2 is a good number.

There are lots of reasons to like the number 2. But more important than a dunk being worth 2 points, or wanting 2 scoops of ice cream, is that 2 equates to the number of years I have been married to my wonderful wife. On this day, April 12th 2008, I was married to Lindsey and we set off on this amazing adventure together. I wouldn't pick anyone else to experience it with. These first two years have been amazing. And a lot has changed. It is fun to take the time today to both celebrate our anniversary and to look back on what we have been through thus far.

Just a few of our adventures included becoming homeowners, family vacations on both sides, serving together at church, a new position at work, several friends being married, several more having babies, sporting events, homecoming, parties, quiet nights at home by the fire and so many more. All of it was that much better because my wife was there.

So blessed that I got to marry my best friend. Thankful each day that I get to see that smile and be shown through her an example of Christ's love for me. Really there isn't much more to say other than I am blown away by how blessed I am to be going through life with Lindsey. I look forward to many many more years together.

We're back! and more info about the furniture

Hi!!

First, we're back from vacation and had an AWESOME TIME!!! Brian said he could tell a definite difference in me even the Saturday before we left - I guess in my attitude and my laugh. He said I already sounded less stressed and more carefree. I definitely feel refreshed and rejuvenated. I'm not stoked to be back at work, but it's not as stressful right now. :) We went on a 7 day Caribbean cruise with Shaun and Amber Wooten (via Royal Caribbean). It was sooooo much fun! We'll try and get some pictures downloaded off the camera and up here soon and blog about it more.

I wanted to post more about our furniture purchase, because I was impressed by La-z-boy. We first went to the store and I didn't think I'd find anything I liked there, because i didn't want old-looking sofas and recliners. I was pleasantly surprised by their selection though. Then we were able to pick the fabrics we wanted for the furniture, which was great that we could customize it like that. Then they told us that they do free "in-home" design consultation with their in house interior designer. So after we had picked some fabric options and the furniture we liked, the designer and our sales person brought all the fabrics to our house, so we could see them in our living room and in our light and she took measurements of our entire room. We were able to quickly rule out some of the fabrics, because they looked totally different in our room. These are obviously the fabrics we went with - and my vase that I like and Brian who I like. :)

Then we went back the next day to the store and she had this whole display made with accessories for the room. So this is the display board she made, with pictures of what the sofas and chairs will look like and the fabrics, and she had some bookcases and other items picked out too.

You can also see pictures of lamps (they we didn't like) and the coffee table she picked out. She also showed us a storage ottoman as an option too.

These are the accessories she picked out for our room: a fireplace screen, plants, the lamp I love, a bowl and other decor things. The cylinder was to go on the fireplace, but we found an urn that matched the vase I like on sale and have those on the fireplace instead. Anyway, it was really fun and great to get ideas at least. It was almost twice the cost to get all the "extra" things she picked out for us, so we mostly took the ideas and tried to find stuff on our own. And if I do say so myself, I think we're doing a great job!

We found a guy to make the bookcase we wanted and Brian and I are currently staining it ourselves. I've never stained before, but I think we're doing a good job. :) Now my new favorite store is TJ Maxx HomeGoods, searching for lamps and other decorative items. It's been fun decorating the first room in our house. :)

Anyway, that's our living room furniture/decorating adventure. It's still underway, but super fun to have a project!

New Additions!

For all of you faithful readers out there, the time has finally come to unveil the new additions to the house! no drum roll necessary, but our new living room furniture has arrived! and I must say both Lu and I are very excited. I think they look fantastic and since you guys are at your computer, you will just have to take my word on the fact that they are comfy as well.

So without further ado, here are pictures of the new pieces!

First we come to the love seat. 'nough said.

Next may I bring your attention to the couch.

The lumbar/kidney pillow may or may not make its home on the couch.

Moving on, we now come to the two chairs.His on the left, hers on the right.

And now a close up of the Man Chair.Many a nap to be had in this bad boy.

A close up of the totally awesome Lu chair.

