Show Us Your Life: Tell us about your church!!

I attend a couple of churches. I attend Frontline Community Church in Ramstein, Germany while I live in Germany but when I am home, I go to Sherman Bible Church in Sherman, TX.

I will talk about Sherman Bible Church because I absolutely LOVE it!!! I guess you could say my family is somewhat "new" to the church. We switched to Sherman Bible Church the summer of 2008 I believe. I was in college at the time so I only attended the church when I was at home. Once I actually moved home after school, I got to attend alot more to see what it was all about. Let me just tell you, I have never been to a church with such loving, unselfish, non-judgemental people before in my life until I attended Sherman Bible Church.

These are the only pictures I have of Sherman Bible...my wedding! ha

This is the worship center! I couldn't even tell you how many members there are! I know there are over 800 just in the children's department!

What is it all about?

Sherman Bible Church is a very layed back, contemporary church! You won't see anyone dressed up in a suit and tie at this church! You will see most people in jeans and a nice top ready to worship! That's what its all about right? It doesn't matter what you wear or how you are dressed!! Every Sunday, you can expect to be welcomed with free coffee! They also offer a coffee bar that is open before the service begins.

This is the church from the outside..you can kind of get an idea.

How about the service?

There is a worship team that plays each Sunday with Praise and Worship music. Then a prayer time takes place where the whole church takes a time to pray for our community and local churches, as well as missions. Then Pastor, Dennis Henderson, gets up to speak an encouraging message. Take note, he isn't the kind of pastor that stands up there and it feels like he is yelling at you....he actually speaks to you like he is talking to you AND he isn't boring!!!! Imagine that!! I used to doze off every Sunday sitting through church before we moved to Sherman Bible, but now, I can't get enough of Dr. Henderson!!! I have never gained so much knowledge from another pastor before!!

This is the foyer where they have the coffee bar!!

What do you believe?

I grew up in a Baptist church and Sherman Bible has the same belief's as Baptists do! We believe that you get to heaven by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and confessing your sins. John 3:16

If you want to know more about this amazing church, visit http://www.shermanbible.com/.

Posting wedding pictures gave me an idea to post about my wedding!!! I will once I get around to it!! :)

P.S. THANKS TO LAUREN ASHLEY PHOTOGRAPHY for my AMAZING wedding pictures!!! Visit her website at www.laurenashleyphotos.com

What I'm Loving Wednesday!!!

First of all, I am {LOVING} this weather!! It has been so beautiful these past few days!!


I am {LOVING} Skype!! I don't know what I would do without it! Its the only way of communicating with my husband (besides texts). And when we are both in Germany, its the only way of communicating with our families!!


I'm {LOVING} my Camelbak water bottle! I have never been a big water drinker but decided to buy a Camelbak hoping it would make me drink more water. And it HAS! I drink about 2-3 full bottles a day! Which is between 48 and 72 ounces of water a day! Thats a lot compared to what I used to drink (maybe a half of a 16 oz water bottle).

My Weekend...

At about 9pm Friday night, I decided to go to a funeral in La Grange, Texas on Saturday morning. It was Bryce's aunts mothers funeral so I'm not sure if we are "officially" related or not but all of Bryce's family went and I really wanted to see all of them.

At 5:30am Saturday morning, I woke up and headed to McKinney to meet Bryce's other aunt, Cristy, and her daughter, Emily, and I road with them to La Grange. La Grange is a small, country town close to Austin. We got there at around 11am and the funeral started at noon. It was soooo good to see Bryce's family!! But it also made me miss my husband SO MUCH!!! Words can't even describe how much I missed him. There were a couple of times I almost lost it cause I missed him so much. Seeing his family kind of made me feel closer to him though. I know Bryce wishes more than anything that he could have been there.

The funeral was a very laid back setting. It was very casual! We had a big BBQ and then afterwards, we went out to the families ranch and B & B. I absolutely LOVED it out there!! It would be such a fun place to get away for the weekend! I definitely miss being around all the "country" living!!

