*Whew*

God has us in an interesting places. New jobs, marriage, husband away for 2 weeks at a time. Its a tough season. If anyone knows me they know that my idea of a good time is for nothing to change. But I have read the Bible alot and I have never seen that promised anywhere. I always thought once tests and papers were over, we would have more time. It amazes me that today is Friday again....where did this week go. I've worked 50 hours, TJ has worked nine 12+ hour days in a row. Our lives are crazy. When we talk at night I put the phone on speaker and keep working so it seems like TJ is there and not just on the phone. But through it all we see how God is so faithful. These first two rotations come during the busiest part of my year, so it makes it easier. I come home and collapse, talk to TJ and go to bed. That is about how it would be if he was here. So in a way, these first two rotations have been blessings in that by the time I am done with turn, we will have already done 2 rotations. TJ has already been gone 9 days and will be home in 5 :) Thank goodness!




"He is before all things and in him all things hold together" Col 1:17

Life at our house

16 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said:

“Who am I, LORD God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?



Alot has happened in the past few weeks. TJ has started work. He LOVES BP and the people he works with which is such a blessing. Life has been a little crazy. Alarms start going off about 4:30 and by the time we both get home from work it is almost 7pm. So life has been busy. To be honest, I didn't feel quite ready for life to pick up that quickly, but I guess God never sat me down and asked for my approval on our life. Haha! Sometimes we just get to sit before the Lord and ask how it is the Lord has already brought us this far. What a blessing. I am married to the man of my dreams who passionately loves the Lord and walks with Him daily. That same man of my dreams spends time every day serving me and making sure that all my needs are met. That same man of my dreams drives 3 hours to and from work every single day so that I could be with Living Hope when he leaves on rotation. Be jealous. I married the most selfless man on the planet. And on Tuesday I got the text message I had been dreading. Rotation is starting. TJ leaves early on the 13th and will be back the 27th. How am I doing? umm I cry alot, but then I rememeber the verse above...."who am I that YOU have brough me this far?" Amazing. Don't get me wrong. By no stretch of the imagination am I looking forward to this. This starts a year that will fly by and drag on forever. I cannot even tell you the changes that are coming this year. And I'm sure God has even more than we know. Looking for jobs in Houston, moving to Houston, leaving our family at LHBC.....life moves way to fast.

Yesterday, Kristen and I finally legally changed our names. Odd feeling. We didn't like it. Oh, and 3 hours and the DPS didn't help that. Then I went to the bank and they told me they didn't know an Amanda White so they wouldn't talk to me unless TJ signed off that he knew I was his wife. I lost it. I pulled the crazy lady card. "My-husband-works-in-houston-and-is-leaving-in-less-than-a-week" I'm not proud of it, but I did it. Clearly I handle change well.

So please be praying for us. TJ leaves in less than a week, his wife is a mess. Pray for safety while he is gone. Pray for comfort for both of us. Pray our marriage is strengthened during this time. What a blessing it is to sit in the presence of the Lord and know He goes with us. Everywhere we go, He is already there.

And it finally hit me....

my husband is leaving soon. my best friend won't be here every day with me. And today, that is a little too much to deal with. I don't know why God picked this path for us, but it is hard. And I don't want to do it.

Psalm 30:11-12


11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;you have loosed my sackclothand clothed me with gladness, 12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

The calm before the storm

oh goodness...we move in 5 days. Our house is perfectly neat and organized. The floors are clean and the laundry is...not so done. But other than that life is good. The missing piece of the puzzle...oh ya...we haven't packed yet. At all. Not one thing.

In other news...the door has been stripped and the holes have been filled. All that is left to do is sand the putty and paint! You can clearly see where my priorities have been today. Yesterday we went on an all day date to Houston. I love being in the car with my husband. Ever since we started dating we have spent alot of time in the car talking. Lucky for me, TJ likes talking and driving :)

We have been talking in church about the importance of community. Nothing has seemed more real to me that the need for community as we prepare for TJ to leave on rotation. Two years ago I was given the opportunity to work for an oil company as a meteorologist. But God said no. I have been wondering why God said no, and I have been getting frustrated. Then it hit me. A job with the oil company would have put me in Houston starting soon. Which would be no community at all while my husband was gone. Now, granted we won't be hermits and will make new friends, there is something comforting about the pastor's wife coming up to you and saying " I have room at our house for you when TJ is gone." That is true community. People who are willing to step up to the plate and embrace the rough times we go through and help. The beauty of our family at living Hope is that we trust them to the point that TJ has walked up to people and said "I am leaving, and YOU will take care of my wife." Some of our sweet friends who have been gone for awhile, Landon and Ashley Carl found out Landon had to go do some training for a few months. Landon sat down our HOPE group and told us to take care of his wife and new son. So we did. That is what community looks like.

