My 2010

Today is December 30th and I thought I would through in one more post before it hits the new year! I know I have slacked a little bit with keeping it updated, but can you blame me with school, work, church, and keeping up an apartment and a husband?!? Yeah. Hahaha. :)

What a crazy awesome year it has been for me. God is soooooo amazing!

Here is just a small highlight of My 2010:

I married the most amazing man on the planet, Stephen Thomas Richardson on May 8th!

I become an Aunt again....TWICE!

Amber, Robbie, and Judah Joel, Shawna, Jace, Pierce, and Skyler

I went back to SEU this past semester

Then I decided NOT to go back after that semester LOL. :)

Gained another brother - Caleb! Love you, Man!!

Went on a much needed vacation in Wears Valley, TN with my hubbyStephen and I started Weight Watchers and joined The Rush (recommitted after the holidays lol)

Started looking for a house.

But above everything else, I give this all to the Glory of God! He has so richly blessed me this past year in 2010 and I want to give it back to Him.

So for this next year, I speak His favor, blessing, abundance, power, authority, grace, peace, love, and Holy Spirit presence to habitate in my life and in yours. And that whenever a door closes, another will open. One of my all-time fave poem is by Robert Frost. It says,

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference."

Many Blessings on 2011!!

Home Sweet Home

Friday afternoon, Stephen and I went to look at a house that is probably .1 miles from our apartment that we absolutely fell in love with!

Stats of House on Honey Grove Road (what a sweet name!):
1450 sq. ft.
3br
2ba
2-car garage
10x10 mud room
spacious kitchen
beautiful covered back deck with fan
carpet in the bedrooms!

We plan to make an offer on it in a couple of weeks. This is a great starter home and it needs virtually no work done to it since it's brand new! Probably the only thing would be cleaning out all the dust and everything, but I don't mind that! We had to do that with our apartment.

God is surely to thank for this! We both feel this was a God-thing, so we pray His favor and Will in this. :)

Thanksgiving Lunch: The Office Style

Today is the day we have our Thanksgiving lunch at work. We have Calhoun's cater the main dishes like turkey, ham, rolls, etc. and then have the employees bring side dishes and desserts. What a spledid week this will be! I can't say I am not looking forward to this feast because that would be LYING!

Today is also the day we are having our office's United Way campaign kick-off. We'll just be talking briefly before we eat. And apparently Mike Hamilton, UT Men's Athletic Director, will be here to talk about United Way. Also a local news station, WATE, will supposedly be here as well.

It's going to be a good day!

Video for Operation Christmas Child

Be inspired and make a difference!

Operation Christmas Child

For many years, my church family has been quite involved with Samaritan's Purse: Operation Christmas Child. What is Operation Christmas Child? It is where individuals, families, churches, and other organizations can come together to make a difference in the lives of many children around the world by taking shoe boxes and filling them with (acceptable) goodies, toys, hygeine essentials, and school supplies for Christmas. Samaritan's Purse takes all of the shoe boxes and ships them internationally to kids to can't/don't have a Christmas. By doing this, it gives these children a hope and also have a chance to receive the most beautiful gift of all: the message of Jesus Christ!

This year, Stephen and I did a shoe box for a girl 5-9 years old. One really cool thing now is Samaritan's Purse gives you an option if you want to follow where your shoebox is going! We definitely did that!

I look forward to tracking where our box is going. Lord, we bless that little girl that receives our box. That you would fill her with Your love, grace, joy, and peace. You are her strength. May she grow up to be a beautiful, healthy women of God who is on fire for you!

If you would like to learn more, check out samaritanspurse.org

Our Wedding Vows

I thought I would share Stephen and I's vows because...well....I want to! I got these vows from Jason Illian's wedding back in 2007. He was on the Bachelorette and was a virgin when he got married a few years ago. Him and his wife Alisha, have 2 beautiful children!

Here they are:

Vows - Stephen(groom)

When I say I love you,

I’m not just making you my wife,

I’m making you my best friend,

My last dance, my only hope, and forever lover.

