Thursday, December 27, 2007

Home!

Man, it feels good to be home. All in all, Texas was a great experience. I got to meet almost all of DJ's family and spend my first Christmas away from home with my fiance. :)

This trip has shown me that I'm more than ready to move out and be married. 8 more months! I can't wait.


Tonight is a show at Rocketown with The Following! Try and come if you can. :)

I'll update with pictures and more stories later!

Love you all!

-Amanda

Friday, December 21, 2007

Texas!

Hellllloooo everyone!
Hope you all are having a great holiday season so far. Amanda and I arrived in Houston last night with my family after a pretty crazy 24 hours. Long story short, Amanda was in the ER until about 2PM on Wednesday. She is doing a lot better but still in quite a bit of pain and feeling pretty sick to her stomach. Sleeping the entire way to Texas helped a great deal though :) We got in around 11pm last night, talked with the grand parents for a while, stayed up and talked since she had been asleep the whole trip, and then went to bed around 1:30am. We woke up around 10:30 this morning to some coffee and donuts and played a little Mario Party on the Wii (which is still the bomb by the way). Our only miff with the Wii is that Need For Speed is too hard...so hopefully we can exchange it for something else.

So, that catches you up on our past two days. We also had Christmas with Momma T (Amanda's mom) and received some awesome gifts. We both got some clothes, including Christmas PJ's, and more exciting were some sheets and a quilt for our new bed! Woo! I love getting things for our new place because it reminds me that Amanda and I are actually getting married! This year has been the best year of my life and I can not wait to see what these next eight months brings.

Please be praying for my lady though because she is still feeling pretty nasty and really wants to enjoy this trip.

Merry Christmas!
-DJ and Amanda

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Wii have a story for you!

Sunday December the 16th began at 3am for Amanda and I. Wii were on a mission. After doing some babysitting, getting some extra cash from family, and deciding that wii wanted to go in together on a Christmas present, wii decided the only gift that could satisfy our hearts was the Nintendo Wii. At the time wii made this choice wii did not realize that the Wii is the most sought after Christmas gift of 2007. Once we finally had the cash to get it, wii began to search and see who actually had them in. Our journey lead us to BestBuy, who this morning would be selling a minimum of 20 Nintendo Wii's. After hearing this news, and hearing that the last time a shipment came in people were standing outside by 4am, wii decided to get up and be at Best Buy by 4am. Crazy? Yes, as a matter of fact it was pretty crazy. When I left my house around 3:30am it was snowing and 32 degrees. When wii got to Best Buy it was snowing on and off and still 32 degrees. So, wii brought a ridiculous amount of blankets, wore a ridiculous amoun of layers, and set for a ridiculous four hours. But, wii got our Nintendo Wii. Not only did wii get one, wii got two. One for us and one for my kid brother. After picking up our Wii's, Amanda and I went to Target to use a gift card and buy another game, Need For Speed.


Wii then headed back to her house to set up the Wii and get ready for our last day at the People's Church. Of course, the Wii made us a little late and wii forgot it was our last Sunday. Our last Sunday school at TPC was bittersweet but wii are excited to move on to Journey Ecclesia! After church, wii went back home and slept most of the afternoon.

To conclude our awesomness for the day, Dale (my bro) and I headed to GameStop, traded in all of our older systems/games, and ended up with three new games and $20 left over.

Basically, Wii have had a great day.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Ah yes, catch up time.

