Favorite Wedding Pictures

So you guys got to see a few of my favorite Engagement Pictures.. What did you guys think?? Okay.. enough delaying... Here are favorite wedding pictures!!!

Our wedding Cake.. Thanks Mama for making it!!

The Unity Candle my Mama made :)

The Church all Decorated :) Thanks again Mama!!

Our Sweet Nephew.. Love this pic :)

Sean Loves his Uncle Ray!

My Brother & his Girlfriend! We Love You Joe & Kristen!

Me & My Sister! Love you Melissa :)

My girls.. Thanks Erika, Melissa, Kristen, Madison & Kiley!

My Mom & Dad.. Love you Both!

The Ceremony!

Our Vows! :)

Toasting with Sparkling Cider

I love My Parents & My Husband!

Our Rings!

My Favorite of Me & My Husband!! :)

I hope you enjoyed a few of the wedding pictures...There are so many of them its hard to choose which ones to post... I wish in some way I could post all of them... But if you guys bug me enough..I just might!!! :)

Ray & I Just celebrated 2 months of married bliss yesterday.. I'll admit that the road has had ups & downs.. but we are learning that the best way to navigate all of it is together & by talking & praying together.. And most of all taking each day One day at a time...

Hope you enjoyed the wedding pictures... I enjoyed posting them for you guys!!

Lots of Love,

Favorite Engagement Pictures

SO the delay is over...I've held off as long as I can... or as long as I can without you guys torturing me about the pictures I've been promising y'all I would post.. so I guess the best place to start is with the Engagement Pictures.. After all we were Engaged first before we were married ;-)

So here we are... my favorite Engagement Pictures...

To be continued..... with wedding pictures!!!

Love to you all!!

Welcome to the Family Zoe!!

So this past week has been crazy & insane.. I am still uploading wedding pictures to FB.. but its taking lots of time to sort thru the ones I like & thru the ones I am able to post... Then add on the continuance of unpacking & organizing... I finally got to Lowe's to get the brackets I needed for our bookshelves.. (always remember to keep close tabs on where those are when you plan to move.. just a little warning)

So this weekend we watched Courageous.. I have to say it was a awesome movie... I have lots more thoughts on this movie which I will save for another blog post...(Its only fair :-D )

So Ray & I drove to Nashville today to visit his brother who lives there & who had a extra microwave that we badly needed.. I have been looking at Goodwill & discount stores for awhile for a cheap one.. as the Duggars say.. it Pays to Buy used & save the difference.. SO special Thanks to Jamie D for supplying our household with a microwave... in the last 2 months that we have lived here I can honestly say that tonight was a highlight for me being able to have one for leftovers & for frozen dinners :-)

Then after we got back from Nashville Ray & I got a wonderful visit from his Sons... Their mom drove them in so we can visit with them & do a late Christmas with them & to bring us Ray's Dog.. Zoe.. So now not only does Taco have a family member who is his size... he also has a sister who in my opinion lets him know she's the boss around here.. oh lordy...  :D

So without further ado.. its my pleasure to introduce you to the newest member of our family.. ZOE...

 So church & more unpacking & organizing awaits me tmw... Hope you all have a blessed nite...

Love to you all :)

Trying to get back on track...

As many of you already know.. Ray & I got married on Dec 3rd... Life as I know it has been forever changed in so many Wonderful ways.... There has been blissful days & there has been rough days.. but hey who said Marriage was easy.. Right?! 

I moved from my 3 bedroom 2 car garage house to a small one bedroom apartment about 5 minutes from my work... so not only has life been about adjusting to being married.. life has been about adjusting to small living quarters with Ray & Taco.... No worries.. I still have Dino.. but he is currently living with family members out in the country where he has a nice yard to run around in.. (something he won't have here in the apartment) I have been slowly (as my work & church schedule allows me to) unpacking & organizing our little home... sorting thru what is to stay with us...what is to be sold.. and what is to go to goodwill...

Many of you have been wondering about the engagement & wedding pictures.. I apologize for not posting any as of yet... but I promise that as soon as I get time.. they will be up here on the blog..

So for now I prepare to leave for work.. & focus on getting my life back on track as I adjust to married life... & I can honestly say... LIFE is GOOD!!!

Love to you all!

I Will Choose Joy!

This Post is kinda late... I had started working on it in the middle of September.. Right around the time Sara Frankl (Gitzengirl) took a turn for the worse & sadly Passed away.. I never posted it like I had hoped to.. but it was during that period that the most incredible thing happened to me.. So let me tell you about Sara.. then I'll share my Joyous news with you..

