Our family is growing... by 2 feet!

This announcement is long overdue, so i thought it was definitely time to start updating the blog again. For those of you that don't know, Aaron and I are having a baby!!! We found out at the beginning of December and were able to tell our immediate family during our visits home at Christmas. Of course we gave them a small gift to open of either UNC booties or socks to share the news (our little one will definitely be raised to be a Carolina fan)! On April 8th we went in for an ultrasound and found out we are having a GIRL and we couldn't be happier.
When we were choosing names we kept having trouble agreeing on boy names, but when we talked about names or a girl there was only one name that we really loved. With that being said, our little girl's name is

Emma Grace Swain

Emma is due to arrive at the end of August, so we are busy trying our best to prepare for her arrival. We are praising God for blessing us with this child and would greatly appreciate your prayers for Emma as she continues to grow and for Aaron and I as we know so little about how to raise her. We are truly blessed with family members, church family, and friends that have already come along side of us during this time through their prayers and generosity. But most of all we are grateful for a faithful God that has created Emma and pray that He will be glorified.

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are Your works Lord, and my soul knows it very well. -- Psalm 139:13-14

School's out for summer

School is out - at least til the fall when it will start up again.  Sarah only has 2 semesters to go, but Aaron has quite a few left.  Our summer is going to be busy as usual, filled with: life group, staff retreat, VBS, summer camp, visiting family, working at the new church building, plus our regular jobs.  

I will put up some updates with pictures soon!  

1st Anniversary

Our first anniversary was back in January (I'm way behind!) and we took a quick trip to Savannah, GA to celebrate.  We had such a wonderful time and Savannah was gorgeous!  Here are just a few pictures of our trip (I meant to put up more, but the computer wasn't working with me.  We also ate our yummy 1 year cake topper too.  Sweet Memories Bakery in Apex did our wedding cake and for your 1 year they bake you a fresh cake.  It was delicious!

This is me with Paula Deen.  She would have looked more life-like if the camera didn't have a flash, ha.
Savannah is known for these trees (live oaks, i think)
This is the Olde Pink House.  My aunt treated us to lunch there and it was amazing.  It was a former mansion, turned into a restaurant.  If you go, please get the southern sushi - you won't regret it.
Of course Aaron would have me take a picture with a sign about John Wesley.
It was such a great trip and I hope that we can go back soon!

I love Saturday mornings

I love Saturday mornings.  I feel like I can relax and catch up on things.  This morning Aaron and I ventured out to my favorite place for breakfast - Panera Bread.  I absolutely love their four cheese and egg souffle.

Updates will be coming soon with some pictures of our youth and the exciting things happening at our church.  There is so much that I haven't posted recently so I will definitely be putting up a lot of pictures.

Some great websites...

As of recent I have started couponing and trying to learn how to be more frugal and here are a few great websites that I have found:

www.moneysavingmom.com
www.5dollardinners.com
www.dealseekingmom.com

I have learned a lot about different ways to save money and different saving programs at stores, so get your Sunday paper, cut the coupons out, and check out these websites - if you take the time to do it, you can save a lot of money.

PS: New posts with pictures and recent updates will be coming soon :)
-Sarah

Swagbucks!

A blog that I check pretty regularly is www.moneysavingmom.com, and on it I just recently learned about Swagbucks. It is basically a search engine and every time you use it you gain points that can go towards gift cards and other things. I know you don't earn but a few points a day when you start, but the more you refer people, the more points you get too!
Click here to sign up -->
http://swagbucks.prodege.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=247111

Here is Money Saving Mom's post about Swagbucks....

"I don't know about you, but I do a lot of searching online. If I need to find the answer to just about anything, Google is my best friend.
So when Lavonne told me about Swagbucks--an online search engine that rewards you for searching online--I was all ears. Especially when she told me she had earned enough in Swagbucks in the last four months to receive hundreds of dollars in gift cards.
I did some investigation and learned that Swagbucks is very simple to sign up for. In fact, it takes all of about one minute. There are no fees, no credit card required, and no phone number or address requested.
After that, you are credited 3 points to your account and then download the toolbar and every day as you're searching online, you earn a few more points. After only 45 points earned, you can get a free Amazon gift card. Or at 50 points, you can get a Starbucks gift card. There are dozens of other prizes, too.
Now, you might be thinking, "What's the big deal if I only earn a $5 gift card every month?" Well, you're right, $5 isn't that exciting. It's something, but that's only the beginning. You see, your earnings will exponentially multiply when you refer others.
Do you know anyone else who searches online? I thought so. Well, tell them about Swagbucks, send them your referral link, and you'll not only instantly earn more points when they sign up, you'll also earn points for the searching they do online.
Tell lots of folks and you're well on your way to funding your entire Christmas budget with free gift cards from Swagbucks. I'm not kidding you, that's exactly what Lavonne did.
For those of you who have blogs, you'll especially want to jump on board with this. It's free, it won't take much of your time to do, and it could generate a nice stream of gift cards in your mailbox."

So if you're always googling things like me, just sign up and earn points when you do!
http://swagbucks.prodege.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=247111

OMV

Some excited things have been happening at our church recently and I thought I would share a few pictures with you!

Here are some of the kids and adults getting ready to start Awanas.  

These are the kids that Aaron and I get to ministered to - the youth group.  Now I know this doesn't look like a large group, but the Lord has really been blessing us lately with more and more visitors.  When Aaron and I came to OMV 2 years ago we only had 3 kids, and recently we have had 8!  I know this doesn't seem like a big deal, but we are really excited about it.
Here is the most precious 1 year old I know - Nate Conyers!  He gets cuter by the day and cannot stay away from these drums...
We recently had our homecoming and here is the spread
This is at homecoming too, but I just thought this was a cute picture of Michael and Christy.  They are such a sweet couple and they do a wonderful job ministering to our youth as well.
Anyways, the Lord has been bringing a lot of visitors recently to our church and has answered a huge need that we have been praying about for a long time - hopefully everything will work out and I can post an exciting announcement about that soon!