The life and times of Shawn and Emily

Uganda 2011

2011-01-24T20:51:00.008-06:00

1/24/2011

Dear Family and Friends,

I am writing to say thank you to everyone who supported me through prayer and monetary gifts to go on the mission trip to Uganda. I have been back for 2 days now. It was truly one of the most amazing and eye-opening experiences of my life. I am moved beyond words. Here is my feeble attempt to try and share some of this trip with you.

On the flight to Uganda I read “Radical” by David Platt. It is an amazing book and was the perfect read to prepare me before my trip. I highly recommend this book to anyone. The sub title of the book is ‘Taking your faith back from the American dream’. This book spoke to me and started to break my heart and convict me before I even arrived in Africa.

One of the things that struck me the most on the trip was the mile upon endless mile of extreme poverty. Countless children stood or walked along the roadside without shoes and sometimes even clothes. If they did have clothes they were often filthy and ripped or worn out. The amount of under-loved, under-cared for, and under-fed children in Uganda is mind blowing and absolutely unbelievable to me.

We visited 6 different villages while were in Uganda. Some of the villages had support from churches in the United States while some of the villages had absolutely no outside support. It was amazing to see what a little support from a single church in America could do for a entire African village. In order for a child to go to school for a year and have at least one daily good meal at school only costs $250. The cost of supporting a teacher for a full year is $365. The cost of supporting a church congregation and costs that go along with that is $250 a month. In order to support a Vicar and his family it is $100 a month. We visited villages that, because of support from the United States, were able to have water wells dug or were able to build a church, school or workshop. We also visited villages that did not have these things or lacked some of these things. The one thing that remained the same in all of the villages was the excitement and pure joy and happiness that the children had when we would pull into the village. They would swarm the van and they would be reaching out to touch us as soon as we stepped off the bus. So many of the children just want to be held and loved. The amount of joy that they had is something that is not frequently seen here in the US. They loved having their pictures taken and would love to then see the digital pics of themselves. For many of them this was probably the first time they had seen a picture of themselves. Often times they would all start singing when we would arrive.

We also had the opportunity to meet some of the vicars that were supporting various congregations in the different villages. These men of God leave their families to go to seminary in Kenya so that they can become ordained pastors and preach the word of God to the villages. They are not paid and they rely on the congregations to support them and their families. Since most of the congregations do not have money, the vicars struggle to get by and support their families. Each of these vicars has multiple congregations that they minister to. It was humbling to meet these men and see the sacrifices they are making.

Two of the villages prepared great meals for us. We had cabbage, beef, chicken, rice, and peanut sauce, a dish made from plantains, potatoes and greens. I really enjoyed the food and was moved by the selflessness of the villages. Those of us on the mission trip and a few key people in the villages were the only ones who ate the meal. To prepare such a meal for us cost the villages a large amount of money. It was one more thing that wrecked my heart. These people living in poverty sacrificed a great deal and made us a better meal than they ever have enjoyed themselves. They sacrificed for us when they have nothing. Wrap your mind around that.

We handed out candy, super balls, stickers, cross necklaces, soccer balls, soccer uniforms (shorts, jerseys, shin guards, socks), dresses, and Bibles to the children at the villages. We were also able to present the teachers of Bufuula with goats (part of their pay). They were extremely grateful and so happy. The smiles of the children are images that I will never forget. We also helped to paint the church in Nakabango and build some benches for the church. We were there for the dedication of the church and it was the most amazing church dedication that I expect I will ever be a part of.

While we were there we had the opportunity to attend a few different worship services. We were able to celebrate baptisms, confirmations and also take part in the Lord’s Supper. The congregation would burst out in celebration when the children were baptized and confirmed. It was beautiful to see such celebration for the Lord. Even though they live in poverty they praised the Lord to a degree that is not frequently seen in the American church. I truly feel honored to have been able to attend these services and visit these villages.

I am planning on staying involved with the long-term missions in Uganda and I plan to go back as frequently as possible. I feel like I am being called to support the missions in Uganda on a full time basis. I have no idea in what capacity or what it will look like but I am trusting that God will show me how I can be used for His Glory. Yes, these villages and children need money, but they also need relationships and the love of Jesus Christ. My prayer has been that God would burn these images into my consciousness, not just in my memory. I am also in prayer that I would be a better steward of what God has given me. I now have a whole new understanding of how truly blessed I am.

Again, I want to say thank you for supporting me on this mission.

I will continue to update this blog as God brings clarity on how I will be a part of supporting the missions in Uganda.

http://shawn-emily.blogspot.com/

You can also follow me on twitter.

http://twitter.com/shawnroller

In Him,

Shawn Roller

PS - here are a few pics

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T18:53:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas Everyone,
We hope this letter finds you all well. It has been a busy year for us. Once again, we find ourselves looking back over the past year completely overwhelmed by the blessings that God continues to pour out on us.
We went on a ski/snowboard trip to Steamboat Colorado with my brother Scott, Amy and the kids in February. While we were there we also took a day trip down to Boulder and spent the day with our friend Stacey. We were even able to stop by and visit Emily’s brother Cary’s family on our way back home. Overall, we had a great trip and we are looking forward to our next ski/snowboard trip.
Emily has continued to ramp up her piano lesson business and is now teaching voice lessons to a few students as well. In addition to private lessons, she is now teaching piano to groups of young children at Montessori schools during the week. This year she has two recitals for her students that have gone extremely well.
Emily has also starting singing with the Dallas Symphony Chorus this year. She is extremely busy right now because they have 12 Christmas performances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra this month. They only chose a few new members this year and Emily was one of them. To be in a professional choir has always been one of Emily’s dreams so this was an exciting accomplishment.
We celebrated the 4th of July in Houston with Emily’s family. Her brother Cary and his family were in town as well so we were able to get to spend some time with them which was great.
Emily was able to go on a Jilian Michaels wellness cruise in October with her mom. They had a great time and visited the Bahamas, Cozumel and a private island. While on the cruise they were able to have Jillian Michaels train them and were able to attend all kinds of cooking and wellness classes.
We took a trip to Chicago this summer and had a great time. The highlight of this year was that I was able to see my son Noah which is an answer to prayer and miracle in and of itself.
For Thanksgiving, we went to Midland Texas for the 3rd year in a row and had a great Thanksgiving day feast at the Ramey’s. We also did Christmas decorating at some houses in Midland with Emily’s aunt Pat and had a great time visiting with family.
I am staying busy with work and school and hope to be able to report better news on both in next year’s letter. I am going on a mission trip to Uganda Africa in January. The male population in the villages we will be visiting is close to non-existent because of AIDS and war. We will be going to spend time with the children of these villages and also bring supplies and Bibles to many of the villages.
The big news of the year is that our dog Tozer will be getting some new company around the house. Emily and I are expecting our first child due in July. This month we were able to get our first ultrasound and see the baby’s heartbeat. We are very excited and will be busy getting things ready for our new addition over the next few months.
Anyways, I hope you are all doing well. Follow us on twitter for more up-to-date news @EmRoller and @shawnroller
Love,
Shawn and Emily (+1)

Uganda Mission Trip

2010-09-22T11:12:00.004-05:00

September 23, 2010
Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing to share with you about an amazing opportunity that I have been given to go on an international mission trip. From January 15th to Jan 22nd 2011 I will be heading to Uganda, Africa. The purpose of the trip will be to spend time with children in rural villages as well as deliver supplies, and minister to their various needs. A large part of the male population has died from violent conflicts as well as devastating diseases such as AIDS. Since male role models are scarce in the villages, we will be going to spend time with the children and show them how valuable and treasured they are to God. The plan is to travel to different villages each day. While we are in the villages we will spend time playing games with the children, ministering to them and fellowshipping. We will also be helping out with tasks and chores that have been left undone for lack of a significant male presence there.

