Back to Reality...

We are finally back and loving married life!

Benj and I got back from our honeymoon last Saturday and just had a wonderful time. We went to Gatlinburg and stayed in a beautiful cabin and had such a restful week! We even took a helicopter ride, went to an aquarium, played some put put golf, and ate at some great restaurants. The shopping, eating, and resting was a treat after a long week of wedding details and busy schedules. The entire week was such a blessing and I hope you enjoy the pictures below!

Now we are back home for a short while and have been blessed with lots of work this week! God is so good and has provided so much from the wedding and even more from being able to work this week for some extra moving money!

We have finally found a condo to rent in FL and we are excited to move down the weekend of the 20th! Please be praying that all of the paper work this week goes well. It is approaching quickly but we are extremely excited to be able to get started with the church plant and get settled as we start our new life together. God is doing some exciting things in FL already as Chip (our lead pastor) and his wife have been holding small groups in their home.

Benj just updated our website at www.thelitters.com and the new newsletter and prayer calendar are up! Please keep us in your prayers as we spend our last week in Ohio with family and friends and as we begin packing too!

Thank you for your continued prayers and please let us know if there's anything we can be praying about for you as well!!!

Pictures....

Here are a few pictures from the rehearsal dinner and wedding!

One more week....

Just a little update before the Big Day!!!

We are getting married in a week and life is crazy trying to prepare for it! I am so thankful to be home and I am receiving so much encouragement from friends and family! What a blessing they are! My two big projects for the beginning of next week are preparing the center-pieces and decorating the church! I can't believe the wedding is coming so so quickly!

Benj and I are also preparing to do some fundraising at our home church this weekend! We had an awesome opportunity to talk about what we are doing with Discover Church this week! The Bainbridge United Methodist Women's dinner was at the Bell Tower and we received a generous gift from all of them Wednesday night! We are so thankful and it really was a huge blessing as we begin our support raising at our home church. We are preparing to speak to a Sunday school class for a full hour as well as the Connection Service to ask for financial and prayer support! I cannot explain how thankful we are for all of the neat things God is doing in our lives right now!

Please continue to pray for us--for preparation for our marriage and that we would never forget WHO these blessing truly come from. Pray that He would provide through those that we are able to speak to about what we are doing in Florida and with Discover Church! We know that God's hand is on this church plant and we are just thankful that He is allowing us to be a part of what He's doing! May He receive ALL the glory!

I pray that you all can trust in Him for the impossible!
He is faithful!!!

Visit our website at www.thelitters.com

Only a few more weeks....

Hey Everyone!

We are just wrapping up the semester and are in our last full week of classes! I am so thankful that God has given me the strength to finish strong in school and He is providing daily!





Before Easter Benj had his Senior Worship Recital and did a wonderful job with his team! We had a great time visiting friends and family at home which was much needed as we come near to the end of the semester! This was our first time home since January and the whole weekend was great!

We also had some major blessings come our way this week! Benj and I have received a couple of financial and prayer supporters this week, Praise God! We are also preparing to share with a Sunday School class and the Connection Service at the First Wesleyan Church on May 24th! We are so excited to see how God is providing and ask that you would be praying for us as we finish school, prepare to share about the church plant, and as we prepare for the wedding. We are still looking for housing and trying to plan for moving and such. All of the planning is overwhelming at times but I feel like we are more excited than anything! I am so thankful for all of you who have been praying for us and all of the encouragement that we have receive in our preparation with Discover Church!

~Steph

Visit our website at www.thelitters.com

Ending the week....

It's our last day in Jupiter and I do not want to leave! It's exciting to finally see where we will be living and ministering to people who don't know Christ. It seems as though this plan that we have been waiting for is quickly becoming a reality. This past week we have been very busy apartment shopping and seeing different communities around Jupiter. There is so much that we still have yet to see and get to know, but soon enough we will be here and able to make some great friendships and connections.

This week we took a couple of days to simply relax and go to the beach. I love getting a tan and spending time at one of God's beautiful creations. I think just watching the waves come in and finding unique sea shells are by far my favorite! We as a team have also done more apartment/condo shopping than I could have imagined and we are still looking. Please keep us all in your prayers as we seek for God's guidance in all of this preparation.

