I Called Her Grandma

         After almost three months of being away from this blog because of the classes that I was taking, I have decided to do a post on one of the most incredible people I have ever known.  

         One week ago today we celebrated the life of the most wonderful person in the entire world, my grandma, Jackie Brubaker.  There were over 200 people at her funeral last Saturday.  She loved people like crazy and people loved her like crazy.  During the visitation, my mom introduced about twenty people as “grandma’s best friend”.  The amazing thing about this is that each one of grandma’s “best friends” was actually her best friend.  I’m telling you, this woman was AMAZING!

         During the ceremony, we sang these two songs plus a medley of other children’s songs.  My grandma had the most child-like faith and loved the Lord with her whole heart.  She lived a life abandoned to God.  She taught me how to love Jesus with my whole heart and how to serve people like Jesus did.  The pastor that did the ceremony said that my grandma left him a hot, holy mess.  Like I said, everyone loved her. 

         My grandma was the most selfless and loving person that has ever walked this planet.  She loved her five children and their spouses incredibly well, and she treated her seven grandchildren like each of them was the most precious gem in the whole world. She will be incredibly missed, but every time I hear the songs from her funeral, or see a beautiful sunrise and sunset, I will remember the incredible life that she lived and remember how much she loved me!

She was always there to watch me play basketball

And of course she wouldn't miss my graduation

         I miss you so much grandma, but you are finally with the person that you longed to be with your whole life.  I can only imagine what you are doing today, but I know that you are dancing with Jesus.  Even though you were supposed to be with us these next couple of weeks, I know that you are looking down on us and are with us in spirit! I love you grandma and I am so thankful for the life that you lived and for how much you loved me.

Psalm 23

“ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul.  He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Here is a link to my grandma's obituary 

Our Weekend Visitors

This weekend, my brother and his wife came to visit! We had a great time and we got to show them a little bit of San Antonio!

Jeff and Alex came in late Friday night and left a little after lunch today! It was not long enough, but we loved having them here! On Friday night we stayed in and had a few drinks and talked the rest of the night!  We realized early on Friday night that we are all getting so OLD! We were all POOPED at 11:00 that night!

The next day Alex and I were going to get pedicures at a nail salon, but every nail place that we checked was booked! Sad day! So instead, Jeff, Alex, and I worked out at our apartment's gym while Andrew went to a tutoring session.  After that we got them addicted to Breaking Bad.  (Side Note: y'all need to watch it, it is SO good!!) We only watched one episode before Andrew got home.  We went to have lunch at Dick's Last Resort! We had a great time and the waiter was crazy! If you have never heard of this place, I want to warn you that the waiters are supposed to be mean to the customers.  I would encourage anyone with a little bit of a sense of humor to try it out! It was so fun!

SOME OF THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE CRUDE, AND I APOLOGIZE IF YOU GET OFFENDED!

The restaurant was right on the river walk so we sat outside and enjoyed the view! 

We asked for a group picture and this was the first picture we got from the waiter.  Like I said, if you are looking for good service, I wouldn't come here! 

This is the real group picture! See, we are right on the river walk! Did I tell you that it was HOT!?! Why is Texas so hot??

Alex and I tried to split this drink, but Andrew had to help us with it! The good thing about this place is that we got to take all of the glasses home with us! 

This is the cute couple that came to visit us!! We love them! 

One thing that Dick's Last Resort is known for is the hats that the waiters make for you! Again, sorry for the crudeness! 

And then this is how the check was brought to us! The whole experience was a blast! I'm so glad we got the chance to take Jeff and Alex there! 

After Dick's Last Resort, we walked around the river walk for quite a while and then came home and watched the rest of the first season of Breaking Bad! I tell you, we got them addicted! Something that I realized during this weekend is that we are pretty boring and that it is crazy that we had a blast just watching a TV show.  I thought a little bit about our future and thought about when both of us start having children, these trips will be a lot more busy and stressful! We enjoyed the quietness this time around! 

This morning we tried out a new church with Jeff and Alex.  We have been trying to find a church in San Antonio for a while now and we just can't seem to find what we are looking for! This morning we went to Bandera Road City Church and it was pretty good! If y'all know of any churches in San Antonio, we would love to hear about them! After church we went to Chuy's! (My favorite restaurant!!) I was one happy girl!

Jeff and Alex before the left! Aren't they the cutest?

