A new family member!!!!

I love my family! The holidays have always been such a good time!!




So I have the best sisters in the world! I have the awesome opportunity to be the middle child of three and so I get to be a little sister and a big sister as well!!! in May almost four years ago, my big sister married the man of her dreams!!



Four years later....I find out two days ago that I am going to be an AUNT!!!! I am so excited for this!!!!!!!!!!! It's so great to start a whole new phase of life....the holidays at the Reeds (an Maures ;)) will never be the same again! And this is a change I would give ANYTHING for!!!! Can't wait to meet you my beautiful neice or nephew! :)

A war to end all wars!!...well sorta.

Patrick and I have had many adventures while being married. As I am sure you can imagine...and many of you know, that married life keeps you on your toes! Recently we have been in a war....a war that I like to call, "The Nutcracker War!!!" You see, I have discovered this winter that we have mice. I have also discovered that I would rather have the bugs we get in the summer then these pesky little creatures. I have had many interactions with these little guys. But one of my personal favorites was when I was sitting in front of my computer editing photos for someone, and I had been doing this for about four hours at this point. I was all settled with a full belly and a nice glass of water right next to my computer. I look over to grab my water and take a sip when I see something that almost made me loose the dinner that once comforted my empty belly. There was a mouse, leaning over my cup...and sipping the very water that was in it!! Of course I screamed and scared the little thing away. A perfectly good moment to catch one of my pesky animals and it's GONE! But later this week there was revenge!!! I come inside from shoveling and feeling rather gross, and I was looking forward to a nice warm shower! I hop on it and reach my hands in the water and look down. What do I see? A DEAD MOUSE!!!! How disgusting is that?!?! My husband found the situation quite humorous and had to leave the room to laugh to keep from making me upset. haha! Well even though it was a gross and awful victory...one is dead, and this makes me very happy! I am hoping to win this war before they can get to any of my food in the kitchen...which so far seems like it's working.

So until next time, may you have a very happy holiday with friends and family! And may your homes stay mouse-less!

Three different jobs with three different purposes

Wow it's been a LONG time since I updated...so here we go! haha! Work has been a really big part of my life recently, since we are working so hard to save up for school for Patrick. Everything is almost ready to be sent into IHOP which is really good. :) Anyway My first job is a more constant job. I work for my good friend and spiritual mentor Kathy Calkins who owns a little store in Brickerville, PA called Calkins Vine and the Branches. I love working there, it's a place where I can let my creativity soar as well as get taught how to run a shop! Kathy has been soooo gracious in teaching me the little things that will help me in my own ventures. :) Recently she gave me more hours and a raise which was amazing!!!! Also she allows me to sell some of my pictures in the shop as well as pramote my business. Last week one of my pictures sold in the store and that was really exciting! :-D God has blessed me with an awesome boss and an awesome job!



The next job is my business. This honestly has been quite a handful recently! The new website is launching Janaury 1st 2010 and there is still so much to be done! I finally met with my logo guy and we got more of a solid idea of what we want for the logo, and I am really excited to see what he comes up with! :) Hadassh is making my website and again I am really excited to see what she comes up with as well. In about two weeks Sarah and I are getting our pictures done for the wbsite by Janae Martin, and AMAZING young photographer!!! She has quite an awesome talent, and I am blessed to help be appart of getting her started. I am really excited for what God has been doing in me and through the business. I know there is a lot to come and I'm excited to see what he does next. God has a way of keeping me on my toes and on the edge of my seat. haha!





Lastly God has really been teaching me more and more about my job as a housewife, and hopefully one day a mother. I have been getting an urge to start cooking more home made food, as well as experement on things I have done before. I am really starting to love creating things in my home, from decorations, to sewing cloths, to making home made cookies! I love seeing how much mroe happy and relaxed my husband is when everything is taken care of at home, plus then I have SO much mroe time to spend with him, which I love!! :)





So Life has been really really good recently. I am excited to see what God has for Patrick and I up next! So untill next time......

A weekend of wonders and pure happiness!

It was Friday night and everyone was scurrying around trying to either find something to do or to get away from the endless things to do. My job was to make sure that Dawn got packed and stayed sain. I still have no idea if I did my job or not. ha,ha! The time had come for Dawn and Tom to make their way to the church and practice getting married! ha,ha! The rehersal was long but hey, thats pretty much how they all are. It was full of fun and enjoyment and lot's of pizza and whoopie pies. :) We all went home pretty early since we had to get up at (what Joella called) O' dark thrity! ha,ha! And it was. I woke up at 5:15 or so to start my venture of getting ready. I arrived at the winders at 6:45 and after putting dress after dress after dress on top of me, we started our trip to LVC. The morning was great! We had a blast spending our last few hours with Dawn before she became Mrs. Tom Mboya! The ceremony was beautiful, and Tom and Dawn shared their very first kiss EVER at the alter that day! IT WAS LONG! lol! We laughed so hard later about how long they kissed, it was so funny! The rest of the day was a blast. Tom and Dawns marriage is a God filled marriage and it's awesome to see them so happy. :) At the end of the day we (the bridesmaids) got to spend a few more moments with her as she changed into her going away cloths after the wedding. It was a bitter sweet moment. I have never seen Dawn so happy! The day was awesome, and I'm so happy that they are married and that I have another brother in-law! Here are a few pictures from the day of the wedding!

A few weeks ago Dawn and Tom made a trip to NC to look at apparements and jobs, since that is where they will be living! A newspaper (or something like that) wanted to interview Tom and they wanted a picture of the whole family, so this is the picture we took. :)

Other then the wedding not a lot has been going on. I heard about this horse farm in Oragan that saves these beaten and battered horses and then lets these beaten and battered and hurting children come and help heal the horses. It's such a neat program and really hard to explain over a blog. lol But I want to make a trip down there sometime this year to help serve them and also take some pictures. Anyway thats all for now!!! So untill next time......

