Flourishing is on the other side
2 weeks ago
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
It happened on Sunday. After I wore my size 0 skinny jeans from American Eagle all weekend and could not breathe every time I sat down. I retired my favorite jeans. It was a sad day for me. I said hello to Old Navy Maternity Jeans, which I had ordered as soon as I knew I was pregnant so I could be prepared....but I was holding onto my favorite jeans for as long as possible. But at 19 weeks, I said goodbye.
Now little Levi (who weighs about 8 or 9 ounces now) can have room to grow and move...and I can breathe again. :) American Eagle size 0's....you will be missed!
Now little Levi (who weighs about 8 or 9 ounces now) can have room to grow and move...and I can breathe again. :) American Eagle size 0's....you will be missed!Thursday, December 10, 2009
Friday, December 04, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
John Aaron and I are hitting the road bright and early at 6 A.M. tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving with our families. Tomorrow we will eat at my very favorite restaurant, Posados, in Shreveport, do a little shopping (woo!) and drive five more hours to New Orleans Thursday morning to spend Thanksgiving with John Aaron's family. We will be there until Saturday night, drive to Shreveport Saturday night and leave Sunday after lunch to go back to Tennessee. My sweet ER nurse friend in our Sunday School class told me that we need to stop every couple of hours so I can walk around....apparently, you can get blood clots if you're sitting too long when you're pregnant....scary! Anyways, we are so excited to see our families....and I can't wait to eat at Posados!!! I've been talking about it for months :)
This time next week we will (hopefully) know the gender of our baby!! I have an appointment on December 1st at 11:30 and John Aaron and I are so excited. We will definitely let everyone know as soon as we find out!!!! I cannot wait! We have our baby names picked out already so I will go ahead and reveal those....Emma Joy or Levi Aaron. I am so excited about decorating the baby's room and being able to call him or her by their name!
John Aaron has a full MAN beard, if you've seen some of our recent pictures. We are having a Beard Auction at our BCM on November 30th to raise money for our summer missionaries. This is how it works....The boys grow out their beards for the month of November and at the auction, students buy someone's beard and whoever buys the beard, gets to shave the beard however they want. Then, the student has to walk around campus with their beard all crazy for 24 hours. I am hoping to buy John Aaron's so he can shave it all off!! A group of students are threatening me that they are going to buy it and give him a Hitler mustache.....ugh. I hope that doesn't happen.
John Aaron has been playing intramurals with the BCM team, here is a peek at his volleyball skills and his beard!
John Aaron and I are hitting the road bright and early at 6 A.M. tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving with our families. Tomorrow we will eat at my very favorite restaurant, Posados, in Shreveport, do a little shopping (woo!) and drive five more hours to New Orleans Thursday morning to spend Thanksgiving with John Aaron's family. We will be there until Saturday night, drive to Shreveport Saturday night and leave Sunday after lunch to go back to Tennessee. My sweet ER nurse friend in our Sunday School class told me that we need to stop every couple of hours so I can walk around....apparently, you can get blood clots if you're sitting too long when you're pregnant....scary! Anyways, we are so excited to see our families....and I can't wait to eat at Posados!!! I've been talking about it for months :)
This time next week we will (hopefully) know the gender of our baby!! I have an appointment on December 1st at 11:30 and John Aaron and I are so excited. We will definitely let everyone know as soon as we find out!!!! I cannot wait! We have our baby names picked out already so I will go ahead and reveal those....Emma Joy or Levi Aaron. I am so excited about decorating the baby's room and being able to call him or her by their name!
John Aaron has a full MAN beard, if you've seen some of our recent pictures. We are having a Beard Auction at our BCM on November 30th to raise money for our summer missionaries. This is how it works....The boys grow out their beards for the month of November and at the auction, students buy someone's beard and whoever buys the beard, gets to shave the beard however they want. Then, the student has to walk around campus with their beard all crazy for 24 hours. I am hoping to buy John Aaron's so he can shave it all off!! A group of students are threatening me that they are going to buy it and give him a Hitler mustache.....ugh. I hope that doesn't happen.
John Aaron has been playing intramurals with the BCM team, here is a peek at his volleyball skills and his beard!
Monday, November 16, 2009
It's Christmas in the Matthew Home!
John Aaron and I always decorate before we go home to Louisiana for Thanksgiving, because it's nice to come home to a Christmasy house, and because we leave before Christmas to go back to Louisiana. This year we won't go back to TN until after New Year's so we like to enjoy our cozy, decorated house for as long as we can.
Every year when we decorate our house we make hot chocolate, cookies, and watch a Christmas movie. Last year, we started the tradition of creating something out of our tree skirt...it was so silly and fun that I decided that we have to do that every year now! John Aaron made a choir robe out and I made a poncho last year. Here are our creative costumes we made this year...
