Summer Fun

This summer has been a total blast! After getting home from Aly's wedding we have had something going on every weekend. :) 2 weeks after the wedding on June 26, 2010 I ran in my first 5K ever! It was awesome. I finished 3 mins under the time I had set for myself, and I can't wait to run in my next 5k. I plan to run September 11th's 5K in Shreveport to help support the Shreveport Bossier Rescue Mission (where I work)!!! It is a great way to start your weekend and dang, talk about a sense of accomplishment! HELLO!!!!! Anyway, 5 of us ran together at the Peach Festival 5K in Ruston, La.

David and I attended our 3rd Takin' It to the Streets outreach ministry that the Rescue Mission puts on for lower income areas in the Shreveport community. It was blazing hot, but we had fun spreading the love of Christ to others through - SNOW CONES - of all things! :) I love more than anything I have married such a Godly man that supports me in all that I want to do to help others!

These are just some random pictures of us. We spent 4th of July in Dallas with my parents, celebrating Fathers Day with my dad and just getting to spend time enjoying family on our 3 day weekend. We also went to see Toy Story 3 with some friends of ours - if you know me, you know that I LOVE Disney! Since as far back as I can remember I have collected Disney movies and of course, I hope to share them with our kids one day! Toy Story 3 was so cute. It was a great triple couple date night! :)

Other than the craziness that I have already spoke of, we have just been doing the usual - work, school, church, etc. :) We stay busy and love every minute of it. God is good and is blessing us more than we deserve. When you seek Him first - He not only gives you the desires of your heart, but also funds the way for His plan to be fulfilled!

Lil Sis Ties the Knot!

June was an exciting month. We stayed super busy, but had so much fun!
On June 12, 2010 my little sister was married to the man of her dreams. They had a unique wedding in Southern Indiana. It was everything Aly had dreamed of and more. They were married in the oldest United Methodist Church still holding services today in Indiana. It is a one room church building; with no AC and wood framed windows included. The best part about the wedding location was that our only living grandparents were able to attend. That made the trip and wedding perfect. I took several pictures but here are some of the highlights. :) Enjoy!



David, Me, Mom & Dad after the wedding

David being... well David! :)

Us :)

Aly and I with Granny

The 2 son-in-laws. my parents are so lucky. :)

Sisters.

Thompson's Chapel

Ohio River - view from our B&B

My precious Grampsie-poo :) (yes, that is what I call him)

David and I at Rehearsal Dinner

Childhood friend Jennifer (she was in my wedding) - I love her!

Mommy and Me :)


We had a great weekend with friends and family. I love my family and am so thankful for the time to get away and catch up!

Living Life

So if you haven't figured out by now, David and I stay super busy! I have every intent of updating this thing more frequently, but somehow a month has come and gone before I even think twice about my blog. :( I am better than I was last year, and that's all that counts, right? Lol.
Anyway, David has completed his first year of college! He made the Dean's List for the spring quarter and got his name in the local newspaper. Can you tell I am one proud wife? Well if you can't, I AM ONE PROUD WIFE! I wish I would have focused and studied that hard when I was getting my undergrad! Ha, my parents were praying for me to just finish. Truth be known, now that I k'now what I want to do when I grow up' (or kinda of an idea) finishing my Master's Degree has some how allowed for me to get much better grades. I know, I know, imagine that - my social life isn't as important as I once thought it to be! Back to David - he completed 34 hrs this past year and is scheduled to complete another 6 through summer school. He is taking his second English in summer session 1 and some Math in summer session 2. He stays incredibly busy between school, mowing the family properties and working at the public library. The best thing about the library is that it has AC, and for those of you that know anything about Louisiana summer's - THAT is definitely something to be thankful for! :)
As for me, I am working like a mad woman. I have more comp time than I know what to do with, but what can I say, I LOVE MY JOB!!!!! It is by far the most incredible thing I have ever done. Helping people is exactly what I plan to do for the rest of my life; I simply love it. I am over a federal grant and it is in full force. Naturally, that means that almost daily guidelines change and people disqualify from the day before or qualify when yesterday they didn't. How is this you ask? IT IS GOVERNMENT MONEY, what did you expect?!?! :) But for those that do get in the program - it is amazing.
The ladies at the Mission that are in the Disicipleship Training Program (we offer a rehabilitation program) get the opportunity to have me (I know, woooo hooo) teach them in Phase 2 Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace course!!!! And y'all it is the COOLEST thing in the whole world when a homeless individual feels HOPE and realizes that they too can have independent living! SUCH a neat thing to see. We are currently in week 6 with a total of 13, so half way through! Some of these women are over the age of 50 and never had a checking account before, pulled or even read a credit report, or to get really basic, budgeted. That is insane to me. Luckily, I had a mom and dad that were in banking and accounting - I had it whether I wanted it or not! :)
Everyday isn't a fun day at work, but days that I get to see one more, just one, have that light bulb go off makes it so worth it.
Did I mention comp time? :) Next week, is Aly's wedding. We are going to be in Indiana from Thursday until Sunday. I am super pumped to get some time away from work, but also to get to see family and most of all spend some good ol' fashion quality time with my grandparents! Aly will have the unique wedding she is after and I am sure there will be picture galore. After all, I think all but myself in her bridal party are photographers! :) Fun times.
Last thing, in the month of June, June 26th to be exact - I, Anna June Adams, will be running my very first 5K!!!! I could not BE more excited! Everyday I am running a little more, a little faster. I don't think this first 5K will be very pretty, but I WILL DO IT! The next 5K I am scheduled to run is in September. It will benefit the Rescue Mission and well I was nominated by the board/staff to be the rep for the group. :) Fine by me, gives me yet another goal to work towards getting and staying healthy. YA!!!

