Are you Just Married, or Just Married?

"Nobody gets married to be Just married."

Photo Credit

I've been waiting very patiently for this to post.

A good friend of mine, also a blogger, name Caitlin has started going to

a new church, a church I am very aware of and is extremely popular in Savannah.

She invited me to go...

I'm going Sunday. I'm pretty excited.

Savannah Christian Church is doing a series called

Just Married ?

There are five sermons, well I've missed the first four - bummer. 

But since Caitlin shared this wonderful experience with me, I've jumped right in.

I'm all in.

She told me to watch the three that have already been preached, on their website. When I only watched ONE, I was immediately drawn to it. Which is what I want to share with you.

I've gotten so much positive feedback on both of  my

Inside Your Relationship posts that I knew everyone who felt I was reaching out to them

would LOVE these sermon{s}.

Please watch it. You won't be disappointed.

Cait said those exact words to me when she asked me to attend.

Revisioning your Marriage

Men and Marriage

Why Marriages Fail

Trash in your Marriage - {isn't posted yet but keep looking for it.}
Were'nt they wonderful and inspirational?

What did or didn't you like about it?
Did anything hit home?
Could you relate in any way?

Do share - your words may help someone else.

To check out more, visit SavannahChristian.com

My Bucket List

Get Married

Make Babies

be a PTO mom

Laugh until I cry

Visit Montana 

 go Glamping

White Water Rafting

Parasail

Spend a week in Catalina, California

Take a picture on Rodeo Drive{California}
take a helicopter ride

Christmas Time in New York City

Travel by Train

Take cooking classes

... along with ballroom dancing

Fly First Class

Run a 5K

See {The Ellen DeGeneres Show} LIVE

Built a home

Help someone I don't know

Celebrate 50 years of marriage

Ride in a Hot Air Balloon

Become a volunteer at a hospital

Buy an antique piece of furniture

Meet a blogger that I've met while blogging

Experience deep sea fishing {6.23.12}

Learn how to shoot a gun {& have aim}

See a whale swimming the ocean

Be a Grandmother

Build something out of wood using nails, & a hammer

Go on a REAL hike {wearing a backpack}

Surprise my husband

Ride a snowmobile

Learn how to sew

Sing Karaoke by myself
ride a horse {preferably on the beach}
Be a Friend forever
Ride a roller coaster
Visit a Winery
See something magical
Experience a drive through movie theatre

That time when I got a Physic Reading

It was August 22, 2010. {remember that date}

A Saturday Night out with two friends.

We had a lot of catching up to do. That's an understatement.

Dinner arrangements at The Oyster Bar where we sat for 2.5 hours, "catching up".

Decided to walk River Street trying to figure out what the next step was.

That's when we saw....

That's when I heard, "Ohh let's do it."

{Keturah was having troubles in her relationship so she was all in}

I never thought anything bad & Dee didn't really care.

We walked up the steps, into the building and that's when we looked frightened.

How did we want our reading?

Uhhhhh, I don't know. What's the difference?

Palm reading was just to tell us the present, cost $30.

Card reading was to tell us past, present & future, cost $30.

There was a 30 minute wait.

Sylvaia said to us, "If you come back in 30 minutes I'll give it to you for $25."

Sure Thang!

For the next 30 minutes we grew bubbles in our tummy.

Is this a bad thing? Do I really believe in this? Nope. I don't.

Or I don't think I do.

I remember saying, "Which one of us is gonna either cry or get freaked out?"

We laughed.

{30 minutes later}

She only takes two in a room at a time.

Keturah and Dee went in first.

I ain't gonna lie. I was pretty nervous by this point.

The only person I had ever known to get a physic reading was Aarons Aunt...

and she was told two things; Someone in her family will have twins and  she saw a lot of black which resembled death. The reason she went in in the first place because she just lost her 9 month old to sids.

I knew that if either of them came out looking NOT normal, I was out.

But they didn't.

My turn next.

