Sweet Memories.

Wow, it's been almost a year since I blogged! I wanted to share about our night last night. I don't blog much because I like to keep most of my journaling private these days, but I just had to share this today. Last night we were sitting in our office/spare bedroom that will soon be a nursery trying to decide how we would arrange everything. We have two bookshelves filled with books so I told Chad to start going through them to make piles of the books he doesn't want anymore. I was working on one shelf and him on another. Every 5 books or so he'd find one he had to share with me. So he'd sit down (which was driving me crazy because I wanted him to hurry up) and begin reading to me in Spanish mostly which I had no idea what he was saying haha. Anyway, I kept sorting on my shelf and came across our journals we kept while Chad was in Mexico. I started to read a few of my entries which turned into reading all of them. Then Chad began to read his to me. It was so awesome to see how God has brought us to where we are today, 2 1/2 years later. God worked on our hearts so much during that time and it was such a blessing for our relationship. It was fun to remember the newness of our relationship as Chad and I were only dating for 3 months when he went to Mexico. We were so head over heels for each other and couldn't wait to get married and have children... And now look at us :) There was a poem in Chad's that he wrote just days before he was returning home and by this time I was reading because Chad was getting sleepy. I couldn't even finish reading because I started to cry. (And he began laughing at me right away haha) That time was so special. I am so blessed by him and his love for Christ and his people. He truly leads me and teaches me how to live like Christ. I am so glad I waited for him. God brought us both through trials on our way to each other, but he knew exactly what he was doing... for ALL that was involved. I am so thankful for them! How amazing is he? I really can't comprehend it. Thank you Lord! Jenny<3

Mr. & Mrs.

Well, it’s sure been a while again since the last time I posted anything on here. My Dad has requested more blogs. He HAS to know what's going on with his daughter constantly!

LOTS has happened since April 26th. The month of May was INSANE. First there was the Memorial Day celebration in Dundee. For those (all of you) who don't know what that is: it's the first Sunday in May every year where everyone who grew up in Dundee goes back for a church service where they have a guest speaker each year to tell about their life in the Big D. It's always fun to hear the different stories. It's also a time where everyone can visit the cemetery since so many people don't have any reason to find themselves out in Dundee anymore. After the service everyone goes to the community building where we eat tons of yummy homemade food! It's the best.. Except this year I chose to be on a strict diet and didn't get to partake in any of the yummy eating. I ate a plain salad with bland dressing.. Yum yum. This was only the beginning of the crazy month of May. Later came Chad's 26th birthday, Mother's Day, my Mom's birthday, graduation, and the most exciting day of my life.. Our wedding! Before I get to the wedding I have to talk about graduation. I FINALLY made it! All my family came in the day before. I got to spend lots of time with all of them before leaving on our honeymoon. My parents, especially my Dad was so proud that I finally finished school. It was a LONG time coming haha. It took quite a while, but I finally finished. The following week was absolute madness while trying to get everything together for the big day. My Grandmother helped me TONS. I don't know what I would have done without her. Chad worked until Wednesday and then his brothers planned a Bachelor’s fishing trip to Lake Texoma. I could have KILLED them to do this to me just days before the wedding! Men don't know how to plan things accordingly.

Before I knew it I was waking up in the hotel room on Saturday morning with my girls. It was THE day I had been waiting for not just since January 8th when Chad proposed, but my whole life! I am definitely one of those girls who has dreamt about her wedding since I was little and this day had finally arrived. I don't think it set in until I found myself in the parlor at the church waiting on him to come open the door so we could have our "first touch" I know it's weird, but we did not want to do a first look before the ceremony. So our photographer closed the door of the parlor and that was the first time I was alone all day. Every emotion I could think of hit and I could not hold back the tears. I could hear Chad just outside the door and Kelly trying to explain to him what he was supposed to be doing. He wasn't quite understanding haha. He opened the door and EVERYONE was watching as I reached my hand around to find his since he clearly didn't get the whole "first touch" thing. Everyone left and they gave us a moment to talk. Just minutes later I was in the bridal room with my girls. We sat watching everyone and it hit me all over again. I couldn't believe that God was blessing me with the most amazing man and that my dream was all coming true. Before I knew it the ceremony started and I couldn't stop the tears. I knew I was going to be emotional but I didn't think I was going to be a ball bag. I'm sure I looked like I was walking down to my death bed as I walked down the aisle, but I promise I was SO HAPPY! Everything happened soo fast and we were walking out together.. Married! The reception was so much fun, but didn't last long enough! I loved getting to see everyone and hearing the speeches from our Best Men and Maids of Honor :)

