The Beautiful Bungalow [Part 1]

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We could never express just how much we appreciate what our grandparents have done for us over the past two months!! They have so graciously allowed us to live and TRANSFORM the cabin beside their house into our own little temporary home. Gingin (my grandmother) has taught me how to sew, to cook, to bake and to love harder. Papa has taught JD how to drive the pontoon boat, he keeps our cars clean and well, just like Gingin... spoils us - just like they do all of "us grandchildren and spouses." We couldn't ask for better neighbors than them. :) They always call before walking over and offer us leftovers whenever they have any. They have given us free reign over the ENTIRE bungalow... so we've had a blast adding much decor. :)

In this video, we wanted to show you our journeys from the first couple of days after arriving at the bungalow. We will post a video soon of the transformation.

The Bungalow Part 1 from Whitney Todd on Vimeo.

Children's Camp

Here is the Children's Camp 2010 vid!! JD covered the topic of LOVE and how everything good comes from and is produced by LOVE. In the same sense, the words LOVE and GOD and interchangeable. Everything good comes from and is produced by GOD.

The topics are as follows:

Friday night: Because we love... we Give (Proverbs 25:21), we Pray (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) and we Forgive (Nehemiah 9:17).

Saturday morning: Love produces... Kindness (Ephesians 4:32), Patience (James 5:7) and Humbleness (1 Peter 5:6).

Saturday night: Love produces... Respect (1 Peter 2:17), Compassion (Mark 6:34) and Encouragement (Hebrews 3:13).
*And for the pictures that might throw you off a bit where we are dressed up in clothes from the 80's... we were jamming out to the song R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the kids.

Sunday morning: Love produces... Servanthood (Mark 10:45) and Hope (Romans 12:12).




Children's Camp 2010 from Whitney Todd on Vimeo.



WARNING: The kids from Christian Valley Church of Livingston, AL, are CRAZZZZY!!... but so fantastic and fun. And the water park was exhilaratingly awesome. :)


Song choice: "Our Love Is Loud" by David Crowder Band



P.S. SHARK WEEK STARTS TONIGHT!!! :) Regardless, we're still watching the Next Food Network Star for the next hour.

Honeymoon FINAL PART

This is the last part of our honeymoon experience extravaganza, although we strive to act as if everyday our honeymoon. :) We hope you enjoyed seeing our trip to Lake Rabun in the North Georgia mountains as well as our two-day trip to Highlands, North Carolina. Soon we will be posting videos of our new home, the Bungalow at Lake Oconee. :)

Today we venture back to the place we met... Auburn, Alabama. :) We have to move out the rest of Whit's furniture from her old apartment.

Honeymoon Final Part from Whitney Todd on Vimeo.

Stitchin' in the Kitchen

What a joy it was to spend the majority of the day with my grandmother (aka: Gingin)! She was once an incredible seamstress but had to look past her hobby in order to take care of more important things (aka: her mother's well-being). So it's back to taking care of her own well-being and it is an honor to participate with her in that. First things first -- begin sewing again. I've been wanting to learn how to sew an apron since this past Christmas when my mom gave me some wonderful little apron patterns for sewing. :) I had to begin with the basics though... so we got out what was left from the bedsheet I used from the children's camp and we made two white aprons with the fabric. (Gingin's had white stitching and mine had brown, of course). I hope to add on some cute little patterned fabric for pockets as well as a couple of buttons.

After our aprons were complete and our backs were sore and stiff, we finished the afternoon by making some delightful homemade vanilla ice cream. Find a couple of segments from the day in the video below.

Now we're off to a lovely evening with my grandparents' friends as well as our new friends, Mr. Bob and Mrs. Nancy. They're having JD and me and another newlywed couple over for dinner so that we can make some friends our age in the area. :)

Stitchin' in the Kitchen from Whitney Todd on Vimeo.



Music choice: "Us" by Regina Spektor

Vu

Vu [vyoo]

n. a brief video update from Whitney and JD; in other words, speaking from the perspective of a newlywed couple.

Vu 1 - July 27 from Whitney Todd on Vimeo.



JD and I were pondering over the question, "Hey, when are you gonna settle down?" Of course, most people think we have settled down... because we fit the status of settling down simply by getting married. We have come to the conclusion that the phrase "to settle down" is insane for young married couples such as us. On the contrary, we are so far from settled down!! Surprisingly enough, we love that. It is easy to complain about the travel time but to be honest, we absolutely love spending that time talking in the car (sometimes I fall asleep) and visiting our friends and family.


PS: Honeymoon Part 3 will be up tomorrow!! :) Have a magnificent night!

