Jarrett + Amanda =

A few weeks back....12 to be exact I started feeling tired and sore and I just knew that I had to be pregnant.  So I decided to take a pregnancy test.  I didn't tell Jarrett just in case I was wrong.  So I take it and walk out of the restroom crying to Jarrett because there was only one pink line and if I wasn't pregnant, then something was really wrong with me because I just felt so strange!  After a quick second look I say "Jarrett, do you see that?"  And there it was, a faint pink second line.  Oh my gosh!!  We freak out a little.  But since it was so faint, we still aren't sure that it is real.  After a few days and THREE more pregnancy tests, we determine that yes, we are expecting!!  WOW!  I can not even begin to explain the emotions I felt.  I'll be honest....it started with fear until it finally turned into excitement!!

And here we are holding our first set of sonogram pictures.  Our first appointment was on September 10th and the baby looked great!   

Summer Camp

If we look really tired in this picture, it is because WE WERE! I think Jarrett got a total of 15 hours of sleep ALL week! This was my first year to attend Breakaway Camp, and it was awesome! The last time I attended a camp was 10 years ago when I was in high school, and boy have things changed!! I never had Starbucks, Marble Slab, Smoothie King, YouTube night, a band from Sweden or anything like that at youth camp! The worship band was amazing, and the speaker was amazing and I just really had a great week worshipping God! There were over 500 middle schoolers there, and I just loved getting to know the Grace girls better.
I was pretty proud to have my husband as a member of the P.O.O.P. squad at camp. Here they are in action....and yes that is a real mustache on my husband. SCARY!

Where Did it Go?

Where has the summer gone?? Due to the fact that I am no longer a teacher, I somewhat missed out on summer vacation. I had to go into work about two days a week this summer, which wasn't too bad, but oh how I missed having two straight months of nothingness!!! And this Monday, I officially started my contract....so here we go again!

Anyways, here are some pictures from the Fourth of July. We hung out at my parents pool with about 40 other family and friends.

What do you do at a Good Friday Service?

This is the question I asked my husband as we headed to church on Friday night. In my 28 year history of attending church, I have never attended (or even heard about) a Good Friday service. Boy have I been missing out! We had an incredible service filled with worship and a powerful message. Bryan, our pastor, read straight from the book of Matthew about the passover feast, the betrayal and the crucifixion of Jesus. As I listened to the story, I tried to visualize what it must have really been like to be there. I pictured Jesus as a man. I can only wonder what he truly looked like. I tried to imagine the physical pain He felt as he hung on the cross. At the end of the service we were given the option to nail our personal sins to a cross that was at the front of the church. My heart jumped as the first sin was nailed to the cross and I thought of my Saviour's hands and feet being pierced by the nails as He was hung on the cross. As we were leaving the service I overheard Jarrett in a conversation. He made the point that Jesus dying on the cross means nothing without His resurrection. Without His resurrection He was just a man who was crucified, but He rose from the dead and He conquered the grave for all of us who believe in Him. What a Good Friday, and an even better Sunday!

After church on Sunday, we headed to my parents house to eat...and man did we eat!! It was delicious as usual. And we got to spend it with my Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, Ashley, Asher, Abram and my parents. (Aaron, my brother, had to work)

Asher and Abram, my favorite nephews. I just had to include this cute picture!

What Better Way to Spend a Friday night.....

than with these two guys and my man.

He's going to make a great daddy one day!

And so is he!!! Later though!

The Big Day

We had a wonderful wedding. Short, sweet, and beautiful. God is so good to have given me this man to marry.

Gorgeous Nephews:

The Week Before the Wedding

We had quite the eventful wedding week. Let's just say my husband is quite the trooper and he proved it the week before the wedding. On the Monday before the wedding I get a call from my fiance that he is headed to Tyler to get a CT scan. He had been at the doctor's office all morning after I insisted that he go after a weekend of complaining that his side hurt. The CT scan revealed that he had an inflamed appendix and would need to have an emergency appendectomy. So off to the hospital we went and by 6:00 that night, Jarrett had one less body part. After a night of funny moments, including him peeing in a drawer, we left the hospital at 9:00 the next morning, swung by the county clerk's office to get our marriage license and headed home. I tucked him into bed at my house and tried to relax (yeah right!). So the week before the wedding was very challenging, but very much worth it!