Keturah came in with me.

I remember the room being a blue-like shade.

It was dark.

Sylvia told me to shuffle the cards.

In which I am the worlds worst shuffler.

Not to mention there was very few.

I shuffled and set them down.

As she looked at me in quiet she turned over a card and began.

Then she'd turn over another card and tell more.

Again and again and again.

This is how it went.

First card

There is a woman who is very close to you who you are very concerned about.

{this is when I busted out crying}  Yes.

Who is it?

{not wanting to say it out loud, looking at Keturah for the "okay"}

My Mom.

She's been sick.

Yes.

She was diagnosed but they cleared her.

Yes.

She needs to get a second opinion.

{totally freaked out} Can we move on to the next one?

She turns a card{s}

There are two men in your life that seem to always bring you confusion.

{confused I was} I shook my head no as my eyebrows scrunched.

{Remember in our story where I said there was another guy, well I had broken it off that February. Well this is what Keturah was thinking as she gave me the grin that meant questioning... I was insulted. Then again asked her to move along}

Next Card

I see a male death in your family

{as I look at Keturah thinking... no.}

No I haven't had any deaths in my family.

{Keturah says, what about Aaron's granddaddy?}

Yeah, my boyfriends Great Grandfather just pasted away, could that be it?

It's in your family. 

I don't know, I haven't had any male deaths in my family.

Another Card

 You are thinking about changing jobs, don't - you will be successful.

{smiles across the room to Keturah giving her a Hell-Yes look}

She turns a card

I see two babies in your future...

Awwe Shucks {as I smile from ear to ear}

boys...

... One Pregnancy.

{.... huh? and I look at Keturah who picked it up immediately}

TWINS! - Keturah

Wait, what? Twins? {totally floored}

{she smiles}

+ time out +

really, there was only ONE thing I wanted to know whether I believed in this or not. ONE thing I wanted to hear from her....

... So do you see marriage in my future?

Be Patient, he doesn't like to be rushed.

{Well duh! I did NOT want to hear that.. I wanted answers}

Can you tell me like, when?

{she smiles at me}

I can tell you that it's more than a year but not two years.

{Yay! I can deal with that. All I could do was smile because she just gave me hope}

Then she says -

Your boyfriend, tell me about him.

And really, I don't remember what I said. I could've have been much because there wasn't a lot of time before she turned the next card.

Another card is turned

There is a woman in his life who is having a difficult time of letting go...

{back to thinking an old fling or something...}

No.

His Mom - Keturah

Oh yeah, definitely his mom.

She's going to be just fine.

... And then we were done.

All three of us gathered up.

Sat by the river.

Discussed what the heck just happened.

And realized....

Everything she just touched on, was pretty much what we all {caught up on} at dinner.

Or at least the subjects of the matter.

Whoa.

But what about future? The cards read the past, present and the future.

-------------------

Now VS. Then

Woman who I am concerned about -

that was present at the time and truthfully it was dead on the spot. She nailed it which is why I about emotional as soon as she said those words. I am always nervous about my moms health because it's always whack.

Two men who I am confused about -

It dawned on my when we were discussing everything that it had to be my two dads.

Being I've been planning my wedding long before I got engaged, I've always tossed up the matter of how I will handle this situation. Who does what without hurting anyone. When that time came, yes it was still sticky but we made it through.

Male Death in my family-

I never really thought about that night and what Sylvia said too much, unless I was joking about it with a girlfriend. I mean, twins... really? Well, it really really hit me when in October I had family down from NY, well ALL my family was down from every where but I stayed up late one night catching up with my three cousins talking about... everything.

My night with Physic came up and I started to tell them how it went down...

when I got to this part I stopped... I was speechless.  The reason my entire family was in town was because my Uncle took his life October 15th.

Changing Jobs -

If you didn't read yesterdays post, maybe you should.

{which is why I am writing this down because if I have twins... Oh goodness}

Twins -

... not yet. Never been pregnant.

