Day 20 Where I want to be in 10 years

In 10 years I will be almost 40...Whoa lets just think about that for a minute. I can't believe that that makes me even a little more scared of turning 30 next year and thats turning 40 I mean I can't even wrap my mind around that it wasn't that long ago that I thought 30 was a long way off. So back to the topic at hand Where do I want to be in 10 years. I would love to be homeschooling our kids hopefully we will have 2 kids then. Our house should be paid off in that time. Maybe just maybe in 10 years we could look at still building a house, not sure how that will work. We love our house and Jeremy is adamant that he is never moving again until he's dead ha! I however would still love to build a house just for us (don't think it will happen though). I would love to have the ministry into it's own office building and reclaim our 5th bedroom in our house as a kids bedroom or guest bedroom or a joint office for Jeremy and I. I would love to maybe open an etsy shop in that time because I would love to say that I have had time to create and make. Another thing I would love to see happen is that the Jeremy and I can also travel speaking to churches and encouraging them. I would also love to start being able to ministering to wives who have a husband with "handicaps". It's been on my heart. 

It's a little hard to say where I want to be in 10 years because 10 years ago I was a young 19 year old girl. The only thing that is the same from 10 years ago is I live in Iowa. I never would have imagined 10 years ago moving back to Florida and get married and never thought I would be back in Iowa. To top that never thought I would have bought a house in Iowa either ever. 

I definitely believe in making plans and always having a goal, but I have always have learned that when you leave your life in God's hands nothing is predictable and it's the best adventure in life you can ever imagine. So while I have my ideas of where I want to be in 10 years God's plans and ideas are always better and always more fun!!!

Day 16 Dream Job!

Growing up I have had some different dream jobs. I wanted to be a teacher at one point. Than later a labor and delivery nurse, than it was an oncology nurse. Always in the back of my mind I wanted to be a wife and mom. More specifically I wanted to be married to someone in the ministry. As I have gotten older my dream job as changed to being full time wife and mommy. I have been a full time stay at home wife since marrying Jeremy and hoping that before to much longer the second part of being a stay at home mommy will happen. So I have been living half of my dream job for almost 5 years and I am excited to start the next half when God chooses.

Day 15 A timeline of my day!

My timeline of my day varies from day to day. So I am going to give you an outline of my week.

Monday: Jeremy has his aide come and help him which makes it an easy day for me. I like to try and catch up on laundry and straighten the house.

Tuesday: It's Jeremy and I all day long. Usually I catch up on anything from I didn't get done on monday or any other day.

Wednesday: Jeremy's aid comes again. I have Bible Study with my Grandma and my aunt during the day. We also have Church on Wednesday night.

Thursday: This has become one of my favorite days. We go over to my grandmas house to play cards and eat dinner with her and my grandpa and a family friend.

Friday: Jeremy's aid comes again. My weekly schedule is fluid in the sense that I might have errands to run or dr appts to take my aunt or my grandma too. I have even started picking up little projects like sewing and my blog and shortly doing a diy on our dining room table.

Saturday: I usually do my lesson plans for childrens church and get ready for church on Sunday.

Sunday; We have church sunday morning and recently we have been going to my grannys house on sunday afternoon after church and lunch. Than its an early relaxing night at home for us.

Day 3 ... Meaning of my Business Name.

Well I don't have a business so I decided to change this one up and give the meaning of my name Jeremys name and the names we have picked out for our children.

