We have had a great weekend so far, and it's still continuing for us! Friday we had a pre-marital appointment with a couple we are counseling, and then Jordan and I enjoyed a relaxing night at home...stayed up WAY TOO LATE watching "Return of the King." (We forgot how long it was and vowed to never ever watch it in one sitting ever again)

Saturday started off marvelously with a frisbee game at the park. IHS played Blackman and beat them: 14-10! It was a little chilly with the wind, but really a gorgeous day, so we very much enjoyed that. We napped that afternoon and I had another counseling meeting that went great. Again, had a relaxing evening as I cooked for Sunday and that night and Jordan finished preparing his message for Sunday.

Sunday (yesterday) was just fantastic! We had full house at church due to several visitors and Jeremiah Pearson's dedication. It was such a special time to celebrate God's faithfulness, and there was overwhelming joy in everyone's hearts as we rejoiced together. If you've never heard Al & Martha's story, click HERE to download the podcast from 2/28/10 and fast forward (or listen to Jordan's fabulous message) until you get to them sharing their testimony. VERY INCREDIBLE!

We then enjoyed a HUGE Mexican fiesta after church. We do a meal after church on the 1st Sunday of each month at each New Song congregation, and it is such an amazing time of fellowship and connection, and yesterday's was extra special because of the dedication.

We finally left church close to 3:00 in the afternoon. (It's amazing how quickly 8 hours passes sometimes...seriously. I was there from 8am-3pm) :-) Ran home, changed, cleaned up, packed up, and jetted off to quickly stop by a friend's birthday party before getting back to the church at 4 to help People's Church Spring Hill youth group, Fusion, get set up in our facility for their youth meeting. They are going to be using it on Sunday nights for the next few months until their new building is finished. We are so excited to be able to partner with them and so thankful for the connections the Lord has brought about in the city of Spring Hill. We left there close to 6 and headed up to the condo in Franklin, where Kyle & Janelle & Ethan met us for homemade BBQ Chicken and Turkey Pepperoni pizzas and some seriously good times!

LOVE THIS KID!!

Today looks VERY promising! Jordan and I have had a super relaxing morning at the condo, and are meeting up with Kyle & Janelle to spend some time in the Hillsboro area today, where they are multiplying a New Song congregation and moving in a few months. Later, Jordan and I may do a little date night movie (Alice in Wonderland) and dinner (Carrabba's: courtesy Erin and Dan) I'm off school today for a teacher inservice day, which is why I can hang out like this today.

So, whatever you're doing this week, I pray it is full and blessed and exciting and wonderful! God is good!

Be Blessed,

Weekend Update

First weekend without football...boo! That's always a little bit sad to me, but it turned out to be a good one anyway. Here's how the basic rundown went:

Friday: after I got off work, I was seriously in the mood for hot chocolate. I decided to make some when I got home, but, a funny thing happened. I got home and as I pulled out the unsweetened cocoa box, I saw a recipe on the back for delicious chocolate cake. So, what did I do? I made an entire chocolate cake, just so I could eat one, little piece. I wish I could blame it on being pregnant, but, oh well. I told Jordan those were the pitfalls of loving to bake. Most people wouldn't go through the "trouble" of baking, I love it and think it's pretty easy, so I make an entire cake!! WHAT?! (It was good though) We stayed home Friday night and watched a little of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, and did some reading.

Saturday: we woke up bright and early...like 4:50am bright and early...and headed to meet up with the rest of the Ultimate Frisbee team and drove to Chattanooga, TN for an all day frisbee tournament. I, of course, was not playing, but very much enjoyed cheering on our team who finished out the day 3-1! They did great and I was very proud of them! We got home a little after 9 o'clock that evening.

Yesterday (Sunday) we had an incredible service in the morning and a wonderful training for our Word groups afterwards. Once Jordan and I got home, we threw around some ideas, watched a little Olympics, read a little bit, rested and generally did nothing :-) until we finally decided to rent a movie and make dinner at home. I made chicken marsala, green beans and asiago potatoes and might I say, it was yummy!

