It's been A While

Well I guess I haven't been on here in a while. Life has been crazy!! I am finishing up with my last final tonight .. its a paper, and then I will be done until next semester!! Wedding stuff really is almost done. We are just lacking in the RSVP department but apparently that is normal. Kinda of stressful.

Chris and i switched our phone service to AT&T this weekend. We got new phones and I got the IPhone!!!! Oh my gosh I absolutely LOVE it! It really is like a mini computer that I haven't been on my laptop nearly as much as I usually do during the week. Chris got the Tilt. Its pretty cool and he would say its better than my phone but that is just because he is jealous!! He is being stubborn because my family is really pro-mac kinda people and we converted my brother-in-law Kevin to apple so Chris swears he isn't gonna get into it ...... even though our next computer purchase is going to be the Imac desktop. He is so cute in his public protesting and secret converting that I indulge it haha. So that is why he is trash talking my phone actually every time I call he answers the phone by saying .. "Hi Mac" what a character I got!

Well I am really excited because this marks 4 1/2 weeks until the wedding. Wow that is weird to say. AND our friends Katie and Ryan moved back to Texas!!!!! We are meeting them for dinner this week and gonna show them our new house! I really can't wait I have missed my friend Katie so much! Also i am meeting my friend Haley for dinner tomorrow night which will also be really fun!! I love catching up with friends! I have just been extremely blessed with such amazing friends!!

Well I hope everyone is having an amazing day!!!

Now the time is gonna crawl!

Well this past weekend we moved Chris into the house we are going to live in when we get married! I took over a good deal of my stuff that I am not gonna really need and we "decorated" the last couple days. It was so much fun and it is such an awesome house! Chris loves living there and I am a little jealous I am not gonna lie! So i am thinking that these next 6ish weeks are gonna go by slow because of that.

They are gonna go by fast though because I only have a week and a half left of school and then the holidays always seem to fly by and before we know it, it will be january! Oh my goodness I am so excited! We have started getting reply cards back in the mail and that is just crazy to me!! I am gonna be Mrs. Chris Manack in 45 days! We have been dating for 2 years and 2 months today (I know that is sad I am still counting that but all you girls know you do too!!) IT is weird to me I have only known him I guess a little less than 3 years. I feel like i have known him forever!! Well thank the Lord I finally found him!

Well I don't have much else to say today! Hope all is well and that everyone is having a great week!!!!

Back To School...

Well today is officially the last day of my winter break. Tomorrow I am back to school for three more weeks and then I am off for Christmas! I can say that I have never been more excited to go back to school than I am right now! I of course LOVED the relaxation time and could do that for a while longer but I have really missed classes. Something about being surrounded by a large body of believers on a daily basis really encourages me. I just find myself in awe sometimes of the amazing position the Lord has put me in. Walking around campus and listening and engaging in conversation with my classmates is just an incredible honor. The Lord is so good and I am so blessed!!

Speaking of being blessed!! Chris and I met with The Kersey's last Wednesday to talk about the house, and we got to meet little Trevin!! He is so precious! As of now we are set to move our stuff in this weekend!! Chris is the lucky one who gets to live there alone until we get married but that is ok because I need all the time I can get with my family before then :)!! We are so lucky to be getting to live in this house while Kristi and Michael are in Arizona! I don't think it can be said enough how grateful we are to you guys!!

And finally, Thanksgiving was fun as always!! We had THe Page's (my brother-in-law's family) over for Thanksgiving meal and watched the cowboy game afterwards. Sweet little Savannah Grace is just getting so big! She is walking around using furniture as her crutch and she can walk only holding on with one hand! It is so sweet and so cool to watch her learn new things! If you haven't noticed i am basically OBSESSED with my niece! But she is like the cutest thing ever!! So I am closing this with a picture of her that just shows of her little personality better than words!! Love you all and hope you have a blessed week!!!

Mr. and Mrs. Ryan Storer!

Well two of our friends Ryan and Brooke got married on Saturday! She looked beautiful and it was such a fun wedding!! It was so exciting to see them exchange vows and to know that Chris and I are going to be there in two months!! Time is just flying by! The wedding was in Oklahoma City so we got to see so many college friends! I didn't realize how much i miss all of those people! We had a blast! We also got to spend the weekend with Jene, one of Chris' friends from High School, which was alot of fun because i have never had the chance to really get to know her. Such and sweet girl and such a fun time! So we had a great weekend!Me, Kathryn and Becca!
haha Chris and Richard being weird
Me and Lindsey, one of my favorite people ever!!
Chassity, Jene and I. I had so much fun with these girls!
Chris and I at the reception!!
Zack and I

We are so hoping everyone is going to make it down to Dallas for our wedding as well because it is such a blast to have all your friends around you! Congratulations Ryan and Brooke you are going to be so happy together and we love you!!!

