Gracie

I just wanted to post a few pictures of my niece Grace that my sister sent. She will be 3 months old on August 2! I love her and miss her, and I am so excited she will be here in Louisiana to visit me in less than 2 weeks! Here she is chilling out with her mommy. (Isn't she so pretty!?)

And here she is playing peek-a-boo with her mommy!

What a precious joy!

Working Hard.... or Hardly Working

I just can't get moving girls. It's Monday morning, I have a full 9 items on my to-do list here at the office, and it's almost 11:00. I've finished ONE thing. I need to get moving! And you know what's so perfect? The little bundle of hope in my inbox this morning. I am a subscriber to Oak Hills Devotionals. Oak Hills is the church where Max Lucado speaks, he is a fabulous pastor and writer. I get a little snippet of truth every morning, and this is what I was blessed with today:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

Stand and consider:
The Hubble Space Telescope sends back infrared images of faint galaxies that are perhaps twelve billion light-years away (twelve billion times six trillion miles).
Astronomers venture a feeble estimate that the number of stars in the universe equals the number of grains of sand on all the beaches of the world.
The star Betelgeuse has a diameter of 100 million miles, which is larger than the earth’s orbit around the sun.
Why the immensity? Why such vast, unmeasured, unexplored, “unused” space? So that you and I, freshly stunned, could be stirred by this resolve: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
The Christ of the galaxies is the Christ of your Mondays.

How amazing is that? The Christ of the galaxies is the Christ of my Mondays! Surely I can get motivated and get moving! I struggle with laziness, I always have. I have never been the kind of girl to just "conquer" a project unless I'm in the right mood for it. Unfortunately the "conquer-all" moods come very few and far between. It is a daily struggle. It's amazing how God knows exactly what my daily devotional should be each morning. He knew what I needed to hear today!

I just thought I'd share with you girls this morning, just in case any of you have a bad case of the Mondays!

Announcement!

Ladies! I am SO proud! My precious husband actually did it! He BOUGHT A TELEVISION. Actually did it! He researched it and he bought it!

He also bought himself an XBox 360. When I said to him "Baby, if you buy this XBOX, I'll never see you...." his response was "Yes you will! I'll be in the living room!" :) Sweet.

All The Cool Kids Are Doing It....

5 things I want to do before I die:
1) Be a Mommy
2) Be in another Musical
3) Travel Europe
4) Visit the Holy Land
5) Go to Australia

5 things I can do:
1) Sing!
2) Play piano
3) Quote "The Other Sister" word for word with the proper voice inflections.
4) Beat you at a game of celebrity trivia
5) Eat. I eat very well.

5 things I cannot do:
1) Math.
2) Kill bugs
3) Eat any kind of jerky.
4) Dance in any kind of hip-hop way. I am so very white.
5) Draw

5 things that make a man attractive to me:
1) Sense of Humor
2) Ambition
3) A heart for God
4) If he serves others
5) If his name is Grant Philip :)

5 celebrities I crush on:
1) Patrick Dempsey. He is mildly attractive ;)
2) Matt Damon
3) Matthew McConaghey (but only in the Wedding Planner and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days)
4) Michael Buble
5) John Krasinski (Jim Halpert from The Office)

YOUR TURN! (That means YOU Lindsee and Jo!)

Psalm 103

Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise His holy name.

Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known His ways to Moses,
His deeds to the people of Israel:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse,
nor will He harbor His anger forever;
He does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is His love for those who fear Him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him;
for He knows how we are formed,
He remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord's love is with those who fear Him,
and His righteousness with their children's children-
with those who keep His covenant
and remember to obey His precepts.

The Lord has established His throne in heaven,
and His kingdom rules over all.
Praise the LORD, you His angels,
you mighty ones who do His bidding,
who obey His word.

Praise the LORD, all His heavenly hosts,
you His servants who do His will.
Praise the LORD, all His works
everywhere in His dominion.

Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Three Years

Three years ago today, I had my first date with my husband. It was also the first time I ever saw him! Yep, Grant and I had a blind date!

I remember when he got out of the car. I was looking out the window, anxiously to see what he looked like. He got out of the car wearing a baby blue polo shirt and khaki pants. And he was carrying 6 gerber daisies :) (Smooooth!). I said "Oh, mom, he's cute!". She looked out the window too and said "Oh, he IS cute!". To which I replied "Oh great, now I'm nervous!!". Little did I know that night that I was on my last first date.

