Date at Longhorn Steakhouse

To celebrate our anniversary, we went to Longhorn Steakhouse last Friday night. We both enjoyed salad, bread, filet mignons, and a baked potato (we even topped the night off with their Chocolate Stampede - a truly amazing dessert, but it was big enough for 4-5 people so, sadly we couldn't quite finish it all). Our kind waitress took our picture and turns out, she's trying to get into photography, so she was happy to take it.

Tonight, we leave Greensboro and head to Columbia for Christmas festivities - We're so excited to see our our family and go back to what will always be our "home."

Have a Merry Christmas as you enjoy family, friends, and food as we celebrate the greatest gift of all - God becoming man to save us from our sins!

Aaron loves Jennifer!!!

Hi, this is Aaron sneaking onto our blog for a rare post. I have a natural aversion to blogs and usually don't read or write them, but I happened to look at ours for the first time in a couple months and was really impressed at how good of a job Jenn has done with it.

Baby, I know that I've written you many letters telling you how much I love you, but I though I'd send that message publicly to the blogging world: I love you so very, very much!!! As we are celebrating our three year anniversary tonight, it's such a joy for me to look back over the beginning years of our marriage and take in what a blessed adventure they have been.

Thank you so much for letting me pursue you and thank you for your love for the Lord which makes that pursuit such an edifying and God-honoring joy. You are my treasure, my best friend and after God, my greatest love. I'm so excited about spending our anniversary, Christmas and the rest of our lives together. I love you!!!!!!

Celebrating 3 years as One!

Today is our 3 year wedding anniversary! God has been so good to us over these past 3 years. I remember when we were engaged and someone would say "You're too young to get married!" or "You should finish college before you get married" and comments of the like...we respectfully disagree with them. Those who choose to marry young have the best chance of celebrating 50+ anniversaries.

We were only 20 & 24 when we were married and I still had another year left in college. Our society has taught us that education, age and bank accounts will determine the success of your marriage - God's word says differently. Proverbs 5:18b says "...and rejoice in the wife of your youth." In 2 Corinthians 7:9b Paul says "...For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion." (Quoted in the English Standard Version)

Over the past 3 years, we've learned how to live on a budget and trust God for his daily grace and provision (and we've completely paid off our college debt!). And as our world's economy is showing...we can't put our marriage in the hands of a "stable job" because you could lose your job tomorrow. No...age, education, and/or jobs (money) aren't the criteria for a successful marriage. Rather, it's a daily dependence on a faithful God - And any married or single person needs God's grace in their lives no matter how young or old they are!

Aaron and I believe the same truth that we believed when we decided to get married so young...We both married sinners and know that we will sin against one another. Yet, because of God's great grace towards us through the Cross, we also can forgive each other and live in the goodness of a Gospel-centered life.

***The picture above is one of our engagement pictures in which Aaron does look quite young (not that either of us look old now).

Reindeer Toby

My friend, Leslie, bought Toby these reindeer antlers - What an adorable little reindeer he is! He's hoping to help fly Santa's sleigh if one of the usual reindeer get sick this year...

Oh and Nikki...I saw that you tagged me on your blog...sadly, I haven't done a very good job of organizing my folders...I usually just dump all my pics into the same folder, so I couldn't really follow the instructions... Maybe though, I can find some older and random picture to post later for fun. I'll look for one. :)

Our Christmas Tree

Our apartment did not have a place to store our artificial tree, so we left it in Aaron's mom's attic in Columbia, SC. We had sadly decided that it would be too much work to try and get it from Columbia right now and so we just wouldn't have one this year. Last week at care group, I was sharing a prayer request regarding our (especially me) being homesick for SC lately. The sweet ladies in our small group decided that they wanted to give us a live tree with all the decorations so that we would feel "at home" in Greensboro this Christmas season (complete with 2 Greensboro ornaments). Too sweet... Neither of us grew up with a live tree, so this is a new experience for us...so far though, we love it - it smells great!

Thank you guys again so much for your kindness to us! We are grateful for your hospitality.

College Debt Paid in Full!!!

