Welcome Home!

I spent last week at Junior Camp. I really didn't want to go - I did not want to leave my husband for 4 nights. But I did pretty well the first three days. I cried a little before bed each night; mostly because I missed him, and of course, having such a busy week I am sure that some of my emotion was due to simply being tired. He came on Wednesday evening to see me which I was looking forward to with much anticipation. However, I knew once I saw him that I was in trouble. It was going to be very difficult to say good-bye, and I was right. Thursday was a really hard day, but I made it and had some white cheddar popcorn that night that made things a little better. And finally, Friday came!! My thoughtful husband posted a "Welcome Home, Baby!" sign, made me a yummy brownie, and got me these. Awww!! It couldn't have been a better homecoming. Yeah for being home again!

Back from the Dead

I know. It's been forever. Actually, most of you who read this have been on somewhat of a blogging sabbatical yourselves, so I don't feel terrible about it. Life just happens and you have to go with it. The sad thing is, many things have happened in the last month, some of which may be interesting and others not so much. At least not to you.

We did have a super fun July 4 holiday. We celebrated the anniversary of our first real date by re-visiting Galena, House on the Rock (well, Matt did anyway - I went to the mall in Madison), and Vinny Vanucchi's. Our server at dinner was the same guy who served us the night we were engaged! He remembered us; he even said that evening was "unforgettable." Awww!! We stayed at an awesome bed and breakfast. The Honeymoon Cottage was so sweet! We highly recommend it. On the 4th, we walked around town for quite a while and drove in to Dubuque as well. We were able to take a carriage ride, and the driver took the picture of us seen below. It was lots of fun! It's the first overnight trip we've done since the honeymoon. It was so fun to go as a married couple! Yeah!

Other than that, we are continually working on getting the house in order. I suppose it will be a lifelong journey at the rate we are going. The shower is awesome, though. Don't forget to look at the pictures on Matt's blog!!

Thursday Thirteen: Movies

Thirteen Things about ANGELA

I figured this was an easy way to keep up since I have had little time to write. No water in our house...but the in-laws are gone, so at least we have a place to stay while it gets repaired. For now, I will do thirteen of my favorite movies. I have a very difficult time picking favorites, but these are top-ranked on my list.

1. Return to Me - One of my favorites of all-time. Just a nice romantic comedy. I'm a sucker for the romance, as I'm sure you will see. Great soundtrack, too.

2. Raising Helen - Again, a great romantic comedy. Kate Hudson is pretty funny, and the sisters were somewhat reminiscent of me and mine. I don't enjoy thinking about the people I love dying or anything, but it reminds you of how much they mean to you.

3. The Sound of Music - Come on. This is just a classic. I love the music and the gazebo seen with Liesl and...the guy. So great! I always wanted to be her!

4. You've Got Mail - I don't know what it is, but I could watch this movie repeatedly and never tire of it. It's so cute how he goes about befriending her in order to win her heart. I love it!

5. Diary of a Mad Black Woman - An all-around great movie with drama, romance, and absolutely hysterical to boot. Definitely worth checking out.

6. Pride & Prejudice - The new version with Keira Knightley. I just loved it; it's so witty and great all around.

7. Titanic - Haven't seen it in years, but it is the first movie that I remember really crying in the theater.

8. The Passion of the Christ - The most powerful movie I've ever seen. A pretty unbelievable experience in the theater when the church rented it out for a few showings.

9. Runaway Bride - Again, the romantic comedy just does it for me. Very fun movie, great soundtrack which includes Miles Davis, so it must be good.

10. The American President - The politics reeks, but the story is too cute. Another that I could watch over and over.

11. Napoleon Dynamite - How can this not be funny? Chatting online with babes? Numchuck skills? The dance!?!? It's a classic for our generation.

12. Center Stage - It's such a teeny-bopper sort of movie, but I can't help but love it. The dance at the end rules!

13. A Beautiful Mind - Great story, great acting.

I know I didn't include many serious movies or any action movies, which I really do like, but these are the ones that came to mind. Post your own list, too!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about ANGELA

I figured I'd give this a try - I guess you just pick a topic and write 13 things about yourself. So today's topic will be...13 places I have been.

