Merry Christmas 2012

Greetings Friends & Family,

          Hello from North Carolina!  We cannot thank God enough for the countless blessings He has given us in 2012.  He has shown us repeatedly what a great God we serve.

This was our “Year of Weddings!”  We traveled throughout North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey to take part in eight weddings.  What an honor to be a part of each wedding—all distinctly different and unique.  Each wedding gave us the opportunity to celebrate another marriage and reflect on our own marriage.  One year and nine months ago we said, “I do!”  Being married has been more fun than we could have ever imagined, we continue to learn about each other.  We are still in awe and continue striving to keep the “honeymoon phase” forever. 

            This year was a “Year of Firsts!”  We celebrated our first wedding anniversary in March.  Our birthdays are also in March so we took one big celebration trip to Oak Island, NC.  We were given the opportunity to stay in a friend’s beach house for free—what a blessing!  It was incredibly refreshing to relax at the beach.  Our favorite memories from that trip include the huge seafood meal we enjoyed our first night, biking along the ocean and visiting Airlee Gardens in Wilmington, NC. 

            In April, we were baptized!!! 

            This summer we took advantage of NC’s fresh strawberries, blueberries and peaches.  At  local farms we picked our own fruit; it was so much fun!  We made jam and strawberry topping (AKA unset strawberry jam).  It turned out great for our first attempt.  This year we were frequent shoppers at our farmer’s market and met Mr. Yates, a local farmer.  He has the best produce and honey, which we saw when we toured his farm.  This was our second year of back-porch gardening.  We grew a few types of tomatoes, peppers, basil and lettuce.  It was quite fruitful! 

            We are involved with Ignite Church and the college ministry, FUSE.  Chris plays bass guitar in the band and Jessica mentors a few ladies.  We host a college small group and absolutely love spending time with the college students.  They not only challenge us but also help us grow in our faith. 

            Fall semester of this year Chris started taking online classes at Liberty University for his Bachelor’s degree in Religion.  His classes have been challenging but extremely rewarding.

            In November, Jessica celebrated her first year as a Registered Dietitian. 

            Chris completed his first Tough Mudder race in October.  He was on a 9-person team, the race covered 11.2 miles and 23 obstacles; they all survived with only minor scratches and bruises!  Jessica visited NJ in October and got stuck there for an extra week due to Hurricane Sandy.  A devastating experience but also a blessing to spend extra time with family. 

            There’s our year in a nut-shell!  Thanks to all of you, our friends and  family, that continually support and encourage us through our adventures =)

Merry Christmas! 

There's nothing like home.

I've been in NJ for a week now visiting with friends and family-- Mom and Dad picked me up from Philadelphia airport and we headed into Philadelphia to do some sightseeing!  It was so much fun, we took an open-top bus tour and then enjoyed our first Philly Cheese Steaks!

Liberty Park in Philly

Mom & Dad enjoying the bus tour...great idea for our afternoon!

No, I had no idea what they were talking about Rocky!

Ben Franklin Bridge, my Dad could tell you anything about bridges!

We chose Campo's for dinner, got off second to last stop on our tour to try some cheese steaks!

MmmMmm!  Mom approved.

Philly Cheese Steak with homemade Macaroni Salad-- YES please!

It was yum!

God sure does know exactly what we need and when we need it.  I've been able to slow down, have no agenda and relax...for days.  It's been really nice.  I stayed with my parents the first few days, soaking up time with them catching up and hanging out.  Then, I made my way up to spend some time with great friends and old neighbors.  The day I drove up to Hunterdon I had the windows open, music playing and the most beautiful scenery...God's artwork on display!

Almost there =)

Chris and I booked my flight a few months ago knowing I wanted to go to my cousin Rachel's wedding and Chris was running the SC Tough Mudder-- So I'd be traveling on my own, which at the time seemed like a fine idea.  The closer my trip came the more I wanted to get away from work and such, but didn't want to leave Christopher.  We love to do life together, so here it was 10 days (much longer with hurricane Sandy on her way up the coast) voluntarily apart.  It's been fun but I sure do miss my best friend and side-kick to do everything with =)

While in Hunterdon Peter, Ellen and I went to a "Pumpkin Sling" which was both interesting and fascinating!