As soon as my pastor mentioned the opportunity for the mission to Uganda, I immediately knew that the Lord was calling me to go. My wife Emily also felt the same nudging of the Lord and it was decided that day that I would go. I have a heart for service and I am looking forward to using this gift to benefit the people that need it the most.

I am writing to see if you would be willing to support me on this mission in one or both of the following ways:

The first way that I will need support is through your prayers. This includes prayers that God’s grace and love will be spread through us to the children and families we are going to spend time with. Prayers will also be needed to ensure that we are sensitive to the will of God and the nudging of the Spirit in the steps and decisions that we make.

I generally do not like asking for financial support; however I have come to understand that this is not only an opportunity for me but is a great way for my friends and family to contribute to this mission as well. It is a way for you to be a part of something that will not only change my life but the lives of many others. Therefore- the second way that you can help this mission is financially. My total expense will be approximately $2,500 which includes my flight, meals, vaccinations, lodging and transportation. Please pray about this decision to financially help me and only contribute if you feel led. If you wish to participate in this way you can either donate online at Water's Edge (under Uganda Mission) or you can mail checks payable to Water’s Edge Lutheran Church and write my name in the memo section. Your donations are tax deductible and you will receive a statement from my church to use on your taxes. Below, I have provided my current address, the address of my church, as well as my phone number. Please don’t hesitate to call me if you have any questions.

Please feel free to forward this letter to anyone else you think may be interested in supporting this mission effort.

May God bless you on your faith journey,
Shawn Roller

ONLINE DONATION: Water's Edge – Uganda Mission – Sponsoring – Shawn Roller

MAILING ADDRESSES AND CONTACT INFORMATION:

Shawn Roller
1024 Piedmont Dr
McKinney, Texas 75071
(630) 853-7944
shawndroller@gmail.com
www.twitter.com/shawnroller

Water’s Edge Frisco
PO Box 894
Frisco, Texas 75034
www.watersedgefrisco.com

No one's laughing at God video

2010-07-13T12:12:00.002-05:00

ok, so I know I haven't posted in FOREVER and i promise to get an update out soon but I wanted to share this video I made last night at like 1AM last night.... check it out!

-Emily

Holiday Update!

2010-01-06T14:41:00.012-06:00

Hi all,

So.... the Holidays were so nice for us! For Thanksgiving we went to Midland to do house decorating again this year. We go to these huge houses and decorate their homes for Christmas. It pays really well and it helps us out with buying Christmas gifts. It was great spending time with my mom's side of the family! We took our dog Tozer with us and he had fun playing with all the other dogs!

My sister Stephanie also took some pictures of Shawn and I and Tozer for our Christmas cards this year that turned out pretty cute. (see below)

This was our first Christmas together in our new house so we had a lot of fun decorating and putting up lights in the front yard.

We went to my parents house for Christmas and had a lot of fun spending time together. Christmas Eve we went to the Tharpe's house for their annual Christmas eve party that we've been going to for as long as I can remember. It was a lot of fun. Christmas morning we woke up and exchanged gifts. I hand-sewed my sister's dog Lily and my old dog Quinn a new bed for Christmas and also a new bed for our dog Tozer. I kept complaining about how hard it was to do by hand blah blah blah and for a nice surprise my wonderful husband Shawn bought me my first sewing machine for Christmas! I was so excited. I already have a few projects lined up but I'm going to have to take it slow because I've never actually learned how to sew correctly... I've just kind of figured it out on my own. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner and I helped my mom make some really neat dishes that she got off the TV. My personal favorite had to be the homemade pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust and cinnamon whip cream...YUUUUM. Mike and May Tharpe came over for our Christmas dinner and we had a lot of fun talking and making elf-yourself videos. That night we also went to look at Christmas lights at a house that had been featured on TLC. We also did fondue one night and it was the first time I had ever tried it. Very good! My dad surprised my mom with all new dishes for Christmas from pier one so everything was very pretty.

We left my parents house on Sunday morning and had Shawn's brother's family over for a gift exchange on Sunday night. Shawn's mom had also flown in a few days before. It was a very fun night and nice to be able to have everyone over to our house.

Overall our Holiday was very nice and blessed. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for our little family and hope you all are doing well.

Love, Emily (TONS of pictures below)

pumpkins and anniversary and Devon visits

2009-11-09T09:04:00.020-06:00

Hi everyone,

For this Halloween, I decided to carve pumpkins with my niece Juliana. We don't really celebrate Halloween per say but I thought it would be fun to carve pumpkins. Juliana came over and we picked some stencils and did our thing! Uncle Shawn chaperoned and was in charge of roasting the pumpkin seeds.

Getting Ready.....

Scraping out the gunk...

roasting the seeds!

Finished Product...

The weekend of Halloween Shawn and I drove to Gonzales, Texas to stay at the Cabana for our first anniversary. The Cabana is the bed and breakfast where Shawn proposed to me in May 2008. We thought it would be fun to go back there for our first anniversary and it was! Also, this is proof that I have the best mom in the world..... So after our wedding last year my parents took the top tier of our wedding cake and put it in their freezer while we were on our honeymoon. Well their freezer actually ended up breaking and all the food went bad including our wedding cake. So I was kind of bummed about it but I just figured we probably wouldn't actually eat year-old cake anyways. Well my mom went to our cake decorator and had her re-create the top tier of our wedding cake. She then drove 6 hours in a thunderstorm on a Thursday night after work to take our new cake to the cabana where we would be staying for the weekend. She wanted it to be a surprise and for it to be waiting for us when we got there. It was definitely a surprise and such a treat!!!

Headed to Gonzales...

The Gazebo where Shawn proposed.

Opening my first gift (some really cute shoes)

Overall we had a really great weekend. It was very relaxing and nice to catch up with some of our friends in Gonzales. We really can't wait to go back.

I'll leave you with a picture of me and my cousin Devon and our babies Melody and Tozer. Devon came in for a visit on Thursday and we had a lot of fun.

thrifty decor

2009-10-19T13:30:00.017-05:00

So Shawn and I have moved into our new house and in the living room we have this huge blank wall that I've been dying to fill up.

