Florida Baby Shower

My lovely mother and a few church family friends threw me my first baby shower in Orange Park.  They did a wonderful job!

A nice welcome sign for me and our little girl.  I am about 27.5 weeks here.

The decorations were super cute!  Note: the daisy flower pots were actually part of the decorations for my wedding reception!

These were chocolate cakes with cream cheese icing.  Super yummy! The flags on the top of the cakes say "baby girl."

My mom (and dad) put together a diaper cake with little flower barrettes all over them.  I can't wait to put little barrettes and bows in her hair!

Our little girl is going to be all set!

My sweet cousin, Elle, was my helper and told me which gifts to open first.

I thought this was a sweet candid shot with us talking together.

One of my favorites - my parents gave me her first Florida Gator outfit with matching bows.  You can tell that I'm just delighted. :)  So was Curtis.

This was a huge box of clothes that my parents got me.  All sorts of outfits in varying sizes!

As you can see, I spent most of my time opening gifts.

Here's the audience.  I had a vast assortment of sweet family and friends that I've known throughout my life there with me to celebrate.

My cousin Jane was able to meet our newest cousin, Alan, for the first time.

Jane did so many things behind the scenes for the shower.  She took most of the pictures and helped me organize all my gifts to travel back to Savannah. :)

Here are two of my childhood friends, Carrie and Kimberly.  We used to hang out all the time when we were in elementary/middle/some high school!

Two of my closest friends from high school/community college, Jennifer and Pam, were also able to make it.

I even had three of my closest friends from UF there - Kelly, Catherine & Jenna!  (Jenna's not pictured because she had already left the shower by the time we took this one.)

Here's some of my wedding party - Catherine (bridesmaid), Lacey (flower girl), Mrs. Warren (matron of honor).

This was a fun one - I had 4 other pregnant ladies at my shower.  Robyn, seminary friend; Carrie, neighborhood friend; Lauren, church friend; and Ashlee, high school friend (not pictured).  Lauren actually delivered her baby girl, Violet Rose, on 12/12/12!

I had a great time and I couldn't believe how quickly the shower flew by!  I have been blessed with lots of dear family and friends at this shower - some came very long ways to be there!  Thank you to everyone who was able to come and celebrate this blessing from the Lord with me.  We can't wait for her to arrive!

Wedding Número 3

Curtis and I have had the honor of counseling and preparing David and Amanda Brodmann for their upcoming marriage for the past 9 or 10 months.  Finally, the big day arrived on October 13!  Every year since Curtis has been ordained, he has had the opportunity to officiate for one wedding, which makes this wedding #3. :)

The wedding was gorgeous - they had it at the Mackey House in Savannah.

I got a pretty good picture of Amanda and her father walking down the aisle.

You may now kiss the bride!

Amanda & David released doves after the ceremony was complete.  I thought this was a pretty good capture from my phone!

Curtis and I really enjoyed being able to celebrate with David, Amanda and their families.  I'm sure the Brodmanns are feeling relieved that both weddings went smoothly this year - (A Beautiful Beach Wedding in May and this one in October)!

All of Curtis' Roommates Are Now Married

Curtis had three close roommates in college - Ryan, Josh and Jeffrey.  They all took bets on who would get married first.  Everyone thought Jeffrey would be the first.

Here's how the weddings actually occurred:

6/7/2008 - Curtis and I

5/28/2011 - Josh and Alicia

10/15/2011 - Ryan and Emily

7/1/2012 - Jeffrey and Jessie

We are so happy that we were able to come to Jeffrey & Jessie's wedding!  Curtis served as an Usher.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.  So, I've taken this picture from the official photographer (not trying to infringe on any copyrights) - if you want to see more pictures, please go to Valentina Glidden Photography.  It completes the roommates all getting married.

The wedding was beautiful and we enjoyed getting to meet Jessie.  Jeffrey first told us about Jessie at Josh's wedding...and by the time Ryan's wedding came around, he was ready to marry her!

We are looking forward to many years spent with all 8 of us (and their families as they increase).  I've never met such incredible, godly men before.  All four of them are very strong in their walks with the Lord.  Three of them have now graduated from seminary, two of them are pastors and the other two want to be missionaries in the future.

A Beautiful Beach Wedding

We had the privilege to go to a beautiful wedding located on Tybee Island, which is about 15 minutes away from our house.  Harry and Candace Brodmann were determined to have a beach wedding, but they had a lot of things to overcome to get to this point!  One of the biggest challenges was the annual Beach Bum Parade (a huge water fight of water balloons, water guns, etc.).  The wedding party was concerned about this parade because it makes it very difficult to get onto the island and they were afraid all the wedding guests would get soaked.  This parade was beginning at the exact same time as the wedding ceremony and they were located only a few yards away from each other.  Instead, the weather became the largest challenge as the sky opened up and rain poured down for about an hour and a half.  I heard the parade didn't have a very good turnout, so that actually didn't become a big problem. The wedding guests patiently waited for the rain to stop so that we could witness this couple get married.  Boy, was it worth the wait!  Just look at these amazing pictures:

You May Now Kiss The Bride!