On the hayride to the Pumpkin Sling!

While in Hunterdon I got to spend some time on the trails I miss the most, it was absolutely GORGEOUS!  The pictures do no justice to the beauty...

This is a trail I ran on back in the day...many, many runs ago!

"You don't know what you got till it's gone"  I believe I didn't know how lucky I was until I didn't have any trails such as this to run on...  

Dad and I took a day at the beach to check out the waves before Hurricane Sandy.  Little did we know how destructive the hurricane would be...It was a beautiful afternoon exploring with Dad.

Storm clouds rolling in.

We couldn't figure out how to take a picture together!  Sure is a handsome Dad I got =)  I am very thankful for my Dad.

A few days later Hurricane Sandy made her arrival.  It was at this point that my computer was not used for over a week.  Sandy came and took the power at my parent's house for a week and a day-- and that wasn't anything compared to the massive destruction and damage that took place along the Jersey Shore.  I feel as though I have no idea of just how huge the destruction was and is.  When I was there we didn't have cable so it wasn't until I got back to NC that I was able to get online and watch the news.  From here it's not all that bad because most are not directly impacted.  My heart aches for those many we know that have lost everything.  It's at these times you'll see those Yankees unite and rebuild Jersey, bigger and better.  Makes me want to move back up north, Jersey Strong!

On a different note, my camera was stolen by a PGV TSA worker so it may be some time before we get more pictures up here.  A bummer!  Although, it's really nothing much compared to what others have lost.

Thanks for reading!  Keep those affected by Hurricane Sandy in your thoughts and prayers.

How beautiful this love

Our friends Chris and Anna founded an amazing ministry called Restore One.  Their mission is "combating human trafficking and human exploitation by means of public awareness, practical prevention, restorative care and building domestic and international partnerships."  If you've never heard of sex-trafficing, as many have not, it is REAL and happening ALL around us.  Check out the Restore One facebook page and website for more information and to learn about human trafficking.


https://www.facebook.com/RestoreOne
http://restoreonelife.org

Friday night Chris and I went to the Restore One Celebration Banquet.  We enjoyed lots of good southern food (ie-- mac and cheese, cabbage, green beans, 3 types of chicken, ham, rolls, hush puppies and banana pudding or peach cobbler), an amazing and inspiring survivor share her story of hope and powerful gospel music!  

Saturday morning we rose early, made a quiche, and headed over to enjoy breakfast with Sharon, John, Rachel and Desi (Rachel's friend).  Everyone seems to be traveling a lot this month so wanted to make sure we spent some time together before another month goes by in our busy lives!  There's nothing like spending time with family... especially since they are like 3 minutes down the road.

Many of you may already be aware but I was very surprised and excited when I started to do some research about homemade cleaning products-- they are EXTREMELY easy to make and INCREDIBLY better for us and the environment!!!  The website I used to find a lot of my recipes is:  http://homemademothering.com/  My first batch of homemade cleaning products are straight up white vinegar which has LOADS of uses for cleaning windows, mirrors, counters, baseboards...it's just as good if not better than the Windex multi-purpose cleaner with vinegar I was previously using...and WAY cheaper (1 gallon white vinegar $2.38 + spray bottle $0.98 = less than $4.00!)  I also made a furniture polish...which was a combination of a few different blog recipes I found.  The recipe I used was something like 1 to 3 parts olive oil to water + a few splashes of white vinegar and a few drops lavender essential oil.  Used with an old rag or sock this stuff works quite well and again, DUH, cheaper than Pledge and less wasteful compared to the throw away wipes or cans.  Needless to say-- our apartment is SPOTLESS due to my new found green cleaning products...this place has never been as clean as it is today-- I think it quite possibly may be cleaner than when I started renting it.  I should charge them for all my hard work today.

Since we both worked so hard today, Chris wrote a paper for school and I cleaned, we decided it was a good evening to treat ourselves to a meal out.  We went to Japan Inn where I got sushi and Chris got hibachi.  It was really good for the most part.  I learned something new tonight, I do not like mayo on my sushi.  EW!  A perfectly good sushi roll, but they put mayo on it.  Yes, I knew it was coming but I didn't think it was going to be like it was.  No.  Gross.  Never again.  I will stick with the raw sushi with NO MAYO please and thank you.  

