Update, Update, And More Update.

Well, anonymous, you asked a very good question!

What's the point of having a blog if you don't use it?

At least post an update about your relationship, how your planning the wedding, updates, updates, updates...

The funny thing is *ahem* I've thought of doing that very thing a couple of times over the last few weeks:). It's now 2 AM and since I'm wide, wide awake and I've already finished my marriage counseling homework, I figure I'm going to take anonymous' suggestion and give an update:).

For starters, this past week was a l-o-n-g week. Nat left on Monday night with a group of teens and adults for an independent baptist student competition in Illinois ~ hence the reason the week was l-o-n-g! I'm not quite sure how Jackie managed to have a long-distance relationship for several months before she got married, but I'll be the first to say it's not meant for me! I've been so spoiled by being able to spend so much time with Nat, and this week showed me just how spoiled I (we) have become! Between the schedule out at the competition and my work schedule, Nat and I had an interesting time trying to connect this week. The times we were able to connect (hello midnight hours!), Nat was very tired so we had to keep our conversations pretty short.

It was pure bliss to be able to see him this morning -- excuse me, Saturday morning! -- for a couple of minutes before I left for work and then he came back over after I was done working. The way I figure it, we have three more trips coming up -- he'll be taking one and I'll be taking two -- but that shouldn't be too bad because they are quick 3-day trips and we won't exactly be limited by two constraining schedules.

It's so nice to have Nat home:).

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Ah, yes, the wedding plans! I haven't really posted much about the wedding, have I? Well, according to Bed Bath & Beyond, we have 104 days until the wedding! I must confess I've not been the blushing bride-to-be that has all the days, hours, and minutes figured out; rather, it has been easier for me to say "__ months to go" and leave it at that:). So in keeping with the tradition I've started, we have 3.5 months to go!!!

There have been a couple of neat things in regards to the wedding that I'm so thrilled about:

1. Nat and I have been planning it together. I've always wanted to be able to plan my wedding with my future husband and Nat enthusiastically jumped right in with both feet:).
2. We've not had one problem with people pushing their own way or plan. Our parents haven't put pressure or certain obligations upon us, for which I am grateful!
3. Planning the wedding hasn't been stressful for us. We've just slowly and methodically gone from one detail to the next without getting all frenzied or hysterical:).

Right now I'm in the midst of securing fabric for the bridesmaid dresses. The Lord has clearly blessed in so many of the wedding plans, and He did so again last Saturday night! A while back Nat and I found some fabric at Joann Fabrics that we liked for the bridesmaid dresses and I was able to go up last week and get half the fabric I needed at a fraction of the price! God blessed with a special sale (end of the bolt) and a 50% off coupon! I bought all the fabric the store had, so I just have to go to another store to get the rest!

I've yet to buy my dress, but I know exactly what I want. I found it online so I didn't even have to enter one bridal store and try on gown after gown ~ that suits me just fine! I had my fill of bridal stores years ago when a friend of mine got married:). Lord willing, I plan on buying my dress within the next couple of weeks and a friend of mine is going to alter it for me.

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Nat moved into an apartment a month ago and that is going to be my new home! I had thought of going over and decorating/organizing it, but then realized that it wouldn't be any fun to have things just so and then.... return to my parents' house:). So we decided to wait on the whole decorate/organize thing until closer to the wedding when it will be more reality than a dream:).

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In the meanwhile, I've started the process of going through all my stuff (code word - junk). I'm shaking my head in amazement because I had a huge yard sale before I left for Thailand in August 2008 and now I'm wondering how all this stuff (junk?) crept back in since I came home from Thailand in September 2009. I didn't even go to that many yard sales since coming home:). But it will be fine because I have one more opportunity to have a big yard sale before I move. It's amazing what I thought I needed 10-15 years ago I now realize that I don't really need in order to set up house:).