I like the idea of a picture wall because I have sooo many pictures but I didn't like the idea of the messy, a million different frames of all different shapes and sizes putting holes in the wall. So I decided to do something more organized and refined but still use pictures. I found this idea in a home decorating magazine where a lady had four related pictures of her family professional framed and matted and hung on a wall. I liked the idea but didn't want to spend $400 to do it. So I kind of came up with my own related idea and here it is....

First things first I headed to Hobby Lobby my favorite store in the world.

I shopped around for some frames and it turned out that day they had 50% off all frames. yay! so I bought four 9x12 frames for half off of $13.99 each ($28.00 total).

Then I headed to the paper section and bought some fun 12x12 scrapbook paper for 10 cents each that would go well with our home decor.

I also bought some large chipboard letters for 4.99...

and 4 yards of some black rope for 1.99/ yard.

I then headed to CVS and printed four 8x10's of the pictures I wanted to hang for about 1.99 each after my cvs card discount.

When I got home I spray painted 4 of my large chipboard letters black with some extra black all-purpose spraypaint I had in the garage.

I then cut each scrapbook paper to fit inside the frames

And taped each picture to a piece of scrapbook paper and put each photo in the frames....

Then i checked with Tozer to get his opinion on how it was looking.

He approved!

The trickiest part after this was hanging each picture on the wall EVENLY, then using a nail to hang the rope above the frames so it looks like the rope is hanging it up. After that I simply used some black thread to tie to the letters and hang them on the nails and this is how it turned out......

So I transformed our boring wall for a total of $48.00! Hope you all have a blessed day!

-Emily

It's been awhile.....

2009-10-17T20:14:00.015-05:00

Ok so it's been like 3 months since we've posted an actual update to our blog... let me try and remember most of what has happened.....

July 9th was Shawn's 30th birthday. He made me PROMISE not to have a party so I agreed and we just went out for dinner. I wanted his birthday to be special so I called around and found this piano bar downtown Dallas that I thought would remind him of the piano bar we loved on our honeymoon on the Cruise. So we drive all the way downtown and get to the restaurant and it was a total joke. There was no piano that night, they informed me it had been moved to the next night and the food was horrible. It was pretty sad but of course Shawn didn't mind. For his birthday he got some camping gear (which we have yet to use) and permission to buy me an IPHONE 3G. He has been wanting to buy me one since he got his for his birthday in 2008 but I had a really hard time spending that much money on a phone so I never let him. So, for his birthday I finally let him buy me one. And let me say, it was the best gift I could have ever given him. haha! I love mine so much and I truly do not know how I ever lived without it.

The rest of July was spent mostly house searching. We thought we were going to have to wait another year before we would be able to buy a home but after talking with some different loan officers and real estate agents it turned out we were going to be able to buy one this year! So we spent most of July and August looking for the perfect home and we finally found it and closed on it August 26th.

It's a 3 bedroom 2 bath about 1800 sq ft home in McKinney about 3 minutes away from Shawn's brother Scott's house. It's absolutely perfect for us. I have a music room with my piano that I have been teaching lessons out of, Shawn has an office/study for him to do work in and Tozer has a great big back yard. It's been really fun decorating and figuring out where everything should go. Shawn has also really enjoyed doing the yard every weekend. Our mortgage payment is actually LESS than our rent was at the apartment so we are actually saving money, not to mention the investment we are putting into.

Our lease at the apartment was not up until October so we took our time moving into the house and didn't officially move in until September 18th. My parents came in town the weekend before we moved in and brought us a lot of furniture that we had picked out of storage including a refrigerator, two couches, and some coffee tables. The extra fridge my parents had was white so Shawn used appliance paint specially for refrigerators and painted it black so it would go better with our kitchen. It turned out great! Move in weekend went smoothly and there were really no major issues. My parents came in town again the weekend after we were moved in and helped us get organized. Shawn's mom Joyce came in town the first weekend in October to see the new place and to visit Scott and Amy and their kids. So much has happened in these last few months it's difficult to remember it all.

Tozer graduated from intermediate dog training in September. We were very proud of him and the trainer actually recommended him to take the "good citizens test" because he has great mannerisms.

Shawn and I went and saw one of our favorite bands Wilco play at the Palladium Ballroom in Dallas last weekend. It was a really good show and it was great hearing their new album live for the first time.

The next day we went to The Texas State Fair for the first time for either of us. I had heard so much about it and was so excited to go and see all the animals and weird food. We ended up eating Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches as our "weird food". It was surprisingly really good but it made Shawn's tummy hurt afterwards.

Teaching piano has been amazing. I keep getting call after call from just word of mouth. I really feel like God has confirmed to me that this is what I am supposed to be doing. I might possibly be getting into a Christian school next Spring to teach lessons in the school so please pray for that.

Also, Shawn officially has a Texas State License!

OK I'm done now. Maybe since I'm all caught up I will start posting more often. God Bless.

-Emily

Wedding Video Highlight Reel by 31films

2009-08-23T20:25:00.001-05:00

June / July

2009-07-26T13:07:00.003-05:00

So this weekend we were blessed to have Tommy and DeAnne come visit. We also were able to spend time with Aunt Linda this weekend. It is always nice to hang out with family that we don’t get to see too often. We are heading over to Linda’s house this afternoon and we hope to find out if Tozer can swim. We are having fun house hunting and we think we may have found one, although sometimes discouraging. We are trying not to get out hopes up yet because at this point there is no guarantee. Emily is enjoying the piano and she is working on Claire de Lune. She is so amazing. I am continually in awe of my wife and it is still a little unbelievable that she is mine forever. I truly feel like the most blessed person in the world. We went to EA over the 4th of July and had a great time seeing all of our friends. I miss Gonzales, Texas a lot which is something I never thought that I would hear myself say. My new position at work is going well and I am enjoying it. Emily has also been working on building up clientele for piano lessons. We are hoping that she will be able to get in with a private school and give lessons. Her website is up. Check it out. http://www.hammersandstrings.com/

We also went to see Ben Kweller last month. It was a great show and he played both of the songs that we tweetquested.
Tweetquest – requests made through twitter by @mentions to @benkweller.

Hope Everyone is well.

I hope to convince my wife to start updating our blog again. I know everyone would rather read her updates than mine, including me.

Shawn

Update

2009-06-09T20:33:00.007-05:00

So, it has been awhile since we put up a blog. What have we been up to? Well this was our first weekend home in awhile. Two weeks ago we had Jonathan’s graduation from Kindergarten. Last weekend we were in Midland, Texas for Michael Ramey’s high-school graduation. We had a great trip and Tozer had a great time playing with Bella. It was a treat to get to see family that we don't see too often. The weekend before that we went to Austin, Texas for Devon Ramey’s graduation. Austin was fun and we had a good visit.

Congratulations Jonathan, Michael, and Devon!

I have started a new position at TI and it is going great. It is exciting to learn a new dimension of the organization. Emily is interviewing and we are praying that God will provide a job that Emily can enjoy. Anyways, I know this is a short update but just wanted to post something. Here are some pics of our last few weekends.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Shawn

I think I've been replaced.....

