Gotta LOVE Wednesdays :)

Andrew and I had our engagement picture session yesterday. It was so much fun. The pictures were taken by Chesley Summar, whose work you can see here (and whose work now includes our engagement photos... YAY). We were outside for the session, which worked out wonderfully. The weather was perfect yesterday, and we had such a good time. Chesley was so patient with Andrew and me... in spite our being complete photography novices. And, in light of the fact that Andrew has always hated having his picture taken, he was such a trouper. I cannot wait to see all the pictures!

"Satisfaction in individual love cannot be attained without the capacity to love one's neighbor, without true humility, courage, faith, and discipline. In a culture in which these qualities are rare, the attainment of the capacity of love must remain a rare achievement."
- Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving

picture from here

He's Got the Whole World

I almost never listen to the radio in the mornings. It seems like, on every station, there is an extra- lot of talking in the mornings: news, weather, traffic updates, commercials. Usually when I turn on the radio, I want to hear music. A lack thereof deters me from listening to the radio most mornings. Instead, I am more prone to pop in a CD.

God had a special treat in store for me this morning though.

I started off my trek to work by listening to a CD. I was listening to Kari Jobe, and praying... trying to get in a good frame of mind (which seems particularly hard some Mondays, and today was one of those Mondays) before starting the day.

Something told me to turn the radio on.

Random.

But I did it; I turned the radio on.

I reached right up and pressed the "FM 2" button...

Come to think of it, I am not quite sure why I pressed 2 instead of 1.

Anyway, not five seconds after I turned the radio on, this song came on. Being slightly out of the Christian music loop, this was the first time I had ever heard this song. It brought me to tears.

And that was before seeing the video. :)

So get your tissues out.

This song could literally go on forever. Because that is as long as God is with us: forever. God is with us in every circumstance and situation; in every season of life, at every time of day. There is never a moment when God is not for me. As a child of God, He tells me there is never a moment when He is not with me. This is not because of anything I have done to earn His unending faithfulness and presence; it is because He is God, and He is Love, and that is what Love does.

Love does not get tired or bored. He does not take naps, or vacations, or breaks. He does not change His mind when I do something wrong. Love does not get His feelings hurt and, in return, disappear or retaliate, because Love is not self-seeking. Love does not abandon for another, whose hurts or needs are bigger than our own. He does not overlook our circumstances in favor of someone who has earned His attention more than us, or of someone whose needs may appear greater than our own. Love is constant. Its endurance does not end.

For these reasons, this song could go on and on; limited only by each person's own story or experiences.

Here is my part of the song for today, based upon what was on my heart as I drove to work this morning. My issues, concerns, joys, and happinesses may be minuscule in comparison to those of others, but Love keeps no comparison, because Love does not keep score. Love cares about every detail... good, bad, big, small.

He's with you when you're overwhelmed
With your new job and wedding plans
And when you're feeling so afraid
That you second-guessing choices you've made.

He's with you in that client's house
When you feel trapped with no way out.
When you don't know which direction to turn
And you wonder if you'll ever learn

He's with you when your own strength fails
When the plans you've made don't work out well
And when you feel completely inept
And real life is just too hard to accept.

When you feel all alone.

He's with you.

Matthew 28:20 - "...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Hebrews 13:5 - "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

A Dose of Encouragement

"I saw the Lord always before me.
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body will also live in hope,
because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One decay.

You have made known to me the paths of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence." - Acts 2:25-28

I thought, for some reason, that after getting a job, my life would begin to reach a certain level of certainty and stability. Wrong. As my mother reminded me yesterday, there is always something to be burdened about. If it was not this particular thing (said "thing" will remain unclarified for the time being), it would be something else. Not many things are totally certain, but of one thing I am sure: The Lord is always before me. He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Things come and go. Money comes and goes. Jobs come and go. Apartments come and go. Homes come and go. People come and go. The Word of the Lord endures. My faith is being tested. I am committing that my faith will endure, even through the worst of conditions. My God is greater than any test or trial that may come my way.

