Come On Down, Come on Over....

Come on in to the LightHouse. A place where God's light shines, shines for everyone....playing in the sand, laughing in the sun. (sang with fun hand-gestures!)

So I know this post was supposed to come before the last one cause I left you hanging but here it is.... out of order but filled with love. 

A couple of weeks ago Steven and I, 5 leaders, and 16 high school students 

 

took a huge bus (where we all got our own row!) down to Santa Rosa Beach.

When we arrived, the 7 guys and myself (cause I am married to one of the guys) headed to a super awesome condo that they had for us to not only rest our heads at night but a big open area where we invited many others over for Spicy Uno, the name game, and charades. It was AKA....

After getting settled in, all of the volunteers for the week gathered for a meeting. There we learned that we would be serving 11 families who each had a child with cancer. They ranged anywhere from about 5 years old to 18 years old. All different types and stages. We were there to serve them and cater to their every need so that they could have a relaxing, do-nothing-kind-of vacation, but our number one priority was to love them as Christ loves us. 

And we did just that! 

Each of us had different prep teams we were a part of. 

I was on the breakfast crew. 

We were up and out every morning by 7:15am prepping for all of the families to be served a hearty breakfast. Most days we started the line off with fresh baked doughnuts from the Donut Hole! :)

Then it was off to FlipFlop time!! This was a time where the parents went to Common Ground (counseling sessions with a couple who had been through a child struggling with cancer) and we got to play with the kids (both kids in treatment & siblings). I was deemed as 1 of 3 Flip Flop assistants to my girl, Logan! So I got a little taste of each flip flop group!

Here are the JellyFish making their very own LightHouses! 

The Minnows got to finger paint a guitar that they auctioned off! 

Aby fell in love with one of her Guppies, Sissy, but don't worry, the love was mutual. They were attached at the hip all week! 

The Sharks had some quality pool time!

This is when Steven met Brian! 

A great guy with a big sense of humor and love for hockey! 

And then there was Conched Out Time - where we did exactly that! 

(Except for the 2 times that we made a trip to Frost Bites!)

(Stuffed pineapple, coconut, & lime was the bomb!)

Each night we had a themed dinner planned for the families! 

There was a Luau. 

Italian Night - where the volunteers sang "Be Our Guests" as they served the food!

Low Country Boil! 

And a pizza rolls/chicken fingers-kind-of-night with a "drive-in" movie on the big screen for the kids while their parents had a more than likely long overdo date! 

Can't forget the dance party that happened every time the music was on too! 

Now Featuring... Tangled! 

And then what would be a full 100 person retreat without a talent show one night as well?

Here are the JellyFish dressed as superheros about to perform the Ice Cream Dance! 

They looked innocent until they came out with whip cream pies and got the summer staff! 

Here are the Sharks about to wow the audience with their mix match up from Gangnam Style to Sexy And I Know It to Blessings sang by the oh-so-precious Noah! 

Speaking of audience... here is a snapshot of them! 

Valerie's guitar debut with her beautiful backup singers:

 Jessica, Taylor, Sydney, & Savannah!

and many, many more!! 

So between everything I have already mentioned, there wasn't much time left to do anything else... but that didn't stop us!

Caden continued to be his cute self every where he went and with everything he did... espcially kicking around the soccer ball!

Sheyana fell in love with Riley! 

And he even let her paint his finger nails! 

William found a fun, cool, easy ride who then became his best friend!  

Aby loved on Lake every chance she got!

There was ALWAYS a game being played on the 9 square set! 

Shoulder Dancing with our buddies Lake & Trindon! 

We even had a day where the Daraja Choir from Uganda came to visit where they greeted us with the BEST HUGS I have ever receieved. The joy on their face & in their actions shined like crazy! 

They taught us a new song & dance! 

Oh, happy day, happy day... you wash my sins away. Oh, happy day, happy day... I'll never be the same. Forever I am changed.

Played corn hole! 

Even requested to eat last so that they could serve us. 

And that they did - without complaints & with all smiles. They taught us that day what it was like to serve with unconditional love. 

Our group got to bond as a Watermarke InsideOut LightHouse missions team! We had a blast serving with each other and will never forget this experience we shared... here are some pics to prove it! 

So all in all - it was a pretty AMAZING week. It was eye opening, breath taking, laugh out loud, hold back the tears, let the tears roll, fall in love with kids, act like a kid, eat like a kid, perfect place to shine God's love - kind - of -week! 

Come on Down, Come on Over, Come on In to the Lighthouse!