On a more personal note, I just want to share a little about what God is teaching me. There is so much to think about, now that the plans for moving and getting married are becoming a reality. God has been stretching me and teaching me to depend completely on Him for strength to finish school, for all the wedding plans that still need to come together, and for the finances needed for the church plant and for our future. This week has been such a blessing and yet a stretching experience at the same time. My prayer is that God would stretch you and teach you something new this week as well.

Here are some more pictures of the week and if you would like to read more Benj has also been blogging and posting more pictures! Visit our website at thelitters.com

Blessings to you,
Steph

Exciting news this week!

Hey Everyone!

I am hoping you all are well and I am excited to see many of you during Easter Break!

A small update from Virginia....
Wedding plans are going great and we are getting ready to send out invitations! I would love for you to visit our wedding website at the address below. I love how easy the plans are going for the most part and I can't even begin to explain how much God is providing! I think it's funny how making decisions is my worst nightmare, but as soon as they are made, I'm happy! And on top of it all, I am so thankful that Benj is such a help with the whole thing, especially keeping me calm! He is so good to me!

http://www.mywedding.com/benjaminandstephanielitter

For our Church Planting preparations, we recently went a few hours from school to Fredericksburg, VA to a fairly new church plant called Lifepoint Church. This was the second "Exposure Trip" we have taken as a team and the weekend was wonderful! We were able to see and experience some great ideas and we were also able to me some wonderful people that are doing such a great job with their church. For Spring Break we will be traveling down to Jupiter, FL to check out our soon-to-be home! There are about 7 or 8 of us traveling down together so that we can look at apartments, job opportunities, and just to enjoy and get to know the area (Yes, the beach too!). Please pray that God will grow us as a team and provide places to look at for housing as well.

We will also be emailing out newsletters each month and if you would like to be on our mailing list, you can go to our website and email us so we can add you to our mailing and prayer list!

thelitters.com

Our Future Plans.....

Hello Friends and Family!

I know it has been some time since I've updated and there's so much going on this semester. Wedding plans are coming together quickly and God is providing so much! Benj and I are also preparing for our lives in ministry and God has given us an amazing opportunity that I want to finally share with you. Through much prayer and God showing His plans to us, we have joined a church plant team to help plant a new church in Jupiter, Florida called Discover Church! We are so excited about what God is doing in our lives now and we can't wait to see how God will work in preparing us to do His work in Florida. The excitement is just overwhelming and God is so good!

Benj and I want to give you the opportunity to join us in this ministry to South Florida. To check out what we are doing, check out our NEW website at www.thelitters.com We know that God has placed you in our lives and we are so thankful for the prayers, support, and encouragement that we have received from so many of you! We would not be where we are with out that kind of support and we pray that you will be blessed and be able to participate with us in continuing the journey!

I look forward to hearing from you and updating you all on upcoming wedding plans!

May God show you Himself this week,
Stephanie

thelitters.com

The Final Semester!!!!

Hey Friends and Family!

I just wanted to let you all know, the first week went really well. It's great to be back to work and I think I'm going to really enjoy my classes this semester! Praise God, it looks like I will graduate and walk in May with only two classes to take online this summer! He is providing so so much!!!

Not much happened this week other than being able to get back into a routine and get settled, hang out with great friends, and be able to rest from all the traveling and unpacking! This semester will be an exciting and a busy one with all the wedding planning, school, work, much more to share with you soon!!! As far as the wedding plans go, Benj and I have registered at Kohl's and Target and will register with Bed Bath & Beyond later this week too! I hope to hear from you all soon, and be looking forward to some ministry updates coming soon!

~Steph

Girls day out.....

Today the ladies and I went wedding dress shopping!!!

Even though it was the coldest day, it was so much fun! Mom, Kelly, Darcy, and Denise and Shannon went with me and I was so blessed to have them come along! Kelly even brought all of us huge chocolate bars for the day and they turned out to be a big hit when we were all exhausted and hungry! Thank you Kel!!!!

We started out at Candlelight Bridal in Chillicothe and had a great time there! I think I found THE Dress there!!! But just to make sure, we drove up to Columbus to David's Bridal after getting some lunch and picking up Shan. The day was supposed to be pretty short but we ended up not getting back until about 7pm!

It's interesting how when the right dress comes along you just know! And as much as I was expecting to feel the same excitement about another dress or two, I had my heart set on the one I found at Candlelight! I would love to post a picture or describe it but I just can't do that! I love surprises!!! I just prayed that I would find the right dress and I believe that God provided something so much better than I thought I was looking for!!!! He is good!!!