2009-04-26T17:34:00.002-05:00

haha, I caught them like this one night before bed..

Update (Easter and other Random stuff)

2009-04-25T16:03:00.010-05:00

It's been awhile since our last update. Over Easter weekend my mom, Pat and Devon came and visited. It was really good to be see family that we don't see that often. We hadn't seen my mom since the wedding so it had been almost 6 months (too long). My mom and I went to Rockfish for lunch and friday (my moms favorite). Good Friday service was amazing. It was really moving for both Emily and I. After Good Friday service we all headed over to Scott's for some cheese pizza. Saturday was a pretty full day running errands and hanging out with fam. Emily went out with the girls (Pat and Devon) Saturday night to a movie. Easter dinner at Scott's house was amazing (great job Amy!). My mom stayed with us sunday night and headed home on monday. I have been missing EA and Jim and Karla lately. I miss being immersed in a God's presence and such powerful ministry. I miss seeing miracles on a daily basis. I know that they happen all around me and I just need to look for them, but it was different at EA. You didn't even have to look for them, miracles would just happen everyday and you couldn't deny them. I miss the emphasis on healing and the power of prayer. Instead of just missing it, Emily and I are trying to emphasize it in our own lives wherever we are. I'm anxious to finish up school so that I can start working on a masters and get certified as a Christian Counselor, LPC. Other than that I have been pretty busy with school. I am taking three classes this quarter. Last thursday I had an assignment for my digital photography class (that I am taking to fulfill an art credit) to take fifty different photos of the same subject. Of course I chose my beautiful bride and my mutt of a dog. So, I leave you with some of the shots.

2009-03-23T17:28:00.004-05:00

So a few weekends ago we had the opportunity to go stay at my brother Scott’s house for the weekend so that Amy (Scott’s wife) could go meet Scott and have a ski weekend. We babysat their 3 children- Juliana, Jonathan and David. We stayed from Thursday until Tuesday night. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot too. We went out for Pizza on Friday and had soccer games on Saturday. Jonathan had a birthday party on Saturday night so we rented a movie and stayed in with Juliana and David. Sunday we went to church and stayed around the house. Monday night we met Travis and Tara Hartjen and their Kiddos for dinner at Chick-fil-a. It was fun and the kids played. We did have an issue arise with one of the kids at chick-fil-a but it was resolved pretty quickly. Tuesday the kids and Emily gave the dogs baths. Overall it was a lot of fun and we were really glad to see Scott and Amy on Tuesday night. They had a great time and skied three days.

Then, two weekends ago we went down to Houston to visit Tommy, DeAnne and Stephanie. Their new house is looking great and it was really nice to spend some quality time with them. We arrived Friday night at about 8 and went out to eat at a Chinese Bistro near by (really Yummy). Saturday we woke up and Tommy made us all breakfast. We then ran some errands and stopped by Billy and Jamie's house to see William Riley. He is so tiny. He is beautiful and we had a great time visiting and holding the precious new baby. We then headed home and fixed dinner. Tommy worked on the car and put in a new radiator for us. Praise God. We got up Sunday and went to church and had lunch. We then bummed around and headed back up to Dallas later that evening. We have had an eventful couple of weekends and thought we would post a blog and provide an update.

Here are some pictures of the kids and the dogs Quinn and Tozer hanging out:

-Shawn

crazy neighbor update

2009-03-12T08:51:00.003-05:00

Ok, so- quick update before I go to work.

CRAZY NEIGHBOR IS GONE!!

Yay! He moved out over the weekend. So, mine and Shawn's lives are infinitely better. Thanks for all who prayed for the situation.

I will update more when I have more time.

-Emily

2/28/09

2009-02-28T20:16:00.002-06:00

So today Emily celebrates two years of sobriety. It is an amazing testament to God’s grace and redemption. I am so proud and amazed at Emily’s courage, strength, and willingness to allow God to mold her into the woman He designed her to be. It is been an intriguing journey for both of us and we can’t wait to see what else God has in store for us. Today we celebrated by just spending time together (my favorite thing to do). I am so grateful that our worlds collided just when they did. I fall more and more in love everyday and realize how I am truly the luckiest person in the world.

Lord,
Thank you for blessing me with the most amazing wife who inspires me and challenges me every day. Thank you for rescuing us from ourselves and giving us one another. Please help me to be to her, what she is to me. Amen

Shawn.

Valentine oh-nine

2009-02-16T19:38:00.006-06:00

Valentines day is one of my favorite holidays, and it's a good thing my husband knows this! haha. For our first Valentine's day as a married couple, we first woke up and exchanged gifts. While I was taking a shower, Shawn sneaked off the the store and when I got out he had a beautiful bouquet of white flowers for me. Sigh, I love flowers. I had been having a hard time keeping Shawn's gift a secret, because it was such a fun gift for me to buy. I got him Wilco record autographed by the entire band with a custom frame, and the book "The Faith of Barrack Obama". He seemed to like the autographed album the best. He surprised me with a new pair of really cute tennis shoes, one of those automatic chopper thingys (like the magic bullet) and a pair of jeans one size down from my "regular" size. I can't quite squeeze into them now, but they are motivating me and it's nice to know he believes in me enough to think I will fit into them soon. (pictures)

After pancakes and presents we headed out of the suburbs and into the city to check out the Dallas Museum of Art. I had been wanting to go there for a while now and Shawn took note of this and bought tickets for us to go to the museum as well as to partake in the King Tutankhamun exhibit. We went to a 3D movie all about mummies and pharoahs (Shawn's first 3D movie experience) and then went into the King Tut exhibit. It was pretty fascinating to see items from history BEFORE Jesus was even born on earth. After King Tut, we had lunch at the "Atrium Cafe" and then continued throughout the rest of the Art Museum. Overall, it was a fun day and made me feel so lucky to be married to the most amazing man in the world. It's hard work making all my little sentimental days special, and he does a really good job. In February alone, he has to come up with stuff for my birthday, Valentine's day, and my sobriety date (February 28th). Anyways, hope you all had a great Valentine's day. I leave you with (of course) pictures.

Much Love,

Emily

our psycho neighbor

2009-02-08T15:42:00.003-06:00

Ok, so as promised- here is a post about our "pyscho neighbor" living below us. It's pretty long.

It all started In Mid-october when Shawn and I moved in to our amazing new apartment here in Allen, Texas. Shawn had to work all day so my dad came in town to help us move in. As my dad is unloading boxes and furniture from the uhaul truck, he kept hearing a car's alarm going off. We didn't know it then, but this was only the beginning. We live in a second story apartment, and we later realized that the car alarm that would go off every ten minutes or so was a "message" from the family that lives below us that we were being too loud. I'm sorry but, we were MOVING IN. It is impossible to not make noise when you are hauling beds, armoires and couches up a flight of stairs. However, we naively assumed that the car alarm was some sort of glitch or techinical problem and had no idea that someone was PURPOSELY setting it off.