Invitations Stole My week

Well Invitations need to go out soon so I have been running around trying to get all the pieces together for them. stamps and maps to the church and so on. Also we decided on these invitations that require ALOT of assembling and so it has taken a while. My sister has awesome handwriting so by the grace of God she has agreed to address them! We have gotten almost half done and finishing when she comes back over Thanksgiving! Last night I was up until 2:30 putting as much of them together as I could. I have not stayed up until 2:30 in A LONG time. But luckily I think I am at a point where all I need is her to finishing writing and I can just put it in the envelope! Who knew invitations would be such a task! This has made me not look forward to making the programs!!

Hope everyone is having a good week. Mine has been ok. I feel like i am just going through motions right now. I haven't had time to sit and read my bible in a couple days and i can feel it. It makes me sad, but its one of those things were I go back through my day and see where I made the choice to not do it. It's not that I am too busy, because God gives us enough time in the day to get done what HE wants us to get done. When we start saying things like there isn't enough time, and there should be more hours in a day, I think it is because we are adding our own agenda to Gods and His is the one that normally gets shorted. So that is where I am right now, I'm being very productive but not in the things that I should. I think it is also that Chris and I didn't go to church or small group on Sunday and it has taken affect on me because i am also not in class this week so most of my accountability is gone right now. It's also working out though too. Everytime i schedule time to go, I get "tired" and don't want to. My mom gets up almost every morning to jog, and she works like 30 hours a week and everytime I come in the kitchen or the living room, she is doing her bible study. I am working on the mental discipline to be able to do that.

Sorry enough rambling. I hope everyone has a Happy Friday!!!

Ok

My relaxing week has turned HECTIC!!

Well I get the next two weeks off of school so I was planning on getting some relaxing done. Well so much for that plan! I still am working all morning and then ..Today my mom, Chris, Kathy and I are going to City Place for a food tasting for our reception. Before that my mom and I are going to the linens company to pick out chair covers and table cloths. Then I have to find my wedding shoes tonight because I have my dress fitting tomorrow. Tomorrow after work I am meeting with my photographer and we are doing a "trash the dress" session with this dress she found. Then I have to go and have my dress fitted after that. I can't decide if I will be bored and sad or happy when this wedding planning is over. I mean clearly I will be married so that will make me happy, but I will have more free time! (Actually I won't because i am adding a class next semester.) Anyways, our friends Brooke and Ryan are getting married on Saturday so we are going to Norman this weekend. I am really excited! I love going on trips and seeing friends. Well I hope you are all having a blessed week. Love you all!

The Fajita shower!!

Well this weekend was our last shower and it was a BLAST! My parents friends are awesome!! I hope Chris and I have friends like these one day too! There were 7 hostesses, Sheri Martin, Susan Egbert, Diane Hanson, Carol Gaige, Lynda Smith, Renee Troutman, and Sherri Sund!

The house was decorated in a Mexican theme and it was so awesome! The food was awesome and the decorations were out of this world!

I feel so blessed to have all of these people in my life and that they all help celebrate this time in Chris and I's lives! It was a great time! Alot of our friends drove in from out of town which was so much fun! Katie, Jenny, Jonathan, Courtney and Jaclyn all drove in from Oklahoma. And my friend lindsay drove in from Tyler! My sister, Kevin and Savannah Grace came in from Houston which was so much fun! My brother and his girlfriend Ashley came as well! Chris' parents and his sister Danielle and her friend Paige were there too which was fun!

Ryley also had a scrimmage this weekend and Savannah Grace had a little shirt made that said GO RYLEY on the front and then his number 22 on the back!!! It was so precious!

Thank you all for making this weekend so special for us! We are so so blessed to have each and everyone of you in our lives!!

Almost the weekend!

This day is basically the last day of school for the next two weeks! It also begins my weekend so I guess I am pretty excited! I haven't been feeling all that great lately. Just kind of in a crummy mood and feeling sick. Luckily I don't have to work tomorrow, and we have our shower on Saturday !!!! YEA!!! and I get a two week break from school for Thanksgiving. So I can take one more day of feeling like this because hopefully I will get SOME down time here in the next few weeks. I am really just so excited about our shower this weekend. My two roommates from college are coming down, Courtney and Jaclyn. My sweet friends Katie and Jenny are driving down from OK. My friend Lindsay is coming in from Tyler! And all of our friends here are hopefully going to be able to make it! I can't wait! Well I guess that is all! I am sure more posts and pictures to come because my Sister, Kevin and Savannah will be here as well which means LOTS OF PICS!! I love it when they come in town! They will be here tomorrow!!