1. Kansas City, MO. As kids, we visited Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun a few times for vacation. My Mom won tickets to the parks on a radio contest a couple of times.

2. Tijuana, Mexico. Pastor Jim took us on a missions trip here. I was 15, and it was the first time I flew on an airplane.

3. Branson, MO. I lived in Springfield for almost 7 years, and Branson is about 20-30 minutes south, so we shopped the outlets and watched IMAX movies during the college years and beyond.

4. Chicago, IL. I was on a traveling ministry team in college for all 4 years, so we visited many different places. My freshman year we went to Chicago for our Spring Break ministry trip. It was very eye-opening in many ways. We also walked down Michigan Ave. and ate great pizza.

5. Denver, CO. I went here with my family at a very early age; I have a few memories but not many. Pastor Jim also took us here for the national youth convention (I'm not sure what year it was, I want to say 1996 or 1997?). I remember feeling a distinct call to ministry at that time. I also visited for a work conference from the Assemblies of God youth department; interesting trip with my former roommate and co-worker (to say the least). Sing it with me, "I see your true colors shining through..."

6. Boca Raton, FL. Another Spring Break ministry trip in college. This was a beautiful area; very ritzy from what I recall. We walked on the beach, on a pier in Miami, and all the girls stayed together in one house (it wasn't too cramped or anything, though).

7. Orlando, FL. I had only been at my job in the youth department (Assemblies of God headquarters) for about two months when I was asked to go to the Fine Arts Festival and National Youth Convention in Orlando. I was so excited; my first big work trip, lots of overtime (= lots of moolah), a little bit of free time to shop, and experiencing my first General Council (it's a big deal for them...seriously). Very interesting trip; I loved carrying around a walkie-talkie and being all cool and stuff.

8. Detroit, MI. I drove up (a VERY long trip alone) for a very good friend's wedding. It was definitely fun. I think Shannon and I carpooled back together for yet another long car ride. But I really loved being in her wedding and sharing those moments with her.

9. Seattle, WA. I have visited Phil, Brenda, Kaitlyn, and Kramer three times in their city of residence. (To put a face with a name, Kaitlyn was junior bridesmaid at my wedding if you were there.) I love it there; they live RIGHT by the water in Kirkland, which is a very nice area. They have a boat, so we try to get out on the boat when I'm visiting, which is always so relaxing. Their home is beautiful and relaxing, and I love staying there. I hope I can visit them with Matt someday!

10. Washington, D.C./Dover, DE. This trip last summer with my parents and Tyler was so great. The ONLY thing I remember not liking was the fact that I wished I could enjoy it with Matt. We had just started hanging out, but I really wanted to share all those fun experiences with him. Going to my first race at Dover was so sweet.

11. Galena, IL. I love Galena! It will always be so special as the site of our first real date and as the place where Matt asked me to marry him. It's such an adorable little town.

12. New York, NY. Huge highlight trip for me; it had always been my dream trip. Originally I wanted to honeymoon there, but...yeah, I'm glad we didn't do that. We went in October and, well, here are a bunch of pictures if you didn't get to see them. Awesome trip with my baby (and Chris, can't forget that he came along :-).

13. Cancun, Mexico. Our honeymoon! Awesome resort that was very fun and relaxing. Pictures will be coming one of these days.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Nobody's a Nobody

I wanted to blog today, but I am not sure what to write about. So I will default and post a journal entry.

Nobody's a Nobody

Scripture: Romans 9:25-26 (MSG) "I'll call the nobodies and make them somebodies; I'll call the unloved and make them beloved. In the place where they yelled out, 'You're nobody!' they're calling you 'God's living children.'"

Observation: The world's definition of us is inconsequential. Other people's view of us does not matter. What God calls us, the name He gives to us is the only one with which we should be concerned. The world will try to confuse us and Satan will use anything to distract us from hearing God's voice and what He is saying to us.

Application: I can so easily define who I am by the things another person says or does. I can be persuaded that God's love doesn't matter unless another person can see that same value in me. But God never asked me to look into the eyes of someone else to find my worth. Others may choose to affirm what God says about me, but that's all it is - an affirmation, not a definition. And if someone sees me as a nobody, then I am in the place for God to make His move and call me the somebody that He sees in me. So my lovability is based on His love for me. And He has said that when I feel unloved, He wants to step in and call me beloved. He wants to call me His very own, His child. The love that He created in me pales in comparison to the love that He offers me each day.