My Name is Katherine Elizabeth

Katherine means- Pure and consecrated to God
Elizabeth means- Beloved or Oath of God

Jeremy's name is Jeremy Lee

Jeremy means- Exalted of the Lord
Lee means- Pasture or Meadow


We have 3 names picked out for our children

Gideon Jeremiah

Gideon means- Mighty Warrior
Jeremiah means- Whom God has Chosen

Judah Isaiah

Judah means- Praise
Isaiah means- The salvation of the Lord

Zoe Grace

Zoe means- Abundant Life
Grace means- Unmerited Favor



When I was younger I really came to understand that words are powerful and our names are words and that when you name your children to be careful because that is what you are speaking over your child everyday and it can be a curse or a blessing. My mom always said had she realized this before she had us kids that she would have definitely looked and maybe researched more before picking our names but my brothers and I ended up with some powerful meaning names. Since I realized what power names have I researched carefully any names I liked for my kids before I was married. Each one of the names Jeremy and I have picked out have all come to us either from something God spoke to us about our children or out of a time of testing. Jeremy and I are not sure how our children will come to us whether by personal pregnancy or all by adoption but we know that God has powerful plans for all of our children even if there is more than the 3 we have named above. God is in control of our family and we know he will bring the babies when and how many we are suppose to have and give us the wisdom and guidance to raise them and to know when we are done having babies.

The Real Deal...

So 15 minutes before you head out the door to church is not the greatest time to start a blog post but hey you grab the time you get and for me its very far and few between. I read blogs all the time from women who have full time jobs, kids, full time jobs with kids, some have full time jobs, kids, and go to school full time or part time, and here I am sitting here married with a dog. Like "Okay Katie get it together there are women out there that are doing more things and blog way more. However I know that everyone's situation is different and people make different priorities (not saying anything bad about making blogging a priority). I have been so encouraged lately though by a blog that I don't even remember how I found but it has done my heart so much good because its the real deal. Click here to read it Dana has had so many encouraging posts that have done so much good for my heart and soul and lets me know I am not alone. However it has also challenged me to become the Real Deal. To reach out and talk more about our marriage and the obstacles that come with it and the way we have to do things differently and to know I am not crazy to feel overwhelmed with things arise. In an interdependent marriage someone is left with a bigger load to carry and even if you have a health aid it doesn't necessarily eliminate it all. Sometimes you just get overwhelmed.

For Jeremy and I we really haven't had any consistency other than be crazy busy and having people live with us since we have been married. I think out of 3 1/2 years we have had 6 months were it was just us in the house us and the dog. However consistency is key in a marriage like ours I am sure in others too but I can only speak for my marriage. Things I have learned in the past 4 years (with an interdependent marriage) is that you have to keep a very loose schedule which doesn't really work in our able bodied focused world. While we strive to keep to a schedule and not run late its always when something major happens like a wire breaks, body functions go awry yes tmi but our marriage has been a journey has included a ton of tmi moments. Another thing is that no matter what as the able bodied partner you have two wear 2 different hats you have to wear a caretaker hat and you have to wear the spouse hat. There are so many times that it is hard or impossible to switch from caretaker to spouse in a heartbeat.


Obviously a lot of time has passed since this blog was first started and so much has changed since this. We have sold our house moved across the country and bought a house and are settling in. We also hired an aide for Jeremy. It has been wonderful and it has really helped our marriage a lot. I am not having to switch hats so often any more and its been nice to feel some doors open again that I thought had been shut forever without an aid. I still plan on being the real deal in my blogs and living a more transparent life in regards to a interdependent marriage. For now though I just will post this and leave it at that.

AN Update on whats going on

The easiest way to do this is to just copy our newsletter that our ministry just sent out to let everyone know whats been going on and everything that is changing.



