Our New Humble Abode!

I know what you are thinking. "Emily, really? Two posts in two days? You can't throw us off like this. We aren't used to this!" Well, folks, maybe 2011 is a new year? Hopefully. My little side blog (Below the Magnolia) is defffinitely taking a hiatus as I am trying to figure out the direction I want to take it. But I would love to keep anyone who is interested in our life (anyone?...Mom? Mrs. Barb? Katie? Camilla? That might be about it....haha that is ok though!!) updated through this blog.
So, in other news, on November 24, 2010 we closed on our first home. The whole process was nothing but God. He just guided out weak little human feet along His path and made Himself clear to us! Thank you, Lord!
Y'all know that BJ and I both love houses and all that jazz so we had been "looking" around at houses for fun since we got married. We just love seeing what all is out there and especially have a thing for older homes! We are always all over this website... www.alamls.com ... it shows the newest listings every day and it a very handy website for people looking around in our area.
One day when we both got home from work BJ said something like, "Em, did you see the house that was listed today?" I actually had not seen it yet so he showed it to me. The owner had only put 2 or 3 pictures up and so I couldn't really get a good feel for it. I just kinda said, "eh..yeah...that is cute." haha. Yikes, Em. I guess it was not love at first sight?? Once I actuallyyy laid eyes on it in real life, it was love at 1st-in-person-not-in-picture-sight. Ok so that weekend they were having an open house. LUCKY US. Who knows if we would have ever set up an appointment to see it! We walk in the house as the owner is walking out (we are geared out in auburn stuff) and he says, "War Eagle!" THAT was a good start. I love knowing that out house was owned by someone in the Auburn family. Is that lame???
Long story short, the open house went great, we loved the house, only down side was it just had one bathroom, I got over that after, it had 3 big bedrooms, a back yard, built in 1930, brick, the agent told us there was a lot of interest in the house (turns out she was telling the truth...and the house was priced to sell so we had to make a move), we get things rolling with the bank/mortgage folks the next week, and put an offer on the house 9 days after it was put on the market. The owner counter offered the next day and we accepted!! It was a decent counter offer...nothing too crazy...so it was definitely worth it to us to go ahead and accept. It was SUCH a great deal for the area and everything, so we were pumped. Also, NONE of this would have been possible without Aunt Jill! She has been in real estate in Montgomery for years and knows all there is to know. She made everything so easy for us and was such a blessing. THANK YOU, AUNT JILL!!

Here is the house!! ....

Welcome Home!!

Checking out the pantry.

Hallway. 2 bedrooms on the left. Kitchen, bathroom, and 3rd bedroom on the right.

Don't worry, this is not what it looks like. Ha! But, here is our bathroom! (Not our curtains don't panic)

Hallway facing the front of the house.

Guest Bedroom.

Our room.

My closet.

Office/Catch-all room.

Kitchen! Need to get a better picture of this room. Oh and that is the laundry/mud room in the back! You also access the backyard through that room.

Breakfast room/Butler Pantry! Finally have a space for my china :)

Breakfast room! We want to build a booth in here.

Dining room.

Looking into the den from the dining room.

Den.

Dining on left, front door in middle (duh), and den on right!

Fireplace!

Backyard! All that is missing is a dog :)

Front door!

Screened in porch! (not our stuff)

Christmas chaos!! Just wanted you to see some of our furniture in the house. I need to take some updated pictures :)

Clark was really into the Christmas tree! Please forgive the boxes and junk everywhere!

We have LOVED out house so far and I really get excited about it everyday. We have some projects to work on and are hoping to get a lot done in February. Hope you enjoyed the pics! God is good!

2011!

Hey blog friend peeps,

Life is crazy, ain't it?

So much going on. So many good things! So many busy feeling things....but mostly all good things.

Since we spoke last, we have gone to Passion 2011 with 7 amazing high school seniors, my sweet baby sister, and BJ's two AUsome brothers. We stayed at Mom and Dad's and it was a blast. Mom was the best hostess ever as always. All the kids loved Mom, Dad, Camilla, Payton and Austin!

If you have never been to/heard of Passion, it is a Christian conference for 18-25 year olds. Since we are still in that age group (barely), it is kind of funny that we were actually leaders, but we had such a great time. There were TWENTY TWO THOUSAND students there from every state but North Dakota and a tonnnn of different countries!! It is really hard to explain why Passion is such a powerful few days. Camilla put it really well when I was eating lunch with her recently. She said "there just wasn't much fluff." So true. Everything about it is real and good and raw. Sure the stage is big, the music is loud, and everything is on a large scale because of the crazy amount of people, but Passion is just all about carrying the name of Jesus to the whole world.

There were sevvveral opportunities to give financially and prayerfully to the Kingdom. They set of this huge room that is called the "Go Center" and ..... ok..... goodness this is hard to explain...it is on such a large scale and it so amazing....but I'll try....basically they have set up all these exhibits where you can see the way some people really live.....sex trafficking...poverty...no clean water...no medical necessities....etc. Our group got together and purchased some livestock for a family in poverty. They will be able to live off those animals for a long time! You can start businesses through livestock, feed your family, and so much more. We really learned a lot about the world and a lot about the character of God.