Prayer: Oh, Father, forgive me for forgetting that You are the only One who can meet all my needs and be all I could ever ask for. I know there's a time and a place for harsh reality and a time to step up to the plate and take responsibility for my life. But today could You just wrap Your arms around me and be my loving Father? What I desperately need is Your unconditional love that sees me as I am, every ugly part, and still grabs me and holds me tight and has faith in what I can become. It's hard work to live up to all You ask of me. But it's worth the work because I so desperately want to make You proud, want to be the apple of Your eye. Will You step in today and give me Your peace even if I don't deserve it? I can't fully express what it means to me that You love all of me and are not turned away when You see the ugliness of sin in my heart. You still embrace me as Your daughter and see the beauty of Your Son in me. Make me into the beautiful image of You. Make my heart more like You and strip away all that does not reflect You. Let me be a true picture of Your love to others.

Two for Togetherness

I'm so excited to have been tagged for this! Thanks, Beefy!

2 things you compliment your husband on while in his presence.
1. His amazing computer skills (example shown below).
2. His cute legs.

2 compliments you make about your spouse to your friends.
1. His creativity that knows NO bounds.
2. He's a great writer and knows how to say incredibly sweet things in an eloquent manner.

2 traits you married him/her for.
1. His sincere desire to follow God.
2. His incredible gifts and the call of God that I know is on his life.

2 days you cherished the most with your husband being together.
1. The day of our engagement has to top this list. Since I've already written about it, I won't go into detail, but the entire day was full of anticipation for me, and I enjoyed each moment of being together and of the Christmas season.
2. Christmas Eve/Christmas Day 2005. Our first holiday together, being with our families, and being in church together. It was really special. (I would have written the wedding day, but it seems a little obvious; but I did cherish that day and the smart way we planned it so we could spend time together. Yeah for eating at Bourbon Street on our wedding night!)

2 material things you could give your husband if you just inherited a fortune.
1. A fiberglass body for a Batmobile (I could just pay someone to build it, but I know part of the joy for him will be building it himself).
2. This. And it would be a sacrifice for sure.

2 things you would miss the most if she/he left for two weeks.
1. Cuddling and talking and praying before bed.
2. His touch.

2 thoughts that crossed your mind when you first met/saw (or noticed in our case) your spouse.
1. I am sure we would have a great time together; he is so funny!
2. What could I do to get him to notice me?

2 favorite dates
1. So many of the first dates were so much fun, but if I have to pick two...definitely July 4 of last year. He had invited me about a week or two earlier to visit the House on the Rock for the holiday. He surprised me that morning with a single red rose on my car seat (the first romantic gesture he had made, and I was floored; I remember shaking as I tried to put in my earrings while we were driving away in the car). We visited, I got sick, I bought some medicine and napped in the car, he drove us to Galena, we walked around looking at houses and walking down Main Street, we ate at Vinny Vanucchi's, and we watched fireworks together from the top of the hill. And he hugged me for the first time that day. It was the most amazing day. My journal entry about it is pretty good. He wrote a little about it, too, in his proposal narrative.
2. It's so hard to pick! Since I already said New York is a favorite vacation, I'm going to pick a different date (even though the Queen concert day was awesome). How about my birthday? No, I'm going with our trip to Minneapolis. We went to "The Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie Theater. Then we hung out at the Mall of America in our dress up clothes. It was very fun. I just love road-tripping with my husband; most of them are pretty memorable in my mind. And I love doing different things, and the play and the Mall and dressing were so fun and different from the norm.

2 funny odd things you love.
1. His constant preoccupation with Batmobiles (and this website). Since it's my blog, I'll take a second to show you what he has done since he doesn't have a Batmobile to work on yet - desktops for all the guys who are in the process of building theirs! (Thank goodness we don't have a computer set up at home. The bathroom would have a projected finish date of April 2012. )
2. The way he snaps his fingers near his ears to see if they are cleared up (he has lots of problems with his ears being clogged up and can never hear just right, poor thing).

