Hello, this is me :o)

I love this man more than I can say! He is HOT! (And great in the nesty noo too! Winky Winky!!!!!!) 

So gorgeous! 

This gives me chills! Brian is the best kisser in the whole world! I am pretty sure my toes were curling.........Oooooooo! 

How fun are we?! 

Ok, we seriously have the HOTTEST wedding party ever! 

My grandma is so fun! 

Our FIRST kiss!!! 

Saying our vows! 

Our candles at the altar 

I never look this good, but praise God I did for the wedding day! 

Me & my beautiful girls on the wedding day!!!!!!!

Well, the public asked for it, & now they shall have it!

I am finally updating you all on the fabulous goings on of the Potter household:)

As you know, Brian & I just got back from my little sisters highschool graduation in Missouri. I must say that it was hard & very weird to see my baby sisters all grown up. It seems like just a year ago that Heather & I were graduating highschool, & now the twins are done too! Crazy!!!! Either I am getting old or time is going faster than my head can go!

Brian & I had a great time & it was so great to see some people that I have not seen in awhile. To be perfectly honest, it was not very fun going to my church that I grew up in. I loved seeing Rachel, Tami, Diane, Marlie, some old friends from church, & of course the FAMILY! However, it was annoying having all of these people act like they missed me so much. They didn't even care about me when I was at that church, but now that I am gone & at Joel Osteen's church, somehow that makes me missed. I hate fake people & if you didn't know me before I left, it is ok if you don't say hi to me or if you don't say you miss me. Not to be rude, but there are only a handful of people that I miss & they know who they are. (Shout out to the beloved ones!!!! Whoo Whoo!)

Brian didn't like the church very much either, but he loved my friends. He thought that Tami was great & he loved Charlie & Connie! Who doesn't?! We had a great time at dinner with Tami, Diane, my family, & Katie's friend:) (I am such a loser, I totally just blanked on her name!!!!! Was it Kayla?!) He also said that he never realized how beautiful Rachel & my sisters are. He knows you guys are beautiful, but you know how sometimes, someone's beauty just hits you? I must say that you girls look so gorgeous! Seeing those old photos from back in your silly days, really made me see how much you have all grown into fabulous woman of God; woman of destiny & purpose! I am SO STINKIN' proud of you! I don't want to cry, but you have done so much better than I could have ever prayed for. God has taken all of my prayers & blown me away at how your integrity is & how strong you girls are!

Life seems to be going so different than I thought it would. I sometimes look at my parents & I get frustrated with God. Why hasn't He blessed them financially? All of my life they have struggled to make it & now that retirement is appoaching, I worry about them alot. I hate thinking that my mom may have to work for the rest of her life & that my dad is sick. It is so hard watching them go through this & I pray that God will help them & bless them abundantly, but I sometimes feel like my prayers fall on deaf ears.

I know I should have more faith, but I worry about my family, about Heather, & that God will provide a way for my sisters to do whatever it is that they want to do. I wish I had a billion dollars & than I would pay for them to go to college & I would build my parents their dream home & pay all of their bills! It's like this feeling of guilt almost & a sense of duty that I should take care of my family, but Brian & I have a hard enough time making ends meet as it is. I pray that this cycle will be destroyed & that our kids won't have to worry about anything.

We are praying about if I have to get a job or not to help out. The only problem is that we only have one car & we live by a shopping center, but I don't want to work there. It depresses me so much to think about having to work there, but I will do whatever it is that I have to do for us.

Well, that is a few prayer requests & a update on us. I am praying for all of you & I love you lots! I will try to blog regularly so you won't have to wonder if I am ok or not!

Love,
Danielle Potter

I am back & I am a married woman!!!

Wow, it has been almost two whole months since I last blogged! If you have not been keeping up to date on things, I'll let you in a little detail; I AM MARRIED NOW!!!!!!!

As of April 16th, 2005, I am now officially, Mrs. Danielle Potter! It is hard to describe how awesome that feels to finally say! I felt like it would never come & now it has. I am in Houston Texas & I am here at Lakewood writing this blog; whoooooo, crazy!

So much has happened that I cannot even begin to describe how thankful I am for all that God has blessed me with. It would take a million blogs to try to come close to telling what God has done in my life in the past year, but I will try to make it a little shorter than that. His blessings are far more than Brian or I deserve, but He keeps giving them. I wish I could repay Him, but I always fail miserably at that one.