Some of you are probably thinking.... why did you take the time off work, away from your families/friends, to serve others with sweat, labor, tears, and humility? ...Because I am not here to be served but to serve others as Christ has done for me. This is only a glimpse of what Jesus did with His time on earth for me, the least I can do is serve others in His name. To spread the love that He has shown me. To prove to others that giving up is not the answer... God never gave up on me. Plus - as you can see from my post & pictures... the sweat, labor, tears, and humility was nothing compared to the smiles, joy, hugs, and love that I received in return. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to do this so thank you to all of my supporters - both morally & financially! Until next year's LightHouse trip....

Back Porch Sittin'

When was the last time you had a back porch talk with someone? I love them so much and here are the reasons....1. I LOVE sitting outside. 2. back porch talks mean that you are in company of someone really special. 3. the conversation that takes place are usually pretty darn awesome. 4. you are usually sippin' on something delicious. 5. they are the kind of thing you don't want to end

Well, I bet you can guess what I did last night! If not, I had me a back porch talk! One of the BFF's, Jessica (hand slap, slide around, side wave, whoop!) came over - we went for a nice energizing stroll around the neighborhood, cooked us a healthy meal and headed to the back porch, where all 5 of the things above happened. 1. we sat outside and loved it - nice weather, perfect lighting, a couple of mosquitoes (until citronella candles were lit) but no bites. 2. Jessica makes real company! No matter what we do, it's always great when she is around. She is the real deal. 3. our conversation was awesome - no agenda, nothing really to talk about so we jumped around a lot and covered it all. 4. we were sipping on ice cold refreshing water [note to self I will make sure we have something more delicious next time!] 5. yup, didn't want to leave but when 10:40pm rolled around I decided I should hit the sack.

Back porch talks are good for the soul.

The First Half

It’s probably a good thing that I wasn’t blogging for the first half of 2013. It has been one crazy, hectic year filled with parties, showers, and weddings…. But all filled with so much love! So much love that I WOULD have posted about 10,000 pictures from each. Lucky you 'cause now I have narrowed it down just 2 per wedding. I know it’s crazy… I can’t believe that I could only pick 2 for each, but I did. So here is a recap of them all! 

Friday, May 24^th – Josh & Hadyn’s

Their wedding was up in Flintstone, GA (yup, you heard me right!). It was an outdoor wedding and absolutely beautiful weather. The reception was held in a very chabby chic upscale barn that was so super adorable. The food was down home country and delicious! Hadyn’s family got Josh a shotgun that he opened at the reception… it was priceless! Their wedding favors were homemade bars of soap from a local Georgian! So cute. Here are 2 pics from their wedding! YAB-A-DAB-A-DO!!!

Saturday, June 1^st – Will & Erica

Erica meaning Erica Cox… MY SISTER! So crazy but she is a wife now! Their wedding was in Kennesaw, GA at the Hill Manor House. It was an all outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect… it started to drizzle at the very end but they didn’t care, they were headed to their honeymoon! The reception consisted of amazing food, cake and LOTS of dancing. The best part about the whole thing (other than the fact that I was her maid of honor and could not be more happy for them) was that it was their very first kiss at the ceremony. Yes folks, we were there to witness it all go down and it was the most precious thing ever!  I’m surprised Will made it through the whole ceremony without 1. Passing out and 2. Waiting to kiss until he was told to! PS- she was the most glowing & gorgeous bride! Here are 2 pics from their wedding!

Sunday, June 2^nd – Josh & Tricia

Their wedding was in Lula, GA. It was supposed to be an outdoor ceremony but about 10 minutes before she was about to walk down the aisle, it started POURING! We waited for about 15 minutes and then decided to switch it up and have it inside the beautiful newly built barn…it couldn’t have been prettier. The colors inside, the sun and rain coming down behind them, and those 2 just caring that they were getting married and starting their lives together as a family! The company & cupcakes were awesome but the most amazing thing of the whole wedding happened at the altar…. Josh & Tricia decided that their first act as a married couple, they wanted to serve each other just as Jesus served us during his time here on earth. So they washed each others feet. The most humbling act of service a person could do… especially a bride on her wedding day... in her wedding dress! It was the absolute most beautiful thing I had ever seen at a wedding. “We are not here to be served but to serve one another.” Wow. Here are 2 pics from their wedding!