Last Friday, we were able to make the final payment on our college debt that we've been aggressively paying off for the past couple of years!!! While living in Greenville, SC; we were both working full-time jobs during the week and at LifeWay on the weekends to pay it off (God also had Aaron go back to LifeWay for his future career, unknown to us at the time though). All of our hard work and perseverance has paid off now and we are so GRATEFUL TO THE LORD FOR HIS AMAZING KINDNESS TOWARD US!!! He ALWAYS gives us blessings that we don't deserve - ALL PRAISE TO HIM - NOT US!

We're enjoying being debt-free for now...we know that we'll eventually buy our first house and need a new vehicle, but at least this loan is now gone before acquiring new debt(s) in the future. And whenever the Lord decides to bless us with a baby (if He has that in store for us?)...we won't have little Sallie Mae too!

Thanksgiving 2008

Below are the pictures that were taken while we at my dad's house in SC for Thanksgiving. We only got to stay for a day and a half because Aaron had to get back to his store for Black Friday, so it was a quick trip. But, it was still nice that we were able to see my dad's side of the family for even a little bit.







Toby and his new friend, Ralphie, were two tired pups after a day and half of playing together.



My three sisters and me...ranging from age 4-23!

Weekend Trip to Columbia

Aaron, Toby, and I took a much needed trip back to "home" (aka SC) this past weekend to visit family. It was a really fun time because Aaron's brother (Chris), sister (Bethany), and her boyfriend (Matt) all came home from college to visit too. Above are the pictures that were taken while we (all of us previously mentioned and Aaron's mom) were waiting on a table at Red Robin. Aaron took the top one (hence why he's not in that photo) and Matt took the bottom one (same reason).

Operation Christmas Child 2008

On Friday, Aaron and I went shopping for our annual Operation Christmas Child shoebox. Samaritan's Purse is a ministry that we respect and have faith in giving to and participating in their projects. We have been making boxes since before we met each other - For some reason though, we didn't make a box in 2007. We usually make both a boy and a girl box, but with money being tight for everyone right now, we decided to just make one box this year. We chose to buy for an elementary aged boy. Samaritan's Purse requests that if you are only going to make 1 box, then to do that for a boy because they always have more boxes donated for girls than boys. We bought items from LifeWay, Target, & The Dollar Tree...we had so much fun shopping together. Being with Aaron even makes The Dollar Tree exciting (Did I mention that I adore my husband?!) Below are some pictures of our box. :)

And just for fun...here's a picture of Toby...he enjoys fruit snacks almost as much as his daddy (for those of you who didn't know...Aaron is a fruitsnackaholic) Except, daddy ate all of the fruit snacks so poor Toby had to settle for the bag!

Good News!

One customer in Aaron's store today was led to the Lord by one of his staff members! He came wanting a book on how to mend his broken marriage and one of Aaron's staff explained to him that before he could "fix his marriage," He needed to be saved from his own sin. With tears streaming down his face, he prayed in the store asking the Lord Jesus to save him! The next step of course would be helping him find a local church, which again, Aaron's staff was on top of it! With he economy being so poor right now, Aaron hasn't had as great of sales as he would've hoped for and today was really down in numbers for his budget. But, Aaron called me to tell me this great news and said "That makes a low-dollar day worth it all!" :)

Date Day

Yesterday, Aaron was off of work and I always have Friday afternoons off, so we had a "Date Day" and did two really exciting things (three if you count Chick-Fil-A).

The first was that we voted early for the upcoming election. The lines were very long, but it was worth the wait. Now, Aaron can free up his staff from the store so that they can vote on November 4th. Plus, it's nice just to know that you've cast your ballot in case some emergency were to come up around election day which would prevent you from being able to vote (ie. you got sick and ended up in the hospital - Not likely but it could happen).

After voting, we went to see the new movie Fireproof starring Kirk Cameron. It was a wonderful movie. This was Aaron's second time seeing it, because he was able to see a pre-showing at a LifeWay manager's conference last month. He told me that it was the best movie he had ever seen and that I had to go see it with him again. I'm glad that I did because I would agree with Aaron. I am also very encouraged by Kirk Cameron's commitment to Jesus Christ. I had the privilege to hear him speak last year at one of his The Way of the Master events - He's the real deal. And, there is a kiss in the movie in which he is actually kissing his real-life wife, Chelsea. They did a silhouette scene so that you couldn't tell it wasn't the same girl. Kirk has an open commitment to only kiss his wife while filming- How awesome is that?! If you haven't seen Fireproof yet, I'd encourage you to do so - And do it before it's released on DVD. Show Hollywood and movie theaters that we want and will support clean, God-honoring movies!