We have taken it very easy today. Surprise...schools are closed again for snow! I LOVE the snow, but I am getting a little sick of not working. That's what happens when you love your job! I am so thankful for that. But, I certainly can't complain, since we slept in this morning, made whole-wheat pancakes, and I'm getting ready to do some reading and then work on a paper for my class.

All in all, a wonderful, fun filled and relaxing weekend.

If you're interested, check facebook videos under our name and check out the video that one of the boys put together of the tournament. Pretty funny stuff. :-)

Be blessed!

Good morning! Hope everyone is fine and well this beautiful Friday morning. It's so funny how seven o'clock feels late to me now. I used to have trouble getting up sometimes at 6 or 6:30....not anymore!!!

I am headed to an elementary school today to sub in Special Education. It's a difficult area, but there is SO much opportunity and especially in elementary, those kids need to be loved on! I've only subbed Special Ed twice this year: once in Elementary and once in High school, so this will be my third time, but I love it!

I start my first major IVF drug tomorrow! Woo hoo! Here we go. I practiced giving myself a shot last weekend when Ferris was with me, so that she could supervise. It wasn't too bad at all! Please just pray that the medication itself doesn't hurt or make me sick.

That's about it for now. Blessings to you all on your day and your weekends. I think Jordan and I are headed out for a little high school football tonight for our date night, and it looks to be a great night for it!

MY goodness, WHAT A weekend!!! It was quite the whirlwind, but so much fun. It took a while, though, for me to catch my breath when I finally sat down last night. Let's see, quick recap: Friday: Robby & Ferris got over to the house right as I was finishing work on Friday around 4. Robby took off for a meeting, Jordan took off for some errands and putting tires on the Camry, and Ferris began scrapbooking (she's trying to catch up before their 1 yr. anniversary) I finished working and then joined Ferris, not scrapbooking, but making birthday cards for Dad, Robby & Meaghan, whose birthdays we were celebrating that evening. After that was finished and gifts were wrapped, I took my time making dinner and doing a few things around the house in preparation. Everyone arrived a bit later and we had just a FABULOUS time, sharing dinner and catching up with everyone. It was a sweet picture of many fun times to come with my family, and everyday we are getting closer and close to the wedding!! Mom & Dad were the first to leave, as Mom had quite a few things to do for the shower in the morning, and Dyl & Meg stayed a little longer. Once they left, R&F were getting ready to go and then I asked why they were driving all the way back to Murfreesboro and not just staying the night? They didn't really know and weren't really thinking about it, so after a little deliberation, they decided to just stay. That mean Ferris and I needed a quick run to Kroger, b/c poor Ferris had made delicious lemon bars for the shower, but now would have to settle for a box mix....oh well. We did that and got back: she made those and I made cheese grits for the shrimp and grits. And then we went to bed. Saturday: Early morning, made the shrimp, mushroom and bacon part of the recipe, got eveything together for the shower and Ferris & I headed up north to Mom's to help get ready. When we got there, Meaghan, two of her bridesmaids (ReAnna and Katie) and Mom were all abuzz doing things. Ferris & I jumped right in and we got things looking GREAT, just in time for the first guests to show up. We all had a wonderful time, eating, chatting and celebrating Meaghan and the upcoming marriage. It was a wonderful morning!! We hung out for a while, talking and helping clean up, then I had to run home and clean the house VERY quickly, then scurry off to "Movies in the Park" in Spring Hill. This is something we are doing the 4th Saturday of every month in Spring Hill until October. We are partnering with different businesses and churches in the city and helping put it on. It's been wonderful the times we have done it and we look forward to many more. Sunday: Got up early, got ready for church and worship, got the food together for the meal we were having after service and took off. Had a great rehearsal, first time for our new drummer and he did great! We had a great service, Jordan did a great job teaching and we had so much fun at the meal after service. Great time of fellowship, worship and God's Word!! As soon as that was finished, Jordan & I changed quickly and headed to Thompson's Station Park for FRISBEE! I was a little late (b/c I had to lock up the church) and when I got there, they were running 2 FULL games...we had all of the fab five there (JP, Dylan, Tres, Reagan and Jordan Fenton) we had some old-timers (Dylan Jones & Joel Kittinger) some Independence Team members and quite a few from Murfreesboro that Robby & Ferris had brought down. We played THREE full games and then finally took off to go home, shower and pack up quickly, b/c Jordan and I decided to stay in the condo. So, finally, around 7:15, (after a quick bite at Jason's Deli) we got to the condo, watched a little tv and then put on a movie. I had quite a night though....as I was SO tired that I had one of the worst headaches I have ever had in my life! It wasn't until about 4:00am, when Jordan finally switched pillows with me, and prayed for me that I was able to sleep. But thanks to the Lord, and I know it was the Lord, I was able to wake up feeling rested. So there you have it- LONG post for a LONG weekend, but wonderful, and I wouldn't trade time with friends and family for ANYTHING! I will post some pictures soon. And I am so excited for Ferris & Robby. As I speak they are en route, airborn to Naples, FL, where they are spending 7 nights down there...4 at La PLAYA and 3 at a b&b down there. I am SO EXCITED for them to take a vaca together AND to get to go to Naples. They will see Hope & Steve tonight, and I am SURE Erin will find a way to have them over (they would LOVE it Erin!!) So I know they'll have an AWESOME time! (Oh, and Erin, make sure you tell them about Coconut Point) they will love it there!! *UPDATE* (Here's a pic of Reese & Robby on the beach at La Playa- they are loving it so far!!) Okay, congrats if you made it through all of this, although I bet only Mom, Erin & Hope will be reading this sentence....haha!! Oh, and maybe Stacee too! :-) Have a great week

