GO Missions Trip

Well tomorrow we leave for 5 days with 37 Junior High students who have worked so hard the past 9 weeks to be able to go on this trip. It will be a trying week I can imagine (as sometimes junior highers can be) but I know it will be rewarding. I miss going on my own missions trips.. I absolutely love doing stuff like this, a little more difficult when I'm in charge of something like this. I just need to find ways to serve the students this week, the leaders and those around us.

Pray for us, the leaders and the lack of sleep haha and those we will be encountering! Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was NUTS but it was a great time overall :)

Where are you Christmas?

Gosh this holiday season is flying by. Probably because I worked right up until Christmas day... never done that before. I got my Christmas shopping done weeks ago which was nice but with so much going on right after Christmas, it was good that I did.

This holiday season has been hard (as other staff spouses can attest to I'm sure). We have 6 Christmas services in 2 days and that means staff is virtually gone for 2 days right before Christmas. It's been hard, not going to lie. Our first Christmas together wasn't really what I imagined. Haha home alone on Christmas eve has been a different feeling. THe Christmas service was powerful, everyone did a great job, but I'm ready to have my Christmas now... selfish i'm sure but oh well :)

So tomorrow we leave our house at 7am and are hitting up 4 families and trying to give everyone enough time so they don't feel jipped... haha we still haven't decided when we are doing our personal Christmas and gift exchange. PRobably not until the day after Christmas because we are committed to family until 11pm tomorrow night.

haha this almost makes me want to have a baby so that people will just come to us or something (i'm sure it will be more crazy with a baby) but at least people will understand the chaos of driving 60 miles and spending a few hours with each family. This is the first year that I don't get to see my dad's side because of Christmas services and whatnot... sad but I know God has called us to this life and somethings mean sacrifice. So enough of my "woe is me" haha... I pray tomorrow is relaxed, full of laughs, and a very memorable first Christmas as a married couple. I'm sure this won't be the craziest yet! ;)

Merry Christmas everyone!!


<3 THE HANNS

Holiday slideshow

took this away because the constant music was driving me crazy haha. pictures on my facebook if you want to see :)

In Love

Just wanted to say how much I love my husband. He works so hard at what he does, he loves his job and loves where God placed him. We are so blessed to be where we are and sometimes the stresses of life push aside the grateful feelings that I have for him and all he does. Can't believe how much he has done for me even in just about 6 months of marriage and how selfless he is. It blows me away and I hope he knows just how much I love him and appreciate him.



I love you Jeremiah

I'M DONE WITH COLLEGE CLASSES!

How exciting is that! I mean until I go for my Masters, I am done sitting in a classroom and taking notes, taking tests, writing long pointless 20 page papers (this semester was a beast with a 50 page paper... That's a book!)

I am kind of in a weird mood now that it's all over. I'm definitely not sad.. I'm sure one day I'll miss college life but as for now.. i'm not sure how to feel. I got really anxious last night not having a million things on my mind. All I have to think about is getting myself to work (my last official day will be Christmas Eve I believe which is kind of crazy). So between now and the GO missions trip, my only real focuses are work, girls Bible study lessons and deep cleaning my house. That has really never happened. ah!

I have pretty much finished my Christmas shopping. I bought Jeremiah's yesterday which was a big relief cuz I was blanking on what to get him, but it hit me yesterday.. got to get a few more things to get for Jeremiah's family but other than that we are done. Once I get my USB cable, I will uploud pictures of our decorated house and our tree. Jeremiah did a great job putting up lights, I trimmed bushes so that our house looked a little nicer. He accidently dropped a hammer on his head, which was on the top of hte ladder... that was a big pain! but it's all done and I would say our house looks the best on the block! :)

I am really trying to encourage and influence the people I work with for the last few weeks i"m there. I have really really enjoyed working at Starbucks, some of the people were so wonderful and I have formed worked friendships with many. I have been able to share my faith with a lot of them and that was God's sly challenge to put me in a secular job and test me faith. My biggest challenge for this coming up semester with more time to spare is to be more consistent in my quiet times. This semester took a toll on my physical body and my spiritual body. God has given me this time and I need to give Him the time back.

Next week Jeremiah and I go to Sedona for 3 days and I'm super excited to get that opportunity from a great family friend for free. We are going to just spend that time together, not working, not doing church stuff, not doing household things.. just enjoying each other and our time away from home. :) super excited!

Off to get ready for work! Hope everyone is ready for Christmas!! :)

MUST SEE!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Allergist time!... UPDATE!

Well I am off to the allergist. I just pray that 1) I'm not in too much discomfort because after the allergist I'm out the rest of the night.. smart.. I know! :) and 2) that the figure out what the heck is wrong with me. I have had to be off ALL medicine for the past 5 days and my body is not happy and i have been having hives every day. This morning they are all over my hands and it hurts so bad. Jeremiah has to like constantly watch me because sometimes I start itching and don't even realize it. When the average person has an itch.. YOU ITCH IT... haha but my "normal itch" usually turns into HUGE hives the second I touch them so yah. Allergist... please let this horrible skin test reveal something. I'll update when I know what's going on. Thanks for the prayers... hopefully it's not an allergy to like bread or something. :) maybe chocolate haha and I'll use that as a weight loss excuse! :)

off I go...!


