Our Apartment

Okay.. sorry guys.. been a little busy as you can see in the pics.. NEW APARTMENT.. yippeee =) rejoice with us.. maybe one day we'll host a party for all of our blog readers and have some brazilian bbq.. =) Sounds good huh?. =) God is soo good!!! We got the apartment on the 15th of August and I moved in and have begun to prepare it for the homecoming of my beautiful bride to be on October the 10th! Its right around the corner.. i can't wait. So we painted the bedroom as you can see a nice soft/darker tone.. to give it a soft romantic feel.. yeah man!!! =) Praise the Lord. Our bedroom set was delivered and setup. Given to us by
Lisette's cool parents. The Lord has been faithful!
Okay.. So back to the pics.. yup. One of the pics is of my silly girl, Lily helping us paint. She is an artist in the making. I hope this is not the beginning of a graffiti life. =) LOL! She is a blessing. =) She really helped out a lot. The other pic is of Lisette and Lily cooking breakfast together. Lisette decided to come over on Saturday morning and make us breakfast before we started all the cleaning. What a precious gal she is! What a breakfast too.. yummy!!! She made some eggs, bacon, and biscuits.
The bacon was AWESOME!!!!
The other picture is of us cleaning (actually sitting between cleaning) the apartment. Its been a blessing. We had a couple of people from the church over and check out the place already. We all prayed together for the apartment that God would be honored and glorified in our home! So yeah.. good stuff..
We just finished our invitations.. i know, i know.. we are running late with it. But its done and going in the mail on Monday. Actually Lisette is putting the last few together as i post this blog.
I sneaked a peak at the registry today and am soo excited about that as well..
if you haven't done so yet.. check it out.. there ain't a whole lot left so if you don't find anything for us at Target.com registry, or Macy's registry.. you can always donate to our HONEYMOON registry.. yup thats right.. you too can be a part of our sooo sooo very special HONEYMOON (you can't come with us though). =) But you can help be a part of blessing us in it. Just visit and contact Tammy at www.mygloriousgetaways.com . That would be a blessing to us. =) Thanks again for checking out our blog.. We pray all is well with you and are soo very excited to have you be apart of our upcoming (not soon enough) day! Lord bless ya! (i sound like a salesman with that whole honeymoon pitch, don't i? ) =) Can you tell i'm excited. =)

Wedding plans coming along. =)

Excited yet?.. We are!!! Its about 2 months away.. God has been good.. so whatsup with all the pics? Well, i'm glad you asked. =) We had a great day of getting much accomplished. We busted out both of our laptops and got to work on getting info and reservations. Oh, we also got all the basic information for the wedding invites done.. just got to get them printed.. there is a special surprise with that. Lisette and I designed them ourselves.. I know, you can't wait to see them. =)

The pics are of the ship we are going on for our honeymoon cruise.. =) I'm very extremely excited about that!I hope it actually looks like that and not a little sailboat instead.. that wouldn't be cool. =) LOL! I actually just got my passport

updated as well. =) The pic of the

stretched Navigator is the car we rented for the wedding day! (very cool!) Its all getting so real, so close, and so very Exciting! God is soo good to us!. We were soo excited about all the stuff we were getting done that our stomachs started making noises because we forgot to have lunch.. LOL! =) So we took a break and went out to eat. So the bridal party is set and the brides-maids are all excited about the bridal shower.. (can't talk too much about that here though) =) The registry is all set. (go check it out.. Macy's, TARGET, and www.mygloriousgetaways.com - to donate to our Honeymoon registry,
tell Tammy you want to donate to our Honeymoon.) =) We would encourage that very much. lol =) We would also like to thank everyone that has been offering their help with the plans.. Its soo awesome to see our family, both blood and spiritual family, come alongside us to bless us with this special occasion. God has been soo very gracious to us. Thank you all. Well that's all for now.. i'm gonna go spend sometime out with my beautiful bride to be! sooo excited. =)

Its also been cool hearing from people that have checked out our blog. keep checking in! =)

