I don't know what to do with my hands



Ya'll, it's one of those days where about a million and one things are racing through my head. Between things coming up, things that are in the making, and things that just plain mess with my head... My mind's a'spinnin!

 

+ I don't want to say too much about this but some wheels have been put into place just a couple of days ago with a house Hunter and I are trying to get. We'll see if those wheels move us into a direction that we want to go. If not, we've got back-up plans.

 

+ I cannot say thank you enough to the sweet friends who have welcomed me (and Hunter) into their lives. They're real as they come, no drama-mama kind of friends, and we have been beyond blessed to grow with them.

 

+ This past weekend, I went to go see my brothers, their girlfriends, and friends. Being able to spend time with my brothers did some good to my soul. We were always so close when we were young, kind of drifted apart, and we're getting to be close again. Even though both of my brothers are younger than me, they sure do act like protective, older brothers and I can't say I hate it. Love you Joe and Jordan!

 

 

+ Hunter and I are going to the North Florida Fair tomorrow and I'm pee-in-my-pants excited! It's nothing big but it's still the fair and we can eat like junkyard dogs. Holla!

 

+ God is continually blessing our marriage every.single.day. I mean, the Big Man is just rockin our socks off with this whole being a married couple now.

 

 

+ Finally, God has been working in my heart daily to realize that sometimes you can't help somebody that doesn't want to be helped. I had a really good conversation with a sweet friend of mine (hi Jessie!) about my struggle with trying to juggle loving somebody without letting their negativity pull me down. And she summed it up so well - sometimes you really just cannot save someone from themselves. I've always said that God can and will use different people in your lives to teach you things, or to get His message across to you; that conversation would definitely be one of those moments. 

I hope ya'll are all having a wonderful week so far!

 

The dress

I can finally finally FINALLY share with ya'll my beautiful wedding dress! I absolutely loved it. I even loved it so much that I just kept it on all night rather than changing into my exit outfit.

 

Yep, I was that chick that checked into her hotel at 1:00am in her wedding dress with husband and suitcases in tow.

 

My wedding dress was actually my mother's wedding dress. I only had to make minor alterations to it to make it a bit more modern.
 

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 I took the lace from my mom's veil (I didn't wear a veil - so glad I didn't!) and used that to add the length at the bottom.

Please excuse blurry iPhone pic...That train though...

 

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We took in the 80's style sleeves quite a bit to form a more fitted sleeve.

 

I received so many compliments on the dress and people absolutely loved that it was my mother's dress. Right before my father and I walked down the aisle, he looked at me and so very sweetly said, "You know... You look just like your mother." *cue waterworks*

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I wanted to channel a vintage, classy, southern look and I was more than blown away by it all! Between my hair style, the dress, and makeup... it was all so beautiful and sentimental to me. Hunter was absolutely smitten when he saw me!

So mom, if you're reading this, thank you again for letting me wear your wedding dress. I truly felt like Cinderella at the ball with her prince charming.

Fun fact: When I was little, I used to make my dad put on a suit, take off his glasses (because duh, princes don't wear glasses), and we would dance to the Cinderella song "So This is Love" in our living room. Take a wild guess to what our father/daughter dance was...

My sweet friend, who was our wedding photographer, is putting the finishing touches on our pictures. If you want a sneak peek to some of our pictures, feel free to click on over to her Tumblr website.

Some Tips and Tidbits

The week leading up to our wedding + the wedding day itself was all a bit busy for us. Especially leading up to the wedding because we had an entire tobacco barn to decorate. Have I mentioned how grateful I am for all the help we received from family and friends to make that beautiful day possible??
 

My MIL did an awesome job with all the tulle! Trust me, this is just the beginning phase.

My sweet FIL pressure washed every single table and chair

 Seriously, ya'll are some awesome kids.

 

As I went throughout the whole process, and even looking back now, there are some tips and tidbits that I felt I wanted to share. So if you're already married, you may agree with me on some of these things. If you're engaged, please take some of these things to heart. If you're not engaged, just store this in your memory bank for a later date.

 

one: If you're the wedding planner (like I was), be sure to take a second and breathe. People will be coming at you with about a million and one questions simply because they have your best interests at heart and want to provide you the absolute best.

 

At the end of every day we would set up, my mom and aunt would stop me and ask, "Are you happy? Is this what you envisioned?" Every time I would answer, "It's better than I could ever imagine." Because I'm a pretty laid back person, I pretty much let my mom, aunt, MIL, and friends take charge of their little tasks and decorate how they felt. I told them what I had in mind and they did excellent at reading into what we wanted! There may have been one or two things that I tweaked but otherwise, they did great.