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous & it went flawlessly! Alot of people said that they had never seen a wedding go that smoothly before. We started on time & we ended on time! Our pictures went exactly as scheduled & the reception was wonderful as well. It was so great having all of our loved friends & family there & to have so much support around us, well, it was incredible! We both were overwhelmed at how much we are loved! What a gift God has given us; we have the best friends & family you could for!

The honeymoon was lovely too. We took a cruise to Catalina & Ensenada Mexico. Although we did not leave the room much, (hehehehehehehe........) we had a great time & it was exactly what we needed. We went on our honeymoon from the 18th through the 22nd of April.

We came back to Houston the 22nd in the evening & began our lives together. It has been wonderful so far. I just love seeing him every day! I missed him so much when we were seperated. It is nice to be able to kiss too:) We waited to kiss until our wedding day & I must say that it was worth it! He is a SLAMMIN kisser!! :O)

I do not want to bore you with too many details, ;) but the main things is that I am back at this whole blog thing & I will write often again! It is good to be back!!!!!!

Till then.........
Little Vel Potter (finally!!!)

The winds of change............

As I sit here reflecting over the last year & half at the Dream Center, I cannot even begin to tell you all that I have learned.

We had a staff meeting today, my last one, & I got choked up thinking over my time here. God has taken me through so much & I do not even recognize the woman that I have turned into. I am confident now, not in myself so much, but in who I am in Him, & I have seen God's provision & plans for me be fullfilled. The memories of the fear I had before I came out here, & the fear that I had after highschool are so fresh in my mind.

I remember asking God, what would I do with my life, would I get married, would I be in ministry, or would I be stuck in a dead end job with no hope of making a difference for the rest on my life? All of the normal fears that we have as we pass through the threshold of childhood into adulthood, are just now beginning to fade. It is so odd to realize that I am a woman now; not a little girl, but I am being molded & fashioned into the woman that God wants me to be. He is making me into His Danielle.

I feel a sense of peace & faith like I have never had in my life. He holds my hand & He knows every step I have taken or ever will take. He has not left me thus far, & He will not leave me now! Those times in the past where I was most afraid & shaken, are all calm now & He takes care of every single one of them. I have survived things I did not think I was capable of surviving & He has shown me that I am stronger than I thought I was; of course this recognition is that He is my source of strength, not me!

What an interesting realization to have, He is faithful! He has always been by my side & never will leave me or forsake me, but I freak out at every wave that comes. I feel like the children of Israel when they were delivered from the hands of Pharoah; they saw God's incredible miracles & how much He loved them, but they still forgot & lost faith at the first test. When tests come, I do not think that I do very well. I can look back at His faithfulness, but at the first sign of a storm, BAM, I freak out & complain that God has forsaken me! What a foolish woman I am, how dare I question the love & faithfulness of my God? Has He not been with me through every pain & trial, & has He not worked it ALL out for my good? Of course He has! May this resonate & penetrate deep into my spirit. I do not want this to be "head knowledge" as they say, but I need it to be truth & life to my spirit.

My wedding is in one month, I am leaving the Dream Center this Saturday, & I am embarking on a new life & a new adventure! This new chapter in my life is filled with promise & dreams, but I know that He will take me where He wants me to go. I cannot wait to see what I look like in another year!

Little Vel

Life can be odd sometimes:)

Life is so weird right now! It just hit me last night that I am leaving the Dream Center in ONE week! AUGHHH!!! This is a weird feeling to say the least! I am so ready to be in Houston, but it is strange not to stay here until I leave for the wedding. It will be cool though, because I get to live with Leticia for three weeks & then I am going to San Luis Obispo to stay with Colleen Rosenthal! I love Colleen! She is a wonderful lady & I am so excited to be this close to the wedding!

My only prayer is that time doesn't fly by too quickly & that I can enjoy the entire process. I do not want to look back on my wedding & think of stress & craziness. I want to enjoy every moment of seeing my family & celebrating this amazing time in my life! I will never do this again & it will all go so quickly; I want to cherish it & savor all that I can:)

God is so much better to me than I deserve & I do not know why He blesses me, but He continually blows my mind with His love! I have so many prayers for the wedding & that everything will be good, but when I stop & think about all that has to happen & all of my prayers, I am overwhelmed! There is NO possible way that any of this will work with out God's help & blessing!

If you guys would, I would appreciate you prayers for our wedding & that everything will work out for our good! The Word says, that all things work for the good to those who love & serve God! I do not deserve His blessing, but I sure do want it!

Sometimes I wonder if that is selfish. I want His blessing, but I also know that I do not come even remotely close to serving Him & loving Him like I should. I feel like I do not deserve His blessing or His kindness, because I do not do anything to merit it. I know that His love is not based on my own goodness or faithfulness, but I still feel like there is a prerequisite to get His blessing; that I have to be really close to Him or something.

