Quick Happy Update:)

I got a chance to talk to my friend Becky Adams tonight. I lived with Becky and her husband Danny and their daughter Abby when I first moved to Philadelphia. She informed me that she was most definitely planning on being at our wedding, so I was then able to ask her to be one of my bridesmaids. So that's another thing off my list of things to do this week. All of my bridal party has been selected, asked, and have accepted their role:) No, not the flower girl and ring bearer...TOMORROW! Now to bed with me.....

My God truly does give me good gifts!

Today my God amazed me with His generosity.I got a call from the man who rents out the dutch Barn, our venue of choice. He informed me that the barn is available for rent for July 31st, and that we could get the keys a week in advance-keys for what, I'm not sure. We walked right in because the door is just latched. Anyhoo, he said that we could go in at any time that week to clean and decorate/set up tables. He said it would be fine to padlock the door to keep passersby out, and to move all the nasty tables in there outside out of the way:) There a $150 reservation fee/damage protection fee that will be refunded once everything is cleaned up and put back in place. Rent for the building is.....$375! I had been praying for less than $800, and then I met a woman at Hobby Lobby who's church had rented it for $500. $375, was such a blessing!
As I talked to my boss this morning, she asked if I had been able to find more work, as I had been cut down to 2 days a week for their family. She wanted to spend more time at home, her boss hired another person to cover her work, and apparently it's not been getting done. Most likely the person hired will quit, so Angelena took on another bit of work. So that means I am back to 3 days a week with cleaning on Mon-Wed-Sat. And I'm starting another weekend contract this Saturday. God is so gracious! He has been teaching me to trust Him with little details like work....and has graciously provided! I am so excited to continue working for their family, especially as summer is around the corner. Once the kids are out of school I will make a bit more hourly, and they're such sweet kids. The boys particularly are a ton of fun. We spent all day yesterday at the creek in their development, skipping rocks, looking for tadpoles and minnows, exploring and digging in the dirt, and climbing trees. Little boys are the best:)

And so it begins!

The planning has commenced:) The dress has been bought, and the bridal party chosen, most of them have been asked to participate-just one or two more to get in touch with at this point. My friend Candice gave me some wonderful advice prior to John and I getting engaged; She encouraged me to choose attendants that were an active part of my spiritual life, people who were ecouraging me and keeping me accountable, and that would continue to do so in the future.
I had always planned for my brother Randy to stand beside me as my man-of-honor, and he seemed very pleased to have been asked. I promised that he wouldn't have to throw me a personal shower or walk with a dude, and he laughed and told "ok, cool. Whatever you want babe!" .....That's why he's my favorite:)
I also chose a matron-of-honor, my friend Candice. She has been a source of great spiritual encouragement, wisdom and advice during the dating relationship, and I'm confident that our friendship will continue as she counsels me thorugh marriage too:)
I chose my best friend/housemate/sister Alicia, who is so very much like me, yet so very different. We have always said that we should have been sisters, but if we had been, we would have killed each other. So God made us wait till we were each more sanctified!
I chose my sister Allie, who is more like me than I can imagine sometimes. She has a very kind and servant minded spirit. She is developing her sense of humor; so sometimes she is less than funny, and sometimes shockingly hilarious!
I also chose Anna Payne. She has been a dear friend since God impressed on her heart to talk to me in fall of '06. God has orchestrated the events of our lives so that we are always experiencing the same trials or joys at the same times, or very close to it,the same spiritual dryness, or quenching. When I informed her that there would be a married woman in her bridal party ( she's getting married about 3 weeks after JOhn and I but has been engaged since Christmas ), she was giddy and giggly as she told her fiance, Stephen. Once again God has allowed us to experience a major life change together, and I'm thankful for her unslefish attitude towards me. I knew when I told her that she would not think I was stealing her thunder or anything like that, and promptly offered me her decorations that she would use after me....What a blessing she is to me.
I have chosen one other, but as I have not had time to talk to her about it yet, I will not mention her name. But she is a sweet godly woman, who has mentored me and allowed me to be part of her family's everyday life. And continues to encourage me from a distance.
Monday shopping trip with Momma; God was so kind!! We headed to Michaels and Hobby Lobby to get ideas. We found ALL the flowers for bouquets, table arrangments, ribbon for bouquets, grapevine wreaths for decorating, ivory tulle, a cake topper and flowers for the cake,and the supplies to make my veil and headpiece for less than $200. The flowers and wreaths and ribbon were all on sale for 50% off. We have found the perfect venue, but are still waiting to hear back from the renter. It's not a very popular venue, and not advertised, so we're praying that God opens this door for us too. It's absolutely perfect. It'll seat all of our guests, it's very rustic....makes me think of home.
My biggest concern thus far has been more spiritual than monetary issues or planning. It's our desire to accurately display Christ's pursuit and love for his bride, the church, through our wedding ceremony. But if my attitude is not right during the planning, then the ceremony is less effective, maybe even hypocritical. So I am asking prayer for myself as I plan this wedding, that I would be gracious to others, that I would trust God's sovereignty as He already has my wedding planned. Pray that I will be kind and selfless, and bear in mind my true goal;to make Christ look big, beautiful, and wonderful for who He is and what He has done in my life.
Another food-for-thought moment; I have already been in a situation where I feel torn between making my parents happy and appeasing my soon-to-be-husband. I literally felt like I was being torn apart inside. While I marveled at how God created the human body to feel emotional distress, I was reminded that I was made in His image. I wondered if perhaps that how God feels when I sin......Is He ever torn between punishing my sin and showing me grace??