Greetings In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

I (Katie) am writing you today to let you know about some exciting changes happening in Pastor Jeremy and I’s life as well as changes to Jesus Saves International Ministries. We are very excited about the changes coming in the next few months and years.
Personally, Pastor Jeremy and I (Katie) are excited to announce we are moving to Iowa. This was a long thought out process. The idea of moving to Iowa was put on our hearts 3 years ago when we went to visit right before we were married in the fall of 2010. We have patiently waited for doors to open if this was the right decision. Fast forward to June of 2013 and the biggest obstacle standing in our way was removed in such a way that only God could have done it. We are excited to step into this new chapter in our lives and everything that God has for us.
Changes for Jesus Saves are amazing and scary and faith filled all at the same time. The first change is we brought Pastor Juan onto our board of Directors as our Chief Financial Officer. We also are able to hire Pastor Juan as an office assistant. Pastor Juan served as assistant youth pastor at Harvest Christian Center until 2014. He also has several years of ministry experience. Angela will be stepping down from our board after 2 years of faithful service.  The biggest change goes hand in hand with us moving to Iowa. Pastor Jeremy and I have been praying about how God would use us in Iowa and the new community we will be in. That’s when God began to lay a vision on our heart for the community and how we can reach out and minister in a very real and tangible way.
The vision God has laid on both of our hearts is to open up a community center. We are looking at a building that is currently empty and has been empty for a couple of years. It is a 10,000+ sq ft building with a gymnasium, commercial kitchen, showers, and several classrooms. It is currently zoned as residential which would allow for “civic” activities. We are currently in contact with a local building official who is helping us figure out what we are allowed to do without having to change the zoning and would allow us to live on the campus. The reasoning for us living on campus is two-fold and that is one to be able to watch over the building and two; security. Also depending on how we purchase the building one option is to use the money from the sale of our house to buy the building which is why we would also live on campus. The second option would be to try and get a grant to purchase the building. Right now we are looking into grants. I have been talking to a friend who wrote grants as a job and they were honest and let us know that it is almost impossible to find grants large enough to purchase the building. We also would like to get a grant that would help with payroll and expenses for the first year or at least until we can gain some income from the community building. The payroll grant would go to Pastor Juan as he is prayerfully considering joining us in Iowa and partnering with us in running the community center. He would also live on campus as the 24 hr maintenance man.
Two things you can do for us right now; Number 1 pray, pray, pray, it’s the most important thing; Number 2 is donate money. We hate always asking for money but unfortunately ministry takes money and God has given us big dreams and visions. We know God can provide for what He calls us to do and we know that ultimately He is who will sustain us. I know God never gives vision without provision. Thank you so much for your prayers we covet them daily. Thank you for your support; your funds go to support sending out our daily devotions right now and also sending out salvation packets via mail or email. We truly couldn’t do it without you. You are our biggest partners.
As always please feel free to email anyone of us with any questions.
Pastor Jeremy: jlempie@jesussavestoday.com
Katie Empie: kempie@jesussavestoday.com
Pastor Juan: jlagrandeur@jesussavestoday.com

Until All Hear His Name,

Pastor Jeremy & Katie
Pastor Juan

2 years!

Two years ago I was getting ready to walk down the aisle and say I do. It was a wonderful! I wasn't nervous or stressed. I knew I was making the right choice and I had no reason to be nervous or stressed. I can't believe it'e been 2 years it doesn't seem like it and yet we seem to have gone thru a lifetime of ups and downs. I wouldn't have my life any other way. God knew what we needed though the first year and half our marriage to focus on each other because we tried very hard but seemed like nothing we did opened any doors in our ministry or even in our local church to serve. In the beginning part of this year things in the ministry started picking up tremendously and today we send out roughly 1200 daily e-devotions. It's all glory and praise to God for that. We than switched to a church and a lot doors of serving have been opened and it has been busy needless to say. I am so happy for what's in store for our lives in the years to come I am glad that everyday our marriage grows stronger and our friendship and love grow deeper. I truly did marry my best friend. I love you honey!

