I love the lyrics to the song “Tear Down the Walls” by Hillsong United. Hillsong is the whoppin’ huge church in Australia that seriously loves them some Jesus. I mean, tens of thousands of people attend their worships services each week. It’s so amazing! At StoneWater, we do a lot of Hillsong and Hillsong United (their Youth band) songs… so when Hillsong United was touring in America, we were PUMPED. So pumped that we totally forgot that they were coming (woops). That is, until some sweet friends from church asked us if we wanted some extra tickets they had for the concert. OH-MY-GOODNESS… did someone say “Tickets to Hillsong United”?? Holy Moly… once again we were PUMPED and this time we did NOT forget!

One of my favorite songs that Hillsong sings is called “Tear Down the Walls” and it speaks truth about how love can tear down the walls that people have formed about Christianity and Jesus. If we would just love, God’s glory and mercy would be so obvious and everyone would want to come to know God. I like how the song says “There is so much more than this.” So many times I hear people who have tried to do life on their own…. then they end up somewhere down the road, whether they are happy, sad, content, or angry… EVERYONE at one point or another thinks “Is there more to life than this?” The answer is yes. So much more.

I would love it if you would listen to this song and read the lyrics below…. They are truly incredible. And by the way, if you don’t have the newest Hillsong United CD (or any of their CDs for that matter), you NEED to get it.

Tear down the walls see the world. Is there something we have missed?
Turn from ourselves, look beyond, there is so much more than this.

And I don’t need to see it to believe it. I don’t need to see it to believe it.
Cause I can’t shake this fire burning deep inside my heart.

Look to the skies, hope arise, see His majesty revealed.
More than this life, there is love, there is hope and this is real.

Cause I don’t need to see it to believe it. I don’t need to see it to believe it.
Cause I can’t shake this fire burning deep inside my heart.

This life is Yours and hope is rising as Your glory floods our hearts.
Let love tear down these walls that all creation would come back to You, It’s all for You.

Your Name is Glorious, Glorious.
Your love is changing us, calling us, to worship in spirit and in truth as all creation returns to You.

Oh for all the sons and daughters who are walking in the darkness You are calling us to lead them back to You.
We will see Your spirit rising as the lost come out of hiding.
Every heart will see this hope we have in You.

Cause I don’t need to see it to believe it. I don’t need to see it to believe it.
Cause I can’t shake this fire burning deep inside my heart.

This life is Yours and hope is rising as Your glory floods our hearts.
Let love tear down these walls that all creation would come back to You, it’s all for You

Your Name is Glorious, Glorious.
Your love is changing us, calling us, to worship in spirit and in truth as all creation returns to You.

Here are some pictures I took at the concert a few weeks ago! It was BY FAR the best rock/worship concert I’ve ever been to.

This was their countdown! Sweet!

Hello amazing lighting.

And just for funzies, another Hillsong United video that ROCKS MY FACE OFF.

AND, since I’m posting pictures of bands… I thought I would add a couple from last night’s StoneWater youth preview service Elevate. Eric is training up some younger musicians and so he led worship last night. I think it’s appropriate that their first song was the Hillsong United song posted above!

Our youth are a wee bit timid… but they’ll come around!

I love that my man loves Jesus more than me!

Long post, but hope you enjoyed it! New pictures from a wedding up soon!

It’s almost been 6 months since Eric and I bought our first home. Still, even tonight, we talk about how huge of a blessing it is that we have a house at 22 and 23 years old. We know that we know-that we know-that we know…. God gave us this house as a gift and a tool to use for ministry and we are so incredibly humbled and thankful for him entrusting us with a home. We don’t deserve it. We didn’t earn it. But we couldn’t be more proud to be the stewards of this earthly gift.

When we moved into the house, we were well aware that it was an old fixer upper. It was build in 1972, the first house on our street. When we first saw it, we had VERY open minds and the ability to see past so many “opportunities” that buying this house would bring…. So, in the first 6 months of living in our new home, we have slowly been working on enhancing its “inner (and outer) beauty.” We’ve mostly done decorating and painting, but it has made the ugly duckling turn into the pretty swan and we are so incredibly proud of our house! So, I thought I would show some before and after pictures so you could see what it looked/looks like! Also, I want to give a HUGE thank you to my mom and dad for helping us paint the outside of the house. It was no easy task, but they stuck it out with us outside all day in the heat, and what amazing results it yielded! Thank you soo soo much. I have the best parents in the WORLD. So… enjoy the before and afters! (I LOVE Before and After… I think that’s why I’m addicted to HGTV!!)

Outside of our house when we were getting it inspected in February. Can you say, “Hidden Potential?”

Our house TODAY! :)

The paint is not quuiiittteee finished… but it’s an amazing transformation!

Our walkway to the front door! Can you spy Hazel?

The front room BEFORE: (Notice the green AND purple in the room)

The front room AFTER: It’s now my Photography Studio!

There was a cute round rug in the room to cover up the ahem… interesting floor. BUT, Hazel was quite the stinker her first week in our home, so we had to remove it. Literally. She was a stinker. Oh, well.

Our kitchen BEFORE:

Another view with little Romie!

Our kitchen AFTER: It’s GGGGRRREEEEEENNNNN!!!!

And don’t you like the little Bistro table in the corner that Eric brought home for me one day?

And finally, our living room BEFORE we even moved in:

Same view AFTER (today):

Here is another view with the furniture we had when we first moved in…. the apartment furniture didn’t quite furnish our home the same as it had before! lol!

