New blog!!

With a new husband, life, name, place of residence, comes a new blog! You can see my new blog at http://mrspeeples.blogspot.com. Yes, the new address is cheesy and cute all at the same time ;)

We're back!!!

Yes, we're back from our blissful honeymoon celebration and long weekend. Back at work. Back to the daily grind. And back to a somewhat busy schedule.

Stop back for a "real" update, complete with a few pictures. But for now, know that we had a dreamy wedding day and weekend celebration! I'm VERY happily married to the man of my dreams and enjoying the greatest time I've ever known - Life Together!!

More to come...

My last...

Okay, I have time for one more post before I'm off to get married.

I made it through Monday and Tuesday and now it's on to Wednesday! Things start happening on Wednesday - 2 of my best friends fly into town, my parents, brother and sister arrive, I move out of Barb's to my cousin's place for the rest of the week, and probably other things, but I can't think of them right now.

Speaking of moving out of Barb's, this is it!! Tonight is my last night in my bed. It's also my last night sleeping solo because I share a bed with my cousin Jenna for the rest of the week. I guess it's a good warm-up for the rest of my life ;)

I'm sad to be leaving Barb's so am trying not to think about it. We've had a terrific 4.5 years!! Sure, it wasn't the easiest time and we've both had our ups and downs personally, emotionally, physically, and so on. But we've had some fun little traditions... Chili's dates on Friday nights. Hanging out with each other and talking while getting ready for bed. Saturday night fall-asleep-on-Barb's-bed routine while watching Saturday Night Live. Helping care for each other when we had injuries, surgeries, or weren't feeling well. And just simply sharing life together! I've felt privileged to be Barb's "significant other" (at least more so than anyone else) while I've lived with her.

So tonight is my last night in my bed, living with Barb. I (obviously) wouldn't change it, but I'll miss our little life!!

Today was also my last Starbucks date with God before the wedding. Maybe not my last date with God before Sunday, but my last lunch-time-Starbucks date. At one point I had estimated the number of pages I'd write in my journal before the wedding and I was only 2 pages off!

As I journaled today, I reflected on how my single journey is nearly over, only 5 more days! I sure had a good run!! I emailed my friend Stacey that I appreciated her friendship over the past 2 years because I felt like she helped me really fully live out my last single year! Over the past several years I had begun to try and prepare myself for the potential that "the one" wouldn't come along. Sure, I'm young, but I wanted to get used to the idea just in case. I think I got so used to the idea that I was almost surprised when he came along and was thrilled when we got engaged!! And today, the reality that I'm getting married in 5 days to my best friend and favorite person in the world, warms my heart and makes me so thankful to God's gift of Mark! The years of waiting and the fears that it wouldn't happen has made it all even sweeter! I can't believe the waiting and wondering and hoping is over! I can't even begin to express how thankful I am!! I keep trying and I can't see to even come close.

Thank you God, for my future husband!!! Please help me love and respect and never take him for granted, for the rest of my life!!!

What did you do a week before your wedding?

This is what I've often wondered. Although maybe not before I got engaged. This summer I remember seeing a couple in church I knew were getting married the following weekend and wondering to myself, "what kind of things are going on for them right now? What are they feeling? etc". Another couple I know was getting married, I saw on their wedding website they only had 14 days left, what were they thinking? What were they doing with their time? Well, I guess I can say, now I know...

Last Saturday my friend Stacey (soon to be Graves) Dykstra threw me a lingerie shower. It was a little like my bachelorette party seeing as I'm not having one (which was intentional) and we all went to dinner after the shower. It was SO fun!!

Sunday was Mark's and my traditional Noah's breakfast, church, met with the photographer, and I don't remember what else.

Monday night was a dinner party celebrating Stacey and Michael, that Stacey's work threw for her.

Tuesday night my work threw an inter-office party for me, which was super fun. Afterwards, I hit the gym, picked up Mark, and grabbed Chinese.

Wednesday night I ran 6 miles on the treadmill, picked up Mark, grabbed a lovely dinner at Red Robin and headed over to my friend Trisha's for her birthday/housewarming celebration. We finished off the evening with a couple songs of Guitar Hero, it was awesome!

Thursday I got off a little early but ended up driving a ways to the UPS place to get a renegade package. It wasn't there and I needed to get back there before 8. I then did a couple other errands and headed downtown for a going away dinner for a friend. I pretty much spent most of 3:30-7 in the car driving, didn't make it to the going away, did pick up Mark and make it to package pick-up by 8.

Friday I got off work, picked up my cousin Jenna and picked up Mark, who dropped us off at the Max station. We rode to Ikea where we met Barb and Jenna's dad and step mom. Had dinner, shopped, dropped Jenna off, grabbed milk and coffee, and were home around 10:30.

This morning I ran 8 miles on my own (Trisha was kickin' it doing Hood to Coast), made pancakes, watched an HD show with Mark about drifting, packed a little and took a load of my belongings to Mark's place. Rearranged some things so my stuff could be shoved somewhere in the corner and we could make room for my shoe collection ;) We had a snack, Mark headed to work, I headed home. I packed some more stuff, showered, ran a bunch of very productive errands with Barb. We met Mark at Chilis for our last Chilis dinner with Barb before we're married, Mark headed back to work and Barb and I stopped at the mall before coming home. I took over one more load to Mark's, put things away, and folded his clothes (I LOVE taking care of him).

So, a week before our wedding we moved, did social stuff, worked, and had some normal life thrown in there. Other than my HORRIBLE dream a couple nights ago about forgetting to pick up my wedding dress from the cleaners but not realizing it until we needed to put it on me, things have been good ;) Everything is done and ready. And for a rare occasion, I'm looking forward to Monday because it takes me one day closer to my wedding day!!