Beth Moore and Zicam

Well, we're settling into a local church here which is awesome! We've been attending Sunday services and care groups. This week, I began a Beth Moore Study called "Stepping Up - A Journey through the Psalms of Ascents." This is a great chance for me to meet other ladies in the church body which I'm super excited about! LifeWay publishes all of Beth Moore's Bible studies, so it was also kinda cool that I was able to give Aaron a sale at his new store.


Other news is that I've gotten a cold this week, which is obviously not fun or convenient. But, we live in a fallen world - those things happen. I'm still doing better than I deserve, right?! I've been drinking lots of G2 (the low calorie Gatorade for those of you who didn't know what I was talking about), sucking lots of strawberry flavored cough drops, and consuming Zicam chewable tablets every 3 hours during the day. Zicam products claim that if you use at the first signs of a cold, they shorten the duration and control the symptoms of the common cold. I'm not sure if that's true or not, because it's one of those homeopathic medicines. I've read mixed reviews online about their products. I used it in the winter and it seemed to work or maybe I was just convincing myself that it worked. They taste awful, but it's worth a shot if my cold could potentially not last as long!

Aaron turns 27!!!

Friday, September 26th was Aaron's 27th birthday! The SWAT (not sure what that stands for) Team from LifeWay (which consists of other store managers and various people from the corporate office come and help stock all of the product for new stores) came to set up his store on Friday and have been working all weekend because his store opens tomorrow - WooHoo! This has been a long work in process but it's finally happening! We celebrated his birthday the week prior by going out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. Aaron is not a big cake fan - he prefers pies and his favorite is cherry pie. So, I baked him something in between...it's kind of a cherry cake/pie/cobbler thing. Whatever you call it - He loved it (he even dreamed that it won a prize at a bake-off HAHA - my cooking would never win a prize!) which made me smile as I was able to make his birthday special. :)

Broken Vases and Sanctification

As you can see from the picture above, there are two vases on our entertainment center. Prior to Saturday, there were 3 vases grouped nicely together (grouping objects in "threes" is a decorating technique - Thanks for that tip, Mom!). However, my sweet husband who is working long hours trying to get his new store ready to open next week, took his last day off for awhile (other than Sundays) to help me dust our apartment (he is so amazing - did I mention that?!) and yep...he broke one of the vases.

Prior to my conversion to Christ 10+ years ago, I would've been very angry at that. Even after my conversion, I would have still been angry. But, this time was different...my reaction was led by the Spirit and I wanted to react differently - I wanted to react in a God-fearing manner. I do not credit this change of heart to anything in myself (and I was still disappointed that the vase was broken) but I see it as God's kindness to me in choosing to remind me that He is sanctifying me and making me more like His Son and less like my sinful self.

The Christian life is filled with fighting off and/or giving into sin. When we give into the sin, we are often discouraged. Thus, it's kind of God to occasionally throw something in life to remind me "...that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6b HCSB) Thank you for breaking our vase, Aaron - It pointed out evidences of God's grace in my life that I might otherwise would have missed!

The Wilsons Get Cable (finally!)

We have thoroughly enjoyed having cable the past couple of weeks! Aaron has been able to watch several football games with no static. I have been able to watch all kinds of fun shows on TLC such as "A Baby Story" & "Bringing Baby Home" and other girly shows.

Even though the Carolina Gamecock's lost to the Georgia Bulldogs 14-7 today, Aaron and Toby still enjoyed cheering them on. :)

Missing SC

I've been having a little bit of a hard time in NC lately. I miss our family and friends in SC (and GA now too) very much. You'd think that only moving a state away wouldn't seem so strange, but it does and still doesn't feel like "home" yet. Aaron keeps reminding me that this isn't my "home" and that nowhere on earth should feel like it is home because God has set eternity in my heart. My heart yearns for heaven more than I realize and manifests itself through my longing for others. Each time that I think of a family member or friend whom I miss, I need to take that moment to thank God for saving me and so many of my loved ones so that one day, we will all be united in heaven where time and space will no longer create barriers between us.