2 places you have lived with your spouse.
1. Our current church/home
2. My old apartment (for exactly one week).

2 favorite vacations
1. New York City, baby!
2. Our honeymoon near Cancun (we will get pictures up for you to see, I promise!).

2 people I tag
1. Could I possibly get Rev60 to do this? (I'm sure I'm not allowed to tag my own husband, so I'll see if someone else's will do it.)
2. How about T - I'd love to hear her comments!

The Lost Has Been Found!

I found the missing box! It was with kitchen stuff. A bathroom box in the basement hiding under my knife set and napkin holder. Isn't that how it always works? Anyway, these are the eyeshadows that were in said box and missing me dreadfully over the past month and a half. (This does not include the 3 or 4 sets in my makeup bag.) Yes, it's a lot. Yes, it's every color of the rainbow. But in my defense, I had a plethora of $3 coupons, so I waited for the makeup to go 50% off at either K-Mart or Osco and bought most of them for less than $1. So I was able to use my long-lost colors this morning and enjoyed it immensely. I also got a straw from Kwik-Star that did not have slits in both ends (they seem to have the worst quality straws that are split at both ends, pinching your tongue if you're not careful while drinking). Hopefully these are signs that this will be a good day. I'm counting on it.

Finding Things

My stuff is still in boxes. The clothes are mostly put away and organized and a majority of the shoes are findable, but other than that, a lot of what I own still sits in boxes in the living room. I'm still not sure where to put it all, and we've been busy enough that I haven't had time to really deal with it. But it frustrates me when I think of one thing I want and cannot locate. Like, for instance, eyeshadow. I cannot find the majority of my large collection of eyeshadow. Specifically my Birthday Cake and Glamourazzi ones. Every day I look somewhere. Most days I look in the same two boxes, hoping that miraculously something in those boxes will have changed in molecular structure and will now be the coveted eyeshadow of which I dream. Alas, it has yet to have happened. But I did find my box with most of my jewelry. Anklet season is upon us, my friends, and I could not be left behind.

So while the mystery of the missing ankle bracelet has been happily solved, the missing eyeshadows still suffer in limbo-land, waiting despondently to be used by their loving owner.

The City in the Middle

Okay, I typed this entire post with links and pictures, and it's gone. It was all nice and fun and happy, and now I'm ticked because I lost it all. I will, however, attempt to recreate it.

For seven years, I lived in Springfield, MO. My parents and brother (and for a while, both of my sisters) lived in Des Moines, IA. We found ourselves meeting occasionally in Kansas City to shop, to get fitted for our bridesmaid's dresses for Stephanie's wedding, to go to Worlds of Fun, and just to be able to see each other. Kansas City is awesome, from the Plaza...

...to the Hallmark Visitor's Center to Crown Center to Union Station...

to Kansas Speedway to Evening Extraordinaire, the place where I first discovered what would become my wedding dress...

All in all, Kansas City is one of my favorite places. And we are leaving to go there today! Tomorrow, my parents, Tyler, and Steph are coming to hang out, check out the Hallmark employee store with my Hallmark-employed sister, and whatever else we can fit in (we can spend hours in a Hallmark). And on Saturday, I get to see my awesome friend, Jodi!

I am very excited for this weekend! This city girl is going to try very hard to get her fill of the big city. Have a great holiday weekend! (This time, I'm copying the html code before I try to publish this; hopefully I won't lose it again!!!)

A City Girl in the Country

I wonder if I will ever get used to living on a gravel road...miles from a store...or from civilization...out in the middle of nowhere. I am a city girl, people. I was mortified when I moved to Waverly, a.k.a. Town Without a Shopping Mall or Super Target. What is that about? And now I find myself living in an old church where I have to beg my phone to get a signal so I can call someone. I don't know if this way of life will just become normal. Or will it always seem different, like it just doesn't quite fit? I love to dress up, and I have a decent collection of dressy clothes, but it seems there are few opportunities to wear them anymore. Maybe Matt can take me to Bourbon Street tomorrow and I'll go all out. Maybe dressing up every night to go to dinner on the honeymoon gave me a taste of that life. Can I still be a city girl even if I don't live there? I feel like I'm being asked to be something I'm not, that I have no choice but to morph into an overalls-loving, ponytail-wearing, tractor-driving, makeup-less woman, and sooner rather than later, please. Well, I prefer to stay a city girl, to dress up when it's not required, to love rhinestones on my toes and a collection of lip gloss that rivals even Estee Lauder herself. I think I just will prove everyone wrong by loving my life even if it's not what I had pictured for myself. God's plan is different and ALWAYS best. These are some of my thoughts these days as the changes of my life continue to move along at a lightning-fast pace and I struggle to keep up with them.