UPDATE

SO I WENT TO THE ALLERGIST AND DID THE AWFUL TEST THEY GIVE YOU.. THE DOCTOR SAID IT MIGHT BE HARD TO TELL BECAUSE I HAVE REALLY SENSITIVE SKIN. THEY DID THE TEST AND THE LADY PRICKED ME WITH A BUNCH OF STUFF AND TOLD ME I HAD TO SIT THERE FOR 15 MINUTES AND NOT TOUCH IT AT ALL...

IT WAS SO HORRIBLE. MY ARMS WERE ON FIRE AND I COULD SEE HIVES FLARING UP.... JEREMIAH WAS SWEET AND PLAYED A LITTLE GAME WITH ME TO HELP ME NOT THINK ABOUT IT.

THEY NURSES CAME BACK IN AND WERE LIKE "WOW WELL LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO SOME THINGS" SO THEY WROTE DOWN ALL THE MEASUREMENTS OF THE HIVES AND TOLD ME THAT I WAS ALLERGIC TO OLIVE TREES, MESQUITE TREES, AND GRASSES FOR CERTAIN.

THE DOCTOR CAME BACK IN AND TOLD ME THAT HE IS DEFINITELY GOING TO GIVE ME ALLERGY MEDICINE. HE ALSO SAID THAT HE THINKS I AM ALLERGIC TO MYSELF.. HAHA! I WENT AND GOT BLOOD TEST AFTER BECAUSE HE SAID HE THINKS MY BODY IS PRODUCING A PROTEIN THAT I AM ACTUALLY ALLERGIC TOO. HOW FUNNY TO SAY THAT IM ALLERGIC TO MYSELF.

SO GOT THE BLOOD TEST DONE (I HATE NEEDLES) AND GOT 3 WEEKS WORK OF SAMPLES OF THE ALLERGY MEDICINE AND THE MEDICINE IS GREAT!! HAVENT HAD ANY HIVES (AND I HAD A LOT GOING INTO THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE) AND I'M VERY HAPPY THAT IT WASN'T ALL IN MY HEAD HAHA.

SO IT'S ALL OVER. I HAVE A FOLLOW UP APPOINTMENT SO HOPEFULLY THE MEDICINE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK :)

The End is NEAR!!!!

I can't believe my last week of classes is here.... ahh it's incredible. What's even more incredible is that my SENIOR RECITAL IS TOMORROW!!! (7pm at Church of the Holy Spirit.. 2501 E. Cactus Rd. Phoenix, 85032)

I am wayyyy nervous only because I've been working for so long toward this and it is finally here. I am kinda nervous there won't be many people there... I know it's on a wednesday and thats hard for people... I didnt have a choice though so it's tough. Oh well. I know all my songs and I am so happy to finally be at this point. I remember a few months ago just sitting in my room crying because I just did not think I could make it through this difficult semester. It has been a very long past few months but a week from today.... I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL!! AHHHHHH!!!

I told my boss yesterday that I would be quitting after Christmas and he was very understanding and it was a big relief to make this step of faith and just do it. I have worked myself so hard these past few years and I just can't do that while i"m student teaching. Im afraid I would get so burned out with teaching after another tough semester of full time teaching and part time working. My time at Starbucks has been amazing. I have made some great friendships with people that I never would have met. My faith was tested and I was able to share Christ with so many coworkers. It was wonderful. I am alll giddy about being able to focus on student teaching and ministry and not 7 classes, senior recital, 30 hours of work, driving 3 hours everyday, homework and the whole ministry, not to mention personal life.. each week. Gosh it's gonna be great.I'm so thankful that God provided EXACTLY what we needed for next semester. Literally (no more or no less.. it's just wonderful!)


So off to school.. .tomorrow I have the whole day off so I can sleep in and relax before I work my butt off at my recital haha. ALmost done... thanks for all of your encouragement.. the end is near!

Emergency Room

Well this hive situation has turned a little more serious. Last night the hives got really bad. They were REALLY bad on my hips (I was gonna post pictures but they are on my phone and it's just gross haha). They were all over my hips but they were reallllllyy big. Jeremiah even said he hasnt seen them this big before. So i put on some calomine lotion, took some benedryll and went to lay down. As I was in the bathroom all of a sudden my lips started swelling. It felt like hives on the inside of my lips. I don't think at first jeremiah thought it was real... then he could start seeing my face to swell and hives on my forehead. I sort of paniced. I had heard that they can spread to your throat and cause you to sufficate. that probably didnt help the situation I'm sure. So we called my mom and after we waited to see if the benedryll would help anything once it kicked in... well it didn't. And so a neighbor and my mom said it's better to be at the hospital incase something gets really worse and just to be safe. That was the longest car ride of my life because I was soo nervous that it was even harder to breath.