While I'm writing this, I'm also trying a new 2 hour teeth whitening thing. 9:30 is probably a little late to start but I'm just not sure of another time I'll have 2 hours where I won't be eating ;)

I'm about to do my nails for the last time before my manicure/pedicure next Friday. Crazy that it's all so soon!! While I was at Mark's and folding his clothes, I tried to imagine what it will be like to live in the apartment together, I can't quite grasp it! The thing I DO grasp is how madly in love I am with this man!!! I didn't know it would be like this and didn't realize how awesome it would be!! I'm sure we'll have our rough patches like everyone does but I have NO doubt that this is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with! We laugh together, joke about silly things, and just the touch of his hand makes me feel better about everything. God has blessed me SO richly with Mark, the love of my life!! We've talked about how we're a bit nervous about the "production" of the wedding/weekend (I'm a little nervous about the 18 mile run the morning before the wedding), but are otherwise SUPER SUPER excited!!! Even the production can't keep us from feeling totally stoked about being married and our little honeymoon get away!!

If I don't post again before the wedding, in less than 8 days, let me just say, Thank you Jesus for this oppotunity and amazing and perfect (for me) man!! Yippee!!

Tagged

I was tagged by Brian Clayville. And since I don't play by the rules very well, I'm going to post my 8 but not tag people. Besides, I think all the people I know have been tagged anyway. I think these types of things are silly and I'll just use it as an excuse to give you 8 things about me ;)

So, if I were playing by the rules, this is what they would be.

1. Post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each person shares eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people (or whatever number you want) to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.


1. I have moved 20+ times. I stopped counting a couple moves ago.

2. I have never known what I wanted to do with my life. Still have NO clue!

3. I LOVE picking at, touching, stroking, trimming, and plucking my eyebrows. It's more of a habit really and I'm kind of embarrassed about it. Mark notices but is nice enough not to say anything. Although he sometimes enjoys pushing the hairs the opposite direction because he knows it drives me crazy. I leave them as long as possible and fix my brow when I don't think he's looking ;)

4. Mark and I won't have Internet in our new place. We aren't sure when we'll get it, probably not before the end of the year, if then.

5. I never went to any form of public school (except for driver's ed) until college.

6. I like to get ready for bed in the same way and in the same order each night. Pjs, go to the bathroom, pluck a few eyebrow hairs, brush teeth, wash face, etc. I try and make it efficient and I think this simple routine makes me not feel so displaced when life might be up in the air... like when moving 20+ times ;) I'm assuming this routine will get tossed out the window as I'll soon be getting ready for bed with someone else. I'm trying to prepare myself to roll with the punches since even if I create a new routine, Mark may not follow it and then there is no routine.

7. My brothers and I LOVED playing with legos and did so up until I was in high school. Every few months we'd bust out the legos and build entire cities that we'd set up on plywood boards (we always seemed to have one hanging around). We'd spend days building everything. Some out of pre-designed sets and others from scratch. We'd get the city all built, complete with roads, and then wouldn't really play with it, we'd just set up scenes (crashes and demolition mostly) and take pictures.

8. My senior year of high school I decided I wanted to learn about cars so I applied for a job at a local auto shop that my dad took his cars too. The guy gave me a job in the office with the understanding I could go in the shop whenever it was slow. I wore the shop shirts and overalls with my hair in brains with red ribbons and steel toed work boots (I thought they were cool even though something could have fallen on them and mutilated my toes). The guys liked to put me on projects and just stand around and watch and walk me through it. I didn't mind, I learned a lot. I remember one time when driving one of my dad's cars and it broke down, I took it into the shop and one of the mechanics helped me diagnose the problem (fuel filter needed to be replaced). I replaced it all on my own without any help and it came out perfectly! I was pretty pleased with that. I didn't have clean hands for the entire time I worked there and when taking my senior pictures tried to make sure my hands didn't show since they had black in all the creases.

New Camera!!

Here are some fun pictures we tood with the new camera. Isn't his face dreamy!!
The last one is funny! It was taken inbetween expressions ;)

And life keeps going...

We're 18 days away!! 2 weeks from today 3 of my best friends will be arriving!

And life keeps going... I still go to Starbucks for dates with God. I still pick Mark up from work (remember he has no car). I still try and figure out what to bring to work for lunch every day. We're still trying to finalize some wedding details. My car still needs new tires. I'm still running. We're still trying to be careful with how we spend our money. We're still saving quarters to gamble in Vegas ;)

Here's a SWEET thing!! Several of my friends went in together on a camera as a wedding gift for Mark and me. We LOVE the camera!! Thanks Marla, Stacey, Noell, Adri, and Trisha!! Now all we need is a little case and memory card.

I have continued reading in 2 Samuel and it's like a soap opera!! Yesterday's chapter (13, I think) was about David's son raping his half sister and then hating her and sending her away. The woman's full brother waited 2 years before carrying out a plot to kill the half brother who raped his sister. The chapters before that were about how David didn't go to battle, saw a beautiful woman bathing and slept with her. Later when she came to tell him she was pregnant he sent for her husband to come home from battle to sleep with her (apparently he wasn't much worried the boy would look more like the king than his own father). The man wouldn't sleep with his wife out of guilt for not being at battle with his men (where David should have been to begin with). Then David decided to just have the man killed! So he arranged for it to happen during battle so no one would know. Then David took the woman as his wife. But as a consequence, God killed off the baby. And in the end, David repented and all was forgiven. Doesn't seem like it should be that easy, huh? It is!

Geez!! It's like Days of Our Lives. But I guess it's more redemptive ;)

Wedding hair?

I had my hair done the other night (color and trim). I've included a picture of my hair color for the wedding ;)



Yes!! It is truly this color. But don't freak out, it will fade a little before September 2nd and I'll make sure my hair color is NOT the first thing you notice when you see me ;) But I LOVE it!!

More Pictures!

These are pictures from my family bridal shower on July 31st.

Pictures!

I finally have the Internet fixed and pictures loaded! Here are some pictures from my bridal shower on July 28th.

Today's journey

24 days to go! That's all I have to say about that ;)

This week has been weird. I have been home more to help Barb, because of her fractured back (although she's doing significantly well). I haven't been over to the new apartment at all, which is probably good because whenever I'm there I want to live there, so not being there might help me with patience ;)

Last night after our hair appointments and before we stopped for dinner, Barb and I talked about how this phase of my life really is all about me ;) Well, us, but it's a much more (appropriately) self-focused phase than we normally experience in life. I told her how sometimes I almost feel bad about how self-focused it truly is. Other than work and running, my days are absorbed with wedding preparations, final details, and things that are kind of silly to spend your time thinking about.

