Where He Leads, We Will Follow

We want to thank everyone for all the prayers about Jeremy finding a job.  He is still looking, but has several prospects right now.  He has a couple of interviews coming up and a lot of churches where he has applied are accepting resumes until the end of March.  We are expecting the next 2-3 weeks to really determine a lot. 

It has been a scary, new, and exciting experience for us to go through this process of searching and applying for jobs.  We are living by faith, knowing that the Lord will provide.  We have gotten asked many times what we are going to do if Jeremy doesn’t have a job by the time we get married.  We don’t know for sure, but we trust that the Lord will provide- in whatever way He sees fit. 

I’ve learned a lot about trusting in God over the past 3 months.  I’ve learned to be patient, I’ve learned to not be anxious, and I’ve learned to get excited about new adventures.  I’ve learned what a privilege it is that God chooses to use us and intervene in our lives to place us in areas where we can serve and glorify Him.  We’re learning what it means to depend on each other, and how starting our marriage at the same time as possibly moving to a new place is going to cause us to NEED to lean on each other more than we ever have before. 

We are ready and willing to follow wherever He may lead.  We are ready to take risks, to go anywhere.  Whether the Lord places us here in Lynchburg, in North Carolina, across the country, or across the world, we’ll go.  Faith is our invitation for adventure.  We are privileged to be a part of God’s plan, and are ready to follow wherever that plan may take us. 

Please continue to be in prayer for us- Jeremy has an interview for a position at a church here in Lynchburg this week and has another interview coming up in a few weeks.  Pray for peace, direction, and opportunities.

Ruffle Pillows

I’m in the process of making some ruffle pillows out of a wedding gown train from work.  We received a huge detachable train without a dress to match, so I’m attempting to make some pillows for the shop out of it.  I’m telling you, this thing is HUGE.   I can’t believe I’m cutting it up- this train is probably from a dress that is worth more than my car.  It is from an Ian Stuart London dress. 

 

In lei of writing my own tutorial, I’ll just let you see where I found the idea at- Jones Design Company.  She has such a great tutorial, I couldn’t do any better explaining it to you.  Here is one of her pillows below:

So that’s what I’m attempting to make to sit around the bridal shop where I work. 

I started out cutting the ruffles and then sewing them.  But…I’m getting frustrated at the fact that my sewing machine messes up after about 2 ruffles and I have to re-thread and re-do the bobbin.  I hate bobbins, they are the one reason I don’t sew more.  Maybe it’s just my machine, but my bobbin thread gets tangled ALL the time. 

So, instead of doing ruffles all the way down the pillows, I’m only doing to do them on the sides to save myself some grief with the dreaded bobbins.  I think it will still look cute when I’m done and it is stuffed. 

All the while I’m making some homemade croutons to go with some yummy salad this week.  I just got them out of the oven and I burnt about 1/4 of them.  Oh well, I probably wasn’t going to eat them all anyways. 

I’m realizing that these pillows are taking much longer to do than expected, so I’m contemplating just making a couple more and then using the rest of the train as a Christmas tree skirt.  What do you think?  I would defiantly have to cut some off to make it a little more manageable, but I think it would be pretty.  Jeremy would ask where in the world I think I’m going to store it.  And I don’t have an answer for that, but it sure would look lovely.

Stay tuned for the finished product!

23

I turned 23 years old this past Wednesday.  I remember when 23 seemed like you were old.  Now I wonder if you ever actually FEEL old.  I like to joke around with Jeremy because I’m 3 months older than him :)

This birthday was pretty uneventful, but relaxed, so good.  I celebrated my birthday with my family while I was home last weekend and Jeremy took me to Gaffney, SC to eat at Olive Garden on Monday.  I love Italian! 

Remember this apron?

I talked about it in this post. 

My grandparents surprised me with it for my birthday- I was so excited!

My mom, dad, and brother got me this book

I can’t wait to read it!  I love this author and it is set at the Biltmore House which is only 1 hour from my house! 

 

I also got a free coupon in my email for any entree at Moe’s on my birthday- so a free lunch was nice!

Jeremy surprised me after church with a goody bag of bracelets and a necklace from Forever 21.  I love Forever 21 jewelry, it is so pretty but so affordable! 

All in all, it was a great birthday and I am thankful for another year of life.  This next one will be even better!

Bridal Shower

It has been several days since I posted- it feels like its been forever!  Jeremy and I drove down to NC for the weekend for a bridal shower! 

My mom, aunts, and grandmother graciously hosted the shower and spent so much time preparing for everything- I appreciate all you ladies did to make the shower special! 