When am I getting married -

August 2010 was the day I went. December 2010 was when I got engaged...

I planned a wedding for 8 months - Got married 11 days after my one year of visiting Sylvia. {More than a year, but not two years}

The woman in his life -

Totally his Mom. Aaron is such a Mommas boy, and his Mom and I clashed the year we moved in together. She REALLY struggled with this, and now ... today, she is okay. No awkward-ness when it comes to me & her. We love each other LOTS and actually have a wonderful relationship.

Crazy right?

So. Whatcha think? Have you had any experiences with a physic reading?

{lots of smiles and giggles were passed}

another page in chapter 26

I'm Alive!

I have no gone anywhere... physically.  I've been lame and a bad blog-post-er.

 Thank you all for all the awesome comments about our honeymoon. No, I did not get to comment back not because I was not reading them or ignoring them but mainly because my mind just as been elsewhere. 

Your words made me happy & wishing I was playing out my honeymoon

once again. Only four months and we will be on our way to our FIRST year anniversary.

Whoo-Hoo!

--------------------------------------

Alright. So where have I been?

If you are up for a lot of reading, continue on...

If not... keep scrolling until you see The End.

Here's my story:

The stress of a job

{deep breath}

So... for a few months now, I've been a little down and out about my jobs.

Let me first say, I love my company. I love what I do and who I work with.

I never come to work dreading it...

Well unless I'm just a lazy ass who wants to sleep all day in bed.

But all seriousness, I don't really have much to say on the negative side.

That being said, I think I am good what I do.

{Rewind}

 A few months back, I was given a promotion.

To make a long story short - that promotion hasn't quite happened yet.

Ha.. yeah! I know.

sucks.major.butthole

Since then, my mind has been on a roll. I told myself I would give til June before starting to find somewhere to work if this "promotion" doesn't start happening.

Two weeks ago Monday, I randomly text-ed a girl I know who does the same line of business and said "Hey Jess! Just curious, is your company hiring or do you know of any company hiring?"

{Fast Forward}

Got the interview. Interview went great. However, I was nervous.

What I thought I was nervous about the interview, I now believe I think I knew in my gut

I didn't really want to be doing this. But I did.

Loved what they had to offer. Offered more than I have now {without my so-called promotion} and offered me that job. They wanted me. I said yes.

April 17th, I turned in my resignation letter.

Tearfully telling my amazing boss {in which would be the position I would have if this promotion would've come... only at a different location} who was thrown overboard, I tried to explain why I

was leaving.

He wasn't telling me to stay but he wanted me to stay by telling me all the reasons

why I wouldn't like it wherever I was going... & basically making my tummy drop by showing me what he brought in monthly.

 "This kind of opportunity {my promotion} is once in a lifetime and if you just wait longer, the company will honor it." -Jack

Then my District Manager called me. The call I did not want to hear.

Basically, begging me to stay. Begging.

I had a few other offices call with their input also. Totally rooting me to no leave.

{Time Out}

If you are reading about my boring issues

there is something you should know

1} I've never been career driven. Really, I haven't.

All my life, I wanted to be a wife with a husband and have lots of children

at home while I was the school PTO mom.

THAT'S where and what I've always wanted to be when I grow up.

2} when I make a decision, I'm there. I don't really ever second question myself

or doubt I am wrong.

3} my gut instinct is how I manage through life trusting it.

It's always right.

4} I love money, yes. Who doesn't? But it is NOT the most important thing in my life.

I rather be in the small house we live in now, completely happy & loving life

than living rich and fancy with an ass of stress piled up.

I live to be happiness and bring happiness. Ya can't take it with you when it's time to head to heaven.

Oh and.. Aaron and I are good where we are at. We don't have financial struggles. 

 Plus, this new job will bring more $$$ in anyway, right?

{Time-In}

I swallowed big and knew that if I could just get through the day,

vacation started the very next day and I wouldn't really have to hear much for the next week.  I left work completely stressed.