We are very excited!  There are many fun things coming up this week.  Friday Chris's brother Aaron will be graduating from Navy boot camp, we are so incredibly PROUD of him.  End of this week I get to go with FUSE (the college ministry at Ignite Church) on their fall retreat to Washington DC.  

Tomorrow Chris will make his debut playing his bass guitar at both services at Ignite Church.  I am so EXCITED for him.  I know he is very excited to be playing again.  Yes, I will be there for both services =)  It's late...time for bed!  Thanks again for keeping up with us.

It's all about the Butter Syrup.

Yet another week almost gone, time for another update for our friends and family afar...

Beginning of our week was started with hosting our college co-ed small group at our place.  God really blew us away with 12 college students cramming into our tiny apartment!  It was a blast and amazing to study and get to know our Father with the students.  We are going through The Basics series by Francis Chan.  This week Chris led us in studying the fear of God.  I am excited to get back together with everyone this coming week.  Chris and I are so thankful for the opportunity to lead this group of students, it has been such a blessing to us.

Tuesday night we have FUSE at ECU.  Chris and I helped tear down and enjoyed a few "HOT NOW" Krispy Kreme donuts with the gang for all our "hard" work =)  Yes, Jessica RD likes a good Krispy Kreme donut every now and then too!  It was so good.  The best worst part about hanging out at Krispy Kreme is you smell like a walking donut when you leave!

There are a lot of really cool things happening at Ignite.  We can't wait to share with some of you the exciting things we've been up to.

We had some friends over for dinner mid-week.  Chris and I love cooking and sharing a meal with others.  Yet again we are blown away by the people God places in our path.  It was so fun to share a meal and get to know our friends.  We got to talk about fun questions like "how did you meet?" =)  ...one of our favorite questions to answer.

End of the week Sharon and John had us over for dinner and we  Chris made SUSHI!  It was so yummy!  We had California rolls (one of our most favorite! --it's imitation crab, avocado and cucumber) and salmon and cucumber rolls.  Sharon and I also enjoyed the sushi items rolled in the egoma leaves.  They have a very distinct licorice/minty flavor we both really enjoy.

After dinner we enjoyed some milano mint cookies and watched October Baby-- a great movie.  I stayed awake the ENTIRE movie.  It must be really good.

Saturday morning we woke up rather early for a good cause-- Yoders Dutch Pantry!  Took some peeps from our small group and headed out to Grifton early Saturday morning.  The food was incredible, as always.  Hopefully next time Persida and Stefan will be able to join us!

The before--  French Toast with bacon and BUTTER SYRUP

The after--  Yes I finished it all but one bite!

This afternoon we have been hanging low, Chris is coming down with a cold and I am hopefully not catching it.  We watched Dive! and Food Fight this afternoon, two very good documentaries I'd recommend.  I could watch documentaries for days.  They are so interesting to me and I learn so much.  Dive! is about food waste in America and Food Fight is about our messed up food industry and a movement in California to eat local.

We also watched a DVD from Liberty University Chris got in the mail...really makes us consider living closer  to Liberty University so Chris can experience what it's like to actually go to college (...maybe for grad school).  Since moving to NC for college I have learned so much and cannot replace the experience I had actually being at college.  Some more food for thought in our not busy brains =) lol.

Tonight we got out of the house for a little bit and enjoyed a walk around a pretty neighborhood we love here in Greenville.  Then, we whipped up a pot of KILLER vegetable soup (carrots, broccoli, corn, sweet potato, garlic, onion, celery, crushed tomatoes, zucchini with a splash of beer, vegetable broth and a few herbs) and enjoyed it over some egg noodles.  Yes, we always eat well around here.  It's all about teamwork.  Chris and I love to cook together and love the fact that we always get to cook together...not alone.  Marriage is such a blessing to us in so many ways =)

Tonight I'm listening to my husband practice his bass because he is playing for children's church tomorrow...the songs sound so fun!  Have a great night, thanks again for checking in on us!

