Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day can of course be viewed both negatively and positively depending on who you ask.  I am constantly reminded what this day is like from a single teenage girl's perspective since I am around this age A LOT.  It's interesting because LOVE does not exist outside of God since Scripture says "GOD IS LOVE."  Therefore, I love to remind teenage girls that above all else we can celebrate the LOVE that exists only because of FATHER whether we have an 'earthly' love or not (plus can a guy really 'love' you with agape love if he doesn't love God?!?!)

On Valentine's Day, 4 of the girls in my discipleship group came over to hang out and spend the night and just be together on "LOVE" day.  We were all pretty pumped about the evening but it even blew my expectations out of the water.  WE HAD A BALL.  First of all, these 4 girls are all SO very different so that brings a whole new dimension to an evening together. 

I have to admit - I asked the Lord (and even had a couple of friends and my husband pray for this too) to grant me the gift of being able to stay up until midnight simply so I could enjoy every moment possible with them.  I AM NOT A NIGHT OWL and that became even worse when I got pregnant so asking the Lord for a midnight bedtime was a stretch.  What is SO fun is that the Lord granted my request above and beyond.  Not only did I not get sleepy by midnight but it was after 1 am before I finally thought "I am getting sleepy!"  Hallelujah to the Lamb for a sweet gift to my heart. 

The evening consisted of a pizza date at Anthony's pizza in Bryson City, singing at the top of our lungs to praise & worship music on the car ride, Lindy daring everyone to run outside barefooted in the snow (yes she's the daredevil in the group but everyone did it), lots of talks, Kaitlyn leading us in more praise & worship on her guitar, watching an awesome movie (Grace Unplugged), playing 'would you rather' and 'make it or break it' and finally crashing right before 2am (but that was just me...they stayed up much later).  


Our night in pictures...

Kaitlyn, Anna, Lindy and I (before Autumn arrived)

DATE NIGHT!!!!!!!!

Oh pizza you have never looked so good!

So excited she was able to come home from
college to hang with us!

Coondog & Gina



Kaitlyn & Anna
(both seniors graduating this year)



GROUP SHOT!

HAHAHAHAHA!

Picture #1...

...and #2

AND #3!

Just for laughs - these are pictures I find on my phone later of Gina (real name Autumn)......................................

so can you guess her personality?!

 

 

What you think?!

Saturday morning, Rance made his 'special' pancakes for everyone with their choice of bananas, chocolate chip, or a mixture!  OF COURSE, we had some Nahunta Pork Center bacon to go along with it and eggs too.

I pray these girls will continue pursuing the Lord and wait for a Godly man who will love the Lord first & foremost, who will lead them, love them, understand them, and honor them, and who will encourage their walk with the Lord daily. 
 
To wrap it up, I am not really big into flowers and all that jazz  (unless you are picking up some from the grocery store or off the side of the mountain for free) so the way I feel most loved by my husband is through acts of service (in other words - DO THINGS for me), quality time, or he can always buy me a pair of tennis shoes, a tshirt, or some yoga pants! 

So YES - this was REAL HOT to me on Valentine's Day!

23 weeks & counting...

On Saturday after work, Rance and I headed to ASHEVILLE!  Oh man, it is a RARE occassion that we actually adventure somewhere to shop (that's SO not on our list of fun) but after looking at our schedule over the next month, we decided this Saturday was one of the only opportunities to begin preparing for baby boy's arrival by working on the whole baby registry thing.  YIKES.

I must say that we had a BLAST the first couple of hours.  We had high energy and it seemed surreal that we were looking for BABY stuff - as in a new addition to the family coming soon.  I am SUPER grateful for my friends who are already moms that have taken the time to literally give me the MUST-HAVE LIST, THE DO NOT NEED LIST, and the specifics that worked for them (thank you MARIE, JESS, AND PARTNA!). 

Towards the end of our shopping at Babies R Us I think we were both DONE but we headed to Target anyways.  When we finally sat down in the truck after Target our first response to each other was 'HOW DO PEOPLE SHOP ALL THE TIME AND ACTUALLY ENJOY IT?'  Oh my word. 

