Plans

jtothet — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:02:01 +0000

Whew! What a weekend. My family and I had a great time with Katye and her family. I drove down wednesday after I finished with youth week. (I lead worship out at Oak Mtn. for the last night of the event.) As I was exiting from 459 onto 20/59 I had a blow out and, surprise, my spare was flat too. Luckily my parents don’t live too far from there and my Dad was able to bring an air compressor and swap cars with me. My parents drove down friday morning and we were able to have lunch with everyone at Lenny’s. After Lunch we stopped by two different places that do catering in the area so that we could start thinking about the rehearsal dinner. One was a bar-b-que joint and the other was a seafood market. I think Mom wants to go with crawfish from the seafood place. Which is great because Katye loves crawfish. After looking at caterers we drove down to a venue prospect. We pretty much hit the jackpot. It is a very nice clubhouse on a lake. I think mom has pretty much nailed down most of what she sat out to get done this weekend. Friday night we all went out to eat at Crescent City Grill. It’s a pretty nice place. They have great cajun dishes. After dinner we went back to the Artmann’s to taste cake. I don’t know if we have any decisions but, I know what I don’t want. French vanilla cake…yuck. Saturday we got up, loaded a sofa in my Dad’s truck for Katye, and fixed Mr. Tommy’s lawnmower. All in all it was a very successful weekend. On the way home we stopped to visit with my Mom’s parents in Livingston.

That’s pretty much it for now.

Peace and Love.

New obsession…

jtothet — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:22:29 +0000

I am a little late jumping on the bandwagon but my sleeping habits have gotten a bit out of whack due to the summer. With that said. I have started watching Hulu. It’s pretty sweet. Although, I haven’t quite figured out to enjoy it to it’s full potential. If anyone has any tips, let me know. Lately I have been watching, and I’m sure I’ll regret publishing this, Glee. I was against this show to begin with…until i realized that it pretty accurately portrays my high school experience. Now, most of the characters are very exaggerated but for the most part the story line really isn’t that far off from illustrating the plight of the high school show choir. We loved music and performing and sometimes we were ridiculed because of it. That is, until people realized that we had talent. I do miss those days.

all for now

peace and love

insert witty title here

jtothet — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:09:43 +0000

At the urging of my wonderful fiance, I have decided to update this thing and once again I will attempt to do this more frequently. Past attempts have come up very short. I have no excuse. There are too many things that are happening in my life that warrant me telling all 3 or 4 of you that take the time to read this. So many, in fact, that I struggle with deciding where to start. I guess we will go in chronological order.

✢ Wedding stuff ✢

I made a short post after returning from Disney World about mine and Katye’s engagement. We are now four months in and in the thick of planning. At the end of this week my parents will be accompanying me to Hattiesburg to look at venues and catering for the rehearsal dinner. Pretty exciting stuff. Also, back in May we took some engagement photos. They were taken by our good friend Bradley Hodges. He will be shooting the wedding as well. If you are interested in seeing the pictures you should check out his facebook or website. Just do a google search for Bradley Hodges Photography. I’m too lazy to post a link. In other wedding news, we have a hotel and flights booked for our honeymoon on Oahu. I really can’t wait to get there. I will try to post more as things pertaining to the wedding come up.

✢ Unky JT✢

That’s right. I am going to be an uncle. My sister and her husband are having a baby girl. I couldn’t be happier. I have to admit, though, it is still really weird that my BABY sister is having a BABY. I am so very proud of her. She has done really well with being pregnant and so far everything is going as it should. I will say this. Everyone who knows me knows that I love children. Amy being pregnant is going to make it harder for me and Katye to wait once we are married.

✢ Schoolin’✢

I start my last semester as an undergrad at the end of August. Graduation can’t come soon enough. I am really close to graduating with honors and if i do it would ensure that I get into a good grad school. I really need this semester to fly by.

I guess that will do it for now.

Peace and Love

Hi Ho Cherrio…

jtothet — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:40:58 +0000

Life is nuts right now. So many things have happened since i last posted. Somethings I’ll share, others I won’t. the main two things that i want to share with you are the disney trip and my engagement to the most wonderful person in the world. We are very excited to be starting a new chapter in our life. The date is set for May 28th of next year.

Disney was so awesome. I definitely suggest going as soon and as often as you can. It was the best spring break I have ever had. Thanks Mrs. Paula!

I feel like I should have included more detail about both events but I am just not really that into it.