Well, since I can't post any pictures of our dress shopping extravaganza, Here is the link for some of the new JEWELRY that I just made!

New Jewelry

I pray that you all have a great Christmas week!
~Steph

Engagement Pictures...

We're coming home soon!!!

Benj and I are just finishing up finals here at school and will be home for the holidays!!! We have had a great semester but it seems like it went by so quickly! I can't wait to see many of you at home for Christmas and just wanted to share with you some pictures that Holly took for us while we were home for Thanksgiving Break....Enjoy!

Album #1

Album #2


Love you all and we will see you soon!
~Steph

We're Getting Married!!!!

Hey Everyone!

We just want to thank everyone for their excitement with us on our engagement!!! The wedding planning is going great!!! God is already providing so so much!!!!!

I just wanted to give our friends and family an update on how things are going! We are home for Thanksgiving break right now and loving it! Its been great to be able to catch up on sleep and work on studying and homework! Benj and I have finally picked a place and date so mark you calendars.....May 30th!!!! We'll be getting married around here and we are so excited for you all to be a part of celebrating with us!!!

Thank you all again for your encouragement and excitement with us on our engagement and we would appreciate your prayers during these last two weeks of school! Finals are coming and then we'll be home again for a whole month! Yay!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!!!

~Steph

The Proposal...

Benj took me hiking last week, (Oct. 21st)! We had left after our morning classes to go back to our apartments so that we could take advantage of the beautiful weather (a great reason to skip my class, I know). The plan for the day was to take my car to the shop and then drive a ways down the road to go hiking. As we were pulling into our apartment subdivision, we followed a FEDEX truck in and I didn't think otherwise...Benj dropped me off quickly and later I found out that the truck had my ring in it!

Anyway, We didn't get to take my car to the shop so when Benj came to pick me up, we just went hiking. We got to the parking lot a little before 2pm and hiked and took pictures and hiked some more. When we got to the bottom of the waterfall, we were sitting on some rocks when another couple came up and were taking pictures. I really wanted a picture of Benj and I in front of the waterfall so he asked the man if he could take a picture of us with Benj's camera. The man took a few pictures and then as he was about to give the camera back, Benj ask if we could get just one more picture...he asked if I wanted a different pose and as I was trying to figure out how to stand a different way, Benj got down on one knee and it seemed like forever before he said something because I was so taken aback. He proposed and I excitedly said YES!!!

I had no idea that this was coming, he didn't even seem nervous or act funny! Benj did such a great job at everything...from picking out the perfect ring to planning the perfect day!!! God just blessed that Tuesday so so much and I couldn't be more thankful!!!! Later that evening after calling all of our family, we went out to dinner to a nice steak house and had a wonderful meal with great service!!! It was the icing on the cake (or rather for us...the whipped cream on our cheesecake that was just amazing!).

I hope you all enjoyed reading a little piece of our story and we are so thankful for everyone's excitement with us!!!! We can't wait to see everyone at Thanksgiving and Christmas break and look forward to hearing from you soon!!!

Still In Shock,
Steph

Woo...We're Engaged!!!

Hey Friends and Family!

Some exciting news here that I'm sure all of you have heard......Benj and I are Engaged!!! Yay!!!!

God has been so good to us and is faithfully showing us where to go next......I will post a few pictures on this blog and hopefully write about how Benj proposed this weekend!

Thank you all for your encouraging words and excitement with us during this time!

love you and miss you,
Steph

Nothing Too Exciting...

Hey Friends and Family!!!

Time is just flying by here at Liberty! Not much has happened since I got back from Fall Break! I hope ya'll enjoyed the pictures and I can't wait to come home and show you more! I would love to say that a bunch of exciting things are happening but it's just classes, work, and friends for now! I have been so busy with tests and papers since I last posted a blog and I've got a few more coming up before Thanksgiving Break!!!

I will finally be coming home on the 18th and I can't wait to see everyone!!! Benj and I get out for break the 16th and will be playing at a friend's church down in North Carolina. His home church is having a "youth weekend" and we will go down to lead worship and help him and his church...then we will be able to drive home on Sunday!!! Please be praying that God goes before us and the rest of the people helping for that weekend!!! I miss ya'll and I hope to talk to you and see you soon! Sorry again that not much is going on here....

Love and Prayers,
~Steph