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Of course in between everything else I'm still working at the bakery and am having such an enjoyable time! I love interacting with people, so needless to say, I'm having a great time with my job! God's been good in providing opportunities to speak for Christ and I'm so thankful for that. People -- whether they are co-workers or customers -- are always interested in hearing I've been to Thailand and plan to return. I'm often asked what it was like and what I did there... talk about open doors!

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This update has been l-o-n-g (but not as l-o-n-g as this past week was!), but now I'm feeling a little bit tired so I suppose I should retire for the night (morning?). My sweetie is preaching at a church in Jersey in the morning and I get to go along with him:).

*Happy sigh*

Why Hello Spring!

*Cough, cough*

It's been a bit dusty around here with all the lack of posting going on, ahem.

I'm not quite certain who to blame that on, but I have a feeling a certain charming man might be part of that reason♥.

Ok, I can spread the blame to a crazy work schedule and also to the fact that spring unofficially sprung the other day and completely lured me outside with visions of volleyballs and bare feet on a sand court. I must say, it did not disappoint and I was blissfully happy to play after a very l-o-n-g absence from my favorite sport!

Continue on, spring days! I have renounced my love of all things snow and hot chocolate.... at least, until next winter:).

A Time To Pause And Reflect.

In reading a dear missionary friend's blog this morning, I paused for a moment over the last paragraph:

Right now, as I sit here at my desk, it seems like we never left here 5 months ago. Our lives are truly like a vapor that appear for a little time and then pass away. Our days are flying by swiftly and there is much work left to do. Pray that our strength holds and that we are able to finish the job that the Lord gave us to do. To all of you that we left behind, we love you and we miss you. Leaving all of you is the hardest part of being here.

There is much work left to do. Life is a vapor and the days fly be so swiftly. These thoughts coupled with a message my pastor preached yesterday morning have left me in a reflective and contemplative mood.

My pastor preached on the feeding of the 5,000 men (plus women and children!) and offered an illustration of how the fish and loaves were multiplied. I think Pastor was right when he said that Jesus didn't multiply the food as the baskets got passed from row to row, but rather as the disciples handed out the food and saw their supply diminishing in the basket. As they reached in the basket and pulled out the last loaf of bread, I'm sure they saw the multitude of people before them and the enormity of the situation. But as my pastor vividly portrayed, all they had to do was turn around and return to Jesus and He would supply them with more food. That's the way He operates, isn't it? He doesn't meet the entire need (whatever it is) all at once, because self-reliance and self-dependence are characteristics we tend to fall back on too easily. How quick we say, "Oh I can handle this!" but when faced with something we can't handle, that's when the problem becomes BIG. The promise of "nothing is impossible with God" is still in His Word and one I can claim!

When I bring these thoughts over into the realm of what my friend was talking about, I know that there is still work to do for the Master because the harvest of souls has not yet been brought in. I tend to get antsy at times in regards to returning to the foreign mission field. I'm ready to go now, or so I think. My days fly by so quickly and I wonder that oft-asked question, "Where has the time gone?" Before I rush ahead of the Lord and hop the next plane destined for Southeast Asia, I remember where He has put me right now. I get to work at a bakery and interact with my dear co-workers, all the while praying for them. Each Wednesday I get to invest time in my precious nephew and niece. My favorite time of each day is when Nat and I get together -- in person or over the phone -- and pray: for people we know who are without Christ, for struggling Christians, for missionaries over the world, for family and friends.

Right now several men from my church are in the country of Chile helping out two missionary families from my church. These men arrived in Chile before the earthquake hit, and now have unforeseen ministry opportunities! Although we're not there with them, my church family has the blessed privilege of upholding in prayer these men and ministry opportunities.

Time is so short and there is much work left to do. But the same God who took 5 loaves and 2 fishes and feed over 5,000 people is still in control today!

Recapping The Weekend.

You know, the one great thing about blogging (at least for me), is I can blog as much or as little as I want to:). And whenever I want to. So even though it is now Tuesday, I've finally carved out some time to share about the very fun weekend I had!