That evening, (our first day to live here) Shawn, my dad and I went to Wal-mart to buy some light bulbs and cleaning supplies etc. We arrived home that evening, tired from our long day of moving boxes, and were sitting around in our apartment, when all the sudden there is a bang on the door. Shawn answers it (I half- expected it to be a friendly neighbor welcoming us to the community), and it is the man who lives below us, he tells Shawn we are being extremely loud and to please quiet down. Shawn is totally shocked and apologizes to the man. We were all just sitting around, not moving anything or making any noise at all, so it was really confusing, but we didn't want to get on the wrong foot with our neighbors on the first day we moved in so we took extra care to be very quiet the rest of the night.

A few weeks go by and as Shawn and I are sitting on our couch in our living room watching TV one night, another bang on the door. It is the same man, this time saying "look, I don't want to have to go to the leasing office about all this, I just need you guys to be quiet." Shawn, once again is totally shocked, says "okay" and shuts the door.

Weeks go by, and we are constantly hearing this car's car alarm go off. On and off. On and off. We begin to put two and two together that whenever our neighbor feels that we are being too loud, he sets off his car alarm as a sort of warning or message to us.

A few weeks later, we receive a notice on our door from the leasing office as a "friendly reminder" that this apartment complex is a community and to be aware of the people living below and above us.

Right before Christmas is when we adopted Tozer, our dog. He is a great dog who has not learned to bark. We think it's because, for the most part, Tozer stays with us in the apartment and he doesn't hear a lot of dog's barking so he has not really "learned" it yet, because he is still less than a year old.

Shortly after New Year's, Shawn and I are sitting on the couch, watching TV, when we hear a loud bang on our door. Shawn answers it, and it is a police officer. The officer seems confused and informs us that someone has called and reported that apartment 3205 (thats us) has a dog that has been barking nonstop. The officer looks down at Tozer who is sitting quietly next to Shawn's feet and says "well, um, I stood out here a while and, well I didn't hear any dog barking so..." We inform him that our dog has not actually learned to bark yet. He sees that this is so, pats Tozer on the head and says sorry for the confusion, and that it "must have been a different apartment". Shawn and I are once again, in shock. We are beginning to realize that our neighbor has basically called the cops and made up a lie, as a way to get the cops to come to our door and basically indirectly intimidate us.

Weeks go by, car alarm goes off all the time. off and on. off and on. off and on.

A few weeks after the "dog barking" claim, Shawn is out walking Tozer early in the morning (6 a.m.-ish) when our "psycho neighbor" gets into his truck. When the guy sees Shawn and Tozer, he revs his engine, squeals his tires and comes about ten inches from the curb where Shawn and Tozer have jumped to avoid being hit. After this, things have gotten scary. I now lock both locks on the door, and am a little nervous to be home during the day without Shawn.

The last weekend in January is when everything "hit the fan" so to speak. My birthday was on the 4th of February, so my parents and sister came in town on the Friday before to celebrate with us. Friday night, I made dinner for everyone and after dinner, we were watching a video of a comedy sketch on Shawn's laptop. Shawn has dell, and his computer speakers are pretty lame. We were all having to lean in to even hear what the comedy guy was saying. As we are watching it "bang bang" on the door. Here we go again. This time- its two police officers. They very calmly look at Shawn and I and say, "We've had a complaint that the surround sound system in your apartment is on extremely loud, but, we have been standing out here for ten minutes and, well, we don't hear anything at all". This time we are almost laughing it is so ridiculous. We inform the cops that we don't have a surround sound system and that our TV is not even on. My dad is standing in the background eating a popsicle and my mom and sister are sitting on the couch. Apartment 3205 was definitely not having a party. Haha, anyways the cops leave and the car alarm goes off for about an hour, on and off on and off.

The next day is Saturday. Car alarm goes on and off over and over again. We try to ignore it and end up having a really good day. After my birthday dinner and then a movie, we get home and walk up the stairs to our apartment. Car alarm. off and on- every two minutes. This time, other people in the complex start getting mad about the car alarm. Two other cars in the parking lot turn on their car alarms. One guy opens his apartment door and screams "turn off your f***ing car alarm". Total Chaos has erupted. This neigbor of ours seems to think we are too noisy, but... ironically, he sets his car alarm off a whole lot to prove his point. As I am standing on our balcony witnessing all the chaos going on outside, I realize that one of my car doors did not shut all the way and the light is still on inside my car. After the car alarms turn off and it seems like all the commotion has died down for a bit, I go downstairs very quickly and re-shut my car door so that my battery does not die. About ten minutes after coming back upstairs, bang bang bang on our door. This time, it's scary. FOUR COPS are standing in front of us. Shawn goes outside to talk with them and a few seconds later they order Shawn to tell his wife come out and talk to them. I come outside and one of the officers brings me over to the other side of the stairs away from Shawn. He asks me if me and Shawn are having any problems or arguments, when i look at him confused and say "no" he says there has been a report of suspected domestic abuse in our apartment. I am completely flabbergasted. I look at the guy and say "No, we are newlyweds, we still kind of like each other" As I am explaining to the guy what has been going on all night and that we just got back from a movie to celebrate my birthday another officer comes over to me with his little black baton thing waved at me and asks me what I was doing being seen near the neighbor's truck downstairs. I told him that i had to go downstairs and shut one of my doors and that my parking space is located right next to the neigbor's truck. The officer says "ma'am did you hit or kick that man's car?" I informed him NO and the officer looked at me accusingly and said that there were scuff marks and dents in the guys car. After a few more minutes of talking to me and Shawn and realizing that the guys accusations were once again false, all four officers left our apartment complex.

The next day our neighbor went to the leasing office and told them that he saw Shawn and I smoking pot the night before. Seriously? Everyone knows Shawn and I wouldn't even drink champagne at our own wedding, much less do drugs. Plus my parents were both staying at our place. How likely is it that we were smoking pot? Basically, to wrap this story up, we have gone to the police station and talked to them, they say our neighbor is not doing anything illegal, so we will have to handle this all with our landlord. We have gone to our landlord, he says that we basically need to just call 911 if we have any more problems. It's a total runaround and we are completely miserable living in the same building as this guy. He is totally scary and unstable. We can't really afford getting a lawyer and no one in the leasing office seems to know what to do. We actually were informed through an unnamed source that this guy living below us has had problems with another tenant. He complained so much about this lady being "so noisy" that they moved her into a different apartment. We also heard from an unnamed source that the apartment that lady was switched into was supposed to be mine and Shawn's apartment, but at the last minute it was switched because of this guy below us complaining about someone else. I know it's confusing. But it feels good for me to write all this stuff down.