Good lord I could probably write a book based on the past few weeks of our life. Most exciting news of the weeks is that we changed our wedding date and that we are getting a Nintendo Wii on Sunday. Or at least I hope we are because I am getting up mega early to go to Target and get one that they arent sure is actually coming in. Oh well! Wow, we finally finished this semester up and somehow remained in one piece. I think I speak for both of us when saying that there were a few moments when we thought we were both about to go crazy. It has just been a really testing few months of engagement. A lot of crazy stuff has happened. Amanda and I were talking today about the fact that despite all of the madness that seems to collect itself around our life, we are still so in love and still falling more in love with one another. Being engaged is like getting to know someone on warp speed. You learn more in one week than you did over the entire time you were dating. Its crazy! But, learning about each other, what you like what you dont, what pisses one of you off but not the other, what kind of food you like or dont like, all of those silly little things really make a big difference. Knowing the little things is the difference between just knowing someone and actually knowing someone. I think it is safe to say that Amanda and I actually know each other and it is such a great feeling. We can sit and chat about anything and I love it.

Anyway, kind of went on a bunny trail there. Now I can't remember what I was going to tell you all about....we have had birthday's, thanksgiving, about to head to Texas for Christmas, finals, a really good date or two (I love going on dates...keep dating while you are engaged. We need to do that more and yes bebe that is my job). We had a really amazing engagement party thrown for us that I still dont know how to say thank you for. Phew, I feel like I am leaving a lot out but I just cant remember everything that has been going on. That should give you a picture of how crazy it has been though. Amanda bought her wedding dress yesterday! I suppose that is important as well ;) We are so thrilled to be done with school for a while and super excited about Christmas. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays whichever you prefer ;) Im sure Jesus doesnt really care...such a fuss over nothing.

-DJ

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Drum Roll, please!

So, we have some news to share with everyone :) After much thought and wise council, we have decided to move our wedding date up a few months. Four months to be exact. The new official team awesome wedding date is August 23, 2008!!! Woooooo! For those of you who have never been engaged before, 14 months is a very long time to wait to get married.

We're so excited.

In other [great] news, this semester is officially over!!

We will blog again shortly.

Hasta pronto,
DJ & Amanda

P.S. I may or may not be wedding dress shopping tomorrow.... ;)

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Its about time that we update...

So, there are a lot of new things to post about. BUT, we can't post them for a few more days.

Get excited!!


DJ and I are pushing through exams. Let's just get done with this horrible week!

Seriously, it is a good thing to be engaged.

-Amanda

Friday, November 23, 2007

Greetings From South Carolina!

Hello friends!

Hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We enjoyed some serious southern cooking and some wonderful company for our turkey day. I think this has been the most relaxed Amanda and I have been since we have been engaged, which is probably what I am most thankful for this year :) We haven't had to cook or worry about anything. After the day settled down we finished out the night watching movies with the rest of the family. As opposed to our first night here, we got plenty of sleep (especially Amanda who woke up and then slept from 9 till noon again). Amanda's sister and mom got up at the crack of dawn to do some shopping so Amanda and I and her/my future brother-in-law, Adam, watched movies. Well like I said, Amanda slept, so really just Adam and I watched movies. Amanda and I stole the car for a few hours this afternoon to go grab some lunch and do a little shopping just the two of us. We are finding more and more how much we enjoy just being together. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp after just about one and a half months of being engaged of this whole I am about to get married thing. At least I think so.... other moments I kind of have to catch my breath but overall, I think Amanda and I both have a better vision for this new part of our lives. I can hardly freaking wait to be married :) We are just best friends and that is all there is to it! I mentioned earlier that this trip has really been amazing because we have not had to do a thing. Speaking for both us, some time to chill was much needed. School has been nuts, life has been nuts, work has been nuts, so having no responsibilities for a few days has been a real moral booster :) Sorry if this blog has been more like a play like play. Normally I would bestow some enlightening thoughts for the day but I have been so relaxed here I havent taken the time to reflect on life. That in itself is probably a big lesson for me to continue to learn. We have a long drive home tomorrow, although we wont be driving so no complaints there. I am so thankful for my new family and for my family and for all of our friends who are giving Amanda and I so much support. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-DJ

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Thanksgiving 2007!




DJ really was a birthday princess.

Tomorrow we leave for Columbia, SC to see my sister's family. We're so excited to spend some time with them. Pictures will soon be posted.