At the same time, we talked about how God orchestrated this phase of my life and sometimes we have seasons of life that are like this. Since it's from God and it's GOOD, I want to view it as a God-given phase. Not as an excuse to ignore others or anything, but as a short season that will be gone quickly and should be cherished.

I've enjoyed trying to figure out things like that what shoes I'll wear and how I'll do my hair or what gift to give so-and-so. Although I'm thankful that this season isn't any longer than it is as I'm looking forward to getting absorbed with much more "eternal" things. But I guess if you have to endure a phase of life, one that's primarily focused on you, your future husband, and your future life isn't so bad ;)

Past 36 hours

- Friday 5pm, left work and headed to the mall. Unsuccessful at finding shoes, but successful at finding a few other things.
While on my way to pickup Mark at work, got a call that Barb was on her way to the emergency room. Grabbed a quick bite at Taco Bell with Mark (was supposed to eat lots of pasta in prep for my long run Saturday morning), so didn't eat much.
- Waited with Barb until they took her back, drugs, xray, ctscan, discovering a fracture, postponed the Saturday morning run, consumed 2 bags of chips, hearing the same drug-induced story mutiple times, and about 5 hours later... on the way home.
- 1:30am, Barb was rested in bed, Mark was on his way to pick up the perscriptions and pizza. We ate food and then fell asleep on the couch until Barb's 4am drug dosage. The drugs were working so well that when I woke her up she realized she had completely forgotten she was injured ;)
- 8am medication, 10am medication (4 and 6 hour incriments) and I finally got out of bed.Barb didn't.

Here's what I did yesterday:
made breakfast
watched a movie
cleaned up the kitchen
not sure what else, but it wasn't productive ;)
gave Barb regular medication, food, pillows or anything else she needed
cleaned 1.5 bathrooms
walked down to get the mail
checked email
watched another movie
put some clothes away
threw a load in the laundry
watered plants
wrote a few thank you cards
ate dinner and watched another movie
It was an all-in-all very relaxing day and I can't remember the last time I didn't go anywhere all day, it was kind of fun.

Today I made it out long enough to run 15 miles (4 miles shorter than we were supposed to go). I REALLY did NOT want to go, but was glad I did and was actually surprised I made it out. After yesterday's home day, I didn't want to go anywhere! But I did.

Other than running and hitting the store for coffee, jam, and pancakes supplies, I've pretty much just eaten, rested, helped Barb get settled on the couch, continued to give her medication and now I'm going to try and get myself in the shower. But I HATE showering in the middle of the day and hate showering in general so am not sure what kind of things I might find to distracted myself with between now and then. Although I might eat first since I'm hungry, again.

So, that's been my life this weekend. The nice thing is that I didn't have too many plans so staying home with Barb while she's recovering a little, worked out just fine.

4 weeks, 1 hour and 40 minutes from right now, the ceremony starts! But who's counting ;)

Love?

The other day when spending, what has become a somewhat rare, date with God at Starbucks, I felt almost desperate to connect with Him! My life seems to have gone from outward focused to (somewhat appropriately) inward focused. In my quest to live each today in today, I worry that I might be too focused on my self and upcoming wedding plans.

Truthfully, I don't mind staying primarily focused on planning our wedding, slowly moving my possessions to Mark's place, and spending every possible moment with the man I love. I get to spend my days (other than working and running) preparing our wedding and what other season of life is so new and fun and kind of easy! I know people have said that the engagement time can be really great but many have said it's difficult and strained. So far we have remained in a somewhat blissful state as we bask in the excitement of our coming wedding. It's hard to believe it's only 30 days away, less than a month!!!

Life is more different than I've ever known and the little hole in my heart that Mark now occupies part of feels like it leaves less space and dependence on God. Before Mark, that space was left vacant and I spent many long hours crying out to God to bring someone to fill the space. I was so aware of the gap in my life that all I could do was talk to God about it! Now I realize that was partly all I talked to God about and am not sure where my relationship is outside of that.

Wednesday, as I sat at Starbucks and wondered where my relationship with God went and where it's going, trying to push the panic that maybe I was in a "bad spot" with him, I decided to be pro-active. My twice weekly minimal journal time where I told God about wedding plans wasn't cutting it any more. Even the book I was reading, which used to be a primary tool in my life to leading me to God's presence, wasn't doing it for me. When I had looked for a new book to read a couple weeks ago and told Barb I wanted something that wasn't relationship or marriage related, just about me and God, she recommended the Bible ;)

So, I decided my Bible needs to be my starting place. I read my chapter in 2 Samuel and instead of dismissing it and writing in my journal about ME, I wrote a few thoughts about the chapter. It felt good not to just talk about wedding stuff. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my life right now!! I love planning our wedding, I love anticipating married life, I LOVE spending time with Mark!! But I also love God and feel like I've pushed him to the back burner so I can boil wedding prep on my front burner for a while. Perhaps there are times in life where that's appropriate? I like believing that God understands what we have going on. But I'm also ready to put my boiling pot of wedding preparation to the back burner or take it off the stove all together! Or replace it with a boiling delicious smelling pot of Marriage! Only 30 more days to go!

I also decided to start memorizing scripture again. I don't really memorize it for future reference any more, I memorize it to live well today and reflect on what the verses are saying. In my effort to prepare everything for our wedding day, I realized I wasn't doing much to prepare myself for marriage... how does a person prepare themselves for marriage? I opted for "the" chapter on love from 1 Corinthians 13.

Why be cheesy and cliche with an obvious chapter? Because it's on love, and God is love. If I want God, then I have to remember love. And so far, I must say that I'm rather amazed at the assumptions that the writer of this chapter is making! Here's today's verse: "If I had the gift or prophecy, and if I understood all God's secret plans, and if I possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith to move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing."

I really like the last line, "I would BE nothing". I'm not sure about everyone else, but I want BE somebody!!

I can't seem to wrap my brain around the fact that I could know everything, understand all God's plans, have perfect faith, but if I didn't love those around me, it wouldn't mean a thing!