For those of you who aren't on Twitter.. let me share who Sara Frankl is.. I've never met her in person.. I had hoped to on this side of heaven but Sadly I'll have to wait till I get to heaven to meet her... But I knew Sara thru her twitter updates, her blog & thru a couple emails we exchanged when James passed away..I was blown away by her faith.. your unwillingness to allow her situation to bring her down...Her choice to always CHOOSE JOY regardless of her circumstances.. Like others Sara impacted my life in more ways that I can say... When she died my heart ached.. but most of all I was reminded of how Sara lived & how she would want me to live... Looking forward to the future with Joy & Anticipation for what GOD has in store for me... So I choose to do just that..

As many of you know I had finally gotten to the point where I was considering Dating again.. I had already had been on a few dates that turned into NOTHING.. and quite honestly I was getting  a bit discouraged.. But I never stopped praying about it.. I left my future Husband in GOD's hands... Telling GOD that I trusted that in his timing he would lead me to the man he wanted me to spend my life with.. And that's when GOD put Ray Cooper in my life...

The night before I was told about Ray I had a date with another guy...a date..that never happened... I was supposed to meet said Guy at Ihop for dinner.. & he was a NO SHOW... so after waiting 30 minutes (do you actually wait that long??) I finally got in the car to go home.. & literally threw in the towel.. I told GOD that if me being single for the rest of my life is what he wanted for me then He would have to help me be okay with it..I spent a considerable about of time in prayer that night..  I stopped at Longhorn Steakhouse & used a gift card my secret pal at church gave me & got dinner & then went home to eat & play with the dogs & sew before bed..

The next night was Wed so that meant I had church.. Its rare nowadays for me to be able to attend wednesday night services mostly due to work.. but this one particular night I got lucky & had gotten off work around 530 and was able to grab dinner & go.. After our classes I was walking out & thought I was saying "HEY" to who I thought was the youth pastor's wife.. But it was another woman who looked like her.. Right before I left the church she tracked me down to find out who I was... we got to talking & she told me about Ray.. I went home not really dwelling on it.. & went home to sew & play with the dogs before bed.. I wish I had paid more attention to my phone that night because my friend at church had went home & told Ray about me & he had messaged me on FB..

I got his message the next morning & responded... by the time I got lunch at work the next day he was calling me on the phone & we talked that entire hour & then 6 hours that night after I got off work...  We had our first Date 2 days later & when we meet we instantly knew that we had found the one that GOD had choosen for  each other..

So without further ado.. I introduce you to my sweet Fiance whom I will be marrying on Dec 3rd of this year...

Ray & I are soo excited about where GOD is taking us.. Ray has been a minister for 8 years & wants to get back into Ministry soon.. We're moving back home to Clarksville TN so we can be closer to my family.. I am so so very happy & so very excited...

We had our engagement pictures taken the other nite at my sister's house.. as soon as she emails them to me I will post some of my favorites :)

So looking forward to seeing where GOD takes us!! I'M CHOOSING JOY!!

In His Grip      

Prayers for Jess

First of all I would like to ask your forgiveness for not posting.. what since AUGUST?  Wow.. so so sorry.. I've been a awful blogger lately..

But tonight I write from the bottom of my heart asking my beloved readers & followers (if your still out there) to please keep a dear friend in your prayers.. Her name is Jessica Tidwell.. she is a good friend of mine who's husband is a pastor.. About a month ago she was raped by a member of her church.. you can read her blog as she shares her healing process here..

RAPED.. my mind can't even wrap itself around that word...NO woman should ever have to face that.. but sadly it happens.. happens to about 600 women a day according to crime statistics... that my dear ones grieves my heart so badly right now... My Heart hurts even more after reading the post Jess wrote..

So as I lay my head on my pillow.. as my heart grieves for my sweet, beautiful friend.. I pray for conviction to fall on the man who did this to her.. I pray for healing to Jess as she seeks GOD in the midst of all whats happened.. I pray for her marriage, her kids & her family.. That they would know that GOD has them in the palm of his hand...

Will you dear sweet ones join me in prayer for her? Will you please go love on her & encourage her & let her know she's not alone.. I appreciate it & love all of you..

In his Grip,

They CALLED!! Job Interview update

GASP! Another day of 2 blog posts from me... what is the world coming to folks?? I mean seriously?! my life isn't that exciting.. I promise!! :-)

SO for those of you who are spamming bugging my twitter & FB feed... here is the awaited news...

The School board called.. the one position I applied for has been filled... but.. they have 2 new openings & are considering my application for those openings.. they also incouraged me to apply for a different position that is similar to what I applied for.. which I am going to look into...

So keep praying my beloveds!! I am believing GOD is up to something here :-)

Will keep you all posted... gonna go watch a movie with my mom before she goes home!!

Thanks for all your love & support!!