First stop was the Holiday Inn Express. Actually, if I was going to be technical here I would give an honorable mention to Panera Bread which did a fabulous job from keeping all of us at the edge of starvation:).

Hello super-efficient room! It was quite tiny but that's to be expected and all 5 of us managed quite nicely:).

9 of us gals got all dressed up to head out for a fancy dinner and show, but let's skip all that talk about fancy restaurant because it turned out to pretty much be a burger joint with stools, minus the burgers. We did have a super time at the show though;).

Saturday morning we split into two groups: shopping and touring. Um, yeah, guess which group I picked;).

Three of the girls in my group had to head back early to NJ and PA so Becky and I ended up walking around and seeing all sorts of fun things. We first stopped at the Empire State Building and greatly enjoyed ourselves. I will mention that buying the audio tour made it worth the extra 8 bucks. So if you find yourself in NYC one day staring at the Empire State Building and debating about whether to go or not, I recommend you spend the extra money to get the full tour:).

The tall building on the left (oh wait, they're all tall!) with the spire is the Chrysler Building and the shorter, stubby, greenish windows building on the far right is the UN building. We actually tried to get into the Chrysler Building but they had closed it for the evening.

We also went to the Public Library and wandered around the halls for a little bit. There was a nice long banister I just couldn't resist sliding down and of course now I have the memory of sliding down said banister;).

We decided to stop in Grand Central Station just because, and apparently we're not the only ones who thought of doing that because inside were tons of people with cameras pointing in all sorts of directions:).

Becky and I did a lot of walking and some stopping in Starbucks to thaw out too:). My fingers and toes were so cold they didn't return to normal until after I returned to my own house!

It was so very much fun and when I walked into my room Saturday night, I found a dozen pink roses in a basket with chocolates and a card thrown in for good measure. Aw, what a sweet guy I have! Sunday morning Nat and I drove down to New Jersey to the church he helps out at and then had a lovely lunch at Ruby Tuesday's and wandered around IKEA. I think IKEA would have been a much more enjoyable experience if I didn't have 2.5 inch heels on, so we'll just have to go back down again:).

What A Weekend For A Trip!

Rachel alluded to a trip several gals from my church are taking this weekend and I must say I am seriously excited to be joining this happy group for what is sure to be a memorable weekend:). We're headed to the Big Apple ~ Hello NYC, I have fond memories of you! ~ to see a Broadway show and to do some sightseeing. I've always been one to state the obvious, so since we're going to see a show, that obviously means dressing up is a given:).

Oh, it's gonna be fun!!!!

I must admit though that I'm not quite sure what I'm wearing, but this is where the fun of spontaneity and last-minute packing comes into play. I've never been one to have the suitcase all zipped up days before any given trip, so in keeping with tradition, I've decided to wake up early in the morning and throw some items in a bag. Be amazed, Becky, that I'm actually waking up early to accomplish this feat!

To add to the excitement, my sweetie and I are going to look for a house in the morning for a refugee family we're helping to settle in our area. Oooh, I do love a challenge and trying to cram it all in before 8 AM is definitely a challenge:).

Let the memories begin!

Breakfast... But Not At Tiffany's:).

Ordinarily, I am not an early-riser. Rise and shine time for me is somewhere around 8:00 AM. I am such a night person that it isn't even funny! So I was very pleased with myself this morning when I dragged myself out of my cozy, warm bed at the unearthly hour of 6:30.

AM.

Yeah, I know. Talk about early!!!!

But I did have some pretty good motivation: breakfast with my sweetie before he went to work! When Nat said we would leave at 7:30, I gulped and squeaked out an "ummm.... ooooook" but I did have to ask if I had to be, you know, functioning at that time of the day and he assured me I did not;). Hey, I figured Nat is going to have to get used to me not exactly functioning and being all perky when I first wake up... it takes me a good 45 minutes or so:).