{Fast Forward}

I came back to work fresh & feeling good. My DM called and laid the cards out on the table and {begged more} explained why exactly it's taking so long...

His words, his voice... I believed him but wouldn't let myself believe him.

For the past two weeks, I've been losing so much sleep at night.

I have done my pros & cons a million times. I've second questioned myself &

truthfully... I had a lump in my throat but I needed someone to tell me I was messing up

BESIDES my co-workers.  The only thing I kept praying for was that promotion to finally come through.  I prayed for guidance over and over again.

Yesterday, I get a call from my DM, I knew I was about to cry my eyes out

because he was gonna tell me bye & how amazing I am. {baaaha}Kidding. Not really.

But he didn't.

He told me that ...

well I won't go into exact words because you really don't want all that blab.

Basically, he did everything in his power to get me where I should have been two months ago. Due to all the steps and paper work a DM has to go through {& I promise there IS more to this situation but that's a totally different story} - to get me that promotion he

gave me back in February.

Immediately my heart smiled. I knew this is really what I wanted that I did NOT

want to be working else where. I did NOT want anything but my company.

I asked him to give me a few minutes to take all of this in.

Confirmed it with the husband.

Confirmed it with Momma

{not that she has to confirm but Momma always makes me feel better about sticky situations. I need the.. Go-for-it babe!}

Today would've been my last day.

I am still doing my regular job. No moves yet. But I do know that I am on my

way to great happiness and feeling confident about my career....

&& I'm back to working every other Saturday {Ahh shit} for now.

So0o0oo ...

that may or may not have been blog fun-reading material but THAT my friends

is why I've been lame and not being blog friendly. I've been tied up stressing..

something I usually flee from.

The End.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last Friday, I FINALLY received this book on my door step.

Sunday morning I woke up extra early in order to have quiet time & start this bloom.

it's changed me.

... Oh Me Gah.

Better than I ever imagined - I'm totally hooked on it.

I've weeped. Laughed. Loved. & completely inspired by Kelle Hampton's words.

If you do not have this, you MUST get it.

Go HERE to see more of the book.

You will not and I say NOT be disappointed.

If you have read or started bloom...

tell me everything. tell me what you think and how you feel about it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last but never least

I want to wish my niece Chloe the happiest 11th birthday ever!

I've been in Aunt-hood for 11 years now and truly, it's been the best gift God could've given a sister.

Up coming Blog Posts:

Answers to these questions {Part 2}

Our Bahamas Vacay

My Bucket List

The Honeymoon Story... now told.

I figured eight months later was long enough.

Before I share our vacation in the Bahamas I think I should dote over our honeymoon.

I'm not breaking it up. So this is a very long post.

Keeping my words limited.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day ONE:

We drove to Jacksonville & decided to stay the night after a long day of packing

and getting prep-ed for this MUCH need honeymoon.

The next morning we were up &

ready for the last 4 hours on the road but before that

we hoped over to the Waffle House for breakfast...

classy I know. Aaron LOVES the Waffle House.

 "Now that we are married. You can only order from the dollar menu." -Aaron

It didn't seem like four hours before arriving to Tampa

{a picture of a picture}

"No. Let's keep our bags in the picture. We look like tourist." -Aaron

On the ship. We couldn't stand to do much until we knew our suitcases were safe

& tucked in our rooms. So we waited...

...It was actually nice to just sit & relax for a moment.

It's true. Wedding Planning is exhausting.

After our clothes were tucked away in the closets & everything

was in it'ss place.. we began to explore the ship.

Picked out our excursions...

& ended up back at the room to watch the sail away.

It's become a tradition to sit on the balcony as we venture on.

Q: Are you supposed to sleep as much as we did on the

honeymoon? 8 months of constant wedding planning... never stopping,

this wife was wore slap out!

.... when the evening arrived - the water was a bit rough

until we got far out into the ocean.

September = Hurricane season

however it was only September 5th.