Weekend & Frisbee in the rain...

Our God is so faithful!! I just have to say that! Despite trials and tribulations He brings great joy and enlarges our perspective. I am so thankful for what He's doing and thankful for the amazing people Jordan and I have in our lives. We had an excellent weekend. Friday night my honey and I got a date night- YAY!! Felt like it had been a while. We went up to Green Hills to CPK (Thanks Erin & Dan!) and split a Chipotle Ckn Pizza and a BBQ ckn Salad-MMM,MMM,MMM!!! We picked up a few things at Trader Joe's and then read for a quick bit before seeing "Slumdog Millionaire." It was a GREAT movie and I HIGHLY recommend it. One of the best we've seen in a long while!

Saturday was rainy and a little cold, but the IHS boys played frisbee despite the weather. Stacee came out and watched the game with me, and we had fun sitting on the sideline all bundled up with our umbrellas and our Starbucks. (We have it so tough, don't we!) After that Stacee and I spent a little time together and then I finished the chicken and dumplin's for the Clingers and that's when I got to see precious Rinah.

Sunday we had a wonderful, wonderful church service and then Kyle, Janelle, Jordan and I took their niece Taylor(4) and a girl from church, Addie (7) to see Beauty and the Beast at Brentwood High School! It was SO fun taking the little girls with us. They just had the time of their lives and LOVED it. Of course we had to spend time afterwards getting "autographs" from Belle, the Beast, Gaston and pretty much everyone else up there. So cute!! I took a couple of pictures, but alas, they are on Jordan's phone, so I can't post them.

But, you can enjoy a little snippet of the frisbee game on Saturday. This is a taste of what it was like!

Lakehouse Trip

We had a great weekend. We got to go back to the Lakehouse (I know we've been going there a lot!) But this time, we got to go with our friends, which was SO fun. We have some AMAZING friends, but unfortunately, because we are all in vocational ministry, our hang out time is significantly less than we might like. BUT, we are trying to change that. Anyway, we got a weekend away with us, the Owens, the Kellums's the Hughes, the newly-married Loera's and we greatly missed the Clingers....come on RINAH JOY!!!!

We ate, laughed, talked WAY too late, played games, watched a movie, went to the park, got ice cream, ate some more, prayed, shared our hearts and stayed up way too late. It was awesome and SO encouraging. I LOVE these people and I am SO thankful for friends in ministry. Many people say that ministry/leadership is a lonely place, but I don't agree. God has provided us with wonderful people over us and beside us, and this weekend was living proof of how great it can be. We're looking forward to our next time away together.

U-turn Shower

Great weekend! We are anxiously awaiting baby Rinah Joy Clinger any day now....Sarah's been having very spaced out contractions for a while now, so we'll see when Rinah decides to make her debut! Hopefully soon!