Oh stress, how I seem to love you!

These past few weeks have been really stressful and I know that the weeks to come are going to be just as bad! One week from tomorrow Tom and Dawn will be finally getting married! This makes my heart happy! :) It's awesome to see how after everything that happened, that God is still faithful!

Anyway beyond that Patrick and I are super excited because on Sunday we are doing our after shoot with Leslie Gilbert! Yes I am aware that we got married almost two years ago. ha,ha! But we just kept forgetting to do it, and now we have a date and are only two days away from an awesome afternoon, with awesome pictures.

On the note of marriage and awesome pictures. Hannah and Ben got married this past weekend which was awesome!! Leslie Gilbert is the one who took their wedding pictures and they are AWESOME! Check out her work...www.Lesliegilbertphotography.com

Patrick has finally taken the next step and printed out his application for FMA and I think he has decided on a major as well! :) It's neat to see us taking these steps toward him going to school and getting to do what he loves. I'm getting more and more excited about moving to Kansas City, MO, still nervous, but I am just going to keep TRYING to rely on God's faithfulness.

Other then those few big things, the business is keeping me on my toes. :-P Things are changing and changing fast! But God continues to bless me, and whenever I take a big step toward the business I always get another job! Like when I decided to get a new website and start upgrading that, as soon as I made that decision I got two last minuet weddings for October! lol I don't understand why I STILL have issues with trusting him. I will learn eventually. I'm just great full for God's continued grace, mercy and love for me!

Well I think that's all for now. But I'll be back with many photos from Dawn and Tom's wedding I'm sure! ha,ha! So until next time......

The Tears of a Traveler

Working Fridays are my favorite days to work, because on Friday from 3:00 untill 5:00 Misty Edwards plays at IHOP and so while I work I get to hear her worship! Everytime I come in on Fridays I am usually dealing with something and everytime without fail she sings something that ministers to me, or she just pulls my heart into the place of, no matter whats going on God still deserves my praise! Last year God brought Patrick and I through a really really rough time. Everything that year seemed to be falling apart and God almost seemed non existent. It was like all the big things, that didn't mean much to mean, but the things we needed to live were the hardest things to hold on to! But God was so faithful and he showed me how much he loved me by doing the most amazing things! I remember one night Patrick and I came home from our SEER internship classes at Gateway and we were both really hungry!! I knew we had no food except a little bit of bread and I wanted meat sooo badly! Our freezer was empty and I remember just falling to the floor and weeping because this was not an uncommon experience for us that year. Patrick joined me and we just hugged and prayed and worshiped God for what we had. Patrick felt the Lord push him to check the freezer again, and so even though he was hesitant he did. When he opened it up there was two pounds of ground beef in it! lol! How awesome is God! I mean that year no matter what was going on God just continued to watch out for us, down to the things we wanted. At the end of that year God blessed us with a new, cheaper and all around better apartment, a new car for me, a job for me, and promotion for Patrick and many more things! It's just so neat to see how we are pretty much the opposite now of what we were last

year, both physically and spiritually. We are much better off it both areas!

This year things have been great! But sadly I know that sometime another big lesson is in the process of being ready to rear it's irritating head! ha,ha! Recently God's been teaching me to have faith in his promises. It's amazing how even though we went through a terrible time last year and God still took care of us, I continue to lack the faith that he will take care of me! ha,ha! I feel so stupid saying that I don't trust him after everything I have been through. But I guess it's a process. A process and him slowly showing us his heart for us, of slowly showing us his love. I know that if God showed me his whole heart for me immediately I would probably die due to love exsporsure! ha,ha! But at the same time it's much easier to trust him then it was before. I can now look back and say:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, or what you will wear. Is life not more important than food, and the body more important than cloths? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about cloths? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Salomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God cloths the grass of the field, which is hear today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them! But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and ALL these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." Matthew 6: 25-34

That verse pretty much guides me through everyday! And I'll continue to push through this journey, this travel we call life. With many hurts and bruises and many tear until the day that Jesus brings me to the river of life and wipes every tear from my eye, and holds me in his ever lasting embrace forever!

Until next time....

"They will never again be hungry or thirsty;
They will never be scorched by the heat
Of the sun.
For the lamb on the throne
Will be their shepherd.
He will lead them to springs of life-giving water.
And God will wipe every tear from their eyes."
Revelation 7: 16-17

Wedding, weekend and wrecked!

This weekend was a blast! We got to see three couples that we don't normaly see very often. Matt and his girlfriend Laura and Hamilton and Lauren (who live in Baltimore) came to Jesse and Lauries with us on Saturday night! We had a blast! It was great to just relax and have fun just like we always do when we see each other. Then on Sunday night Patrick and I yet again went over to Jesse and Laurie's and this time the newley engaged Andrew and Chandra came as well! It was awesome to see them, since we hadn't seen them since they got engaged, so it was fun catching up with them. :) On Monday, Patrick and I went over to his parents for a family picture and a small labor day/Dawn made it through her last clinic celebration! ha,ha! It's been kind of insane recently on that side of the family since the wedding is only 19 days away. But were enjoying every minuet of the planning, and were super excited to see them fianlly tie the knot after everything they have been through this past year!
Here's one of their engagment pics:

I'm very excited for the wedding! I get to wear this amazing beautiful dress, and I LOVE IT! Anyway after this long weekend, Patrick and I are wrecked...sooo sleepy. So for now it's time for bed.....untill next time!