LOVE my Family

Mammaw (my grandma) and Charlie (my niece)

My beautiful niece, Charlie

To My Sweet Baby, Ellie Kate

I dreamed about you last night. You were beautiful. You had baby blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. I held you and you were so soft. You were such a sweet baby. You started to cry and I spoke to you and you looked at me and stopped. My heart aches for you. I wake up. You are no longer in my arms. I look for you and realize it was just another dream. I go to the bathroom and know that you are not coming this month. My heart sinks. Another month, no baby. I TRUST the Lord. He is my all in all. He is my Father and your Father. He knows when you need to come to me. He knows when your brother should come to me. He has our plans written in His Book of Life. I know you are waiting in Heaven for me. Either you or another sweet baby. I am praying for you. I am waiting for you. I am hoping with all my heart that the Lord will send you to me soon. I already love you so much. I can't wait to look in your baby blue eyes and just hold you and talk to you. I know the Lord is loving you and holding you until I am able to. That gives me GREAT comfort. I just want you to know that I love you with all my heart and can't wait for you to come to me.

Mommy

One Stinkin' Pound

So...after a month of Weight Watchers and exercising, I have lost one stinking pound. A little ridiculous. Wes says I should just keep going and hopefully it will start all coming off now. I sure hope so! This is crazy! I fear to be stuck above 180 forever! Please no! Also, its a little confusing when you're wanting to loose weight and get pregnant...those two don't really go together.... Just be praying, people. Thanks.

My Niece

Finally a pic of my beautiful niece, Charlie Annabelle. :)

Rough Day

Been very down today. I feel defeated by my weight, my struggles with becoming pregnant, my need of a summer job, etc. This was a wonderful message to listen to today.

http://www.churchofthehighlands.com/media/message/drink-again#

Weighing Me Down

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've said I was going to loose weight in the past 3 years. I have said it over and over again and yet, I sit here still 185lbs rolling all over. According to my BMI, I am....OBESE! Can you believe that word? I never thought I would associate that word with me. I am to my limit and have finally taken a good step forward. I have joined Weight Watchers. So far, I have not lost anything, but yet again, I have not gained anything either. This is my 2nd week on the program. The HARDEST part for me is getting on that scale after a week of hard work and seeing nothing has changed. Apparently that is called impatience. That is definitely me--impatient. I want things NOW, I don't want to wait a year or two. This will be my biggest challenge in my weight loss journey. I MUST stay focused, MUST not give up, and MUST be determined. I KNOW I can do it! I am starting out a little slow because I have basically been sedentary since I've been married. It amazes me how hard it is to walk a mile now! I know it will not be 1 month, 2 months, or even 7 months. I've just got to stick in there and know that my efforts will eventually pay off. Please join me in prayer about this and I can take all the encouragement that I can get!

Is there anyone out there?

Just curious who actually reads my blog. Sometimes I wonder if its just me writing to the computer. If you read my blog, just comment on this post so I know you're out there! :)

Team Baby Nate

On May 7th, I am walking along with many others for the March of Babies. The girl I am walking for is a dear, sweet, Godly girl who lost her sweet baby Nate due to complications. You can read about her story HERE. If you find it in your heart to donate or join in this cause, the team page is here: TEAM BABY NATE.

Our Church!

It feels so good to finally call a church "ours". Wes and I have been visiting around from church to church really ever since we got married! We never felt like the places we visited were where God really wanted us. We've prayed and waited and talked about what kind of church we would like to be a part of. My good friend Kailey has been talking about Highlands--Auburn Campus for years. Her husband, Dru, is the worship leader there. She told me that they were a unique church that had "hub" churches all around and a main church in Birmingham which broadcasted messages every Sunday to all of the "hub" churches. This was so different from my traditional Southern Baptist raising and I was not so sure about it. Finally, this year we went to the "Ignite Marriage Conference" at the main Highlands in Birmingham and we LOVED it! We then started to go to the Highlands--Montgomery Campus. Within only about 1 month, we started the membership class. I didn't want to pressure Wes into anything so when it came time for us to fill our a membership, I just waited. Wes said "We don't have to turn them in today." I looked over and he had already filled his out! He was not wanting to pressure me. So apparently, we both felt like it was exactly where God wanted us to be. We joined the church and will attend the 3rd membership class this Sunday. This is a revolutionary, wonderful church! God's presence is definitely there and I believe he has great things in store for Highlands. We are just glad to call a church "home". So, if you are struggling to find a church that is right for you, just pray and God will show you where he wants you. Also, anyone out there who wants to visit Highlands or you are interested, check out the website: http://churchofthehighlands.com/

Charlie Annabelle-- My Niece!

