He shocks me sometimes...

Random conversation in our house the other day...

Brandon: I don't think Jon and Kate really like each other...
Me: If we had 8 kids I wouldn't like you much either
Brandon: I'm excited about you getting pregnant so we can take those sideways belly pictures...

Then he preceeds to stick his stomach out like he was pregnant. Too bad I could take those pictures now without being pregnant.

The end...

Oh wait...the new Sugarland is amazing and worth getting the deluxe version on ITUNES!! Wish I could be around my friends to sing Stay like I was cheating on someone. Shut up Brandon...I'm not.

Just a little update...

So i've decided that the first year of marriage really is the hardest but the best thing ever. It's so fun to find out new little things about Brandon every day. And even though there are still some issues that we have to work through, some on a daily basis, it's still the best feeling in the world laying down every night to the one that I love more than anything.

Faith like a child...

There are things in life that shake our faith and leave us feeling as though it would be impossible to return to the faith of a child. As those things mount up in this journey we call life, it seems to get harder and harder to return to that faith. With clouded eyes and blurred vision it's hard to even turn back and see what that looks like much less try and remember how it felt. I get so jaded by the world that I wonder sometimes why pray if it will make no difference to "God's will." It's going to happen the way it's going to happen so why try and stop it or change the course that it seems to be on. I worry about things that are out of my control because for once I have found something that I couldn't imagine having to let go of, though i've been in the room when I've let go of someone. I don't really think that you can truly prepare someone for that moment until that sort of moment comes. There are no words to describe that scene. It stays in your mind with you as long as you live. Though time helps you not think about it so much, you never know where you'll be when it hits you. It hits you in the gut most of the time. You are so not ready for the song, the sound, the picture, the touch, the smell that brings you back to that place, but all of a sudden you are there and there's nothing that you can do about it. Morbid as it seems you have to go and replay that scene in your mind just to walk through the process and feel completion. People pray, show up with food and flowers, maybe make a phone call or send a letter when the moment comes. But two years down the road it's just you and your grief and you feel like an idiot for acting the way that you do.

So why keep pushing for things to change, praying for divine intervention to situations around me, asking for this heaviness to be taken away when everyday it just seems to become a cross to hard to bear?

Because I can't stand to live like this anymore. I can't stand to not be able to enjoy the moments I have because of the moments that "might" come sooner than later. I can't stand to be crazy and try to make excuses for it. I can't stand to have my friends wondering what in the hell is wrong with me and why i've become this person because i'm not brave enough to say the words that I'm not ok sometimes. I can't be that person anymore because now I have a husband that depends on me and children who will one day need a mom that's not crazy.

My prayer, everday now, has to be simple. It's really all I've got. Lord, Please help me return to that faith of a child...and help me to hold on. I pray it's in your will.

A new post finally

It's been a while since I've done a real post. I've been trying to catch up with life, laundry, thank you cards and working on this whole married thing. Being married is great. One of the greatest decisions I've ever made. (Besides choosing to go to Judson and moving to Georgia). It is something that I am figuring out has to be worked at on a daily basis. Some days it goes great. Other days...not so much. But thankfully you keep getting better at the whole process...little by little.

I am trying to enjoy my first summer off since I started working in education. I decided not to take classes this summer in order to regain some of my sanity. I am also trying to decide what I really want to be when I grow up and trying to figure out a little bit more about what my passions really are. Family is becoming more and more important to me, though I'm not ready to add to mine quite yet. But it's been fun just spending some time with myself this summer and getting back to the things that I enjoy.

I find myself often wishing that my Judson friends were closer. I know that we would probably kill each other if we saw each other all the time...but somehow Christmas and JDay don't cut it anymore and I find myself in need of the mee-maws more and more often. Other friends are great....really great...but there's nothing like being around the people who get you and love for who they find.

Life is good right now and I pray that each day I can become more and more thankful for the goodness that is in my life and around me and cherish every moment that I have with the people that I love.

So sad....

Just in case you haven't heard....

My heart goes out to them and their family.

www.stevencurtischapman.com

Christy Davis Peevy

The ceremony....