Another girl and I hosted a shower for Janelle this weekend- for the girls in the youth group and their moms. We had a great time- laughing, playing games, eating and watching Janelle open her gifts. So much fun. We have another one coming up this Sunday which I'm helping host as well. So, for the time being, enjoy some pictures of the festivities:

Women & Family

Okay, now for a quick update on my weekend. We were in Atlanta, GA for our denomination's national women's conference on Thursday, Friday and part of Saturday. The conference was at the Omni Hotel in downtown Atlanta. Beautiful hotel and I loved being downtown in a big city. We stayed outside of Atlanta at a friend's house. The weekend was VERY impacting...there were some amazing speakers and most importantly, God really spoke to me about some specific things. It was awesome! I also got to go to H&M which I SO love to do when I get a chance AND my very first trip to IKEA ever! So great! I didn't get much b/c there was only about 1 thing I needed, but I loved the experience and we did get some cinnamon rolls and coffee on our way out. (Yes, IKEA has cinnamon rolls!)





After the conference ended at noon on Saturday, I drove to meet my brother, Dylan and his fiance Meaghan, who currently lives in Atlanta doing grad school. I spent Saturday evening with them and Meaghan's parents, and had a GREAT time. They are super fun and I am so glad they're going to be part of my extended family on August 14th!



We ate, laughed, looked at pictures, went to church and then ended the time at Barnes & Noble with me reading and them studying.
(They both have TONS of studying right now in their lives!) I had a great drive back....made it to my house in 3 1/2 hours and spent pretty much the ENTIRE time on the phone until it died. Sunday Jordan and I relaxed and ate Moe's, and watched a little Oscar's action before crawling into bed.

I am thankful for an awesome weekend in which God moved and I had a great time with friends and family!

B-day Fantasmo

Yesterday was just great. It happened to be my birthday- AND the superbowl!! How much better for me does it get. The day went something like this:

-Woke up, had a nice relaxing morning. Got to sleep later than usual b/c we have gone back to one service at church so I no longer have to be there at 7am....it was 8:30 instead.

-Had a great in some ways, sad in some ways service at church (we have some families leaving the church, so it's difficult to say goodbye) All in all, it was a great morning and good connections!

-Went to lunch with my honey at Moe's and had a great connection with someone we ran into there...love how God works!

-Stopped by Publix to pick up a couple of things....had another great connection with a couple Jordan knew from a previous job- found out they moved into the neighborhood next door...pretty cool....again- so cool how God works!

-relaxed until Robby & Ferris arrived- had fun chatting with them

-The Kellums surprised me (I was hoping they were coming, but didn't know for sure) to hang out for my b-day and watch the game

-Ian joined us, and we all had fun watching a GREAT game and eating yummy food!! (Menu: grilled shrimp, homemade guacamole, chili/cheese dip, homemade vanilla ice cream and apple pie, double tomato bruschetta)

-closed out the evening with the Kellums watching 'The Office."

Great day, great evening, and looking forward to a great and full week!

We had a great weekend!! Sadly, I took NO pictures...yes that's right....not a single one. I am horrible at that!! Ferris and I spent Friday and Saturday night in Cleveland, TN with Dylan and had SO much fun! We went out to eat, went running, watched football, met lots of his friends, talked, got coffee, walked around campus, got tours, went to a play, watched 'The Office,' made food and so much more! It was a wonderful weekend and I enjoyed being with Meaghan and Dylan so much!! Exciting things ahead!



I dropped Ferris off at her apt. in M'boro around 2 yesterday and got back home just in time to run to the grocery store and do shopping for the week. Jordan and I went over to the Gill's house to watch the Colts/Steelers game with them and had SO much fun cheering on our Colts (who WON!!!!!!!!) and playing with their little baby boy Reeves! It was so much fun! Too bad Jason's a huge Steeler's fan and they lost...oh well :-)



I fully CRASHED last night.....was SO SO SO tired! I went to bed around 8:30 and slept SOLID until 6am. Guess I needed some sleep. But, I am fully rested and ready to go for an awesome week!!