The ladies who made it happen- minus my mom who was taking the picture.  My matron of honor, Heather, helped them set up.  Thank y’all so much!!

The shower was so beautiful and the perfect beachy colors to go with the wedding theme. 

The cake was from Granny’s Bakery in Spindale, NC.  They were petit fours- it reminded me of Samantha Parkington in the American Girl books series/dolls.  Does anyone else remember her?  She was from the Victorian Era and was my favorite when I was little.  She always had a petit four with her afternoon tea.  :) 

There was so much wonderful food!

Mama used our engagement pictures and some sea shells to decorate the tables with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn’t allowed to see the fellowship hall before all the decorations were put together- this is me seeing it all for the first time as I came inside. 

Three of my bridesmaids were able to make it to the shower- we missed Sarah and Alex.

Thank you girls for coming and being part of this with me!

And one with the flower girl too- my little cousin Kyndra.

We received so many wonderful gifts from everyone!  Here are a few pictures

Shower Guests :)  So thankful for the influence all of these ladies have had on my life.  I love you all!

We were sooo blessed to receive so many generous gifts!

Jeremy and my dad came at the end of the shower to help load up all the gifts.  Jeremy and I enjoyed looking through the gifts together and the recipes ladies brought as well. 

My dad, grandmother, and Carolyn. 

It was such a great day and I had so much fun!  Thanks again to everyone who had any part in making it happen!

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If you heard about our blog from the shower- welcome!  I hope that this will be a tool to help you keep up to date with Jeremy and I as we prepare for marriage, and as we soon become newlyweds.  Feel free to look around and see what I’ve written in the past. To navigate your way around, click on the words to the right of the screen.  You can look at posts by month (just click the month any posts I wrote during that month will come up. Click on any you’d like to read).  Another way to

I would love for you to follow our blog if you have a Google (gmail) account, a twitter account, or a yahoo account.  Just click on the “Follow” button at the top right and follow the directions, logging in using whatever account you have.  This just lets us know you’re out there and reading. :)

If you don’t already have an Google account or if you would just like to receive emails containing any new posts, enter your email address into the “Email Subscription” box to the right below the followers.  You will need to confirm your email account, but afterwards you will recieve anything new I write directly in your inbox. 

Look for a welcome page soon to help you navigate around the blog. 

I hope you are encouraged by what you read and that you enjoy reading about us!

Appomattox Courthouse

This morning Jeremy and I made a trip up to see the Appomattox Courthouse in Appomattox VA- where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant in the Civil War.  Appomattox is only 30 minutes from Lynchburg, but Jeremy and I had never been up there together.  I visited one time with my family when I came to visit Liberty while I was in high school, and Jeremy had never been.  It has been on our bucket list of things to do before leaving Lynchburg, and today was such a beautiful and sunny day to go!  Because it is the “off season”, it only cost $5 for the two of us to go. 

The visitor’s center

The General Merchandise store.   I love looking antique goods!

The printing press- this is where they printed the release papers for a lot of soldiers.  Jeremy and I loved these hardwood floors!

This key was HUGE- it looks like the picture is zoomed, but really the key was about a foot long.  It was found during the reconstruction of the house. Old slave house- now a restroom :)I was loving this gun rack! I took this picture for my Dad- you need to make one of these Daddy :)  This is in the bottom floor of the jail. I thought this “candleholder” was cute.  Jeremy informed me that it was in fact a whiskey bottle.  You can’t see if but it has a whiskey label on the roof.  Still- cute idea.   

This is inside the McClain House- where the surrender papers were signed.  We kept calling it a treaty- but were informed that it isn’t a treaty but a series of letters that declared surrender.  A treaty can only be signed between two countries evidently- and we were in fact one country.  You learn something new everyday. 

That little table is where Grant sat and he had 14 officers with him in the room.    This is where Lee sat- he had one officer with him.  This is the dining room in the McClain house- I love old kitchens and dining rooms! This was me realizing that my battery was about to die and that I hadn’t taken a picture of the two of us yet. :)  I got Jeremy to take the one below it of me quickly before it died as well.  I’m standing in front of the McClain house and the treaty was signed in the room where that top window is.  

 

We had a fun little day trip, now off to work and then headed home to NC for a bridal shower this weekend!  Can’t wait to see everyone!

Groomsmen Attire

It took me a long time, but we finally nailed down the groomsmen attire.  They will be wearing these lovely green shirts from Belk.  They are IZOD, and are "Palm Branch” color. 

They have a linen look to them, can you see the detail up close?  It makes it a bit more casual looking than a regular dress shirt.  The guys are going to be wearing these shirts with some plain ole’ khakis from Target.  They coordinate well with the bridesmaids dress fabric.