My Fur Babies

Being that Matthew and I are still pretty young, babies aren’t in the card for us right now. However, we do have two little fur babies that I wanted to brag about! So let the proud mama bragging begin!

A few weeks before Matthew and I got married, a big change happened in our life. Okay, so it wasn’t a really big change but at the time it was a big change. When we were stationed in Kingsland, Georgia Matthew would go to work for five days straight and then come home for five days straight. It had some pros and cons. One of pros was that my brother-in-law was on the same schedule so when they were at work my sister and I had a lot of girl time since when the guys were home we didn’t talk to each other that much because we were enjoying the time we had together. Then, out of nowhere, Matthew got switched to different schedules so I got pretty lonely, pretty fast. It was a good thing because that is when I met my good friend Becky, but at the time I was just super lonely. That is when we decided that it was time to expand our family!

Meet Soto

When we first got Soto she was a tiny little bugger.

She was also a facebook addict

And, a little stuck up. She only ate certain brands of food and always has her nails done

She's super sweet, and is a little attention getter. I always joke that she's like a dog because she likes to play fetch and loves to rough house. Speaking of dog......

We decided that when we moved to North Carolina and found out that Matthew was deploying that it was time to get a guard dog. We also have ADT, so just try breaking into my house robber! We went to petsmart national adoption day with full intentions of adopting a little puppy.  But, we fell in love with this guy. 

Meet Buddy

This is what buddy looked like in his poor little crate. I knew it was love at first sight when he got so excited to meet me that he knocked me over. He name was originally Prince, but like any good adoptive parents we got rid of that name fast.

He loves getting his picture taken

And he loves taking naps

Sometimes he sleeps like this

and sometimes he sleeps like this

 All in all we were so blessed to have adopted such a happy and great dog. He's a little hyper, but he's still just a puppy. A sixty-two pound puppy, but a puppy nonetheless. I may curse his name every now and then because he wakes me up in the middle of the night, because he's a hole digger, and a chew anything in his sight type of dog. But I love him to pieces! Okay, fur mama bragging done :)

Nerd Excitement!

Okay, I am going to try to contain my excitement and share a nerd moment with you. Oh! and sorry for the lack of photos.But to fully grasp the excitement from this situation I have to tell you a little back story…..

Around this time last year one of my good friends Becky, who you can meet Here,  got me hooked on a little blog called Young House Love. Who am I kidding? It wasn’t a little blog; it’s kinnnnnd of a huge deal. John and Sherry who runs young house love are part a husband and wife team who run their blog FULL TIME! Yep! That’s how they make their living. Well anyway, I got addicted and by addicted I meant at least a few times a day I found myself saying, “Oh! I read about this thing on younghouselove”. Well I started looking through old posts and came across one of Sherry’s posts that mentioned her friend Katie Bower who runs the Bower Power Blog. I glanced at her blog, but never really had the time to fully read it.

Flash forward to now, and being that I am the spouse of a deployed marine, I have a lot of time on my hands. I finally managed to read a big chunk of Bower Power and let me just say…it makes my heart so happy! And yes, my excitement is borderline creepy but read it and you’d feel the same.

Well any who, I decided to shoot her a little thank you email because whenever I’m having a rough day or I haven’t heard from Matthew I check out her blog and it always cheers me up. Anyone who has the power do that, deserves a big thanks in my books. Plus, she is just such an inspiration. I knew I probably wouldn’t get a respond. She’s a busy lady with a toddler, a blog to run and a bun in the oven. But, after I discovered that I didn’t due to hot on my biology exam I got an email notification on my phone. At first I was excited because I thought it was Matthew. Then I got REALLY excited because I saw that it was a reply to me email. It wasn't anything long but it was short and sweet! I was just really flattered that she took time out of her day to email me back. Okay, end nerd excitement :)

A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news give health to the bones-Proverbs 15:30

Our Story

Let’s just start off saying; I never pictured myself as one to marry young. I wanted to major in social work, minor peace studies and join the Peace Corps. But when God leads you to the one you’re meant to be with…you just know!

It all started when I was seventeen. It was October of 2009 and I had just gone through the classic messy high school relationship break up. He wanted something serious, and I realized I didn’t. It was tough. During that time I was a victim of cyber bullying and it was just an all around bad situation. Looking back on it now, it was probably the best choice I made in my entire life because it led me to Matthew. 

