here's our 2012 recap...now onto 2013!

i'm finally posting!  yay for 2013 and all the wonderful things that are going on....

as most people are doing, i am reflecting on my time spent in the past year.  

January 

Love my sissy

Sarah and Kyle got married!

Baby B is HERE! 

February

I talked to my friend Ana A LOT! Thankful for facetime.

I passed out a lot of valentines candy for work!

March

Abbi won The 2012 Outstanding Young Woman Award for Fort Worth!

G and me

We celebrated 

Grandmommy's 80th!

S and me

April

Lots of time with our village!

Trip to the FW Zoo with Cody & Steph

Lotsa coffee and gel nails with Trinh

May 

WE'RE ENGAGED!  Chase popped the question May 5th.

We went to several Ranger Games!

Food Trucks, Arts Goggle and spent lots of time outside!

June

We went on vacay to Florida!

Beach living for a week...stalling on all that wedding planning!

Planning to ask my bridesmaids....

I was so pleased with the personalization of each of the invites

Trip to ATX to see our friends, Austin and Christine

July

We found our 1st house!

We ate Thailicious with friends (possibly more than once) ;)

We took B to his first Rangers Game!

August

We celebrated Steph going to TX Wesleyan-A&M Law School!

My bikini body training got serious!

We had a photo shoot in Trinity Park

I personally addressed all of my invitations for the wedding
(thanks to Bethany for stuffing them with me)

September

We learned how to be home-depot-home-improvers

We learned why people pay contractors so much $$$

Hard work pays off...here is the master...just before completion
(Note- I am planning a post with before and afters)

October

We celebrated with friends
(Here: Christine & Wendy)

We celebrated with family 
(Here: Mom & Sarah)

We got married!

We moved into our first home! Thankful for all of our friends and family who helped!

We celebrated Ash & Dala's Wedding

November 

We celebrated Thanksgiving and got B ready for his Christmas portraits

We put up our little Christmas Tree!

We raked A LOT of leaves, met neighbors and settled into our little home

December

Daniel & Stacy got engaged on December 8th!
We are so excited to celebrate their relationship and being in community with them

I made homemade herbed pizza crust for my family's Christmas Eve

We played with our new Christmas presents.  Chase got a Rocket Speaker.

White Christmases don't come often to N TX. 
We watched the SNOW this year!!

2012 has been a wonderful year for us! We are thrilled to ring in the new year together as a family, in our new home and celebrating so much new life with our friends and family. 

doing nothing today

here 

Today was our sabbath.  We stayed home and rested for all of it.  it's definitely been a lesson for me, the productivity-can't sit still-there's still stuff to do-girl.  it began in my heart about 2 weeks ago when i was in the car, listening to the radio and heard a pastor speak on the sabbath and rest.  Earlier this year, we studied the same subject in Exodus. This was another gentle reminder of how I do not rest well.  Then, this week, as we were pulling in the driveway from a night out with some friends, Chase says, "Babe, we are going to have mandatory sabbath this weekend."  I laughed a little.  If you know Chase, he always keeps his words, but I didn't know what he meant.  He said "we aren't going to cook, work, or do housework from sundown to sundown."  In my heart, I thought it would be easy. After living today, I know that it is not.

In Exodus, God speaks to Moses about the Sabbath. Ex31:1  "Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you...vs 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed."

These verses echo in my heart.  It was a day spent in rest and reverence for Him...definitely sanctifying, because there were several moments that the dishes in the sink and the laundry kept calling my name.   I encourage you, friends, to take and rest your Sabbaths as the Word says.  As my little button says, "do nothing" and think of Him.  You'll love it.

as promised...

well, i got a really great early christmas present.  the wedding pics are up and ready!  jessica pierce of jessica lauren photography is a wonderful photographer.  each moment of the day was captured in such a special way.  i adore the pictures and find myself re-looking at them over...and over...and over again. check out her work here. obviously i am partial to our venue and participants, however, she has some very creative shooting sites and beautiful models.  go see!  BUT before you do, keep scrolling.

here are a few of my favourites.  please take a few minutes to soak them up.  they are so very precious, and i hope that you see the intimate details that came together.  i would not change a thing.

enjoy!

Dad and me on our walk

I adore my parents.  This makes me smile every time I see it.

Love him.

The men.

The women.

 The stud.

oohh it's me.