On that note, today is going to be a great day! I am still incredibly blessed!

Playing Catch-Up

Well, I am sure that, by now, the people who have tried to keep up with my blog have totally given up on me. And I cannot say that I blame them; I have been incredibly inconsistent lately!

Here is a brief overview of what you have missed over the past week and a half:

The D.C trip was great. We were able to see all of my favorites: The Museum of American History, The Washington Monument, Williamsburg, and The Holocaust Museum. I could have spent days in the Holocaust Museum; however, Andrew's attention span did well to last the few hours that it did :)

I was also able to go some places I had never been before: The National Art Gallery (which was really cool for the first thirty minutes or so, but got a little mundane after that. Of course, I am neither a proficient, knowledgeable, or cultured artist. If I were, I am sure I would have appreciated it more), Ford's Theater (which I completely fell in love with. My biggest complaint is that they only gave visitors thirty minutes in the museum before we had to begin finding seats for an informational speech. I was barely able to see anything in the museum before it was time to leave!), and Arlington. We went to Arlington because Andrew really wanted to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which, I will admit, I had never even heard of until Andrew mentioned it. Strangely enough, it turned out to be one of my favorite sites of the entire trip!

The only thing I would have changed about the trip would have been the weather. If it was not raining, it was cold, and visa versa.... A little inconvenient for tourists who parked their car at the beginning of the trip, with the intention of walking to every destination.

Mind you, we did follow through with our commitment to walk everywhere. We just walked at a less leisurely pace than we would have in more accommodating weather conditions.












Pre- Washington D.C trip I graduated from college.

Post- Washington D.C trip (just yesterday actually) I started my first real job! After Day 2, I am feeling slightly overwhelmed, and more than slightly under-qualified. A man called me today needing a wheelchair, and you would have thought he had asked me to perform open heart surgery on him. That's about how clueless I was! The crisis has been averted for now, and the wheelchair is in the works. Looking on the bright side: At least I was not truly asked to perform open heart surgery on him. Talk about clueless and under-qualified; I would have killed the man. Instead, I am meeting with him tomorrow afternoon. And between now and then, I will be researching every possible affordable wheelchair resource in the area... along with every possible wheelchair funding resource in the area (which might take a bit of creativity). This is the place I where I feel so inept. Others seem to know resources, companies, phone numbers, addresses, and policies, off the top of their heads. I know nothing! I am so ignorant of so many things, and am referring either to written/electronic guides, or to people CONSTANTLY.

Something else that was kind of daunting and intimidating was signing insurance forms, deciding on which packages I wanted, being given a company cell phone, being shown my workspace, and then being let loose. It feels strange not having a professor, or a parent, or someone, to keep in touch with on a regular basis. I do have a supervisor, but our contact will actually be fairly limited. I feel like I am in just a tad over my head. With that being said, though, I am incredibly excited and nervous. I am going to love the job. It is more than I would have dared hope for.

Working makes me sleepy! I have been ready for bed for about the past two hours... So that is where I am headed!

Happy Friday!

Well folks... It just does not get much happier than this! This cake describes perfectly how I feel... Footloose, fancy free, excited, happy, every other nice word you could think of. That is how I feel currently.

I will savor this week: My last week of not having to act like, or be, an actual grown up, with an actual full time job, with actual full time responsibilities. Weird.

from here

In the spirit of all things weddings, I have spent HOURS perusing various wedding websites and blogs. Since our wedding is going to be a small, sweet, do-it-yourself-with-the-help-of-your-wonderful-mother, affair, I have spent lots of time looking up all things do-it-yourself... from cakes to decor to pictures to favors to you name it.

While looking for a tutorial on how to make your own bridal bouquets, I stumbled across this lovely picture. I love the colors of the actual cake, and I love that the cake colors echo the colors of the fruits on top. I am willing to bet the cake tastes just as delicious as it looks. If only I were daring and knowledgeable enough to bake such a cake on my own...