Married couple <3



We left and drove to Amarillo THAT night.. Crazy, I know. We had to drink 5 hour energy drinks to stay awake. We got to Amarillo about 2:30 and left the next morning at 8 so we didn't get to enjoy our nice hotel for very long. We took our time driving to Colorado stopping to take pictures every time we saw pronghorns.. Which was every 200 yards or so haha. We didn't have any reason to be in a hurry. We finally got to Crested Butte about 6pm. Our cabin was so fun and secluded. We LOVED it. We learned how to fly fish and drove up several mountains. It was beautiful!

Here are some pictures from the Honeymoon.

Our hotel in Amarillo.

Too bad we didn't get to stay for very long.

On our way to Colorado!

Here's a picture of one of the 272 Pronghorns we saw .. Yes, we counted them.

Our cabin!

We just loved it!















Fly fishing in the river. Too cold for me!

Caught my first fish. Excuse the ugliness.

Mr. Explorer.



Meet Kita.

She was so much fun!

BEAUTIFUL.


Everything was absolutely perfect.

Since we've return so much more has happened. We've finally gotten all settled in and all of my stuff moved in to the house. Married life is so much fun! We're loving every minute of it. On the other hand our lives could be changing drastically very soon. Praying for God's will. I will update on this once I know more. Please keep us in your prayers.

love love,
Jenny

Can't believe it's Day 5!

Day 5! I can't believe it! It's going by so fast and I love it. This morning I weighed 4 lbs less than I did on the morning of day 1. I've gotten used to all the supplements and they really aren't THAT bad. The diet has gotten much easier and I'm being forced to try things I never would have because I don't want to eat the same thing everyday. I can't wait to see my results on May 15th which is my momma's birthday! Yesterday was the first day of boot camp and it's gonna kick my butt! I told Chad, I'd rather run 5 miles then do the things they make us do haha. I'm so proud of myself because sticking with something this hard is not something I would normally do, but I know that it will be so worth it. I guess that's why I'm determined to stick with it. I feel so much better everyday!

In 25 days I get to marry my best friend and I'm so excited! I can't wait for us to live together and share everything! This is what we're both looking forward to the most. It's gone by so fast and I can't stop thinking about the wedding day and all the crazy feelings I'm going to be feeling. I really can't believe how blessed we are to have found one another; all the years that we grew up just miles away from one another and all the times that we should have "ran" into one another and we never knew each other until September '09. It's so funny how the Lord works.

Keep praying for:
RAIN!
The Lord to prepare our hearts for marriage.
The Lord's will for Chad's BP background investigation.
A job for me in the fall.
Jeff and Carson White.
The Finch Family.

Love,
Jenny

TEXAS WILDFIRES.

These are pictures of the devasting lives of people who only live an hour away from us. Many people are losing their homes and everything. I can't even begin to imagine what they are feeling. These pictures are from one of the most beautiful lakes in north texas. Pray for rain for our area and these people. We need it worse than we have in 35 years.

Day 1: Time to get into tip top shape for the wedding!

Today is day 1 of the 24 day challenge that I am doing. So far so good. I woke up and drank a DISCUSTING peaches and cream fiber drink. I think I should have put it in the blender because it was very gritty. I've already learned my first lesson! I'm so excited, but I am already ready for it to be day 24 and I haven't even made it through my first day yet. haha. I'm going to be repeating this verse several times a day over the next 24 days. "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12

Well, that's all for now. I'll keep you posted on how this works out!!

EYE-OPENING.

Well, I said I'd try to keep up with this but I haven't! It's been a while since I last posted. 2 months, actually! A lot has happened since the February 9th posting. We FINALLY took our engagement pictures and Kelly Trimble with @Kelly Kate Photography did a fantastic job! Here's one of our favorites.



I've finished student teaching and now I'm just waiting on graduation and the wedding. Today marks 1 month from the wedding day, which means only 22 days until my Dad arrives and 23 days until graduation. So many exciting things are happening in the month of May. I am just so blessed. I have the best family, friends, and church family.