Apartment hunting and just hanging

Okay.. Here goes another post.. I've heard through the grapevine that bridal shower invites have officially "been mailed". So that's exciting. We have been fighting off the peoples jokes about our registry lists at Macy's and Target being so small.. well that's because we have a HONEYMOON REGISTRY! =) Let me take a moment to explain.. We both are mature adults who have moved out of our parents house years ago. In living on our own (separately, not living in the same place) we have accumulated many household items that a typical young couple that still lives with their parents would not have had the opportunity to stock pile. =) So with all that said. We have put on the registry the few things that we saw fit as needed and wanted, and decided to put the focus on our HONEYMOON REGISTRY.. by the way you can contact Tammy at www.mygloriousgetaways.com if you would like to contribute to it. =) (shameless plug) lol. So yeah about the pics. The first one with my beautiful Lisette and I sitting on the couch is us babysitting my cousin's kids while he and his wife went out on a date. =) We had a great time, and they were surprised to get home with all the kids asleep. They were very grateful and we were blessed to be able to minister to them in that way. =) We had fun. The other pic is of my two gals, Lily and Lisette. We went out for pizza right before going to the park. Had a good time. Those two just love each other sooo much. =) I must have took about 6 pics before i got a good one of the both of them smiling and looking at the camera at the same time. =)... the last pic (the dark one) is of Lisette in front of this cool fountain at this park we found while apartment hunting in Lyndhurst. We really liked the park alot. =) The apartments, ehh.. not soo much. =) God knows and will provide.. we still have a bunch more to see. So keep us in your prayers. The wedding plans are going smooth. We are working on the wedding invites now and will get those finished and mailed out soon as well. Lisette bought her dress!!! How exciting.. but i don't have a pic of it to show you.. so if you want to see, like i do, you have to come to the wedding.. or wait for the pics to be posted afterwards. =) I'm sure she will look beautiful on that day.. even moreso than she does everyday, if that were possible.. but we will have to wait and see. =).. Well yeah, i believe its possible, because that will be the day I will be able to call her, "my wife".. =) The Lord Jesus has been soo gracious to us. Hope you all are enjoying this blog. prayers are always appreciated.. and comments too.. peace<><

Grounds for Sculpture. Day at a Sculpture park.

We decided to take a little break from the wedding planning for a little while to take a trip to the Grounds for Sculpture. It was a beautiful day and this trip had been postponed due to weather. So off we went to the Park. We had a great time walking around and checking out all the sculptures in the park. Some very strange stuff of course. Got some cool pics.. When Lisette uploads the pics from her camera, we'll post them. =)

We really enjoyed spending this time together in the midst of all the planning. It was nice to slow down and take it all in and enjoy it. Thank the Lord that everything is going smoothly and we really aren't

stressed out at all. God has been
faithfully providing. So yeah, as my honey would say, "its all good!" =) The pic with Lisette standing in a doorway is really cool. There was this little area kind of hidden off the trail that had this awesome doorway totally carved out of wood, with such cool designs. She liked it a lot, hence the pic. =) The pic of me sitting was a pretty cool piece of art.. It was a chair in the middle of several trees forming a circle around the chair. =) How genius! Oh and that last pic.. we had someone take it of us walking around on the roof of one of the buildings.. =) (you are very guillable if you believe me). It was part of the
sculpture park. Crazy right. =) i thought it was creative. So.. a little over 2 1/2 months from the time of this blog until i marry my beauty. We are soo very excited and grateful for all the Lord is doing. Oh yeah, we also just started our premarital. the first session was cool. We got our books and a lot of homework and ground to cover in a short time.. thats what happens in short engagements. =) We are up for the challenge. Okay.. its getting late and i need some sleep. Thanks for checking out our blog. Oh and Target and Macy's for our registry. But we actually prefer you contact Tammy at www.mygloriousgetaways.com and let her know you want to contribute to our honeymoon registry. =) That would be much apprecieated. =) peace<><