Its so exciting to get to share holidays with each other now. Last year, exactly around this time, DJ and I has just really met and started to hang out. Its so fun to go back and remember the cute things we did with each other. I never would have imagined that this year I would be engaged to the love of my life. Its all so exciting.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Love you guys! Thanks so much for your prayers and support.


-Amanda

Friday, November 16, 2007

I think things are only going to get busier.

So, if anyone actually reads this I think you will notice the lack of blogs from me. :)

I've been super busy with school. This is probably the craziest semester yet...15 pg research paper of Tanzania, 5 pg paper in Spanish over futbol and 2 papers in Spanish for Diaz. My brain is ready to explode.

I'm trying to stay calm at the thought that everything is only going to get more crazy. Planning a wedding, taking 21 hours next semester and working seem like a lot to handle. I'm hoping I can do everything and stay sane. It all seems stressful, but DJ and I can handle anything because we're Team Awesome. It doesn't get any better than that.

Other than that, DJ and I have just been relaxing together and going on fancy dates!

For DJ's birthday, I threw him a mini surprise party with a few of his friends that turned out well.

I'm so excited about life right now. I love my fiance very much! :)

-Amanda

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Our Story

So Amanda will probably get mad that I am writing another blog before she does but I really wanted to share some thoughts on a sermon I just listened to. Donald Miller, a well known author and familiar name to most of you I am sure, recently spoke at Mars Hill Bible church in Grand Rapids Michigan. I am a big fan of Mars Hill and receive their weekly message via podcast. So, I noticed Miller was speaking and decided to take a listen today while I was working. His message was on how our lives are basically a story, which is not exactly a new idea, but his twist on the idea was amazing. One of the things I have been learning as Amanda and I have been engaged is that we are living out this new story about our life together and really what that story is playing out to be. Miller explains in his message what is required in a story or movie in order for it to be interesting to the reader/viewer. A story has to have a main character or protagonist. A story has to have some sort of conflict, a story has to have a point of climax, and finally a story has to have some sort of resolve at the end. Miller goes on to talk about how many times in the Christian faith we kind of cut off our chances of letting God play out this story in our life with sayings such as "well, God closed that door." I found this very interesting because I myself have used that phrase before and I am sure many of you have as well. Miller mentions this mindset to point out that we should not defeat our own stories by giving up on a situation or defeat ourselves by assuming if something is not the way we imagined it would be that there is something wrong in our lives. God picks up at the point of our mistakes and creates the story from there. God knocks down the door he doesn't close it. These two ideas kind of struck me to the core. It is really easy to water down our own story rather than just live out a great story. So I started thinking about how this idea applies to Amanda and I's story together. We want to have a great story. You can't just want to have a great story though, you have to live out a great story, you have to be that story. Don gives an example of a friend of his whose wife just had a baby and how this husband was telling Don how much more in love with his wife he was now than when they got married. The sad thing was, he wasn't doing anything to show his wife that love so this love only existed in the husbands story. We have to live out our stories. I think Amanda and I are going to have a great story. We had great stories before we even met. But I dont just want to have a great story with her, I want us to be a great story. God uses every aspect of our lives to help push our story forward, we just have to keep on living. Sounds simple enough, but it is very easy to get bogged down with the crap life throws at you. I was very encouraged and challenged by this message and hope that this blog is a reality check for others as well.

On a side note...we have done basically zero planning the past few weeks. Instead we have just been hanging out and enjoying being together. We went on a great date Tuesday night, something we haven't done since we got engaged really. Next week we are heading back to South Carolina for Thanksgiving and then finishing up with school for the semester. Thanks as always to everyone who is watching out for us and supporting us through this process of writing our new story. We love you all!