We ate at Lupe Tortilla and then went to a John Mayer concert. We sat on a sleeping bag on the grass and listened to the music and talked. I remember thinking that our conversation was flowing so easily and that I thought he had the prettiest blue eyes I'd ever seen. When we got back home, he kissed my cheek and told me he'd like to take me out again.

I'm so glad Ronda set us up on a date, and I'm so glad that God put us together at just the right time. His plan is so much greater than anything we could ever think up on our own.

Three years later we are married, happily, living in Louisiana (Who would have thought that I'd ever EVER leave my Texas?!) and proud parents of a little puppy dog. God is SO good and looking at where I am today just proves how much I should continue to trust Him. He never fails to dissapoint! I am so thankful for July 24, 2004! :)

Be Still

I was not born a patient woman. I was born as an impulsive, decisive, conquer-all kinda girl. I don't do very many things slowly. I walk fast. I talk fast. I type fast. I drive fast. I don't think I could survive without high-speed internet. When I say I want to do something, I do it immediately. That's how God wired me. Sometimes it's a helpful thing. It's a good thing cause I get things done quickly and I don't putter around. Sometimes it's a hurtful thing though. I am quick to jump to a decision and I don't put enough thought into my decisions. Decisions should be made with prayerful consideration and I don't know that I do that enough.

My husband is Mr. Type A. He is not a quick decision maker. Never has been. Never will be. He is slow. at. everything. He is not impulsive. Nor spontaneous. He is very intentional and puts LOTS of thought into things. Maybe a little too much thought. I mean seriously people, we don't need to spend months researching our next television purchase. When I heard him say "I think I wanna go buy a new tv", I was getting my purse together and looking for our keys so we could get in the car and head on up to Best Buy. Little did I know that all that sentence meant was that he is going to spend the next 6 weeks looking at the price of all t.v.'s online once a week. Neat.

Sometimes this behavior makes me want to scream. That's just him making a decision about a tv, imagine his decision making process for MAJOR life choices!! It's unreal. So unlike me. But I think that's one of the reasons God knew that Grant is my perfect compliment. These major life changes, or even a tv, are not things to take so lightly. Grant "tames" me in a sense. Grant isn't wired the same way I am. He is made differently, not any better or worse, but differently. I help him sometimes to be spontaneous ("Go ahead honey! Get an appetizer! Live on the edge!") and other times he calms me down a little bit. ("No, Jen, we are not going to buy a new entertainment center right now. It's 9:30 at night).

God uses these little instances to teach me so much. PATIENCE is one of the fruits of the Spirit. God calls us to be patient and wait for HIS perfect timing. Psalms 46:10a says "Be still, and know that I am God". I love that verse. Sometimes I say it to myself in my head during the day just to get myself to chill out a little bit. The "Be Still" part gets me to take a deep breath. The "and know that I am God" part helps me to remember that HE is in charge. I am not in charge. This world does not revolve around my schedule. He is God. He'll decide what happens and when. If this means that I have to wait a loooooooong time to get a house and get out of this apartment, I will be patient. If this means that we are getting a new t.v. in the year 2009, I will be patient.

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord" -Psalms 27:14

The Babies

There are 3 little girls who live in Texas: My nieces! These 3 gorgeous, adorable little ones light up my life. Let me explain why:

Juliet: The Passionate One

Juliet and her twin sister Scarlett were born on May 31, 2006. When Juliet is happy, she's very happy. When she's angry, she's very angry. She'll clench her little fists and grit her teeth and kinda growl at you. :) Between her and her twin sister, Juliet walked first (not by much) and she definitely has more hair. She has gorgeous long eyelashes and has the cutest little teeth you've ever seen. When she sees someone she hasn't seen in along time (Grammy & Pops) she flaps her arms really fast and squeals. Her newest trick though is when she sees something she wants, such as a chocolate milkshake, she points at it and says "Dis" (which means THIS) over and over again. She giggles and is very quick on her feet. She is pretty much running now!

Scarlett: The Clown

Oh, my little Scarlett. Scarlett, the firstborn of the two twins (by just a few seconds) is our little entertainer. She is bald and beautiful. She makes funny faces and silly noises and she thinks everyone is funny, especially her mommy. She says words now (like "bye-bye" and "ball"). Scarlett seems to understand alot of what you're saying as well. If you say, "Scarlett, where's Juliet?" she will turn and look at her sister, and then she'll giggle. She's a bit more clingy to people she knows. She is very protective of her Grammy. She is truly a little ball of joy.