After hanging out for awhile, I left with Bryce's parents and brothers and we headed to The Woodlands to visit Bryce's older brother and his wife. Oh my word, I wish I had pictures of their house because it was BEAUTIFUL!! I want to live in the Woodlands!! That is the coolest town ever!! We went to eat at a really cool pizza place called Grimaldi's. Best Pizza Ever!! It tasted just like the pizza in France!

Then we left and got on the road and ended up staying in a hotel for the night. This morning, we got up and went to Dallas to meet up with my parents and we ate at a burger place. Then my mom, dad, and I went shopping at the Grapevine Mills mall for a little bit then headed home. It has definitely been a fun filled weekend!!

I SO wish I would have taken some pictures this weekend but I kept forgetting about my camera!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I am LOVING that this week is Spring Break for my family! Its so nice to have everyone home so I am not bored to death by myself!!


I'm also LOVING my Columbia Jacket. I swear I wear this thing everyday! I am ALWAYS cold!!



I am LOVING me some TEXAS!!!! I haven't seen this Great State in almost a year and boy am I glad to be back!! I've already hit up most of the fast food places!! I don't want to go back to Germany. I wish I could just stay here forever!!



There is also this other thing that I am LOVING but it can't be shared yet!! :)

Show Us Your Life: Family

I grew up in a very large family. I have an older brother and three younger sisters.

A little about my family...

My parents have been married for almost 25 years. My dad is an accountant and a baseball addict. My mom is a Biology teacher at the high school and the cheer coach.

Siblings: My older brother, Charles, lives in Tyler, TX and works at Suddenlink. The sister that is 2 years younger than me, Rebekah, lives with my parents and is attending Grayson County College, aka "Harvard on the hill". In the picture below, she is the one on the bottom row, far right. The next sister is Sarah, she is a senior in high school and is a cheerleader. She plans on going to a school where she can cheer and get a degree in Fashion Merchandising. Sarah is on the far right in the middle, right above Rebekah. The youngest sister is Laura. She is a freshman in high school and plays softball and is also a cheerleader. She is on the bottom row on the far left.

Me, along with all of my sisters were cheerleaders in high school. And yes, our mom was our coach. I really enjoyed it and miss it!! My parents raised us to go to church and we were really involved in our church. We were all in Awana's, choir, VBS etc. We attended summer camps every summer. Here's a cool fact that not a lot of people know... my mom homeschooled us for several years when we were younger. Once we moved to our current town, my mom put us in school. I was in the 5th grade. I seriously thought it was the end of the world for me. I did NOT want to go to public school. I was extremely shy and hated the fact that I would have to be surrounded by people I have never met. I think I cried for a month straight. Now, I am thankful that my parents put us in school.

I have an amazing family and wouldn't trade them for the world! I am so thankful that God has blessed me with a good, family who supports each other.

Show Us Your Life: Alma Mater

I graduated from Sherman High School in 2007. I was a cheerleader for all 4 years and played softball freshman and sophomore year. I don't really have anything special to say about SHS. We have the longest rivalry in Texas. Sherman Vs. Denison.... Its called the Battle of the Axe. Its been going on for over 100 years.

After high school, I went on the Tyler Junior College. I actually loved TJC. Probably because I just loved Tyler. Tyler is in East Texas and it has roughly 120,000 people who live there. Over 10,000 of those people go to TJC. And 35,000 of those attend Green Acres Baptist Church. Yes, I said 35,000. Tyler is the "Rose Capital of the Nation". It got its name due to the large quantity of rose bushes in the area. Tyler also has America's largest rose garden.

Tyler is great place to raise a family. Bryce and I hope to go back there when he is done with the military in 2013.

While I was in Tyler, I worked at the Boys and Girls Clubs of East Texas and I miss it terribly!! I absolutely LOVED those kids!! I was a Youth Development Professional and a SEE Paraprofessional. Those words sound fancier than they really are. I worked there for 2 years and was a teacher in the SEE program. The SEE program stands for Sequential English Education. I, along with other Education degree college students worked in a classroom and we taught the BGC kids English. All of the students were way under their reading level and our goal was to get them to their level or higher.