After lunch, Jeff and Alex got packed up and hit the road! We are so sad to see them leave, but can't wait to see them again! Thanks so much for coming to visit us Jeff and Alex!

Our Story (Part II)

If you haven't read the first part of our story, I would encourage you to go read it here! 

I'm going to take a few steps back to our first trip to Joplin. Whenever we would watch TV on our first trip to Joplin, we would sit on complete opposite ends of the couch. The next trip to Joplin, we were sitting hip to hip on the couch watching TV.  We would stay up late watching movies or talking, I literally never wanted to go to bed! It was also the first trip to Joplin that Andrew's sister, Bethany, asked me if we were dating, and I told her that we were just friends! She knew what was to come!

One day on this trip we went to Springfield to visit Krystal.  It is about an hour long drive from Joplin to Springfield and we had a blast talking the whole way there.  On the way back, Andrew talked about a pretty boring topic the whole hour (I found out later that he was just rambling because he was nervous to tell me something).  That night we decided that we should go to sleep early because of the other nights of staying up late.  Well, we stayed up later that night than we had any other night in Joplin.  Andrew just kept the conversations coming and we just had a blast talking with each other.  Towards the end of the conversations, I could tell that Andrew was getting pretty nervous. We even googled different types of cars because Andrew was too nervous to tell me what he had to tell me. But all of a sudden, Andrew put his hand on my arm and told me that HE LIKED ME! 

I almost died! And I told him that I liked him too...and then he reminded me that I was on a dating fast! BUMMER! A dating fast, for those of you who don't know, is just a time that I took to focus completely on God instead of focusing on dating or even really guys for that matter! It was a time that I was really able to focus on God and grow in my relationship with Him! Anyways, we talked a bunch that night about how to handle all of this and of course I was just sitting there all giddy because a boy really liked me!! 

Y'all, how cute is this?!? We brushed our teeth right next to each other that night!! That was the cutest thing ever to me! 

After we talked about how we would just be friends until my dating fast was over, my brother and sister-in-law got married! It was such an exciting time for my family! This was Andrew and me at my brother's wedding...don't we look like "just friends"??

Anyways...that's basically how the mutual "liking" happened.  I'll be back to give you the details of our dating relationship and engagement! It is so fun to be married to this man! He is just incredible, smart and cute! I love him with everything that I am! 

Answered Prayer

The Lord has answered one of my prayers! I have been praying so hard to find another married couple at the dental school that we could be friends with and God has provided! Thank you Lord!

Last night, we went to a Kelly and Travis' house for dinner and to hang out! We had such a great time getting to know each other and playing Taboo! Travis goes to the dental school with Andrew he is one of the guys that Andrew has really gotten to know so far! This couple is so loving, inviting and encouraging.  They showed us the love of God in all that they did!  We loved hanging out with them and we cannot wait to hang out with them again!

Also, Kelly is an incredible decorator! Their apartment is beautiful!  I will definitely be taking some decorating advice from her in the future.  I can also see us working on a lot of Pinterest projects together while the guys are studying.  I am beyond excited to get to know this couple better! Please come and visit so we can introduce them to you!

This is the only picture we got last night, but we will definitely take more pictures at future hangouts!

 

The Birthday Boy

I know y'all were expecting the second part of our story, but it's a very special guy's birthday! My brother, Jeff, turned 25 years old today! He is OLD!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEFFREY!

So for those of you who do not know my brother...I hope these next few pictures will allow you to get to know him a little bit better. 

Let me just start off by saying...HE IS NOT NORMAL!! 

Point Proven!

And again.

...and again!

One thing you should know about him is that he loves his barbecue! 

And he also loves his longhorns!

He also loves his wife!

Like I said...He is not normal!

Even my little cousin, Kaley, doesn't think so.  She is annoyed with him in this picture! 

These next few pictures are a series of pictures that I was trying to take of just my parents.  I was trying to just get one good picture with them...but Jeff wanted to be in every single picture! 

I think they are hilarious though! 

Here he is being a GQ model...or so he thinks!

 And here are some pictures of us as children...aren't we the cutest?!?

So as you can tell, no one can take the guy seriously.  He is the craziest person I know.  But in all seriousness, I love my brother so much and I have spent basically my whole life looking up to him! He has been such a good brother to me and has always protected me! I am so thankful that God gave me him as a brother! I am so blessed to call him brother! Happy Birthday to the best big brother in the world! I love you Jeffrey!