She Makes it Look so Easy

from here

After my post last night, I realized that I have written two posts pertaining to bicycles. This is especially odd in light of the fact that I do not own a bicycle, and unless my life depended upon it, I could probably not make it around the block even one time on a bicycle... It is just too work intensive.

As romantically appealing as the idea of bike riding is, I know that, in actuality, it is not romantic at all. It is, however, sweaty, which is neither romantic nor appealing. Another thing bike riding is is impossible; at least for me, for extended periods of time (more than about five minutes).

Even though any aspirations of cycling that I may have ever entertained have now gone down the drain, I figured that, while I was on a roll, I would post this pretty picture.

Girl. In a skirt. With flowers on it. Riding a bike. And the wind is cooperating perfectly with her scarf. Hmm. If only life were so simple. :)

from here

Life of Crime: The Stolen Bike

Before adequately explaining the following story, I need to fill you in on two things.

Since I have taken somewhat of a hiatus from blogging in recent days, in light of recent events and the recent madness that life entails, you may be unaware that, during our time in college, Andrew has worked as part of Trevecca's top-notch security team. Boy, do I feel safe just saying that.

As part of this quality team of campus security guards, Andrew has, not only an incredibly attractive outfit (or uniform; depending on your word preference... I prefer "outfit"), but he also has the power to write traffic and parking tickets when necessary (and when not technically necessary, which is extra annoying). Needless to stay, students all across Trevecca just love him. I mean, who doesn't enjoy walking out to their car after a long day of classes, and seeing an awesomely dressed security guard plopping a big, fat parking ticket on their windshield for almost no reason other than that he can? Seriously.

Well, in my ignorance, I thought that the job responsibilities and privileges of security guards stopped there: tickets. But NO. Apparently, they also confiscate bicycles for their own personal gain.

That was the first thing I needed to fill you in on.

The second is this:

Since Andrew and I are getting married on August 7th, since we will be living in a VERY small apartment, and since we have VERY, VERY little money, we are having a yard sale this summer. All monies gained from said yard sale will go toward Andrew and Logan's mattress and bed frame fund.

Not only have Andrew and I been collecting things of our own to sell, but we have been collecting things that our parents no longer need or want. Obviously, we want to sell as much as we can, so that we can make as much money as we can (and yes, I feel slightly selfish admitting that, but it is true).

I thought we were limiting ourselves to selling our own items, and items belonging relatives; however, Andrew has recently begun pilfering various household and recreational items from his friends, roommates, and peers, so that we can sell them at our yard sale as well. For example, he recently designated his roommates microwave to the "yard sale things" pile.

He then proceeded to take this idea a step further.

He stole a bike.

Yes. He stole a bike.

No. I am not kidding. I only wish I were.

I am happy to say that I was not present to witness the crime, so I am a bit fuzzy on some of the details. Apparently, a Trevecca student left his bicycle unmanned for an extended period of time. (The actual amount of time is unknown, due to Andrew's refusal to give me a serious answer to this question. Each time I ask how long the bicycle was left unattended, Andrew gives me a different answer: one hour, one week, all semester, four years, it has been there since the beginning of creation, etc.). Finally, Andrew decided that he would confiscate the bike, and if Trevecca student cared enough, or felt so inclined, he would call the security office and inquire after the whereabouts of his beloved bike.

Not exactly what I would think to do if my bicycle were suddenly stolen.

They say desperate times call for desperate measures.

Guess it is true.

The prospect of poverty and joblessness has driven the love of my life to turn to acts of crime.

Not worth it I tell you.

Not worth it.

And, Trevecca student, whoever you are, wherever you are, I am deeply sorry for your loss. I hope your bike was not your primary, or worse, your only, means of transportation.

Thank you for contributing to our new mattress. I will think of you come August 7th, when I am not sleeping on the floor.

This picture, from here, is a much more picturesque version of the actual stolen bike (which I have yet to see, but a bike is a bike, so the two must resemble each other at least remotely).