This actually might be my favorite, I love the fabric on it.

And last but not least, the lamp.

Lu loves lamp.I think it is pretty cool too.

Hopefully I didn't disappoint by trying to keep this a secret for awhile. :) Looking forward to much fun to be had and memories to be made with our new furniture.

Until next time, you probably can find me in the man chair.

Waiting

As I've mentioned before, I have this big project at work in this new 3D program. Well now that the file is sooooooo huge, it takes about 25 minutes for it to upload to the architect's website. I usually stick around work to make sure it uploads completely. Well one time last week I left it uploading and went to have dinner, and the next morning BLEH it didn't complete the upload! So now I'm sitting here at work, waiting for this to upload. I'll never try and sneak away from the computer again while it's uploading - it's obviously temperamental.

Brian and I's delivery should be here this week! We're soooo excited! Well I've been wanting to tell y'all about it before now, because there's some back story...but he wanted to wait. :)

In other news, this weekend Brian's little sister Tiffany and her beau Matt stayed with us, and we got to hang out with them. It was really fun. Then Saturday night we went to Marietta Square for dinner. I had only driven through the square, never actually walked around nor eaten there. It's a neat place. I was thinking Brian and I will have to meet Matt and Julie for a Saturday a meal there sometime soon!

I'll try and have more interesting posts in the future...with pictures, because that's more fun. But for now, I'm going home, because my upload is almost done!

March!

Fear not blog followers. Lu and I are still alive! It has been awhile since I last posted but I haven't forgotten you faithful followers. Actually at times I think it is a miracle she has survived the amount of work she has done of the last couple of months. But it really is a true testament to what an amazing woman she is and how hard a worker she is, and I was lucky enough to marry her! So cool.

Over all been having a good March so far. At work I have a project, that is all mine to work on (good and bad I know) but it is cool that my boss trusts me enough already to assign me something this important. My HS guys small group hasn't met in a couple weeks and I am missing those guys. They have been really busy/on spring break so we have canceled the last few ones.

I am pumped about this weekend cause the black and red sheep sister (who I still love very much even though she is getting a diploma from the other school) is coming to hang out. I already got to see her yesterday for a few hours. And I had her all to myself, which was a lot of fun. But friday night and part of saturday she and her guy will be hanging out with us. Just don't get to see her all that often and I am really excited she wanted to make time to come see us.

My other sister shared some awesome news with me last night. She got accepted to grad school at Emory. Super huge big deal and I am super proud of her. She is already an awesome nurse but going back to get her masters is cool and I am happy for her. She might still be waiting on a few other schools too, but either way getting that news was awesome.

Lastly, I will address a vicious rumor. Ok so it probably isn't a rumor and it is definitely not vicious, but for those of you postulating about what might be coming to our house soon, no it is not a crib nor any other baby related items. We aren't to that stage yet.

:) Have a great day!

It's 9 AM and All's Well...

For those of you out there that don't get the reference from the title, you need to re-watch a great movie, Disney's Robin Hood. And you would be correct to assume that I like it partially because the hero is a fox. ;) But I digress. It has been slightly longer than our usual stint from posting about once a week, so I thought I would throw out a few thoughts.

The reports from the home front are all very good. Lulu is working semi normal hours again, and we have enjoyed a couple of quiet nights at home together recently including a fire on one night. My new position has been a nice change from what I had been doing, and things seem to be going well. I feel like I contribute well to the team and I continue to gain more responsibilities and face new challenges which has made my days mostly interesting and intellectually stimulating with a few days even making it to exciting/entertaining status. I don't think I have yet found the job that I will enjoy doing for the rest of my life, but I definitely am confident that I am were I should be for now.

Lu and I are somewhat impatient, wanting to hear soon about our new additions to the house. We are now within the time frame that they should be complete so we are just waiting to get a phone call and schedule delivery. I plan on waiting till I can post pictures before revealing what is on its way. But I hope it is in the next couple of days, I am getting antsy.

