The news is finally out! We are so excited to meet our little girl Eleanor Nicole this May! We both had a feeling it was a girl. :) Time is flying by so fast. I’m a little sad because I absolutely love being pregnant….but then I can’t wait to hold my sweet girl in my arms!
The girls are taking over the Shepard house!
xo,
Amanda
Merry Christmas from The Shepard Family!
a few days late. :)
I have been busy….
wrapping
eating
family time
watching my favorite movies
drinking coffee from our new keurig! (thanks mom & dad!)
being sick with a cold that i gave to poor husband but it’s not fair because he can take delicious Nyquil and sleep good and i can’t because I'm pregnant but it’s okay cause I'd rather be pregnant with this beautiful miracle so i will happily suffer through it. ………….sigh.
taking little maddie to the vet for an emergency. boo! we tried not to let it bring our holiday spirits down.
more eating
my parent’s cat also had to go to the vet for an emergency! :(
spending four marvelous days with my hubby….which i did not want it to end today!
oh yeah….and this little thing happened……we found out the sex of baby shepard….but it’s top secret for just a little while longer! heehee! :)
we are over the moon excited because we know exactly who our little one is and are calling him/her by name!
Lots of love to each and every one of you!!!!!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas Friends!
xo,
The Shepard’s
It’s only a few days till Christmas!!!! yippeee!
I am so far behind on my wrapping this year. I love doing it….but finding the time has been hard. I think I’m going to have some late nights this week.
Have you seen Christmas with the Kranks? We just saw it for the first time last night (while wrapping!) and I LOVED it! It was so funny. It is now one of my favorite Christmas movies. I would love to live in a festive neighborhood like the Kranks! haha!
Guess what tomorrow is…….
Our ultrasound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m am so excited yet nervous too!
We still haven’t decided how and when we want to tell people the gender. A gender party sounds so fun….but it’s kind of hard to do right here at Christmas. Plus our favorite bakery will be closed for two weeks around Christmas. :( So no special blue or pink cake.
I have been feeling little movements in my tummy lately. It has been hard to tell for awhile. But Sunday while our pastor was preaching I felt something different and I was for sure it was the baby moving. Then it did it several other times! I was almost laughing! The baby hasn’t moved like that since Sunday….so he or she must like to hear preaching! :)
We had a Christmas gathering with our best friends over the weekend! I have the most wonderful friends in the world! These are a few fun pictures we took together….
We noticed that all of us have brown hair! We said we needed a blonde friend!
Well actually one of our friends is actually more blonde…but she just dyed her hair dark brown!
Here is a little sneak peak of our Christmas card photo……
My mom took the pictures for us. This isn’t the one in our Christmas card but I really liked it! Maddie was a good girl!
Oh and Maddie got her picture with Santa over the weekend! haha!
Sorry this is a picture of a picture so the quality is terrible! We loved this picture cause her little tongue is sticking out!
We had cocoa last night!!!!!!!
We cooked dinner again last night!!!!!!!
And I walked on the treadmill last night!!!!!!!!!!! success!
Have a blessed day friends!
xo,
Amanda
Saturday my brother Adam graduated from College with honors! I am soooooooo stinkin proud of him! It wasn’t an easy road since he has two boys and works full time. But he did it and did it well! It was an awesome day.
I tried to hold back the tears. That didn’t work out so well!
Our proud parents! Mom cried too….so I wasn’t alone!
Our family!
I love this picture sooooo much! We were all laughing, which is what we normally do!
I’m so proud of Adam!
We had a fun open house for Adam afterwards!
This was the most delicious cake EVER!!!!!!! woah! It was from a local bakery called Amycakes! We love them. And this red velvet was insane!
Well, that’s a wrap!
I am so excited that Christmas is this week!!!!!!!!! My shopping is done…..now about that wrapping. :)
Happy Monday!
xo,
Amanda
Okay so I can’t stop eating the Cutie clementines!!!!!!!!!! anyone else?
I love them and it’s one of my favorite things about this season.