------------------

Before we get started.
There is something you should know.


Aaron developed this love for
"fighting the towel buddies"

It was absolutely hilarious.

For some weird reason, he felt the need to karate chop or kick the towel buddy.

Got ready for dinner.

Our room service didn't really know how to

take clear pictures. But... the moment was captured.

{I pre-warned Aaron about how many pictures I planned on taking...}

Before dinner....

we watched a good & some not-so-good dance off.

These two were the best!

Loved this guy.

winner above

 - {made me wanna puke, he knew he was good & I hate cocky people}

We ate late dinner every night.

&& was {supposed} to be sitting by ourselves but that didn't happen.

However we were grouped with two awesome couples... who were by far

completely different. {2nd couple never got photographed. I can kick myself for this}

Meet some great people at dinner.

Paul & Diana were celebrating their 10 year anniversary.

We still e-mail each other & happy to say they are expecting a little one.

Tried to watch the R-Rated comedy show however it was craZy packed.

Instead we ordered room service for dessert and

called it a night.

Day TWO:

A Fun Day at Sea

Hello Beautiful.

1} By far my favorite drink.

I've probably already put on 10 lbs JUST due to these already.

Aaron occasionally likes one out by the pool.

2} Games. Carnival always plays games...

These were a group of men having to come up with a dance to bet the ladies.

The women were horrible... hence no photo.

3} You know you're on your honeymoon when your non-PDA husband

plays footsie with you. For some mushy emotional reason, I will never forget

the smile I wore every time he did this.

.... 8 months later. We haven't played footsie since...

Bahahahaha!

had sushi for lunch &&

had some casino time losing $$$ left and right.

Ohhh but we had SO much fun.

&& lost every game playing bingo.

... before dinner.

You would've found watching Ice Age 2 which lead to napping

{everyday, shhhh}

Something about those cruise beds... I sleep like a baby.

....

...........

and then he found he too had a bathrobe....

There is never a dull moment in our household.

You gotta love a man-child.

The second night is usually Captains dinner.

This is your fanciest night for attire.

I may have won brownie point for bring my husbands

cookies... however what I did NOT learn is to tie a tie.

Whoops. This was pretty hilarious.

No tie.

Just as handsome as ever!

Our honeymoon was 100% relaxing.

We were so at ease and laid back that every night after dinner

we came back and changed. I did not prepare for this therefore you will see

double shirts being worn.

I was completely comfortable the entire time.

It was great.

One of my favorite pictures is above.

Oh gosh, I wish you all could meet Aaron.

He really is wonderful.

Once again, we didn't do much.

Before hitting the casino we decided to walk the ship

and see everything it had to offer.

So windy.

... & we ended out night in the Casnio.

Day Three

The Grand Cayman Islands

{we chose to skip on excursions at the Cayman Islands only because we've been here before and done pretty much what you can do... swim with sting rays - in which

scared the piss outta me & jeep tours, which was fun but not something to do again. However we've never spent much time on the beaches here & being we were only here for a handful of hours, we chose to enjoy the island itself}

Photo taken from our balcony.

Took a taxi to the beach.

Walked down & back up enjoying the view.

Of course he's looking for creatures of the sea...

instead he found a shell. ?!?!

How exciting, right?

Found our spot & soaked up the rays...

Notice our {Husband/Wife matching beach towels.. how fun???}

The water was breath taking.

After a few hours of hot sun...

we decided to grab lunch.

... walked through the town and found....

Ohh you didn't know???

We are Royal.

Two for one?

Hell YES!!

Weird picture but cool at the same time.

... playing with the camera, I figured out how to set the timer.

... little did I know he figured out what I was trying to do.

{hint: the blinking red light}

$63 later ...

& that was two for 1 with two appetizers.

YIKES!

Shortly after we decided to get back on board &...

no nap but play putt-putt

I sucked.

He blew me out of the water.

Dammit.

