Building an Apt.

Our days have been extremely busy lately. We're so glad they are. We are having the time of our lives! The pictures below are showing the construction of our apartment. We'll keep you up to date on how it's coming. We'll be living here until our house in Texas sells and we find a good place to live. We just finished "raising the floor" literally on this building. It is rather old and the foundation settled a little, so we evened everything out.

Here is Stephanie going to town with the hammer in the dry wall. We took the drywall of this side, and moved the frame 90 degrees to the left to extend this room.

Here is Bro. Ed as he takes off the last few pieces of drywall before the move.

These were the two rooms that became one

This will be the new bedroom. Nice sized now!

we put the old drywall back on and we're ready to go

Another shot from the length.

As you can see, it's coming along, I'm very excited to have our own stuff and most of all our own bed back... soon! We'll update with more pictures in a few days.

Catching UP

Wow, It really has been too long since I posted anything. Let me catch you up in "the short version"

We made the decision to leave Texas. It wasn't a hard choice, before we left, we both knew that our hearts were in Evansville, IN and at the Boeke Road Baptist Church. We visited for a weekend with Stephen and Cheryl Russ and John and Tamyra soon to be Kiel and we both knew that this was the place for us. We're so happy to know we're now home. We had to leave Texas out right, so we went to the "Texas State Fair" and ate lots of good FRIED foods.
Then we put all of our earthly possessions in this beast and drove across 5 states. I don't know who told me driving one of these big rigs was fun, but they lied. It was an experience. I drove this and pulled the jeep and Steph drove her car behind me. We stopped in Memphis, TN and ate at the Neely's BBQ... Quite possibly the best BBQ I've ever had.
We felt like such grown ups moving away from both of our families, we decided to get some latte's to prove it. Moving to Texas, we still had family around, but now we're "All on our own" This whole deal has been a lot of fun, trying at times, but a great experience.
Since getting here, I am now the new Sunday School teacher of the College and Career class at the Boeke Road Baptist Church. I have named it Foundations Bible Class and will be starting in the Annex Building. It has been empty for so long, I have been doing a lot of work on the inside thus far with cleaning and painting and will start on the outside in the next few days, but our first class is this Sunday, the 24th of October. I'll keep you updated on it.
I accepted a job at Faith Music Missions as the Marketing Director. I love my job. There is so much to do. Don't be surprised if you get a call from me as I "pitch" our newest ideas and projects your way. FMM is a recording studio about 2 hours North of Nashville with a world wide influence. We also have a radio station in which I have been able to be a guest on a couple of times. It's looking like I'll get my own show here in the near future. I'll keep you posted on days/times, but you can listen in at faith1180.com anywhere in the world.
All in all, "we're just happy to be here". We are still waiting for our house to sell in Texas, so if you know anyone who wants a good deal in the Dallas area, let me know. Hopefully we caught you up. I'll be staying up to date a lot more in the future, so check back often.

Lessons on God's Will

I have learned so much about God's Will the past few weeks as I talked with men far more wise than I. I thought I would share some of the quotes, thoughts and Scriptures I have found of God's will with you.
1. We follow principles, not people/places. It is very important that we know these principles be Biblically based. We should always follow principles as we seek God's will for our lives. That means God has already told us to share the gospel, go to church, read His Word and pray. That is God's will no matter where where we find ourselves geographically. More than just blindly following what a man says, we ought to "search out the Scriptures whether those things are so".2. "God's will is revealed five minutes at a time." We need to be sure we're doing God's will

First Anniversary

To all of our loyal readers... Probably just my mom, mother in law and anyone else that may read these, I wanted to take a post to show you some pictures from our recent One Year Anniversary. Yep, that's right, she didn't kill me... yet. We made it 1 year!

If you remember, we stayed at the Fairmont in San Jose, CA for the night of our wedding. I wanted to make this anniversary special, but obviously on a tighter budget now (having a wife is really expensive!) :) So, I found that Dallas has a Fairmont. I booked a room and here is a little story of our trip.

So, upon arriving at the Fairmont Dallas, we checked in and got to our room. It was a little smaller than the Jr. Suite we had on our wedding night. I took a moment to tweet that it was not quite as high in the building as I would have liked and it was a little smaller than the room I remembered from San Jose.

Within 10 minutes our room phone rang and the lady on the other end introduced herself as the PR rep for the hotel. She said she saw my tweet and was wondering if we would mind switching to a better room. Of course we agreed and we moved from the 5th floor to the 18th floor. The new bathroom was as big as the old room! She finished by saying, "Happy anniversary, thanks for choosing the Fairmont Dallas." Check out the view!

Later that evening we decided to take a walk downtown to the west end. After dinner we were on our way back to the Fairmont when we saw this! It was so beautiful and very relaxing just wandering through this little area a block away from the Fairmont.

The next morning, the actually morning of our anniversary (3/6) we went out to get back in my Jeep... as you know, I'm always up for saving a buck here or there... This was one of those times when I should have splurged for valet. We parked in a public parking lot with no camera's and a sign posted, "not responsible for lost or damaged vehichles". That should have been my first clue. Here is a picture of my Jeep mirror... Only $80 worth of damage to each mirror! :) what a blessing huh?

