2 YEARS!!

May 29, 2011

Today we celebrate! Today we enjoy 2 years of marriage!  WOW! 2 whole years!  Can I say WOW again!  Where has time gone?  In all the days of my life my favorite day ever has been May 29, 2011! Clint and I were married!  What a day to celebrate!

A walk down memory lane... 2 years ago today we were in Beaufort, NC getting dressed to greet one another at the end of the aisle in the Ann Street United Methodist Church!  We celebrated with 300 of our closest family members and friends at the Duke Marine Lab on Piver's Island in Beaufort.  Here are a few pictures to help visualize our special day!

The flowers and the ties! Peonies and Lilys

The Bridesmaids! Leigh, Eva, Teresa, and Betty Brandt

All dressed!  Carter is ready and excited to throw some feathers!

The Boys!  Clint and his groomsmen and ushers!

Let the water works begin...

YIIIIPPPPEEEE!!!

Posing on the dock!

The church, rings, flowers, and cake!

The historic Beaufort bus we took from the church to the reception!  Wind Blown!

The tent!

Sweet Memories!

And we're off!  Headed to the Pecan Tree Inn downtown Beaufort!

Ephesians 5

 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,  and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—  for we are members of his body.  “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wifeas he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

And to celebrate these 2 years of marriage we ate a ton of food!  We decided we would go on "vacation" in Raleigh, since our days are numbered here in Raleigh before we move to "K-town."  We decided to eat at The Angus Barn!  OHH man was this delicious!  We started with cheese and crackers, then delicious salads, then texas toast, and then our meals!  Clint ordered the combo of a Filet and the Pork Ribs.  I ordered the bacon rapped Filet!  The Angus Barn is so great, for anniversaries and birthdays you get your very own pound cake!  For real... a whole cake!  Then one of Clint's old Leesville Young Life guys was working that night and he gave us an entire chocolate chess pie! Yes!!  Night made!  Thanks Anugs Barn and Jordan!

Here are a few photos of the night:

Excited to order! Fasted all day for this moment!

Check out that spread! And strange glow around Clint!

The POUND CAKE!

2 years under our belt!

Clint special ordered Peonies!! They smell like our wedding day!

My thoughtful husband!  I have been wanting the J.Crew "barber jacket" for MONTHS!  And, he gave me one!  SO sweet!

Well... there you have it!  We are just some old married people!  2 years down, infinity to go!

Fun Filled Four Days

Young Life Banquet, beaufort, Cape Look Out

What a fun 4 days! The Garner Young Life Team loaded up to head east!  And we tackled the east coast!  We spent 4 incredible days in Beaufort: resting, reading, running, tubing, skiing, paddle boarding, sitting, sun tanning, laughing, eating, pushing boats, sailing...  For real! Such a fun "family" vacation.  Maggie, Sarah, Taylor, Cameron, Becca, Clint, and I took on Beaufort!  We missed Nolan very much... for real we found times saying "WWNBD" (What would Nolan be doing?) 

Here are a few pictures of our adventures:

We went to Cape Look Out for a day, or as Sarah was saying "Cape Out Look"

We spotted some horses across Taylor's Creek

We played on our Christmas gift from Biggie and Betty!  Paddle boarding is a work out!

Classic beach trip: someone has got to get buried!  Maggie was a great sport!

Friday May 17th we had the Lenoir County and Greene County Young Life Banquet!  Wow!  What a fun night!  The Lord provided in very large ways.  It was super encouraging and undeniable that this is the town we have been called to!

 Maggie and Sarah dressed up as Wanda and Rhonda the F.L.E.M. (Female Ladies Entertaining Melodiously) SO FUNNY!  

This is the core group of Young Life committee that are working their socks off to raise money and prepare the way for Young Life to step it to the next level.  We are SO thankful for you all!  Paula, Jeanette, Susan, Jimbo, Summer, Paula, Margaret, and Ashley!  Such a blessing to be beginning our friendships with each of you and your families!