Anyways, we are really having a hard time with this guy. If you could please pray for Shawn and I and the situation with our neighbor I would soo appreciate it. It's sad that this is our first home together and we have only been married 3 months and we are having this much drama. If you have any ideas of how we should handle this or suggestions, I would be very grateful to hear them.
See Ya,
Emily

Top 10 Songs Of All Time

2009-02-07T17:01:00.008-06:00

So as I was making this list my wife asked if this top ten list would be "my" top ten songs. Which made this 100 times harder. Then to make matters worse she asked, "If I could only listen to ten songs for the rest of my life, what would they be?" So instead of changing my original list which was an extremely diffcult list to make, I decided to make another list which was just as difficult. The first list is top ten songs of all time. The second is the list of "If I could only listen to ten Songs, what would they be."
No particular order

All Time Ten Greatest songs

1. Bob Marley - Redemption Song
2. Cat Stevens - Trouble
3. The Band - The Weight
4. John Lennon - Imagine
5. Beatles - Blackbird
6. Rolling Stones – Beast Of Burden
7. Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
8. Bob Dylan - Shelter From The Storm
9. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
10. The Who - Baba O'Riley

Shawn's Ten (if he could only listen to ten songs)

No particular order

1.Radiohead – Fake plastic trees
2.Counting Crows – Clolorblind
3.Wilco – How to fight loneliness
4.Emily Roller – Mighty to save
5.Smashing Pumpkins – Disarm
6.Wilco/Elliot Smith/Big Star/Garbage – Thirteen (Big Star Cover)
7.Dave Matthews Band – Christmas Song
8.Red Hot Chili Peppers – Under the Bridge
9.Ben Kweller - Thirteen ( different than Big Star song )
10.Bright Eyes – Waste of Paint

Please post your lists.

God Bless,
Shawn

Top Ten Songs Of All TIme Challenge

2009-02-06T15:24:00.004-06:00

So today a friend/pastor of mine posted this on Twitter "Pink Floyd, "wish you were here" Top 10 songs of all time. "So, you think you can tell........" . I commented that it was a bold statement. He then called me out and asked what I would put in my top ten list. Hence the Top Ten Songs Of All Time Challenge. Travis and I are sharing our lists on Sunday. Travis has always had great taste in music some I'm extremely curious about his list. These Tweets sparked some comments on twitter so I thought it would be interesting and fun to get people to leave there Top Ten Songs Of All Time here. I will post my list on Saturday.

Please join in and leave your top ten list in the comment box.

Will "Wish You Were Here" make my top ten list. Stay tuned to find out.

My 22nd birthday!

2009-02-05T19:45:00.002-06:00

Hello everyone!
Well, yesterday I turned 22 years old. My parents and sister Stephanie came in town last weekend to celebrate with us and we had a lot of fun. We stayed up really late every night and Shawn and I are feeling it this week. haha. Saturday night we went to Shogun to eat, in McKinney. If you've never been there, it's one of those asian restaurants where they cook all the food right in front of you. It was soooo good. Since the beginning of the year I have been on a diet and exercise program so it was really hard not to splurge at Shogun! After the meal the waitresses all came over and sang Happy Birthday and took our picture. It was really fun and the sushi was amazing. It was Shawn's first experience at a restaurant like that and I think he really enjoyed himself.

After dinner we went to Starbucks and opened gifts. I got some new exercise pants (yay)!, as well as my FAVORITE perfume, and a pink Chi straightening iron. Then we all went and saw the late showing of Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood. (which by the way was a very good movie but too violent for my taste). When we came home we had to deal with our "psycho neighbor" (to be explained in my next post).

The next morning we went to Fellowship Church in Plano for a change of pace. It was a very good sermon by Ed Young Jr. but unfortunately it was only on a video screen. After church we went to Market Street and ate at a restaurant called Woodlands Grill, here in Allen. If you haven't been there, you must. It was amazing food and service. On the way home we stopped by the police station (will explain in next post) and then came home and turned the Superbowl game on and hung out and ate pizza and cake.

Since my actual birthday was Wednesday, Shawn had some more surprises up his sleeve. Wednesday night (February 4th), he surprised me and took me to a restaurant downtown Dalls called Cafe Izmir off Greenville Ave. It was an upscale Mediterranean restaurant (my favorite), and the food and service was amazing. For my birthday Shawn bought me a new cookbook, a bangle bracelet with Proverbs 3:5 on it (Trust in the Lord...), my first pair of real Birkenstocks , and a spice rack. My wonderful husband is so good to me.

I'll leave you with some pictures... and maybe I'll feel up to sharing with you about our "psycho neighbor" tomorrow. Hope you all are well.

Love, Emily

Christmas and New Years '08

2009-01-02T10:22:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone,

Shawn and I spent our first Christmas married at home here in Allen. Christmas eve we spent at Shawn's brother Scott's house- they had a Christmas eve open house for all their friends, and Santa also showed up that night and gave each child a gift. We woke up Christmas morning and opened our gifts to each other, then headed over to Scott and Amy's house to spend Christmas day with them. At the request of our niece Juliana, we took Tozer with us as well. He did very well and enjoyed playing with their dog- Neuman.

The Day after Christmas, Shawn and I headed to Gonzales, to help out at Eternal Awakenings and to minister at Living Waters Fellowship. On our way there, we stopped in Willis to see my parents new home by the lake. We were able to have a holiday dinner with them and spend some time seeing the house before heading over to Gonzales. In Gonzales, we stayed at the historic St. James Inn bed and breakfast. We worked at EA on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday night, Shawn gave his testimony at the church, and Emily helped out with praise and worship all weekend. It was really a blessing to be able to minister there and to catch up with Jim and Karla and everyone else serving under their ministry. We took Tozer with us, and he did very well, and very much enjoyed all the extra attention from the folks at EA.

For New Years, Shawn and I headed over to Scott and Amy's to celebrate, where they had a few friends over. We had a great time, and headed back to our apartment around 10pm to watch the ball drop on TV.

Overall, we had a great holiday and we are looking forward to getting back on our regular schedules. We hope you all had a great holiday as well. I'll leave you with a few pictures from the past couple weeks. God Bless, Emily

it's a boy!

2008-12-19T18:09:00.000-06:00

professional wedding pictures are up!

2008-12-13T18:38:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone!
The photographer's pictures from the wedding are officially online! You can check them out here ! They turned out great. If you want any of the prints, please let us know and DO NOT buy them through the website- they are verrry expensive and Shawn and I can print them for a few cents a picture. Anyways- enjoy! Love, Emily

Our Professional Wedding Picture's- Click Here

Thanksgiving '08

2008-12-07T08:42:00.007-06:00

Hello all,

This Thanksgiving, Shawn and I drove to Midland, Texas to stay with my Aunt Pat. My cousin Devon drove in from Austin and my sister Stephanie flew in from Houston. Starting Thanksgiving morning we all were decorating houses for Christmas. We got paid 35$ an hour to decorate these mansions with Christmas decorations. The houses were absolutely incredible. Here are some pictures:

Thanksgiving dinner was nice at Pat's house. The food was great. GiGi and Paw Paw were supposed to be joining us- but the night before, GiGi fell and broke her arm. So it was just Devon, Michael, Michael's girlfriend Coral, Pat, Brian, Stephanie, Shawn and I for dinner.

While we were in Midland, we stopped by my brother Mason's house to meet my new niece Caralyne. She is so precious. Her big sister Kynadee was just as sweet as ever, and was busy hanging christmas ornaments on the tree.

