Me & Mr. Jones

Welcome to our little corner where you can keep up with us! I'm usually more reserved than what you'll read below. I'm an introvert that only opens up after I know you really well. But since this is all in writing and I can't actually see you it's much easier for me to be an open book. I hope you enjoy reading and learning about our little life and check back often.

Oh and I love comments like I love chocolate! So feel free to say "hey"!

This picture was taken during our first summer together at the Ohio State Fair.
Don't mind the big ugly gorilla and the monkey hanging off my arm, oh, and the glittery belt.
Let's remember this picture was taken over 10 years ago and that stuff was cool then (or so I thought!)

We are followers of Jesus Christ and He is our Lord and Savior. Period.

We met in high school during our sophomore year of gym class. I guess he'd been trying to talk to me for a while but I thought he was too popular to like a girl like me. He asked me to be his partner at the beginning of the softball unit and little did he know that I had played since I was in 1st grade. When I threw the ball at him he still says to this day that's what got him hooked :) I'd like to say that from that moment on we started dating but we didn't start dating until a few months after that. We became really good friends and finally after I broke up with a guy I had been going out with he saw his chance to move in and then we started dating and the rest is history! 

We've had almost every side job and career job together. What can I say, we just can't live--or work--without each other! Some people would hate working with their spouse but I really believe God gave us extra patience and endurance so we can work together since we do work so well together. In high school: a pizza place called Small Town Pizza (I still crave that pizza today and we believe that the reason it closed down was because the employees got free food, and boy, did we eat!) Hollister Co. (ok, a little embarrassed by this). In college: Cracker Barrel (or the Crack House). Careers: First Church of God, Taylors, SC; East Side Church of God, Anderson, IN; and now missionaries for Missionary Athletes International and the Urban Eagles in Charlotte, NC. 

I studied to be a teacher but decided half way through my senior year of college I didn't want to be a full-time teacher in the classroom. Travis studied bible and religion. He thought he'd eventually be a senior pastor. Neither one of us are actually doing what we thought we'd be doing but we are definitely using our degrees. God gave us new dreams and new passions and we are so blessed and happy to be where we are instead of in a classroom and behind a pulpit (not that those jobs aren't praiseworthy! They just aren't for us at this time).

We are missionaries for Missionary Athletes International and the Urban Eagles. We are doing something we never ever dreamed! We didn't even know it was possible! We work where we live trying to be a good neighbor in a neighborhood that many would consider at-risk. We place boys on soccer teams who would otherwise not have the means to play. We connect with churches in the community to help meet needs of the families around us. We are one of the only caucasian families in our neighborhood. Sometimes we forget we're in America. We're predicting that our child will know 4 different languages and we're ok with that: Burmese, Nepalese, Spanish, and of course, English.

I love to sew! I actually hated home economics in middle school, but ever since Travis bought me a sewing machine a few years ago he hasn't been able to pull me away from it! I taught myself how to use it and I'm looking up tutorials and patterns all the time trying to learn and create new things. Thank God for Pinterest because that's where I find most of my inspirations and pin all of my findings. My mom thinks my love for sewing skipped a generation since her mother loved it and she hates it. I'm ok with hearing that I take after my beautiful Grandma Charlotte :)

We grew up in Columbus, Ohio so naturally we are die-hard Buckeye fans. That will never change! 

We've lived in 7 different houses in the first 7 years of our marriage. 

We are Mommy and Daddy to Anna Jubilee and Theo Shepherd. They have changed our lives in more ways than we could've ever imagined! Being a parent has been the most difficult thing we've ever done but it's also been the absolute best thing we've done. I don't remember life without my littles and I don't mind one bit. We learn something new everyday with these two. We praise God for giving us the privilege to be their parents and we pray everyday that He would give us grace as we maneuver through the crazy world of parenthood.