Yesterday my sister, Cierra, had her BEAUTIFUL baby girl! She was born at 1:49pm. She was 7.7lbs and 18.3 in. My sister did SUCH a good job! Charlie is a very quiet, smart baby. She caught on to things very quickly! I am SO proud of my sister and such a proud Aunt to Charlie!! Picture to come soon!

AWESOME Marriage Conference

Wes and I had an AMAZING time at the Church of the Highlands Marriage conference in Birmingham. It was wonderful! We learned SO much about ourselves and each other. I HIGHLY recommend this conference to engaged couples and married couples of all ages. It was life changing! Also, I've been reading a book called "The Total Woman". It is from 1975, but its amazing how the truths in that book still stand today 36 years later. I encourage all women to read that book. It may have a few things that are outdated (such as most women didn't work back then), but overall, the principles are still the same. About 2,000 years ago God used people to write these same principles in the Bible. It's amazing that what worked 2,000 years ago still works today. That's because God made us and formed us to work that way. Anyway, I just feel so blessed! God is so awesome! :)

Coupon Trip 2/23/11

This was a pretty good coupon trip. My total before tax was $31. My total savings were $102! I was pretty pumped. My total would have been under $20 had I not bought a few items that were not on sale. Overall I got: 6 bags of Green Giant steamers, 2 bottles of Juicy Juice Apple Juice, 4 cans of beans, 4 cans of corn, 4 cans of tomatoes, 5 jars of spaghetti sauce, 2 Marie Callendar lasagnas, 4 cans of Skintimate shave gel (which actually had free disposable razors attached to them), 4 tubes of Colgate toothpaste, Glass Plus cleaner, Vitamins, nail files, DayQuil/NyQuil and the items that were not on sale: bath pouf, bread, Finish dish washing detergent, Ajax dish liquid, Neutrogena bodywash gel, and McCormick garlic salt. The Penny Item for this week was the Publix brand "oreo" cookies. Overall, I am quite proud. We are pretty stocked up on some items now. I'll tell ya what, though, it certainly is a process to coupon! I was in the store for almost 3 hours yesterday wheeling and dealing. I think in the end it is worth it. I mean, hey, I saved $102! Happy Couponing!

Little Project

My sister, Cierra, is expecting her little bundle of joy, Charlie, on March 9th (if not sooner). I decided to try my luck at making a diaper cake. As it turns out, it wasn't that hard. I actually had a lot of fun making this and I'm thinking about doing it on the side as a hobby. If you'd like me to make you one, let me know :)

January 31st Coupon Trip

I held off a while on this trip because I knew my total would not be NEAR what it was last week. I won't even post this pic this week! I just didn't have any good coupons for overage. Bummer. BUT I still did OK. I spent $31 and saved $65. I got: 2 packs of diapers (for a diaper cake I am making for my sister), 4 packs of 8 Juicy Juice, 4 V8 Splash, 4 cans of Campbells Chunky Soup, 2 14lb jugs of cat litter (I may go back for more today!), 2 Marie Callendar's meals, 2 tubes of toothpaste, and 2 bags of coffee. Not bad...but the total was not like last week! Better luck this week! It's all part of the learning process! Be sure to check iHeartPublix and AddictedToSavings for the new Publix ad this week! There are also new Adv. Buy Flyers with matchups on iHeartPublix. Don't forget to get your flyers!

My First Solo Coupon Trip!

