Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."



Friday, July 29, 2011

Trying to find our place...

So this summer, Reagan and I have been searching for a church home here in San Antonio.  Before we started the search, I did not think it would be very difficult since we had a list of must-haves... boy was I wrong.
With having so many weddings that were out of town on weekends it has not left us with many weekends since we moved back to start finding a church.
Though, the couple weekends we have been in town we have gone to different churches and have not found the "one" yet for sure... there were pros and cons we both felt but more than anything we just were not content on this is where God needs us to be.
Before going to the churches we have been to, we thought the churches sounded great from their online profiles, and than we got there and it was definitely not what we expected.
The reason this is such a big deal for us is that we want to get plugged into a church so that we can volunteer, meet new people and build lasting relationships with others.
So, to say the least, I am getting a little discouraged because I feel like we are never going to meet awesome couple friends like we had back in Dallas (SHOUT OUT to our amazing community group in Mansfield... y'all will always hold a special place in our hearts and the incredible couples we met through our church!!!)  Reagan continues to reassure me and tell me that it will all work out in God's timing... I completely agree with that, but I am also wanting some friends... so the best of both would be awesome!

Church searching is also really hard for us because we have always known where we would go to church since we were little.  Both our families were plugged into churches when we were young, in high school our families ended up as members at the same church and that is how we met through the youth group (and then Reagan and I fell in love-- God definitely had his hand in this situation), and then when we both went off to college (I went to Fort Worth to TCU and Reagan went to Dallas to DBU) we both knew we would go to our friends new church in Mansfield and that is where we have been all through college and since we have been married (that is also where Reagan served as the youth pastor).
So we definitely know what it is like to be involved in churches we love, but we just have not found that yet.

So the reason for this post is... I would love for friends and family to pray for us that we find a church home because we are desperately wanting somewhere that we feel comfortable in worship, learn from the sermon, find a place to serve and connect with others.  We both know that in God's timing He will open our eyes and hearts to the church we are supposed to be at and it will feel like a perfect fit-- so as we wait we will continue going to new churches, pray for God's guidance and wait for God to open our eyes and hearts to the "ONE."  So, we would love all the prayers from everyone... because having too many people praying on your behalf is never a bad thing!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and a fabulous weekend... I am looking forward to relaxing with my hubby and family! :)

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever."

Friday, July 22, 2011

Our First Friday Night

Tonight is our first Friday night in our new home.  We have no where to be and no wedding to head to out of town... Praise the Lord (The 7 weddings we went to this summer were a blast, but we are glad to not be traveling every weekend!) To say the least, we are excited to have a place of our own where it is quiet and just us... that is what we are used to, so it was a little bit of an adjustment living with my crazy, loud, always- on- the- go family for the past 4 weeks.  We were so grateful to have a place to stay while we waited for our townhouse to be done, and we have so many great laughs and memories while living there, but we are just glad to be home.  I have dinner in the oven and a night of relaxation is ahead of us!  What more could we want... absolutely nothing!!  A peaceful night at home with each other, cuddled up on the couch watching a movie sounds fabulous.  It is the little moments like this that I cherish the most with my husband!  I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Friday night... I know we will!

"Love Conquers all things."

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Our New Home!

We are all moved in and it is such a great feeling!  Our stuff is in its places and we could not be more happy.  Let me tell you-- living out of a suitcase for a month is not an easy task, so I am glad to have a home now and everything is organized!  We are so grateful to have such a wonderful town-home and our complex is absolutely gorgeous... gated community and everything!  We are also so glad that our families are so close and especially grateful that my parents were such a huge help in helping us move in and get everything decorated (so grateful to have a mom who loves to decorate and a dad who loves to hang pictures and other handy things while my husband is off getting his stuff organized)!!

I think we still feel like this is not our "home."  It is still taking some getting used to, but we are loving being back in our home town of San Antonio, Texas-- everything is so familiar to us!!


Many of my friends and family had asked me to post pics of the new place because they want to see how it is decorated.  I went back and forth about doing before and after pictures but decided against it because... 1) I could not find my camera when I was moving in and 2) the place was a disaster and I couldn't take putting the chaos on here for everyone to see! (yes I am an OCD clean freak... still a work in progress!)  So, I decided that I would not take pictures until the house was complete.  Well all the decorating got done on Tuesday night at midnight and then I ran into a problem... I could not find my computer cord for the camera.  I flipped just a little, moaned that it was time for me to get a better camera (so I would actually take pictures more), and then searched high and low for the cord so I could upload pictures.  Well after much searching I found the camera cord in the camera box (go figure that!).  So I was finally ready to take pictures and upload them!  So without further waiting.. welcome to our new home!!

Entry Way table

Rug at the bottom of the stairs

Love this cross by the front door 

Wood stairs... these are going to be so hard to keep clean... UGH!!