So, I guess all that to say I don't really know what I'm doing. I hate feeling a little disconnected from God and am sometimes a little scared at how life is different with part of my empty hole now filled up. I'm not sure what exactly God had in mind for this season of life, but I'm trudging along the best I can and have enjoyed my Bible the past 2 Starbucks dates and am very excited about the new ideas the verses bring to mind. I don't want to just prepare a beautiful wedding day, I want to build a beautiful marriage, surrounded by love. I have no idea what I'm doing and certainly don't know what I'm getting myself into!! But I wouldn't want to move forward into the scary unknown without God and my amazing future husband walking along with me!!

Top 10 and 5

Right now I feel like there is so much and nothing going on at the same time ;)

When I returned from Europe and someone mentioned I needed to make sure and post a blog about my trip, I suggested that I wasn't sure where to begin. They said I should do a "top 10". It worked well and since I'm sometimes at a loss of what to blog now, here's a top 10.

Top 10 from life today (not in any particular order):

1) Last night's shower for Stacey was really fun! I enjoyed helping to throw the party!

2) I get married one month from tomorrow!!

3) I enjoyed visiting with Jenni Clayville last night at the party and realized I miss hanging out with her :(

4) My parents are really stepping up to help me with wedding details! They are awesome people!!

5) Mark has to work a ton lately so we don't get to see each other much during the week, so I'm trying to take care of him well during his off time with food and giving him rides from work.

6) Mark's family was in town this weekend and I just really love them!! They are generous and welcoming and just go with the flow. And I'm SO honored that Adrienne (Mark's sister) and Michelle (Mark's sister-in-law) will be bridesmaids!!

7) People were really generous at my bridal shower last Thursday night and my family shower on Saturday! It was neat to see people I haven't seen in a while and to see their excitement for this season of my life!

8) After the weekend's activities I really began to realize how close the wedding is!! I can't believe that in 4 weeks from today 2 of my friends will be arriving!!

9) My friends and family are SO gracious and patient with me as I pepper them with emails and details about the wedding... it helps me not feel overloaded if I can spew my thoughts out of my head on to paper or share them with others.

10) I'm more in love with Mark each moment that goes by!! How this is possible I have no idea but I can't WAIT to be his wife!!

Top 5 things I'm praying about (in no particular order) and would LOVE you to pray with me!!

1) That Mark and I would selflessly weather the first year of marriage and all the "hard times" married couples talk about. I can't imagine having "hard times" with Mark!! But I'm sure those who experience them thought that as well.

2) That I wouldn't be selfish about silly things like how the toothpaste is squeezed (someone mentioned this last night) or whether or not the lights are left on or cupboard doors are open or Mark doesn't always put his dirty clothes in the dirty clothes basket. I really want to use this as an opportunity to let love prevail over my selfish nature!!

3) That I wouldn't get too overwhelmed or impatient about final details before the wedding. That finalizing the rooming list for friends and family, schedules, and everything would come together with ease and everyone would be on the same page.

4) That I would be able to really release things before the wedding and let others handle everything so I can enjoy the weekend, day, and the people! And feel that bad that others are doing so much work for us to have a special day!!

5) That God would be more present in our lives today than yesterday. Since I've stepped out of ministry and turned my focus towards wedding planning and preparing for life together, I feel like my relationship with God is slightly misplaced. I'm worried about this unknown phase of life and not focusing on God in the middle of everything. To help combat that, I've started memorizing scripture again to meditate on. Although I forgot until just now! Here's the first verse: "I could speak all the languages of earth of angels, but if I didn't have love for others, I would only be a noisy gong or clanging symbols." 1 Cor 13:1. I know it's rather clique to to memorize that chapter, but I figure God is love therefore if I focus on loving others, God will be the center :)

Contributing factors

I have decided that my blogs might be few and far between for a while. I like to give those who check back something new to view, but unfortunately my life is not very accommodating to regular blog updates right now. In addition to just being SUPER busy, our Internet at home is down so the posts I wanted to write with pictures, I'm not able to unless it's from my laptop, which I'm not used to using as much (the desktop Internet doesn't work but the wireless does, odd).

So, please be patient! I might be able to lay down an update this weekend when catching up on a few things, as this week is shaping up to be another busy one!

In the mean time, only 34 days to go!!! 5 weeks from yesterday!! We can't believe it's so close and this weekend's activities with family in town really made it seem real! It was SO great and we are SO ready!! The weekend gave me a good taste of how the wedding weekend might go and I've decided that I'll be fine as long as I get a consistent dosage of caffeine (and therefore potty stops) as I was exhausted!! But VERY happy ;)

Don't forget to RSVP for the wedding!

The latest...

As a "blogger", I feel bad when my blogs are few and far between and mainly display facts about what is going on. I think to hear about feelings and emotions a little more than facts. Although sometimes, your life just doesn't allow for much more. That's where I am...

Here's what my week looks like:

Tonight Mark and I have our evening-at-the-new-place night. Once a week we spend an evening at the new apartment (we're at my place almost every night), we eat there, work on a project, and move more of my things over. It's very fun!! And helps me feel like I'm belonging there. I realized a week ago that part of the reason I don't always want to hangout over there is because I have nothing to DO over there. I guess it helps me feel settled when I have stuff and little things I can work on. Tonight I need to create a play list, get the place organized a little for company this weekend (although Mark did a good job of that on Saturday). I'll also need to need to move all my filing in with Mark's and have a whole list of other projects! Along with things that we need to find places for.

Tomorrow night I spend the evening driving. First to pick up my sister from her visit in Salem with family. Then to the airport to get my mom. The airport trip wouldn't be that big of deal, except that tomorrow is the opening of Ikea, which happens to be located near the airport. Mom's flight arrives near the time the store closes and from everything we are hearing, traffic will be icky.

Thursday night is my first bridal shower! I'm VERY excited! It's an open-house, all evening affair from 6:30-9:30. Not sure how many people will be able to stop by, but I'm looking forward to it!

Friday I'm taking off work and we're spending some of the morning at the church to think through wedding set up and decorations. Then probably running wedding related errands. Mark's parents and sister arrive that evening (our new bed is also being delivered to the new place). Mark is excited to play dad for the day as he watches his little niece Rian.


