This past month Aaron joined the praise team at our church. On most Sunday mornings he gets to help lead the congregation in praising Christ. I am so proud to be the wife of a man who is honoring God with the gifts he has been given! It also reminds us of how thankful we are to be settled in one place so that we can feel wholly committed in our service, even for the future.
On Wednesday nights after choir practice, the praise teams practices around the piano with the band and I stick around to listen. It's an awesome worship hour. Aaron is on the far right. The picture is not great...I had to take it quickly and from the back so that I wouldn't embarrass him. :)
On Friday night we drove to Raleigh to visit Travis and Emily and go with them to the State/Clemson game. We had a fun time even though State lost. 
The stadium was packed in the beginning, but this picture was taken in the 4th quarter when the team was losing. Pretty sad.
Travis and Emily are committed fans. They have lifetime rights to these seats and they get season tickets every year. They haven't missed a home game in about 4 years!
As far as man-made things, the stadium was very impressive. It was a lot different (better) than when we had been 3 years ago.
The red looks so good to us! It's a good break from maroon and orange.
Travis and Emily so graciously hosted us in their home. We loved her chocolate chip cookies and catching up with them. We are driving to NC tonight...gotta see a Wolfpack football game this season! We haven't been to one since the fall of 2004.They are playing Clemson tomorrow. It will be fun to see how the stadium has changed. The best part about it is that we will be staying with Travis and Emily! Pictures to come soon...
Last night we loved having Sireesha to our house for dinner. She is from Hyderabad in the southern part of India, and she is here for 2 months for her work with GE. We met her last weekend at church. She is a believer! She has an amazing testimony, which she shared with us last night, and conversation with her is a huge encouragement. She does not take the Gospel lightly. 
She found West Salem (our church) through a search on the Internet. Very God-ordained, we believe! She is living very close to us in an extended stay hotel. We hope to see her much more in the next 6 weeks.
On Saturday after our hike, Aaron dropped me off for a bridal shower for a friend from high school. Katie and I have known each other since we were little, little! She is getting married in October to the same guy she brought as a date to our wedding almost 3 years ago. She got lots of great stuff at the shower. It was also fun for me because I saw these girls from our neighborhood growing up. I hadn't seen them since graduation day 6 years ago!
Bride is 2nd from the right.
This little girl was so excited about the gift she gave that she went up there to help Katie open it. Next thing we knew, she was prancing around with a plunger like she was in a parade.
One cool gift was this recipe book. It is an actual published book! If you go to lulu.com, you can write and publish your own book and they will send you a hardback or paperback!
On Sunday we volunteered to host Afterglow at our house. This is for the youth group at our church...after their teaching and worship, they usually go to someone's house for food and conversation. We had around 30 people in our house! We were glad to do it, although next time we will have more food (we served 100 chicken wings, a huge bowl of fruit, veggies, chips, 3 2 liter drinks, and we ran out after about 30 minutes!).
When we saw we were running low on food, Aaron lit the charcoal and he (I mean, these 6th graders) grilled sausages for us.
Aaron and I were invited to go hiking this morning with Nathan and Erin on the Appalachain Trail. We hiked to McAfee's Knob, which is about 3.5 miles up and then back down. It's only a 10 minute drive from our house to get to the parking lot where we started. It was a perfect day for this. We enjoyed the company of friends. After we finished, our feet were tired and we were so hungry, so Erin cooked a great meal for us and we rested at their house.
Little close to the edge! We met two guys there that had been hiking for 3 months. They are attempting to complete the entire Trail, which starts in Maine and ends in Georgia. One of them took this picture for us.
We had to go for the corny shots. Just bear with us.
Look how beautiful the view is!
Little close to the edge! We met two guys there that had been hiking for 3 months. They are attempting to complete the entire Trail, which starts in Maine and ends in Georgia. One of them took this picture for us. We had to go for the corny shots. Just bear with us. Look how beautiful the view is!Aaron planted this tree in our front yard a few weeks ago. He dug it up from his dad's land in Spring Hope. It has survived the heat and drought, and we look forward to seeing it grow with our family in the coming years.