4th of July, Fireworks

Okay, the 4th of july has come and gone. We had a great time at the block party at church! You will see more pics of that soon or you could check out my facebook. So Lisette, Lily, and I went to watch the fireworks over at Belleville H.S. It was a great time.. if you notice that little pink and green blanket next to lily.. you see it? It was funny because she had that blanket covering her ears the whole time during the firework show. She said it was loud but was enjoying it soo much and saying "wow!!!, Wow!!!, thats cool!" So she had a great time! Oh, and it wasn't really that loud she was just exagerating. =)

So the wedding plans are going great.. we are moving right along.. pretty much got a date set.. and almost done registering for the gifts. Macy's and Target. =) We meet on Tues night (tomorrow) with our travel agent for our honeymoon plans. We are going to go ahead and try to do a honeymoon registry prayerfully. We are praying that the Lord would continue to bless all that we do. Oh yeah we are also going to start pre-marital counseling very soon. Very excited. =) So let me sign off. I need to get going and get some stuff other stuff done. I'm working on a prayer/mission support card for the pastors son. its looking pretty cool..

that will be an update as well sometime soon... Lord willing. Hope yall are enjoying this..

<<<<<- I really like this pic. =)

Engaged

Yes, if you haven't yet heard, I'm engaged.. =) It happened last weekend on June 20th. Down in Charlotte N.C. At the prayer garden/memorial at the Billy Graham museum/library.. A quaint little outdoor woodsy type place..(You have to ask her about the story of the "background" to this memory, it has to do with the Susannah Spurgeon biography that she's reading.) We walked down a trail and sat on a bench, ( pretty cool bench made out of logs of wood cut in half. I'm considering getting one for my backyard one day.). So , you are probably asking, "what in the world is up with that picture?" Well, since you asked, I will tell you. This is a pic I took of Lisette and I during our first night of wedding planning. =) the glasses falling off my head were the result of her punching me cause of something i disagreed with. LOL!... No, but seriously. The Lord has been gracious to us. It seems as if we got a lot accomplished this first night. He is sooooo merciful to us. We pray that He would be glorified in all that goes on in and through the planning of this wedding as we seek to honor Him in our marriage. Your prayers are much appreciated. So .. stay tuned for more updates and stories on how things are going. (I will probably need an ice pack for my eye. =) LOL.. just joking.. She is sitting behind me as I write this laughing at me. =) I could enjoy that laugh for the rest of my life. Thank You Lord. =) night all. Lord bless<><

It has been a little while since the last post. Okay.. I admit i haven't got the hang of this thing yet.. or maybe i've been busy. =) You will notice a pic of my sweet precious daughter and I in front of a Charleston South Carolina map. We visited and went to the isle of Palms with the family. The beach was beautiful, the hotel was very nice, and the golf was great (Charleston National country club).

It was very nice to get away for a little vacation, but since i've been back its back to business, work, church, and leadership meetings. It was a good time of getting refreshed. Did some reading and got a little more familiar with my new ESV bible that my lovely beautiful girlfriend purchased for me. :) I also have been reading several new books that I just got that i'm enjoying very much. "confessions of a reformission rev." by mark driscoll and "Total Church" by Steve Timmis/Tim Chester. Along with my 2nd time around reading "knowing God" by j.i. packer. I'm soo excited at all the cool things the Lord has been doing lately in my life. I've been helping out the Pastor's son with preparation for finishing bible college and going to the mission field. Sad to say that he just recently got injured and thus had to postpone all the speaking engagements he had begun to schedule for the summer to speak about the vision the Lord has given him for missions.

I've been reading and studying lately about missions and how sometimes the church has it misunderstood in the sense that the stereotype is to soley go to a foreign land. Which leads to the neglecting of the "love thy neighbor" command. We are all called as christians to be missionaries in the environment, culture, and community that the Lord has placed us in. We shouldn't "soley" go to the ends of the earth while forgetting about our jerusalem and judea. So its been a very interesting study. Well at this point i'm looking to sign off and pick up a book. =) Looking forward to next week.. Taking my daughter down to visit with the grandparents for a week. Should be such a blessing. Grace and Peace.... Thy will be done O' Lord!