Below are just some random, silly and fun pictures of us. :)

Bass Pro Shop trying on Hats ;P

Date Night at an amaZing place called NEWK's - LOVE IT!!!! One of my new favorites. :)

Lunch date with David- celebrating him completing his 1st yr of college and he was able to come to work with me that day! ya!! :)

Tag... You're It!

I have no idea how the month of April has almost come and gone! Where the heck does the time go?!?! Seriously! Lots to update on....

Since coming home from Dallas at the beginning of April, I have been working out 3-4days a week hard core and just focusing on eating healthy. I don't really have specific weight or work out goals in mind - I am just striving to be the healthiest person I can be. :) David and I have found we REALLY love to cook! We actually get excited about what our meals are going to be during a two week period. We plan out all our meals; one - we know we have the ingredients, two - I can feel like we have a plan and the question of "what's for dinner?" isn't asked, and three - because we are in budget mode!

We have officially completed our Dave Ramsey's class on Financial Peace. We LOVED it!! We have already started chipping away at our debt and will be debt free as soon as we know it! We can not wait to get there!!!! This course is 13 weeks, for 2 hrs per week. It is intense and we actually had a couple of couples drop out during the duration of the course, but I am here to say it literally has changed our marriage. We had a great marriage before, but now we are on the same page about our finances and have the tools at our finger tips to get any problem solved. That in and of itself is a great accomplishment. Not that we weren't before, but Dave's plan just puts it in such simple steps that is almost fail proof. The only thing you have to do is: DO IT! I will say, being on such a tight budget is HARDDDDDD. Actually both of us hate it, but each time we hate it, we go and read testimonials that people who have already become debt free and what they are doing with all that 'extra' money they have each month and how they are impacting others! We SO want that to be us. We want to be smart with the money we are given so we can in turn give it to someone else to be a blessing. :) Working at a homeless shelter only amplifies that for me! I see the poor and needy everyday, and not just the stereotype, "druggie, with the long, white, mangled bread" but real people, real women, real CHILDREN, that they call this place home. Like I said, it definitely helps to keep you motivated. By no means do we think we are going to be able to change the world, but if we are able to just help put a smile on one person's face - our mission will be accomplished!

In the midst of all the budgeting and our debt free dreams, we are still living a life! :) lol. I know it is hard to believe. We have friends over to cook and have bon fires with instead of going out to eat. It sounds cheesy, but you would be surprised at how much fun you can have not having to "go out".






David has done VERY well this quarter and as of May 21st will be a SOPHOMORE!!!! I can't believe it. He will continue on for summer school, however with less hours as we have Aly's wedding and lots of weekend trips planned. :) We want him to get a little bit of a 'break' for summer too. He only has two test/papers due in each class and he will be well on his way into his 2nd year of college. This year has literally just FLOWN by!

Work is crazy busy for me, which is always a blessing. David and I are getting to attend a Ball tomorrow evening at Sam's Town to represent the Mission. LSU-Shreveport is putting it on and we get the net proceeds! How cool is that!! That is the best kind of event :) One you just show up to all "prettied up", get your picture taken, and collect a fat check. Lol. We are totally looking forward to it, because our friends, Doug and Missy got tickets to attend with us! I am also on the Golf Committee - we are planning a Golf Tourney in June and then we have begun the prep work for our HUGE event in the fall with author Ron Hall of Same Kind of Different As Me. If you have NOT read this book - READ IT!!!! It will change you life. (or maybe just your stereotype that you have towards the homeless!) It is an incredible story. In May, I am going to begin the 13 week course of the Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University here at the Mission!!!!! I am beyond thrilled and know that God has GREAT plans for each one of these woman that find themselves "homeless" for one reason or another - able to get the tool they need in order to find 'financial peace.'

God continues to bless our life one day at a time. We are so excited for summer to be here and all the craziness that it will include. We will definitely be outside doing home repairs, painting, making new brick paths, etc. - all the FUN stuff that David and I both love to do. We will also be spending lots of time with friends at the lake and getting tan. :) Hope all is well with you.
Loves.

He is RiSeN!

This Easter we spent it with our "family" at a small church that I used to be the Youth Director at. It is in a small town north east of Dallas called, Princeton. It is literally like a one room building that you walk in and you are standing in the sanctuary. So fun to get to be able to share such a special time in our Christian faith with so many people that mean so much to David and me.