It's labor day! A whole day to relax and do nothing! Woohoo!! Jordan and I had a good evening last night. We took the girls and a friend up to Franlin for a birthday party and then enjoyed doing a little shopping and running around in Cool Springs. We finished it off with a good dinner at the new Boscos and renting a movie. I fell asleep and slept SO hard last night. It's been a long time coming.

Today, we made breakfast- the girls are doing some organizing and I need to do some cleaning. We may head to the pool in a bit, so we can relax a little more, and other than that, the only things I NEED to do are go to the bank and the grocery store. I think we're going to squeeze in a little time with Robby & Ferris and maybe a game of settlers too! We're glad for the normalcy and a little bit more routine settling in.

Weekend Re-cap:

Friday after work, we took off to Franklin for me to do my final dress fitting for Ferris's wedding. The dress was great and we left there and headed to downtown Nashville to see Scott & Courtney and new baby Noah! He was precious and we had a great time with them, chatting and holding the newborn. Jordan and I left Baptist hospital and headed down the street for some Mexican food off Nolensville road, and then met up with Robby & Ferris to see "Dark Knight." It was a great movie- VERY dark, VERY intense, but very good. We were up WAY too late though and got in bed somewhere b/w 12:30 & 1am. (ewww, I know)

Saturday morning came too early, as Jordan had a bunch of high school guys meeting here at the house at 8am to go play in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament. I woke up to make him some breakfast before he left and spent a couple of hours, cleaning and preparing for worship before I took off. I got to squeeze in about 45 minutes at the pool to catch a little sun before taking off to meet up with Ferris. We looked at some paint color options for her apartment and had a great time chatting and catching up. I ended the evening in Spring Hill with the youth group in a great night of worship, teaching and connecting in our small groups.

Sunday again came early, and I had a great time leading worship for our service. After church, we had a great baptism/picnic with the congregation, the only downside being that it was incredibly hot!! By the time the events were wrapping up, the ONLY thing that sounded good was a pool, so Jordan and I headed off with several of the youth to the pool to cool off. We spent the next couple of hours playing Green River and Categories in the pool and had a blast!! We finished off the evening back at home with homemade pizza (I topped this one with hot turkey italian sausage, green peppers, red onion & tomaotes) and Step Up 2. I got in bed early and slept like a log- ready for an awesome- full week!

We got to have our "adopted" children over this weekend! Charis & Judah Moore spent the evening with us so Mommy & Daddy could spend some time for their anniversary. Our time was full. We had sandwiches for lunch, and took naps, went to the park and played on swings and in the sand pit, went to the grocery store and got balloons and Diego (from Dora the Explorer) fruit snacks, ate chicken and zucchini (which they loved) for dinner, watered the plants, and ate pancakes and bananas for breakfast. Oh, and of course took a bubble bath! (Just the kids, not me- haha) We had a great time and we hope Mommy & Daddy did too!

This was an AMAZING weekend! I guess it helped to have an extra day, but it was such a perfect combo of rest and getting things done- I just loved it!

Friday, we had a lazy morning, and then begun work on our front flower beds...weeding, planting and MULCHING! We've been in this house since November of '06 and hadn't re-mulched yet. Needless to say, our poor flower beds were desperately needing it. It was pretty hard work...more so than I realized but a great workout. Jordan also did a TON of work in the garage...we put the TV up in the corner, got rid of some junk, he cleaned and straightened and organized. I LOVE IT when my husband gets his mind set to cleaning/fixing something because he is so thorough and does a great job. We spent the evening with my parents, Ferris & Robby and Dylan celebrating Dad's birthday, which is today! We had a wonderful time and it was SUCH a treat to all be together.

Saturday we slept in a bit, and I headed off to pick up my basket of fresh goodies from the Farmer's Market. I should have taken a picture...the box looked SO pretty. I got squash, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, Kale, Lettuce, Eggplant, Onions...mmm,mmm! So good! I met Jordan at Utopia and we had some breakfast, excellent coffee and read for a while before heading home to take care of some stuff there. We packed up and went to the pool, and hung out for several hours with some of the youth group and Ferris & Robby. It was SO fun and I accomplished my goal of getting rid of my tank-top tan lines from playing frisbee and camp. Now I can just try to get a little more sun before the wedding. We took off from there (I had 3 high school girls in tow) and packed up to go to the Drive in movies in Lewisburg with the youth group and some families. It was a total blast and so many asked to come again.