We get there and we were the only ones in the waiting room which was reassuring because I knew we wouldnt have to wait an hour. We got in right away and they said... "so are you itching?"and I said yes and showed them my sides and they were like "woah those are big hives" so they took me back to a room and I had to pee in a cup to make sure I wasn't pregnant before they gave me medicine.. I'm not :) So they doctor came in and said the only thing they can do since my face is now swelling is give me a steroid and a heavy duty dose of benedryll and hope it goes down because only an allergist can find out the trigger. THey asked me (like everyone else) if anything in my life has changed.. soap, detergent, lotion, food, environment.. we said no. So they explained what I need to do and to come back if my face swells again like this. Then a nurse came in and I was making jokes everywhere cuz I was so nervous and they he tells me to pick a side to give me my shot. I thought he meant arm.. but he didn't.. it was practically in my butt and then he gave me like 4 other pills. I immediately started feeling better after the shot. I was reallllly sleepy (so much medicine) and so i layed there for a while in those pretty gowns and Jeremiah sat by me the whole time. He did so well and I know he was nervous.

They came back in and said my face looked so much better. Sent me home with some medicine to take for the next 5 days to see if that helps before i see an allergist.

Needless to say it was a long night. Got home really late. I was supposed to speak in all 3 services and obviously that didnt happen so Im proud of jeremiah for stepping up and being a great husband. Hopefully I will go to the film festival tonight cuz it's just sitting all night and the week will go fine. Just glad I am ok and still kinda worried it will come back but hopefully the medicine will help.

Thanks for all your prayers and help!

Been a while

Well it has been a while since I have written anything. This month has been nuts and in 3 weeks I am officially done taking classes at Southwestern College. It's kind of unreal. I had my Dress Rehearsal last night for my senior recital and it went better than expected. I wish I had 2 more years of vocal training with my voice teacher but maybe I can find someone out here. She is one of the best voice teachers in the country and I am blessed to have had her in my life. I have a lot of work to do to finish up for finals and stuff but at least the end is in sight!!! :) I got called for Jury duty next week so hopefully I can knock out a bunch of stuff when I sit around there.

I hope in some way that I don't get called for jury duty because I need to see a doctor. I thought i got bit by a spider last week and that is why my hand started swelling and I got hives all over my body. Well.... it's been 5 days now and I get the hives everyday ALL over my body and it's painful, burns and itches. I dont know if I have some severe allergy that I just developed or if I got bit and it's still in my system... or... I dunno... any ideas? Nothing in my daily routine has changed, we washed all our clothes and sheets and stuff... so I dont know what else to do. I take Bendryll and put on that nonitch lotion but nothing is stopping these things. BLAH! Hopefully I'll get it figured out soon!!

Well I hope everyone is ready for Thanksgiving.. i know i am!! Christmas is around the corner!

This is the funniest thing I have ever seen!!

Jeremiah found this and it was amazing.

What if the church marketed like Starbucks? It kinda overdramatizes the mistakes churches make with visitors and making it into Starbucks just is the icing on the cake. It's funny but pretty accurate! Enjoy :)

Time Flies!

Can't believe it's been a year since Jeremiah proposed. Memories and milestones like that get me so excited for our first anniversary and our first child and our first.... well I am not thinking that far ahead (haha even our first child is years away so i'll stop there before I get questions about babies and stuff haha).

For those of you who have not heard the proposal story... I will post it... it makes me cry everytime to read because wow did he do an amazing job. I will copy and paste the story that I wrote a few days after he proposed.

I just want to tell you Jeremiah that you are the most amazing man I have ever met. You inspire me, you put my needs first, you make me laugh and most of you love me for me. Your passion for Christ and ministry astounds me daily and our lives have just begun!
Here goes the LONG story. Skip it if you have read it... or cry along with me and read it again haha. Pictures below :)

First off I want to say that Jeremiah is incredible and has lied through his teeth the past month in making me think that he was no where near ready to get propose. Led me to believe that he doesn't have the money for the ring and might not until Christmas... (i was pretty sad) So here it goes.... So I thought the engagement was going to happen Tuesday night because i found out that Jeremiah was conspiring with Melissa (my great friend and old roommate of the past 2 years) and she had asked me to go out on Tuesday night so i assumed that that was the day. So Monday (the day before) Jess and I went shopping for a banquet dress for myself and her dad is the one that jeremiah was getting the engagement ring from and she had talked all afternoon about how Jeremiah hasnt talked to her dad and that she has no idea why he is not prepared. I was livid. I was so upset that he just wasnt preparing at all or wasn't even close. So yah we get a dress at Ross and go to the mall to hang out and just as I am about to get into my car to leave, she goes "Oh wait i have something I forgot to give you" and she pulls out of her purse this huge white envelope with the number 1 on it...I FLIPPED OUT... MY HEART SANK! I knew right then what was going on but had no idea what was happening.
She told me to open it and follow the instructions. So we got into her car and I read the first one and it had a rhyming clue telling me to go to the first place that we met at my freshmen year. Also inside the envelope was a CD of 20 of our favorite love songs for me to play in the car ride. So the first place we met was at the first floor of the RES hall at Southwestern by the elevators. So I get there and Melissa comes out with my 2nd clue. So I open that and read it and it rhymes again and tells me to go to the place where we had our first date. So we drive all the way to Castle's N Coasters (we played mini golf) and Gus and Steve (two of jeremiah's best friends and great friends of mine) were standing there for clue 3. So i open that one and it says to go to the first place we held hands (which was in downtown phoenix in between US Airways Center and Bank One Ball Park... so we drive all the way down there and Robby and Kelly (his old roommate of 4 years and my old RA who are married now) are standing by the cross walk where we first held hands and i got my 4th clue So I open it and it says to call this number to talk to an old friend. So I call it and its my best friend Lauren in California. She gives me my next clue which says to go to a place where you get reclaimed fish water in the face (aka the fountain at the lake/park in Fountain Hills which is where we first talked about if we could see ourselves marrying each other). So we drive ALL the way there (i'm freaking out by this point and Jess is laughing it up!)
So we get there and there is a parking spot reserved with my future name on it (Amber Nicole Hann) and we park there and I can see someone in the distant stnading there but i didnt know if it was him or someone with my next clue. I didnt want to get out because i was scared haha. So I finally get out and I hear over some speaker the song "Love of my Life" by Michael W. Smith (which is the first song we danced to and was our first dance at the wedding) playin in the background. And i see jeremiah standing in the middle of the park in front of the huge fountain that i LOVE. So i get up to him and hold his hand and he says "Amber I love you more than anyone. I want to make you smile every day.. I want to share a life of ministry with you. I will love you until the day we both die" and then he got on his knee and pulled out the ring and said "Amber Nicole Mollerup, will you marry me?" Just as he did that, the fountain shot up behind us.. (he timed it!) All i could say was "oh my gosh oh my gosh" and then when he asked i said "yes" like 50 times!! :) So we took pictures and then I got into his brother's mustang that he borrowed and he had bought me every bridal magazine in the store :) So we called everyone and went to our parent's house and the rest is history!!!