Grace: The Parker

Baby Grace was born on May 2, 2007. She looks just like her Daddy, but when she smiles I think she has her Mommy's eyes. Grace's middle name is Parker, but sometimes we call her "The Parker". Or just Parker. Sometimes her parents wonder if she'll be called Parker instead of Grace. Aunt Jenny thinks she'll call her both. Grace is a little princess. She really doesn't like being cold and pretty much won't tolerate it. If she's fussy, she is easily calmed down by her mommy. If Jaclyn holds Grace right up to her face, Grace calms down. She likes to wear pink and loves to sleep, just like her mom. Also, Grace does this thing where she will sneeze two times, and after the 2nd sneeze she coos. It's really cute. It's as if she is saying "Wow, that was really some hard work!". She really loves her Aunt Jenny since she was her very first babysitter. Thank you very much.

My girls are precious to me and I miss seeing them. I can't wait till one day I can call to their houses and talk to them on the phone and they can tell me all about their day. And I will continute to spoil them with gifts, cause I'm cool Aunt Jenny! In the course of one year, I went from having no nieces at all, to THREE! God blessed me so much my giving me these precious girls. Praise the Lord, the Giver of ALL good things!

Elmer

When I was a little girl, we often went over to Mamaw and Pappaw's house. They lived only about 30-45 minutes away and we were there for every holiday, along with my 16 other cousins! Mamaw and Pappaw's house was very special to me. Mamaw always had M&Ms in a little crystal bowl. And when we would spend the night, we always ate cereal out of those miniature cereal boxes.

I have one very distinct memory from a very early age that took place at Mamaw and Pappaw's. Mamaw took me to the guest room and opened up the closet. She kept lots of toys for all of us in there. But she handed me a little stuffed dog. She said "This is Elmer". I carried him around the whole night. I returned him at the end of the night, but I loved that little dog. After that, every single time I went to Mamaw's I would run to the closet and get Elmer. If I spent the night, I slept with Elmer. He was my buddy, until I turned 12 and I was too cool for him, of course.

Pappaw passed away in 2004, and several months ago Mamaw moved in with my parents while her house sells, etc. When we go home to visit, she is there and it's so nice to see her. When we were in Houston for Joanna's wedding, one morning I woke up and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Lo and behold, Elmer was sitting on the bathroom counter. I became a six year old girl all over again! Grant walked in to brush his teeth. "What's that?" he said. I gave him a very serious face and said "That's Elmer. He lived at Mamaw's, but now he lives here". I think Grant just walked out of the room! :)

Thank you, Mamaw, for giving us each a stocking full of goodies and a present every Christmas. Thank you for hiding the stockings that one year and paying one of your friends to show up Christmas Eve dressed as Santa Clause and give us our stockings. Thank you for being at every school concert and piano recital I ever had. Thank you for telling me that when my mom was a little girl she saw a red light fly across the sky on Christmas Eve and for telling me that that was Rudolph's nose. I thought my mom was the coolest person ever cause she saw Rudolph's nose.

Thank you Mamaw, for Elmer, and for all the other things you did to help me have a magical childhood!

Smelly Smell

Friday morning at work, I smelled a strong chemical smell. The attorney smelled it too. It was straight up awful. We located the origin of the smell to our office next door, it was chlorine. Alot of it. Our eyes were burning and the attorney started to feel nauseous. We had every door open trying to air out the smell, so therefore it was hot and smelly. It was so awful, we all just decided to go home early! :) So Friday I got off work at 10:30am! What a wonderful surprise!

I used Friday to get some things done. I got my car title switched over to a Louisiana title and I now have Louisiana license plates. That was humbling, cause I'm truly a Texas girl at heart and I don't drive with Texas pride anymore! Also, to get a Louisiana title I had to pay $500. For reals. Friday night Grant and I drove into New Orleans to have a double date with Grant's parents. We saw "License to Wed" which is really cute.

Saturday was a very nice day. I slept in and got stuff done around the house. We ate leftovers, and Saturday night we drove to Biloxi, Mississippi to have dinner with the Teeters family. They living in Birmingham, Alabama so we never see them. It was wonderful to actually sit and visit with Chris and Dawn. They are a wonderful, godly, mentoring couple for us. We got back to Baton Rouge around 3am. :) But it was well worth it.

