Ah...

Ah...this pretty much sums up our wonderful vacation!

Please pray as we head into our next big summer event- our first missions trip together with the teens!

Can't wait to share all that God does!

My Love

Happy Two Year Anniversary to my Love!  How have two years really gone by?  I still find myself having nightmares that Chuck and I are not yet married, and in these nightmares, I long to be his wife.  When I wake up, it is an amazing relief to realize that I am TRULY married to the love of my life.  FOR REAL.  I love Charles Robert Dubbe so much.  Like crazy.  It's incredible to be his wife.  When I walked into the sanctuary the day I married him, I could not wait to see his handsome face.  I had to look as soon as I could.

Chuckie clearly felt the same way.

I suppose most married couples feel the way we do, but I still want to say it.  I absolutely love spending every minute of every day with my Love.  If I could, I would have him home all day every day.  I enjoy his presence.  I enjoy hearing him stomp (it's how he walks!) around our apartment, and rummage around in the fridge when he's bored.  This man makes me so HAPPY.  If this animated picture doesn't prove it, I don't know what would!

My husband is my most favorite companion.  I appreciate that he exercises with me on all of his days off.  Even though my exercise is "only" walking.  We love talking about all of the people in our lives.  Our family, our friends, our neighbors.  We love reaching out to those around us and sharing Christ with them together.  I'm blessed that I no longer have to live alone!  I never thought this day would come.

Even when we go through the darkest of times, like losing our precious baby, Chuck is a solid force for me.  When I was struggling so bad physically, he literally held me as I stumbled to the bathroom.  He made the bed for me when I was too weak to pull back the covers.  He set his alarm for 3 in the morning to give me my pain medication.  He learned how to make a home-made heating pad, and re-heated the thing countless times for me.  You don't imagine these things when standing at the altar, but they are real and they are true and God has drawn us closer together in the midst of it.

I adore watching my Babe with the teens.  He is a natural-born leader and he leads so well.  It's such a joy for me to see him lead a discussion, run an entire retreat, or speak to over a hundred teens on a Sunday morning and radiate with joy in doing so.  It's crazy to see him pour hours of his free time into power point slides that the teens will be drawn to at an event.  I love being married to a man who knows exactly who he is and exactly how God wants him to spend his life.  With me and with teens!

God has blessed us together.  Two years later, we are happy.  A little battered, a little bruised, but wiser, stronger, and more in love than ever before.

Happy Anniversary (a couple days early!) Dovo!  I love you so.  And Happy Father's Day to you.  I can't wait to spend eternity with our Savior and finally get to meet our very own Little Love.

(Photos again by the rock star:  Joanna Nunemaker!)

Father

Each year I am torn because Father's Day always lands closely with our Anniversary.  We got married the day before Father's Day the year of our wedding and it made our week even more special.  I can't help but think of Father's Day when I think of our wedding.  Tonight I will write TWO posts.  One for my Dad and one for my husband.

There were times in my life when I had to wonder if my Dad would be able to walk me down that wedding aisle.  Yesterday my family was able to celebrate anew when we got the incredible news that my Dad's heart is HEALTHY!  His tests showed no changes since last year at this time.  Hallelujah, praise our God!  I continually pray for my Dad's heart to remain healthy.  I frequently wake up at night in a semi-panic and pray for God's powerful hand over my Dad's heart and health.  It is a relief to be able to thank God for answering those cries today.

I will be forever grateful that my Dad was, in fact, able to walk me down my wedding aisle.  He still likes to say that walking me down the aisle was "the shortest walk of his life".

My Dad is so sweet.  It seems that after each of his heart surgeries he became softer and softer.  The Amos family secret though, is that Dad was always the softie.  ;)  He often surprises me with my most favorite Tasty Kakes in the world:  Chocolate Juniors.  It always means so much.  When I turned 16, my Dad gave me a heart-shaped locket that I still have and love.  I remember almost crying when he gave it to me.  One of my favorite purple sweaters was picked out for me by my Dad- I love sharing with people that he gave it to me.