On Thursday Maria called me to let me know her son had been born. Aaron and I went to visit in the evening. Maria looked as if there had been nothing to it! It was a joy to see the family in all smiles over the little one.
Aaron and I make it a rule to not hold newborns because we know we don't know what we're doing. They kept insisting, though, and I got the feeling they would have been insulted if I hadn't.
I teach 3 out of these 4 kids. Maybe I will have Braulio, the 4th one, in my class in 5 years!This week I have recovered an old CD friend...Indelible Grace. I have two of their CDs, and they have been the only things playing in my car the last few days. If you haven't heard their music, you have to go to their website and order some.
From the website: "Our hope is to help the church recover the tradition of putting old hymns to new music for each generation, and to enrich our worship with a huge view of God and His indelible grace."
We are glad to finally have a weekend with no agenda. We slept in late this morning for the first time in a while! Last night we had some friends, Tyler and Jenny, come over to eat and play Canasta. Jenny teaches 1st grade at one of my schools. The card game lasted for several hours! The guys won.
Today we had lunch with Joey and Sierra, then walked around Olde Salem Days in the heat. This is something that the city does every September for one day. Vendors come to sell handmade things, mostly for your home, and there are lots of baked goodies! The only money we spent was on water, and...
an NC State bandana for Bow :). Kind of silly...don't know how long it will last.
This is the limited drawer space that we have:
(I have the 4 drawers to the right. Every other one belongs to Aaron's clothing, including the two dressers below).
(this one is in the guest room)
Here are the shorts/jeans/pants that Aaron has and must go in drawers:
And the t-shirts (including white undershirts):
How am I supposed to fit all of this in those drawers? Up until now, I was stuffing them in there, they were getting wrinkled, we couldn't shut the drawers, and it was a mess of frustration. But over the past couple of weeks I have been contemplating a solution and I think I've come up with a good one! I put all of his drawer clothes out for him to look through. He was given the opportunity to choose 20 t-shirts, 20 white t-shirts, 6 jeans, 10 pairs of running shorts, and 10 regular shorts for me to put in the drawers now. The rest I put in these bins and hid them in my closet. 
My plan is that every 2 months or so, I will rotate those 20 t-shirts out and put in a new set of 20 t-shirts, and the same with the other items of clothing. This way he will be able to make use of all of them and I won't be exasperated to stuff the drawers. I think it will work nicely :) All in a wife's day of work!
(I have the 4 drawers to the right. Every other one belongs to Aaron's clothing, including the two dressers below).
(this one is in the guest room)Here are the shorts/jeans/pants that Aaron has and must go in drawers:
And the t-shirts (including white undershirts):How am I supposed to fit all of this in those drawers? Up until now, I was stuffing them in there, they were getting wrinkled, we couldn't shut the drawers, and it was a mess of frustration. But over the past couple of weeks I have been contemplating a solution and I think I've come up with a good one! I put all of his drawer clothes out for him to look through. He was given the opportunity to choose 20 t-shirts, 20 white t-shirts, 6 jeans, 10 pairs of running shorts, and 10 regular shorts for me to put in the drawers now. The rest I put in these bins and hid them in my closet. My plan is that every 2 months or so, I will rotate those 20 t-shirts out and put in a new set of 20 t-shirts, and the same with the other items of clothing. This way he will be able to make use of all of them and I won't be exasperated to stuff the drawers. I think it will work nicely :) All in a wife's day of work! We have had a very memorable weekend. Hope you have, too! Here's the play-by-play:
Friday afternoon we drove to Greensboro and checked in to our hotel, prettied ourselves up, and went to downtown for a nice dinner at Liberty Oak (thanks for the recommendation, Jonathan and Joy!). After dinner we went to see one of Aaron's favorite bands, UPhonik. Aaron could explain the kind of music better than I can, but I've heard him call it "Indie rock n' roll". Their website is here. It was an awesome night of live music. 
We highly recommend that you download their song, Help Me Out. It's great! We're sure it will make them really famous.
We highly recommend that you download their song, Help Me Out. It's great! We're sure it will make them really famous.
Yes, that's me up there banging on the cow bell. My loving husband pushed me up there as a volunteer. They said I did okay with the rhythm! I think Aaron took a video of that song, but we're working on how to download it. 