Another shot of our old furniture. I can’t help but have sweet thoughts of our $100 table from walmart, 2 hand-me-down couches, and ottoman that was half off at Target because there were a couple rips in it…. it’s all we could afford when we first got married and it was PERFECT for us while we were trying to finish up school. Such sweet memories.

View with our new furnishings!

Do you spy something cute hanging on the wall???? I DOOO!!!

Here’s a close-up of the 20X30 Canvas Gallery Wrap print I got of my precious niece and nephew. I LOVE this picture!

Also, I thought I’d throw a picture up of our bedroom. It hasn’t changed much, but I wanted to share it. If you want a tour of the upstairs, I guess you’re just gonna have to come over and let us fix you dinner!

That’s it. That’s our home. We are so thankful. It’s perfect for us and we are determined to give back out of the overflow of what God has given us!

I start to sing country songs like “Hey, good lookin. What you got cookin? How’s about cookin’ something up with me?” when I venture back to my hometown. I don’t know why, but it brings out the country side of me. Hillbilly side, rather. And I’m proud of it! Eric always says that when I talk to my mom or someone from my home town, I have more of a country accent than normal. I have no idea what he’s talking about.

Today I’m heading back to ol’ Stephenville to shoot a wedding with my friend Micah. We went to the rehearsal last night and I saw several people from my old high school. I’m sure I’ll see lots more today, but I think it’s really neat when they ask what I’m doing nowadays, and I get to share where the Lord has brought me in the last 4 years. Photography. Full-time. I’m just livin’ the dream.

I have high hopes for this wedding today too. I can’t wait to share some pictures of it, but here are some keywords to get you excited like me!    Lake.    Homemade Arbor.      Fields.       Turquois.          Shephards hooks.          Young people.

And here’s a pic to tide you over. These two make me laugh ALL the time. They are going home next week, but I’m not talking about it.

This summer has been one of the most refreshing and fun times of my life. Since I graduated in May, I have not been dreading the Back to School routine. I also got to start doing photography full time. I have spent almost the entire summer with my niece and nephew from Florida. And finally, I got a new puppy.

Don’t let the new puppy fool you though. She’s evil. Yup. Evil. She keeps me up ALL night. Then, during the day, she sleeps under the kitchen table. ALL DAY she sleeps. She has to make sure she has plenty of energy to bark throughout the night (of course). Ugh. But really, I do love her. She so sweet when it’s not between 11pm and 8am. And cute… OH MY is she cute. Would you like to see her? Of course you would. She’s a 12 week old Labradoodle (Mix between a Labrador Retreiver and Standard Poodle). She will be quite large when she’s grown. I mean, she’s already 2 times the size of little Romeo. hehe… Oh, and I got my mom the sister of my puppy. And HER dog sleeps through the whole night. Imagine that.

Anyway, here are some things that make you go “Aawwwwww” (or at least they do that to me).

She still doesn’t have a name. Looks like a Monkey to me. Then we’d call her Monkey Doodle. hehe!

Here is my mom’s Doodle. She named her Bailey.

Sweet niece and nephew playing with the new pups.

Kisses!

How could you say no to those eyes??

This was a shot my mom captured. I think it’s so sweet. I was spinning Kinzie around on her tube and grabbed a quick little kiss. Then you see Austin in the background getting is goggles on… so funny…

S’mores in the summer over a campfire? I think so. Look at her face. She can’t decide if roasting a marshmallow is worth the heat. LOL!

This one is special because it was my parent’s 29th anniversary and this is how they spent it. We have such a close family and I’m so blessed to have such amazing parents. I love how Kinzie wanted in the picture but didn’t even THINK for a second about putting her s’more down. That’s my girl!!!

Eric picked up the camera for a few minutes and grabbed this one. I was roasting my marshmallow when the cutest little boy in the world came over and grabbed my hand. Oh I love moments like that.

And how can you not say “Aww” to a face like that? Hilarious.

2 cheers for Sidewalk Chalk.

And here is the most PRECIOUS series of pictures. I seriously praise God for these kiddos. In this one Austin is brushing back Kinzie’s hair so it’s not in her face for the picture.

I love how they are giggling…

He did this on his own. Tear.

And last, but not least, this one is out of focus but I dont’ even care. It’s the best picture in the whole wide world.

I married the man of my dreams on this exact day of 2007. I’m serious. THE man of my dreams. For reals. He’s everything I always prayed for. I actually made a list. Yup. My senior year in high school I made a long list of detailed characteristics that I wanted in my future husband. “Godly” (duh), “musician” (yeah), “athletic”, “tall”, “brown hair”, “muscular”, “spiritual leader”, etc. Like, DETAILED. I found that list a couple weeks before I married Eric. I re-read each trait as if it were in slow motion. Eric possessed every single characteristic on the list. I mean, EVERY SINGLE ONE. And it was llooooonnnnggg, too. It was amazing to see how God provided me with a man that I so much desired in my heart. A man that He knew would lead me spiritually and bless my life dramatically. I man that God knew I would be able to serve well and serve with. Mmm hhmmm.

So, as I reflect back on 2 years, I have to say that these were the most fulfilling years of my entire life. Most joyous, happy, spiritually challenging, and just-plain-awesome years ever. I’m so thankful for my amazing husband. I’m so glad he met me at the end of the aisle 2 years ago and promised to love me forever and ever. Love ya so stinkin’ much, Eric!

So now that you are all yacking because of my love story (if you even made it down this far), you should know that we have a new addition to the Wilkins family. It was a present from my hubby. I’ll post some pics tomorrow!!