Mr. & Mrs. Ethan Hammond

Well, they gone and done it! They done got hitched!

Ethan and Grace tied the knot 

at 6:00 pm on September 28th, 2019. 

Their special day was held at the Hunter Barn in Waynesville, GA.

The wedding was held outside, behind the barn, with the reception held inside the barn. The two of them wanted a short but sweet ceremony, which Dad was able to officiate. While the guests starting munching on the delicious variety of hors d'oeuvres that Grace's family had made, the family and bridal party were outside getting wedding pictures taken. Once back inside, Ethan and Grace cut the cake (which Grace's family also made).

After cutting the cake, the two shared a tenderly, slow dance together, followed up by a dance between Grace and her daddy.

Sweet friends, Amber and Brittany Gullickson, traveled in to help out with whatever needed doing for the wedding, including cutting up 150 Jalapeno peppers! Unfortunately, Mom and Amber didn't wear gloves while cutting up the peppers and ended up with "Jalepeno hands" for a full 12 hours! They both spent rehearsal day with their hands in a bowl of ice water! 

Greta, Amber, Grace, Ethan, Griff, and Brittany

Mom and Savannah all dressed up!

 Saying a quick prayer before starting.

The evening ended with some dancing and then a fire sparkler send off complete with a quick firework display. It was a lovely day.

The couple is now enjoying their 2 week honeymoon!

Congratulations Ethan and Grace! May the Lord bless your marriage immensely!

And welcome to the family Grace!

Once Upon An Engagement

Yup...you heard that right. 

Ethan and Grace are now engaged! 

Okay, so I'm a little late in posting this. Ethan asked Grace to marry him on July 20.

(We were on a trip when it happened and my computer crashed on that trip, so I'm finally getting around to sharing the news.)

The lovely ring he picked out for her.

A happy couple.

 They are currently in the thick of wedding plans and house hunting, so keep them in your prayers as things are lining up.  The date for the wedding is September 28th.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

A couple of official engagement photos for your viewing pleasure!

Mom and Dad's Anniversary

Today, my sweet parents are celebrating their 31st wedding anniversary!

They have blessed our family with a legacy of love, of commitment, of sharing and caring through the good times and the bad.  They are a beautiful representation of what a godly marriage should look like.  They have never let divorce become an "option" word in the marriage or in their thoughts.  They have prayed for the marriages of all of their children from the time of our births, asking God to bless us with godly spouses who will serve Him.  They are a wonderful example and I'm so thankful that the Lord blessed us with them as our parents.

Happy Anniversary Dad & Mom!  We love you both soooooo much!

One Whole Year of Marriage!!!

Matthew and I just recently celebrated our one year anniversary!  Wow!  It's hard to believe it's already been that long.  Time sure has flown.

I love Matthew more now than the day that we got married.  It's amazing how love grows.  He's my dream come true, my sweetheart, my best friend.  I thank the Lord for blessing me with such a godly man.

For our anniversary, Matthew took me out to a friend's vacation house on the lake for a few days.  It was a lovely cabin, beautifully furnished and it literally sat about 6 feet off of the lake, with a huge front porch spanning the cabin to enjoy the private view.  We were so blessed to be able to stay there and enjoy our get-away time together.   

 

We knew that with me being so far along in my pregnancy we'd have to scale back on some of our favorite activities, like hiking or jet skiing, ;-) but we had a lot of fun challenging each other in bowling and mini-golf, along with going to the movies and out to eat.

He took me out on the lake in the little row boat, but the funny thing about this boat is that it had no oars!  So he graciously rowed me around with a shovel that he found!!!  Oh, the joy of being creative!

On the last night, my family came over to share dinner with us, play games, sing, chat and simply enjoy the beauty of the lake. 

 We had a lot of fun reminiscing about our wedding and the wonderful year we've had.  We are looking forward to many, many more blessed years of marriage together!

Announcing....!!!

Baby Dickerson!!!

Due October 20th, 2016

God is good and has exceedingly blessed Matthew and I with this gift of life inside me!  I found out a few days before Valentine's Day, so I waited to tell Matthew until Valentine's Day.  I made a scavenger hunt throughout our house with letters that he had to unscramble at the end: 

A-B-B-Y....

hmmm...wonder what that might spell!?!