In high school I was never one to have a lot of friends, so my best friend was in the form of my big sister. Coni was then living in Florida because her husband, who is a marine, was stationed near the Florida/Georgia line. She knew how much I was struggling to deal with my bully situation and decided I needed a mini vacation to come see her. The only problem was that I was a senior in high school, working at a local small town restaurant and didn’t have a lot of cash. What was her solution exactly? She found me a date to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball that took place the following month. I would only have to pay for half of my airline ticket, which was great!

Right away I added Matthew on facebook and we started messaging back and forth. The messaging turned to texting and a few weeks later the texting turned to phone calls. Every day for a month I got to know this guy who I thought would just be my date for this ball so I could have getaway. It was actually really nice. I mean I was excited because I did find him attractive, but I really got to know him as a person. We talked about everything from future goals, favorite foods, to our music preferences and values.

Eventually November came and it was time for the ball. He came to the airport along with my sister and brother in law to pick me up. It was great because first off I knew him as a friend first, so it wasn’t awkward at all! I flew in about two days before the ball so we had time to really get to know each other. The ball was a great time and I knew when I was sitting in the Jacksonville airport waiting for my flight back home that it was something really special.

Marine Corps Birthday Ball 2009 

After months of me coming to see him, him coming to see me, and me living with my sister that summer I moved down to Florida to be closer to him. I have an amazing aunt and uncle who were gracious enough to allow me to stay with them for a few months. I took courses online while working at the local cracker barrel but made it work because I knew I wanted him in my life.

September 2010

It was a good thing too because Matthew proposed on October 13^th!

Our engagement pictures where taken by ty swartz photography

We married on February 19, 2011. It was the best day of my life. My family from Indiana and his family from Louisiana managed to make the trip to Georgia for the wedding. What was even better was that my aunt and uncle who are both pastors were able to perform the ceremony. They let me tag along with a trip to India with them in January of 2009. Between them giving me that experience and my love and respect for them, it made my wedding day perfect.

Ty Swartz Photography also took our wedding photos 

So here we are in 2012, currently going through our first deployment and preparing for our big move to Louisiana next year to start post marine corps life. I am so blessed and thankful for what the Lord has provided for me in my life. I look forward to sharing all of our blessings and trials that we have been given.

It's spring time!

For those who know me, know that I’m somewhat of a little crafting machine. Yes, I am that person that refuses to buy something if I can “totally” make that.  Even though I claim to be a crafting machine does not mean that I am good at it! There are a few rare occasions that the finished project turns out to look a little like the picture. Today was one of those occasions. I always find myself looking at the beautiful wreaths at Michael’s and my mind is blown by how much they cost.  They can range anywhere from thirty to one hundred dollars! Again, I said “Oh I can totally make that”.  I had a basic twig base wreath I bought for a Christmas wreath I made by just wrapping thick ribbon around it. But, I’ve been patiently waiting for the flowers to go on sale and today they did! They had fifty percent off my favorite brand of flowers. I forgot to take pictures of the entire process but I do have a picture of my inspiration from pinterest and my finished product. Enjoy! 

Here is my inspiration. I found it on pinterest and absolutely loved it. I really liked the idea of the house numbers on the wreath, but sadly Michael's were sold out of small wooden numbers.

This was my semi-finsihed product. I used the flowers, a wooden wreath I had from christmas, and pearls I used in my wedding to add a little extra something. 

This is my finished spring wreath! I painted the letter V to add since i couldn't add house numbers. I am so glad it even remotely looks similar to the photo!

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."Deuteronomy 31:6

D-Day

The day I have been dreading for months has finally hit, D-day. Also known as, my husband’s deployment date. For those who are military wives and family members, you know exactly what I’m feeling right now. But for those you aren’t, it is similar to your heart just stopping in your chest. No matter how much preparation or readiness meetings you go to, nothing can prepare you for the initial moment that it becomes real. My heart broke with every piece of gear he took out of the car. But, I know these next 8 months will be very interesting to say the least. But, moving onto some happy news. Since the hubby will be gone I will be doing a TON of projects around the house, pinterest projects and that means a lot of blog posts! J So, just bare with me until I get used to M being gone and I promise to bring lots of great posts in the future!