I was watching TJ at church praying over one of the men in our church family and I was so thankful God has blessed me with such a wonderful, godly man. The Lord has given me a man who loves me enough to tell me no. He loves me enough to leave me for a few weeks at a time to take care of us and provide for us. He humors my odd projects and spends a Sunday afternoon sanding a door in our living room because I decided it was too hot to go outside. So how can you pray for us? Pray that through TJ's rotation period, God would use TJ to win souls. This is a very lost industry. Money attempts to buy happiness for alot of people and we know that Jesus is the only thing that can bring joy. Of all the toys, and upgrades in this life, the greatest joy is to have a new brother or sister come to Christ. So pray for TJ's ministry in the field. Pray for me, that I will be diligent in serving and staying plugged into our church family while TJ is gone. Please pray for this next month as we prepare for him to leave. We. Are. So. Blessed. Over and over again God has provided in ways that we could NEVER have imagined. Praise the Lord!

Meal Planning Monday

Monday: Enchilladas
Tuesday: Tater Tot Casserole
Wednesday: Baked Ziti before the AWANA Grand Prix!!
Thursday: Sliders w/ sweet potato fries
Friday: Steaks & Corn on the cob
Saturday: Date Night in The Woodlands ;)
Sunday: Leftovers

Can't lie...pretty excited for this week

Ode to Sally

Meet Sally. For those of you who don't know, she has been a huge part of our lives for the past six years. TJ and I met six years ago at age 16. He was the cool kid who drove a red sportscar with a manual transmission. He picked me up for our first date in this car. This car has seen a lot of life events.

• Finding out we got into A&M.
• First date
• Going off to college.
• Hours in Kids Kastle talking/falling in love
• Sitting in WCG talking.
• Teaching Amanda to drive stick
• On our wedding day TJ picked me up and we sat in sally talking before the big day.

Life has happened in this car. The biggest story here is that God is faithful. We have relied on this car for six years which is proof that God is faithful. It was very sad to see her go. We cried. But God has provided. He gave us a great deal on a new car. He held Sally together in working order much longer than we could have prayed for.

meet oliver. Oliver will be here for this new phase of life. He has air conditioning, power windows and an auxillary jack. We are spoiled. I was nervous before buying a new car and TJ texted me "Come with me. Lets do life together" Welcome to the family Oliver! We are so thankful God provided. He IS SO FAITHFUL! Signing the paperwork and joining the car payment club was like a punch in the gut, but at the end of the day, God is so faithful.

Oliver White
Born 7/7/2009
Adopted 5/17/2011

Chapter 2

Well, i am officially done with college as of 10 AM this morning, WHOOP! So it is on to the next chapter in our marriage. Being a student and a husband has been a challenge that took some getting used to but I have already had a glimpse into the next chapter, here i must be careful that, though i have more time to spend with my beautiful bride, i do not get lazy and waste that time just sitting and watching tv together or other non creative activities. quanity time is a desirable thing, but it is not a substitute or replacement for quality time. So in this next chapter i will get to learn how to love amanda well with an excess of free time. And i am glad that i get this time to learn how to do that for a month before i start work because then i will begin bouncing between the two extremes, while i'm in the field i will be loving her with nothing but conversation, and while im home i will have a week of "down time" and love her actively when i have an excess of time. i am thinking about this actively because this weekend i realized (with the help of my wonderful wife) that i have apparently forgotten how to be creative, and that is simply unacceptable from the guy that covered the walls of her room with post-it notes of reasons i love her. well those are my thoughts for the moment, and now i will go relish not being a student and try to rekindle that creativity.
Shalom
TJ