When I say I love you,

I’m not claiming to have all the answers,

I’m praying that together

We’ll ask all the right questions.

When I say I love you,

I’m not just expressing a feeling,

I’m solidifying a commitment

And I’ll spend my whole life to proving it to you.

When I say I love you,

I’m not repeating “'til death do us part,"

I’m promising to be with you forever

In this life and the life to come.

When I say I love you,

I’m not just voicing mere words

I’m expressing how I’ve been surprised, challenged, engaged

And humbled—realizing that soul mates really do exist.

When I say I love you,

I’m not giving you human love

I’m pouring out God’s unconditional, sacrificial love

Dying to self, in hope that I can better serve you and honor you.

Abby, you are an undeserved blessing, a gift from God, and a dream realized. Much of my heart is closed to everyone in this world—but I open it to you. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know that I don’t have one without you. Just know that when I say I love you, I love you.

Vows – Abby (bride)

When I say I love you,

I’m not just making you my husband,

I’m making you my strong tower,

The family leader, my heart’s protector, and my goodnight kiss

When I say I love you,

I’m not just standing before family and friends,

I’m kneeling before Christ our Savior

Praying that His grace will knit our lives together

When I say I love you,

I’m not just adding your last name,

I’m subtracting our loneliness, dividing our sorrows

And multiplying our joys so that two can become one

When I say I love you,

I’m not asking you to make me whole,

I’m asking you to stay focused on God

And through His power and will, together we’ll be made holy

When I say I love you,

I’m not expecting happily ever after,

I’m preparing to hike the mountaintops and the valleys,

Swim through the joys and the sorrows, battle the good times and the bad

To make a life with you

When I say I love you,

I don’t want a big house or a fancy car

I just want to live in your arms and touch your heart

And dream bigger dreams than we could do separately

Stephen, you are the man of my dreams—a real-life knight in shining armor. My heart is never experienced such peace, and I never feel closer to God than I do when I’m with you. I may not be perfect, but I believe that we fit perfectly together. Just know that when I say I love you, I love you.

187 Days / 4511 Hours / 270701 Minutes

I have been married this amount of time. Almost 7 months! I still can't believe that I am married. Stephen and I will joke around because we stop in the middle of anything sometimes to say "Guess what? We're married." It's quite funny. Have you have had one of those moments that your just like, "Woah."? When I say it, I don't mean it in a bad way. It is an amazing experience!

So with this being said, I have had quite a few people ask me: "So how's married life?" Let me just go ahead and answer this question:

I love, Love, LOVE married life! Since the moment I said "When I say I love you..." I haven't regretted one milisecond of it. Has it been challenging? Yes. Is it lots of work? Yes. Is it worth it? Heck yes! Stephen and I have had our fights (some worse than others) and we have also had some amazing moments together. It takes quite a bit of communication in a marriage to make it work. And especially God and His Holy Spirit guiding us. Let me just tell you there is nothing more sexy than seeing your husband or wife worshipping and praying to God! It makes me love him even more because he takes the time to spend that time with God.

No matter if you have been married 7 months or 70 years, you will ALWAYS learn something new from and about your spouse. For example, we feel that the Lord is wanting us to buy a house now and when we went to go see the one on Double Tree Road which was over 2300 sq. ft., that made him nervous about having that much space. I on the other hand was excited with all the posilibilities it had and all the different things I can do to design/decorate it!

I have also learned that there will be misunderstandings. This correlates with the paragraph above too because men and women do not think the same way. There will be times that Stephen will send me an e-mail or a text about something and I totally interpreted it a different way and vice versa.

Another thing I have learned is that no matter what miscommunications, "discussions," etc we have had, we know we love each other. I know that if we have a disagreement that neither one of us are going to leave or walk out. We are each others constants. :)

So in closing, I love being married to Stephen. He is my heart's desire and my best friend. I love making him laugh and seeing the sparkle in his eyes when he talks about his dreams, goals, and aspirations. And even when he talks about banking. :)

Blessings,

Abby