Wall decoration going up stairs

Another wall decoration going upstairs 

Wedding pics at the top of stairs 

Living room 

Living room 

Fireplace

Big comfy chair in living room 

Another view of living room 

Cross wall and kitchen table 

Looking into kitchen 

Bakers rack in kitchen 

Kitchen 

More kitchen 

In love with our granite countertops in the kitchen 

My desk nook off the kitchen 

Another pic of my desk nook-- love this space!

Rug in kitchen 

Laundry room 

More laundry room

Master bedroom 

More master bedroom 

Hall leading to our closets (one side is for Reagan the other side is mine)

Master bathroom 

More master bathroom 

Shower curtain in master bathroom-- behind the shower curtain is a large garden tub... to say the least, I am in LOVE!

More master bathroom 

Master bathroom as you walk out

Hallway to office/guest bedroom 

Other side of hallway that leads to guest bedroom/office 

Another view

Guest Bathroom 

Another view of guest bathroom

Black, red and cream theme going on in the guest bathroom 

Sofa in guest bedroom/office 

Office side of the guest bedroom 

Guest bedroom/office 

Outside patio 

LOVE my orange patio furniture 

In love with the outdoor patio decorations!

Well, that is our new place! We love it and it is so cozy and starting to feel like home!  We cannot wait to have friends and family over!

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." -- Joshua 24:15


Friday, July 15, 2011

It's Moving Day!!!

It is Finally moving day for the Farish Family! Our townhouse is ready and we are moving in all our boxes and storage totes today... Let the UNPACKING begin!!!

We both love our new little place and it is in a great townhouse community... just right for us! We cannot wait to move in and get it all decorated! I am dreading the unpacking part just a little bit, but I would rather unpack than pack a house up!  Yesterday, Reagan and I were talking about where we would be in a Year and Reagan said, "Well hopefully we are going to be buying a house."  I just laughed and sighed... I HATE packing so so much!  Though, to move into a house that is OURS would be absolutely amazing and I think I would definitely be motivated to move into a place that is ALL ours!

Well, off to get things organized so that unpacking will go just a little bit smoother!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!!

**Lots of pictures of the new townhouse to come... once it is all decorated... or maybe I will do Before/After-- we shall see!

"A new journey is upon us now... let this exciting new chapter of our lives begin!"

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Crazy Life Lately.

Well I have been MIA for just a little too long... sorry about that! Life got in the way and got a little too crazy!  Reagan has been busy at work, I have been busy trying to finish my teaching certification stuff online and in between all that craziness we have had weddings out of town every weekend and family coming to visit during the week... Exhausting.

Though, we are very excited for our BIG move!  We are moving to our townhouse this FRIDAY!!  We could not be more excited!  It has been awesome living with my parents for these past couple of weeks while we waited for our townhouse to be ready, but we are definitely ready to have our own place!  So-- lots of moving and unpacking will be happening this weekend and next week so that we can be comfortable and live there!  Many pictures to come... we are so excited about our new place :)

Well that has pretty much been our life lately... lots of weddings, lots of family time and getting super excited about moving!!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!  Sorry for such a short post... have to complete some more online teacher stuff today... busy. busy. busy-- I thought summer was supposed to be for relaxing?!

"Lord, this is the day YOU have made and I will rejoice and be glad in it!"

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Sweet, Sweet Friend.

A good friend is one that I hold near and dear to my heart.  I have learned that a good friend is one that will let you vent the good and bad, will laugh with you, will cry with you and is someone you can talk to  for hours.  Today, just a sequence of things happened that just set me off (turned my day from good to bad) and I needed to vent/have a good convo with one of my sweet friends. Thankfully, one of my dear sweet friends was just a text away... (in person would have been much better) but I settled with a multitude of text messages (since we were both having a crazy busy day).  Being able to just talk with her and fill each other in on life so we know how to better pray for one another just felt so good and made me feel so blessed.   There are some days I am just so amazed with the people God has placed in my life... He knew I would need them for days like today and many days to come.  Well this sweet friend is one I needed today and definitely a woman of God that I look up to so much... I hope one day I can be half the wife and mother she is... she is amazing and such a Godly friend and without her this last year would have been impossible. So after chatting today and hearing her heart and advice my mood slowly began to change... I just needed her to be there for me today-- and her words through text were exactly what I needed.  I just felt So blessed today,  that even though we are miles apart now and soon to be further when their family moves to Oklahoma that I know we will still stay in touch and I have a lifelong friendship with her.  More than anything, I wish today would have been a day where I could have jumped in my car, driven only 5 minutes to her house and we could have sat at the kitchen table and talked for hours... I sure do miss those days!  Though, in the months to come I know that phone calls, texts and skype dates will be how I keep up with her and her sweet but busy family!! Love you bunches Julie and I don't know what I would do without you sweet sweet friend.


One of my most favorite pictures of Julie and I... this one will definitely be framed and put on my desk in our new house!!  It makes me smile each time I look at it! I am so blessed to have her as an amazing friend and incredible mentor.  Thank you Lord for the love of friendship that you allowed to blossom between the two of us, I am forever changed because of these sweet lady.  


Ecclesiastes 4:9-10a, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up."