This has been such a great week!!!! Tim and I have got to eat dinner at home several times! woot. This is an accomplishment since that has not been the case for the past few weeks. And I’m planning on making a stew this week sometime. However, I’m getting creative with it and kind of making it up on my own! haha! We will see how this goes. Reason being I want to use things that I already have on hand….you know clean out the freezer and pantry! If it’s a fail, I’m callin on Dominos! :)
I promised to show you pictures from our Christmas Extravaganza to Dixie Stampede! Our college students at church had a great time! And pretty much everyone had no shame and wore a festive sweater. But you know there are always a few that are too cool to dress up!
This is our whole group! Look how festive and cute/ugly they look! I love them!
If you have never been….they give you a whole chicken to eat, along with a TON of other food! It’s amazing! Plus you don’t get any silverware! hahaha! So fun!
I hope I don’t gross out any non meat eaters out there!
This is Kelsey & Alex. Kelsey pinned little light bulbs to his sweatshirt!
And look….Dolly herself! There were lots of pictures of Dolly!
Mr. Tim talking/listening/i don’t know to baby Shepard! haha!
I love love love Dixie Stampede! I hope you get the opportunity to go someday. Don’t worry about the no silverware thing. Just have fun & dig in!
Have a wonderful day!
Hugs!
Amanda
So….Husband found my wig from Halloween last week.
We were both getting our costumes on for Scrooge and this is what he does….
I think it would have added a lot to his character!
My very own hunky Fabio! :)
Happy Tuesday! Christmas Vacation was on ABC Family last night. It made me happy! Someone gave me a loaf of pumpkin bread today at work. It is taking all the will power I have in me, not to eat it all!!!!!!!!!! I brought myself some clementines to eat today. And all I have to say is…..
Clementines lost and pumpkin bread won! #fail
xoxo,
Amanda
Last night was the first night of our Scrooge play at church! We had a full house and had a lot of fun!
After that night we came home, got in our jammies and drank some hot cocoa!!!!! Oh, we found peppermint marshmallows at Wal-Mart!
They are amazing!
Oh and this: We have so many Christmas lights etc., we keep blowing the breaker in our living room! ha! Very Clark Griswold of us!
Maddie enjoyed our Christmas festivities too. She even got a few mallows! :)
It was a lovely evening to a very busy day!
I love Christmastime!
HAPPY FRIDAY FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xo,
Amanda
I have put together a fun little Christmas gift list to share with you!
I wouldn’t mind one or two of these lovely things under my tree…..
Tarte Lip Surgence gift set from here
Oh, Lola perfume by Marc Jacobs from here
Erin Condren Life Planner from here
S & P shakers from here
Set of pretty tumblers from here
This cute shirt dress from here (tummy is expanding rapidly!)
I don’t have a picture for this….but a spa day sounds lovely! I’m talking hair, nails, facial, massage, makeup….the whole kit and caboodle! :)
Those are just a few fun little things I would gladly take for Christmas or anytime! ha!
Are you wishing for anything for Christmas?
xo,
Amanda
I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was packed full to the brim. And this week is going to be packed full too! After this week though….things should slow down and I can enjoy two relaxing weeks before Christmas!
This week is our big Christmas production at church. We do “The Gospel According to Scrooge” every year. We do the show 4 nights in a row and always have a great turnout. My brother and I usually perform a scene together, but he is not able to do it this year. So somehow they roped Mr. Tim into doing it! hahaha! These are a few pictures from last years musical.
Oh I wanted to announce the GIVEAWAY WINNER of the Glory Accessories giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The winner is…..Claire from Fast Forward Girl! Congrats Claire! Email me at ashepard28@sbcglobal.net with your info!
Oh this: I got some candy cane hershey kisses last night! I am sooooo excited! They just might be my favorite Christmas candy.
Moment with husband this week: Last night we took the Lord’s Supper at church. We were singing Amazing Grace….and I felt Tim grab my leg. I looked over at him and his eyes were filled with tears. He whispered to me that this was Baby Shepard’s first Lord’s Supper. That was it for me…..tears! It was all just too much thinking about God’s amazing grace, what He did for us and this amazing blessing He has given us this Christmas. Something that we have been longing for several Christmases past. It was a special night.