Here's one more of my dress-up pictures from the honeymoon - from our romantic dinner on the beach night (where the wind was blowing 60 mph).

So anyway, about the honeymoon...

We haven't had a chance to sit down with anyone other than our parents to tell about the honeymoon! I'll try to write a condensed version. We spent a week at the El Dorado Seaside Suites about an hour south of Cancun, Mexico. Here is a picture of our room - it was amazing. That's the king size four-poster bed, and they made a towel swan on the bed when we arrived (and a rabbit later in the week). You can see a couple towels on the bottom right of the shot - that's the edge of the jacuzzi tub. We had a TV with a DVD player which came in handy at night and on the day we were severely sunburned.

For the first couple of days, we slept in, put on our swimsuits, ate breakfast, then went to the beach to lay around. We swam twice, but it was hard to actually "swim" as the water was about a foot deep in most places. We took out a paddleboat one day and got a few far away shots of the resort. We also snorkeled at the resort, but with the shallow water, there weren't too many fish to be seen.

We took one day trip to Xel-Ha (they pronounced it "Shell-ha"), an ecological water park. The snorkeling there was awesome - very beautiful fish. It was so fun to just hold hands and swim around, squeezing each other's hands and pointing when we saw something cool. (Awww!! Sorry so sappy - I can't help it.) Then we went to Tulum and saw the Mayan ruins there. Matt loved it (I let him pick our day trip since none of them really appealed to me, but this one was only 20 minutes from our resort and the one he really wanted was a couple of hours, so I was definitely more interested in this one). The picture above is a wide shot from Tulum. It was neat; I wish I had room to post more of Matt's great pictures. One day he will make a webpage with all our pictures, so those of you who like pics can check it out. One story - when we got the Xel-Ha, they "ask" you to turn in your regular sunscreen and give you 2 small packets of "biodegradable" sunscreen to use (supposedly safer for the animals). Maybe it is, but it was worth nothing in the way of protection from the sun! We even paid $17 for an extra 6 ounce bottle so we could be well-covered and reapplied once. Still burnt to a crisp. What a joke - I was so frustrated that we tried very hard to keep covered and not get burned, and their crock of a sunscreen product sabotaged us. I would put up the picture of my back, but it's not completely decent. Anyway, my back still has the lines on it; I may be permanently scarred.

We have lots more great memories; just not room to share it all! I printed a bunch of pictures as well, so you'll have to come to our house, look at the pictures, and hear all the stories then.

Random Points

I'm doing a little advertising. My husband finally posted after, I don't know, a month and a half. It's not wedding or honeymoon pictures or anything (yet), but if you want to read his six weird things, well, you just should. That's all.

We got Dish Network at our house this weekend. I stalled as long as I could; since I've gotten out of the habit of watching TV, I have enjoyed it and really contemplated whether or not it was necessary. But my love of NASCAR got the best of me, and since my husband was gone for the Saturday night race last night, it would have been too depressing to watch it at the OP by myself. So I gave in. Hopefully I will not succumb to the "sit in front of the TV flipping channels and doing nothing" temptation. There's plenty to do, so I don't think it will be a problem. But we have DVR now, too, and let me tell you, that's pretty amazing stuff. I was hoping for a spectacular crash last night so I could rewind and watch it over and over as many times as I wanted. But it was a short track, so crazy crashes don't happen as much. Lots of them, but not big, spectacular ones.