I VOTED... DID YOU!?

Got up at 5:30 this morning, stood in line for a little under 2 hours and finally... VOTED!!


Make sure you get out to vote!! :)



Also, starbucks is giving out free coffee to anyone who votes! MMMMM :)

November??

So we had the church picnic today and it was amazing. So many students and adults got baptized and it was really moving (shed a few tears).

But the biggest question I have is...

WHRE IS NOVEMBER!?

I was sweating to death at the picnic, it was in the 90s and it's almost thanksgiving. that's ridiculous!! My electric bill was still over $60 less than it was last month which is great but man i want to stop turning on my air!


SO last night we had our first ever trick or treaters and I was like running around the house SOO excited about having our own house and handing out candy (jeremiah was laughing soo hard at how giddy I was being). The parents thanked us for passing out candy because only like 3 other ppl on our block were passing out candy. We just tried to smile to each kid and parent and try and encourage the families we met even with a simple "have a good night."

I have pretty much settled in on a teacher to student teach with next semester. I'm meeting with her next week. Her school is... check this out... 5 miles from my house!!!!!!!! Oh I cannot even explain the joy that comes from finding her. She is a believer and has been teaching music for like 15 years. I drive over 90 miles everyday to and from school and I will go from an hour and a half drive to a 15 minute drive.

God totally opened doors for that and now we are trusting that He will take care of us financially because we have decided that for next semester I won't work. I can't do it anymore. I work 30 hours a week, go to school and take 8 classes, ministry is my entire weekend and I drive 12 hours a week to and from school. I want to dive into student teacher and enjoy my last semester of being in college and not being exhausted or emotional or worn down. This semester has been the hardest ever and I have not taken care of myself in the way that I need. I have been beat down by life and I refuse to go into my first year of teaching because exhausted and not fired up. Jeremiah is so supportive and is willing to do everything to help us make it without me working for a few months. The gas alone will save us a ton of money and smaller electric bills for a few months. I just pray we can stretch our money and be good stewards of the little we have. God is good and I need to know He will take care of us. I cant imagine He would want to see me the way I have been for any longer, I already am ignoring his screaming of "SLOW DOWN.. FIND PEACE IN ME!" and I cant ignore that voice anymore.


I am sooo excited for next semester... I just need to get through the next 2 months :) I can do it.





P.S. HI PENNY... WE MISS YOU!

Shocking

Got this from Heidi's blog and it's kind of shocking to think that this election change this country in a very dramatic way no matter who is elected but this video set aside all economics, all war discussions, medicare... and spoke only to LIFE. Powerful and kind of shocking.






VOTE

Not sure why

So there are many times where I hear people say that they don't agree with Palm Valley's "style" of teaching. I reflect over the messages in main service and youth... even in kids. They are usually simple messages, diving into God's Word and focusing on application to those listening. They aren't wordy or really complex, they aren't foreign in "churchy language" or filled with "candy coated" messages either. We strive to tell others about Christ, who He is, what He did for us, what the Bible is and how to apply the Bible to our lives.

I started thinking about how Jesus taught the people of His time and I somewhat laugh because He taught in stories that were so simple that sometimes people couldn't get them even then. He taught in parables, giving people application to their current lives and showing them how to live their lives for God. He then later would go to His Disciples and explain deeper into what He meant in His Parables. It makes me chuckle to think that people criticize that way of teaching when that is how Christ Himself did it. We have small groups each week that allow time for diving deeper into God's Word and questions about weekend messages.

How awesome is it to have a church (there are many others like Palm Valley as well) where you can leave a service and remember and APPLY what you learned???? What good is it to go to church, be perplexed by the message, hear some really "profound" thoughts and not have a clue what to do with what you heard? There are parts of the Bible that I don't understand (and I've taken many Bible classes with some of the smartest Bible theologians) and they don't even understand everything God wrote (well I guess that's because God did not intend us to know it all) and sometimes I forget about the simple messages I hear or read.