How could I forget……we took our college group to the Dixie Stampede on Saturday! I cannot tell you how much I LOVE that place. It’s so great. It was a fun way to kick off the Christmas season. Oh and we all wore crazy sweaters. Of course! I will have pictures to share soon.
Sorry I have been lagging on the pictures lately!
Merry Christmas!
xo,
Amanda
Today is an extra FUN day!
Because it’s my birthday!
I almost forgot that today was the day….with all the busyness of Thanksgiving and all. I was reminded when I started getting Happy B-day greetings on Facebook! haha!
I feel blessed beyond measure this birthday. I don’t need or want a thing. Nothing could compare to having this precious life inside me.
Oh yeah….and i’m inching ever so close to 30! ahhhhh! Today I turn 27! woah!
Also, I know everyone was super busy this weekend….but you must go enter my giveaway TODAY. It is the last day to do so. Go here to enter.
Here is a t.m.i for you: last week was the first week that I couldn’t get my pants to button comfortably! haha! I walked around Thanksgiving with my pants open…..everything concealed of course.
Our tree is up and our house looks beauty-full!!!!!!! We haven’t done the outside yet! It’s coming hopefully this week.
Well, hope you have a blessed Monday!
Love,
Amanda
I love love those hair bows! Hello There!!! Happy Thanksgiving!
Guess what?
There is going to be a fun surprise giveaway on my blog for Black Friday!!!!!!! Oh yes! :)
Today we kicked off our Thanksgiving with something very special. We had a doctors appointment and got to hear our little ones heartbeat again! The first time was early on and it was hard to get a clear reading. Today I am 16 weeks and right when she put the wand on my belly we heard it loud and clear!!!!!! It was beating about 153! The most beautiful sound I have ever heard. I could just listen to that all day if they would let me stay! haha! Our next appointment is a few days before Christmas and it’s our first ultrasound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN’T WAIT PEOPLE! They said if the baby cooperates we will get to find out the gender! Please please cooperate little one. I am sooooo happy today.
I am so excited for Thanksgiving tomorrow! whoohoo! p.s. my doctor did tell me to watch out for the ham! She said I could blow up like a balloon due to the salt content. I think I shall stick to the turkey! ha! I could join the Macy’s parade!
I have so so much to be thankful for this year. Well, I always have so much to be thankful for. But I just can’t get over this precious miracle inside me! I am so thankful.
Oh random: I noticed the Hot Tamale’s boxes at the store are the holiday edition! yay! I picked myself up a box! Even though Tim always puts some in my stocking….I needed an early Hot Tamale fix! :)
Well, I have to finish up my work day and then it’s holiday time! Oh yeah…and BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a wonderful day friends!
xoxo,
Amanda
Today on Callie’s blog she is hosting a link-up to share your Salvation Story! I think this is such a great idea! I have never actually shared my full testimony on my blog before…so I’m very thankful that Callie had the idea to do this.
I am blessed that I have been in church since I was in the womb. My parents were faithful to bring me to church no matter what was going on in their life. I was able to hear about Jesus many, many times growing up.
Well, I was a very stubborn and hard headed little girl. I had heard about what Jesus did for me and how He loved me, but I was stubborn and was not going to make any decisions until I was ready. I even went to Sunday School and VBS after VBS and I still hadn’t decided to make a decision.
I remember how burdened my family was for me…even though I was only in Elementary school. They always prayed for me and would ask me if I had any questions or wanted to talk about it.
When I was 11 years old, I had just finished 5th grade, I went on my very first youth trip. The Gospel was preached very powerfully! I felt God tugging at my heart and I knew I wanted to give Him my life….but I just wouldn’t trust Him. There was a girl next to me that was nudging me and telling me I should “do it” and I caved and went forward to tell people I wanted to become a Christian. That wasn’t a decision I had truly made and I didn’t really didn’t become a Christian that day. Sadly I lived like that all through my school days. I never did anything “bad”. I was a very good girl. And honestly….I loved God and wanted to do good things. But I didn’t have a relationship with Him and I didn’t know Him.
