Happy Mother's Day!!

Andrew and I were really excited about this past weekend! We got to go home since we haven't been since Christmas together. We had a lot of catching up to do with both sides of the family. We spent the night at my in-laws on Friday night, and Saturday night we spent it with my parents. It was so much fun! We had pork and steaks on Friday for dinner. Then we spent the whole day resting and talking to Cathy.
Saturday night, my parents took us out. We have eaten out so many times this week that there's not much for us to eat that we haven't already ate! Ha!
Sunday, we went to Amory for my dad. I know that I haven't talked much about my dad's parents is because they have already went to be with our Savior. My dad's dad pasted when I was five, and Nanny pasted in January of 2006. I loved them dearly! I remember when Daddy came home from the hospital to tell Brooke and I that he had pasted. I cried and then he read us a book that one of the nurses gave him to help him tell us. I ales remember that during visitation my mom's mom and step dad came for my dad and I went home with them. They took me to get ice cream that night as well!! Nanny always made the best Mac-a-roni and Cheese. Not the box kind; it was always homemade. They loved us and showed it in their own way. She missed my graduation just by four months. Every mother's and father's day we try to go to Amory to visit their graves.

My mom opening her new bread box for Mother's Day! We gave Cathy a new toaster oven, and we gave it to her at Easter's because we didn't think that we would be able to go home this past weekend.
Andrew and I got some sweet time with our niece Jaylee. She has grown so much! Sunday morning for breakfast we had Chocolate gravy and biscuit. This is always on the menu for Sunday morning breakfast when I lived at home the reason being is because I got mad one Sunday that we didn't have it, and my dad said on that day that we would always have this for Sunday morning breakfast!! (I'm a little spoiled.) Jaylee likes it too!

And Jaylee loves her PopPop! Andrew also got some sweet loving from Jaylee!

Carlie and parents went on to Sunday school leaving the rest of us to get dressed and come on on our own. How many people does it take to put Jaylee's shoes on??

Then she fell asleep on the way to church!

We had a great time visiting our families!! Hope you did too!! Happy Mother's Day!!

Flooding at Horseshoe Casino

Like I said I would. Here are pictures that Andrew took today while he was helping sandbag.

These casinos (Harrah's, Horseshoe, and Tunica Roadhouse) have spent over a million dollars to keep their property protected. This is not even the half of it. If you want to see more flooding around the casinos you can see it here. I just hope and pray that everything goes well with all the families that live close to the MS river. Andrew also found out today that two of the casinos gave all their employees a pink slip, and a few at another got some as well. I feel bad about the employees but hopefully that would mean that Harrah's, Horseshoe, and Roadhouse could make more money! This would be great for us! I don't know thought. This is a tough situation for everybody that has anything to do with the casinos. Everything is now in God's hands; actually where it has been the whole time!

What to title this post??

The river is still coming in, and it's not letting up. This is the highest we have ever seen and due to all the flooding the casinos have decided to close for the next two weeks. It great in one way but scary in another. Great because Andrew and I need time together. Bad because will Andrew still have a job after all is said and done. I have some worry, but I know the main reason they hired Andrew is because it was cheaper on the casino to have an in house LD then contract one out. Last night we went on a date and ran a few errands. He got a call to come help sandbag at the Horseshoe casino. He said that since they are not working that he would go. He took the camera with him, and I'm glad he did. I'll post those pictures tonight. As I'm sitting here on the couch, there's an on going roll across the bottom of the TV of all the roads that are closed in the area. It's unreal how much water the area is getting. I know that I have never seen the river this high since we have been here. The news is saying that this could be the highest the river has gotten in over 70 years. All we can do is pray that it doesn't reach our house!
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I have been wanting to write this for a while now but didn't know when would be the best time until now. We all need a little encouragement every once in a while. I try to every day at school they offer us a word of encouragement. I try to get one everyday I see the container of them, and I also try to keep them. I have a huge stack somewhere but here are a few that I have:
"Heavenly Father, Draw me to the tenderness of Your unconditional love, the sweetness of Your everlasting mercy and the balm of Your unbounded forgiveness." Paraphrased from Jan Karon