 

two: Do. Not. Sweat. The. Small. Things. Seriously ladies, it'll only make you more stressed.

 

For example, Aunt Flo decided to show up the Thursday morning before my wedding. Did I freak? Eh, maybe slightly. But by Saturday morning, she was gone. The tip here: Prayers really do work people.... #Ikid #slightly. After the minor freak out, I came to my senses and thought, "Hey! You're going to be married to this guy for life. It's okay if there's a minor hiccup in the beginning of the honeymoon."

 

As setup week was underway, we realized that we never got the boutonnieres for the mothers and grandmothers. Not that the florist forgot, we just simply didn't think of picking them up. A huge shout out to mom and Aunt Jana for making those babies the day of.

 

Totes didn't have a toss bouquet - mom and aunt went to Hobby Lobby, bought some flowers, and ta-da. A toss bouquet under $10.

 

My brothers forgot to go back into the church to escort my mother out after the ceremony ended. It made for a really good laugh when our pastor said, "Boys... Come get your mother."

 

There were so many small details that just ended up not happening. Don't sweat it!

 

three: This one is a biggie: Be intentional to slow your big day down. I was told by tons of folks prior to the big day that it all flies by in a blur. So I made every effort to slow the day down, and to enjoy every second as it came. It was glorious!

 

four: Remember that all of this is about the marriage, not the wedding. Don't get too caught up in trying to make the wedding exactly the way you saw it on Pinterest because honestly, the days after the wedding day are the best. God is my witness on that one.

 

Recap of sorts

So my first week back to work post wedding went relatively quickly. The good Lord knows how to treat me well I tell ya. Because it's Friday, and in good lazy Friday fashion, I figured ya'll could use a recap via Instagram of the happenings of this week. Oh so vain, I know.

 

 

The Welborns voted on Tuesday for their local government. Just doing our civic duty, ya know.

 

 

Thursday morning, I woke up to find out that my youngest baby brother, along with his girlfriend, were involved in a bad accident Wednesday night. By the grace of God alone, they were able to walk away with scratches, bruises, and sore ribs. The vehicle they were in was totaled but as we told them, that's just material things and their safety and lives are all that matter.

 

 

Aren't they just pretty?! Hunter and I will be going this weekend to take care of them and spend time with them. Love you Jordan and Brooke. No more letting people hit ya'll, okay?! 

 

Thursday evening, I came home to this adorable card from Emily! Thank you so much again sweet girl for this. I absolutely cherish your friendship!

 

To wrap up a crazy Thursday, Hunter and I sat around and watched a classic, Hook. Robin Williams, you were a man of many talents and you are truly missed.

 

Hope ya'll have a wonderful weekend!! 



Now here's the milllion dollar question...

"When are ya'll going to start trying for kids?"

 

I can honestly say I've already heard this question a few times, and even a couple more times before Hunter and I got married. I know that some couples become offended that people would ask such a question - oh the blasphemy! Honestly though, Hunter and I just laugh and love the fact that people are wanting to see some mini-me's of us. God bless your souls for wanting a Kelly #2. I kid...

 

But in all honesty, the question does make us think. Of course we talked extensively before marriage about kids - how many do we want? Where will we raise them? What schools will we send them to? How do we want to have kids?

 

To kind of start answering those questions, Hunter and I know for a fact that we do not want to expand our family with little minions anytime soon. Call us crazy, but we really want to be married for awhile. Just the 2 of us. There are certain things that we want to accomplish before we bring a child into the mix because hey, it's pretty life-changing from what I've heard. I've had a couple of people say, "Oh you'll change your mind as soon as you get married and you'll want them right away."

 

Nope, still haven't changed my mind. I don't care how many of my friends are getting pregnant and having babies; Hunter and I are in this for us and not others.

 

Then that question comes along: "What if you can't bear children?" My answer to that: Ain't nothin' but a thang. See here's why....

 

Hunter and I want to adopt.

 

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Yes, we will certainly try to have kids of our own but we are beyond adamant about adopting and growing our family with a child or children from all over the world. We've actually even started the process with researching information for 2 specific countries that we would like to adopt from. And call it a God moment, but about the time we want to start trying to expand our family is actually the time we can legally start the adoption process.

