The Gardners

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Blessing People

This last weekend at church we had a guest speaker Reggie McNeal (not former A&M quarterback) come and (obviously) speak. He gave us some stats on where the world is headed in terms of Christianity, and Asia is headed to great heights...so exciting! He really brought things into perspective that our job here on Earth is to bless people, and through that we pray that God will open up their hearts to him. He challenged us to bless three people this week, I have not yet done this (it is a huge stretch outside my comfort zone) I feel God saying get going. It is as simple as asking a waiter or barista, "how can I ask God to bless you." A simple question like that really does open up the doors. So lets get moving and become the blessing people!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Great Weekend

This has been a great weekend with friends.

Friday night I headed over the my aunt Ilma's house for a girls dessert night. My aunt Cindy is leaving at the end of this month to go to New Zeland with YWAM (yoouth with a mission). So we had an evening to get together and talk and pray for aunt Cindy.

(sorry I couldn't get it to a decent size, so it's blurry)

I spent Saturday with the Morris girls, we headed to pei wei for lunch and when Kate went down for a nap Emily and I had a great opportunity to chat and catch up. (Unfortunately no pictures here either).

Saturday night Drew and I headed out to Buca De Beppo for one of Drew's co-workers birthday. I got to meet a lot of the people he works with, and the food was really good! Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of Drew and I or our group.

On our way to church we got a call from Trent (he works with Drew), he invited us to the Stars game...we had such a blast. It had been awhile since Drew and I had been to a stars game, they lost, we still had a good time.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

2010 in review...FINALLY

I have finally gotten around to doing our 2010 highlights...

~In 2010 we experienced record snowfall in Februaury. We saw 12 inches of snow at home, Buttercup loved catching snowballs and chasing her friend Lucy around the yard.

~That spring Drew and I attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We went through plastic surgery, put our budget together and began using cash. We look to be out of debt next summer!

~Drew and I went to crested butte for spring break with Drew's dad and brothers. We enjoyed the week off and the general splendor of the snow covered mountains.

~In June I went with a group from our church to Recife, Brazil for a mission trip. I was a wonderful experience and I got to see a culture wrapped up in the worl cup.

~While I was in Brazil Drew surprised me with some home changes:

He tiled our bathroom floor

He was involved in our neighborhood garage sale and bought some new furniture for our living room, rearranged the room, and had wood floors put in...I was so surprised when I got home.

~We spent 4th of July with Drew's family at Cedar Creek Lake...the fireworks around the lake were beautiful!

~In August we celebrated Drew's 26th brithday. Back in April I turned 24 but I didn't take any pictures.

~We experienced Jerry world with the Lovelace's at the A&M v. Arkansas game

~Drew and I took a day and headed out to the state fair of Texas, we tried lots of different fried food, but my favorite was the fries smores.

~Our annual vacation took us to D.C. We stayed with Jeff (Drew's old roomate) and his wife. I love history so it was a great trip getting to see so much of our nations rich history!

~On Thanksgiving day my sister Elizabeth came home from being in Brazil for 3 months. It was so good to see her, she leaves to go back for a year in April.

~During Christmas break Drew and I began to paint our kitchen...We started with painting the cabinets a cream color, and in January we painted the kitchen (I'll post pictured of that later). And I have one last project in the kitchen before it is completely done.

~At the end of December Drew and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary, we had a delicious dinner at the Grand Luxe.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Texas, Snow?

Until Christmas last year I had never seen actual snow in Texas, yes I have seen the hard ice "snow" that usually hit Texas once a year totalling about 2 inches. But snow, real snow that you can make snow angels in, build a snow man in, and going sledding down that is a new phenomenon. This so called "global warming" has brought about 28 inches of snow since last Christmas, and I love it. I love seeing the brown dead land around me covered in a blanket of sparkeling white, God makes it so beautiful. I have also enjoyed a 6 day weekend this week. School has been cancelled since Tuesday, it had been nice getting to sleep in, relax, and get things done around the house. Although I have been getting cabin fever, I have really enjoyed the little bit of winter that God gave us!

Aggie Basketball

A couple weeks ago we headed out to Aggie land to see a basketball game. I've always enjoyed Aggie sports on any kind and we won! Hopefully our boys can get back on track and get that winning streak back. After the game we decided to have a photo op at the big Aggie ring. I always love going back to College Station!

Christmas present

For Christmas Drew surprised me with this shiny red mixer, I have been wanting one for awhile now. And I have been excited using it...it really does make baking more enjoyable :)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

My dad is 50!!

Last week my dad turned 50...I can't believe it! We started the weekend off right, celebrating at medieval times! We had such a good time, her are some pictures to document!