Three Years of Wedded Bliss

The only college I ever considered going to was Ouachita. I wanted to go to a small Christian School but mostly I was certain that I would meet a nice Baptist boy to marry there. I was determined to get my M.R.S. degree.
Funny how God's plans are not the same as ours (and aren't we glad!). I graduated without a husband or even a boyfriend. So I moved to NWA and began working at the nation's largest company - not because I really wanted a career but because I knew that in a company that size - there would be a lot of professional, cute guys to date and hopefully find "the one".
Well, several years later after kissing a lot of frogs - I was beginning to give up hope that I would ever get married. I didn't understand why God was making me wait so long and I didn't understand what was wrong with me that I couldn't find a husband.
"I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord"..........
Laurie went home for Easter in spring 2000 and ran into her 2nd cousin who she knew immediately I would like. So she gave him my phone number. He called me and I knew after our first phone conversation that this was different - he just felt like home, like I had known him forever. And then on June 10, 2000 - I went to Little Rock to have my first date with Scott Stamps. We met in the food court of Park Plaza mall and I remember hiding a little waiting for him to come so I could get a good look at him before we met. I liked what I saw and we had the best all day date. We began a long distance relationship and three years later he moved to NWA and then on May 17, 2003 - he asked me to marry him.
Three years ago today I remember waiting in the church that morning and just feeling so overwhelmed with how blessed I was. I was able to see the incredible path God had led me down and how perfectly timed our marriage had been. Trusting God has been a lot easier ever since I realized that if I just let Him be in control - how wonderful my life can be.
I am so thankful for my sweet husband. Scott is better than anything I could have ever imagined for myself. I love him more every day that we are together. It's been a fast and wonderful three years.
I think that the song by Rascal Flatts could have been written for me. I cried the first time I heard this song because it describes EXACTLY how I feel about God bringing Scott to me.

I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you

Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

I think about the years I spent just passing through
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You've been there you understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true

Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

Happy Anniversary Scott - I love you!

Trick or Treat

Emily the cowgirl
"Tinkerbell" AKA Ellie

Alex is not sure what Emily is dressed up as! ha!

We had a pretty fun Halloween night. We had quite a few trick or treaters despite the fact that we kept turning the porch light off. Steve and Laurie worked at our church's fall fest so we kept Emily for about an hour. That was the first time "Aunt" Kelly and "Uncle" Scott have kept Emily by ourselves. She did soooo good. She was very interested in Dawson.
Guy and Julie brought by Ellie. She was dressed like tinkerbell. VERY cute! Then the Lawsons brought Alex by because they wanted her to have a picture made with her friend Emily. She was the cutest little chicken. And Emily was the cutest little cowgirl!

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Last night I had a few girls over to watch "The Bachelor". I had such a good time and Dawson had even a better time. There is not much he loves more than pretty girls and food. Only he's not getting the food anymore so he was a little disappointed.
He wanted me to show you his Halloween Costume. He makes a pretty good Hawaiian vacationer I would say!

Pumpkin Patch

Laurie and I took Emily to the pumpkin patch in Bentonville today and took some pictures of Emily. I think they turned out real good. She looks so cute!

Cracker Barrell Welcomes.......

This morning I went to Cracker Barrell and ate breakfast with Hillary, Laurie and Emily. We had a really good time. Afterwards Laurie and I took a driving tour of our old homes. We went to the duplex we used to live in 11 years ago in F'ville. I remember feeling real cool living in my first apartment and it is just PITIFUL and rundown now. So depressing. Then we went by our next duplex where we lived about 9 years ago. It was very rundown also. The neighborhood used to be where a lot of rich college students lived but now it's more where pitiful families live. It looked terrible and the trees are all so big.
So after that depressing tour - we went to Target and looked around.

Martins

My aunt Kathy and my Grandma

Poppie and his brother Bill

My grandparents (Dad's parents) and my Aunt are making the tour of Arkansas this weekend to see all of their relatives. They live in Dallas. They got here this afternoon to see my grandpa's brother Bill who is living in the Veteran's home in Fayetteville. They are staying with Bill's son and daughter-in-law who live in Cave Springs. They were nice enough to invite Scott and I out to eat dinner with them tonight and visit.
Tomorrow my grandparents are going to Flippin to see my parents and then on Sunday will go to Ash Flat to see the rest of my Poppie's brothers and sisters and then to Little Rock to see my cousins.

