Our First Christmas!!!

My brother and his new bride Julie- Dec. 6, 2008

The new outfit Spencer bought me for my birthday!

Huge Christmas decorations outside our hotel

Us on our front porch!

Our first Christmas as a married couple!

Spencer's gifts from gran and pawcaw

Spencer's new bag from his mom and dad!!

My gifts from gran and pawcaw!

First Christmas for the newly married couples!

Alot has been going on in the Plumlee/Swofford Family!

Saturday, Dec. 6th my brother, Steve married a wonderful girl named Julie! Everything was perfect, including the weather! We also had the rehearsal dinner at the Parson's Table where Spencer and I had ours, it was great to be back there! I was one of three bridesmaids. And Spencer got to read a passage from Colossians during the unity candle ceremony!

My birthday is Dec. 23 and Spencer made sure it was special even though it is so close to Christmas! He kept the surprise a secret for about two weeks! Monday, Dec. 22 he called and told me to pack an overnight bag! I was pretty excited even though I had no idea where we were going! But I packed my bag and he came home with a new outfit he had bought for me to wear to Texas de Brazil where he took me to eat in downtown Ft. Worth! We then went to the Marriot Solana in Southlake where we stayed and then went window shopping in the Southlake Town Square! He then surprised me with a dinner with my family! What an amazing husband!!

Christmas Eve we took our "First Christmas Pictures!" I bought a tripod for my camera, so that made it a little easier. We took some in front of the tree, in front of our house and some at Seminary. We also went to the Christmas Eve service at church that night-it was more crowded than I thought it would be. That night we came home and made a gingerbread house which ended up being alot harder than we both thought, but was still really fun! Before we went to sleep we read the first part of the Christmas story from Luke 1.

Christmas morning we woke up really early and opened presents and had hot chocolate! We were so blessed by all the wonderful and thoughtful gifts from everyone! We then read the rest of the Christmas story from Luke 2! I spent the rest of the morning making a chocolate candy cane cake, which turned out pretty well considering it was the first time I had tried to make it. We went to my parents house about 1pm for lunch along with my brother and his new wife! Overall it was a great first Christmas at the Plumlee house--but, we did miss being in Tennessee very much this year! And hopefully we will see each other very soon!!!

Spencer and I are looking forward to the new year and what God has planned for us as a family and in ministry!!

I have posted some of the pictures that are related to the blog! ENJOY!

Fall Fun!

Spencer and I at our church fall festival!

Me with some of the TCU freshman girls- we went skating

Spencer and I at his ordination

Alot has happened in the last month or so in the Plumlee family!!

In October went to the State Fair of Texas for FREE with two other couples: Heather&Wesley and Kathy&David! There was so much food and so many people! Of course we got the famous State Fair Corn Dog and Caramel Apples! And Wesley tried 'Chicken Fried Bacon!'

Also in October Spencer was ordained at Southcliff and both sides of the family were able to be there! It was such a blessing for both of us!!

I went roller skating for the first time in years with some of the college girls a few Sundays ago...I was a little sore afterwards!

Finally Spencer and I helped out with the 'Cowtown Carnival' at Southcliff on Friday, Oct. 31st ...about 2,000 people came through the doors! Of course all the kids were dressed up really cute!

Jet Lag

I am so excited to have Spencer back from Asia! He arrived safely last Wednesday about 10:45pm Tx time...it was so hard waiting all day for his flight to arrive! But for the past week or so we have been working through jet lag and getting back into a regular schedule and rhythm of life! The first few nights Spencer would be wide awake at 2 or 3am and want dinner! Then the next few nights we tried staying up really late so maybe he would sleep longer...well that took a toll on both of us the next day and we were both exhausted! Slowly but surely we are somewhat back to a normal sleeping schedule! Needless to say he had a great time overseas and made some great contacts and got to hangout with some amazing students and got to share Christ with them several times throughout the week! Spencer says the city is much like New York and a very big international place where they love talking to Americans! I am excited about getting the opportunity to go with him and a few other students in March!


While he was gone Spencer gave me a journal that had an 8 day scavenger hunt...one for each day that he was away! Each day he gave me a hint about a gift that was either coming or that he had hidden in the house for me to find! Some of the gifts were flowers, a coffee mug, starbucks gift cards, and a gift card for a pedicure! He really did a great job and put a lot of thought into it! I definitely bragged to all of the students about how great he is! Also I got to catch up with some of my friends and hang out with some of the college girls during the week as well...they were great company!! (Thanks Heather, Kathy, Katelyn, Logan, Kristen and Shana!)


This Monday, Sept 29th I will be starting my new job at Seminary! I will be working as the Admin. Assistant to the Ref. Director M-F from 7:30-4:30. I am a little nervous about my new routine, but it will allow me to see Spencer more during the day since he will be up there studying much of the time! So be praying for that adjustment, which I'm sure will be just fine.

Finally, we are looking forward to the upcoming weeks because Spencer will soon be ordained: October 12th!! Our families are both going to be there, so we are definitely excited about spending time with them!

God has also been showing us and giving us amazing friends over the past few months that really have been such a great encouragement to us and to the college ministry! This was such an answered prayer!! Thanks Heather and Wesley!