Had a few fun adventures last weekend. We attended dinner theater at UGAs BCM. My sister was one of the set designers and the proceeds went to summer missions. The food was very yummy, and the show, Beauty and the Beast was surprisingly well done. Lu and I both enjoyed it and it was fun to see it with my parents and sister. She did an awesome job on the stained glass rose that was the main back drop. It was neat when it was all lit up, and the cool thing is that she had originally created it for a different play, but with enough forethought that she could change some panels and it would be the rose for Beauty and the Beast, but you wouldn't be able to tell originally. It was really cool.

Oh well, so it isn't 9 am anymore, but all is still well. Hope everyone is having a good day.

Lindsey update!

Hey!

I survive an intense week at work and a large project going out! Now I can hopefully stop working Saturdays for a while, or at least not this Saturday. Here are some pictures and updates of the last month or two.

We got snow twice, so of course I had to take pictures.

Here was the second snow (and better):

One day in February Brian made this awesome Chicken tomato dish with pasta. It was sooo good - i took a picture. :)

Then he made me steak and potatoes for my birthday and I ordered me a birthday cookie cake. It was supposed to say Happy Birthday Lindsey, but obviously they got confused because of the holiday and the fact that I wanted the heart shaped cake. :) I forgot to get a picture of that night's food.

Then this past Saturday, we celebrated Brian's grandma's 80th Birthday at Medieval Times!

Here's Grandma getting knighted, since it was her birthday. I don't have any other pictures, but it was fun.

Probably just a once in a life time thing, Brian and I don't plan on ever going back, but going with a big group for her birthday was really fun. She loved it. She was called Lady Gertrude the whole time and everyone wished her a happy birthday. Anyway, we've had a fun couple of months, even if I've been super busy.

Olympics

So I have been recording the Olympics like crazy cause I think it is awesome to watch athletes at the top of their discipline. Especially when that discipline is a crazy fun sport like curling, speed skating, or ski jumping. Sports that we here in the US don't usually see but once every 4 years, even though most of them have professional circuits and these athletes are competing all the a lot of times most of the year. Anyway, I think my favorite sport to watch thus far has been the speed skating, short track that is. I think the coverage has been great thus far and I am learning a lot about these winter sports.

Oh yeah, and I had to add BC to my list of places to visit.

What are your favorite winter olympic sports?

Whistling and Working

I wanted to start off by saying to everyone that I am sorry Lu hasn't been able to post much, I am sure most of you much prefer her wonderful stories and insights to my babbling and rambling. Keep her in your prayers as she has a lot of work and stress that comes along with that work and deadlines associated with that. She has a very proud husband because I see her put her whole heart into her everything she does, and work is no exception. She has been working at minimum 9 hr days, usually longer and working Saturdays for the last couple of weeks. It means I get to see her less, which lets face it, it isn't fun when you have less time with your best friend. But truth be told, I am learning a lot through this time. Most important is that I am learning that I need to rely on God and spend more time with Him so that I can be there for Lu when she needs me. I am also learning how to be supportive in the right ways and what are the little things I can do to take away stress that she doesn't need to carry with her. I think we make a great team and I am glad I am learning and growing, I am glad that this season has come, I think it will prepare us well for the future, but at the same time I am looking forward to it being back to normal.

So this maybe totally random, but I realized yesterday that I was missing something I wish I had. I think in part it is because I believe it would be useful, in part because at times I think it would just be cool, but probably one of the main reasons is because of what it reminds me of. What is he talking about, some might be saying (I can dream that I am great at putting you in suspense right?). Well I am talking about whistling. No, not the sweet little whistle a tune as if you were a small avian species waking on a beautiful spring morning. I got that kind of whistling down. I mean more of the shrill piercing kind as if you were hailing a cab or just trying to get someone's attention. I mean a whistle like that is definitely useful at times, and I am not gonna lie, I think it would be cool plus the added benefit that I like to receive attention at times. But really it is something that my dad used to do to call us in from playing outside. Mostly it was just a "hey come here" only every now and then was it "hey you are in trouble." But just that loud whistle of his brings back a lot of pleasant memories. So yeah I want to be able to whistle loudly and get someone's attention. Any one have suggestions or tips on how to do it, my own attempts have been somewhat pitiful so far. I know it is possible to use your fingers but not necessary, so yeah that was my random thought.