I have gotten the opportunity to spend my Wednesday nights with the most fabulous women ever. This is a class at my church called, "Conversations". Every Wednesday night I leave smiling and I tell Chad, "I just LOVE MY CLASS!" It's been such a true blessing to sit in a room with women who are so vulnerable and walk humbly before the Lord. I have never been apart of a class where it's been so open and free. I know when I walk into that room I can reveal every insecurity and not be judge. These women love Christ and they are the perfect reflection of what a loving woman of God should look like. I am sad that last night was the last class for the semester. I wish it could just continue and never end haha. I know that the class and those women will be back there in the fall, but I just don't like not seeing their beautiful faces every week! :)

Last night was the prefect ending to a great semester. An incredible woman from our church came to speak to us last night and share her story. Her story cannot NOT bring tears to your eyes. She is amazing, yet she'd never accept that compliment. She's been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and fighting it for 8 months. The "statistics" or whatever said she'd only make it 6 months. Well I don't know if you caught what I said in the previous sentence but she's been battling for 8, which means she has proved that WRONG! I just love it when God shows the world whose boss! Her and her family has been through what seems like something in a movie. Not real, except its very real. Listening to her speak last night was eye opening. She spoke about SPEAKING WORDS OF LIFE into others lives. What a simple thing, yet we don't do it. We do just the opposite; or at least I know I do and I'm not afraid to admit that. She shared several scriptures where the Lord commands us to speak truth in love. How ironic that my blog is titled, "Honest2Blog" and that the scripture I have below the title is Ephesians 4:15. You think the Lord was trying to get my attention?! This is my challenge to you this week. When you begin to open that foul mouth of yours think about "Speak truth in love" I bet you'll either close that month of yours or change what you were about to say. I will repeat this verse a lot don't you worry. :)

Many of you know that Chad has applied to work for the Border Patrol. He's in his last phase now which is the background check. We all know that he's going to pass it! :) The scariest part about this is that we will have to leave our home. When he first applied back in September '10 I knew all of this. He asked me how I felt and I told him, "As long as I'm with you we can make it work. I trust that the Lord will open the right doors and always provide for us if this is what he wants." Sometimes I wonder why we pretend that we've got it all together! :) Now I'm frantically starting to stress about the possibility of us moving soon.. Very soon. My biggest fear is leaving our church family. We are apart of the Young Married's Life Group and have been for well, a long time. Obviously before we've been married. We just didn't fit in with the College group or the Singles. :) We have established great friendships through our life group and are afraid of not only not finding a place to serve, but also not finding amazing friends like we have here at home. I still trust that the Lord will not take us on a journey that we can't handle without him, but I feel so safe and secure here. Leaving will be difficult, although, I could be worried about something that may never come. This may not be the road we end up taking in the coming months. Only the creator knows what's in store.

Until then we'll trust in the one who knows it all.

"Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, "I am only a youth"; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD." Jeremiah 1:4-8

How great is the peace that he gives to us.

Jenny <3

And we meet again, blogger.

Well, everyone is doing the whole blog thing again so I found my old password and logged back in :)



Lots of changes over the past two years! I've met the man that God has designed for me. We've dated, and now are engaged. We're getting married in a little over 3 months and I can't wait! I'm student teaching ... FINALLY. I will be done in 8 weeks! Graduation is the weekend before our wedding. And I think that is probably a bigger deal to my Dad then the wedding. (haha maybe) Chad and his family are amazing and just what I have prayed for. He is a spitting image of John Farrell. He is everything I need and some extra things that maybe I don't :) Some days I'm still amazed that the Lord has blessed me so much. I love so much about him and I'm so excited to learn more about each other as we're married. I'm so glad the Lord gave me strength and patience to wait for him because it has so been worth it. So many people didn't understand why I was so nit picky about dating, but this relationship is a testament to that. Waiting on the Lord and what he has planned is far more rewarding then taking your life into your own hands. It wasn't easy and I sure stumbled along the way, but the Lord was always there. We're not even close to what the Lord would want us to be, but I know that Chad is always going to strive to be that man and encourage me to be that woman. That's what is most important to me. He loves me just as Christ loves the church. This doesn't mean that his love is always perfect, but it is the best. His parents are great and I absolutely adore them. They are who we hope to be like when we're parents someday. My parents love Chad and I know my Dad will struggle with giving me away, but couldn't be happier about Chad being the one that he's giving me to. My Mom is just so excited to get me married and out of her house! haha, I guess I can't blame her. She loves Chad and is so happy for us.

Right now, life couldn't get much better :)