Sad Day

This week Dawson turns four and today he got some VERY sad news. No more people food.
If you know us or Dawson - you know he is OBSESSED with food. I mean EXTREME obsession. He has pretty much eaten every food item imaginable in the last 4 years. If you even mention "sonic" - he nearly has a heart attack.
Well - unfortuanetely for him - he also has terrible allergies. They got so bad this weekend that a rash on his stomach spread to his "private parts" and they became scary swollen so I took him to the vet today. She said he is most likely experiencing food allergies and he may need to go on a vegetarian diet (death words to Dawson) (or his mom and dad for that matter). She said I could bring in the labels from everything he eats and let her look at them. I didn't dare admit that he eats anything I eat. But right then and there - I knew - he could never eat people food again if we want him to have a happy healthy life. Sometimes you just have to give tough love as a parent. When he looks at me with those sad eyes and begs for food and I don't give him any because I'm trying to do what's best from him - I kind of understand God - when I ask for things I don't recieve because He has a better plan.

Go Hogs Go!!!

The Stamps - Bill, Judy, Scott and me (and Bandit and Little bit)

The Stamps and Martins

Me and my Matt Jones picture!

Bill and Judy at the game

We've had a great and busy weekend.
Scott's parents and grandmother came on Friday night. They got here about 7 and we ate dinner and visited. Saturday morning we got up early and had a big breakfast and then left for the game. I was a little nervous about playing Ole Miss but we gave them an old fashioned WHOOPING!!! So exciting!!!! We are now ranked #13 (and climbing!)
After the game - we came home and my parents came by on their way home. They went to a fundraiser for AR childrens' homes at the Governor's Mansion last week and there was an auction and my dad got me this AWESOME framed picture of Matt Jones pictures. My favorite Razorback ever! I can't wait to hang it in my office!
Then after they left - we went and ate at Outback and then drove by the new mall.
This morning we went to church and came home and ate lunch and then sadly it was time for the Stamps to leave.

I'm a Jack O'Lantern

Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff-- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see. Happy Fall!

New Bed

Saturday morning before the game - my parents came and brought us a daybed. They had bought it and had it in my dad's office when my mam-ma was alive so she would have somewhere to stay downstairs but now my dad has decided to turn his office into an office so they gave me the bed. I like it a lot. We put it in the "nursery". (No I'm not pregnant yet but hopefully soon it will be a nice place for me to lay down in those long nights when you first have a baby.) My mom even gave me the bedding she had with it. It will work very nicely until we change it over to pink or blue! :-)
Speaking of the game........how exciting is it to be #13 in the BCS? And to hear rumors of "heisman" and "SEC championship" and "winning out". This is turning out to be a very exciting year for my hogs!!!!

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Friday night - our Sunday School class did a fellowship called "Guess who's coming to dinner?". We had 12 couples particpate. Three homes were host homes (we were one) and 3 other couples went to each home. The trick was if you hosted - you didn't know who was coming - you only were told what to make. And if you went to a home - you just knew where you were going but not who else would be there and what to bring.
It was very fun. We would have liked any of the 12 couples who could have come but we got a good mix. The Axes, the Binns and the Smiths. We had a good dinner and enjoyed visiting. I thought to take pictures of the table before everyone came but totally forgot to take pictures of everyone there. So you'll just have to "guess" what they look like. ha! 

Pass Your Plate

Julie and her mom and dad
Julie, Me, and Julie's mom cooking up a storm!

Thursday night, Julie and I and her parents went to our favorite place - Pass Your Plate - to make some more meals. As always - we had a lot of fun. I made 6 meals and they all sound and look really good - Rosemary pork chops, chicken cordon bleu, lemon artichoke chicken, herb butter tilapia and bacon wrapped spinach chicken (we had that last night!)
This sure is helping us on having meals without the stress and time and it also helps us not to eat out as much or just resort to turkey sandwiches constantly.