I don't like being home alone. If you lived here, you might not, either. It's huge!! And the heat is officially off (we have a wood-burning furnace), so it's fuh-reezing right now. (Hopefully if it's freezing when it's 70 outside, it will be just right when it's 90 outside. I hope.) Anyway, it's just so big, and I realized when I was contemplating cooking last night that having the kitchen in the basement is pretty depressing. It's just so dark and I have no motivation to go down there and make something when it's just me. Maybe I'll get used to it. Who knows.

I no longer like sleeping by myself. It's only been one month, but it's weird to sleep alone. And it's lonely. I waited 28 years to have someone to sleep with (and I don't mean like that, you freaks), so I figure that's enough time to sleep alone without adding more days to it while we're married. I'm sure I'll get over it one of these days, but I may be one of those people who never really likes it when her husband is gone. You're all going to tell me that it's still the "honeymoon" phase, but I know myself, and it's possible that I just won't ever really like it. Unless I'm ticked. Even then, I still have a strange desire to be near him. I would think that logically if I was mad, I would want him to go away, but I don't feel like that. Weird. I'm not adding that to my weird list. It's already grown from 6 to at least 10 things in my head, and I'm less and less convinced of my own normality.

Wow. I rambled a lot. It's to make up for all the times I've been a blogging slacker. Maybe it will inspire YOU to write something, too!

Where I Am From

It's been a while since I started a draft of this post, but there's been all kinds of fun stuff these days over at Heth's blog. This one seemed very fun, so I'm going to try it. I hope you will, too!

I am from kerosene heaters, from Fords and homemade pizzas.
I am from three girls, one mother, and one father with one bathroom.
I am from blooming lilac bushes in the backyard every May, from the large climbing tree in the backyard.
I am from baking and decorating Christmas cookies and laughing loudly at everything, from Charles and Nora and Irene.
I am from the land of Sunday afternoon naps and "The Cosby Show" every Thursday evening, from coordinating dresses made by Mom every Christmas and Easter.
From "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" and "don't roll your eyes at me!".
I am from a line of lovers of Jesus. From some who committed their lives to Him at an early age and ones who have lived for Him for decades. From proof of His faithfulness through generations.
I'm from Des Moines and England, from roast beef heaven and breakfast dinner and the best mashed potatoes in the world.
From the buffalo nickel swallowed by Beth in middle-of-the-night sister games, the 32-mile holiday bike ride, and the broken arm resulting from Mom and Dad's late-night living room dance moves.
I am from the "Be Nice to Me, It's My Birthday" pin, from the box of pictures chronicling all major events in our lives, and from much laughter in reminiscing through them.

Weirdness Abounds

It seems like it's been a while since I've posted a meme, so I'm accepting Heth's tag and posting 6 weird things about me.

1. I stock up on everything - EVERYTHING. Cereal, shower gel, Wallflowers, Crystal Light...the list goes on. It would not be out of the question to have 10 of any of these items in my home at one time. I don't think it's all that weird, but to the non-stocker-uppers (ahem, my husband), it is bizarre behavior.

2. If I find a super bargain, I love to keep the tag from the item in memory of my great deal. (Sometimes I secretly think that if someone doesn't believe it was "only three dollars!!", then I will have the joy of producing my physical evidence.)

3. If I see a series of numbers (address, phone number, dates, etc.), I add them up in my head to see if they all add up to 9. For instance, if all the digits add up to 27, you add the 2 and the 7 together and get 9! I don't know why I'm obsessed with them adding to 9. I do believe it's some form of OCD. But it used to be a lot worse, so I must be getting better, right?

4. I am a multi-tasker to a fault. I can only one thing for so long, and then I am compelled to move to another task, even if it is only for a few minutes. I can't JUST be doing one thing at a time.

5. I don't like animals. Again, I don't think it's weird, but apparently lots of people like animals and they all think I'm strange.

6. I edit and spell-check everything in my head - commercials, newspapers, ads, anything I see is subject to my scrutinizing glare. And I am generally only satisfied when I have found a mistake of some sort to correct.

All right, stop thinking I'm a freak and tell us 6 weird things about you. I tag the following bloggers (using that term loosely since we haven't heard from some of them in ages, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and see if they resurface):

Adonai Jedi

Rev60

Natalie Joy

Beefy

meLanie

Is It Possible?