Later that afternoon, we had made valentines for my family, so we took them over and had them open them.  We made them in the shape of letters, so what do you think they spelled?

It took them a few minutes to catch our drift.  We had written cutesy little sayings on each one, like for the B it said, "Happy Valentine's Day...B Mine!"  or the Y said, "Happy Valentine's Day...Y? Because we love you!"  We then had them line up to take a picture and as we were resetting them into the right letters Ethan caught on to what we were doing!  

Matthew and I are so excited to begin this new stage of life and can't wait to welcome this little one into our lives!  (As for morning sickness, I've been feeling pretty good, as long as I eat regular, small meals.  Matthew and I just got back from a week of prison ministry in Florida, and then caught a really bad stomach bug, but we are steadily getting over that and so glad to be feeling better once again!)

  

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate."

Psalm 127:3-5

Anniversaries!

On March 10th, Jordan and Caleb celebrated 4 years of marriage!

And on March 12th, Matthew and I celebrated 6 months of marriage!

How time flies when you're having fun!  We are all enjoying married life and are so thankful for the spouse that God has placed in our lives!  God is a good God who looks out for His children and blesses them beyond measure.

Honeymoon pictures!!!!

 Ha!  I just realized the other day that I never posted any pictures from my and Matthew's honeymoon!  Major oversight!  Hmmm...must be slightly side-tracked.  -chuckle-

So...here are some of the pictures of our wonderfully, sweet honeymoon! 

~ ~ ~

 We spent 9 days in and around Helen, GA and this cute, little cabin was our "Home Away From Home" for that time!  We picked out our location and our cabin together during the engagement and we instantly fell in love with this little place by its pictures!  It was perfect!

 My ring!  Matthew partially designed it.  He picked a heart-shaped diamond and put it in a gold ring with a weave to it.  He did a beautiful job and I love it!

Our first day in Helen...just having fun being together!

Our decorated car...

 

Goofing around playing mini-golf!  Matthew is a ton of fun!

We spent a lot of our time hiking, seeing waterfalls, biking, walking, and simply enjoying our time with each other.

We love being silly together...can you tell?!!!

Anna Ruby Falls...two rivers that join at the bases of the waterfalls to form one new river!  Pretty neat!

Riding around in our automobile!

Up on Clingman's Dome, the highest spot in GA.

The parking lot where we hiked from.

Out on a bike-ride around the lake...

Playing mini-golf again!

One of the days we traveled down to Atlanta Motorsports Park in Dawsonville, GA to ride go-karts!  They reach 55 miles per hour and it's the only track of its kind that has 43 feet of elevated change sections in its race track.  It was a lot of fun!

 We were able to get a cart to ride together!

 We like kissing...can you tell?!!

On the one week anniversary of our wedding, Matthew and I planned a special dinner at our cabin with a candlelit meal, a fire in the fireplace, special music playing, and we even dressed up in our matching outfits we got engaged in.  After the meal, we sat on the couch and started reading our old texts that we sent to each other and as we started going back to our texts from last year, we realized that that very night was the same night one year ago that Matthew first contacted Dad to ask about me!  Awe....  That made the evening even more special for the two of us!  It's amazing to see where the Lord has brought us from in the last year!   What a sweet time of remembering. 

 Towards the end of our honeymoon, we decided to drive up to Hiawassee, GA to tour the lake and go jet skiing!

 Matthew and I both agreed that this was our favorite activity!  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!

 And the lake was beautiful!

 The water was just warm enough that we could jump in off of the jet ski and go for a little swim.  We were able to get it to jump a few waves, which was exhilarating! 

 A picture of Matthew's wind-blown hair!  LOL!

  

We spent one day traveling down to hike Tallulah Falls.  This place used to be as popular as Niagara Falls at the turn of the century, before the town burned down and the falls got damned up and the flow was lessened.  But it was certainly still very beautiful!  It was a lot of steps to climb up and down but well worth the hike.

Sharing a meal at the Dillard House.

Selfie in our car!  I love my husband!

The last day we spent driving across the NC border, up in the mountains, windows rolled down, stopping at waterfalls as we drove along.  It was a beautiful day and a lovely ride. 

Photography one of the falls.

We had a lovely honeymoon and are so thankful for the time we were able to get away and enjoy our time with each other.  Matthew and I are appreciating married life immensely!