The verse that Passion was built around is Isaiah 26:8, "Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your Truth, Your name and Your renown are the desire of our souls."

Can I get an Amen?

There was so much great music. So many great speakers. Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, Louie Giglio, David Platt, David Crowder, Charlie Hall, Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, Matt Redman, and moooree!! It was wonderful and if you ever have a chance to go, you SHOULD because God will teach you so much!

God was so good to us at Passion, as He is every day. He has really blessed us through our high school senior group and I am so glad we were able to go.

Here is most of our group:

BJ was taking this picture while standing on a seat in front of us on a verrryyyy steep incline. But how cute are these people?

Oh yeah the Auburn Tigers are now the NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. Wow. Really? Our team? OUR AUBURN TIGERS???? #1 ... not figuratively but literally!!! Yes, folks. It is true. It has happened. We have arrived, and we don't plan on leaving any time soon :)

Until next time... War Eagle, y'all. Warrr Eagle.

P.S. I have GOT to do a post about our new house!!

Closing out 2010!

Is 2010 really coming to an end??? I was just getting used to it!

God was so good to us in 2010, as He always is.

We have done so many fun things and have received so many blessings.

We have two great jobs, a cute new house, fabulous new and old friends, and unimaginably wonderful families! OH and a sweet little kitty boy named Clark :) Maybe 2011 will bring us a dog...maybe. I love dogs...I really do...but I just realize what a commitment they are! What do you dog owners out there do if you both work all day? Someone comes home and lets the dog out or something? We do have a fenced-in backyard...so she could just stay out thee (after BJ builds and/or buys her a comfy dog house). BJ wants a dog reeeallll bad...namely a female German Shorthaired Pointer. They are BEAUTIFUL dogs...very smart...very fun...great hunting dogs...but they tend to be a BIT spunky...so that might take some getting used to. Here are some GSP pics:

Pretty, huh?

How did I get on the dog subject? That was not planned. But maybe that is the beauty of blogging??

I have not blogged since our trip to New York!

We had the best time. We got to do SO much and see so many things. Our schedule worked out perfectly and we got such a great taste of the city. We did a lot of walking, shopping, looking, talking, eating, subwaying, taxiing, photographing, watching, and coffeeing.

It was really perfect.

Here are a few pics:

Headed out of the hotel the first day!

Taking in central park.

BJ's first time in NYC. He really loved it! It was so American.

McNulty's Tea & Coffee

The Little Owl! Where we had lunch the first day. Cozy little restaurant that only seats about 20 people. If you are in NYC, this is a must.
America.
Photo taken by the tour guide and this is his specialty picture he takes for everyone. Hilarious!
Beautiful!
Wall Street!
Enjoying Times Square!
Strolling.
Gotta get that hot dog!
Watching the SEC Championship with the NYC Auburn Alumni Club at Bar 515.
Cousin Liz who lives in NYC!
Rolling the tree outside after the game!
Pastis! Where Liz works. Soooo tasty.
My navigator.
Rockefeller.
Wicked! We loved it.
Skating in Bryant Park our last night.

We loved our time in New York so much and plan on going again and again!

Next update=Christmas!

Until next time...War Eagle. Over and out.

Life Life Life!

So so so so soooooooo much has been going on lately.

Here is a run down of the past couple weeks:

-Elizabeth and Evan got married and it was the most joyous occasion!!!

-We celebrated our 1st anniversary.

-We closed on a HOUSE!

-We celebrated Thanksgiving with family.

-AUBURN won the Iron Bowl after the comeback of a lifetime.

-We moved into the house (thank you so much to all of our helpers).

-And today we are going to NYC to celebrate one year of marriage!!!!

Whoa. My head is kind of spinning. But we are so blessed!

11.20.10

These two beauties are getting hitched in ummmmm THREE days. Wow. They have endured an 11 month engagement and now it is really here!!!!!

Please check out these beautiful photos by Miss Meagan Gibson

.

It is official. I have really pretty friends.

Can't wait to celebrate Elizabeth and Evan uniting in marriage this weekend!

"...And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Ephesians 3:16-19

Ughhh Bummmmer

So I have been trying to face the fact that I am just not the greatest blogger. Between this blog and my wanna-be-wedding blog, I have sorta kinda failed. I don't know what my problem is. Am I not dedicated enough or something? Am I just a big ole blog consumer instead of a crafty blog creator? Hmm...well I don't wanna give it up! Maybe I just need to revamp my blogginess. I am tempted to combine my two blogs or start all over or something like that....but I am just not sure.
I have been trying to blame it one being too "busy," but there are wayyyyyy busier folks out there that handle their blogs just fine. How can Mom's with thousands of kids running around keep a great blog up and I cannot? Sheesh.
This girl is open to suggestions!
I love the blog world too much to give it up!!

THOUGHTS, Y'ALL?