Saturday morning mom and I go for a long run and then get prettied up and head to my aunt Wendy's for the family bridal shower (yes, another one... we wanted them to be when mom is in town). Mark's mom, sister, sister-in-law, and niece will be joining us, along with my aunt Laurel from Montana (who happens to be in town) and several other aunts, great aunts, cousins, etc. I think it will be a really nice time and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and having them mix together! That evening we'll probably do dinner together with Mark's family and me and Barb, Christina and Mom.

Sunday early my mom flys out and a little later it's Christina. I'm not sure when the rest of the gang leave town, but it's always sad when the party is over!

A day when...

Today is a day that I can't believe I'm getting married!! In a good way ;)

Our wedding is only 6 weeks from Sunday. 44 days away.

We already have RSVPs.

Most of my friends have their plane tickets purchased to come out.

I spent yesterday evening at the new apartment with Mark, making dinner, working on a project, bringing more of my belongings over. It's exciting to think that soon I'll be living there as well! I think it's super cute and can't wait to get it all set up after the wedding.

This weekend we buy our bed ;)

We've already received some wedding gifts in the mail ;)

Next Thursday I have my first bridal shower!

I'm trying to keep running and watch what I eat so I can look good at the wedding.

The dress just needs to be cleaned, we need to finish our gifts for people, a few additional arrangements for the weekend need to be solidified, the favors need to be assembled, the flowers need to be approved, the cake needs a matching color, we meet with our officiants on Sunday to go through the ceremony and finalize our ceremony music.

Is it really possible? Is this really my life? Do I really get to merge my life, belongings, and everything else with my best friend, the one I adore, and one of the greatest men I know? How is it possible to love some one so much? And how is it possible that it gets better? And how it is possible that I could love him more in the future than I do today?

Random things from life today

This be, I believe, my 2nd edition of random things from life today.

- update on Mark's car, nothing new... it's at the shop, has been since Thursday and (as far as I know), they haven't looked at it yet. Mark is fairing okay with rides from people. We'll figure out the game plan when we know the estimate to repair the problem.

- the wedding invitations were sent last week!! I'm getting a few back in the mail so am making corrections and resending. Also, RSVPs are trickling in on the wedding website, which is awesome!! I have to give my friend Rebekah props on the invites, they came out better than I hoped!!

- my bro dog JR is in town for a brief stay before heading to Billings to set up residence. We had a great visit on the way back from picking him up at the airport this morning at 2:30am. We're doing dinner with some family tonight and then going to see Die Hard and he's heading out tomorrow.

- I got my craigslist wedding dress on Sunday!! I discovered 2 things; 1 it fits and looks beautiful!! And 2 it had some stitching in the skirt that needed to be fixed. I didn't realize that. Was a little bummed, but no biggie, I'm meeting with someone tomorrow night who's supposed to be able to fix her right up!

- in traditional pre-wedding fashion I'm trying to perhaps drop a tiny bit of extra flab before the wedding... it's proving to be uncomfortable as hunger pains rule! For some reason my body seems to think it should be eating non-stop. The running doesn't help (the hunger part) and I'm a miserable failure at any kind of dieting so my plan is to be regular about my workouts and focus on portion control and perhaps pull back a little on the sweets. Although my workouts are only about 3 a week, including my long run. But hey, something is better than nothing!

- this past weekend Mark and I and Barb went to visit Mark's parents on Whidbey Island. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend, as usual! We also enjoyed our first wedding gifts!! His parents gave us a beautiful Minton tea set and some of Mark's great grandmother's (who's name was Carrie ;) china! Since Mark's mom is English, tea is in his heritage and I feel so honored to be getting a piece of that!! Jack and Jean (and the rest of the Peeples), you are truly a blessing to both of us, thank you so much for your generosity!!

Here are a couple pics. Mark was funny and didn't quite understand the specialness or significance of the china ;)

Car is being held for ransom

While driving home from work at the end of the day yesterday I passed my brother's car, which is parked on our street while he's in LA. It has been there for barely a week. It had a bright florescent orange sticker on it saying that if it wasn't moved by 11:45am (yes, it had the time listed) on the 5th, it would be towed. Not being very pleased that neighbors called in an innocent car, I quickly moved it over to Mark's covered spot at the new apartment. Problem solved.

New problem: I hung out at Mark's place waiting for him to come home before heading back to my place. While waiting, Mark decided he wouldn't stop at his place and just head to my house so I left to start walking home. I was on the phone with Mark during this time and when he was really close he commented that his car died. I looked behind me and sure enough, he was parked on Horizon (a non-parking street). Not only did the car stop running but we couldn't get it started. Seeing as it was after 7pm in the evening and the night before the holiday we, (never having been in this type of situation before, decided to leave the car on the street with a note saying we'd tow it on Thursday. Mark also listed his name and number on the note.

This morning I left for an early morning run with Trisha and Mark asked me to check to make sure the car was there on the way back. I thought that was rather silly seeing as it wouldn't have even been a day since it had been there and the car couldn't even be started.

On my way home I drove right past where the car should have been and it wasn't there. I got home and Mark was there for breakfast, so I told him. We checked his messages and he had gotten a call at 12:30am from an officer saying that if he didn't move the car in the next 5 minutes (it was the second call), then they'd tow it. In some ways, having someone else tow it was rather convenient as we weren't even sure where to take the car too and every place was closed anyway. So it work out (expensively) well ;)

We've called a few numbers to find the little Passat and will head out soon to get the release from the Beaverton Police Department and pay whatever amount they will hold it ransom for. Although we can't do anything with it today since nothing is opened.

In reality, you couldn't have asked for worse timing with the wedding coming up. So if we don't end up with some important element at the wedding, like cake... you'll know why ;) JK

The car is already old and not worth repair, much. We're in agreement about not sinking money into the black hole but have decided to at least get it diagnosed. In the mean time, Mark's humbly decided to take the bus to work as that's mostly what he used his car for anyway. So, if the repairs are more than we are comfortable paying, we're not sure the next step. With wedding expenses, we don't know if we can afford another car. We'll just take this one step at a time.

When I first got home and told Mark it had been towed, I thought it was kind of funny, in a sad way. And it was also funny to realize you had no idea where the car was. Because we didn't want the car anyway we decided we could just not respond to anything and leave the car where ever it was ;) But of course, you pay handsomely for every day it's held.