John Aaron and I always decorate before we go home to Louisiana for Thanksgiving, because it's nice to come home to a Christmasy house, and because we leave before Christmas to go back to Louisiana. This year we won't go back to TN until after New Year's so we like to enjoy our cozy, decorated house for as long as we can.
Every year when we decorate our house we make hot chocolate, cookies, and watch a Christmas movie. Last year, we started the tradition of creating something out of our tree skirt...it was so silly and fun that I decided that we have to do that every year now! John Aaron made a choir robe out and I made a poncho last year. Here are our creative costumes we made this year...
John Aaron's Christmas Super Man Cape (Notice the staircase that JA painted the banister and bead board, he stayed up ALL night working on it)
My one shouldered Christmas shirt, I promise there is a tiny baby bump under there!
Sweet Zoe with her Christmas blanket.
Friday, November 06, 2009
This picture describes me perfectly right now...
College boys, Video Games, and the GI Joe Movie...
Those 3 things together is what has inspired the blog post. As I am typing this, John Aaron is living the post seminary life of a Friday night with college students. And I am in the bedroom NOT cleaning up and packing, which was my plan, but facebook always is a distraction. So our bedroom is messy for now and I am post a way over due post!
So...as everyone knows, thanks to my inablility to keep a secret, we are going to have a baby! I am 14 weeks tomorrow and you can see a tiny baby bump (if you look for it!). Pregnancy so far, has been the opposite of what I thought it would be. I was so scared that I would feel super nauseous the whole time and think that I was dying. That's usually my reaction to any pain/sickness that I feel. But in the words of John Aaron, I am, "The funnest pregnant girl ever." I think I'm pretty fun :)
John Aaron and I are loving being able to do ministry together at the BCM, God has been doing some great things here and we love being a part of it! We are so happy to be doing what we have dreamed of doing since we met eight years ago at LA Tech. Yes, that's right....we also celebrated our 8 year dating anniversary on October 28th! We spent the night making last minute plans for Homecoming, dinner, and at the homecoming float site. What more could a girl want?
Those 3 things together is what has inspired the blog post. As I am typing this, John Aaron is living the post seminary life of a Friday night with college students. And I am in the bedroom NOT cleaning up and packing, which was my plan, but facebook always is a distraction. So our bedroom is messy for now and I am post a way over due post!
So...as everyone knows, thanks to my inablility to keep a secret, we are going to have a baby! I am 14 weeks tomorrow and you can see a tiny baby bump (if you look for it!). Pregnancy so far, has been the opposite of what I thought it would be. I was so scared that I would feel super nauseous the whole time and think that I was dying. That's usually my reaction to any pain/sickness that I feel. But in the words of John Aaron, I am, "The funnest pregnant girl ever." I think I'm pretty fun :)
John Aaron and I are loving being able to do ministry together at the BCM, God has been doing some great things here and we love being a part of it! We are so happy to be doing what we have dreamed of doing since we met eight years ago at LA Tech. Yes, that's right....we also celebrated our 8 year dating anniversary on October 28th! We spent the night making last minute plans for Homecoming, dinner, and at the homecoming float site. What more could a girl want?
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Life in Cookeville...
John Aaron and I are loving life in Cookeville! We have been busy getting to know students here, planning for the Fall Semester, working on our house, and enjoying our new town! Here are a few pictures of lately...
And...a visit from our favorite TN neighbors...The Osbornes!
We went to Atlanta to visit my aunt and uncle for the 4th of July. We spent the weekend on their house boat, where Zoe did some swimming!
John Aaron and I are loving life in Cookeville! We have been busy getting to know students here, planning for the Fall Semester, working on our house, and enjoying our new town! Here are a few pictures of lately...
Celebrating our five year anniversary!! We took a belated anniversary trip to Fall Creek Falls where we hiked, went horseback riding, paddleboated, and relaxed.
Our first girls trip! We took a shopping trip to Lebanon and Super Target....how I miss Super Target! :)
A visit from my mom...the rest of the family is coming in a couple of weeks...i can't wait to see them!
And...a visit from our favorite TN neighbors...The Osbornes!
We went to Atlanta to visit my aunt and uncle for the 4th of July. We spent the weekend on their house boat, where Zoe did some swimming!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Waterfalls, Waterfalls!
John Aaron and I decided to take a break from working in our house today and we went to Burgess Falls...which is only about 10 minutes from our house! For all of you who are making trip to visit us this summer, Burgess Falls is definitely on our to-do list so bring your swimsuit and some good hiking shoes! :)
John Aaron and I decided to take a break from working in our house today and we went to Burgess Falls...which is only about 10 minutes from our house! For all of you who are making trip to visit us this summer, Burgess Falls is definitely on our to-do list so bring your swimsuit and some good hiking shoes! :)
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Hello TN!