Beer can chicken

 

This Picture deserved a Post of its own.  Start with a 4LB chicken. Dry rub with spices.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Set your timer for 1hr. Instal beer of your choice in bottom end of Bird (make sure you open beer can, there has been confusion with this step lol). When skin is dark golden brown, enjoy the best chicken of your life!!!!! mmmmmm mmmmm mmmmm Good!!!!!!

A New Week

Another week has passed!  It seems like the older we get the faster the days fly by.  The weather this week has been amazing!!! Reminds me of the beautiful San Diego weather I miss so much.  Jessica went to a painting party on Friday, where she got to paint a picture of a Pirate and have a glass of wine.  It was called Wine & Design.  

Here is her master piece!!!!

 

We have found a new site on facebook called pitt county yard sales.  Today we cleaned house and posted everything we could find in the house we dont ever use.  You would be supprised the amount of stuff we fit into a one bedroom apartment (we were).  So far we have sold a laptop, a decorative water container, and a old flatware set we had laying around.  So crazy the things people will buy!!.

 

I start my fifth week of school on monday! So excited for everything I have been learning and will learn in the future.  I am halfway through the Old Testement and will start the New Testement in a couple of weeks when I change classes.

 

  Tonight we went to the preview service Ignite Church did for the new campus in Martin county.  It was so amazing to see Graham preaching and the people so engaged and excited to be there. 

 

Here are a couple of pictures from the weddings we went to over the summer

What An Awesome summer of weddings it was!!! 8 I remind You!!! (=

 

 

Fav Painting !!! I was so close I could touch it. The gaurd would not have liked that though lol

 

 

 

 

Dinner at the Wharfside in NJ with Jason & Susan.  So much good wait Great Food!!!

 

 

Well thats about all for tonight.  It is 1AM and I need to go to bed. No more coffee at 7PM any more (=

 

 

We are back !!! (=

Hey bloggers,

      We have been gone from the blogging world for a while, but it is time to jump start the page and let you all know what we have been up too!!  We are coming up on a year and a half of being married this month.  We have learned so much about each other and ourselves as we learn and grow together.  I (Chris) have started back school and am in my second week at Liberty University.  Over the summer I took the last of my prerequisites at PCC, and am now going towards my BS in Religion.  The classes are really cool because all I get to do is learn about the bible!!!! we are on a regular semester schedule, but the semesters are split in two so we have 2 classes the first 8 weeks, and two classes the last 8 weeks.  All of my classes are online because Liberty's campus is in Lynchburg, VA.  Jessica is still doing grant based research with UNC.

 

     We have recently started going to Ignite church!  We cannot tell you enough how much we are enjoying the atmosphere and all the people God has brought into our lives.  We are helping with FUSE campus ministries through Ignite Church, as well as leading a co-ed college small group on Monday evenings.  It has been so much fun hanging out with all the college students and slowly trying to remember all of their names lol.  They put on a bowling nite the other day and had 56 students come out and bowl!  Most of our FUSE meetings have over 180 college students!!!! It is so amazing to see them all worshiping and wanting to grow closer to Christ as they continue on their college adventure. 

http://ignitesite.tv/index.php

http://ignitesite.tv/fuse.php

 

      My little bro has been away at Navy boot camp for 4 weeks now.  He has sent a couple of letters to the family saying he is doing really good and briefly explained what he has been doing.  I am so excited for him and what the future holds!! Rachel is a junior in high school this year!!!!!
Man she has grown up so
fast and is still growing
everyday. 






      I have signed up to run the tough mudder in October with Team Ignite.  For those of you who do not know what the tough mudder is here is a link http://toughmudder.com/ .  It is 11 miles of trails and 25 obstacles!  cant wait to see how we do as a team, and how I do on the obstacles. 

      Our garden had a rough start this year because of the soil I originally bought.  Never buy Walmart brand potting soil and plant your potted in them.  It stunted the growth of all our plants and we had in infestation of mold gnats from the soil.  I finally bought good soil and replanted everything and it shot up like weeds!  We have a ton of types of cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros. 

 

This summer was for sure the summer of LOVE!!! We went to 8 I repeat 8 weddings this year!  It was so much fun, but we were all over the place this summer. 

Well that is about now for now.  We will post more later (=  Hope you all are having a great Labor day!!!!

Chris & Jessica (=