23 weeks baby!

 

BEST PART - QT!

 

It did not take long before Rance realized that every baby item is either a monkey or a giraffe or some type of animal that is NOT what he deems 'wildlife'!  He kept saying 'where are the BEARS and deer and REAL animals?  We don't live in a SAFARI, we live in North Carolina!"  When we finally came across an isle that had a few small rattles, Rance FLIPPED OUT because it was FARM animals - a pig, a cow, etc.  If you know where big grizzly bears exist - let us know though!

Hello Mr. Piggy!

You want to know the best ending to the day - EATING DINNER!!!!!!!!

Guess where we are?!?!?

 

YES YES YES, CRACKER BARREL

 

Somebody's excited!?!

Thankful for a Saturday afternoon/evening with my boo!

ETM Duck Dynasty

We may not have TV at the Shuler household BUT Rance will claim that Duck Dynasty is one of his favorite shows.  My parents gave Rance a few seasons of DD for CHRISTmas and Rance has thoroughly enjoyed watching episodes every now and then.  You see, I have come to terms with the fact that my husband really is WILD AT HEART.  In fact, there is a book he asked me to read before we got married so I would understand him better and it was actually called "WILD AT HEART."  It definitely describes him and his love for being outside in the wild and being a MAN!  I really love this about him.

Considering all that I just said, Rance jumps at the opportunity to hunt, fly fish, set traps, you name it, if time permits!  He'd really fit right in with the Duck Dynasty crew.  Andrew & Luke have been wanting to go squirrel hunting and Friday afternoon all the guys got together for a little afternoon hunting in the OUTBACK (the woods behind our house).  I LOVED to see Andrew & Luke all decked out in their camo with their guns ready to take on the wild for the first time!!! 



Andrew & Luke preparing for the hunt!



Andrew practicing!

They look like they are ready to shoot something don't they?!

The hunting crew ready to go!



Get your game face on!




AIM & FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, they did not see a single squirrel (even though I watched one behind our house the entire time they were hunting) but I think they still had a blast on their first hunting trip.

*Fun with Friends*

Last weekend, we began our Friday night hanging with ALL the Thacker's and having a bonfire!  It was a lovely evening by the fire sharing talks, laughs, eating lots of food and of course roasting marshmellows!  The weather was finally warmer than it has been so we did not freeze our butts off!

This little cutie was all bundled up!

What is it about STARING at fire?!

love this kiddo!

Rance had Saturday school and I had to work (hello, tax season!) but once we got off work - we headed to Highlands, NC for an evening of fun with friends!  When Rance gives his testimony of the college years, his friend Chad's name ALWAYS comes up.  Chad played a huge role in Rance's life spiritually in college and Rance will be forever thankful for him.  Rance also got to watch Chad and his wife, Christy, date through college and set high standards to maintain a pure relationship throughout.  Chad and Christy had their first child Grayson around 15 months ago and Rance and I got to meet him for the FIRST time on Saturday night (yay!).  They are currently living in Clemson, SC serving the Lord while praying over future decisions and exactly where the Lord wants them (sounds familiar to us Shuler's!). 

Highlands, NC seemed to be a middle location for us to meet so we did and boy was it a great evening.  From the coffee shop to dinner out, we caught up on all the Lord is doing in our lives, what He is teaching us and simply encouraging one another in this abundant life with Him.  Even though we do not see them often, it was easy for Rance and Chad to pick up right where they left off!  It was a JOY to be with them and know how we can be praying for them too!  I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Grayson too.  He is such a sweet boy and full of life!

I had no idea our drive to Highlands, NC on Saturday would be so gorgeous.  The mountain roads literally look like they were stuck on the side of the mountain somehow and very narrow, yet so beautiful. 



Love the mountains!

INCREDIBLE waterfall!

Hello 22 week bump!

 

and CLOSE UP!

He wanted a shot too ;)

YAY!!!!!!!!



I look at pictures like this and think - is that real???



