Going to the Chapel

Finding ways to kill time as we anxiously waited to walk down the aisle, my bridesmaids and I decided we would sing before the wedding ceremony.  I have some of the most musically talented friends around :)  Kendall happened to catch it on her Flip video camera...Click the link below to watch :)

 Click Here to Watch

Praises and Prayers!

Current praises:

>Thank you Jesus for providing us with community! 

Taylor and I have been fervently praying, actively seeking out relationships, and asking God for a new community of believers to grow with together as we enter marriage and as I, Amanda, am new to the OC area.  We have been praying and asking some of you to pray for the Lord to provide passionate believers to come alongside each other, encourage each other, meet together, pursue God together, and serve passionately together. And, after some tears and the Lord teaching Amanda patience for Christian women, friends and community to surround her and Taylor, the Lord has blessed us with a group of married couples (some already in our lives and some connected to us in some way) who have been praying and asking the Lord for the same thing in their life.  We have now been connected with 5 couples who are passionate about the Lord and His Word. We meet in each other’s homes every Thursday, share a meal together, pray for one another, help each other when we are in need, serve on Sundays together and look for ways to share God’s Love with others.   It’s just a rich time of fellowship, and an even greater answer to our prayers than we expected!  

God promises, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer. 29:11). And, to his disciples, Jesus promised, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” (Luke 12:22-26, 31)

The Lord is good and faithful.


Current prayer needs:

>Safety for Taylor

Pray for Tay as he has been given many traveling opportunities this month for work (some overseas).   Pray for energy, health, and safe traveling!  He is currently in Germany, until Friday.  Lord Jesus, bring him back safely to me :)

>For the Lord to show us where He wants us to give our time and our finances. 

We’re finally starting to get settled here in many different ways, but are still seeking the Lord’s plan for our time in serving and pouring ourselves out to others as we begin our marriage.  Through our small group study and conversations, we have been really energized, spurred on and convicted by the Holy Spirit to live like the first church in Acts—consistently and frequently joining in fellowship with other believers, consistently in the Word, sharing the Gospel boldly, serving and loving zealously, generously giving of our finances and resources, etc.  We are realizing that this zealousness can be hard to maintain in a world that directs you be self-sufficient and independently minded, and in a world that persuades us as a new couple to feel as though we should be saving and protecting our finances for the future we are beginning. We want to be good stewards of our money, and we also want to rid ourselves of that fear of our own financial protection and live for the calling we have received through our Christ Jesus.  We want to continue to live knowing that nothing on this earth is eternal or our own.  We want to continue to be spurred on towards the reality that our time and our resources belong to God and this is only our temporary home. So, were asking for prayer to continue that alive in our spirit and for us to continue to be lead by the Holy Spirit to where he wants to spend our time, money, resources, and energy.  Our prayer is that we will “not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2) and that we will continue to be convicted by this Truth spoken by Jesus, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  God, lead us and use us for your glory!

>For blessings, more hands and resources for Mary’s Kitchen and its staff

Going along with our above prayer request, one cool thing we’ve been doing as a small group is serving at Mary’s Kitchen (a volunteer organization that provides food and services to the homeless of Orange County, CA) a few weekends per month with our small group—cleaning, sorting through food/clothing donations, food-prep, etc.  That has been a rewarding time for us, as the kitchen volunteer staff has needed a lot of help on the weekends as their organization grows and their body of people they serve grow as well.  There are men and women who have served there for over 20-years. Pray for the lives that are being impacted by this God-driven organization and that the Good News can be spread to them through the love and servant’s heart of those that have given so much of their lives working and serving there.

>For the Lord to continue to lead and teach Amanda in her job.  

The Lord is teaching Amanda a lot right now, as she is teaching in a new and unfamiliar school setting as well as teaching a new type of student than she has ever worked with before.  Having taught in very diverse settings thus far—inner-city Columbus, OH teaching underprivileged and academically struggling students, rural and suburban settings in Charleston, SC and now teaching in a private school in Orange County—she is thankful for the richness of her experiences as a teacher, but still learning as this new setting is different than anything she has worked with.  The Lord is not only guiding her and teaching her new things as a teacher, but He is also stretching her in different ways and teaching her a lot about herself as a person through this new experience.  Thank you, Lord, for blessing her with a job with so much support and passion found in its staff.  Continue to mold her as a teacher!

Our Reception Video

This is the video Chris Babbit made for us for our reception.  Both songs in the background are the ones we danced to with our mom and dad on our wedding day. I will say, I just watched it for the first time since the wedding, and...i cried a little.  I will also say...Taylor was a sweet little baby :)

2010: Our Year in Pictures

2010: Our Year in Pictures

1/2/10- Was honored to stand beside my high school bestie, Kendra Cosko, and watch her become Mrs. Kendra Franke!

...caught the bouquet :) (me next?)

1/31/10- Traveled to Miami, FL with Megan for Super Bowl Weekend to meet Taylor and some more of the Power Balance Crew.

...and for Chad Ochocinco's Super Bowl party, sponsored by PB.  

2/20/10- Went up north to go skiing with Jessie.

4/3/10 - 4/9/10 Roadtripped to Charleston, SC for my Spring Break to see my college friends!

4/8/10...was surprised to see Taylor there in Battery Park later in the week...