Weekends Fly By!

Well this weekend really flew by! IT seems like that has been reoccurring the last few weeks. Its already Monday and I can't believe it! On Friday Chris' sister Danielle had a playoff game! It was the second round of Volleyball playoffs in Rowlett, and they won! SO now they play on Tuesday. It is fun learning a new sport. Chris get a little intense, (and I am being kind when I say little), but it is alot of fun to watch! After the game we went to dinner and hung out at Chris' house for a while. Saturday my mom and I did lots of wedding stuff! Well first I met my friend Haley for lunch which was lots of fun! Then my mom and I bought a wedding wagon for Savannah Grace to go down the aisle in..... so so so cute!! After that we went and tried on my wedding dress!!!!!! Oh my gosh it makes me so anxious! Then chris met us and we got the tux thing all squared away! After that we went back to my parents house in FM and I cooked dinner for everyone ... yes I know be shocked but it was actually pretty good! We watched OU beat A&M :) and then it was about time for bed for me!! Sunday was a normal sunday! We went to church at 11, then came home had lunch with my fam and watched football! Yea for the weekends! Also something kind of fun! My photographer called me and asked if i wanted to do a "trash the dress" photo shoot for her. Of course not with my dress haha, but she has a dress and so in a week or so we are going to go and take pics. It sounds really interesting and I am excited to see how the pictures turn out!!


Well I hope you all had wonderful weekends and have wonderful weeks!!

A whole year of being MJ!!

So yesterday was my 23rd Birthday. Chris reminded me that this means a whole year of being 23 which was Michael Jordan's number, and so I am ok with this!! My family took me to On The Border on Monday and we did my gifts then. My dad was out of town on my actual birthday so we celebrated early! Christopher got me a new camera which I am so excited about!! My parents got me house decorations and fixed my DVD player! Ryley bought me movies and Ashley bought me a manicure set!! It was great fun!! Here are pics of all the couples!!

Me and my boy!!!

My mom and My dad!!

My brother and his girlfriend Ashley

I had lots of fun!! Wish my sister, Kevin and Savannah Grace lived close and they could have been there!! My actual birthday was awesome as well!! I had lunch with my friend Jenny who was in town from Norman and that was so much fun catching up!! She is so sweet, I just love her!! Then I went to my small group who made me cupcakes and brownies .. that are awesome!!! This is my group at DTS who I meet with every thursday at 2:30!! I couldn't believe they did that! Here are some pics of these wonderful people!! Joa, Austin, Danielle and Kristin with the yummy treats!!!

The Whole Group!!

Then after school I went over to the Manack's house and they had gotten me gifts as well so here is the last pic!! Hope everyone has a fantastic day!! Thanks to everyone who made my birthday special!!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!! I love this holiday because it is the day before my birthday... but also don't love it so much because my parents named me Jaclyn and being named Jaclyn has left me being called jack-o-lantern on this wonderful day. So I hate to break the news for those people who think they are really creative coming up with this but it stopped being original in the second grade! Chris thinks its just hilarious to call me this but I guess I will just have to get over it!

I miss trick-or-treating! I guess it would be frowned upon for me to dress up tonight and go door to door but I think it would be lots of fun! I will settle for handing out candy to all the cute little kids who come to the door!

Side Note --- My wedding dress came in!! I am so excited to go try it on! It is getting closer and closer! Kind of scary!

HOpe everyone is having a terrific day and I love you!!

The Power Shower

Well we had our first shower this weekend! IT was awesome!! We got so many great gifts and got to see and meet lots of fun people! Little Savannah Grace stole the show!
She was adorable! I won't gab I will just show you pictures! Love yall!

Amazing Grace

"Well the thing I find most amazing
In amazing grace
Is the chance to give it out
Maybe that's what love is all about"
-Brandon Heath "I'm Not Who I Was"

These words have just stuck with me the last couple days. Something I definitely need to be better about is giving grace out to those who hurt me. We are to try and to become more Christ like and he shows grace on everyone, no matter what they have done, no matter if they believe in him or not. How mind blowing is that. Even the people who speak out against him are shown the amazing grace of Jesus every breath they take. That is such an incredible revelation and yet I find it so hard to extend grace and mercy sometimes to the people who I love. The lyrics to this song are so awesome, they really struck me hard. We are giving chances to give out amazing grace. God is letting us take a part in his purpose, in his plan. He is using us, he doesn't need us, but he uses us. The instances where we can show his amazing grace to others are a gift from God, a platform to show His love, grace and mercy. He is extending us a part in his masterpiece, and when I look at it this way, why would I ever turn down an opportunity to be a part of His plan. And yet I do when I let pride take over, and boy do I let pride take over sometimes. Anyways, just thinking and so amazed at the way God moves and works in our lives!