Madison (one of our old youth), David and Myself.
Madison and Me

Our family. :) We love each one of them so much. We are so honored to have such wonderful friends, that even though we don't live in Dallas anymore - we can just pick right back up where we left off. Each one of them means something different to David and I, but oh how we love them so. Thank you for loving us the way you do!

Chris and Paaty. Thought this was a great picture of the two of them. They were gracious enough to let David and I stay (with all of our dogs!!!) while we were in Dallas this past weekend. Mom & Dad weren't a really big fan of the idea of having a shower at their house and having 7, yes SEVEN, dogs running around. lol... can't exactly blame them. :) Thank you so much for opening your arms to us Chris!!!! love you so much.

3 years, 4 months, & 4 days

According to my blog, David and I have been married for 3 years, 4 months and 4 days. I know it is sappy but the longer we are married the bigger my smile gets when I think about him. I just LOVE him! Of course, we fight and get on each other's nerves, and I promise I can't stand him at times (and ditto for him) but seriously, he is just so much fun to be with!
As you know life has been absolutely crazy the past couple of years, and we are finally in a place of peace. Life isn't perfect, but we are living life perfectly. David loves school and it seems like every day he is getting more and more things in the mail asking him to join this honor society or that! How cool is that!? :) At the end of May (May 21st) he will be a sophomore and will also be part of the School Business Honor Society (don't remember the greek names) and also the Louisiana Tech Honor Society. Words can not express how proud I am of him. He is just so stinkin' smart!!!
It is crazy how so many of our friends are having babies and more babies, but we just are living life to the fullest as a couple. One day kids will be part of our life, but right now we couldn't be happier just the two of us. There is a lady that lives in Arcadia that when she introduces people to her husband she says, "This is my sweetheart of 63 years and counting." How cute is that?!? All I can think of is, that is going to be David and I one day! :) Ok, enough blabbing. Here are some recent pics of us. He is truly my everything.

She is getting hitched... so we had a party!

This past weekend myself and Aly's best friend from Dallas, Chrisanne, threw Alyson her first bridal shower. I think overall it was a complete success! Alyson got lots of things off her gift registry's and the company was great to get to see. We had plenty to eat and some really fun games to play. :) I will let the pictures do most of the talking: I took so many! I just wanted to make sure Aly had pictures to look back on when she was married - that was one thing I didn't get a lot of pictures of my bridal showers when David and I were getting married. Anyway, here ya go!



Everyone who attended the shower; except me. (I am taking the picture).
Mom and Aly.

Mom, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Char, Aly, and Me.

Some highlights of the gifts she got: place settings of Fiesta, a DEEP fryer and spice rack!

We played three games. The first one was the Bridal Scramble. You had 10 mins to unscramble as many words as possible related to bridal things. The second game we played was a "match the pair game". Everyone got a name on their back and then had to go around the room and ask "yes/no" questions to try and figure out who was whom. The winners were Lucy & Ricky. :) The last game got the most laughs! We had 24 rolls of TP split into three teams and the team that made the dress most like Aly's won. :) It was quite humorous. No one knew what they were in for when they came to our shower! LOL.

Ms Cannon had the veil and flowers and everything!!! :) so FUN!

Look at all the detail in Ms Helen's dress! so impressive!!

Back of Debbie's dress

Front of Debbie's dress

Aly with Aunt Nancy, Mom and Aunt Char. Yes, Alyson is taller than all of them (myself included) however, she did have on 3-4inch heels, so it just amplified her height, lol. None the less I think it is a great picture.

Helen and Cherie paired as Lucy and Ricky.

The intense 10 minute Bridal Scramble. Some of the words really were HARD!

Chrisanne, Myself and Aly. (The 2 hostesses and the Bride to be!)

Aly's invite. I just randomly found these online and thought they were super cute and so "Aly". :)

Now you can see what I was talking about the heels... naturally I had decided to wear flats that day so really short. I am still 5"3 thank you very much! ;)

So David and I got in Thursday night and woke up early Friday morning to begin the daunting task of making 72 cupcakes! It was a blast. I always love getting to spend time in the kitchen.... I truly love it.

Cupcake tower.

spinach and cream cheese pinwheels. soooo good.

Here is a picture of a platter of cupcakes :) I made a variety just to make sure everyone found something they liked! The blue dot tops are dark choc with butter cream choc icing, the yellow dots are lemon with lemon butter cream icing, and the red dots are the red velvet with cream cheese icing. Yes, all of them were homemade. Soooo good!!

I also made these. They are called, "Whoopie Pies". I thought the name was very appropriate for a bridal shower and hello they were delish!! They were red velvet cake with cream cheese icing - such a hit! :)

The gorgeous flower centerpiece for the food table.

I thought these were SOO cute. Mom found them in Austin. They are Bride/Groom Toothpicks! How fun is that?

Chrisanne got these M&M's. They have "Aly & Matt" on some and others read "June 12, 2010". Such a cute shower idea! I def took notes for that one! ;)

It was a crazy busy day, but one that was definitely enjoyed. It was so great to get to catch up with some old family friends. I love planning and hosting parties. The more I do it the better I get. :) Hopefully by the time I get another shower again I will be an expert to help! lol. :)