My Dad loves to laugh!  We can often by found laughing together.  Whether it's at my Mom who does something hilarious by accident, a ridiculous app that is secretly added to my phone, a dumb Youtube video, or watching our beloved Chail in action, we love to laugh together!

My Dad took me out on little dates starting when I was just a little girl.  I remember sitting at a high table at McDonald's eating pancakes off of a Styrofoam plate and reveling in it.  Just me and my Dad.  On beach vacations, we used to hop in my Dad's truck, just the two of us, crank up the oldies station, roll those windows down and cruise to Wawa for our sausage biscuits and coffee.  As I've gotten older, we've moved our pancake dates from McDonald's to Perkins, who Dad claims, have the best pancakes on the planet.  I agree!

My Dad is a GREAT hugger.  Countless moments exist in my memory of my Dad holding me as I cried over fears, pains, heart aches, or failures.  Countless memories exist of my Dad crying right along with me.  He always holds on tight during those moments and I can feel how much he loves and adores me.  Now that we are hours apart, when we get to see each other, there is nothing like those Dad-hugs.

My Dad has always made our family a priority.  And even now, he is dedicated to my new husband and me together.  He makes trips to visit us, sends emails, texts, and calls just to check in.  When my Dad got the package in the mail announcing that Chuck and I were going to have our first baby, he cried tears of joy.  When we had to call weeks later to tell him our baby was with Jesus, he cried tears of sorrow.  I don't think he cares about anything more than his family.

Father, I feel the same way!  I'm still your girl, and always will be.  I love you with all my heart.  HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

(All pictures were taken by our beloved Joanna Nunemaker!)

Pray for this weekend.

We are getting ready to leave in a little bit.  This weekend, Chuck and I are going on a retreat with our Semp group.  This includes 15 teens and 4 of us leaders.  Pray that God does GREAT things this weekend, as I know He will!


This retreat is designed to get us together as a true team, and to get to know each other a lot better.  There are three 8th graders coming on the trip that we really don't know at all since they just graduated from Jr. High.  Chuck has been working hard at putting this retreat together.  He will be speaking 6 times, and then has to speak again on Sunday morning to the whole youth group.

Pray for strength, and especially wisdom for Chuckie!  Pray as he teaches the teens how to share the gospel with others.  

Pray for me to get to know the girls better, especially the 8th graders. 

Pray that God works in hearts and that it would be a valuable weekend together.  Pray that we begin to feel confidant about sharing the gospel.  

Thank you so much for praying for us!  We rest in the power of those prayers!

Big Trip!

Well, I never thought I’d be going on another High School mission’s trip.  But here I am, working alongside Chuck with teens at our church, and of course that means summer trips!  Chuck and I are leading a group of 15 teenagers to attend a conference in Chicago, “Students Equipped to Minister to Peers- SEMP”.  SEMP will be held on the campus of Moody Bible Institute in downtown Chicago.  The teens will be trained in apologetics, and will be able to practice sharing God’s love with people on the streets of the city. 

I am now inviting and asking you to pray for Chuck and me as we lead our group from June 26-July 2.  Please pray for these five areas:

1. Pray for protection on our marriage.  Pray that God unites us, as we will both be staying with teens for the week. 

2. Pray for God to give me an excitement and passion in my heart to serve the teen girls all week long, especially when we’re all tired.

3. Pray for courage from God as street witnessing is intimidating and scary for me.

4. Pray for strength from God.  We will be getting minimal sleep.  Also, our trip ends with a camp-out back home in VA with the upcoming freshman class.

5. Pray for open doors and opportunities with unsaved friends at home in VA.  I would love to meet more unsaved people.

If you would like to pray for Chuck and me, we would be honored.  

Lastly, we would like to thank you for praying for us with the recent loss of our baby.  It has been so painful but we have felt God’s peace through your prayers for us.  Pray for my heart in particular at SEMP as I was anticipating with joy being about 5 months pregnant.  It is hard to move forward without our precious one.

Thank you for your love and prayers.  We love you, too!