"Two marks of a Christian: give and forgive." Unknown

"Christ doesn't patch you up, He makes you new!" Unknown

"You will never need more that God will supply." Unknown

"Faith is the direction our feet start moving when we find out that we are loved by God," Fredrick Buechner

"Lord, Help me to bless others as you have blessed me. Amen."Unknown

"We follow God, not because of what we see but because of what we believe." S. Foster

"Thank God for His persistence." Unknown

"I will lift up my eyes... my help comes from the Lord." Psalm 121:1-2

"The ways of God are without fault. The Lord's words are pure. He is a shield to those who trust Him." Psalm 18:30

"Fear knocked. Faith answered. No one was there." Unknown

I feel truly blessed by getting to go to a school that cares so much for their students' faith and trust in God. They show so much encouragement to us especially when finals are about to start. It felt good to know that our instructors and staff pray for us over the hardest times of the trimester. I love going to Baptist College of Health Sciences. I thank God for allowing me to go there. I hope this has encouraged you in some way!

Weather!!

This post really doesn't need any words! Today was a crazy day for MS, AL, and TN. We were hit hard here in Hernando but nothing really touched down to my knowledge. I did get brave and take a few pictures to let my family south and east of here to know what it looked like at about 1 this afternoon, and what our next worry is the MS River to flood.

This is the creek behind our house! I don't think it will go over, but I'm not sure!!

This last picture was taken on my way home from Jake's. This is Hurricane Creek. I hope this isn't what things to come are going to look like!!

What a blessing!!!

I know it's been a while since my last post. I'm officially done with school for two weeks and then summer school beings. I have only one class so I still will get my summer. So far, I have two grades post. An A in Heath Care Management and a C in Patho. I'm proud with what I have gotten so far. I have worked hard for those grades! Andrew's school is working him ragged and so has the new church building which leads me to the main reason I'm posting now.
The last two Sundays have been very exciting! Our church has finally moved into our new building. We went from a small building into a building with so much room we don't know what to do with all that space. It so nice to get to have everyone in one service and all the visitors we had!! Andrew, you should know by now is very techie with lighting and soun, has worked long hours the last few days to make sure everything was just perfect for the first day. I'm so proud of him and all the others who helped to get us in our new building. As a church, we have worked many hours to get ready for this day, and we all had smiling faces walking into the building for our first service together.
We had about 150 Palm Sunday, and Easter Sunday we had 202!!! We had 53 kids from babies to 5th grade. God is so good. I worked nursery, and we had some very sweet babies to rock. If we keep these numbers we may need to go to two services before long. We love our new building and worship is even more amazing!

Jake and Lucy, in the purple pictured above, have moved into the 2&3 year old room. They both love it! Jake has gotten so big! We are still working on him to say my name and at times he does call me "Bere." It's so cute!!
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After church on Easter, we went to Alabama to visit family that we haven't seen since Christmas. It was a great afternoon talking and catching up on life that we have missed. Lindsey, Andrew's older cousin, brought her boyfriend for us to meet. He's name is Brad and I think he fits right in with the rest of us. I hope we get to see more of him in the future.
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The weather has been crazy around here. Tornado warnings and all. I'm not liking it when Andrew's not here but that has only been one time. Brooke and I texted back and forth so that help me! Thanks Brooke!! Hopefully we can get some pretty weather soon! I also hope it's pretty for this weekend and Andrew doesn't have Memphis in Mud like he did last year. He also rode out a tornado last year. The weather guys say it's going to be pretty and warm. Casper doesn't like the storms either. He has sat right under us the last few days.
well, this has gotten you guys caught up with us. I will be posting a lot in May because my younger sister Carlie will be graduating!! I'm so excited for her!
Until next time!
Ambere

There's a light at the end of this tunnel!!