2012...to be continued

So this year is nothing like I expected it would be. We have ups and downs; stress and relief; happiness and sadness. Earlier this year the hubs and I made a decision to switch churches. We do not take that decision lightly especially now being married and wanting to start a family. There were lots of reasons we left but the biggest one was the feeling of being overlooked a lot. It seemed like a struggle to get involved and stay involved. I had personally been attending this church for 6 years and I can't really name someone who I would call up in a time of need or emergency. I have been silent of this front for a lot of reasons. We still know people who attend this church and it is a larger church in our area and I know that they are doing a lot of good things however it wasn't the right fit for us. No we aren't looking for the perfect church because it doesn't exist but a church were you feel welcomed and like family and were people actually talk to you is what we craved. We craved fellowship with other believers. I felt like I could stay at home and watch church on tv or livestream  on the internet and get the same amount of fellowship as walking into the church. We wanted to be missed if we weren't there and checked on if we suddenly didn't show up. Maybe churches are that way anymore but it sure should be. However God lead us to a gem of a church on Easter Sunday we were visiting with my in-laws and we haven't left since. It is so refreshing being there and having people talk to you and for people to even recognize if you miss your normal service (we have 2 sunday morning services). It has been so easy to get involved in church activites and ministries. That was the first big change that happened a high you could say. As we entered into the high of finding an amazing church we gained another high of finding out we were expecting our first little love. Unfortunately I miscarried within 2 weeks of finding out and our little love was called home to heaven. We had a huge stress relief come with the purchase of our new car a Kia Sorento. Before we had this vehicle we never left the house literally we would very rarely leave the house and take our vehicle. Our van would leave us stranded at the drop of a hat and when you have a husband or any loved one that is wheelchair dependent it doesn't make for an easy situation. Especially when people couldn't figure out what was wrong for so long. We went on our honeymoon in May. It was wonderful and relaxing. We spent 7 days in Orlando and though we didn't see much it was exactly what the doctor ordered.  We came home and hit the ground running. We got involved at church and in a couple of weeks our youth program will begin for this fall and we are both involved in it. Our minister Jesus Saves International has taken off. We now send out over 600 daily e-devotions. God has truly blessed us. We have been able to construct a new studio that the hubs will be able to use to speak into the lives of many through weekly video podcasts. God has been gracious enough to allow 22 people to get saved thru the ministry. God gets all the glory and honor for everything. I spent most of the summer watching our nieces while my brother and sister-in-law worked. It helped grow the bound even more however we are thankful that that particular season has come to a close for now. I continue to walk on this weight loss journey as it has been slow and hard but steadily I push on never giving up. I am so excited to see what the rest of this year holds for us and where God will continue to take us.

Positive, Positive, Negative, Negative, Negative???!!!

So 2 weeks ago today I took 2 pregnancy test (different brands, different times) and they both turned out positive. Jeremy and I were ecstatic especially since having been told that we might not be able to have children of our own. We quickly told his our parents and a couple of very very close friends. For the most part though we kept it very hush hush until I was able to go to the doctor to confirm the pregnancy. I had a few symptoms some slight nausea, constant tiredness, and irritability. We even bought some baby stuff to prepare. I was cautiously optimistic until it was confirmed through the doctor. A little less than 2 weeks after the test at home I went to the midwifes office and we did the initial exam and did a urine sample which was negative (although not surprised as I had been up for around 4 hrs by the time they had did that test and drank quite a bit of water as I normally do and it definitely was was not my first time going to the bathroom that day. However the midwife didn't seem concerned and wanted to do some blood work as well to just make sure. I went home to wait for the results. She first told me that she would only call if the blood work was negative and I didn't receive a call until closer to 430 today. I was hoping that by it being so late in the afternoon that it was a positive since she said I wouldn't get a call unless it was negative. When she called she told me that my blood work was negative and was anywhere remotely positive. I was told that there was only two possibilities and that was either I had false positives at home or possible had been pregnant and I caught it really early and than had a very early miscarriage or what is called a chemical pregnancy. I have done a lot of reading and research the past couple of weeks and from everything I have read it seems that false positives are very rare unless you didn't follow the instructions on the pregnancy test (which I followed to the letter of the law) and more than likely what happens is you have an early miscarriage. It all doesn't seem real as we hadn't made any announcements to many people and it was all kinda quiet at home and didn't really talk that much about the baby just because I didn't want to keep bringing it up and get my hopes up. So this doesn't at all seem real. I really believed despite the negatives that I was pregnant and that we somehow lost this precious little baby and that God took a little angel home the past couple of weeks. We both know that God is ultimately in control of everything and that for whatever the reason we had to go through this season and lesson He ultimately holds us. I don't know what the future exactly holds for us but I know the ONE who holds our future and I know that He knows His plan for us.