And he asked me to marry him :) (video below)

I said YES! So, we celebrated!

4/10/10- Drove to Cleveland with Taylor and Ryan to do some PB work at the Cav's game...and run a PB promotional "meet-and-greet" with Shaq...

5/8/10- Traveled to Atlanta, GA to celebrate my sweet college roommate and friend Lulie's wedding!

5/29/10- Flew to CA on Memorial Day weekend to see my new fiance and celebrate our engagement with friends and family there.

 

5/31/10- Got our engagement pictures taken by the wonderful Matthew Morgan (http://matthewmorgan.net/) in Laguna Beach, CA.

6/4/10- Finished my first year of teaching 6th/7th grade math at Columbus Collegiate Academy, an amazing charter school in inner-city Columbus.  Was very sad to leave the wonderful things going on at our school and to leave my students :( But, excited to start a new life in CA with my soon-to-be husband!

6/18/10- Celebrated the marriage of one of my best friends from high school, Olivia, and her new hubby Dana!

6/27/10- Roadtripped across the country with my high school best friend, Katie Jacobs, to move out to CA.

 

7/10/10- Taylor stood alongside Clark Hardman as his best man in his wedding as he married his new wife Val :)

8/3/10- Drai's in Hollywood for a PB celebrity poker tournament and benefit, raising money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.  Met some Westerville friends there!

8/5/10- Traveled to Charleston for my Bachelorette weekend!

June-August- Had a some beautiful wedding showers...hosted by sister and Taylor's aunt :)

August- Got a job teaching 7th grade math at LePort Schools here in CA!

10/9/10- Married my best friend :)

10/15-10/22- Honeymooned in Bali, Indonesia

11/25-11/28- Traveled back to OH to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

11/26/10- Had my 5-year high school reunion.

12/11/10- PB Christmas Party

12/19-12/26- Daddy and Megan came to visit us and spend Christmas in CA!

New Hobby

Taylor emailed me the other day, sharing with me the new Groupon for Orange County.  If you aren't familiar with Groupon, it’s awesome and you should definitely sign up for the one in your area (go to groupon.com)! Basically, Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses in your area. They send the deals daily to you in an email.  The deals are usually coupons for restaurants, massage places, fitness classes, oil changes, hair salons, etc.  Anyway, the Groupon Taylor sent me was a 50% coupon for cake decorating classes at a local bakery. 

I have been really into baking lately (and cooking), mainly because of the new and fun kitchen gadgets people blessed Taylor and I with as wedding gifts :)  I also did a lot of baking in college with my roommate Sophie, who is now working her way through culinary school in Washington DC to become a pastry chef.  She taught me many different things to bake and cook in college.  We'd stay up real late and bake for hours— things for friend's birthdays, things for our neighbors, things for parties we were going to, or just things for ourselves and roommates (which probably didn't help us defeat the "freshman twenty").  Most of the time, I would actually just watch her and chat with her for hours, because I couldn't do nearly as good of a job as she did.  I think, though, this is when I grew to love baking. 

So, I ended up purchasing the Groupon, and am super excited excited about it! The deal includes a 4-week course on any level I choose.  (I will stick with beginner course for now) The classes will be 2 hours each session, 1 night per week.  In the beginner's class, we learn how to create: 

·  borders, scallops, basket weave, roses

·  my own choice cake

·  cupcake bouquets

·  and character cakes

Just the basics for now—since I know nothing so far. If I decide to take further classes, we learn how to make wedding cakes, bikini cakes—wohoo :), fondant, flowers with gum paste, fondant bows, color flow, and other decorating techniques.

For the classes, and obviously to continue cake decorating on your own, you do need a lot of supplies—tips, couplers, a rose nail, a turntable, a cake comb, and drape markers.  So, if anyone knows a way to get those items at a discounted price, let me know! :)

I'm really excited about it!  After baking a lot this Christmas season (and loving it), I tossed around the idea of maybe pursuing it a little bit further someday...opening a bakery, doing some in home baking for people as a side job, doing it for charitable purposes...who knows?  The beauty of being a teacher is having summers to enjoy new hobbies :)  I'd love to continue learning and seeing how well I like it….I’ll keep you posted!

New Years, LA Style

Want to feel like you were with us on New Years Eve?  Check out the video I made using my new Flip video camera we got for Christmas.  Enjoy :)

Happy 2011!

Welcome, 2011!  To begin the new year, Taylor and I decided to start a blog as a way to document our first years of marriage and to share the fun times, hard times, changes and anything else we experience as newlyweds. 

As a perfectionist by nature, I (Amanda) have never been good at writing regularly in journals because of my personal desire to always best express myself and my thoughts both eloquently and clearly. The thought of starting a blog always sounded even crazier to me, considering that now other people will actually be reading my writing--that means I need to be that more articulate and eloquent with my words, right?  However, I've decided this blog will be everything but eloquent. I'm just kidding, but I do plan for this blog to be a simple one, with the sole purpose of keeping in touch with our friends and family--sharing pictures, videos, quick stories, things were learning, things were praying about, things we need prayer for, ways the Lord is working in our lives, ways God has shown his goodness to us, etc.

Now that you feel overwhelmed thinking about the amount of effort that went into just this post :), here goes our first ever blog, "Everyday a Holiday." We're excited to share this journey with you all :)