New Doors!

The new doors between the master bath and bedroom are finished! It took more time and effort than originally planned, but got them done and up. Already they are 100 times better than just the giant opening. I think they turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

Quick Update

So I have a few things to update you guys on. One being that my transition in my new position here at work is going well. It is frustrating at times only because I want to be more helpful that I currently can be. I have learn a lot of new processes etc so it just takes time and I have to also learn at the pace that my new team can teach me. All this to say that although I have been working longer days this week, I feel like I am getting some things down.

A really exciting thing going on right now is that my high school guys small group has started back up this semester and we have met twice already. First meeting went well, kindof an intro and all to what we would be studying and letting the guys get to know Matt and I better, since we are co-leading this semester. Second meeting went even better, we have had 5 different guys come so far, 3 one night and 4 the second, with the rumor that we will have a sixth which is super exciting. It is just inspiring to see God start stirring in these young men and watch how their minds work as they dig into scripture. Very exciting and fun.

Lastly, we have a some new additions to the house coming in a month or so, more on that I guess when they get here, but needless to say, Lindsey and I are excited about them. Also, I am almost done with the new doors in the master bathroom. Been so busy finding time to finish them (with the tools I have) has been a struggle, but they are almost there so pictures of those to come, hopefully after this weekend.

That is all for now.

Giving Thanks Always

Once again I have something to be thankful for. I think we are all well aware that in this economy having a job is a blessing. This week I have been extra blessed since I was offered a new position in my company. It isn't a promotion, but it is a change of scenery and new people and new challenges which make the whole thing exciting. It wasn't an easy decision but in the end the fact that I wasn't super excited about my current responsibilities and the future opportunities in my new job led me to decide to take it.

I was also really thankful for my wonderful wife who was awesome and supportive as I talked through the pros and cons and waffled about making a decision. She really was a great help and I am so thankful that I have her.

I am excited about tonight, we are starting back up our high school guys small group with K-Life, and I am just praying that the guys will be excited and come so we can dig into the word together.

That's about it for now, until next time.

January Update

It's been a while since I updated. I think my last update was about Christmas with my family...and I said I'd do a Christmas #2 post...well since it's late January i decide to not call this one Christmas #2.

We did have a great time up at a cabin with the Foxes. :) We ate really well and played games and went on a hike (with no injuries this year) and watch some good movies. It snowed, but didn't stick.

So we got back home and had to go to work and I start back up with the overtime. We have a deadline on Feb 15th (yep I'll be at work the Saturday before my birthday). Both Brian and I have seemed to be busy. We just took our Christmas lights down this week (sorry for being "those neighbors"), and the Christmas tree is still up. If it wasn't so big I might just keep it up and decorate it for Valentine's day...haha...

Sadly this month I lost a friend from college. Emily Piper McGill was an amazing woman, who really lived her life for Christ and influenced so many people. I met Emily at GaTech CCF and got the privileged of studying abroad with her in Mexico with a program called Globalscope. She spent 2 semesters in Mexico reaching out to college students showing them Christ through her life. Later she went to Africa to continue to reach people for Jesus. She found out she had brain cancer after returning from Africa. She's been battling it for about 3 yrs (maybe more...) and it took her life last week. She was so sweet, funny, fun, genuine and passionate. She lived her life fully. She left behind 3 sisters and dad and a new husband, so they could definitely use some prayers.

Well the rest of my updates are happier.

Two weekends ago we helped move Brian's older sister to her new apartment and then last weekend we house sat at a gorgeous home in Buckhead. Her new place is nice and in a good location, and we'll get to see her more now that she's not doing travel nursing.