After so many cruises with Carnival you become a VIP

and they invite you to a private cocktail party before dinner.

Check out that {MRS} -

something a new wife always gets excited to see.

Such a poser.  :)

Did a little dance {ritual} at dinner

I can always count on him to take awesome pictures!

After dinner. I changed for comfort...

ordered one two many Miami Vice' & we watched the talent show on the ship.

...  found a little surprise in our room when we arrived.

Yummy!!!

Day Four

Cozumel, Mexico

but really for us it was

Playa Del Carmen

Balcony shot.

Shortly we were off the boat waiting to get on another boat

for our shore excursion...

The Secret River

..... && then he has enough of pictures.

Baaahahahaha!!!

He slept on my shoulder for the rest of the boat ride to

the other side : Playa Del Carmen

Up there...

that guy....

he was our taxi service.

I may or may not have been trying to memorize Aaron's

SSN in case some Lifetime Movie scenes went down.

Nahhh... even thought I was nervous.

He was really nice.

Once we got into the area where the caves / secret river was...

we had to change into wet suits & put all our belongings in lockers.

We even had to take showers to wash any lotions or body oils off our bodies

outside... {in our suits} to protect the water.

We even had to pray before entering the cave.. only it was in a language I/We

could NOT understand. Let alone these was this little ceramic doll...

sitting on the tree to the right.

I pretty much knew my life was over at that point.

I was a bit freaked.

Ohhh how I wanted pictures in our wet suits but they were

absolutely horrific. I couldn't quit laughing.

I knew we were going under ground.

I knew we'd be in cold water.

I knew we'd be in a cave.

What I did NOT know was ...

A} it was pitch black dark.

B} We worn a one small light on our forehead to see...WTH?

C} there were bats

D} The brochure showed BLUE water not pitch black.

E} how 80 ft below sea level felt like.

Whoa.

This was a photo we bought afterwards.

I took a picture of a picture which is why there is a glare.

Overall. It was great.

Even though there were moments of doubts {even Aaron}

for the most part it was absolutely awesome!

And the water ended up being blue, only because they hold a flashlight

underwater while snapping the picture. So they didn't just photoshop

the brochure.

We changed & they fed us this cheap disgusting lunch.

We walked the markets for like 2 seconds before getting

hounded by all the vendors. Yikes!

Found a burger shop...

& ate real lunch.

See the coke behind Aaron?

Yeah, well there was this guy who didn't take part of the cave because

after three minutes in he felt claustrophobic and freaked out.

We was on the strange side.

Yeah, well... we ate lunch with us.

... not to mention he smoked us out. Blahhhh.

We hit the beach for a short amount of time before it was time to get back

on the mini boat to head to Cozumel.

Once again...

he's scoping only this time to find something rather odd.

A fish ... but very odd fish.

Back on the ship we went.

&&

instead of dinner

we ate pizza while watching the first game of NFL season.

The whole cruise was pretty much watching it...

&& with in no time...

this is what I ended up doing

Yep!

Once again...

I was sleeping.

Day Five

Fun Day at Sea

&& Bingo...

losing again.

Only once in our cruising lifetime Aaron has won

$250. It keeps us hoping.

I told Aaron we needed to come back with some kind of story about our 

time on the ship. Putt-putt wasn't gonna cut it.

It felt like we slept so much.

Oh wait. We did.

So we signed up to play Giant Jenga.

We won second place.

Last Night-

Dinner.

their farewell dance/song

Watched a WONDERFUL show.

{I didn't even straighten my mange}

Ended up our night with me winning at Roulette.......

... but we still went home short.

Whoops.

And that Saturday we took our time getting home.

Everyone said Seven Day cruises were too long but we were wishing for more honeymooning. It was just too short.

Wedding planning kicked my ass.

So much fun. But it's true....

You're exhausted come the day.

It was a perfect honeymoon in every way.

Oh how I wish we could take a trip like that every year!!!

HELL-O ONE YEAR Anniversary!