How can one single person have so much stuff? And why didn't I take pictures of it all in boxes before I began unpacking? You would have been impressed with the large amounts of stuff one person can accumulate in 28 years - no husband, no kids, just me and my stuff. I have done a pretty good job of getting rid of things I don't need and trying to pare down my definition of "need."

For example, I have approximately 30 to-go coffee mugs. That's not even a joke. Plus 3 at work. Now, I have not had a working coffee pot for months, so now that we got 2 for the wedding (woo-hoo! - now I have to pick which one to keep), I will be able to make coffee at home and take it with me. But still...30 mugs? I just keep buying them when they're on clearance or just look super cute, and I never realized just how many I had. Now, the pack rat mentality goes hand-in-hand with my thoroughly sentimental nature - "I can't get rid of THAT mug; I bought it when I was with Christy!" "I can't throw that one away - it's from the Speed the Light Banquet!" And this is simply one small example of my inability to discard anything.

Well, I am quickly deciding that I can't keep all these things, so I have a rapidly-growing box of perfectly fine mugs, cups, etc. but things that will not fit in my kitchen or are simply not needed. Matt wants to do a garage sale, but when I decide to get rid of something, I want it OUT OF MY HOUSE!! I don't want to keep a box for months until we can arrange a garage sale. I want it GONE - given away or taken to Trinkets and Togs. So we'll see if he can convince me to keep it around or not.

Other than that, I'm doing my best to set up the kitchen and have started working on my closet as well. I will be SO excited to put all the bathroom stuff away one of these days; that's one of my favorite tasks when moving. I LOVE having the bathroom with all the clean towels put away, 10 bottles of shower gel neatly lined up in a row, multiple bottles of lotion from which to choose, easy to find and within arm's reach...it will be a wonderful day. Matt and Vern are doing a great job - they laid 2/3 of the sub-floor last night. On to the shower!! I'm very proud of him, by the way. We both thought remodeling the bathroom wouldn't be nearly as daunting as it has turned out to be, but he's read and learned lots on everything from plumbing to sub-floors to lighting...he is doing a very thorough job, and I'm impressed with all he has learned even if I understand very little of it. I can't wait to see the progression over the next few weeks!! There will definitely be pictures of our finished bathroom. We may even turn on the heated floors and sleep there to celebrate.

No More Wedding Countdowns!

It just doesn't seem appropriate to say "it's over" when it really feels like everything has just begun. But the wedding is done! I do not have the time or space to recap it all, but suffice it to say that it was the perfect day for me. I loved everything about it. We will probably put together a website for the pictures as there is no way I can post them all on the blog. But this being one of my very favorites (a shot of the recessional), I elected to post it anyway. It was so awesome to see so many of you there; it was very special that you were able to share the day with us. We'll have to blog about the honeymoon, too, since we got to do so many fun things in Mexico and, of course, we have a bunch (I think about 300) of pictures from the resort and our day trip as well. But for now, I just wanted to say hi, we're back, and now we're in full swing to get moved into the house. It was so hard to leave paradise, but it is good to be home.

Surreality

I know it's not a word, and I have a hard time dealing with ANYTHING that is grammatically incorrect. But this is my world this week - my reality is very surreal. Five days!! Five days until the day I have been planning for 3 and a half months and dreaming of the remaining 28 years of my life. So, how is it going? Pretty well, actually. I have odds and ends to tie up, but it will come together and I will be able to enjoy it knowing that I've done the best job I can do to plan it.

I just wanted to ask any of you who will be at the wedding or reception or anywhere around that if you want to bring your digital camera and snap shots, I would love to have any candids of anything that happens that day. Our photographer will get good posed shots, but he doesn't really do much for candids. So that's an open invitation for ANYONE to just take pictures! I love them and could never have enough, especially on the wedding day. I wanted to have someone to follow me around that day, but I haven't had time to make that happen, and hopefully the bridesmaids and my Mom will snap pics while we're getting ready, etc. It will work out; I just figured I'd throw it out there since some of you have super nice cameras and like taking pics anyway!! Okay, this is likely the last time I'll blog as a single woman. Woo-hoo!! I am SOOO excited and ready for this week! YEAH!!