Reading this past week I have made this my prayer for Spencer, our college students and family:

"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ." -Phil 1:9-10

Fall is upon us!

The cool mornings have been so great lately...Fall is here! This means new students and new freshmen to minister to! The past 2 weeks have been extremely busy at the Plumlee house...getting ready for 2 church fairs, planning a leadership retreat, meeting new students, planning a small group kick-off, job interview for me, Spencer preaching and getting ready for Spencer's trip overseas!

The church fairs were amazing..but very hot because of the weather! We handed out about 200 free t-shirts with our ministry logo on them...and we had a huge stack of student info cards to do follow-up! During our freshman Sunday we had about 50 new freshman!






Our leadership retreat with our student small group leaders was so great! We got away to a ranch in Weatherford to hangout and talk about the semester!


The recent small group kick-off was a time for our leaders to get to know the other guys and girls in their group! It was a time of team-building games, free food, prizes and hanging out! Again, note the fun pictures!




Today was a day that I have been in denial of for the past 2 months! Spencer and I left our house this morning at 3:30am in order for him to be on time for his international flight at 5:45am! The morning was filled with coffee and last minute packing. While I was taking him there, he gave me a journal filled with an 8 day scavenger hunt! I am only allowed to read one per day...how fun!! Isn't he great! For him, I made him 8 cards with the country's flag that he is going to with a verse and a note from me on each one! This was definitely harder than I thought...I keep telling myself he is just at the store or at work...hahaha...but I know great things are going to happen over there! But I have plenty of sweet friends that are keeping me busy! I can't wait to go in March! Here are some of the pictures from this morning!

On a personal note...I got a new job!! Its a full time position at Southwestern Seminary... only 3 minutes from home! I will be the Admin Asst. to the Reference Director! I start Monday Sept. 29th! Spencer and I have been praying for something closer to home and closer to where he is...also I will be getting a bonus that will go toward his tuition every sememster!

One last thing...my brother Steve is now engaged to a great godly girl named Julie! Date: Dec. 6, 2008!

This has been our life for the past few weeks....it should slow down soon! But we are looking forward to the holidays where we can spend time with family and relax!

Radius Kick-off!

Spencer and I are so excited about Radius kick-off tomorrow morning at Southcliff! We just got back from a volleyball cookout at TCU where we got to reconnect with some of our students from last year and some new freshman! We have been praying all summer for these students that Christ would be the center of their lives and realize how amazing God is and that He worthy of worship and praise. We are so excited and blessed beyond we could have ever imagined to be part of what God is doing in these students! Be in prayer for a great semester as we lead these students and for our students and the student leaders!!
Some of our upcoming events that we are looking forward to:
Freshmen Sunday @ Southcliff- Aug. 31
Small Group Kick-Off- Sept. 7- 6-8pm
Service Project: Beautiful Feet- Oct. 17
Amplify (fall retreat)- Nov. 14-16
www.radiusworship.org

Olympic History

Spencer and I are back from house-sitting for a couple in our church...we always think of it as a another mini-vacation! We got to enjoy the luxuries of a dishwasher and free laundry (we don't have a dishwasher in our apt and we usually have to pay .75 per load of laundry!) So we love getting to stay there! We have also been spending the last week getting caught up in all the Olympic craze...especially the swimming! When the U.S. won the relay Spencer jumped out of his seat! We also got to watch Phelps make Olympic history---we were both working out and watching it on the TV, I thought Spencer was going to run right off the treadmill!

Spencer begins his PhD classes one week from today! And I start mine the next Tuesday! We are excited to get back into a regular schedule. The freshman at TCU are already beginning to move in! Spencer and I will be attending 2 church fairs that TCU holds each year at the end of August...that is where we will meet alot of new students...so be praying that we will be able to connect with some of them! The next few weeks are going to be really exciting: Spencer preaches this Sunday, the next Sunday morning we have our official "Radius" kickoff and lunch, then the last Sunday we have Freshman Sunday! And somewhere between there we are taking our small group leaders on a 4 day retreat for training at Cox Ranch! Being in ministry is so exciting and such a blessing for both of us!

First blog!!

Spencer and I are both bloggers now! His blog is on the 'radius' website! http://www.radiusworship.org/ check it out! We have had an amazing summer together especially with the college students. Our Thursday nights consisted of ultimate frisbee in 100 degree weather, sand volleyball, midnight showing of 'The Dark Knight', movie marathon, camping, game night and a pool party! We can't believe the summer is almost over! But after our mini-vacation, we are gearing up for the fall with our TCU and UTA students. We have been praying all summer for the new class of upcoming freshmen...we know that God is going to do something great this fall. Our small groups are now student led and we are so excited and proud of all of our amazing leaders! We are really pumped about all of our students coming back in a few weeks!! Not only that but Spencer officially starts the PhD program in the fall...orientation is Aug. 18th! I am also going to be taking a class about being a minister's wife with Dorothy Patterson...should be good! I will try to write a new post every week for our family and friends!!! Apologies for our page being so plain...after a few weeks I will try to spruce it up a bit :)

~"Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you." 1 Samuel 12:24