Merry Christmas

I know I said that for all intensive purposes, 2006 is over for me, but not just yet. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! We only have 3 more festivities to attend!

It is over!

Although 2006 is not officially over, for all intensive purposes, I am done! At the beginning of the year, I told Matt that this would be the year of beginnings and endings, and it proved me right! 2006 will definately be a benchmark year in our lives, so I thought I would catch you up to date, just in case you haven't been paying attention!

1) We got engaged. Never done that before, never will again!
2) We got married. Logically, this comes after getting engaged, but not always. It was a long engagement, but there was much to be done, and it was fun!
3) I finished seminary. Just last week, we took a quick trip to Ft. Worth to attend my graduation ceremony. It was a little anti-climactic, as I finished my courses in June and had to wait til December to graduate. However, it was a fun time.
4) No more apartments. Matt and I built a house (not ourselves, mind you, but still, it was an up-hill battle sometimes). We moved in about a month ago, and still haven't finished unpacking. But Christmas was coming so that took precedence...hopefully, I will get some pictures up soon. Now that we are in, we love our new, little home!
5) Big job changes-I am moving back to the church full time-though the end date at the outreach center is still up in the air and plan on pursuing a more dedicated role in the apartment ministry (meaning I won't have as many secretarial duties). Our Administrator also left this year, now that I think about it, and we are getting a new Asst. Minister. The other secretary is moving to the outreach center, so we just did a flip flot, and will hire a new secretary once all the other moves have happened.
Also, Matt is taking on new responsibilities over the next couple of weeks...i will let him tell you more about that!

As you can see, 2006 was a busy, but great year. We are looking forward to 2007 and a little time to relax, but I'm sure more will come up to keep us busy.

Honeymoon Pics

We're Married

Congratulations to us!

And thank you to everyone who helped with the wedding...you are all awesome and we totally appreciate all the work you put in to make our wedding awesome...here is just a sneak peak for your viewing pleasure...

Hebrews 12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

TODAY'S THE DAY

To Andria -
I Love You with all my heart and vow to always Love and Protect you and be the man of God that you deserve!
HAPPY WEDDING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love -
Matthew

Hebrews 12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Photos

Happy looking...

Rain drops keep falling on my head!

No one in Texas will be upset to hear that it has been a rainy weekend this weekend. We now have countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, and a lot of the house is painted-they just need to cut in around the trim. we are still waiting to hear about our two-toned brick, but soon we should have some news on what they are going to do.

Neta, Jonathan and Matt's mom dropped by the house after church for a sneak peek, and they seemed pleased with everything!

And, we had In-Law/Out-Law Day at Green Acres. All the prospective in-laws came to our Sunday School Class to learn the How-to's of being an Parent-in-law (and we learned he how-two's of being children-in-law). Thanks to our parents for supporting us and coming.

Tomorrow is my office luncheon, and my mom is coming to make all the final payments...the countdown to the wedding is definately on! Matt has an office shower during their afternoon break on the 19th, and Neta is having a bridal luncheon on Saturday...lots of celebrating to be done this week! YIPPIE~

Drum Roll, Please...

and we have a winner. Congratulations to Neta, the winner of our guess the picture contest (and also the recipient of the Most-Frequent-Commenter Award)! If you have been following along, her Grand Prize is the movie Lake House, the movie she leant to Matt and me a couple of weeks ago! What a great prize! Everyone give her a round of applause.

Come back soon for the next round of "Where was that picture taken?"

Movin Right Along

Coming soon to a church near you...

It's our wedding month! We've paid for almost everything, bought almost everything, and comfirmed almost everything...so we are almost ready for the wedding! Just a few details like making sure the florist knows what kind of flowers to use, paying for the food (food is the most important aspect to the wedding for us Baptists!), oh yeah, and buying the marriage liscense.

the house looks awesome, but its been too dark to take pictures. We should have some soon. We have cabinets and shelves in all of our closets, as well as trim. Now if we could get that pesky brick fixed, we'd be good to go!

Now its time for a fun game to remember the past. Who can guess where (and when) this picture was taken. A lot of you were there, so you should remember...leave a comment with your guess and you might get a prize if you win-maybe...

September Showers bring October ...

Well, Andria had another shower. That made me happy because she was starting to stink. Oh my, I bet nobody saw that joke coming! Man, I crack myself up. Thanks to everyone involved!
Love ya - Matt

Up, Up and AWAY!