I went to a conference called the Creative Church Conference and the speaker was spot on about so many things. One thing that stuck that he said was "too often people feel like they aren't getting 'fed' in church because they want others to feed them everything rather than digging into stuff theirselves. too often people say that the messages aren't 'deep' enough and to that I say to them "'until you have mastered Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself"' I think you shouldnt be too worried about 'deep' messages"

It's sooooo true. We forget that we struggle with the greatest too commandments in most cases. I am encouraged and challenged to see each simple things that God is doing through church, my everyday life, other people and many other things around me and to continue to ponder all the mysteries about God but settle in the ABSOLUTES of who God says He is.

:) I'm trying to find stability amidst this stressful time in life and... SHOCK... God is the only stable thing in my life.. forever.. always.

TAG.. I'm it!

so Stacey tagged me to do this so I am gonna do it and tag some of you too!

Here are just a few things about.... ME

1. I work at Starbucks and I hate coffee. I thought with more time I would like it more.... but I don't... I get free coffee and don't drink it... want a free pound anyone?? :)

2. I love chicken.... every chicken. My favorite is chicken wings from Barros or Sardellas... I am pretty sure if I had chicken wings everyday I would be GREAT

3. I have wanted to be a music teacher since... well... forever. I have pictures from when I was little that I drew of being a teacher or singer. I knew from early on and I have never changed that decision. There were times that I thought it was just not worth all the stress and work right now but I am so excited to finally do it!!

4. I love politics. I watch all the debates, read all the magazines they send about all the propositions and people and even was in the young republicans in high school and did the final debate in front of the school.

5. Lastly, public speaking gives me a high. Haha, I don't know what it is but I love public speaking, speaking in front of crowds. It doesnt make me nervous at all, only anxious from excitement. Guess that's a good thing being a teacher and being married to a youth pastor but I think it's great fun!!

Ok Now it's time for me to tag 5 people. You 5 get to write a few things about yourself and then tag that number of people.

Tag... You're it....

Jeremiah
Penny
Vicki
Kara
Lauren

if you read this and you're tagged... then DO IT!! :) or just do it for fun anyway


happy Tuesday

cold weather= hot drinks!!

I am soooo sick of making frappuccinos!!! I am so excited it's winter almost for many reasons but one main reason is that I wont have to make a MILLION frappuccinos all day long. It's way more fun to learn new, interesting drinks or at least steam milk for a change. I have to get somewhat excited about my job otherwise I'll go crazy each day.


Almost done with school. I have my jury (basically my final) for my voice recital a week from this monday and I'm freaking out. I cry about it almost daily because it's so stressful... if I don't pass... I don't graduate this semester.. I am working my butt off to learn my songs and sound decent. I just pray that this week I have diligence to learn my music and get ready for my jury.


If I pass then my recital will be November 21st at 7pm at Church of the Holy Spirit, next door to Southwestern. Once my jury is over, i'll sigh a bit and have the push to finish strong. most people don't worry too much about the last semester, they just have to pass their classes, i have to get all As so I'm trying so hard to keep up my grades and what not. In about 9 days I'll know for sure. Please pray for me, I am usually stressed but this is a new high. My voice teacher calls me a "tank".. not sure if thats a good thing but i'll push through these last few months :)

Update

Well I am sitting at San Jose International Airport, 2 hours early for my flight and thought-what better thing to do than write a blog!!

So i have been in San Francisco for the past 3 days, watching my beautiful friend of 8 years finally get married! This weekend was just perfect. It reflected everything about her and Will's new life.I will post pictures up as soon as I get some. I brought my camera and with all of the commotion I just didnt take any haha. Luckily there were like a million photographers.

So the day after I got there, all the girls went to a spa for the day. Oh...My...Gosh... It was heavenly! It was super expensive and I think only like millionaires can afford to really go there haha but it was great. There is a huge lobby area where you walk around in this amazing robes and then there are "quiet rooms" with big huge recliners and dim lighting and curtains to curtain off your area and rest or read. THen there is a HUGE jacuzzi with a mist room, steam room, sauna, HUGE showers bigger than like my bedroom for individual showers. Each has shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shaving cream, individual razors, hair product. Then there are vanities each with blow dryers, straighteners, curling irons, hair product, hair accessories... and then... there is the 50 minute relaxation massage that I had. It was pure BLISS. A massage has definitely been added to my Christmas list.





THe wedding was great, really short... We had to wear like 3 inch pointy stilletos and our feet were dying by the end of the night but it was great. The wedding was perfect, it ended early which was nice for the newlyweds and nice for the wedding party. This weekend was worth every penny and Lauren and Will are going to have a great marriage together. So hard being so far away from each other but this weekend was perfect to see her off on their new life and hopefully get to see them soon!!

I missed Jeremiah like crazy and I am happy to go home and finish off this semester. I have A LOT Of music to memorize and homework to do haha. Now I have Brittini's wedding in a few months... eek i wanna get married again.. well mainly I wanna go on a honeymoon again haha.


