, you know he keeps it interesting and is quite a funny guy. So we laughed a lot and learned even more. Side note, we got there pretty early because i wanted to be at the front of the "up close" seating. While we were so patiently waiting in line for the doors to open, a down pour started and we got pretty soaked. That's an fyi in case you noticed our wet clothes or my flat hair. :) Ah, memories!

And no, we are not debt free (we are hoping to buy a house soon..haha) but we are working on it. We hope to one day be able to call in to his radio station and scream "We're Debt Free!" But until then, we are working hard, saving hard and and striving to "Be Weird."

So while we were there, we decided to eat at this burger joint that Josh discovered on Man Vs. Food t.v. show. He wanted to get one of their famous burgers. As soon as I saw the place, I wasn't sure we should be eating there. It looked a little sketchy. But, we decided to give it a try.

So after waiting for an hour (ugh), we finally made it to our table and yes, Josh ordered it: "The Double Coronary Bypass" burger.

Here it is in all of its glory. "THE DOUBLE CORONARY BYPASS: Topped with two fried eggs, six slices of American cheese,and eight slices of bacon, all served between two grilled cheese sandwiches that we use in place of the regular hamburger buns."

And YES...he ate every bit of it! And did it in like 10minutes. He said if he had eaten it slow, he wouldn't have gotten it all down. Oh and he ate the fries covered in cheese too. I thought the boy deserved a t-shirt or something. He didn't get a shirt, but I think he did walk out of there with his head held a little higher! I just got a normal burger but it was yummy! Josh said it was "by far" the best burger he has ever eaten.

We also did a little "window shopping" at the outlets (I mean, come on, we just left a Dave Ramsey conference) and stopped by the Russel Stover outlet (for some sugar free chocolate) on the way home. We had a great weekend in Atl, spending time together, learning together and making some great memories! Thank you babe for the tickets...You are the BEST! I love YOU!
~"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21~