Sunday came WAY too early, b/c I was leading worship at our Cool Spring's campus and had to get up really early, but it was a wonderful morning, and God extended my energy. Jordan and I spent a couple hours at home, watching the finals of Wimbeldon and resting, before he went back to work in the garage, and then helped me finish the mulching. Here is our finished product:





I'm so excited for my flowers to grow- making sure they get lots of water, but everything turned out SO nicely. We went up to Carrabba's for dinner and had a wonderful evening together.

Praise the Lord for an amazing weekend full of wonderful people and fellowship!

Great weekend that went by too fast:

Friday night, Jordan took off to the Men's Overnight retreat our church, New Song, was having. He was leading worship and from what I hear- did a wonderful job! I took off up "north" to Cool Springs to run some errands and then ended up at my mom's house with Mom, Karen Hillis (in town for Ferris's shower) Ferris and her future mother-in-law, Sungcha Owen. We had a good time chatting, making dinner until poor Sungcha got eaten alive by mosquitoes on the back deck. (No joke- I cannot describe how many bites she had on her legs from a 15 minute time block) We ended the evening watching one of the most incredible dances I have EVER SEEN! I am not joking...it makes me cry almost every time I watch it. Check it out here. (Scroll past the interview part if you don't have time- the dance is only about 2 minutes)

Saturday, I caught breakfast with my friend Jessica Cupp- who is in town all the way from Hawaii. We had an incredible time catching up on so many things. I haven't seen her in a year and a half! Unbelieveable they've been over there for that long! It was so much fun!! I took off from there to change real quick and head to Franklin for another bridal shower for Ferris. I still don't have pictures because I've been too busy at the shower to take pictures, so I'll try to collect them from others. It was awesome! She was SO blessed by so many encouraging and wonderful words and generous gifts from friends and family. I ended the evening hanging out with our U-turn youth girls at one of the other leader's houses- playing Loaded Questions and laughing at the crazy antics of these girls. They are hilarious and I love them so much!

Sunday after our normal service in Spring Hill, Jordan and I headed out to New Song Murfreesboro to lead worship and participate in the service out there. This is the congregation that Robby & Ferris are pastoring, and it was SO exciting to be out there! After service we got to see the apartment they are living in, which is great and then spent the evening with them at our house.

So there was the weekend and we're gearing up for a fabulous week!

So here's a rundown of the last few days. It'll probably be long, so click on my music tab to the right and get a little music while you read!

Saturday:
-hooked up with Steven & John Herrenbruck for breakfast on Saturday in Newburgh. We had a great time with them before hitting the road to get back to Nashville. As soon as we arrive, I took off with Ferris and Mom to Ferris's shower, which was wonderful, and Jordan took off to play some Ultimate Frisbee with my brother and some friends. (More from the shower later) As soon as that was done, we met up with all the youth and parents at Pinkerton Park for a family picnic/game night. We grilled hot dogs, played water balloon toss (Jordan and I came in 3rd out of about 60 groups!) hung out, talked, played frisbee, angle ball, etc. It was beautiful weather and it was so fun to have everyone out there together. We crashed that night, and I think both slept hard!

Sunday:
-I woke up early to get ready- had to get to the church by 7:30 because I was leading worship. Went through rehearsal and had a great service. We are consistently at about 215 people these days, which is so exciting! Pastor Andrew Lamb from Woodbine was speaking, and we had a great time of ministry at the end. There is a lot to process still from the service, but God is doing some pretty amazing stuff. Afterwards, we hurried home, I made grilled chicken salads, we stuffed them in, and ran off to Ultimate Frisbee, which is an outreach we do every other Sunday for the youth group. We had a lot of fun playing frisbee for a couple of hours. We both got home around 4:45 from that, and got to rest for about an hour before I made dinner and we took off to go bowling for a friend's birthday. We had a great time bowling with friends that night- I actually broke 100, can't remember the last time I did that.