Here are some pictures from the past few weeks from date day at the Barlow Girl Concert, picnic in the park and 3rd row seats to the Switchfoot, Third Day concert with some youth kids. Enjoy! :)
















Glad to be comin home!! :)

All grown up

So I know that Im becoming a "real adult" when our families ask us to start thinking about our Christmas lists and so far our list is blinds for the spare bedrooms, a wii/wii fit (cant afford a gym membership haha so we will work out in front of our tv) and my biggest thing on my list is...

TEACHER CLOTHES!!



ha ok this is a bit extreme but I could pull it off haha.

haha how funny is that though. It kinda hit me that from January on I will be in the classroom 5 days a week 9 months out of the year and I do NOT have anywhere near enough dress clothes to make it thro like a week haha. I used to work in child care so didnt need nice clothes for that, starbucks just gave me a lot of black and kakhi pants (not nice ones haha) and I have a lot of skirts but as an elementary music teacher, skirts arent idea haha. I cannot wait to get into the classroom!


That is why this election year is HUGE for me and my fellow music majors. The School Override Bill is crucial for students to get special areas. Without this bill passing many areas such as art, music, band, PE, and SOOO many other areas that children need and thrive in will be cut in many districts. I cant imagine never giving students the opportunity to find their passion and their gifts adn to give them creativity through the arts.



PLEASE.. no matter who you vote for... just VOTE!!

Christmas at the Hann's...in OCTOBER!

Christmas? In October? Yah well marrying Jeremiah Hann means that on exactly October 1st Christmas begins. We kicked off Christmas season last night by watching Polar Express (it's tradition now). I fell asleep because we had the junior high talent show last night (which rocked!!)




So if you think it's too early to celebrate Christmas, talk to my hubby. I'm surprised we don;t have our Christmas lights up yet. Today before we left for the day he turned on the last scene of Polar Express to play the ending Christmas song...


Oh the things being married will bring out...

So for the sake of my husband's obsession....

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! :)

Moving on

Rough day at work but great weekend in the end. I got the privilege of hanging out with Penny's kids this weekend (they went out of town for their anniversary) and it was great. We watched a movie, J and Aaron played guitar. Hayley and I talked and did hair (typical haha) and then we went to church came back, had lunch and I gave Celine and Hayley a mini voice coaching for the song they are doing in the talent show at church. That got my fired up. I love helping kids with talent go to even the next level with a few encouraging words and suggestions. Talented kids in our youth group!!

Jeremiah is out of town on pastor's retreat and it's hard. I hate being away from him (especially when I am so stressed with school and stuff). So he is gone for a few days and then next weekend I leave for a few days for my best friend's wedding in San Francisco. We really both wanted to go but it was not anywhere near in our budget and I'm sad for that but there will be other things.

I'm excited for her. We have been friends for... wow 8 years now.



I am giving a speech at the rehearsal dinner and everytime I sit down to think about what I will say I start crying. She has been an inspiration to me and I'm so glad she found the man God has for her! It will be a fun weekend!!

Im hoping this week goes smoothly, I have a lot of studying and homework to do. I get Saturday off of work and then I nanny Saturday night for the cutest little boy, Bremer. I just pray I don't have a rough day at work (haha jeremiah won't be home when I get home to let me cry to him).

Thanks for all the concerns about the weekend. I love our church family!!

Bad day

Sometimes I hate the thought that some people think they can say whatever they want when they want.

Bad day at work. I was called some VERY awful names by customers (funny part is that I didnt mess up, they did!)

I started praying for those people and I know that they must be really hurting if they would use words like that towards someone who offered them a smile and their drinks.

Still didn't lesson the sting of the comment. :(

Students are GETTING IT!

This week has been entirely too inspiring for words (ha but somehow I am going to write this blog and explain).

This past Sunday was a Sunday dedicated toward hurting students. I think I forget all too often that despite their smiles as they check in and their clapping during worship, some are full of pain inside and no one takes the time to be real with them (myself included). So this weekend we allowed time for leaders to stand around the room and allow students to get up and go pray with a leader. It was POWERFUL!!

I could tell certain students wanted to get up but they didnt. Satan's words of "everyone will stare at you, you are fine, your problem isn't that big" rang loudly in some of their ears. I pray for those students now, that they break that wall of pride and insecurity in their life. Other students broke down. Some did because they were hurting and holding pain in for so long, others broke down because they finally saw the pain of their friends coming out strong. Whatever the emotion, God was in that room.

I prayed with several girls that Sunday and I was humbled and kind of ashamed of myself that I don't remember enough how hard teen years are. My teens years had some really hard times of hidden pain and sin but it felt like no one cared enough to be real with me and really find out what was going on. I dont want to be that kind of adult to teens. I got a letter from a parent of one of the girls just thanking me for being there for her daughter and that even my few words did not go unnoticed. It was a shock to me that the girl even went home and told her parents about the experience. God is good. He is faithful and He is alive!

So then that night Jeremiah surprised me with "date day." haha a whole surprise day with a date he had been planning for weeks. He is cute. We went to a park in Mesa and he had a whole picnic set up. It was great. It started getting too hot so we decided to go to the Christian bookstore just to look around. We spent like 1 1/2 hours in there just going through youth books and talking about ministry ideas. it was great. And I found out earlie that the whole reason for the date was to go to... THE BARLOWGIRL CONCERT!! I was stoked. I love that band and all they stand for. The tickets were general admission (so they were really inexpensive) and JEremiah knew the guy that runs all the Christian concerts, so he let us in early and we got to sit really close and we got to go to the meet and greet. It was great!