Our Honeymoon Part 2

We just have to say it... It has been so awesome having our friends and family telling us how much you all enjoy our blog. :) Thank you for the encouragement there. We really just started out doing it because we enjoy it (which we still do of course), but it's so exciting to know that people actually enjoy watching our videos too. So, we send our greatest thanks to you.

Also, we have put together our Part 2 of the Honeymoon Video. It's definitely nowhere as awesome as Part 3, but we have to keep your toes on the edge somehow, right? Kudos to everyone who liked JD's haircut. I (Whit) tried to fix it several times this weekend but he said it just wasn't the way Alli fixed it. So he would take his fingers through his hair a couple of times, and BAM. There is was. Just like Alli did it. Haha - I'm okay with that, I suppose. She is a professional after all... But I think he's becoming a professional too, and that makes me a little sad simply because I enjoy playing with his hair. Hopefully I'll become the pro soon too. :/

Finally, the funeral service for Grandma Moon was beautiful yesterday. It felt weird smiling so much at a funeral, but we know she is in the presence of the ALMIGHTY KING!! What's not to smile, or to envy, about that??

I got a little sick yesterday from dehydration but I'm trying to get my energy up and going today... and I learned just how much more amazing my husband is because of the gentle way he took care of me. Not many men will rub your back while you're dry heaving over a toilet. I mean, come on!! He loves me like no other and I am truly beyond blessed. :)

Oh yea, and here's the new vid! ENJOY!!

Honeymoon Part 2 from Whitney Todd on Vimeo.



Song choice: Your Hand in Mine - Explosions in the Sky
(we're going to do a better job with posting the song names from the vids.)

A Day of Sadness & Celebration

My great-grandmother, Grandma Moon, peacefully passed away this morning at 2 a.m. Though it is super sad to see such an amazing woman pass, we are celebrating the wonderful life she lived... and the fact that she is now celebrating her eternal life with our Savior! :) She has blessed so many lives and we hope nothing less than to carry on that legacy in our family.

One thing she never hesitated to remind JD and me was to never go to bed angry. Even though we have been married for only (almost) two months, we have of course had our small disputes... Surprise!! We're only human. However, we can never really look at each other in the eyes when we have a rift, because when our eyes meet, we just can't help but smile and just laugh off the situation. We hope this is an encouragement to all who read this -- that when you get into a (what JD would prefer calling a "debate" rather than dispute), that you will look at your spouse (or girlfriend/boyfriend) and remember the reasons why you are together... that you will look at each other in the eyes and develop a magnificent smile because the glisten in your significant other's eyes are just too unbearable to resist. Therefore, with that, we strive and hope that you will strive to never go to bed angry.

Also, if you haven't already heard the news of this... JD got his haircut today. And of course, it was Jitneys Journeys video blog worthy. We've been trying to get the video up for the past three hours but it seems as though Vimeo is having a few glitches. We will have it up ASAP.

Another funny story about my grandma... the first time she (and the rest of the entire family) met JD, she stared at him for a while and said, "Is this your boyfriend??" At this time, JD and I weren't "official" so we just kind of looked at each other blankly. Moments later, she said, "Well, this must be your girlfriend with all of that hair." :) It definitely relieved us both when she said that simply for the fact that we didn't have to answer the "are you official" question. We hate that she didn't get to see JD with his short, clean-cut hair, but at least he got it cut before her funeral. AND like everyone else that we pass in our path of life, she said he was incredibly handsome... even with the long hair.

Please keep our family in your prayers... especially the grandparents that are letting us stay next door to them in their cabin. To help you make the connection, Grandma Moon is my grandmother's (Gingin) mother... and my mother's (Mama E) grandmother... therefore, Grandma Moon is my great-grandmother. She lived to see four of her great-grandchildren (Daniel, Chase, Lauren and myself) get married and even lived to see her great-great grandchild turn one year old. That's an extravagant life. :)

Honeymoon Part 1

Alright!! It's what you have all been waiting for....

ANOTHER VIDEO!!! :)

So here is a compilation of videos (because we didn't take a camera) from the first part of our Honeymoon in the North Georgia Mountains [Lake Rabun to be exact]. We will try to post the other two parts within the next two days!

Untitled from Whitney Todd on Vimeo.



In other news, this past weekend was AWESOME! The kids were amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Cassie and Jabe, some friends from Livingston, Ala. Not to mention, it was an incredible opportunity for JD and me! How beautiful is it that we get to serve an Almighty Savior... simply by leading at a children's camp (at the water park). We've been working SUPER hard on putting together the video so it will be up as soon as we get some pictures! It's looking pretty good so far though.

Also, we our having our Trash the Dress session tomorrow with our photographer Kike Morales. :) Last time the session got rained out so let's hope for the best tomorrow!

ENJOY!