Iron Sharpening Iron

My Life Journal really touched me today, so I thought I would take a chance to share since I have not yet done so on my blog.

"Iron Sharpening Iron"
1 Corinthinans 5:12-13 "I'm not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house."

Observation: As imperfect people, it can be difficult to attempt to hold others accountable for their sins. We know in our hearts that we are as sinful as they are and as much in need of the grace of God as they are. But God tells us as a community of believers, as people who are all committed to following God together, we have the right and responsibility to hold each other to God's standards for our lives.

Application: As a leader, this can be pretty easily understood - we must hold those in our congregation to follow the life God has set before them. I'm thinking today more as a friend, a sister, a future wife - of those personal relationships I have with other God followers. Do I hold them to the challenges God has set before us all? Do I encourage them to live selfless lives of loving and serving others? Do I model that? Do I open myself up for scrutiny so thath they would do the same for me? How honest am I about the struggles I face and enlisting the help of others to gain victory over them? If I want to live in accountable relationships, I should initiate them and ask the people I love and who love me to show that love by challenging me in the areas where I need it most.

Prayer: Father, I am convicted today that I can do a much better job of holding the people I love to the standards you have set for us, to following you not just in word but in our thoughts and our actions. I see that a good step for me in moving that direction would be to set myself up first and ask others to hold me accountable. So, Father, please give me wisdom to know what important things I can work on to be a better follower of You and who can and will hold me to those standards firmly and lovingly.
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This was really good for me today; we convince ourselves into thinking we can overcome our sin on our own - "I'll do better next time" or "I hate this feeling, so I know I won't succomb to this again." If we are truly intent on winning the battles we fight, why not enlist more troops to join us? Who among us could not use the support and encouragement of others involved in the same war we are waging? I want real, honest relationships that not only make me feel the warm fuzzies inside, but are unflinchingly honest with the love of Christ and want to see me grow and change to be more like Him.

12 Days and Counting

My titles now revolve around "The Countdown." So yes, Beefy, I guess I write my titles first. The last 7 days have been insanely productive. I worked on wedding stuff every night last week (Mon-Thurs) and got the ceremony finalized; program typed, edited, and finalized; the cleaning list for Saturday typed up; vows started; lined up some help for setting up/tearing down at both receptions...and more. I can't even remember it all. I picked up a lot of things in Waterloo on Thursday. I even had time Friday to drive to Dubuque and back with Matt!

Saturday was AWESOME!! From my count, it was 8 women plus myself, and we cleaned the place from top to bottom (they even cleaned around the remodel zone as much as possible). I cannot believe how it was transformed in a matter of hours. I could not possibly say thank you enough times to express how grateful I am for all the help. Even a couple of hours made a huge difference in my state of mind leading up to the wedding. I also printed and began assembling all the programs that day. So for now, I'm feeling really great. It seems like mostly odds and ends need done; nothing too big or overwhelming on my part. Which is an incredible feeling. I'm sure I'll figure out ways to fill the time and it will go by faster than I can imagine. But I'm also grateful that I had last week to push myself and stress out; it is allowing me to enjoy the next 12 days as much as possible. This is one of those times that I am really grateful for being an organizer/planner type of person.

12 very short days to go!

18 Days - are you KIDDING me??

I guess it's been almost a week since I posted. I don't really know what to write about, but I thought I should post something. I've been getting some wedding stuff done; Deb and the ladies at Love & Lace put all my flowers together on Thursday. They are insanely gorgeous. I'm very excited. I picked up my dress on Saturday, and we have decided not to hem it (we were able to order it in a petite), so all my Mom has to do is a French bustle. What else? I am typing list upon list of things to do and trying to call or e-mail as many people as I can think of to help out with different things. It takes time to organize all this stuff, but I am hopeful that I can get a lot done this week and next week and then have the "wedding week" to pull together last minute things and try to enjoy my last few days as a single woman. :-) (NO, silly, I'm not going to party or anything; I should try sleeping smack-dab in the middle of the bed, though.) So that's the update. I am somewhat concerned about getting all the programs put together by the end of next week...so I may have a frantic last-minute program assembly party. We'll see how the week goes. Yeah for cleaning day on Saturday, though! That will be a wonderful occasion.