I forgot how much I need my personal time of worship. There were hundreds of screaming little girls for this band but I soaked up all that I could. I was reminded that the sin that I hold inside only stays there because I allow it to. Certain insecurities in my life grow so much because I let them and feed them inside of me. I need to daily surrender those. Great date day babe!!

This morning was See You At The Pole and we visited a couple of schools and it was awesome to see our youth kids standing up for Christ and praying for their school. Jeremiah and I were blown away by some kids that prayed and stood out in front of their schools only with like 1 or 2 other people. They were bold and they are living for Christ.

I LOVE SEEING STUDENTS "GETTING IT!"

Glorious Morning

So today I did not have to work at 4am!! It was just delightful. I stayed up past 10 last night (haha ok so not too much past it) and I slept in AFTER Jeremiah. That never happens. I got up at 8 and did some homework, watched the news, ate breakfast (Not a starbucks drink... finally!!) It was just amazing. I feel so refreshed today. I have class and stuff until 5 tonight which means I wont get home til after 6 but I love not being wiped out by 2pm.

Tonight J and I are gonna go on a walk and it's just a great day. I like when God reminds me that I can find refreshment in Him and He can bring peace amidst the craziness. :)

Hope all of you find that refreshness given by the Lord.

Happy Thursday!

I can do it!

So despite what many people think, a young married girl can be stressed out. It's true.

Ha granted I usually get stressed if I'm not stressed because I am wondering why life isn't crazy. Well this is my last semester of college and it's really scary. Next semester I will be student teaching (and Lord willing, not working too much outside of that) and it's scary and SO thrilling to think that I will get to focus on ONE thing truly. I won't have to worry about several classes, homework, deadlines, music to learn, tests to study for and papers to write. Teaching will bring on a whole new set of lists to do but man it's what I LOVE! Sometimes I wonder if I am majoring in the right area. ALL I hear from people is "well hopefully they wont take music out of schools totally." Ha the words of very encouraging people. Whether I'm teaching voice lessons out of my home, full time teaching music to little kids, or directing choirs (my ultimate dream, oh man I love directing. If it didn't require endless amounts of music scoring, I would get my Masters in conducting... haha many of you have never seen me conduct and it's like a whole new love for me) I will be doing something in teaching music.

I got my first voice student this semester and it is a BLAST. My voice teacher (former professional opera singer, she is incredible) encouraged me to be confident in my voice teaching and obviously I am still learning but man it is so fun and I love helping people achieve their goal of singing better. I am not the best singer in the world but I LOVE teaching music and helping people achieve their best. This proves to me that I am in the right area of life and that makes it all worth it.

So this weekend I took a break. Friday we went to Derrick and Kim's for dinner and game night and it was a blast. It's funny how little we are around other adults unless it's at church or work. It was a great change and we had fun. Thanks Logans!!

Saturday i worked all day (ha 5:30 am-2:30pm) and it was nuts. Normally I would get a 10 min break early in the morning, a 30 minute lunch break mid morning and another 10 min break in the afternoon). We were so busy that I got my first break at 11am and that was all... needless to say I was exhausted. So I came home, rested for an hour and then went to church. I skipped the second service and we came home and this morning I slept it. It was great. Tomorrow I am sleeping in a bit and we took a nap this afternoon. This coming up week is going to be VERY long and busy... i work everyday and have classes everyday so it was nice to catch up on sleep this weekend even amidst the craziness.

I pray that I prioritize and get things done. This semester will be hard... but not impossible. I can make it!!

Scorpions! Oh no!

So we moved into our new house and never got it sprayed. Then we started noticing spiders here and there, other little bugs... now we have SCORPIONS! Ugh, killing a spider is gross and scary, and other bugs are just annoying but scorpions KILL! We found one the other week, a bigger one (so not as harmful... ha it was Jeremiah's first time seeing a live scorpion)... so we got a little worried. So after that we are conscious to always turn lights on and watch our steps as we walk an wear shoes as much as possible.




Last night I was being paranoid as usually looking at the ground and found a BABY scorpion. The most deadly. It was SOO tiny and I would have stepped on it had I not been looking cuz it was just crawling around the kitchen. Now we are more actively calling pest control people... we dont want to be in a monthy contract... haha don't have the money for that right now, but we just want a one time spray inside and out just to get them gone. We also might to buy a black light because a lot of ppl recommend that we go outside at night with a black light to find them and keep killing them!

We should do a reality show called Scorpion Hunters!!! :)


So that's the new exciting adventure in the Hann Home :)

date night!

Well since our wedding, we have had very few date nights. I think only 1 other "true' date night... haha but now that i'm married i understand that there is no "true date night" compared to when we were dating. Ha money wasn't an option, we did crazy things... now a date night might include a movie at home :)

but I wouldnt change that for the world. I love spending every day with my best friend.

God blessed us and my mom gave us a gift card to the movies. So.... WE WENT.