Peace

Taking the cheese to the Mouse.

jtothet — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:05:26 +0000

There are only nine days left until spring break and only ten days until I will be in Disney World. Excited? You’re darn tootin’. I get really excited about trips and vacations. So much so that I end up getting really impatient/testy when I have to wait longer than I want to. I just can’t even imagine how awesome it is going to be. I have only been to Disney one other time. I was eight. There are so many new things there. I just don’t know what I am going to do with myself. I found myself making an itinerary yesterday. Yes, I made an itinerary. No harm in being prepared. I don’t wan to miss out on thing. I am so thankful that Katye’s mom included me in their trip

Ok, getting to excited…must…go.

Peace and Love

Blognundrum…

jtothet — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:57:30 +0000

I’ve come to a point where I don’t really know what I want to do with this thing anymore. Technically i could write every week. However, I don’t always feel like writing. I think I have decided to update with at least something every wednesday. If I don’t feel like writing, I will probably just post a video or something else funny. You know, to lighten everyones day. So this is legit try at doing a weekly blog…take one.

Love.

jtothet — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:22:08 +0000

I’m not really sure how often Katye reads this but…whatever. I’m going to write about her anyway. Tomorrow we’ll have been together for 21 months. For those of you who have been in longer relationships, Kudos. I just want to say how completely an utterly in Love I am with Katye. She is the most selfless, kind, wonderful, beautiful, caring, funny, smart, and altogether most lovely woman I have ever had the privilege of knowing. She has shown me things that I could have never expected to know by myself. I don’t really believe in soul mates. I think you find someone that you Love enough to just make it work, day in and day out. She is my best friend and my muse. I Love Her.

Encouragement.

jtothet — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:33:40 +0000

I’m writing this post for anyone who feels as if they are stuck. The particular “stuck” that I am referring to is that feeling you get when you just don’t know if you are doing things that God wants you to do. I run into so many people who spend so much time trying to figure out what their gifts are and how they should use them to serve God and others. I too struggled with this for a couple of years. I am not sure what it is about us that takes someone else telling us that we are gifted but that just seems to be what it takes. So if you are wondering what your gifts are, just ask those that are closest to you. I am sure that they have witnessed your gifts even if you haven’t.

Something that we don’t seem to understand on our own is that God has gifted us with strengths and abilities that will allow us to serve him and others anytime and anywhere. Don’t get me wrong. Foreign missions are great ministries and they are absolutely essential but I find that we waste a lot of time planning things to come when we could be serving those around us immediately. I guess what I am trying to say is that once we have determined our gifts we are responsible for using them as much as possible.

I still struggle with wanting to do more. But it’s the little recognition from others that make it worth while: to know that people are blessed by God through the things that he has gifted me with.

So, here’s the encouragement. You do not have to go halfway around the world to do God’s work. God has given you everything you need to be faithful in service where ever you are. However, if, in your service, you do feel called to go halfway around the world, you should go. But do not ignore the work at hand. God does not make mistakes which mean he made no mistake in creating you. You are capable of great things. You just have to start.

God Bless

I Love Christmas.

jtothet — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:06:13 +0000

I might have done a post about this before but I just feel like every year warrants a reminder. I am the biggest Christmas nerd on the planet. I have never really nailed down what it is about this season that makes me love it. I mean, yes, I know the true meaning of Christmas and that is the biggest reason why I love it but I also love all the other things too. I think it is because when my sister and I were growing up my dad always made sure that Christmas was always special/magical. Example: There used to be a huge Christmas parade in Hoover every year that ended at the municipal building where my dad worked (he is a recently retired Hoover Police Officer). Well, at the end of the parade Santa would climb out of his sleigh and get in a car to go home for some reason. Why he didn’t just use his sleigh I could never quite figure out. Anyway, we were able to tell santa what we wanted for Christmas before any other kids because he and my dad were buddies. It was so awesome. That is just one of many things that my dad did that made the holidays special for us. I also love time spent with family and friends. I don’t really know where I’m going with all of this. I guess I just want to remind everyone that this is a season of joy and celebration. Please try and remember that and make it special for everyone around you…friend, family, or stranger.

God Bless Us Everyone.

Saturday

jtothet — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:16:30 +0000

Yesterday was quite a triumph for me. I turned in my last paper of the semester and participated in a group presentation. Which is quite a relief. The presentations are always really stressful. The faculty come in and grill us on a particular topic. you can never fully prepare for what questions they might ask. Overall, it is a success.

Today I plan on just laying around. I need the rest. I might look over some material for finals. I really don’t freak out about tests like i do papers or projects.

Tomorrow we are doing a new song in Contact. hope it goes well. My mom and dad are having me, Katye, my sister, and her boyfriend over for a Christmas get together tomorrow night. It is the only time that all of us will be able to get together. Hopefully it will be fun.

Anyway, not really in the mood to write anymore.

Peace