World's Most Proudest Wifey!

Hi. This is Jenny. Usually Josh does most of the writings on this blog, mostly because I get easily overwhelmed with all the things I could/ should write about, and also because I am the world's biggest procrastinator. Well, not today!!! Today the world (world, meaning all 3 people who follow this blog) must hear what an amazing, talented, selfless, adventurous, hunband I am so incredibly blessed to be married to!

Josh, for quite some time now, has been working on a book called Don't Get Suckered! How To Survive College Debt Free and With Your Shirt. To put it lightly, I am a very proud wife. Josh is the hardest working person I know. He works so hard and so diligently not for money ( we are on support. and are SO thankful for all our supporters) and not for recognition, but to see the big dreams that are on God's heart to set free those who are oppressed by debt and financial messes come to fruition. He is so passionate about this and I love to hear him come alive when he tells me about yet another idea he has to help others overcome debt.

The past 3 years have been quite the adventure. Its funny to look back to when we first got married and to when I was not excited or really on board with where Josh thought the Lord was directing our future. I thought we were supposed to go to Colorado and plant a church with our best friends or move back home to be close to family so we could start having babies. The Lord gave Josh another dream and I'm so glad Josh listened and obeyed. Josh was so patient with me. He loved me well but also took the reins as the leader of our family and we moved forward with the vision God gave Josh. To look back at all the lives that have been transformed and touched by the ministry God gave us is crazy! Its all Jesus. Every part of it. But its also because my husband obeyed and has given so much of himself to this ministry. This journey has not been easy. In fact, parts of it have been pretty hard, but the journey has always been sweet.

I'm so thankful for you, Josh Lawson. I trust you completely. Thank you for giving your all at work, for your ministry, and at home. I look at the capacity the Lord has given you and it blows my mind. You are annointed. You are a leader. I will follow you to the ends of the earth if its where God takes us.

I love looking at our son. Asher looks so much like me but he acts so much like you. I'm so glad. I pray that Asher learns to use his pioneering spirit for good the way his daddy has. I see already that this little boy has the annointing to be a great leader and I'm so thankful he has the example in you to be just that.

I love you, Josh Lawson, and I am so very proud of you!
(If I knew how to do this blogging stuff better I would put up a picture of you, because not only are you amazing but you are also incredibly good lookin'! Oh, and I would also put a link up to where you could check out his book. One of these days I'm going to figure all this out!)

First Ranger's Game

For July 4th weekend we decided to take a trip to the Ballpark in Arlington for Asher's first Texas Rangers' game. After a car ride filled with little napping and much crying, we finally arrived just in time for the game.

Going into these kinds of events, you never really know what to expect or how your baby will do, you kind of just hope for the best.

The game started at 7 and Asher's bed time is at 8:30, so we knew going into it that it would be an interesting night.

Around the 6th inning, we decided we needed some drinks and Asher decided that it was his time to try out this thing called Dr Pepper. Gigi was more than happy to oblige.

Come to find out, he doesn't care too much for that sipping business. He's more into putting his whole face in the cup and drinking it that way.

At this point it was the bottom of the ninth and daddy decided to take Asher down to the field level. It was the scariest part of the whole thing because here I am with my back turned to the batter holding my one year old son.

We made it out okay, but had so many people coming up to me asking for my autograph because they thought I was Josh Hamilton. Easy mistake I guess, we're both incredibly athletic, muscular, and make millions each year.

It's always been my lifelong dream to run the bases at a pro ballpark so at the end of the night I asked the security guard if we could just have one trip around the bases for Asher's sake, but somehow he saw right through me and wouldn't let us on to the field.

By the end of the night our little man was absolutely dead tired. He had a great time and both he and daddy got a new Rangers' hat out of it. Hopefully the next time we go to a game will be when the Rangers' are in the world series later this year.




Jenny was feeling so good about the night that she considered herself to be the "#1" mom in the ballpark. Pretty high honors if you ask me, but I wouldn't disagree.

 

The Big Birthday Party - Pregame

It's hard to believe that it has already been one year since our little man was born. It feels like the past 12 months have absolutely flown by.

For the past few months, Jenny has been planning in her mind what she wanted Asher's birthday to be. Now let me just say, when I was a kid I'm pretty sure all I had was a couple balloons and a cupcake. But the same cannot be said for our little man.

A couple months before the party, Jenny went into Martha Stewart-mode and started making all these crazy decorations for the party. I would come home each day and there would be something new sitting on the kitchen table. I would be like, "where'd you find that idea?" And she would say, "Oh, I just thought of it." What! Who does that.

Anyways, the theme for our little man's party was of course sports balls because our little man loves to play with sports balls.

For the table center pieces Jenny made these sweet flags made out of felt.



Here is what the spread looked like on the day of the big party.



No party is complete without some tenders from Chick-Fil-A.

Jenny decided to make a page for 12 of Asher's firsts from first few days to first vacation.

Here are a few more including first trip to the lake and first Rangers' game.

My personal favorite part of the party was the cookies and cupcakes. Jenny made all the cupcakes the night before, but she had the local cookie lady make all of our cookies.

The cookie lady doesn't have a website or store so Jenny had to go into spy-mode to find her number through a local church's directory.

Here's the famous smash cake. Of course little man had to have a baseball themed cake for his first cake. The cookie lady made this one for us too.

Here is another one of those signs that Jenny just dreamed up.

And yet another. We have the CAL sign because those are his initials that just so happen to be the logo of the University of California. It makes it a lot easier to buy monogrammed clothing for him.

My other favorite part of the party was this outfit we had made for Asher. We had it made at www.Chasing-Fireflies.com.

One of Jenny's friends from Fort Payne made Asher this sign for his birth day last year. http://www.elliepdesigns.blogspot.com/ 

And again, here is one of the other amazing things that Jenny made for the front of our house for the party.

Home Renovation Update #5 - The Banquette



One of the things that we wanted to have in our new kitchen was a breakfast nook area. Jenny took one look at our two windows and knew exactly what she wanted - a banquette. A what? I had never heard of a banquette, so I googled it and found out that it was actually something that I could make.

First things first, before we could get started on the banquette we had to get the light. We found this one on with the help of CopyCatChic.com and ordered it through overstock.com.

Next, we cleared out all of the baseboards and got the space ready.



Next, I put together a couple of these rectangular boxes which were the skeletons for the benches.



Of course, I had to have my little helper give me a hand. What better way to bond with you son than using power tools?

I attached the bench tops to the frames using some glue and screws from the bottom. This way I didn't ruin the bench tops with screw holes.

Asher was the first one to test it out with me.

 

We stained the bench tops with the same stain color as our wood floors. Originally I used polyurethane, but I will go back over it with some varnish.

I put the original baseboards around the bottom and then finished it off with some wainscotting (also known as paneling).

And here is the finished product after a few coats of white paint.



And here it is as a working product. I have a feeling that there will be a few breakfasts, coffees, brunches, and lunches eaten here before it is all said and done.