I made dinner at home... we went to starbucks and got a little drink on the way and went to a 9:15 movie. hahaha thats big for us since we are usually laying in bed by 10 or so... but this morning neither of us had to get up so we figured we would go to a late movie.

It was a blast, we dressed up and really enjoyed ourselves but needless to say, we were exhausted by the time the movie got out haha.











Any other creative ideas for cheap date nights out there??

Encouragement

Ever been talking to someone (or a crowd of people) and feel like you needed to hear the message you were telling them?

Well that's what happened this week. Darius called and asked if I would give the gospel message this weekend. It was a recap weekend of the past few weeks and we were talking about the One True God and he asked if I would give a 5-10 minute presentation of it. I said 'sure' as though it was no big deal, I know this "speech" in and out.

So i wrote up a few notes and Saturday night came and I got up there and almost felt guilty. Who am I to tell kids about who God is, about His love and how they need to be fighting for their friends to know who He is also. Amidst the chaos of change in life (marriage, last semester of school, moving, new job, most of my friends are 50 miles away) I lost my passion for the Lord. I lost my deep connection with Him because of "busy-ness."

I left that stage just dreading the next 3 services because I felt like a fraud. I told them that God loves them SO much and He doesn't care how much you have messed up, He died for you to go to heaven despite your imperfections. Why, before that, didn't I fully get that God, despite my "busy-ness" was waiting to have me back. Waiting for me to get SO exhausted and worn down from life to come back to Him???

I had a few classes that I had still not taken, and my biggest fear in and out was that God was punishing me for being busy and not going to let me finish classes this semester. I am already taking 21 credit hours (which is almost death to most students) and doing a senior recital for my voice major (ha basically that means that in 4 weeks I have to have an hour worth of opera, classical, jazz and musical theater music ready to perform and be graded on before I can graduate). The ONLY way I would be able to be done with classes this semester is if I were to take a test to pass those 2 classes. GREAT.. 2 tests will determine if I endure classes for another semester and prolong my LONG waited student teaching semester.

I go in to take the easier test first... Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (ah!) and 2 hours later, I hit "Complete" and my score reveals that I PASSED (WAY about the minimum score)....

So I think... ok... this could be possible.

So my second test I go in a few days later... College Mathematics (Ha so i met up with a friend who is a high school music teacher and she was stumped on many of the practice test questions.. GREAT!)

I figured... $80 and I can take a shot at passing the last test and finally breath... so i'll do it..
I walk into the testing center (the AC had gone out because of the huge storm)... I muster through the 2 hour long math test.. I hit "complete" and the it AGAIN reveals that I PASSED!

God is telling me to stop tip toeing to the future He has for me and to trust that His timing is PERFECT.

That message hit me as I gave the message to the youth kids all day Sunday. I felt discouraged that if I didn't "get it" that how could any 15 year old get it.

It wasnt until I was leaving the parking lot and got a text from one of the girls that was there that morning. She wrote "Amber thank you so much for sharing that message today. I look up to you so much and know that I can always come to you when I am hurting or need help. I love you."

I cried. I thanked God for His constant encouragement and for using a sinner like me to reach even 1 student that morning.


God is good... I pray He continues to reassure me that He will do what's best for me.

Pastor with cancer... a lie!?

This story is just gaining traction today, and if you hadn't heard about it yet, you were probably going to soon.

Here's the nutshell version: Pastor Mike Guglielmucci was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He went home that day and wrote the song "Healer", which was featured on the new Hillsongs CD that released last week (titled This Is Our God). Integrity Music and Hillsongs felt it was an amazing story, because it was, and have featured the backstory to the song on the DVD and on the web. People from churches across the country were writing in with stories about healing they were receiving, perhaps as a result of proclaiming the truth of the song.



But news reports out of Australia today are reporting that it was all a lie. Michael lied to his fellow pastors, musicians, and even his own family. He does not have terminal cancer. And allegedly he is now seeking professional help.






This story is SOO crazy to hear. This is why people are turned away to Christianity (it's sad but big news stories like this people use as their justification for Christian hypocrites... granted there are many people in the world like Michael, just not as extreme). Its sad to think that this man has something seriously wrong with him that he lied to a church of thousands, his friends and his own FAMILY. His wife was even convinced that her husband had a serious life threatening illness.

There were many Youtube videos of this pastor singing his profound song and he was connected to an oxygen tank and come to find out.. it's all for show. Wow

Hard to believe this could actually happen. I hope he gets the help he needs and his family can come out praising God through all of this.

weekend ups and downs

Well this weekend has been fun but been not so fun as well. Ha I am sick at home with the flu and jeremiah has to be at church from 7am-6pm tonight and I obviously opted to stay at home so that I dont get worse or get anyone else sick.

Friday night, though, was a blast. We decided to have every student from the praise band over to our house for dinner and game night. Just a fun night of fellowship and everyone getting to hang out.

check out some pics from the night! :)














We had mexican food, hung out, talked... the boys busted out their guitars and we had a spontaneous time of worship (doesnt get better than that) and then we played Disney Scene it (GIRLS WON!)

it was a great time!! I love these kids!


so now im trying to kill time while I am home alone... hard to do when you can barely get out of bed haha..

School starts next week. Hopefully my last semester of classes!

So my last full day to not have homework or anything and I'm sick.. BOO! :)