Monday, November 5, 2007

One month down

Wow, I can hardly believe Amanda and I have already been engaged for a month. Pretty crazy! I don't think I would have ever expected what this month would hold for us either. I think it is safe to say that it was tough. So many people to tell, so many people to see, so many people to please. This can really wear two people down when they are just trying to be together. It is easy to miss what your identity as a soon to be married couple is when you are trying to give all of your time in so many places. This whole weekend Amanda has been the most amazing fiance any guy could ever ask for. She took me out for my birthday basically all weekend, organized a surprise party at her house for me, took me out for a wonderful dinner at PF Changs, and then just sat and talked with me for hours. We realized last night how important our identity as a couple is. We realized how easy it is for things to get crazy when we lose sight of that. Because of this realization and the chance to talk about, we were able to connect on a deeper level emotionally and remember how in love we are. In fact, I would say we are more in love today than we were yesterday. It is an incredible feeling! Turning twenty, being engaged, and planning a wedding can be a bit overwhelming. Thankfully though, we are loved by a God who will stop when we stop and help us take a deep breath in and find the truth that exists when love is real. That is what we are holding on to.

PS- we took some amazing pictures if you havent cehcked them out yet. I have the best looking fiance in the world...no questions asked!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Engagement pictures from Michael Howard

Check this out! http://www.howardphoto.net/
We're so excited!
Thanks, Michael Howard!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Strange

I have come to conclusion that the whole concept of engagement is just strange. It is almost a game of how long can we actually wait before we elope :) I love being engaged but I am finding everyday, as many have said, it is just kind of lame on a scale of time. You find the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you ask them to marry you, they say yes, and then you wait around for a long time until you actually get to be together. Amanda and I talked along time about this last night after going as Britney and K-Fed for Halloween. I was reminded how much I enjoy just staying up late and just talking and laughing with my best friend though. There is something very cool about relaxing on a nice evening and taking things easy with someone you love. Anyway, I have gone off on a million rabbit trails in this blog. I just thought I should share my angst against the whole engagement process. Despite my angst, the end result is going to be the most amazing day of Amanda and I's life.

-DJ

Monday, October 29, 2007

Number two for today

I was just thinking on the way home how crazy this whole marriage thing is. I mean just in case you all didn't know, Amanda and I are getting married! That means we are spending the rest of our lives together! How unreal is that? I mean seriously, it is kind of crazy. I was thinking about how many things I get to do with this one girl that I randomly (or not so randomly for you faith based friends) met and fell in love with and I just go crazy! Half of the time I feel like such a dumb boy that doesn't deserve to be with such an awesome girl, but she still loves me and just kind of laughs and moves on you know? When you take a look around the world and see so many marriages falling apart this whole thing can get scary sometimes, especially because our generation has seen a major increase in the divorce rate. Even more frightening is the fact that most of that number is taken up by people in the church. I really believe this is something we can change and that I want to be a part of changing. Love is an amazing gift from God. The fact that He created one person for me to spend all of my life with, the good, the bad, the everything, blows my mind. It just kind of hit me tonight that Amanda is that girl for me 100%. She is everything I need and everything I have ever wanted. I want to be her everything and I want to be a part of change in our society that keeps this powerful Love alive. That is my prayer, this is my prayer, this blog really. A prayer that we wont give in to just giving up. My faith is crazy at best but I know one thing, I want people to know that I love God by the love I show to other people especially my wife.

417 days to go!

Quite a large number if you ask me but the more I think about it the more thankful I actually am. I woke up this morning thinking about how many things I personally have to learn about before Amanda and I get married. There are things to learn about money, how to be a good husband, how to be the head of the house hold, and how to let God continue to be a part of our relationship. Although the money thing makes me a little nervous I can honestly say I am excited to find out what all of those things look like in our life. I was laughing to myself last night while thinking about what it would be like to actually be living away from home. I really only "moved out" for a semester my freshman year so I dont even know if I know how to live on my own. Luckily I think Team Awesome can figure it out together (plus I would much rather figure it out as a team than on my own). It is great to have a place to just put my thoughts on how things are going. We are still just as excited, if not more, about being engaged than we were three weeks ago. We have kinda been going crazy with the planning but you know, we are who we are. Till next time.