 

We haven't decided yet if we want to adopt first or try to have kids first. There are certain age limits that your other children (if you have them) need to be in order to adopt. Honestly, we'll leave that decision up to God because He knows more than we're ever capable of knowing. If we're in the position to adopt first, then we will. And the same goes for having a biological child.

 

Adoption has always been very near and dear to my heart. For those who don't know, my sister was adopted from China when she was just 10 months old. I've heard people who have never adopted before make statements that it's just not the same. You are so sorely, sorely mistaken my friend. The instant I saw my sister, I loved her just as much as I love my 2 biological brothers. No questions at all. She is my sister regardless of skin color, DNA make-up, different momma and daddy. She is my sister in Christ.

 

 

So I guess at the end of all of this, mine and Hunter's plans to expand our little family in the future may be different from what other folks would envision. And that's okay! In the meantime though, we'll just keep giggling and smiling when people ask us about kids. And we'll keep dreaming of the day that we can someday become a momma and a daddy.

 

If you have any questions about my adoption experience with my sister, please do not hesitate to shoot me an email. I absolutely LOVE talking about it!

  



A Follow-Up of Sorts

So in the midst of getting back into the swing of things yesterday, I totes magotes realized it's November. Which means October is over. Which means I need to recap my October goals and make some newbies!!

 

In case you missed it (or need a reminder like me), here were my October goals and the pass/fail rate....

• Get married - this is a no-brainer but hey, it's important and needs to get done. Le duh...

 

• Really reduce my eating out habits. I'm talking no more iced coffee's from Dunkin Donuts, McDonald's, or Starbucks. This actually pains me to type this but I have found a few iced coffee recipes that I'm going to try. Thank you Sarah! PASS! Gotta love that iced coffee.

 

• Put the rubber to the road with ministry things. In all honesty, I have been running around like a crazy woman trying to plan a wedding but hey, no more excuses! Fail. I don't even want to talk about this. I'll do better Coach.

 

• Knock down more debt - Hunter and I just got our checking accounts and savings accounts combined (I know, real life stuff here) and we have some big plans to pay off debts. Slowly but surely, we're becoming debt-free. Half-pass I guess... We're knocking out stuff much quicker now that our finances are combined.

 

• Send out thank you card's for wedding gifts - I've been working on these as each wedding shower has happened so I'm staying pretty on top of it right now. Just can't slow down now! Ha! Fail... But I am working on those this week because it's just rude to not thank people.

 

• Run - I'm not even putting a specific mileage number here. I just need to get back into running. Hunter has decided to start running with me so I'm very excited to have a running buddy. He just needs to take smaller steps with that big ole stride of his! What does this even mean?! *whomp whomp*

 

So my little chickens, this brings me to my November goals....

• Try to really buckle down on ministry things for Quincy such as youth stuff or finding a program that helps abused women.
• Forget running, at least go walking with that hubs of mine. Not only will we feel better but we'll feel better - win win eh?
• Knock some Christmas shopping out. I can't get over the fact that Christmas is next month.
• Complete the paperwork and have my last name legally changed over. Moving from the front of the alphabet to the back ya'll!

Did ya'll miss me?

Looky looky who's back and in action! Ya'll, it was so so nice being off of work for 2 whole weeks but I will say that coming back to reality is also very nice too. I still cannot get over the fact that I have been a married woman for over a week now... and the holidays are just around the corner. Uhhh hellllurrrr?!

 

As I'm getting back into the swing of things, I'm going to make this pretty easy on myself. I'm joining up today with the beautiful Mrs. Emily because ya'll, she's just awesome sauce.

 

Today I'm so grateful for my wonderful workplace and job that I can return to. I honestly had no regrets about returning to work today. That says a lot when you love your job that much.

 

Today I'm so grateful for the time off I had. I got to spend the first part of my 2 weeks off getting things ready for the wedding (a post on that will surely come), and then the 2nd part of the time off was spent with my husband. We enjoyed life, laughed a whole heck of a lot, and drank in all the warm fuzzy newlywed feelings. I truly married my best friend.

 

 

Today I'm so grateful for the cooler weather. I woke up today to a brisk 36 degrees and smiled the biggest smile ever.

 

 

Today I'm so so  so grateful for all of the friends and family we were able to see at our wedding. I cannot begin to tell ya'll how happy that made our hearts.

 

Here's to a beautiful Monday and every other day after this! What in the world have all of ya'll been up to??

 

Had to put this up... Just because my SIL is amazing