Saturday, June 8^th – Nick & Lauren

Their wedding was in Lawrenceville, GA. It was an indoor wedding at the brand new wedding venue, Ashton Gardens. They had a mac n’ cheese bar and an oreo cake… need I say more? Okay… the ceremony was stunning with the natural light from the glass windows and Lauren’s AMAZING dress.... plus Steven married them! Yep, Steven performed their ceremony and he did a fabulous job! I was so proud! The whole wedding was right up Nick & Lauren’s alley – from the laid back ceremony where jokes were being cracked to dancing to Justin Beiber  & Nsync to the glow sticks at the end! Plus their wedding favor was a super awesome neon green koozie with a pink moustache on it (someplace cool to STACHE your drink!). Here are 2 pics from their wedding!

Saturday, June 22^nd – Daniel & Lauren

Their wedding was in good ole Roswell, GA – the home of the fun little town with cute restaurants and Lauren’s favorite hang out place! They had an outdoor wedding on a beautiful shaded lawn at the Primose Cottage. The reception took place partially inside and partially outside of the house. Inside there was wonderful food and a lot more dancing; outside there were lines to the bar… everywhere you went, people were having fun and knew how to do it! Lauren was 1 beautiful bride and Daniel was 1 happy groom… together they were in awe that this day was finally here. It was bittersweet because on one hand I got to see one of my best friends marry the guy of her dreams (and who she had dated for 8 years) but on the other hand, I had to let her go…. And I know you are thinking “Jordan, you are married and have to let go of all your friends when they get married…” but she is different… Her and Daniel now live in CALIFORNIA.  AHHH but freakin’ finally! (See I told you its bittersweet!) I know she is where she needs to be so I am okay with it… but as they ran to their limo that night, I think Rachel and I both almost jumped in with them! Here are 2 pics from their wedding!

Ah. And my job here is done. No more weddings this year... I can work on being the best wife I can be to my amazing husband! I sure do love wedding season but I am sure happy it's over for this year! I know, I know... Here come the babies! :)

Heads up about my next blog post... it might be a little bit (like a week... don't get your panties in a wad!) because I am leaving for a trip and NOT taking my computer! Here is a clue at where i'll be and what i'll be doing:

Cheers! 

And We're Back...

I love how gchat says that when you have been disconnected from Internet and then get it back again. This is exactly how I feel. I have been disconnected from the blogging world and now I’m back.  Two of my very good friends are to blame for this.

The first blamer is Jessica over at JessKateNamy because she told me last night that she was going to start blogging. That’s where the interest was sparked… I thought, “(happy face) Omgosh, I have a blog…(sad face) but I never write anymore.” And she says, “Why don’t we blog together.” So then I turn to the next blamer, Wendi over at FreemanFam, at work today (I literally turn to my left and she is there… we just took out the window that was in between us so that we could better communicate on social matters work projects) and said “I think I am going to start blogging again!” and she says “Well it’s about time, I am about to unfollow you, you are boring!”  - I looked back and my last post was January 1 so I guess I have been boring for the first half of 2013. But watch out Jess and Wendi (and all 5 of my followers!)… the rest of 2013 is going to be a fun filled, crazy, not boring, information overloading, photo dumping kind of a year!

Here is what you can expect from me:

• Lots and lots of Instagram worthy photo dumps
• Captions & stories that go to those photos
• New recipes that I try from Pinterest (if I ever get around to going to the grocery store!)
• DIY projects from Pinterest
• My garden updates
• My workout/eating goals and plans (successes and failures… I’m human people!)
• Fun things I get to do with my high school students
• Day to Day stuff aka other things that I forgot to mention here!

#shoutouts

Here is Jess and I - Father/Grandpa shirts and matching purses! 

Here is Wendi through our now missing window  - working hard! 

AH. Love them both!

TTFNBNFL (TaTaForNow but not for long!)

A Long Lost Blog Post Update.

Wow. Where have I been? So much has happened since the last post, SO this one I am just going to jump right in like I never went MIA! First things first.... I bet you are DYING to know what our new loft looks like. I hope you weren't holding your breath 'cause that was a major teaser! Without further ado... here is our new loft... AKA The Arts & Crafts Room! 

Pretty nifty huh? We love it and use it 10x more than that plain ole boring sitting room! We did move the sitting room furniture to a back bedroom and we now use that as a reading room (and Santa's Workshop during Christmas!).

A few more things going on...

Erica got engaged!

Yup, Will proposed on Dec 30th, 2012 up in Cleveland, GA at Woodlands Camp. After she walked through the chapel to find a note directing her to the bridge where then she had to walk through about 100 candle-lit mason jars and lanterns, Will was handsomely waiting for her! Once she said yes, the chapel bell was rang by my brothers and the rest of our family came out from the woodworks! We then had a surprise engagement party for them at our house! What a fun day! 

And then last but not least... we had 45 people over for a New Years Eve Party... no big deal. 

Happy 2013!! Let's do this!