They say that most brides put a lot of time into their reception and little on their ceremony. Well I think I spent more time on the ceremony than anything and it was well worth it. The mothers and grandmothers came into Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) and the Bridesmaids and Groomsmen came into Unfailing Love. The selections were sung by Erin Mattox who has a beautiful voice. I came into Canon in D and was escorted by Terry Carter my old youth miniwster. Scott Kindig met us at the altar and told the stories of how we met and the lives that had impacted us. Scott prayed a prayer of blessing over us and joined our two lives. He talked about the fact that a a cord of three strands are not easily broken and what those three strands are made of (our faith in christ, our love for each other and home and the third was our service to the Body of Christ.) Jason Britt took over next after a reading from our friend Heather Heap and talked about the importance of vows and rings. We exchanged the vows that I wrote for us and our rings. I got a little nervous about the rings, but after a quick glance at Jennifer got it right. :) Our friend Stacey Burgess read what she had wrote for us and it was amazing. I actually remember most of it. Then after a precious prayer from Dustin we were led by Chad in our first communion as husband and wife. Chad did an incredible job. One of the most precious and memorable moments from the ceremony came when Chad asked us to turn around and see the people gathered to love on us. It really calmed us both down and was a great way to take in all the faces that were there. After communion and Give Us Clean Hands, we were pronounced husband and wife. We marched down the aisle to Sign, Sealed, Delivered I'm yours, which most everyone loved. It was a great ceremony that I know we will look back on throughout the years, glad that we planned it so carefully and made it a symbol of us.

Tell Me Why...

The mee-maws are the best. Because they come in and get the job done and make it all about you on your special day...and even the night before. These are the pictures from the bracelet being handed down and the Judson girls singing. It was so good they got an encore!!!

So I do care about the grade on that paper

And it was a good one. Highest in the class actually. It's amazing how much better you do when it's your money paying for the degree and getting that piece of paper means a substantial pay raise for you.

One week to go. Holy Cow...I can't believe that this time next week, I will be getting my hair done for my wedding. That's crazy!!

Cheers!!

So I love the show Cheers!!

I mean I really love it.

So I decided to look up the lyrics to the theme song and here are the lyrics that never aired....

Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you've got;
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?

All those night when you've got no lights,
The check is in the mail;
And your little angel
Hung the cat up by it's tail;
And your third fiance didn't show;

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.

Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee's dead;
The morning's looking bright;
And your shrink ran off to Europe,
And didn't even write;
And your husband wants to be a girl;

Be glad there's one place in the world
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to go where people know,
People are all the same;
You want to go where everybody knows your name.

Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came...

Party Time

The big paper is done. It was actually done yesterday, a day befor it was due. Praise Jesus it's all over. I don't even care about the grade. It's over.

So now I can move onto the fact that...

I GET MARRIED IN 16 DAYS!

Writing

I've been writing a lot lately...

1. A paper on the benefits of single sex education for women. Yeah...tore that one up. Why wouldn't I? I went to an all woman's school. AND...it was a reflective paper at that. Grade 9 out of 10.

2. A paper on ethical issues in education. In other words...why women think it's appropriate to sleep with little boys half their age. No comment Brandon on how you are 4 years younger than me...it's not the same.

3. A paper on collaboration and inclusion. Blah blah blah...don't want to write it, the teacher is going to tear me up on it. Don't want to write it. Due next Thursday. Don't want to write it.

4. Thank you notes...a whole lot of....thank you for the cookie sheets.

5. AND MOST IMPORTANT. OUR VOWS. They don't mention pink shorts, toliet seats, or obeying anything he says...but they are us, and amazing.

If these old walls...

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

April Showers....Bring May Flowers

First off that's a great song by Sugar Land if you haven't heard it.

We have the first of our two showers done. They were amazing. The first one was at Ivy Creek Baptist Church which is his home church. His WHOLE family goes there, both sides. The shower was put on by Debbie Bowen (the lady that set us up) and a whole bunch of other ladies at the church. We got so much kitchen stuff. I have no clue how I would ever use 13 cookie sheets but we got them.

The second shower was put on by our new church Celebration. It was INCREDIBLE. The cake was the most amazing part. I want it to be our wedding cake to be honest with you and I'm checking into that. It is made with our colors and looks like a package...incredible I tell you.

We are almost a month away. I'm excited, scared and overwhelmed at the same time. I only have 3 of 4 papers left and two presentations in that month. What in the world was I thinking taking classes on top of everything else? But in a month it will all be over with and I'll say that I survived.

Ivy Creek

Celebration Shower

Easter

This was our first Easter together. It was so great. There are some fun pictures of Brandon and his dad. I will leave it to your imagination what he is doing to his dad. Christie (his best friend's soon to be wife) and I made fun eggs at the family egg coloring day! His mom bought my Easter dress. Just a warning: you'll see this dress often over the next few weeks. You'll get over it.

Ski Trip

Our first trip with the Celebration Teenagers. It was fun...even losing Tyler for most of the day. We found him....no worries!