Monday:
-slept in until about 7, and then got up to read and get to work....had a lot to do! The day flew by working and catching up on things, and as soon as it was over, I prepared my grocery list and took off for some errands. Picked up our dry cleaning which I had dropped off like 4 weeks ago- OOPS! In the midst of grocery shopping we decided to go up to Mom & Dad's for the evening, so I made it home, whipped up some spinach artichoke dip, packed up the steaks I was marinating and we took off. We had a great evening, got to see Reese and Chris and got some good talks in with Mom & Dad. We left (too late) but oh well! It was worth it.

Today:
-work up early, and stepped outside to weed my front bed. we HAVE GOT to get some mulch down there...these stupid weeds are growing way TOO fast, so I took care of that, and got some great reading in before starting work. Finishing up the work day now, which again has flown by. We have our Spring Hill youth leadership team (about 9 total) coming over for dinner tonight, and I still need to clean the house. So, in the next 2 hours I will attempt to dust/vaccuum/clean the kitchen and cook chicken marsala/pasta/green beans for 9 people. I'll letcha know how it all turns out!

This was certainly one of the most fun and eventful weekends we've had! It was incredible. The main reason this was such a special weekend is because on Friday morning, my beautiful precious sister, Ferris, and Robby GOT ENGAGED! It is SO exciting and amazing!



I cannot even being to describe how happy and excited I am. Jordan knew it was happening, as did my family, I think- but I had asked to know nothing...I wanted my sis to be able to surprise me when it happened and surprised I was! If you would like to read the whole story of how Robby proposed (it's pretty awesome) in Ferris's words, click here. It's a description complete with details and pictures. It really was a whole DAY of proposal, pretty amazing! Incredible, incredible....that's all I have to say!

Saturday morning we oversaw the rehearsal for a couple of special elements for Sunday's Easter service. I had a meeting and then we headed up to Cool Springs to run a few errands...we went to Costco, which is so much more fun with Jordan than by myself. My husband NEVER ceases to entertain me! Then Jordan and I parted ways- I had to drive ALL the way back down to 2nd avenue to pick up my phone which I had left at the Melting Pot. I made a detour to Teavana on the way, so it was worth it! :-) I spent the rest of Saturday grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, working on some church/ministry things, etc.

Sunday we had a wonderful church service. Kyle Kellums lead worship in Spring Hill and we had lots of visitors. It was exciting! After church we went to our next door neighbors' cookout and birthday party for their daughter Kaitlyn, who turned 6.
We had a great time hanging with our neighbors, jumping on Kaitlyn's new trampoline, and eating Josh's wonderful burgers. Jordan left to go hang in the park with Kyle Kellums and I stayed next door for a while longer. Ian came over a bit later and I took off to help Natalie Cressy and some other girls with some decorations for Mark & Natalie's upcoming wedding. (April 12th)


Ian was still over when I got home and we all had some chili and chatted about youth ministry and some things going on. Jordan and I ended the evening watching what I do believe I can declare is my favorite movie: Pride & Prejudice. SO GOOD!

What a great weekend!

Well it's been quite an eventful Saturday already and it's only 11:00am. We woke up this morning to beautiful snow everywhere- probably the most we've gotten in this part of TN in a while!



Jordan and I had bought tickets to a pancake breakfast one of the Junior high girls softball teams was having at Applebee's this morning. We were planning on going with Al & Martha Pearson. Right as we're getting ready to go- I took a look at the tickets and noticed they said Columbia, TN, not Spring Hill, TN. We couldn't believe it- we had to drive 30 minutes down to Columbia....oh well. We picked up Al & Martha and had a great time with pancakes and coffee. After that- Jordan got an inckling to begin exploring in Columbia and we walked into the Columbia Mall- oh yes! Your classic old, small town mall. We got transfixed with the little coin game thingy...


Then we had some fun with the little booths stuck randomly in the side of the wall...


...and Al caught a little nap in an unconspicuous place.

We've had Uturn and our meetings cancelled today...so I'm about to do some cleaning and some prep for worship tomorrow morning. Have a happy Saturday!

Things comin up...

Wow- sorry it's been so long. I have definitely been a delinquint blogger, but anyway....here I am- back in action!