After spending some time shopping and doing whatever we wanted (we can do that since it was "our" day) we went back home. It was our paper anniversary, so I got Steph a book and some other paper items, but this was "The Main Event". I had some "paper" set up to paint on, along with some paints, brushes, etc to do a little activity. It didn't quite work on the floor, by the fireplace, so I brought in the deck table and chairs. We spent the night painting and laughing and reminiscing of just one short year ago.

So, I'm not much of an artist, but that was my cup of coffee artwork. Stephanie's came out way better!

Here is my art savvy wife's picture. She did a great job.

I had to take a moment to tell everyone about our great fire that night. We have tried to have a good fire several times, but the wood here in Texas is so dense, that it is hard to get the wood started. We had such a good fire and it really heated up the whole house. We were so glad that we finally got the fire going, we had to share.

All in all, I can't believe that we were in Italy one year ago. We have had so many things happen in our lives in the last 365 days it is really incredible.

Las Vegas or Bust

What a great time we had while in Las Vegas, NV. We flew out in February to help the Gateway Baptist Church with their Missions Conference. Their theme was "Proving the Sincerity of Your Love". We led the music during the conference, preached to the teens and ate a lot of In-N-Out. Below are some of the pictures from our trip. Hope you enjoy.The infamous "U-Swirl" that I have read so much about on Twitter from @rach72892 which is that purple loving Ellis girl (Pastor's twin daughters - Rachel and Rebekah)
Here is Pastor Ellis. What a man of God. I don't know of any other Pastor with a heart as big as this man's. He is a lot of fun and doing a great job in Las Vegas.

This is a picture of the final night of the missions conference. Each member of the church held a candle representing the Gospel. We must all do our part to lighten the world.

Here was after each candle was lit in memory of a missionary the lights were turned off and each person blew out their candle showing that if we don't hold the Light high, we fail God. Powerful message.

No trip would be complete to the West Coast without a little In-N-Out... In our case, 4 times in 6 days. We actually went there twice the first day. :)
So, once again, these pictures are out of order, but this was the most amazing dish at the international Philippino dinner. Living in Texas, we don't get a lot of ethnic foods.... The food we miss the most is the food. We occasionally talk Aimee Jackson into giving us some, but Gateway Baptist has a few Philippino families and they made really good food. We loved it!

My wife, and the Ellis Twins practicing before the closing service for the song they sang. Stephanie had a great time singing in a group as she has not been able to do so lately here in Texas.
I had to put this picture in because this is Rachel and her "little friend" I can't even remember his name right now :) but I've known these girls since they were just little things, so of course I had to give this young man a hard time. It was one of the highlights of my trip... I don't think he or she enjoyed it all too much, but I did... :)
We got an afternoon off one day to do a little sight-seeing in Vegas. We decided that, since it was so close to our anniversary, in which we went to Venice and Rome, Italy, we had to go see The Venetian and Caesar's Palace. Here is a picture of us near the fake Rialto bridge. It was great fun to see how they pulled certain parts of Venice right into the strip of Las Vegas.
No trip would be complete unless ending on this note: In-N-Out (again). I talked Mrs. Ellis (the only one who evaded my picture taking) into taking us here once again on the way to the airport. We had a great time and sure love the Ellis family. What a wonderful time we had.

Record Snow Fall in Dallas!

Here a few pictures of our most recent snow day in Dallas. Yes, there has been more than one. This was the the record snowfall in Dallas, TX's history. Over a foot registered. Below is a picture of the small tree in our front yard that broke under the weight of the snow and fell on our neighbors car.

Here is our little chair/table on our back patio. Good angle to see how much snow really fell!

Picture through the window looking out over our front yard.

My Golden Birthday - 23

What a great birthday I had this past year! My wife made the best cake I've ever had... It was four layers! The largest cake I have ever had for a birthday. Here are some pictures throughout the day.

I got a french press from my mom and dad and my wife got me a coffee grinder... It's not pictured, but it is so awesome! We opened presents with my parents and sister with husband at Starbucks. My wife gave the workers a slice of cake and when we left, they gave me a free pound of Anniversary Blend to try out my new grinder/french press!

My awesome cake with my awesome wife!

We ate dinner at a sushi place called Killer Piranha Sushi... This was some chicken something or other. I don't remember the name, but it was so good!

My wife and sister at the restaurant.

My wife and I getting ready to eat.

The Birthday Roll at the restaurant.

My mom and dad at the sushi place!

First Christmas - Dallas

The men in our family have a funny sense of humor! We all three got toy helicopters... I knew it would be a hit with my dad and my mom thought it would be a hit with Jeramy and I... She was right!

We spent a little time with Shawn and Aimee later in the evening on Christmas. It was so nice to have family around for this action packed day!

My brother in law Jeramy in his favorite present from my mom... Poor guy is a Lions fan!

Papa and Eden - She picked that present out all by herself for her papa... Both of Erin's girls got my dad coffee and they both picked it out on their own! I think it's evident.. Papa is addicted!

Opening presents at Papa and Grandma's house after a wonderful breakfast. (notice that Grandma isn't in any of the pictures... Since she was probably taking most of the pictures.)

Stephanie opening presents on Christmas Eve... I don't know why it turned sideways, but it's ok... You get the general idea.

We had our first Christmas and we had a "White Christmas" in Dallas Texas! Can you believe it?

Me opening Christmas presents on Christmas Eve...

Here is our fireplace and mantle decorated... Also, notice the little trees from our wedding on either side of the fireplace. They sure have come in handy.

Our First Christmas Tree!