Alas, the little Passat continues it's plunge into the pocket book. Even if we end up "junking" the car, we still have to pay the ransom to get it realized, tow some place that can diagnose and the diagnoses of the actual problem. Poor Mark has to be without a car and we have yet, another expense. But at least it doesn't threaten our health, relationship, or future marriage so in the end, is just another life puzzle we get to solve together!

Life is such a mental game

Today I left work at 5 and feeling discouraged. I have no idea why as my life is grand! I had to stop at the bank and deposit a check and attempted to deposit a second one when I was told they couldn't, for various reasons. For some reason, their refusal made me want to cry. The clerk at the station next to where I was at has been very nice to me in the past, making small talk and I was so NOT in the mood to talk to anyone for fear I would burst into tears, that I made sure not to look her way.

It wasn't the clerk's fault that they couldn't take the check and I wasn't even that upset about the check. It was the mood I was in. As I left, I tried to squeeze out a, "thanks, you too" to her "have a nice evening", but it was difficult.

As I walked to the place next door my mind started to cultivate a series of negative thoughts and fears. I knew that these things were fake, drummed up by my negative attitude and sensitive mood. The replacement principle popped into my head and I tried to think about something else or at least make a serious effort to not let my thoughts continue on the path they were heading. It worked.

I got home and some packages I had been expecting arrived! Although instead of excitement at opening them, I was mostly afraid to look at the finished product for fear it wasn't what I had hoped! Upon opening the items, I wasn't disappointed but was filled with these silly fears and doubts and insecurities. So, I moved on to picking up and vacuuming. I did put something together that I was excited about how it turned out and encouraged that something I wasn't sure what to do about was now resolved.

The house is cleaned and picked up and ready for Barb's return home (Mark and I pick her up tonight) and my nails are now painted, in preparation for getting my ring back tomorrow. It has been at the jeweler all week to fit the wedding band. I have missed it SO much!! My hand looks pretty normal without it since it has been without much longer than it has been with. But I think I'm almost just as excited to get it back as I was to get it in the first place ;)

Mark should be home soon and we're heading to Macaroni Grill for dinner. We discovered we can eat there for a reasonable amount of money and since I'm running early tomorrow, need a bit of a carbo load. Last week I tried to shove as much pasta in my body as I could fit before I got too full. It seemed silly (and was kind of annoying) but I knew that I'd be really hungry in the morning if I didn't work it correctly and it turned out just fine! That is one thing I don't like about running so far is that you have to be pretty serious about the food part before a long run. Getting hungry too early in a long run can be disasterious to finishing well or finishing at all!

My Running Report

Beep beep beep - it was annoying. 5:25am, I grab my cell phone and change the alarm to 'snooze' instead of 'off', allowing me 5 extra minutes. Pretty soon my radio alarm clock started singing a country song in my ear after it's 10 minute snooze. I pressed the large button on the top and turned it the volume down a little so it wasn't so obnoxious the next time it came on. One more 5 minute snooze on my cell phone alarm and I was trying to open my eyes and drag myself out of bed at the same time.

I've mastered the art of dressing for my run quickly because I know the longer I stay in my sleeping clothes, the less likely it will be that I'll want to run. So in a few short motions, my running clothes are on my body and I'm headed to the bathroom. Pee, (try and pooh, but no luck - this is important before a long run) brush my teeth, put my hat on and sloppily braid my hair so it doesn't become a knotted mess from swishing back and forth with every step of the run, and I'm out of the bathroom gathering the items to take downstairs.

Next move before I head out the door is filling up the little water bottles on my running belt with Glukos, that I got free from the half marathon a couple weeks ago, and water. On my way down to the garage I grab my purse, Power Bar to eat on the way, Clif Shot Bloks and water bottle. My shoes are out in the garage and slide easily on my feet, but I make sure not to tie them too tight.

On my way to meet Trisha I give her a call to make sure she's awake and getting ready and start in on my Power Bar. For some reason, when you have to eat stuff like that first thing in the morning, it's not as good as other times, but it's the highest carb, substantial thing that doesn't seem to mess up my stomach while running. And keeps me from getting hungry early on.

I meet at Trisha's, one last attempt to pooh, no luck again, and we hop in her car for the drive to our running route while trying to eat the Shot Bloks. The Black Cherry flavor seems to me more tolerable than others.

We get to the route and see lots of walkers on the way, that's different. Park, put on the belt and start walking. Trisha stretches a little, but I just get into the run. We walk less than 1/8th of a mile before starting to run, pointing out a branch hanging down, as our start point.

The first 1 1/4 mile is uphill so we take a little breather and walk for a few minutes at that marker and then start in on the rest of the run. It went pretty well, walking a little more than normal but I figure I'd rather get the distance in with walk breaks, then not at all. Besides, some runs just go that way. We talk, laugh, share advice, work through things we're trying to figure out, and talk through the week. Trish and I have a funny routine about splitting up the run with one of us talking about our week on the way and the other one on the way back. It's a nice way to break up the run and gives us something to talk about when it's only been 6 days since we last spent 2.5 to 3 hours together.

7.5 miles, the halfway point!! It's one of my favorite times in the run! Even though it's been challenging to get there and you are only halfway down, it feels good to know that all you have to do is get back. We walk a little, drink a little, then start off again.

By the time we reach the 1 1/4 marker, we know it's downhill from there. Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps us on our feet. ...1/2, 1/4, and we're finished! 15 miles! It feels great to have run that far, no matter how slow you did it or how often you may have had to walk. Somehow the events of the run and the way your body may have felt bad all melts away as you savor the enjoyment of the moment. Even though it was hard and we wanted to walk, we got it done!! Not great time, but better than not doing it at all.

On the drive home, I check my messages and find one from mom with her running report of 11-12 miles and how it all went. I call her back and recap our run and we talk a little about how it felt and how we did. I was proud of her today for getting up and going first thing early in the morning. Cuts down on enduring mid-day temps and also gives you a great sense of accomplishment early in the day.

After Trish drops me off at my car and we say goodbye, I call my uncle Jerry and get his running report, a 10 mile run that was speedier than he thought he would do. Speedy enough that he thought maybe he accidentally ran less than 10 but was pretty sure it was at least that. We share a little about the mutual adventures and then get off the phone.

