Unemployment rate is 9.4% of US Citizens...

And I contribute to that statistic.

So, as stressful as it is to have no money, except the tiny pay check I get from The Gap every other week, you gotta look at the sunny side of things:

1. We're mastering how to use coupons and price-match at grocery stores. Brandon and I get a kick out of the $2.10 we get back from Guest Services for our coupons :)
2. Everyone has that "we were so poor at this one point of life. we thought about selling our house/car/jewelry/dog"... so I guess this is ours. But it's not so bad... we've got each other, so we'll be okie-dokie!
3. I am learning every technique to job searching online. And that you must email your resume in every sort of format you eown, so the employer might potentially have one of the programs you use! "My resume is attached as Word Document, PDF and DocX" lol
4. The dog is always happy - no matter how poor you are :) He eats his ice cubs and is as bouncy as can be!
5. 84 cent packaged mashed potatoes are amazing - especially when Brandon makes them
6. Good friends always come to the rescue and pitch in to buy some D.P.'s for the apartment!
7. Brandon has learned some great ways to make me stop crying - he is pretty much the funniest person ever.
8. My Big sister always comes to the rescue and makes me smile... "Brig, I've called some people in Houston and they are going to keep their ears open for a job. Also, Juicy Couture at the Galleria is hiring full time sales associates!"
9. Window shopping is a little fun. I go in stores I would never dream of going in bc I don't have any money at all - Louis Vuitton, Coach, De Beers... just to name a few
10. God loves us no matter how much money we have. I mean, hey, we are eating 3 meals a day and have gasoline in our cars and Bibles to read - what else could you REALLY need (besides a job!)?

Anyhow... writing this out has made me a little happier... thanks for visiting :)

Brigette

Decision Day

Today at VBX, tons of children made decisions to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. How exciting! I'm so excited that they made the decision to want to know Him. And how lucky they are to know him at such young ages - they have their whole lives ahead of them to tell the world about Him. AMEN!

Anyhow... Brandon was one of the leaders who counseled the children who prayed to accept Jesus in their hearts. He told me such a precious story - I had to retell it on here so hopefully someone will hear it and share in our smiles!

Brandon said he was speaking to a group of kids and was reciting Romans 10:9 to them... "If your confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe He has raised from the dead, you will be saved"

Well, right after he says "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.." The cutest 5th graded you have ever seen interrupts Brandon and says " Jesus is Lord!" Brandon looks at him, smiles and says "Good Job" and continues with the scripture.

Priceless. :)

Honeymoon

I am getting SO excited about our honeymoon!! I mean - obviously we are both looking VERY forward to it; however, it hasn't really felt real until we booked the room!

Hello Maui.... This is one of the rooms at our hotel....
And of course... the view...

And we got such an AMAZING deal for our 7-night honeymoon! Well, 8 including the wedding night, but that will be *cross-fingers* at the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas!

After booking the room today, we started talking about all the activities we want to do... here's our list: surf lessons, attend a Luau (which will be easy, considering our hotel hosts one every night!), take hula classes, couples massage, snorkeling, go whale watching (holla for whale mating season in December, ha!), travel the Road to Hana, along with many other things!

Anyhow... just had to share my excitement!! :)

The Ministry World

This summer has really been a test to me to see how I would enjoy being a ministers' wife. Brandon, interning at a large church, has been really busy and involved in activity after activity. I knew, moving down here, that he would be busy and this would be a good time to see how I am going to tolerate the ministry world.... well, I LOVE it. It's kind of hard to put into words how excited I am to be marrying a youth pastor. I feel like the Lord is going to work just as much through me as He will through Brandon. Sure, there will be some down-times with his work, just like any other career would have, but I love that he is going into a profession that I can be just as involved in as he is if I so desire!

5 years ago I would have never pictured myself as a ministers wife. In fact, I never pictured myself as anyone's wife... I wasn't think about the future. My mom never filled Jennifer's or my mind with thoughts of weddings or marriages - she was always encouraging us to be ourselves, work hard and learn as much as we could (and I am so thankful she raised us that way!). But now that I have entered this season of my life, I am beyond excited. I really feel like the Lord has prepared my heart for ministry. I, like many other people, have seen a handful of life-changing things happen in my family and I feel like these experiences have shaped me into the person I am. The Lord is going to use these past events in my life to help me minister to young women. Thank you, Lord, for molding me to be able to give back to Your people!

As pumped as I am about being Brandon's wifey - we are (or I am) getting stressed about the future. His internship ends in a month and a day.... and where are we going after that... hmm, good question. But wherever we go, I am so excited that it is him and I going there TOGETHER! Eek! I love him. And he has no idea that I'm writing about him on this (like he reads my blog! he doesn't even read my one-lined emails lol)! Which brings me to question - does anyone read this? Or am I just rambling? I mean, I could talk to a brick wall, so I suppose it would be completely normal for me to write this and no one respond lol.

Thank you for reading if you make it this far :)

Hymns

I've been thinking about what kind of songs we might want played at the wedding and during this I realized what a LOVE I have for hymns. Gosh - the words, the instrumentals, the voices - they all add up to make such AMAZING songs. I have narrowed it down to about 5 songs that I will pick between later on in the process.

"Heres my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above..."

What beautiful words.

"Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him. How I've proved you more and more. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace to trust him more..."

I literally listen to these hymns over and over. They never grow old. They bring me such joy! In a crazy, messy and buzy life that I am living right now - these songs bring such a peace. Thank You Jesus for giving us the gift of music to praise You through!

On a side note... I saw this on a friends facebook status: "when your dishes are calling and so are your children... pick your children" I love it! I will definitely play by that when I have children. The house might get a little messy, the food might be a littler burnt, but our children will know that they are LOVED, by both their parents, but more importantly, by their Creator.

My Big Sister Singing

Although I am a tad partial, I have to say that my big sister has the best dad-gum talent this planet has seen! I LOVE watching her perform. She sings, dances and acts so well! And I must say, I don't have a tad jealous bone in my body - I'd SO much rather watch her perform than someone make me get up on stage and take a stab at a performance like hers. I am a PROUD PROUD little sister!





The group of family and friends that came to watch Jennifer perform!