The Garner Team "Family"  So thankful for y'all and your hard work as serving in a "work crew" way at the banquet!  Becca the socializer, Cameron the slide guy, Sarah and Maggie on program, and Tay Blay playing guitar!  Love y'all!

Let's just say these past 4 days have been so incredible!  Getting to be with our sweet friends and begin new relationships in Kinston.  The most encouraging part of the weekend was when our Garner Team told Clint and I, "Wow, Kinston is the town y'all belong in!  These people are SO great!  It just looks like y'all."  So, between raising more then expected at the banquet and the kind words from our friends, Clint and I are SO pumped to be moving to this small Eastern North Carolina community!

Love y'all!

Mary

Jamming Out!

You know that feeling when a song just strikes a nerve?  When a song brings you tears or give you goose bumps... well... I have found a song that I cannot keep a dry eye!

It is this song: Who Shall I Fear?

You should listen to it right now!! For real, click it... then jam out!!  It is a song by Chris Tomlin about our God who is the God of Angel Armies, who fights for us!  Here are the lyrics!  And the thing I love about these lyrics the most, is that they are pure scripture! Such sweet Truth:

You hear me when I call
You are my morning song
Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light

Whom shall I fear

You crush the enemy
Underneath my feet
You are my sword and shield
Though troubles linger still

Whom shall I fear

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

My strength is in Your name
For You alone can save
You will deliver me
Yours is the victory

Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in Your hands
I'm holding on to Your promises

You are faithful
You are faithful

And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the hold world in your hands
I'm hold on to your promises

You are faithful
You are faithful
You are faithful

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

I know who goes before me
I know who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The one who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

So, did you get goose bumps!? I did!  This song has been such truth to Clint and I in this season to cling to and to shout at the top of our lungs in the car.  "I know who goes before me, I know who stands behind..." Our God goes before us in Kinston, and he is by our side in this transition!

Have a great day!  

Love,

Mary

May Days

Some great days in May!

I love the month of May! For many reasons... 1) beautiful weather 2) humidity is low (good hair days) 3) No mosquitos yet! 4) The month we celebrate our marriage 5) Mother's Day 6) Trips to the beach! 7) Wedding season begins!

This month has been such a great month so far!  

We have celebrated the end of Young Life with a Picnic!

This is a fun picture of all of the Meredith College Young Life Leaders!  Love these people!  Will miss these relationships the most!  "I love you Meredith College, Oh yes I do! I love you Meredith College! When I'm not with you I am blue!"

We have continued to get super excited about Kinston!  We are looking at a July Move date!  So EXCITED!  We are so thankful for Raleigh and these last 2 months here, but we are looking forward to Kinston!

We celebrated Molly and Harrison's marriage in Beaufort, NC!  Such a beautiful wedding!!  Their ceremony was in the Ann Street Episcopal Church and their reception was in the Watercraft Center on Front St.  Such a fun day!

Clint and I at the reception! Beautiful day!

This may the funniest thing I have seen in a long while!  We were eating our icecream outside the General Store Saturday night.  And this man came up to Charlie Rouse to see if he could hold his dog.  Look how tiny this dog is!!!!  And, to make the story even more funny... guess what the mini-dog's name was? Charlie!!!!!

We celebrated Mother's Day with Clint's Mom on Sunday morning in Beaufort!  So sweet to be with Hannah Rouse and celebrate who she is!  So thankful for my Mother-in-law!!  We then headed straight to Cary to celebrate my Mom and Karla Kincaid!  So thankful for my mom!  SO thankful for Karla as she is the mother of my sweet niece Phoebe!

 Sweet little Phoebe!!!

Leaving a Legacy

Garner Trojans

What a gift it has been to love and serve Garner High School for the past three years.  Clint is a trail blazer (if you didn't already know this about him), he has a great gift of beginning new projects, meeting adults, raising money, blazing the way, Clint Rouse is unstoppable! 