Mom, Sarah, and me

 Our guests signed rocks as a guestbook.  What a treat to read all of our notes!  Our friends are creative.

 Beyond blown away by the beautiful flowers!

Details, details, details....not one dull space.  I wanted to see all of the things that my mom came up with, so I got a sneak peek the morning of...

Gran's hands.  I love her.

Marriage is simply the best.

Hope you enjoyed these.  Come share coffee with me and I'll show you all 400+ of them. :)

Holy Moly - the month has flown by!

A month ago we were celebrating with a few details...

table arrangements, florals, and pumpkin cheesecakes (photo courtesy: DeAnna Masella)

it's been a little over a month since my last post, but a month ago TODAY we said "I DO" at 10:06 am. what a wonderful day it was!!

for my friends who know me well,  they could tell you that the last month has been an amazing time for chase and me.  honeymooning in mexico, moving into our first home, remodeling our first home, decorating our first home, watching TTU beat TCU :( but celebrating TCU beating WVU, celebrating 2 other weddings and getting to see so many family and friends in 4 weeks has been so exciting!  for those of you who peek in every once in awhile (or hey, wait around for a post), here's the update- we are doing great!

the wedding details:
we woke up to the coldest day of the season (the high was 51 degrees)
the wedding started on time
our guests stayed warm
the rain refrained from coming down
dennis married us and it was beautiful
we listened to our amazing friends sing, and my heart swelled with joy
the food was delish
we had cake, handmade by my friend, Kate
the guests ate pumpkin cheesecake
claudia caught my bouquet
cody caught my garter
we rode off in austin's F-150 and we had ribbon wands cheering us on

my groom (photo courtesy: DeAnna Masella)

the back of my dress (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

yahoo! (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

the garter throw, caught by Cody Ray (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

look at my beautiful momma (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

trying to climb my way into austin's truck (photo courtesy: Ana Contreras)

it was so much fun, y'all! (photo courtesy: DeAnna Masella)

More photos to come, promise.

things the guests didn't know:
we rented tents two days before to make sure that all was covered during the ceremony and reception
my parents and closest family and friends spent probably over 50-60 hours the week of the wedding preparing, hauling, setting stuff up for the big shin-dig
mom forgot her shoes
dixie saved the day!
our friend forgot to leave the keys in our getaway car, so austin and james took us to sonic happy hour before we headed back to the venue to truly say goodbye!

things i've learned along the way (yep, i am already wising up):
1. boys really are messier than girls.
2. i'm trying to not spoil my new hubby too too much with homemade meals every night, but gosh, it's easy to please a non-picky-always-compliments-the-chef eater.
3. sleep after a wedding is needed.  sleep after a wedding and during a remodel is essential.
4. our friends and family are amazing movers and completely irreplaceable when it comes to finishing out challenging projects.
5. friends are needed to encourage you to get to the gym (insert: thank you Abbi and Stacy) - when you are tired, tired, tired (see 3 above)

i have many more to come...i will wait :)  Happy Month to us, and Happy Voting Day to the rest of the world.  :)  It's a good day.

8 days and counting....

SO, we are now 8 days away.  Writing "it is hard to believe" is quite an understatement.  We have had such an amazing journey through this engagement period.  Chase and I have met with and been encouraged by more of our friends than any other time in our relationship.  It's been so wonderful.

Chase and I met with some of our soon-to-be-engaged friends for dinner and a game of Settlers the other night.  They had several questions about pre-planning, what to do during an engagement period, who should they get counseling from, what counseling should consist of, and much needed advice on buying their first home.  Of course, we enjoyed answering the questions with confidence (now that we are pro's, of course).  However, it led me to my thoughts about the counseling and wisdom that we have received throughout our engagement.
**Side note**Friends, we have some dearly loving and wise people in our lives.  Now, more than ever in my life am I realizing what a Christ-like family looks like, acts like and how being involved with imperfect people, yet who love and model a perfect God, are irreplaceable.

At the beginning of the year, Chase proposed the idea of choosing 5 couples each that we admire and respect, meet with them over coffee, lunch or dinner, and ask them questions about what a Christ-centered marriage looked like to them at the beginning and now....

Some examples:
When did you know that you were ready to be married to him/her?

How long were you engaged?

What is your advice about sex?

Do you believe in date nights?