VACATION!!!!

Vacation Time!!! I am so excited. Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Savannah Georgia. My hubby and our roommate are all going to be able to go. This is the first trip that my hubby and I have been on together since before we got married. We are going to go see my best friend, hubby, and baby. They are doing their baby's baby dedication this weekend and they will have lots of family and friends there this weekend. I am so excited because we will be able to be there for 5 days, thats the longest we have ever been able to stay there most of the time we are there just for the weekend. Usually from Friday to Sunday. This will be my honey's first time to meet their baby. I will be posting pictures when we get back next week!!!!

Some new pics from our night out!

Last Wednesday night J and I and A all went down to Outback for our little family outing. After outback we went down to Palafox pier. I believe that is one of my hubbys favorite spots, he loves going there especially after outback or anything we do down in that area. We took a bunch of pictures while there and boy do I look like my momma. We got some good ones taken. We enjoyed our time down there will have to do that more often this summer especially with having our new wheels. I have also lost almost 50lbs in these pictures. J's face cracks me up in some of the ones in the last ones with all three of us.

Our new baby Cherry!

I am so excited and so is J, we bought our first car together yesterday! We bought a 2011 Kia Sorento. We were looking for a brand new car however there wasn't anyway they said that they could get a new car into our budget. We are so happy and relieved to have a new to us car and a car with warranties. YAY for warranties and for a new car with less than half the miles on it. We love all the features in it. We have the fold away third row seating, cd player, satellite radio (have to look into activating it) the trunk area is huge with the third row seats folded and they will be most of the time as we will only be using that when I have all three of our nieces with us or all of them and my little sister. The 3rd row is definitely more kid friendly. Even Molly likes it I took her shopping today to Petsmart and than thru the bank drive thru both places she was spoiled with dog treats at both places. Next week we will be adding the wheelchair lift on the back for J's power chair. Until then we will continue to use his manual wheelchair. We will get to break the car in real good next weekend when we go to Georgia to see my best friend and her husband and their little baby boy for his baby dedication at church.

To All the Single Ladies

Today is a special day for me today 2 years ago my wonderful, amazing, God sent boyfriend became my wonderful, amazing, God sent fiance. I know I know you probably are tired of hearing about all your friends love stories and the amazing men God puts in their lives... but please keep reading. I was there with you didn't want to hear any more stories about people finding the one that they had waited for the one they loved all my friends were pretty much all married off or in serious relationships just a few years ago and I had had my heart broken by the person I thought was the one and I was waiting around for God to strike him with lightening and knock some sense into him. Thank God that He didn't do that because I know now he wasn't the right one and waiting for the one that God did send was well worth the frustration, pain, and doubt I had.

I made a decision early in my teens to surrender my love life to God and to wait on His timing and trust my parents with their advice on the one I would marry. It wasn't easy and I made mistakes along the way and did things that I am not proud of. Like there was the blind date that went horribly wrong and I knew from the beginning he wasn't the right one. (I had lots of information about him before hand that I knew he wasn't the right one) Then there was the guy I knew from being a kid that tried to cross many lines and boundaries and I almost let him do it. Than there was my first serious boyfriend. I had known him since I was 12 years old and seriously thought even thru the other 2 guys that he really was the one. (lots of little things I had convince myself of). I had even just mere months before he asked me out and we began dating prayed that if he wasn't the one that God would keep this guys mouth shut and never ask me about taking a step forward. It was a crazy emotional 8 months that we dated and it was up and down roller coaster. I thought that's what love was and thought that I deeply loved him, but I lost who I was in that relationship and became more focused on him instead of God and so when we ended our relationship I was lost and it took me a long time to find myself and reestablish myself in God. It also took me time to learn and feel God's amazing grace as in that relationship we did cross lines and we ended up sleeping together and even several pregnancy scares did not stop us it was the power of God that did keep us from getting pregnant as He knew the plans He had for us. A little over a year later I got onto e-harmony just to see what was out there. I didn't have any plans on getting serious with anyone right then but I guess it was my fleece out there for God to use and He did. I started talking to this guy and would get annoyed because He would always wait until the free communication weekends were over (I was to cheap to to pay for a membership) to reply back and than I had to wait so what would have taken a few weeks took 3 1/2 months and than I decided that I could cash in on this deal that was like 20 dollars for 3 months and Things took off from there as I could communicate as much as I wanted with this guy. We meet for the first time on Dec. 15 2009 and it took off from there I had a lot of hesitation and wasn't sure after being so hurt before in a relationship I didn't want to get hurt again so... It took me about a month for me to actually listen to God and start dating him and than about a month later I was ready for J to propose so 3 month after beginning to date we were engaged. I know that seems really fast but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the one. One of the major things was that I didn't have to give up anything that I had prayed for in a husband and that I didn't have to change who I was to make him happy. The core of me could stay the same. I have done some changing for my hubby but its been little things like making sure I put extra effort into keeping the house picked up more than I ever did when I lived by myself and making sure little things that aren't important to me are done for him in a timely manner that I wouldn't do for long periods of time for myself.