Yesterday Shawn and I went and bought our tree and spent the whole day decorating for our first Christmas as a married couple. We are planning on staying here in Dallas for Christmas and just spending time together. Anyways, that's all I have to update for now. To see all the pictures from Thanksgiving, just go to our photo gallery. God Bless, Emily

new wedding pictures and video diary

2008-11-18T11:16:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to let you know we have updated our website with a video diary section. It currently has videos from mine and Shawn's honeymoon! Check it out.

Also, we've posted wedding pictures that we have gotten from guests who were at the wedding. You can check them out here.

Congratulations to Mason and Danielle Shepard who had my niece Caralyne Hope Shepard this morning at 3:09am. 6 pounds 14 ounces! I'm so happy for you both and I can't wait to meet her at thanksgiving.

God Bless,
Emily

wedding and honeymoon recap

2008-11-10T13:46:00.003-06:00

Wedding Weekend Candid Pictures and Honeymoon pictures- click here

Hey everyone,
Well today is our first day in our new place! Shawn is at work and I have been spending the whole day writing thank you cards, uploading pictures, making phone calls and unpacking our wedding gifts. In case you missed it, the wedding was absolutely perfect. We could not have asked for more. Thank you to everyone who came and who helped in any way.

Thursday night was when everything really started- Most of the immediate family was in town by then and we all went out to eat at cafe express in The Woodlands. I finally got to meet Shawn's dad and Step-mother Jennifer and step siblings Matt and Caitie. It was a nice dinner and we went walking around Market Street for a while after that.

Friday morning all the girls and I went to the Pure Spa and Nail Salon to get pampered. After the salon we had a bridesmaids luncheon at Jasper's which was also a lingerie shower. The food was great and I got some great gifts. Friday night was the welcome/rehearsal dinner at The Marriott. It turned out so beautiful and it was so good to see everyone.

Saturday was of course the big day. The professional pictures should be in soon and I will of course post them on our website as soon as I get them.

Our honeymoon was a cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. We were on the carnival conquest ship. I can not even describe how much fun we had. Just to give you an idea- some of our activities were swimming with the dolphins, snorkeling, hiking up a waterfall, a private beach cabana, kissing sting rays (haha) and a lot more.

I'm going to post some of my favorite honeymoon pictures here on the blog. If you want to see all the pictures just go to our website photo gallery.
Love,
Emily

4 days to go!!

2008-10-26T11:31:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone,
Well- we are officially in the "final hours". 4 more days until the wedding. Everything has been going relatively smoothly. We pretty much have everything done that we needed to get done before this week. I even mentioned to my sister that I felt like everything was going almost a little too smoothly a couple days ago- and I might have spoken too soon. Yesterday (ahem, MONDAY- 5 days before the wedding) the owner of Taverna- the restaurant we are having our rehearsal dinner- called and left my mom a voicemail telling her that he is closing the restaurant- for good, as of yesterday. He said that the reason had something to do with Hurricane Ike. Sooooo after many phone calls and quick planning, thank goodness the Waterway Marriott in The Woodlands is going to be able to fit us in on Friday at 6:30 for our last-minute rehearsal dinner. haha. It might work out just as well- the Marriott is a lot closer to us and it will be very convenient for our out of town guests who are staying in the Marriott anyways.

Other than that, things are well. We have a bit more people coming to the wedding than we were expecting, but its nothing we can't fix. I'm just getting really excited to be MARRIED!! I'm looking forward to the little things- like waking up next to him every morning, and hearing him introduce me to other people as his wife. After all the planning that's gone into this big day- I really am starting to realize that it's going to go by VERY fast, and before I know it the wedding will be over.

Shawn seems to be enjoying his new job. He was originally supposed to be in training all the way up until the wedding weekend, but he actually was able to get done with training a little early so for about the past week or so he has been working on his own. I'm so proud of him. Please pray that he will continue to thrive at work and enjoy his job. Here is a picture of his work space. :)

I, however, had my last day working at rockfish today. Honestly, I can't say I will miss that place. haha. I mean, it was a job, but that's about it.

Two weekends ago, my dad and I drove up to Allen with a uhaul to move all my stuff into our apartment On Saturday, Shawn and I also went to go get our marriage license. We pretty much spent the whole weekend moving in, and just being excited about setting up our home.

Anyways, just wanted to post a quick update about whats up in our world. We are so excited to see everyone this weekend! Please keep us in your prayers that everything will go smoothly. I'll leave you with some pictures of our apartment taken from Shawn's iPhone.

Love,
Emily

Chicago weekend and relocating

2008-09-14T08:41:00.005-05:00

Hey everyone,
Well ALOT has happened in our lives since the last update! Last weekend, Shawn, my mom and I flew to Chicago for two wedding showers up there. The first one was given by Shawn's mother's friends, Marge Galvin, Judy Wisnasky and Janet Christein. The second was given by Shawn's mother, Joyce. It was really fun to meet a lot of Shawn's family and friends that I had only heard about before. We had a lot of fun and got a lot of great gifts.

In other news, Shawn recently got a few great job offers, and thanks to Shawn's brother Scott, he has decided to accept a job working at Texas Instruments for a company called Harte Hanks in Dallas. So, as most of you know, Hurricane Ike dominated Houston yesterday, so me and Shawn came to Dallas a little early to look at apartments and thankfully missed most of the storm action. My parents and sister, however decided to ride out the storm and were left with no power. So they have driven up to Dallas as well. The plan is for Shawn to stay up here for the next month with his brother's family, while I stay in The Woodlands and continue to plan the wedding and save money. After we get back from our honeymoon, November 9th, We will both move into an apartment here in the Allen area near Dallas. So, today we are going to be doing most of our final apartment searching and hopefully will have a lease signed this weekend. As one of the apartment leasers said to us, we are facing a lot of "newness" in our lives. New job, new city, new apartment, new marriage!! Please pray for us that everything works out pretty easily and that we are able to stay in the will of God. Also, please keep Shawn in your prayers as he begins his new job at Texas Instruments. Also, Congratulations to my brother Cary and his wife Melissa who just recently gave birth to their third son- Carter David Yocum!!
Love,
Emily

Here are some pictures- Our flowergirls Anna and Juliana, Shawn and I at the first shower-

Weekend at EA and update

2008-08-01T20:05:00.001-05:00

Last weekend Emily and I went down to Gonzales after I got off work on Saturday. We made it there in time for praise and worship practice Saturday night. We went out for dinner after practice and had a nice time catching up with everyone. Sunday rolled around and we went over to the church early so Emily could record a few songs. She recorded “Give Us Clean Hands”, “Jesus Loves Me”, and “The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power”. You can check out what she recorded on the Living Waters Fellowship website, livingwaterstx.org, click on the praise and worship tab and scroll down to the podcast. They are pretty amazing recordings and she only did one take of each song. Jim got a new keyboard that is pretty amazing, it’s a KORG oasys. Emily had fun playing around on it.
EA has acquired some new antiques and the place looks great. It was really nice to go back there and visit. EA will always have a place in my heart. Jim’s sermon Sunday night was amazing. The timing of it couldn’t have been better. I felt like he was preaching right to me. He talked about faith and how we need to look at God’s truth instead of at circumstances. God’s reality is not the world’s reality. God’s reality is the truth.
My mom and sister sent some pictures of their latest visit with Noah. I can’t believe how big he is getting. They celebrated his birthday and had a good visit. Please continue to lift him up in your prayers.

update!