Hope everyone is having a good day so far! Love you all!

Study Break

Well I don't really have much to say, just wanted to take a study break so I am on here now! The bridesmaids dresses are in! I'm so excited to finally have some stuff coming together. We have the decorations for the reception all done too! I think we are at the 3 1/2 month mark so that is good we are getting all this stuff together.
Chris is going on his bachelor trip weekend on Thursday. Its kind of weird! He wanted to golf so they had to do it early but it is so crazy that all of this is starting! The next weekend is our first shower! AH! Well I hope that everything is going great and that you guys are having a good week.

BOOMER SOONER

Well we BEAT TEXAS!!! Don't get me wrong I love the state of Texas .... but the University of Texas, well thats another story!! We had a blast seeing old friends and getting to be part of our school for a weekend again!! Friday night I got to see Jaclyn which was awesome because I miss that girl so much! Saw Courtney, Aaron Chass and Joey as well the majority of the weekend!! Chris' brother Ryan goes to UT so we got to hang out with him a little on Friday night! We had a fun fun weekend! And OU winning today just topped it off!! Boomer Sooner ... and in the words of the Sooners ..... Texas Sucks!!! Love you guys!!Chris and I at Texas Land and Cattle Friday night for dinner!!!
Jaclyn and I in the West End Friday night!!Chris and I with Ryan in the West End!!

Exhausted

Well I am exhausted and today is my longest day of the week. Ah! I feel like I have been going non stop the last couple days and this weekend is OU/TX which means no sleep for sure, AND sunday we have a jammed packed day as well. Oh well I love to be busy but sometimes I love to sleep. And poor Chris has a bad cough so that makes it not so much fun. On another note we are so excited to see our friends this weekend that we haven't seen in FOREVER!! Both of my roommates will be here which I am so fired up about! Friday we are going out to eat with Courtney Aaron and Chassity and Joey. I don't know when the last time we did that was! Saturday we are going to beat Texas and then not gonna lie I am going to sleep! Hopefully there will be no celebrating involved in that victory ... I promise I am a true Sooner just a very tired one! So this weekend is going to be lots of fun!

I'm learning so much in my classes! It is so much fun getting to go to DTS and be involved in all the things that go along with that. I have to remind myself how lucky I am everyday just so I won't take one second for granted like I did at OU. I remember when I graduated OU looking around thinking there is no way I was here for four years, I didn't feel like it left the impression on me I thought college would. I am determined to not let that happen to me now. Even though it is not like being in college I am surrounded by people I know i could have deep lifetime friendships with, and they would be based on Christ instead of earthly things. That is incredible to be immersed in an environment like that, and i am going to take advantage of it!
Along those lines Chris and I visited a small group last Sunday and we loved it. Chris is just a natural in those environments as we all know! He has never met a stranger I am convinced of it! I have a little harder time not being shy and opening up but again with God's strength this is something I am trying harder at!! We had a speaker in one of my classes on Tuesday and he said "There are no strangers in the world just friends we have not met yet".

Hope everyone has had a great week so far and that this weekend you will be rooting for our Sooners!! Love you all!!!

A Game of Tag About my man!!

The Game of Tag about your MAN:

1. Who is your man? Christopher Daniel Manack
2. How long have you been together? 2 years and will be married in 4 months!
3. How long dated? 2 years
4. How old is your man? 22
5. Who eats more? Thats debatable because I love to snack and he doesn't so it seems like I eat more but during meals he def eats more.
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did
7. Who is taller? Chris! By like 8 inches!
8. Who sings better? Although he tries so hard I am gonna have to say I do... sorry babe!
9. Who is smarter? Chris for sure is way book smarter! I may have a little more common sense when it comes to people and situations though.
10. Whose temper is worse? Again ... not sure.. we fuel each other because we are both so competitive. I think it depends on the situation.
11. Who does the laundry? I have a feeling that will be my job.
12. Who takes out the garbage? This is gonna be a Chris job but I bet I end up doing it!
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? haha good luck Chris I sleep in the middle!!
14. Who pays the bills? Chris will
15. Who is better with the computer? I use a Mac he uses a PC so obviously me since my computer is so much better!!!!
16. Who mows the lawn? Chris will
17. Who cooks dinner? I will cook!!
18. Who drives when you are together? We switch... mostly Chris though.
19. Who pays when you go out? Chris does but sometimes he will let me!
20. Who is most stubborn? We both are!
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Uh .. according to Chris he has never been wrong. haha just kidding we both are pretty good at this.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? It is pretty even
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me.
24. Who asked who out? He asked me out for a "lunch" date haha.
25. Who proposed? Chris
26. Who is more sensitive? Me
27. Who has more friends? Prob him because i am a homebody and I have a few really close friends and he has a bunch of social friends. Although now all our friends are both of ours so I guess we have the same amount of friends!
28. Who has more siblings? same ... I am the middle of 3 and he is the oldest of 3.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Chris will..... hey I'm ok with that!