-DJ

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Thankful!

It feels like we've been looking at different invitations for months when, in fact, we've only been searching for a week or so. We've seen some of the most elaborate and beautiful invitations with a price that would make your jaw drop. I've been so overwhelmed by the cost of paper! It is unreal to see how much it costs to just let people know you're getting married.
As most young college students, we are on a tight budget so we originally said we wanted to spend $600 for 250 invites.
Last night, we were looking for some nice paper at Target and DJ picked up a box of Do-It-Yourself wedding invitations. They were beautiful and on clearance for 6 bucks! We purchased one box (50 invites) and tried out an invitation to see if we liked the quality. They looked amazing!
From there, we got the itch to find 4 more boxes in order to have enough to invite everyone. We drove to 3 different Targets and ended up with 3 more boxes. I called the Murfreesboro store at 9:15 and asked if they had it. They had one box, but they couldn't hold it or sell it to me over the phone! DJ and I looked at each other and decided we should try to make it to Target before they closed at 10:00. We raced from Old Hickory to Murfreesboro in 30 minutes! I still don't know how we did it.
So, instead of spending $600 on invitations, we spent a little over $30.
We are so thankful and humbled that these invitations were provided.
Other than that, we are still busy with the initial wedding planning.
We are continually blown away by the support and love of our family and friends. It is going to be an amazing journey.
-Amanda

Friday, October 26, 2007

It Takes Two When It Used to Take One

That is of course, it takes two Ryan Adams shows rather than just one. We got to see Ryan and the Cardinals again this week here in Nashville and it was amazing! I think it is safe to say that the fiance and I have finally gotten our feet back on the ground this week. After three busy weeks, we have had some time to slow down and just hang out. Believe it or not Amanda even halted planning the wedding for a few days this week! I was very proud of her. One thing I have learned from these past few weeks is that keeping a relationship in balance is not an easy thing. Taking the time to keep everything in balance makes such a huge difference though! Once the wedding train starts rolling the focus of everything becomes that..so as Amanda wrote in her last blog, we have found how vitally important it is to take some time to slow down. Lets see, next weekend we will be getting some legit engagement photos done. Our friend and incredible photographer Michael Howard is taking them (www.howardphoto.com). Other than that we are just plowing through school and enjoying all of the things we have to look forward to. I can hardly believe it has been almost a month since we got engaged. Thanks to everyone for getting us all of the addresses by the way! We could sell our contact list for a good amount of money online its so big. Anyway, that is all I've got for now. Bout to meet up with the lady at Chili's for a little dinner date and relaxation time!

-DJ

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Remembering to Slow Down

We've only been engaged for two weeks, but we've already set up the guest list (with almost all of the addresses on an alphabetized spread sheet), booked the ceremony/reception site, picked out colors and registered! Phew! Its amazing how much we've already accomplished in this short amount of time. But, I think its important that we remind ourselves to slow down and just enjoy this part of life. I'm already turning myself into a planning queen. So, I'm remembering to take time to do nothing at all.

DJ and I are so happy to be engaged, especially with the amazing support of our family and friends. Its been so encouraging to be affirmed in that way.
We love you all so much!
-Amanda

Monday, October 22, 2007

Busy Busy!

Hello friends!
DJ here. Amanda and I have been busy busy since we got engaged two weeks ago. We took a visit to South Carolina to see some of Amanda's family and see Mr. Ryan Adams in concert. It was a really great weekend and perfect timing to kind of get away for a vacation. When we got home it was straight back to school for a few days and then more planning for the big day! Guest lists, registries, more guest list things basically describe our weekend. And just so everyone is reminded, this blog is about to be our way to communicate what is going on rather than facebook or myspace. Telephones do still exist so please feel free to call us as well! Anyway, sorry if my thoughts are scattered this morning. Please come back and check on us!

-DJ and Amanda

Sunday, October 21, 2007