2008-07-19T11:04:00.005-05:00

Hey all,

Just wanted to update on what's been going on in our world. Shawn has gotten a job at Starbucks- Panther Creek and is a few weeks away from becoming a shift manager. He seems to really enjoy it, and it is a way for him to have some income while we continue to job search. I got a job at Carlton Woods Country Club here in The Woodlands as a summer camp counselor, after two weeks, the director of the camp quit, and so they asked me to step up and take on the position. It was totally a God thing. I really enjoy it, the kids make me laugh all day and it's a rewarding job. I also got re-hired over at Rockfish Seafood Grill, where I used to work. So I am working part-time over there and will work there full-time after camp is over.

July 4th we went out on the boat to Lake Conroe, it was a lot of fun. We brought sandwhich stuff and made our own food out on the water. Stephanie tried to water ski but didn't do so hot haha. And me and Shawn both tried to do this board thing but we couldn't figure it out. Then, when it got dark we got to watch the fireworks show from the middle of the lake. It was a fun day.

The 9th was Shawn's 29th birthday! We went to a really fancy restaurant downtown Houston called Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It was really fun to get all dressed up and go out. Shawn's mother, my mom and I all contributed money and we were able to get Shawn the new iPhone. The catch was, it didn't come out until the 11th, two days later. So on the 11th Shawn waited 3 or 4 hours in line at the mall to get his phone. He absolutely loves it and can't seem to stay off the thing. I get jealous and call his iPhone "the other woman" haha. I also bought him an ipod sterio that looks like an old turntable and a laptop kit.

Wedding plans are in full swing. Tomorrow, me, my sister, my mom, Shawn and my cousin Devon are going to the bridal extravaganza in Houston. It's a really fun event with tons of vendors for wedding day stuff. We are mostly just going to get some neat ideas. I'm really excited.

Here are some pictures:

Shawn at the lake on July 4th

EA

2008-07-08T17:01:00.001-05:00

One of the things that I internalized at EA is that my peace is directly proportional to my communion or my relationship with God. When I start to get off kilter the first thing I look at is how much time I am spending with God each day. Most of the time it is clear that I have cut down on my one on one time with God. One of the hardest things about leaving an environment like EA is that you have to become self-disciplined and make time each day to spend with God. Another lesson that I have taken to heart from EA is the message of dying to self. It basically explains to me how to live a life as a Christian. It’s not about what I want anymore. It’s about others, it’s about what I can do for God and how I can expand His kingdom here on earth. The root of addiction is selfishness. Selfishness can creep in subtlety and it is extremely important for me to think less of myself and more of others. To walk through each day with a prayerful attitude is one way to keep myself in check. The Word tells us that He is always with us. If I become aware of that and acknowledge God in everything I do then I stay in communion with him throughout my day. Another important lesson that I learned at EA was to keep a humble and grateful attitude. This is another way to guard against selfishness. If I stay humble and grateful it is very hard to be angry, irritated, restless, selfish, arrogant, prideful, or full of self pity. Those two attitudes keep me centered and help me keep my eyes upon the cross.

Anyways, just a post about EA. Maybe I'm just writing to remind myself the valuable lessons I took from EA.
God Bless,
Shawn

Baker Family Reunion 2008

2008-06-30T16:39:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, me and Shawn went with my parents to the Baker Family Reunion in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Baker is my dad's father's mother's maiden name (my great-grandmother, Sue Blanche Baker Shepard). It was really nice to take a vacation and to introduce Shawn to that side of my family. It was also really fun for me to see everyone- especially my niece Kynadee!! Day 1 was shopping for the girls and golf for the guys and day 2 was horse races. We also spent some time at the casino just messing around. Overall, it was really fun and I have some great pictures to prove it!

My sister-in-law Danielle and niece Kynadee:

My cousin Robin and Aunt Skip:

Aunt Jan and Uncle Ralph:

Kynadee, my brother Mason and Danielle:

My cousins Logan and Shep and Aunt Skip:

My mom and sweet Kynadee:

My cousins Robin and Alicia:

My cousin Willis and Uncle Ralph:

Granny and Grandpa:

Me and Shawn :

Grandpa and his cousins Jim and John:

Shawn and I at the horse races:

Kynadee and Mason:

Willis and Shawn at the horse track:

Shawn and my mom:

My Aunt Jan surprised me and Shawn and had this come up on the screen at the horse track during the race. So sweet! (it says congratulations Emily Shepard and Shawn Roller, November 1, 2008)

Save The Date

2008-06-05T11:04:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

The "Save The Dates" are in the mail. NOV. 1ST. Plans for the wedding are in full swing. Emily and I have been back in the Woodlands for a week now. We are enjoying the time that we are now able to have to really spend time with one another. This week I have been working at Tommy's shop. It has been great to have a job that I can go home from. A big switch from Eternal Awakenings (http://www.eawake.org/) I think there are parts about being in Gonzales at Eternal Awakenings that we both miss and ofcourse parts that we don't miss.

If you haven't signed our Guestbook Please do! We absolutely love reading the posts from everyone.

check back soon for a blog about "Reflections of EA"

God Bless,
Shawn

Engagement Pics

2008-05-24T23:19:00.000-05:00

check it out! http://picasaweb.google.com/sdroller2/EngagementPics

-Shawn

Hi everyone!

2008-05-24T18:19:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. Well, if you're visiting this site then that means you've heard the big news! I am the future Mrs. Roller. :) May has been quite the month of change for me and Shawn. On the 3rd, I graduated from Texas Bible Institute at 10:30am. By 6:00 pm I was engaged and we picked the date of our wedding. On May 11th we put a deposit down on our wedding ceremony and reception site (Waverly Manor). On May 15th Shawn officially left his job at Eternal Awakenings in Gonzales, Texas. For those who don't know, Eternal Awakenings is a christian drug and alcohol treatment center. He has been working there for the past year and a half and I have been involved in certain areas of the ministry as well as the praise and worship at the church. So this was a pretty big transition for us, and it is definitely emotional saying goodbye for a while. By May 16th we were moved in to my parents house in The Woodlands. Since we've been home its been wedding, wedding, wedding. We are truly trusting God to guide us in these next few months while we make plans some important plans for our future. It has really been nice to be home for a while and have time to sit and pray and think things over. Me and Shawn began a one week fast Thursday (5/22) through next Thursday(5/29). We are on day 3 and things are going well. God just really put it on our hearts to press into him and I think we will get a lot of answers about what He has in store for our future. Anyways, thats just a little bit about what's going on in our world right now. Hope you all are well.
Much Love,
The future Mrs. Roller

P.S. for the full scoop on how the proposal went down- check out the wedding site!