Ladies let me encourage you to wait and hold out for the one that God has for you. When you take it into your own hands it gets messy like it did for me. I tried to convince myself that I could be happy with the one I wanted not the one that God wanted for me. I know ladies who didn't wait or didn't listen to God about the one to marry and they are either miserably married or unhappily together with someone or so far away from the plan that God had for them. I am not saying that God cannot take the mistakes of our past and use them for His good, I know He can and He has in my life, I just know that it is so much easier to wait on His timing instead of rushing our agenda and if you become patient and learn to seek His heart and face than you can one day look back on the goodness of God in your love life. I know that I am tremendously blessed because I didn't marry the one I wanted to marry. Example the last I heard about the one I wanted to marry he was living with his parents still (and he is older than me, I am 26 by the way) while I am married to truly the man of my dreams and the man of my blessing and living in a house completely paid for just a couple of weeks away from being completely debt free able to be a stay at home wife and serve with my honey in full time ministry with no outside job distracting us. Wow how amazing!!! (I am not saying that if the guy God gives you doesn't own his own house its wrong, I am just showing the difference in my plan and God's plan and how much better God's plan was for me than my plan)

I also encourage you to embrace the single season in your life because once you get married it all changes and sometimes even now it would be nice to go out with girlfriends and stay out late but I know that my present is truly that a gift from God and I am glad for my single season and even happier for my married season. Enjoy it go out with your girlfriends live slightly more carefree because you do gain more responsibility as a wife and eventually a mother. I know too many women who wish away their single life only to live with such regret when they get married that it ruins their marriage. Please don't be that way embrace it and enjoy what time God gives you as a single woman because it becomes part of the most amazing story and that is the story of You!

Testing...Testing... Is this thing on?

I know its been an awful long time since I posted anything on here and thought boy it's really time to update the peeps! God answered a major stress factor in our life we sold our van, and if any of you have read previous blogs you know what a headache this van has been. Case and point in January we spent over 500 dollars fixing the brakes not replacing them but fixing them all for the alternator to go out in February. We were just so over it!!!!! We had plans to just trade it in when we purchased our vehicle but we ended up talking to our wheelchair dealer on some specifics for J's new chair and told him that we were planning on trading the van in so we would need the chair to be able to go on a lift on the back of our car. He told us we might get a better deal selling it privately since it is wheelchair accessible, or someone might buy it for a work van especially someone in the wheelchair business. Lo and Behold he was the one who actually bought it and gave us Blue book value (I was happy because blue book was the amount I wanted and didn't think we would get).

We have been waiting for this week for about 2 years now as we would be getting our new vehicle and than we added to that 3 new ac's for the house and paying off a little bit of debt and the last of our wedding debt. We have been able to pay of the little debt still have the wedding debt to go. Anyways thought we would have the money already but the company sending it had computer glitches and so they have had to manually enter it and it looks like we should hopefully have it by Thursday or Friday. We definitely need it here by Friday at the latest as we will be get getting our new ac's this week on Saturday and need to pay the ac man that day. So Prayers are appreciated that it will be handled quickly and efficiently so that we will have that taken care of and be able to get our car as well this week or early next week.