Okay, so my precious sister-in-law, Ronda, took me to her aerobics class with her yesterday. It KICKED MY BOOTY. I am so so sore this morning!! I can hardly walk and making the bed was not an easy task! I'm glad I'm doing it though. I would really like it if I didn't jiggle so much! :)

In a few minutes, I'll go to work, but I am stopping at the vet on the way. Our little Moxie is getting neutered today. His surgery is at 10:00 this morning and then he will be in ICU over night. I will pick him up tomorrow on my way home from work. Poor little buddy! He has no idea that he has such a big day today.

I'm trying 2 new things for dinner this week. I found some recipes online that I'm trying, so we'll see how it goes, and see how Grant likes it! Tonight I'm making a casserole which includes, chicken, cheese, rice, broccoli, white bread, and ritz crackers. Tomorrow night involves a pizza crust, ground beef, cheese, peppers, and something else that I can't remember right now. I'm just proud of myself for trying something new!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

A Little Bit of Everything...

Hey Hey Hey. So, I definitely got a haircut. Seven inches, ya'll. I was feeling very very brave that day! :) I actually really like it and Grant really likes it too. I'll post a picture when I get the chance.

Last night we went to our weekly Bible Study. However, once a month we have dinner and just visit instead of having the lesson. Last night was the dinner and fellowship night. It is so nice to visit with everyone. Grant and I are still getting to know people and its nice to have a whole evening devoted to it! All of them are D.I.N.K.'s like us (Double Income, No Kids). They are all very nice people and we are blessed to know them.

Grant and I are very relieved that we are not traveling anywhere this weekend, or next weekend for that matter. Just a relaxing weekend at home. Although, relaxing for Grant means 5 hours of golf in the excrutiating heat and getting up at 6am to go fishing. My relaxing weekend will include sleeping in, watching movies and running some light errands. Opposites attract! :)

So I mentioned in my last post that I got a new Bible. My old one had lots of pages falling out and I had underlined all over that thing to the point where there was hardly any verses that were not underlined or circled or had arrows pointing to them. I have a new Bible, (with my new name engraved on it!) and I feel like I am reading everything again for the first time. I have been reading a few chapters of Psalms everyday and I'm loving it. The Psalms are so beautiful and poetic. The other cool thing is that many of the Psalms have become songs we sing in church, so after reading them I end up singing praise songs all the way to work! :)

Oh I almost forgot to share my exciting news! My parents are coming to see me in Louisiana in August. YAY! My birthday is Monday, August 13 and my parents will be joining me August 10-12. And what's even better, Jaclyn and baby Grace Parker will be coming too! I am just tickled and can't wait to have them here. My parents haven't seen my apartment since we got all moved in and Jaclyn hasn't seen it at all. This will be so much fun. I'm starting the countdown!

Joanna the Bride

Joanna got married on Saturday (along with about a million others) but I do believe she was the prettiest! Everything went off perfectly. She looked stunning.... so stunning that John began WEEPING when she walked down the aisle. When the groom starts crying, Jenny starts crying. So I pulled a kleenex out of the middle of my bouquet and just blubbered. It was a beautiful, sacred ceremony and a VERY fun reception! Here's Joanna all ready and beautiful!

Me and my Joanna, the married lady!

Here's all the bridesmaids! I have to tell you, we had so much fun the whole weekend. I loved hanging out with these girls. We laughed so much!
Here's me and Joanna's cousin Jamie. I just love her! (Welcome to the blog Jamie!)

My Girls....

Me and Lindsee at the reception....

Me and my husband, who refuses to smile normally!

Mr. and Mrs. John Parrish! Aren't they beautiful?

Dancing the night away...

What a wonderful night. They are in Hawaii right now and I am just dying to talk to my Jo, but I will let her call me first! :) Also, special thanks to Lindsee and Jamie for letting me steal your pictures. The batteries in my camera are still dead!

Also, I wanted to give a big shout out to my new readers! (Well, new to me!) Welcome Rebecca from UNT (holla back to freshman year), Emily who is a friend of Linds and Jo's, Sweet Jamie, Joanna's cousin, and to ERICA! Erica goes to my church back home and I've missed seeing her every Sunday. Imagine my surprise when I learned she reads the blog! How fun!

One last thing, I got a new Bible yesterday. It's so exciting to get a new, fresh one with crisp pages and nothing underlined yet. It's like reading everything for the first time!