Lets see what you have to say Nicole, about Kevin!!!!

Love you all!!!

Wedding Cake

No this isn't the cake we picked but last night we did get our wedding cake all squared away. It is exciting! Poor Chris had to sit through a three hour meeting deciding whether or not to do diamonds and dots or swirls or monogram and on and on. He was a pretty good sport though! He even threw a few suggestions in here and there! We got to try it and it was delicious! MMM can't wait for the real thing! I feel like there is a lot of waiting around involved in wedding planning. You pick out all these really fun things but yet you don't get to see it again until your wedding day! That's ok because I know it will be worth it i just wish it was a little closer than 4 months away!

So Chris and I are starting a small group on Sunday through The Village Church and we are really excited! It is a young marrieds, even though we aren't yet married!! We just want to get plugged in and start making friends haha! It is so fun getting to start our new life together and join things as a couple! We (well right now I) have a black lab named Benga. I had to take him to a vet and fill in all the info and I told them well, I am engaged but will be married and this is all Chris' info etc. So now when the call me they ask for Mrs. Manack and when we get medicine or a bill or anything for the dog it says Chris and Jackie Manack on it! It is so weird but AWESOME at the same time! Guess I better get use to it!

I have a huge homework assignment I should be doing right now but I just wanted to let all the girls in my wedding know how excited I am that they can be there! I know that is kind of a random thought but I just am so thankful for each and every person! I am so excited I get to spend this important day with the most important people to me!

Ok thats all! I hope the Lord blesses your day!! Love you All!!

Iowa- Missy's Wedding

My cousin Missy got married this weekend in Iowa! She is now Melissa Collins! It was a lot of fun and she was beautiful. I love family get togethers! We have a large large family but it is always a blast when everyone is together. My whole immediate family was there which was awesome! Chris and Savannah G bonded and we now call him her boyfriend haha. She was kissing on him this weekend, but since she is 8 months old and precious I let it go!
This is little Savannah with Chris' glasses on. She is so cute!! Here are some pics of us at the wedding!!


We did have some bad news this weekend however. My mom's parents (my grandma and grandpa Shattuck) are not doing that well. My grandfather was admitted into the ICU when we got to Iowa so we never got to see him :( . My grandmother is also very sick and not doing that great. My family needs some prayers. They are the sweetest people I have ever met. Anyways if you could just remember them in your prayers. Thank you guys!

well hope everyone had a great weekend! Love you all!!

Wedding Bands

Well we purchased our wedding bands! I am kind of thinking maybe we should have waited because now i just want to wear mine! Its awesome! I tried to convince Chris today how fun it would be to act like we were little kids and play wedding! Then we could wear our rings but not for real just for pretend! Chris didn't really go for that but hey I tried! I really do feel like a little kid playing house sometimes! I don't feel like it is real yet. I mean i know in four months I will have a new last name, have to share a house with a boy, and have a new "family". But it hasn't hit me yet that this is real!! I can't wait until the second it hits me ... I am thinking it will be walking down the aisle!

Other than that we have no more wedding updates! My little brother turns 18 on Friday!! AHH oh my gosh! He is so old! I can't believe it. He is just the most precious person EVER. I know I know he is my brother but really just the greatest boy ever. We are all going to Iowa this weekend for my cousin's wedding! Chris and I are so excited to see Savannah Grace, Nicole and Kevin and ALL of my relatives! It will be a blast! OK well I am going to bed! I hope things are going great for everyone and that the Lord is blessing you! I love you all!!

Jackie

True You Photography!! Our Engagements!!!

Our engagement pictures from our photographer are up!!!! She has a blog where she posted a few ... you can look at the list of my favorite blogs its linked. If you want to see them all go to trueyouphoto.com/anderson!! Love you guys!

Engagement Pictures

Chris and I went and got our engagement pictures done this weekend. We met our photographer Christa Davidson at the canals in Las Colinas and then we went and took some pictures with Chris' mom as well. Since we don't have the pictures from our photographer yet I will share some of the ones Kathy took. Hope everyone is doing well!! Love you All!!!!