The bride walking down the aisle with her father

Me with the groom's mother, Cheryl

Harry and Candace were married on the beach right before the sun went down.

A Savannah-Themed Wedding

One of my good friends that I have grown up with got married on March 2.  Stephanie Acheson and I have always celebrated birthdays and random events together.  Our parents are good friends and we attended Pinewood Church together.  She not only took my engagement photo pictures, but she did all of the planning and execution of decorations at both my wedding ceremony and reception.  So, of course, I had to make a special trip down to see her on her very special day!

 Stephanie looked absolutely gorgeous!  She got married at the Orange Park Country Club.  The irony was that I traveled away from Savannah to go to a Savannah-themed wedding!  Rob Burris (her new husband) proposed to her in front of the fountain at Forsyth Park in Savannah.  The bulletin had the fountain printed on the front.

 This picture isn't that good, but it has the first kiss as husband and wife!

 My dad played the Viola in this gazebo (along with the rest of the orchestra).

 Curtis was unable to make it, so I was seated at the Pinewood table without dates.  We had a great time!  Going along with the Savannah theme, each table had a different square name. We were at Calhoun Square.  Here I am with Holly & Melissa!

I thought this was a neat idea - the food was family-style.  One of my Pinewood friends, Katie, was 3 weeks away from delivering her baby boy.  She wanted more mashed potatoes so we had a whole plate delivered in front of her seat while she was away.

 Look at Katie's excitement when she arrived back and saw the mashed potatoes! :) Haha!

 I didn't see these pictures until later, but 3 of my friends took pictures with my glasses on.  Here's the lovely Melissa Wittman. She has always been a great friend and whenever I spend time with her, we are able to just pick right back up where we left off!

 Here is the beautiful Holly Tolson!  She helped out in the youth group when I was a senior in high school.  She also went to Covenant Seminary (where Curtis went) so she is a mutual friend of both of us.

 Lastly, here's sweet Sylvia Donaldson.  She was in a middle school Bible Study that I co-led when I was in college.  It's hard to believe that now she herself is in college at UNF!

Curtis didn't attend the wedding because he went to a Pastors Conference in Augusta, GA.  When I arrived back in Savannah, Curtis surprised me with a yummy piece of cake from Boll Weevill!  

This piece was called "7th Heaven" - it was filled with chocolate cake, cheesecake, ganache, and various chocolate chips!  What a fun weekend!

Ryan's Wedding

In mid-October, Curtis and I headed to Chicago, Illinois to witness Ryan Fields' wedding.  Ryan is Curtis' best friend - they were roommates in college and have been best friends ever since.  I also knew Ryan in college through RUF, a campus ministry.

Ryan is about to be a College Pastor at Creekside Community Church, this was the church that Ryan and I both attended when we were in college.  

Here we have Curtis assisting the groom as he gets ready for his wedding!  They are a lot alike.  Both Ryan & Curtis are pastors, they have a similar sense of humor, and they are both INFJ's (if you know anything about the Meyers-Briggs personality test).  

In fact, they both married women that have the same birthday (not year): November 30th.

The other two gentlemen in this photo are Ryan and Curtis' other two roommates in college - Josh and Jeffrey.  Josh was married just five months earlier in May.

I'm not usually one to take pictures during a prayer, but this was just such a cool moment.  I thought it was beautiful to see all these godly men praying over Ryan before the ceremony, asking God to be glorified.  (I thought their wedding ceremony was beautiful and I couldn't help but worship the Lord for His goodness to Ryan and Emily.) 

 Off to the ceremony we go!  We somehow stuffed 8 people into Ryan's little Taurus.  (Side note: I hear this was one of the last memories that Ryan had in his Taurus before it died.)

 Here's 4 of the 5 of us stuffed in his back seat.

 Emily and Ryan make such a beautiful couple!  Here they are making their vows to each other, before God and all the witnesses.

Announcing for the first time:

Mr & Mrs. Christopher Ryan Fields!

 

The 4 roommates: Jeffrey, Curtis, Ryan, and Josh.

And here are all the wives with their husbands!  I had a great time getting to know Josh's wife, Alicia, while our husbands were performing wedding duties.  Alicia and I will look forward to getting to know Emily more in the future! :)

 Curtis and I were so happy that we could make it to his wedding!  Curtis was a groomsman and he was so glad that he could see God answer his prayers for Ryan to find a wife.  He had been praying this prayer over the past 4 years.  Praise the Lord for answering prayers, even if it isn't in the timing that we expect.

Curtis Performs His Second Wedding Ceremony

On August 13, Curtis performed the wedding ceremony of Donnie Arpin and Melani Jones.  They were married in the beautiful chapel at the Bethesda Home For Boys.  It was special not only because it was their wedding day, but also because it was Melani's birthday!  Curtis and I enjoyed getting to know this lovely couple and we look forward to more times with them in the future!