So exciting yet slightly stressful time for us lately. We are also planning a trip to Georgia at the end of the month for baby S's baby dedication at church. Very excited about that and the fact that I get to spend more than one actually day there and that my honey gets to join me on this trip first time he will met baby "S".

Anyways as soon as we get our new car I will be putting some pictures up on here and facebook. Hopefully I will be able to do better at keeping the blog better updated.

2012 Bucket List

So I am not real big on resolutions but I do like the idea of a bucket list things that I want to do by the time I kick the bucket but since I don't plan on doing that any time soon. So what follows is a list of things I would like to do this year.

1. Read my whole Bible this year (I started a plan on the youversion app on my iphone)
2. Lose 100 lbs this year. 
3. Fall more in love with God
4. Fall more in love with my husband
5. Build my marriage stronger with God's help
6. Go on vacation with just my husband
7. Strengthen my Faith and trust in God
8. Get Pregnant (at least would love to get pregnant and have the baby as well this year)
9. Get my office painted and decorated
10. Work with my Husband to build our ministry with God
11. Lead a small group @ Liberty with my Hubby
12. Get involved more @ church
13. Develop new friendships
14. Read 25 books that I have never read
15. Make a difference in someone's life. 

Yellow Roses!

I don't know how many people believe in signs from God. Little things that happen in your life that are insignificant to other people but are huge in your life. I have one that has been in my life since a teenager. It is yellow roses. I fell in love with them when I was around 15 years old. From that point on I wanted my husband to buy me yellow rises and would love to get yellow roses for my birthday and things like that. However yellow roses are not in season at my birthday and so none of my friends or family was ever able to buy me roses. I finally decide after a couple of years I decided in my heart that I would use the yellow roses as a sign that whoever I was dating would be the one that I was suppose to marry. I also had other things of course that my hubby had to have, but the yellow rose was pretty important. I wanted my husband to be able to get them for me before we got married. Shortly after Jeremy and I started dating I brought up what my favorite flowers were (without telling him what the significance was) and his jaw just about hit the floor. Yellow roses are significant in his life and family. He also tells me that he has planted on the side of the house a yellow rosebush. This rosebush blooms at the most unusual times. It bloomed right before we got engaged like maybe a week before and that was in march and than it bloomed again the day we went to get our marriage license in September and than again shortly after we got married in October. I had thought it was dying because it has only bloomed once in the past year since we have been married. Today I was leaving the house to eat lunch with a friend and I noticed for the first time in awhile. It was pretty neat because it blooms usually when something significant is about to happen so makes me excited that this might just be a sign from God that this year is going to be significant year for Jeremy and I. It makes me excited for this year!!!

2011 in Review

I know everyone is writing a new years eve/new years blog and I am joining in. What a year this has been...

January- Was actually a pretty quiet month. We had a decent working van and stayed busy with church, and family, and friends. Jeremy had started working at the church twice a week.

February- I turned 25. Jeremy developed a hernia (which was completely healed by God with no need for surgery). Celebrated our second Valentines day and our first as a married couple. My baby niece turned 3 (seriously where does the time, things have changed so much in that time) Wrote my first blog about our baby journey, and realized 8 years had already passed since Mom has passed away.

March- Went to our church's womens conference where God challenged me to reach out to our neighbors more, talked about adoption. Bought a brand new couch and rearranged the living room. My baby sister turned 9 this year crazy I remember it like yesterday I was changing her diapers.

April- Another quiet month. Not a whole lot of excitement. My dad turned 51 this month.

May-  Osama Bin Laden was killed major major news! Threw my best friends baby shower. Was excited to see her. Our main a/c unit died. Formed our board for our ministry (Jesus Saves International Ministries) and had our first board meeting.