*Just knowing about God and knowing Bible stories won’t get you to Heaven. Doing good things and being a nice person won’t get you to Heaven.*
What a stubborn girl I was!
I got married when I was almost 21. My husband thought I was a Christian and I thought he was a Christian. But we were both living a lie. We loved each other and had a pretty good marriage….but something was definitely missing.
*I looked up to many Christian women and wanted their same joy, peace and happiness. But that only comes from God!
Our church was having a revival service one week in April of 2007. The sermons that were preached were specifically for Tim and I. We were both so miserable because we knew that we were lost as a goose and didn’t have a relationship with God. Our lives were meaningless at this point and filled with frustration. On that Wednesday, my husband fell on his knees and cried out to God. I wish I could say that I was happy for him that day….but I was miserable because I knew that is exactly what I needed to do. But again, I was stubborn. And so worried about what people thought of me. I had been a “church girl” for so long. I had everyone fooled.
*It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of you! If they are a Christian….they will be overjoyed that you too are going to heaven!
So as I said I was so so so miserable. I didn’t sleep that night. I wouldn’t talk to Tim about what was wrong. I went to work the next day and could hardly focus. God was telling me to COME!
I went home after work and was just sobbing. Tim came home from work and found me in quite the state. I finally told him everything and we sat down on the couch. I decided right then and there that I was done running and I wanted to have peace and a relationship with God! Tim and I knelt on our knees by the couch and I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior!
You would not believe the change that took place in our lives personally and as a married couple! We are not perfect by any means. But God has been growing us and we have been learning ever since. Our marriage has been getting better and better and sweeter and sweeter! I know nothing can be perfect….but right now…..our marriage feels perfect! We are so in love. Many things have happened since 2007 when we trusted Christ. So many ups and downs. We walked through a dark road of infertility (which I am sharing soon) and Tim surrenderd to the ministry to be a pastor! Through it all, God has been with us! I now have that peace and joy! I want everyone to know it too!
So what about you?
-Before God created the universe, He had you on His heart! He wanted you to enjoy a perfect, endless life with Him. (Ephesians 1:4)
So why does life often seem so meaningless and full of misery? Or you wonder what happens when your time on earth is done?
-Sin separates us from God. We are all sinners. Just think…you don’t have to teach your child how to sin…it’s already in their nature. Romans 3:23.
-Because of that, the just payment of our sin is death. Eternity away from God. Romans 6:23.
-But God loved us so much that he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for all of our sins! John 3:16.
How can you have eternal life and a relationship with Jesus?
Simply place your faith in Jesus Christ! To take God at His word. To believe that Jesus is God’s son and died for our sin on the cross and rose from the grave.
“Whoever calls on the name of the Lord, will be saved!” Romans 10:13
To call means to simply ask in prayer.
I hope this has helped you today! Whether you have been struggling with making a decision or have never even thought about it before. I hope you would take some time to think about it. You can read these verses in the Bible or read them online. Crosswalk.com is a good source. The book of John and Romans is a good place to start reading! Feel free to email me if you have any questions at all. If you want to share your own testimony, you can link up with Callie.
love,
Amanda
I pinned some pretty Thanksgiving pictures to my Pinterest board! We never have a table as pretty as these….but I love imagining. Our Thanksgiving is very casual. We have so many people, everyone just finds a place to sit…couches, barstool…wherever! Anyone else have a similar Thanksgiving? Though I have always dreamed of having a gorgeous table scape someday!
We ALWAYS have sweet potatoes with marshmallows! It’s a must. And my mom makes them the BEST!
This year I am contributing by making a green bean casserole and a mac n cheese bake! I also might be making a pie if I have time!
Do any of you make the entire meal yourself?
(props to you!!!!)
Also, about how many people are at your Thanksgiving?
I’m just curious! haha! Someday I also hope to make an entire Thanksgiving meal. I think it would be a lot of work and pretty expensive….but it would make me feel very accomplished!
I hope you have a blessed day!
Hugs!
Amanda