We went out to Cracker Barrel for our birthday breakfast, which was absolutely yummy! The crackling fire was bonus, but very much appreciated! (Another thing about me is I'm always cold. Yep, always). We had such a nice time celebrating our birthdays that I'm thinkin' Cracker Barrel just might have to work its way into our joint celebration for years to come:).

Oh, and the whole wake up at 6:30 thing? I'm thinkin' that's gonna get shelved for another year;).

Just So Thankful...

I'm going to get a little sentimental for a moment here and talk about the love of my life:). I don't think I've been too terribly mushy or giddy in talking about Nat on my blog.... in fact, I haven't even devoted an entire category to him like some girls do after they get engaged! Well, actually, I take that back because I do have a category called The Cliff-Hanger series ~ but that's the story of how we got together, so besides that..... :D.

Nat and I often tell each other we are exceptionally blessed because we get to see each other so much during any given week. I was a little disappointed tonight (ahem, Friday night - it's now Saturday morning!) that he couldn't come over, but that's because he wasn't feeling well. After he said he wasn't coming over, I was thinking once again that I'm pretty blessed to have him so nearby and Sunday really isn't that far away when I get to see him again:).

When Nat went on a trip several weeks ago, he was gone for a few days and as I told this to a friend, she cheered me up by saying, "Hey! At least you're not in Thailand while you're engaged!" Perspective is a funny thing because it made me much happier to know Nat was only four states away rather than me being several time zones away in a foreign country!

I was thinking the other day about how much has changed since the day I came home from Thailand. In five short months, God took me around the "bend in the road" and gave Nat to me. He has become my best friend and I still get chills when he calls me and when he tells me he loves me. I don't deserve this wonderful man of God and I am so completely amazed at the way we compliment each other. Doing things like raking leaves, baking, washing dishes, baby-sitting, going shopping for a refugee family, looking at pictures, etc. ~ have become so much more fun because I get to do those things with Nat!

My Sweetie

Grow old along with me... the best is yet to be!

~Robert Browning~

Truly There Is A Sweet And Blessed Story.

I wrote about it last year.

And the year before.

And in 2007 with a snowy adventure thrown in for good measure.

But no matter how many times I've written about it, there is always a freshness -- a newness -- about each January 25th. I praise the Lord that 12 years ago today He lifted me up from the miry clay and set me free!

The song below has been floating through my mind this evening and I thought I would jot down a couple of the verses. I trust this will be a blessing to you as it has been to me!

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There's a sweet and blessed story

Of the Christ Who came from glory

Just to rescue me, from sin and misery.

He in lovingkindness sought me,

And from sin and shame hath brought me.

Hallelujah! Jesus ransomed me.

Chorus: Hallelujah, what a Savior,

Who can take a poor lost sinner,

Lift him from the miry clay and set him free!

I will ever tell the story,

Shouting, "Glory, glory, glory!"

Hallelujah! Jesus ransomed me!

From the depth of sin and sadness

To the heights of joy and gladness

Jesus lifted me, in mercy full and free.

With His precious blood He bought me;

When I knew Him not, He sought me,

And in love divine He ransomed me.

Spontaneous Road Trip!

In the hopes of surprising Rebecca, I never mentioned I was heading out to the Midwest over the weekend for a quick visit. I assure you this trip was *quick* in a couple of ways: (1) we were only out there for three days (2) the idea popped into my head to go only last Tuesday (3) I somehow convinced my brother-in-law and sister to tag along for the weekend 24 hours before we left:).

My parents really were planning on going out for a visit, and when I found out I had off from work on Saturday (and I always have off Tuesday and Wednesday), I decided to ask off on Monday so I could go along with my parents. In talking with my sister Thursday night, she asked me my plans for the weekend and I told her about the trip. I mentioned how I was going to share some wedding ideas with my sister-in-law (who is in the wedding) and then jokingly said my sister should come too so I could have two bridesmaids in the same room to talk about plans.