June-  Van broke down AGAIN!!!! Simple air sensor but so annoying. Applied for non-exempt status with the IRS for the ministry.

July- Plain old hot summer especially with no ac. Set a goal for the end of the year.

August- Jeremy became and ordained minister with Liberty Network. 2nd board meeting of the year.

September- Sprung a water leak in our pipe leading  to the house. Best friend had her adorable little boy on the first. Tropical Lee came thru and brought a couple of days of cooler weather (which I loved). Started Herbalife and lost 10 lbs the first week.

October-  Celebrated our 1 year anniversary. Continued Herbalife and lost 17 lbs. Drove to Ga to see my best friends Baby.

November- Adopted another little doggie (although it was short lived because I did not have the patience to deal with housebreaking all over again) Lost 10lbs. Celebrated Thanksgiving with my in-laws. Had family pictures taken. Created Christmas Cards. Decorated early for Christmas this year.

December- Lost 9 more lbs for a total of 46lbs since Sept. Celebrated Christmas early with my bro, sis-in-law, and nieces. Surprised my best friend for her birthday in Georgia. Celebrated Christmas with my in-laws including brother in law, his girlfriend and grandma in law. Got our approval for for non-profit tax exemption from the IRS. THANK YOU JESUS!!!! That was three and half years of hard work on my hubby's part. Celebrated New Years Eve with the love of my life on the couch watching the ball drop in New York.

Roxie

God works in mysterious ways. The hubs and I have talked about getting a second dog for awhile and have gone back and forth on it. A couple of weeks ago a friend on facebook put up that they were wanting to get rid of their dogs because they work so much and the dogs spend so much time in the kennel that they were feeling bad about it and we had decided to wait to get one for awhile but than they put something up again today. I responded that we wanted the little girl dog and we got her today. When they came over the hubs spent time hanging with our friends husband and got to share his heart about the ministry and where we want to go with our home studio and they were such a huge unexpected blessing because of that. So little Roxie ended up being a huge blessing to "J".
Here is Roxie Leigh "E"

Hello Again....

I know its been awhile since I updated this blog and I am sorry to my readers. Not much has been happening in our lives that has been blog worthy lately. But we did get some family pictures taken on Saturday and got them back already a couple of days ago so without further ado here is the "E" Family 2011...

This is us normally

Love it!

My "A" she is an amazing woman and friend. Truly Beautiful inside and out!

1 Year!

Well I know I am about a week late on this post but last Sunday my Honey and I celebrated 1 year of Marriage. I cant believe it's already been a year. Where has the time flown. We went to the same restaurant that we went the night of our wedding and ate our first dinner together as a married couple. We exchanged gifts the day before because we couldn't wait and technically we got married on a Saturday so we thought it would count. I bought Jeremy a book that he had wanted for awhile and I picked out an awesome devotional that was recommended by some close friends of ours and I also picked out some warm pj's as he is always freezing at night. He bought me one of my top two favorite childhood movies Dumbo that was pretty much all I wanted until I found a wallet by Vera Bradley that I loved and he also bought that from me although I didn't get it in the mail until a couple of days after our anniversary. It has been quite an eventful year for us. With all the expenses we have had it's been hard to save up an emergency fund, I am hoping the second year goes a lot smoother. We have another 1 year anniversary coming up and that's tomorrow. We totaled my car exactly 1 week after we got married on our way out to dinner. I know God was in control there as I was thrown from the front seat to the back seat and was at first pretty sure Jeremy had broken his back. Thankfully we were less than 10 miles from our house and his parents were able to get there quickly to take me and our roommate who was with us up to the hospital to meet Jeremy and than they were so gracious to still buy us dinner and pick up his prescription for pain meds. We also have had some extensive ac work and still have to have it replaced and fixed a closet shelf that almost fell on me on our wedding day and a water leak and several several several car repairs. I will be so happy to see that van go in March. It has been such a source of stress and severe limitations this past year. We also still have to go on our honeymoon which hopefully will be in March in Destin. We though have had a very blessed 1rst year and I can't wait for the next 50 years.