And for those of you that aren't saved, please come to the cross today and find salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ so that you will also share heaven as your home one day!

Toby

Meet our beloved miniature dachshund (son), Toby. We got him the month after we were married and he has been so much fun in our home. We are convinced that life wouldn't be the same without this little guy in our lives.

Toby got a long overdue bath and haircut this past weekend from PetSmart. We were visiting Aaron's family in Columbia and we all agreed that he looked and smelled awful. But after they gave him the "summer special," which included a lemonade scented shampoo, haircut, and professional teeth cleaning...he was so perfect. :)

Please note his little "mohawk." I'm not sure why his hair grows like this, but he (we) always get compliments from it!

New Job

The past month and a half as been filled with very tiring days of me being very aggressive with my job search. The job market is really hard right now and the bachelor degree is losing its value in the workplace. Technical skills and trades (which I lack) are becoming the most needed credentials rather just a "piece of paper stating BS or BA." The job search was quite discouraging and caused a lot of lack of trust in God on my part. Aaron would always remind me that I was sinning and God has called me to always trust Him.

Thankfully, in spite of my sometimes faithless pursuit of employment, God has provided me a full-time job in a church office beginning August 25th! I'm so grateful for this offer. A Christian school had also offered me a K-4 teaching position, which I had originally accepted because it was the only offer I had. But, I really didn't feel very good about taking it. I'm not sure that teaching in the classroom full-time would be a good fit for me. During my second day of orientation, I received an unexpeced call from the church saying that they had a position and wanted to interview me. The church has offered more money, less hours (37 vs. 40 hrs/week), and is only 8 minutes from home (the school was over 30 min away). So, God has been very kind to me and even if He hadn't provided a job for me at all...He has already given me more than I deserve. The only thing that any of us deserves is an eternity separated from Him in hell. And He has saved Aaron and me from that through the crushing of His Son on the cross - Thus, we are always doing better than we deserve!

Below is a picture of us in front of our new apartment building. It's not the best picture (yeah, we know). Considering that there was no one else to snap the photo and Aaron's arm is extended, but we did the best we could... We were on our way to dinner with some of Aaron's LifeWay bosses from Nashville - He is greatly enjoying his new position with LifeWay and is super excited about his new store opening this fall! The second picture is from my uncle's wedding last month. Greensboro is starting to feel like "home" and I'm continuing to search for jobs. I've had two interviews thus far and another one tomorrow. I'm grateful that if nothing else works out, then the Greensboro LifeWay is allowing me to work there starting in August. Policy is that I can't work under Aaron at his new store, but I can work for another manager elsewhere. This will be my fourth LifeWay to have worked for! :)

Moving on...

This is our last week in Greenville. Well, actually, we're down to two more nights, because we'll be out of town this weekend at my uncle's wedding in Columbia. My last day working at Grace Church will be Monday, which is also the day that we'll be moving out of our apartment. We still don't know for sure where LifeWay will be sending Aaron to manage a store, but we have a fairly good idea. We should know something next week for sure. I hope we do anyway, seeing as we can't really make any plans for housing or a job for me until we know where and when we'll be moving. We would really like to "settle" as soon as possible so that I can find a job to pay off our college debt. The Lord has graciously blessed us this past year and we have been able to pay off a HUGE amount! But, we have a little left before we'd be in faith to start a family with me as a full-time homemaker. So, please pray that God will provide a place for us to live and a job for me as soon as possible, because the more weeks that pass that I'm not working...the longer our debt is sitting there and I'm feeling useless and bored! In the meantime, Aaron will continue to train in Greensboro, NC and "live" at the Extended Stay America. I'll be spending next week in Atlanta with my mom, which I'm looking forward to seeing as I haven't seen their new house since they moved to Atlanta. My sister, Grace, is out of school for the summer so it should make for some fun "girl" time, though I will greatly miss my beloved husband! :)