I wrestle with these feelings of failure, like I have let Him down so much, but I know the truth, & it is that He loves me unconditionally & without me ever doing anything. I just want to be faithful & worthy of what He gives. He has done SO incredibly much for me & I want to honor Him & glorify Him with my whole life! Ahhhhhhhhh...........so much to contemplate, but I pray that I do more than just contemplate. I want it to bear the fruit of action! May my heart's desire translate into love & service for Him.

Well, I have to go now! Pray for Brian as he is in Charlotte, North Carolina with Pastor Joel! He is on tour with him right now, so pray for safety & that many souls will be touched while Joel ministers to the people there.

In Him,

Little Vel

P.S. I just received the kindest letter from Jennifer Osteen! She wrote me a personal letter saying that she & Dr. Paul enjoyed our time together! Isn't that awesome?! A note from Jennifer Osteen! WOO!!!!!

This is my amazingly handsome man! WOO!!! 

My baby & me! 

I am back:(

Well, I am back in Los Angeles & I am so sickened at all of the immaturity here. I knew coming back that it would be like this, but it did not really hit me how bad it was until I came back & Andrea began to fill me in on all of the drama that has happened while I was gone. I cannot believe how crazy some of these people are! I just don't understand why they continue to hurt themselves by being dumb. If they would just do it God's way, it would be so much easier.............grrrrr...............

Anyway, enough of my ranting about things I cannot change. I can only do something if I pray & allow God to do the work in their lives. All I know is that I do not have the stomach to be apart of the silly games. I have too much that God needs to do in me & I have to much planning with the wedding & stuff to be distracted by goofy people & their drama. I am focusing on God & the wedding & that is all I want to do right now.

I went out to dinner last night with Andrea & I told her a quote that I heard a long time ago & it hit ME really hard, "Get alone until you aren't alone anymore." Isn't that powerful?! If I am depressed or lonely, alot of times I immediately go & try to find someone to be with, but what I really need is God. It is in His presence that I am whole & changed. I am never really alone if I would allow God to be with me & to be intimate with me. Alot of times I shut Him out because I really don't want to change & I am lazy. I know that if I get in His presence, I will have to change, because it is impossible to be with Him & remain the same & to hold onto your sin.

I am in a mindset now that I have to focus & start running the race. I have so much that God wants for me & I have to stop being lazy. I am running out of time & I don't want to die with regrets that I did not live the life that God wanted me to live.

Onto other thoughts, I miss Brian alot! I am trying to work & focus on God, but I still miss him. It was like we were married for two weeks, so it is hard to leave him. It was like leaving my husband......................... it is hard to express how that feels unless you have experienced it. I know I will be fine, but it is still hard.

Well, I have to get back to work, so rock on my people & I love you all! Girls, (Katie, Allie, & Rachel:) you are amazing women & I am so proud of all of you! You have no idea how much you rock my face & I know that God has powerful plans for your lives! Stay focused & make Him the main thing in your hearts! I love you guys!

Brian, I love you more than I can say & I thank God for you every day! You are the love of my life & I am SO PROUD OF YOU! Wow! What an incredible man you are! Whoooooooo...................... There are just no words to begin to describe my love & respect for you! I love you!

Toodles all!

Little Vel Potter (soon:)

God is GOOD!

Brian & I have been looking at condos for the past couple of days & I must say that it has been hard, but a great time. We have a had a hard time finding something that does not require a ton of repairs or is big enough. Hopefully we will find something once I get out here, but for now, we are getting an apartment for six months until we can find what we want. We found a couple condos that look promising, so I am praying that we have favor with one of those.

I have had the best time being with Brian these past couple of weeks & I am more convinced than ever that I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I love him more than I thought it was possible to love someone & he is my best friend. I genuinely love being with him & he is my favorite person to spend time with. I love hanging out with him or just watching tv. He allows me to be myself & encourages & believes in me so much. He raves about me when I am there or even if I am not there. When I got out here, all I heard from everyone was how much he raves about me all of the time:) I love that he believes in me & is there for me. I am so blessed!

I am not looking forward to going back to the Dream Center, but I know that it is only a month & a half more until I am with him for the rest of our lives. God has blessed more than we could have thought. We do not deserve his kindness towards us, but he continues to show us favor. I hope that we don't let him down & that we honor him in our lives:)

Well, I am leaving Wednesday morning to go back to LA......... SADNESS:( Till then.............................................................................................Toodles!

Little Vel