Clint was giving the fun project of beginning Young Life at Garner High School, and he has certainly done that with the assistance of The Lord (the credit and victory is given to Jesus, obviously!) and an incredible Young Life Team: Nolan, Taylor, Maggie, Sarah, Cameron, and Becca!  When we think of "missing Raleigh" next year the thing we will miss the most is our Young Life team at Garner.  They are really like our children.  We have gotten to watch them grow as men and women of Christ, we have seen them fall down and scrape their knees, and we have seen them learn to walk.  We love our team!  I may have two tears rolling down my face writing this, because we love these people.

Last night was Clint's last Young Life Club, but CERTAINLY not the last Garner Young Life club ever!  We really feel like we are leaving a legacy in Raleigh Young Life with Garner Young Life.  I have never seen people love one another the way this team does.  They have included and embraced all their roommates, boyfriends/girlfriends, friends, class mates to make up "Garner Team Extended."  Through this extended part of our them they get to include the people they love into a ministry they love.  To the High School Kid's its like they have more then one college friend!

So, seniors spoke to share with the club what they learned from Young Life.  A lot shared how great their leader was and a few shared how great God was!  What an honor to hear!  The last person to share was Clint and his final nugget to share with Garner High School was, "Will you take the trade?"  Will we trade this life of brokenness for full life that Jesus offers to us by dieing on the cross for our brokenness?  He spoke specifically about Jesus on the cross and the two criminals being crucified on either side of him.  One of the criminals rebuked him and threw insults at him, while the other criminal saw who Jesus was, he was the Son of God, this criminal accepted the trade!  So, Clint's main point was which response will we have? To reject Jesus' offer on the cross or to accept Jesus for who he is, the Son of God!

Luke 23: 39-43

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Jesus is so gracious, he is so forgiving, there is nothing that we have done that he will not forgive!  He forgave a criminal in the final hours of his life, why not allow him to come in to our lives?  

Here are a few shots of Garner Club last night: 

After Clint was introduced by David "Moo Moo"

Clint, David "Moo Moo", and I. This sweet young man will always have a special place in the Rouse House.  We love David!

A few of our sweet friends who make up Garner Team Extended!  There are probably 20 people not in this picture!

 Outdoor club is the best!

It has always been Garner's tradition to give the seniors a small blue mason jar to represent all the memories shared at Garner Young Life.  All the students, the team, and extended team gave Clint and I the biggest blue mason jar we have ever seen full of notes and memories about Garner Young Life.  This will be a cherished center piece in our life ALWAYS!  We love y'all so much!

Happy 6th Birthday Carter!

Carter Elizabeth Kincaid

This sweet girl is SO loved! I love her more than words can explain!  It seems like just yesterday she was born!  Her parents are my oldest brother and his sweet wife, Thom and Margaret!  Carter has played many precious roles in my life: she was my first niece, she was our flower girl in our wedding, and she is such a source of joy in my life!

Here are a few photos to celebrate this precious girls birthday!

April 24, 2007

This is the day she came home from the hospital!

My big brother Thom and Carter on her "time out" step.  Please notice her ankles!  She has been a little lady since birth, crossing her ankles!

 Carter on the day of her Christening. 

Carter at her 3rd birthday party!

Carter at my College Graduation Party!  She thought it was my birthday!

Playing dress up at Papa and Grand's house!

Christmas morning!

The sweetest flower ("feather") girl to ever live!

There she is in action! I love her little bare-feet!

At her 6th Birthday Party on April 24, 2013!  Sitting on her Uncle Clint's lab!

Happy Birthday Carter!!

Sweet Carter!  I love this little girl and her love for her family (very BIG family!), her social skills (she speaks as if she were 17), how she loves her dogs, her passion for dolls of all sorts, her imagination, that she never meets a stranger, and the love and joy she radiates to everyone around her!  Carter, I hope you feel so special and loved!  Happy Birthday!!!