I didn't think she would seriously say yes... but she did:). After talking with her husband, and me offering to help drive out with them, Friday morning they decided it was a go. This was the best weekend for them to take the 11-hour trip since they're both teachers and had off Monday. We headed out Friday night, and along the way I called my sister-in-law in the Midwest and told her *surprise surprise* that I was coming out. I failed to mentioned so were three other people, but knew my brother and sister-in-law well enough to know they would be so surprised and would love it:).

The expressions on their faces Saturday morning made it worth it all! They couldn't believe my sister and her family would travel all that way for pretty much 1.5 days. We had such a good time and, as I mentioned above, it was so much fun to see Rebecca's face on Sunday morning:). Good times!

We were crazy enough to drive through the night Friday night and then stay up Saturday night playing games, but it was so much fun to spend time as a family and to laugh:).

Two of my nephews ~ Trevor (7) and Andrew (4).

Trevor and his daddy (my oldest brother Jack).

Lake Michigan is right down the road and while it is so much more fun to be at the lake in the summertime, we still ventured out on the snow-covered lake and snapped a few pictures:).

The expression on his face is absolutely priceless! Trevor is autistic, but has grown in so many different ways. When he saw me Saturday morning he said, "Auntie Anne! You CAME!!!" as if he knew all along I was coming:).

From His Perspective ~ Part 4!

Part Four

The day of our engagement was a blur of activity. Anne had mentioned that she had only been truly surprised one time in her life, so I was going to do my best to intersect with her plans for the day, in a way that she would not expect. Knowing of Anne’s fondness for walking with a special friend, I ask that friend if she could help me out by scheduling a walking date sometime that week. Her friend did a great job and responded with a confirmed walk on Tuesday, Oct. 20th. “Perfect!” I thought. “She’ll never be expecting me to show up on the busiest day of my schedule.” But, it was not to be that easy. First of all, my Pastor and his family were leaving for Botswana that morning and after seeing them off, Anne decided to stick around the church and help out. So, I had to sneak out without Anne finding out where I was heading. Fortunately for me, I have friends in strategic places. Not only did Kristen run interference for me at the front desk, but my good buddy Ben was quick on the Instant Messaging defense when Anne asked where I was. Not sure how much she knew, I just slid back further into the hiding place and waited.

My plan was working perfectly, until Anne called on the phone. “Uh-oh…there goes my cover," I thought, but I made sure to not give any specifics about where I was, even though you could hear the birds chirping in the trees. =) I must smile at how us guys get all bent out of shape over the surprise aspect of the engagement. Anyway, it all worked out in the end, just a little differently than I had imagined.

I carefully stuffed a dozen roses into my backpack and waited outside of view, along the side of the walking path. As Anne approached, I simply walked down the hill toward her, and expertly dumped a vase of water into my backpack as I handed her a dozen roses. (Note to self: long-stem roses should be trimmed before you put them in a vase ;-). Oh well, but hey, she was actually surprised and I think we both were in shock that this was actually happening. I know I was, because I kept going ‘round in circles trying to explain how I felt the Lord had led us together. I finally broke out of my nervousness and got down to that all important question: “Anne, will you marry me?” She thrilled me by saying “yes” and I gave her something shiny to seal the deal. =)

Although it would be easy to end with some cliche like “the rest is history,” I would point out two important facts: 1) God is the only one who can receive glory from bringing Anne and I together. He has been faithful to work things out despite our failures and inconsistencies. 2) Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain to build it. It has been such a blessing to hear of all that have prayed for this relationship to come together, and we would ask you to keep it up. What a special joy it has been for Anne and I to swap notes over the past two months of engagement and to see all that God has built into our lives to bring us to this point in time. With only 6 months to go until the wedding (July 10, 2010), we rejoice in God’s goodness, and are excited about all that God is preparing for our future together. I love you Anne!