The dress...

I saw a dress on David's Bridal's online store about a year and a half ago as I was perusing the website. It caught my eye right away for the unique-ness of it. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I like things that are a little different than everyone else's:) Over the last year and a half I have thought more and more about that dress, and eventually decided that when I did get engaged, it would be the first dress I would try on.
My best friend/sister/housemate,Alicia, is getting married next year. She had an appointment at David's Bridal on saturday afternoon, the day after John asked me to marry him. So my mom and I had both planned to go with her, as I am the Matron of honor, and Alicia's mom is out of state. Alicia didn't spend too much time trying dresses on, she knew between two dresses in about 20 minutes. So I asked my mom if she thought I could try on hat particular dress since we were already there. So Momma talked to the consultant and explained that I had just been enagaged and how soon the wedding is, and the consultant brought out the dress in champagne and white.
I put the champagne one on first and it was a near perfect fit. When I walked out of the dressing room to the mirror, my mom gasped and told that there was no need to try the white one on. She could tell by the look on my face and how I looked in it, that we had found my dress.
Momma sent Daddy a text picture of it and then called him to tell him about the dress. We made an appointment for him to come with us the next day after church to see me in it. So it was a regular family affair:) So we went to the back of the store, got measured and pinned for the necessary alterations and will pick up my purchased dress on May 7th!

Engagement Story:

The story as previously written for facebook. Please forgive the craziness and lack of logical thought process, I've been in quite a whirlwind!
A few weeks ago, John and my momma and I were discussing wedding venues and general ideas. He mentioned time frame being Christmas or next summer. My wonderful Momma blurted out, "What's wrong with THIS summer?? I was really hoping to have this family thing wrapped up before then!" His response was less than favorable.... John is taking classes to get his masters in education, and had to pay for this last semester out of pocket. Which meant he had that sum on a credit card. And we both were pretty adamant about eliminating debt before we were married. So he just said that we needed to pray that God sent a bunch of tree jobs his way. So I did:)
We had seen a particular diamond ring at an antique store near John's house in early February, and it was just everything I loved in a ring. But at that time we weren't necessarily considering marriage soon.
This last Friday was our six month anniversary, and John had made reservations at the Rio Grille in downtown G-ville. He had mentioned wanting to go to Falls park beforehand if the weather permitted, and I thought " Man, that would be a nice place to get engaged.....it's not happening.." So I had talked myself out of expecting it. He picked me up at my place about 4 pm and we headed downtown. God answered our prayer for a parking spot right on the bridge, and we headed down into the park.
John had told me on the way that Jonathan and Jeanette had invited us to hang out with us that night. And then while we were there he got a call from Aaron. He told me that Aaron had wanted to hang out with us that night too. So we wandered around some more, and he led me down the hill to the bank of the river. I put up a very small fuss as I was wearing new shoes that were slick. He led me to a bench with a dozen yellow roses with orange tips, a card and a gold wrapped box.
When I opened the box, I found a new silver chain for a necklace that I had broken just that week. So I was blown away by his thoughtfulness because he knew that it was my favorite necklace, but I had only mentioned once that it had broken.
I asked him how he got it down there, and he told me he might tell me "someday". I looked up and saw a man that looked strangely like Aaron Higgs walking across the hill with a camera. So I asked if it could possibly have been that man that looked ridiculously like our friend Aaron. He said "ummm...yeah, maybe....ok, yeah. It was Aaron." So he told me that we had another hour til our reservation at the Rio Grille, so we should walk around some more. He led me down to the bridge in the back corner and told me he had one more gift for me. So he whipped the ring out of his pocket and said that this one would require a little more commitment. And he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. When I first saw the ring I said
"Really? Really???" And when he asked me, my response was immediate and "Absolutely!" So he stood and put the ring on my finger and gave me a hug.
Pictures, and hellos to Jeanette and Jonathan and we headed to the Rio Grille, texting most of the way. I did eventually put the phone away and eat lots of meat!! I told my mom I had decided to start a "save the vegetables" campaign, and become a meatatarian:) So that's the story