As school is rapidly coming to an end, I'm getting really excited about summer. My last day of school is April 18 that's only about 10 days away if I don't include the weekends and days I don't go to school. I have 6 test in these last few days. I'm stressed to the max, and I'm ready for a break.
School is changing as well. Everyone in the country that uses a particular board testing for nursing students is changing their curriculum for the better. This means that it's changing at Baptist. I don't really care about the changes because my graduation date will stay the same. My graduation date is set for December of 13. Two more years! Andrew and I can make it to more years. With all the changes that are happening at school leaves me with the uneasiness about what to do about summer school. I'm almost to the point that I should go ahead and take this class to get it out of my way and if I get a semester off before I truly start clinicals it would be this fall. I want a lot but I know God has a plan, and I may have to wait to make my decision. I would love for us to be able to go on vacation this year, but it may not be in the cards this year. I'm ready for both of us to finish school so we can move on with our lives.
However with the business of school for me and Andrew and work for Andrew, we haven't been to Tupelo together in almost four months. I feel the hurt and sadness that we all are feeling. I hope we can make it there soon. We want to get down there to see y'all as fast as we can. It looks like we are going to be able to come on Mother's day, but I know that's another month away.
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Last night at small group, we are in a study called Vintage Jesus. We are learning about how Jesus really showed His power to others and God's love to fulfill the old testament teaching of how Jesus, our savior, was to come into our world. Our lesson last night was on Mary and how important it is to have her be a virgin. She is wonderful example of faith, but she is not the object our faith. I also learned that we are adopted by God to become His. I didn't realize how much Christians practice this because of this example. Did you realize that Jesus was adopted by Joseph? I didn't realize it until last night. I mean I've heard the story since I was little but didn't really think of this in a new way.
Christ amazes me every day. I'm in nursing school and never thought I would be. I wake up everyday not hurting because He lead me to a place where I could get help. I love my husband because I see him trying to understand Christ as I'm trying to. I'm really enjoying the Vintage Jesus study and learning about Christ in a new way.

Spring is in the Air

Over the last week or so it's been very busy around here. I have had projects and test and more test. Andrew's work has been nuts, and school is just as crazy for him as it has been for me. We have managed to squeeze time in for each other.
For our anniversary, he did get me in to see Lady Antebellum at Harrah's on the 10th. Jennifer got to go with me, and we had a great time! Carter their lighting director was wonderful! Andrew really looked up to him. He worked for Alabama during their golden years I guess you could say.

The last picture is of the opening act. His name was Randy Montana. He was good. He did a lot of cover songs, but most of the people there and including Jennifer and I were there to see Lady A. They put on a great show! I learned that Charles and Dave wrote that song, "Baby, Do I?" It sounded better with their version but that's how the music industry is. Andrew knows the guy who wrote the song "Watching Airplanes" that is sung by Gary Allen. Jonathan Singleton wrote it! He puts way more soul into the song than Gary does! I'm a little basis because I know members of the band.
Anyway, moving on. On Saturday of last week, a dear friend who has been asked if she was my mother got married. It was such a happy day to see her get married. She has been waiting on this day for a long time, and we all are happy for her.

All us church girls so excited for Tina!!
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Jake and I have been having a lot of fun lately! He is growing so much! He has started to talk a lot more! We are working him to try to say my name, but he doesn't seem to get it. Oh well. We've even tried for him to call me "Ber" and "Amer." He doesn't like either of them I guess. I'll let him come up with what ever name he wants to call me. I've been called Amo. He and I made brownies together last week.

I think he loved it!
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Last night, Mary Beth hosted a paint party at her house. She's a great artist who wanted to share her talent with all of us. She, her husband, and a few other men from the church are going on a mission trip in a few weeks and this was a great way to raise money for the trip. It was a lot of fun. I hope she does it again really soon!

The model painting.

Jennifer and Jake listening to instructions.

Mary Beth talking us through the steps!

Jake coming to check out my master piece!

The beginning of mine!

Busy Lollie working. Mom, this is Jennifer's mom, Vicki, but I call her Lollie too!

Almost everybody's finished piece!

My master piece and I!
This was a lot of fun. If you get a chance to get to go to one! Go! It's so much fun and great time of fellowship!!