I am so proud of my first solo couponing trip! All the hard work paid off! My total before tax was $7. 92 and after tax was $12.36! My total savings were $84.71 ! Mostly everything on here was B1G1. Iheartpublix.com is an awesome site that breaks the sales down every week and matches your coupons with the in-store sales. My moneymakers on this trip were the vitamins and the DayQuil packets. The trick to lowering your total is using high value coupons with existing sales to get overage that goes towards your total. AddictedToSaving.com is a good site that breaks the sales down and talks about overage. I am just so pumped about these savings and can't wait to beat them! :)

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

My new hobby! For a while I was pretty skeptical about couponing. I guess it comes about with a negative connotation for some reason. I used to think it was something desperate people did or those without a life. Haha! Boy, was I wrong! It started off with me Facebook snooping on one of my friends' photo albums entitled "Spending Frugally to Live Freely". I saw she was getting stuff that should be $120 for only about $8. This definitely sparked my interest! I began to ask her questions about it all. It still seemed so far fetched to me. A few weekends ago, I was spending the night with my best friend Angela in Birmingham. We landed our channel surfing on TLC (my favorite) and an Extreme Couponing show was on! We stayed up late watching these ladies (and one gentleman) score the biggest deals we've ever seen! These people were buying $2,000 worth of stuff and only paying around $100 OR LESS! It was insane! Now, granted, some of these people have probably taken it a little to far, BUT it really struck a cord in me! I got up with the friend on Facebook and she actually took me shopping with her. I observed her moves as one might observe a sensei. She is a genius at these deals! She taught me all kinds of stuff about combining manufacturer coupons with store coupons and sales. She ended up walking out with $75 worth of stuff and only paying $4! I was inspired! I ended up walking out with about $32 worth of stuff and paying $13. Not bad for my first trip--I don't have any items stocked up yet so I was in dire need of some essentials. This is not worthy of a Facebook album yet, but I thought I'd include a pic of my first trip at least on here:I can't wait for my next shopping deal! I'm sick right now, so I am waiting until I'm well enough to go again. Here are a few tips if you want to get on this coupon wagon: 1. Buy at least 2 papers every Sunday--the ones with the best coupons...in my area this is the Birmingham paper...it has better deals than Montgomery usually. Also, keep your eyes out for "blinkies", "tearpads", "hangtags", and other coupons hiding about. 2. Stash your coupons in a way that is best for you...I said I would not have a coupon binder but that ended up to be the best organizational way for my perfectionist mind. 3.Pick up on the coupon lingo! Look up sites to introduce you into this crazy world of couponing! Couponing101, KrazyCouponLady, or any other good intro to couponing sites you find in Google. 4. Pick a store! Don't overwhelm yourself with a million stores and a million deals! My Facebook friend said choose Publix. They double coupons and allow overage. 5. Follow blogs and sites that match sales with your coupons! They do it for you! IheartPublix.com is an awesome one for Publix! The tab at the top titled "Weekly Ads" is what matches coupons with store ads for the week. The tab that is titled "Adv. Buy Flyers" matches store sales, manufacturer coupons, and Publix coupons. Most Publix's give out these flyers every month. There is no limit on how many you can get although some stores are stingy and you have to keep going back. My Publix calls these the "green and yellow flyer" and they are kept behind the customer service counter... some Publix's stack them out in the front of the store free for the taking. 6. Brush up on your math skills! :) Figure out how the coupons and store sales work. For example if Chicken Viola is BOGO (buy one get one free) and is regularly $6, then technically you are getting them each for $3. If you have two $3 coupons for Viola then you get the 2 for free! Do the math! Many of the blogs break these things down for you and many stores have coupon polices that can explain things for you. AddictedtoSaving.com is also a good blog. (Scroll down and to the right there are Categories of different stores. Click on a store for their breakdown.) That is mostly all I have learned so far. I will keep you updated on my journey! Let me know if you have any questions! I can at least try to direct you to the right path! :)

Goodbye Precious

My best friend and best cat, Precious, was hit by a car this morning. Apparently, the uncaring person who hit him kept going. My sweet neighbors saw him and brought him to us. I had to bury my sweet cat of only 4 years today. He was with me through thick and thin and was at times my only true friend. We were inseparable ever since his mother birthed him in my bed (yeh, it was a little gross). He will be greatly missed. I would like to think he is now in heaven where he should be. He was my sweet angel sent from heaven. Some people may think its silly to love a cat that much, but I believe God sends angels in the form of animals sometimes and Precious was my angel.

Precious
9/3/2006-1/8/2011