The house we house-sat at was one of the guy's in Brian's small group from K-Life, so we were hanging with him and house-sitting. I'm just blown away by the houses in Buckhead. This one had 4 bedrooms, 5.5 baths (maybe more), a wine cellar, a workout room, a man den and a huge kitchen and other typical rooms in a big house. It was a gorgeous house and really fun to pseudo-live in a mansion for a weekend and to hang out with a great kid. It's good to know there are well mannered, smart, reliable kids in high school still, well at least one. I was "yes ma'am-ed" all weekend and he walked the dog and fed the dog and cleaned up after himself. It was good.

In other news, for anyone who watches American Idol, the Atlanta auditions had the "Pants on the Ground" guy, right? Well my friend Chrissy (I added my first link!!) got to see this man in person perform on MARTA. :) hahaha I think she said this was like 1-2 weeks ago, before the show debuted, so no one had any idea what was going on, and she said she was a little nervous (i would be too). I just thought that was funny. It also turns out that one of our friends from church dated the guy from Sevierville, TN (not sure I spelled that right). It's just a small world I guess.

Gotta run...adios!

Beginning of 2010

I need to learn to be more entertaining when writing simple stories. I think if I at least convinced myself that my story telling ability was entertaining, I would blog more often. Yeah that is likely just a cop-out and all but I am sure there is some shred of truth to it as well.

Egads! I haven't blogged about the winter holiday's with my family, so here goes. We left Tuesday afternoon in the "Mary Poppins" car, aka my car since it magically can fit a whole lot more in it than our other one. Made the hour drive up to the cabin we had rented. It has really become a family tradition over the last couple years that we get a cabin in the mountains to spend the week after Christmas and celebrate the New Year.

The cabin was nice, the few hiccups when my parents checked in Sunday were remedied and it was just time to enjoy hanging out together and relaxing and vacationing and the like. We also had Christmas as a family once we got there, since we were the last to arrive. It was fun to again be childlike ripping through gifts and getting all giddy at the wonders that were inside. Once we were done it was time to kick back relax and shoot some aliens. Yep that's right, one of the best things for me at the cabin is that I get to spend time with my dad, and he loves shooting aliens. Aka playing Halo, which I got Halo 3 ODST for Christmas, (Dad may have had something to do with that). Basically every morning, since Mom, Dad and I are up before the other sleepy heads, we would have breakfast then go play Halo for a couple of hours, and then come back up and have second breakfast, now that the rest of the crew was awake. A few mornings we also played Wii and Lu and I even tried being healthy one morning by playing 30 minutes each of Wii Fit. I think it helped. :)

Also fun is that I got to play Risk 2210 which is totally awesome but maybe not the most fun for the rest of the kiddos cause it was long and boring while everyone was learning but we had a good time. We played tons of other games including playing pool and getting in the hot tub at least once. Also one of the big reasons we go up there is that we love to go out hiking.

this year our hike was slightly less exciting that last year's during which yours truly became concussed. (aka hit my head on a rock after the branch I was holding on to gave way while posing for a picture) instead we added excitement to this year's hike by not actually knowing where we were going. we knew trails existed in an area so we headed that direction. as we drove our nice asphalt curvy road became a nice gravel curvy road and got more and more narrow, so we figured we were headed in a good direction. Dad eventually decided to turn off and what do you know, he found a trail head on the first try. It was a fun hike, up and a long a ridgeline. on our way down we passed two guys on bikes (i couldn't have easily walked a bike up parts of the trail) and they said they had been riding it since the 80's... crazy guys.

saw lots of deer while we were up there, enjoyed the fire and the down time. Most of all i just like hanging out with my family, mainly because my dad and i are wired the same, we work hard and we play hard, sitting still isn't all that much of a vacation for me. Lu did get to enjoy a lazy day on the couch with my mom though while the rest of us went and played putt putt in really cold weather. well dad was running.

anywho, those are the main highlights, I might have more to add, but i should save it for blogging more later. :) hope everyone else had a fun and safe new year.