Out of the ten couples, we met with 8. Yes, our spring was busting at the seams with double dinner dates.  The responses we got were challenging, exciting, filled with laughter and even tears.   As an almost married person, I feared pre-marital counseling.  Would it bring out some creepy monster inside Chase or me?  Would big life decisions change our minds about marriage all together?  None of that happened. Glory! We are still engaged and more ready than ever to walk down the aisle.  Praise the Lord!  He is so good at revealing Himself.

After those sessions with our wise folk friends/family members, I am excited to one day sit across from newly engaged couples and say, "what I am about to tell you is not the perfect story of marriage, but I guarantee that Christ as the center will make all those other imperfections complete dissipate and in the end, you and your soon to be husband, will see Christ.  Standing in all His glory, He will make known to you that you were in His perfect will all along.  Here's how he has and is showing Us.

To my friends and closest family members,
We love you.  We thank you.  We are praying for you.  We want you to realize that what Christ is doing in his body of believers is coming to pass and that you are part of it!  We praise Him for you.  We want to celebrate with you next weekend, not because there will be cheesecake or the fact that my dress is amazing, but because we are family and Saturday Chase and I will become one.  Celebrating with you all will be our greatest delight.

Busy weekend and week ahead.  As a reader, whether you know Christ or not, I pray that you might be touched by what the Creator is doing.  He has made known to us the paths of LIFE; He will fill us with joy in His presence (Ps 16:11) :)

His beautiful ways

it's quite an eventful year for us.  as we have been preparing since may for our wedding this october, i have learned a few things.

1. sleep is under-rated.  i crave it these days as i plan for the big day, manage a full time job, and try to stay involved with family and friends.

2. planning weddings are over-rated. yes, i mean this.  i believe that if i had this to do all over again, there would have been a destination involved, 50 people, and a much less time in between saying "yes!" and "we do."  it's been an amazing adventure.  i really think that time creates other stresses if you let it, so...i am trying not to "let it" :)

3. Jesus' love is so sweet.  it's an amazing thing, really.  i smile when i type this.  if you know me, i have struggled/still struggle with a multitude of self-perfecting, imagine-driven, and people-pleasing tendencies.  selfish-yes. sinful-yes.  lack of trust in our Savior-yes. this is where i tell you that planning a wedding, marriage, and a new home doesn't make that any easier.  however, even in these silly things, He has shown me even clearer-- His truths and never-changing love for us, His children.
-  His amazing grace after a day of hunting for krylon mirror spray
-  His provision of our first home
-  His guidance and helping me grow relationally with the most fabulous women i've ever known
-  His provision with a car and free service even when mine has broken more than 5 times
What is my favorite thing He's showing me? how my time spent for Him, multiplies my chances of seeing His beautiful ways and giving praise to Him for all of it!


Praise Him for this journey.

sometimes it means going after it

have you ever wondered how to get that ever-so-saught-after-cheese? you know the one that will satisfy your belly's hunger while also tasting delicious?  i do.  put on your helmet and tuck in your tail, folks.

this picture speaks.

really, it makes me laugh and for the moment that's what i need.

i have been working really hard lately on certain patients that need a lot of extra assistance.  don't get me wrong, i love my job.  i've just learned the hardest way possible (fatigue/exhaustion) when to call it a day and to say, tomorrow will be.

so, today, as i sit in panera (taking my rare lunch while my phone charges), it catches my eye when an old man passes by outside with a little bag on his shoulder says "one person can make a difference." you're thinking, "hannah! really? this is so cheesy. he's probably be through rehab or cancer or something.  stop being so sentimental." but... here's what's going on inside my head, "those arduous hours that i've spent the past couple weeks, after-hours with patients, unclogging tubes in person, unclogging tubes over the phone, texting how to unclog tubes, talking about diarrhea, constipation and every other normally uncomfortable bodily movements, hearing one of my pts might pass away after days of working to do all i can...those days i might actually make a difference."

there are so many stories.  i've got to become a better story-teller.  it's kind of something chase makes fun of me about...haha.  i try to let the story be interesting in itself.

here i am reminded of all the parables and stories that Jesus told.  obviously, i do not hold his story, however i want to remember that He is the model for the perfect story- the one of His life.

as Easter, so quickly approaches (Hello, April!), i just want to remind you that there is a story to life.  one life can make a difference.  how will yours?