I have not been sick these past two weeks- I got hit pretty hard a couple of days and then spent a few days resting and recuperating and I was back into it! After we were over that hump- I went into 'Alabaster Heart' (New Song's live recording) mode- had nightly rehearsals and then the performances last weekend. It was an amazing experience to be a part of...I'll certainly post some songs when it's released, but it might be a little while...you know how that goes.

Jordan and I have been having a great time...spending time with friends & family, working hard, doing lots with our church and ministry and generally living life to the fullest!

We spent the day yesterday with Robby & Ferris- went down to Centennial Park in downtown Nashville to play some frisbee golf- lot's of fun :-) and played Settler's last night at Mom & Dad's.

Some upcoming things in March that I am looking forward to:

*Time with Friends-growing in relationship
*Michael Buble' Concert
*U-turn intown retreat
*Dylan coming home for Easter
*Church Easter Egg Hunt and Game day
*Easter Sunday!
*Arizona Trip w/our "florida" family :-)
*Ferris's Birthday

...and plenty of other things which I'm sure will come along!

What a weekend! Wow! Let me try to rundown the recap:

Thursday: Collin James Corley was born! After trying for a few years, Roger & Maria Corley got pregnant in the spring of 2007 and 9 months later, a beautiful baby boy was born. I can't wait to meet him and I hear mom & dad are doing great!


Friday was my birthday, and Jordan woke me up bright and early (about 30 minutes before I had "scheduled" myself to get up, and we had a wonderful breakfast at Cracker Barrel. :-) I love my husband! We worked that day and then took off for our "Tea Extravaganza"

Our plan was to stop by Tea Time off 12th Avenue, but alas- we pulled up and it had closed at 5:00 instead of 6:00! SO sad! :-( It ended up great though- because we went instead to Portland Brew and had a great cup of Green Tea and a fresh-right-out-of-the-oven Everything Cookie! From there we went to Teavana in Green Hills and I got some Apple Lemon Pomegranate, Japanese Wild Cherry, Rooibos Sweet Amore and a new one (for me) Rooibos Caramel, which is WONDERFUL with the Mate Vana. We also picked up a few teas for mom, and got a cup of Rooibos Tropica with Sweet Lily White. MMMM....

We then went to eat at Chile's in Cool Springs and treated ourselves to the Queso- which I LOVE but NEVER get...it's so bad yet so good :-)!! We split some yummy mushroom-jack fajitas and then headed home and discussed what movie to rent on the way home. We ended up with "Stranger than Fiction" which was GREAT! We had heard mixed reviews but ended up REALLY liking it. If you didn't get the chance to see it, it's definitely worth the watch.

Saturday I was up and out and at NS Cool Springs by 9:00 for "Alabaster Heart" rehearsal. This is a live recording project that New Song is doing the last week in February that I am a part of. (If you're in the Nashville area: check it out 6pm on the 23rd or 10am on the 24th) I then went to help Trish move! Her new condo is BEAUTIFUL and very Trish-y! (That's a good thing)

Yesterday (Sunday) we had service in Spring Hill. Kyle Cooper led worship with our brand new sound system. It sounded great and the presence of God was strong during worship! It was an AMAZING service and the teaching was incredible. We are talking about a New Way, and a New Day and there are many things the Lord is showing me and doing in my life!

Mom, Dad, Ferris, Robby, Grandma Bertie, and of course, Jphen, Jordan and I all had lunch at my house. I am so thankful for modern appliances. I used the crock pot to cook the roast, the bread machine to make a loaf of fresh bread, my oven to set the delay so the potatoes were perfect and ready for us when we got home after church. It was great!

THEN- the amazing happened. The GIANTS WON THE SUPER BOWL! Everyone in America already knows this and was hopefully watching the game, so I won't go into great detail. All I can say is I am still in a bit of shock, but it's wonderful and even though I do feel a little bad for some of the Patriots- can't imagine how they feel, I am thrilled that Peyton is happy :-) It's all any true Colts fan can wish for in some twisted sort of way. haha!

I'm looking forward to a full, wonderful, productive and exciting week! Blessings to you all!


Oh- and if you're still reading after that novel- check out the song on the right under "What I'm currently listening to" It's one of the ones we are recording for the Live project....and I LOVE it!