Just thought you'd want to know that Superman is my future Nephew! - Matt

A Brick of a Different Color

Well, our builder decided to give us two colors of bricks. The top picture is "Town Square" (our color). The bottom is "Palo Duro" (the mystery color). I want one color! We picked out "Town Square." I don't even know what a "Palo" or a "Duro" is and I don't want it on my house! Just Say NO to Palo Duro! Anyway, they're going to rip over half the brick off our house and re-brick it. Just as long as they don't use "Palo Alto" or "Pale Burrow" or "Jimmy Durante." Crazy builders trying to brick my house with Jimmy Durante, what were they thinking? Ha-cha-cha-chaaaaaaaa!
Love You! Matt

Huff and Puff and blow this house down will ya?

Our House is made of BRICK!!! Yea that's right!

We're Insulted! ,,.I mean Insulated

Shower Me With Gifts!

It's shower time!

Last week was the first wedding shower. While the boys (my dad and Matt) went hardware shopping, the gals had a PARTY! Thanks for everyone who came out to support Matt and I on saturday. Next up, the lingere shower!

To be discontinued...

Today we did our first walk-thru of our new home! With electrical outlets in place and 2 bathtubs waiting for us, we have plumbing, electrical stuff, the A/C, and security wiring done! Pretty good stuff, and only one change in location of the kitchen phone outlet. still no idea when the house will be completed, but you know how it is!

Our backsplash tile was discontinued, so we had to stop by and pick out new tile, bringing back memories of that rainy day we first chose our colors!

Dear John,

Thanks for coming over to stay at our house for a while.

RaiseThe Roof!

For The Birds

Thank you to everyone who came out and helped us get ready for the wedding by rolling the "thank you" poems and wrapping birdseed in toole! Things are coming along quickly for the wedding; it will be here before we know it! Showers start next weekend, so most of September will be super-busy with that.

As you can see below, our house is coming along quickly. HOpefully, next week we will get our roof up. It's pretty exciting to see everything happening.

Wrap It Up!

We've Been Framed!

FYI...

Matt would like it to be known that he does NOT think 10 Things I Hate about You (see our profile, which was made before Matt was in the picture) is one of his favorite movies...although I would submit to you that he watched the WHOLE movie Sunday while I was ASLEEP! Anyway, just as a reminder, the profile which you can read by clicking on our picture (I think, around the picture somewhere anyway), is a creation of mine, from a long time ago... 2 failed blogs ago to be exact. I think it was because there were no beach balls.

Lumbering on.

YAY for wood! Now maybe we can get a frame.

by the way, if you are in town on Saturday come to matt's mom's house at 2 and help us get ready for the wedding!

He's our mascot

In case you have noticed, we have a new addition to our internet family. Our pet aligator has joined our blog, and will be our mascot through the construction of our house (and perhaps beyond). We don't have a name for him yet, other than "the aligator" so if you have suggestions, please let us know!

We have a firm foundation...

Today, as I drove up, I was hoping someone was simply working on our lot, but here is what I found! What an exciting day! By next week, our frame should be up, if all moves as quickly as other houses have moved!

In wedding news, we set the foundation for our wedding (not the marriage, just the wedding) this weekend as well. We met with our officiating minister to discuss the basics of the wedding ceremony. He assures me that the ceremony should not take much longer than 20 minutes, to my delight!

And, we have bridesmaid and flower girl dresses! What an exciting week we have had. After a stressful week at work, it is relieving to s things happening on the wedding front, if nothing else! School starts Monday, along with after-school programs so life will be gettin a little more normal soon!! I can't wait!

You say rebar, I say rebarb...

well, we finally have movement in our house! Rebarb is just the beginning.

Blogging 1.0

PLEASE...we want comments! So, just click the little comment button down there...yeah, the one that says 0 comments...and leave us a little message. matt is beginning to think no one likes him!




Moving on....
When they say things move fast, they mean it! Just yesterday, they put in the pipes! We have water! Hopefully by the end of the week, we will at least have the foundation, maybe more!

In wedding news...
we have invitations! And other stuff too! And almost all the addresses we need! Things are starting to come together. Probably, in September, we are going to have a party to help stuff invitations, address invitation, and make party favors, so if you are so inclines, let me know...in fact, you could leave a comment!!

Tire Tracks In My Living Room

It has finally happened! Yes, Yes! Did you know that it takes 6 weeks to move dirt. Well, at least for us it does. But, ya know, our dirt is the best looking dirt in the neighborhood! I think I'll be sad to see it covered up by a house. Well, we must progress to build to move forward, right? Or left? Ok, this is what happens when Andria goes to a youth camp for a week and I'm left to the Blog! Woo-hoo, guys night out on the blog site! Hey, where'd that beach ball come from? Who let the dogs out?! Ok, I'm tired. Love you, Matt.