I received my Associates from TJC in December of 2009 and them moved back home to plan a wedding. I plan to go back and get my Bachelors degree once I move back to the states.

Hapy Valentines Day AND 1 Year Anniversary to my Husband!

First off, let me wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day!

Now what everyone might be wondering... our anniversary. It is true, today is our original 1 year wedding anniversary!!

To the people who read my blog that don't know me, Bryce and I got married on April 25, 2010. No one knows about our valentines anniversary....until now!!! :)

First, let me give a little background...

In January of 2010, I moved home to plan our wedding after graduating from college. Bryce was at basic training and Tech school (Air Force) while I was at home. Our original plan was to get married in April and then move immediately to Germany where Bryce would be stationed for 3 years. We learned that this was going to be impossible and we had to change up our plans...

Here's the story....

My mom is a teacher at Sherman High School and I was a substitute there to earn a little extra money while I was living at home. I graduated from SHS in 2007 so I knew a lot of the teachers.

My mom is friends with my old cheer coach at SHS... I will refer to her as Mrs. R.

One day my mom was telling Mrs. R about our wedding plans. Mrs. R has a son in the military and knows all the in's and out's of everything. She informed my mom that it would be impossible for us to get married and then move immediately to Germany.

Here's why... the military requires a lot of paper work. After we got married, I would need to get a military passport (different than the normal ones), have doctor's appointments so I could be released to go overseas, get a couple of shots (eek), and so much more.

Mrs. R knows that all the paper work is a loooong and difficult process. She knew it would take months to complete it. And boy was she right!!

After my mom heard this news, she came rushing into the room I was subbing in and told me the news. We immediately had to come up with a solution! What in the world are we going to do?? The only thing we could come up with was...make it official earlier than planned!

So that's what we did.. that afternoon, I called Bryce's mom and told her the idea. Once Bryce called me that night, I told him the idea. He thought the idea sounded great.

So the very next weekend would be February 14, 2010. Bryce was in San Antonio for Tech School and wasn't able to go very far away from the base. We were just going to go to the court house in San Antonio to make it official.

Then a grand thought came to mind... my old youth minister lives in Austin! Him and his wife had such a huge impact on my life, I knew it would be so special if he could marry us!

I gave him a call and we told him our situation...he was more than willing to marry us on Feb 14, 2010. I will refer to him as KG.

I was so thankful and soooo very excited!!

Then the day came....February 14, 2010... KG worked at a church that overlooked some beautiful land with a small stream going through the land. It was BEAUTIFUL!! And so perfect! KG met with Bryce and I before we tied the knot while both of our families went to get lunch. After they ate, they came to the church and we had a small ceremony.

It was by far the most special moment in my life. We said our vowels, exchanged rings, and kissed!

After the small ceremony, Bryce's sweet sweet mother and grandmother put together a small reception. They bought a cake, had sparking grape juice, and they even made a small bouquet for me!! It was so special!

Now you might be thinking...why didn't you tell anyone?????

Well, we felt it was unnecessary. After Bryce and I got married, we went back to our normal lives. Bryce was at Tech school for the next few months and I went back home to finish planning our April 25th wedding.

It didn't even really feel like we were married because we were apart the whole time. I did go visit him a couple of times over the weekends.

Why did we still have the April 25th wedding? Because we had already put so much money into it and everything was almost all planned. And of course, my dream as a little girl was to have THE dream wedding.

You also maybe thinking... did the paperwork really take a long time? Long enough to get married early?

Actually, I thought it was crazy at first but yes...it took me forever! It took 6 weeks to get my new passport in. I had a packet about an inch thick that I and a doctor had to fill out. If I would have waited until April, there is no way I would have been able to go to Germany with Bryce.

I know if for a fact because Bryce has a friend over in Germany who had to leave his pregnant wife back at home because she didn't have all of the paper work done in time. He spent about 10 weeks in Germany without his wife.

I am soooo thankful for Mrs. R. If it wasn't for her, I would have been stuck in the states for who knows how long!

So there it is!! It's so nice to finally get that off my chest... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BRYCE!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!