I stole this from Christy's blog because I LOVED driving by and seeing the lake look like this but never snapped a shot!



Downtown in Highlands!
(thank you Christy for taking pictures!)

Chad & Rance



Group shot at dinner!



Chad, Christy & Grayson at dinner (which was DELICIOUS)!

Saturday night was refreshing and we look forward to meeting up with the Ferrell's in the future!

 

*A Strong Warrior*

I almost always (99.9% of the time) have my prayer time and time in the Word first thing in the mornings vs. any other time of day.  That is what I have found works best for me and oh how I cherish this time with the Father! 

A part of my prayer time obviously includes praying for baby boy on the way and it's freeing to release him to the Lord knowing that he does not belong to Rance and I.  The Lord is entrusting him to us as parents (wow, what a responsibility!) but acknowledging everyday that I do not own him and he is not "MINE".  One really fun part of my prayer time is praying for him to be a STRONG WARRIOR for the Lord.  Our desire as parents is for him to first and foremost trust Jesus as His Savior but of course our prayers do not end there for little warrior.  We desire for him to want to follow after Jesus and chase after this abundant life with everything in him.  Not only that, I cannot help but be reminded that his view and understanding of the Lord will be shaped by Rance and I each and everyday.  How do we represent Father?  How do we show love & grace the way Father does?  What will he see in how Rance and I love one another?  Will our lifestyle draw him closer to Jesus?  Oh I pray that we present a beautiful picture of the love of Christ every single day to the very best of our ability as we seek Him.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Rance and I went for our 'big' ultrasound.  This ultrasound is the LONG one where they test for everything and see how baby is developing.  During the ultrasound, we quickly learned that homeboy is breech - but TRANSVERSAL - which means he is laying horizontal in my stomach - not even up and down!  Crazy youngin.  He was in the most awkward position but his little body was moving 100mph.  Imagine that?  I am fully expecting a boy with abundant energy like his daddy!



Yes that's his little spine and position!

I was having a blast telling the girl doing the ultrasound how I pray for this child everyday and proceeded to tell her that I pray for him to be a strong warrior for the Lord.  As I began explaining specifics of what that meant - I was also clarifying that this did not mean that I pray for him to be buff or some stout dude!  About that time, she found little hootie's RIGHT arm and she gasps and says "OMG HE IS FLEXING FOR YOU."  Rance may or may not have busted wide open with excitement!  I don't have a great picture of this but you can see his little defined right arm!



his face & right arm!

 



Since he was in such a crazy position - they were not able to test for EVERYTHING but what they did see looked great.  In fact, had we not found out what we were having at 16 weeks - it would have been nearly impossible to find out what we were having at this appointment.  Praise the Lord for the 'sneak peak' ultrasound.  We get to have ANOTHER ultrasound in a couple of weeks to hopefully check everything else out - and we considered it a blessing to be able to see him again soon.

And here is your 21 week viewing (which is a week and 4 days ago)...

Oh baby, baby!

Before & After

I don't know about you but I LOVE before & after pictures and boy do I have one to share with you!

Sometime around the end of October, Rance decided he needed to prove his manhood or try out for Duck Dynasty or be John the Baptist (I'm not sure which) by growing his beard out.  He THOROUGHLY enjoyed it the bigger it got and so did every other guy out there that would comment on his beard.  On the other hand, every female out there seemed to constantly ask me 'what I thought about Rance's beard?' insinuating their lack of love for it!  They would openly tell him they did not like it but that never bothered him a bit! 

Just being honest - I prefer Rance with a beard - but not a BIG beard.  I prefer a neatly trimmed beard, not the duck dynasty type; HOWEVER, I can honestly say that I enjoyed him enjoying his big beard and even though I was excited about the day when he decided to cut it, I am all for him being him and expressing himself whether through a big ole beard or not!

So please let me show you the BEFORE (and it had even got bigger since these pictures a few weeks ago)....

And the after....(yes I could eat him up!!!!!!!!!!)

Is it me or does he look like he shaved about 5-10 years off?!?!