Have a good day everyone!

On the Road Again

For those of you who haven't been keeping up with the blog, this weekend will be our 4th consecutive weekend to travel. We have lived out of a suitcase the entire month. And this weekend is the Grand Finale! :) My Joanna is getting married on Saturday.

Grant and I are hitting the road tonight so I can be there for the 11:00 Bridesmaid's Luncheon tomorrow! This is getting so exciting!

Joanna got engaged to her John in March of 2006, so this day has been a long time coming! I am thrilled for her to begin this "Newlywed Life" with me. She will be learning so much and growing ALOT. Her cutie pie husband flies helicopters for the U.S. Airforce, so he is whisking her away to live in Great Falls, Montana. That's right ya'll, I said MONTANA. That is very far away. And very cold.

I am very much looking forward to this wedding. She will be a beautiful bride, (I'll have pictures for you next week to prove it!!) and it will be a good weekend with the girls.

Here is the future Mr. and Mrs. Parrish! I can't believe she'll be married the day after tomorrow :) I am getting my eyebrows waxed today, I'm sure the redness will look fabulous!

I will post pictures when I return. Pray for safe travel for everyone going to Houston as well as good health for the bride and groom as they go off on their Hawaiian Honeymoon! :)

HOLLA!

Hello Blog Readers! I'm copying my bestest friend Lindsee on this one, but she copied someone else, so it's all good. If you scroll down a little bit, you'll see a box on the left that says "Site Meter". Site Meter is a very interesting little tool. It tells me how many people visit my blog every day. It tells me how they get there as well. (Most people find my blog from my facebook page or Lindsee, or anyone else who has linked me). My favorite little feature though is where it sorts through my readers by location.

I have readers in Houston (my home town), College Station (where Grant and I went to school), Huntsville (Holla to Lindsee's Phi Lamb friends!!), Gonzales (where I currently live, this is most likely my gorgeous neighbor Lindsey)... I also recently found out that Mama Eddy (Lindsee's mom) is a reader. Holla Kristy!!! But there are many more daily readers that are in states that I have never been to!

I am a blog "lurker". I click around and find people's blogs. I find them interesting. But I don't really know that person so I never say hi. Lately I've been trying to say hi more. Usually it just says "Hi, I'm Jen, I found your blog through ________ (Usually it's the LPM blog). I'm from Texas originally but now live in Louisiana. I love your blog and just wanted to say hi".

In Summary: SAY HI!!!! Don't be shy. Let's all be friends! That's how Lindsee found Shelly and now I read Shelly's blog as well and now Shelly is my facebook friend. Haha.... anyways just comment below and tell me where you're from.

I'm a Martin, You're a Martin

This weekend was the high-fallutin, rootin-tootin, Martin Family Reunion. The husband and I flew to Houston and spent the next 48 hours mingling with the kin folk. These people were from my Dad's side. Mostly it was his cousins and their offspring. I guess I shouldn't really refer to it as a "Reunion" since I hadn't met any of these people before. They were all so excited to see each other, bless their hearts. One of my distant relatives kept referring to my Dad as "Bubba Jack". That was odd.

I also discovered that we are quite the "nick-namey" family. Everyone had a nickname that made no sense whatsoever. A few examples:

Larry= Jack

Lenna Jo= Jodie

Clyde= Beeben (????)

Audra = Teeta

Dennis = Bo

Yeah, it didn't make sense to me either. It was a nice weekend and I met alot of nice people. My last name was Martin for a very long time, and you meet lots of Martins in the world because it is such a popular last name. It was cool however, to meet Martins that you were truly related to. My Grandaddy had the time of his life!

I'm back at the office now, and I am hoping this is going to be a relatively easy week. I work today and tomorrow, we have Wednesday off for the 4th of July, and then I work Thursday and leave Thursday night. Thursday night Grant and I are leaving for Houston (third time this month ya'll) for JOANNA'S WEDDING!!!!!!!! It is finally here. Praise Jesus!

I will update more on that later I'm sure, but I'd like to leave you with a picture from my Disney World trip. Grant has a small obsession with an ice cream treat at the Disney parks called Mickey Ears. It's basically vanilla ice cream with a hard chocoalte shell in the shape of Mickey's head. Ronda took a funny picture of Grant and I eating our first of many Mickey Ears:

We look pretty serious. It was kind of a big deal! Happy Monday everyone :) Thanks for stopping by!