Pastor Appreciation

The Stamps had such a good weekend. We had our friends Mike and Kacy over to watch the game on Sat and enjoyed pizza and cheese dip as we went nuts while the Hogs ROLLED over Auburn. Mike and Kacy are 2 of the funniest people I know so we enjoyed hanging out with them. After that I went and briefly checked out the new mall (which is GREAT by the way) while Scott watched another game. Then we later went over to Guy and Julie's and hung out and watched a movie.
Sunday was the highlight of my week. It was our pastor's 10 year anniversary and they had a suprise service for him. They cancelled late Sunday school and the service went THREE hours. There were so many highlights. The razorback drum corp came marching down the aisles to start the service and played along with our choir for this WONDERFUL song that is the California Baptist University theme song. It was AWESOME! Our church gave the pastor's wife and her daugher and daughter-in-law a trip to NYC. The president of OBU was there to present an endowed scholarship in Phillip and Laurie's names for a ministry student at OBU every year. One of my favorite things was a retired pastor drew this big picture that we had framed for them of all the churches Bro. Phillip had pastored. We were also celebrating 30 years in the ministry for him. I think it was 5-6 churches including one he pastored while he was a student at OBU. They had videos from a lot of fellow pastors and friends and a slide show. It was a very emotional morning. My 2 favorite things that happened were in the slide show they scrolled through the names of every person who was baptized in our church in the 10 years since Bro Phillip has been here. That was so neat and the list was so long. What an inspiration to see how many people have come to the Lord in his time here. And then possibly the neatest thing was when during the invitation, Bro.Phillip's daughter (who is a sophomore at OBU (and a tri chi!)) came forward and said she had been struggling with whether she had ever been saved and asked Jesus in his heart. I know that was the greatest moment for our pastor. He came up to close the invitation and told us what happened as he prayed with Hannah and he just cried and cried. The whole day was special for me because I understand a pastor's life and just as my dad's church had a big celebration for his 20th anniversary last year - it is so important to recognize the service and dedication your pastors give.
After church, Scott and Mike and Kacy helped Guy and Julie move her piano home (read her blog for a neat story on that). Then we ate lunch at Copelands with Guy and Julie.
Last night we had another special service and then a church wide reception. I got to help with it. We had everything decorated in OBU colors! It was just a wonderful day and such a day to be thankful for my church and our church staff.

Sweet Home Alabama

Razor Sharp

Arkansas' Darren McFadden ran for a 63-yard TD in the second quarter.

The first giant has fallen in October. Auburn will no longer be the No. 2 team in the land. Not after unranked Arkansas went into Jordan-Hare Stadium and stunned the Tigers 27-10 on Saturday.

I am FREAKING OUT !!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO PIG SOOIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a day! What a day! I wish I could have been there!

Whistle while you work

This is where I spend the majority of my days..................my home away from home I like to call "work". It's messy - but in own way - organized. I'm very fortunate to have a job I love. I just thought I'd share where I spend most of my time (besides home and church).

Big game tomorrow. To say that I'm nervous is an understatement. But crazier things have happened than for our hogs to go in and beat Tubberville and his #2 tigers in their house.

Go HOGS - Beat AUBURN!!!!

Shopping extravaganza

I LOVE living in Northwest AR and I always thought that Fayetteville was just it. And I still love Fayetteville - the hills, the U of A campus, Dickson Street, the square, the hippies,the hogs, the college students. ha! When I moved here 11 1/2 years ago - Bentonville and Rogers were just a dot on the map. The only restaurant was Chili's and basically the only store was Wal-Mart.
But all that has changed and continues to change and today is the day I've been hearing about for years. The "new mall" is opening today! Along with a new movie theatre, P.F. Chengs and a ton of other restaurants, 3 new starbucks (not in the mall - but around Rogers).
Yep - I pretty much have no reason to ever leave Benton County again. ha! We used to have to go to Tulsa or Little Rock or Dallas to have anything good to go to........but all that is a thing of the past. They even opened a Sam's Club in B'ville last week. I pretty much will only go to Fayetteville for ball games and hair appts now (and if we could just get a Target and a T J Maxx up here - I may never leave again!)
Check our new mall out - www.pinnaclehillspromenade.com

Fall Decorations and Youth

Well we survived Dnow. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed helping Lisa and Jason. They are such a neat couple. They have 3 little boys under 5 and they are the cutest boys. I enjoyed spending time with them. They said some of the cutest things. It's neat to watch Lisa and Jason and how they manage those boys. They have such a calm sweet parenting approach and the kids are so well disciplined. So I knew they would be good with the teenagers too and they were.
We went to the BHS game on Friday night and that was SO fun. I would love to start going to the games. It makes you feel so apart of a community - like you are in a small town. We won - beat FS Northside who is very good. We got to see Kody Burns (hopefully a future hog) play.
Then Saturday we drove the kids back and forth from the church to the Green's house all day and night. They were such respectful and well mannered 10th grade boys. They always said "yes ma'am" and "no sir" and thanked us for driving them.
David Nassar was the speaker and he is amazing. We saw several kids go forward and get saved so that was what it was all about. Sunday morning it was a different atmosphere at church. Most of us had on our DNOW t-shirts and jeans and the band played and it was a more relaxed service but a great one.
We were exhausted on Sunday afternoon and pretty much did nothing. And we didn't even have kids in our homes. Our friends that kept the kids were really tired (go read "Guy and Julie's blog" for more on that).
I did manage to make a fall wreath (using all 1/2 price materials from Hobby Lobby) and put out mums and pumpkins. Even though it's going to be 85 -90 degrees all week - at least my house looks more like fall now.