I have to say that I LOVE our running reports! I love running so far and feeling like you totally killed a beast first thing on Saturday morning. I love visiting with Trisha for a couple hours every time. And I'm SO proud of mom and Jerry for cranking through long runs, most of the time by themselves. We're all planning to run the Portland Marathon together and are excited about progress so far!

Now I've had breakfast, watched part of a movie and am a little late on when I hoped to get my bathroom clean, but whatever ;)

Happy weekend!

The turning week...

After this week, my life is officially different than I've ever known! Why? Because I'm no longer in ministry! Tuesday night's Fusion was my last formal ministry event, however I do plan to try and hangout with a couple girls by the end of summer (didn't get all those grad gifts handed out).

Honestly, I'm trying to decide how I feel about this. I've always been doing highschool ministry! When I was in highschool I was in highschool ministry and since I've been out of highschool, I've been doing highschool ministry. Other than the transitional 4 months right after I moved to Portland, I've been doing highschool ministry. And now it's over.

Oddly enough, I'm okay with it. I think it's such a great example of God's perfect timing!! When I first started working with freshman girls 4 years ago, I told the leaders I couldn't commit to all 4 years because I didn't know where my life would be at in a year or two. But I could commit as long as I was around. Well, I was around all 4 years! Honestly, I didn't think I would be, although I wasn't sure where I would go.

God's timing truly is perfect because if I didn't have the super fun distraction and excitement of our coming wedding to plan and newly married life to look forward to, I'd be pretty bummed that my role in ministry was over. The shift from Insight (Sunday night HS program) to Fusion (Tuesday night college group) in February was great because we transitioned out of Insight early and didn't hit that stage at the same time as the end of school.

So, this week marks a big shift for me. As I met with a few friends I hadn't hungout with in a while, it was like the final closure to a season of life from last year. And my last time at Fusion marked my last official role in ministry. It is the turn to full speed ahead with wedding planning, marathon training (doing Portland in early October) and married life in 73 days!!

As I've been reflecting on this over the week, it feels kind of shallow in a way. But as I've made it one of my "goals" to seek to enjoy each stage of life for what it is, I've decided to look for how God shows up in this new stage. He obviously placed me in this phase at this time and it's fun to consider why and seek to serve him well as I just live, run, plan our wedding, dream a little, and continue to grow in my relationship and love for Mark! Rough life, I know... but someone's gotta do it ;)

Reflections on journey vs destination

As I headed out for my run tonight I wondered what I was running for, the journey or the destination? Was I running to get to the end? Probably not since I would end up in the same place where I started with my little out and back Terwilliger route. If I was running to get a particular place, then I might as well stand still, because I started at my car, where I planned to end.

Was I running for the journey? I had never really thought about it before, but running is absolutely about the journey! Just like when I did the Helvetia Half Marathon this weekend. If the race was about getting to the finish line, then we might as well not have run at all, since it started and ended at the Hillsboro stadium! However, if the race is about the journey to the finish line, then it's well worth the time and energy!

I guess you could say the same thing about life. Sometimes it's hard to remember that the "race" we are running isn't about finishing, but is about doing our best on the journey to the finish line. It's not really about getting there fast, but staying hydrated, conquering all the little hills, turns, tired moments, and potential injuries along the way.

This has been on my mind lately. I realized a couple years ago that I wanted to live for the day I was in and not just hoping for tomorrow. I've wrestled with this idea for a while and until getting engaged, found it exceptionally difficult!! I feel bad that getting engaged has made it so much easier. For some reason, I don't mind waiting the 81 days until we get married. I want to marry Mark now, but the anticipation and putting the pieces in place are all very fun! I know that I could wish it would fly by quickly and the wedding would be here in a moment and I could get upset about all there is to do and sometimes wish we weren't going to the trouble, but why not enjoy the journey instead? That is what I hope to do, live every day for the joy of the journey. I figure that I might as well get into a good routine with that thinking now, when it's easy. Because I'm sure one day it may not be!

By the way, I didn't run my best half marathon time, but it was within about 2 minutes of my best time, so I was pretty happy about that! I would have loved to run it a minute or 2 faster than the best time but considering we weren't really trying to do a personal best, it was great!! And we (we = me and Trisha, my running partner) ran the entire time in a good steady pace. We finished at about 11 minute miles, again. I'm really pleased with that result!

One journey that seems to have come to it's destination, is my role in student ministry. My girls are all graduated!! I've been with most of them since they were freshman and it's exciting and sad to see them graduate. Some of them are going on the 2 week Honduras mission trip leaving this Friday and others are staying home, but I think all of them have plans for college.

Since we transitioned into the college group from Insight back in February, we've already sort of eased out of the high school ministry at church and last night it all of a sudden hit me that it was over!! Last night was the prayer meeting to send off the Seniors on their mission trip. It wasn't really the meeting itself, but it just dawned on me during the meeting that the investment in students I've been making for the past 4 years is over! Until I met Mark, ministry was my life, my passion, the thing that kept me going through the day (God being the core, of course). My year revolved around camps, hanging out with kids and Insight on Sunday nights. Although I didn't mind some of those responsibilities fading a little as my relationship with Mark got deeper, I'm sad to see it all gone. I'm glad for the (appropriate) distraction of a wedding and married life this fall to get me through the adjustment of not hanging out with students any more. But I will miss them like mad crazy!! Hearing about houseboat makes me want to go, but I know it's something I can't do this year, perhaps next.

On another note, my camera died this weekend! Barb and I got it free with the computer about 3+ years ago and we've used it pretty hard since then, especially as I took up scrapbooking last year (it's a great motivation to take more pictures). Between the beginning of the half marathon this weekend and the end, it died!! Major bummer!! Mark and I are going to contribute to Barb's replacement camera and she'll let us use that before the wedding. Otherwise, we're hoping we get the one on our registry or have money after the wedding to buy a new one... it was old and time to go, but it hung in there so well! By little Kodak buddy, thanks for the memories!

Will life ever slow down?

Well, another week has quickly flown by!! I stay SUPER busy and love every minute of it... because each day that passes brings us closer to the time of the wedding ;) 90 days and counting!