Going into our house for the first time. It has a purple front door at the moment! Tech's colors are purple and yellow, the people who lived in this house before had school spirit! I will post more pictures of our house after everything gets put back together. We've had hardwood floors installed, new black appliances in the kitchen, and granite countertops installed in our kitchen and downstairs bathrooms.
Yay! Our new ministry!
Our first day! John Aaron has his very own parking spot :)
A few sweet girls in my class at Parkway...from my viewpoint :)
Saying goodbye to the sweetest cafeteria ladies around!
Going into our house for the first time. It has a purple front door at the moment! Tech's colors are purple and yellow, the people who lived in this house before had school spirit! I will post more pictures of our house after everything gets put back together. We've had hardwood floors installed, new black appliances in the kitchen, and granite countertops installed in our kitchen and downstairs bathrooms.
Yay! Our new ministry!
Our first day! John Aaron has his very own parking spot :)
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
A Birthday, Anniversary, and a Move!
The last week in May was busy! On the 25th, we celebrated John Aaron's 26th birthday with a surprise party in Arlington...and he was surprised! We all kept it a secret, which is very impressive for me and all our college students. On the 28th, movers came to our house to start packing our house up and on the 29th they loaded up all our boxes. We celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 29th in downtown Fort Worth. We are postponing out anniversary trip until after we get moved and settled in. Here are a few pictures from last week!
Our movers, Joe and Eddie. Yes, I made them pose for a picture!
All of my teaching stuff! My class thinks it's "SO AWESOME!" that our classroom is mostly empty. I have 1 and half days left with my class!
JA's surprise birthday party at BJ's in Arlington.
Please pray for us as we are waiting to close on our house here in Fort Worth. As of now, we are planning on closing on our Fort Worth house on Friday and our TN house on Monday. Please pray that everything goes smoothly!!
The last week in May was busy! On the 25th, we celebrated John Aaron's 26th birthday with a surprise party in Arlington...and he was surprised! We all kept it a secret, which is very impressive for me and all our college students. On the 28th, movers came to our house to start packing our house up and on the 29th they loaded up all our boxes. We celebrated our 5th anniversary on the 29th in downtown Fort Worth. We are postponing out anniversary trip until after we get moved and settled in. Here are a few pictures from last week!
A robin's next in a tree by our front porch...this is our first nest we've had on our house! We were excited for some reason :)
We are so thankful for John Aaron's new job and the movers who packed everything up!
We are currently living our house with an air matress and lawn chairs...it's really funny.
Our movers, Joe and Eddie. Yes, I made them pose for a picture!
All of my teaching stuff! My class thinks it's "SO AWESOME!" that our classroom is mostly empty. I have 1 and half days left with my class!
JA's surprise birthday party at BJ's in Arlington.
Please pray for us as we are waiting to close on our house here in Fort Worth. As of now, we are planning on closing on our Fort Worth house on Friday and our TN house on Monday. Please pray that everything goes smoothly!!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Our Last Texas Weekend...
Praying for us as we start our new life in TN!
The hostest with the mostest! The Xeapolis fam. who threw our party. They have been a huge support to us while we have been here. Thanks for a great party!!
We have had a last weekend in TX full of a camping trip, our last sunday at Lake Arlington, and our going away party. Here are a few pictures of the weekend -
On out camping trip we played capture the flag with water guns - at night! Agustin (the one in the middle) is our college intern and supplied all the water guns. He has been collecting water gun since he was little and had a huge bag full of them!
One of our sweet going away gifts....a scrapbook full of letters from the students in our college ministry.
Praying for us as we start our new life in TN!
The hostest with the mostest! The Xeapolis fam. who threw our party. They have been a huge support to us while we have been here. Thanks for a great party!!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
John Aaron graduated on Friday! I am so proud of him! He has worked really hard, and finished his Masters of Divinty in 3 years. Since he is done with school (which means I have more access to the computer) I am going to update our blog more often.
Our graduation weekend was so fun! My parents, John Aaron's parents, John Aaron's sister's family, my brother, and grandparents from both sides came for graduation. We went to a graduation reception Thursday night, graduation Friday morning, the Fort Worth Rodeo Friday night, and John Aaron was ordained at church Sunday morning. It was so sweet to have all of our family with us for the weekend.
And up next....we are moving to Cookeville, TN at the end of the month. John Aaron and I will be the BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministry) Directors at Tennessee Tech University. We sold our house and we are waiting to hear back about a house we made an offer on. We can't believe we are done with school and are excited about the next chapter in our lives.This picture is from a collegiate conference, Summit, that we went to last week in Nashville. We were able to write TN Tech on our nametags for the first time!!
Go Golden Eagles!
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