Stefan (they are from the French part of Canada), the lead singer, was very friendly. Aaron had emailed him before the show to ask for a particular song, so he knew us when we got there. It was fun.
Then on Saturday morning we drove to Virginia Beach, VA for the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon. We went to the Expo on Saturday evening to get our bib #s and goodie bags, and then went to Olive Garden to load up on carbs. We got up at 4 am on Sunday to be at the start line by 5:30. The race started at 7:00. We ran separately, but the best part about that was that it kept me motivated to get to the finish line to see Aaron! It was a fun race. They had rock bands every mile along the way, and high school cheerleading squads were everywhere cheering us on with the general public. There were over 17,000 runners and everyone was spirited. It was a high energy morning, which made the race a little easier, but the last 3 miles were really difficult (I speak for myself only). It was a good experience for me to praise God in, though. I was very mindful of the health that He has given me and the ability to train and discipline (since March) my body for a purpose. Glory be to the Creator of these dwellings (bodies) in which He lives by His Spirit! Even though I am having trouble walking today, I am very glad I did it and I hope to do it again next year, or the next! Hope we have more participation :)
At the Expo on Saturday. Lots of vendors, but we only stayed long enough to check-in and buy some t-shirts.
Early morning before the race. The weather was perfect for it- not too hot and not too cold, with a great breeze.
At the Expo on Saturday. Lots of vendors, but we only stayed long enough to check-in and buy some t-shirts.Early morning before the race. The weather was perfect for it- not too hot and not too cold, with a great breeze.
After the race...calling to let everyone know we survived! We didn't get a post-race picture together with our running gear still on, but you can see the dry spot on my sleeve. That was the only part that didn't get drenched in sweat. I'm already wearing my medal proudly by that time.
We hung out on the beach and listened to the band for while, but we didn't stay the whole afternoon. It was fun to take our running shoes off and get our feet in the ocean!
So many people! There was a concert that night, but we opted to go out on a dinner/movie date near our hotel instead.
Aaron and I are still in Virginia Beach, VA tonight, so I don't have the pictures downloaded. We wanted to share our results, though! 13.1!
4487 Aaron Fernandez Salem VA 25 M 2:04:39 5292 of 17,009
9777 Lisa Fernandez Salem VA 24 F 2:14:34 7777 of 17,009
Last night we were guests in John and Jane Cannon's home for dinner and conversation. What a HUGE encouragement to us! They are members of our church body and we see them in choir practice on Wednesday nights, but we hadn't had the opportunity to share with them as we were able to do last night. They are a wonderful example to us of covenant marriage and faithful devotion to Christ.
My posts are very late, and very backwards. It's easier to start at the end and read your way up to this first one, because that way the events will be in order. Sorry for the confusion and the delay!
Yesterday afternoon we had a baby shower at our house (well, we didn't...Aaron escaped to the gym while 1o women graced our home).
We played lots of games, including The Baby Item Price is Right, and making diapers out of toilet paper. Also, I was selected to race another woman (who has 4 children) in undressing a baby doll, changing the diaper, and dressing him back. Needless to say, I lost. But the women could not stop laughing because they said it was very obvious that I have no children. 
Maria, the mother of honor. She is due Sept. 18th with a boy, her 4th child. I teach her other 3 children.
I know you wish you had been there to get one of these cupcakes!
On Saturday we traveled to UVa to help Stephen and Michael move their stuff in for the school year. We were all anxious to see what Michael was getting himself into! It was a smooth process except for the strong heat.
We're going to miss you guys! Have a fun year! (it's Michael's first and Stephen's last)
Two weeks ago the girls I graduated high school with got together to have ice cream and say goodbye to Hannah (in black beside Aurelie), our friend who is going off to graduate school in Tennessee. It was a good weekday break. We are missing quite a few girls, though!
Fernandez Family
About
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This blog is a way for us to journal about the fun events and milestones of our days as husband and wife and new parents. Enjoy catching up with what's going on in the Fernandez family!
Aaron and Lisa
Married December 18, 2004
Vivian Gray: born June 18, 2008
Kate Leigh: born August 5, 2009
Hank Michael: born August 8, 2012
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