I'm going to keep this short because I have a couple other things to do before going to bed. I'm really bummed I don't have more time to blog. The choice seem to be between time with Mark, time sleeping, or time wedding planning. I normally choose one of those 3 over blogging and try and reserve the weekends for a little down time. Although it's minimal. But everything going on right now is very fun, so I can't complain ;)

This weekend is a half marathon (Helvetia) on Saturday, 4 graduation parties between Saturday and Sunday, helping a friend move, church and whatever else comes up.

Last weekend mom was in town and we had a great time!! The day I took off to spend doing a long run (10 miles) and then wedding planning, was a blast! I wore a cute pink skirt because I decided that I wanted to look pretty and about to get married. We enjoyed tasting cake, talking flowers, and walking through the church.

Here are some pics from the family weekend trip to Maupin for my cousin Annie's graduation (sorry about the color in the first shot). I love the last picture of me and Mark, but I'm not sure what wall decor item was behind him that made his hair look funny ;)

95 days and counting...

I forgot!! - Barb and I talked about hitting the gym tomorrow morning. I like to go with someone, otherwise I can't seem to make it out of bed. She needed to go at 5am and I wouldn't need to go until like 6, but for the sake of being able to get up, I decided I could manage a 5am gym session. I suggested to her that I wouldn't have anything I needed to do when I got home before work and she said I could spend time with God. I'm rather ashamed to say that idea hadn't even entered my head... am I slipping???

Sometimes it's hard to remember that different seasons of life are focused on different things. Not that they can't all be grounded in a God-focus, but sometimes it comes out in different ways. Right now it might be in continuing to learn to communicate in a loving way with others during what can a tense season of wedding planning. So far so good!!

I finished 1 Samuel today. That's always a good feeling.

Only 95 days! 3 months from Saturday!! It still feels like forever away, but the last month sure flew by fast so I'm hoping the next 3 do the same.

Here's what we did this weekend:
- I ran 10 miles (the rest of the list 'we' did)
- moved Mark's belongings from his old apartment to the new one
- ate pizza
- saw Pirates of the Caribbean
- had our first pre-marital counseling appointment
- got the new place mostly unpacked
- finished our registries
- played DDR and Guitar Hero with our friends Trisha and Peter

Mom flys in town tomorrow. Yippee!! For a weekend of wedding planning. We have 3 appointments arranged on Thursday, which we'll do after running 10 miles, Yikes!!

Exciting times!!

AAAAHHHHHH

Tonight marked the LAST night of packing at Mark's place. We've been there every night this week (except for Tuesday). I was pooped! From running and from packing. Mark was great and let me lay on the couch and rested while he put some of the last few items in totes to transport to the new apartment. I guess that's the great thing about him moving only half a mile down the road, you don't really have to pack as much as you might normally ;)

Here are some little update tidbits:
- I am arranging for us to get a table (for cheap) from someone who posted on craigslist. Yippee!! I feel like a grown up, owning a table and couch and stuff ;)
- I also found someone who can do flowers for our wedding, within my super low cheapie budget! Also from craigslist. I'm posting all the vendors we are working with on our wedding website, so you can check there for updates and where we are getting different elements.
- Did I previously mention that my cousin Courtney is doing my hair? That will be great! Fun!!
- Today during a quick trip to the mall, I think I found THE shoes ;)
- We rented a U-haul to help us move on Saturday. I've never helped rent a U-Haul. Another thing that makes me feel like a grown up.
- This is probably THE biggest thing that makes me feel like a grown up... I called PGE to get the power for the new apartment "hooked up". Since I was the one calling, I had to put it in my name. Weird!!
- I got mail today (none bills). I love getting mail!!
- I don't think I should run hilly Terwilliger 2 nights in a row. I've noticed lately that by the second night (tonight), my legs protest the hills and like to stop running. Tonight I didn't care and tried to walk fast.
- Mom flyies into town next Wednesday for what I am calling the Wedding Planning Weekend Blitz. I'm SUPER stoked!! Although we are also visiting Maupin for a cousin's graduation. So it's not all wedding planning.

That's all for now!

Adventures with two

The past week has been all about me and Mark!! It's been very fun! Barb has been gone and Mark and I have been concentrating on 2 things, wedding planning and getting him ready to move. The moving part started Wednesday night when we began by sorting through his spare room. We decided that since we planned to move into a 1 bedroom apartment, we should try and consolidate as much as possible.

Wednesday night led into all day Saturday. After my long run, breakfast, a quick shower and picking up boxes, we were at his place by 1pm and he started with continuing to sort through his school/work things, while I moved through the rest of the house. We worked HARD all day long!! After a couple trips to the garbage and 8 bags for Good Will, we finally left just before 10pm to grab a quick bite at Chili's before calling it a night. We were both dead tired!!

Today we did our traditional Noah's Bagel breakfast and church and then to Walgreen's to drop off a prescription refill, then back to my place (I had forgotten to put my ring back on after putting on lotion this morning :( then over to the new apartments Mark is moving into. It's very fun to be looking at OUR place and making decisions together!

After going through Mark's stuff, it was determined that even though we want to be aggressive about living minimal to pay off debt, perhaps we should at least consider a 2 bedroom, if it was available. It was and after looking through the 1 and 2 bedroom places, several times, we decided to pick size over view and snagged the 2 bedroom. We're both a little sad about the added expense and lack of something nice to see out the windows (parking lot), but think it's far more realistic for our life.

We then went to the offices at Mark's place to finalize the details for moving out, grabbed some pizza, my prescription refill, and headed back to my place for lunch and watching a moving and procrastinating before cleaning a little. And yes, WE cleaned my house :) Mark is very sweet and indulges my hatred for vacuuming. He did that while I cleaned the bathroom.

The sermon this morning at Sunset Pres was awesome!! If you didn't make it, or are curious, you can click on the link and then click on the 'Sunset Podcast' icon on the home page. The sermon was, "Life's Too Short To be Envious". I'm not sure how many others have struggled with this, but I sure have!! As we left church, I told Mark that I should have heard this sermon before we got engaged because I definitely wanted to be engaged to him bad enough that I felt envious of everyone who already was engaged or married. To the point where I had difficulty being "normal" with some of my friends because I was so sad for myself.

That's exactly how Ron described envy = being sad for ourselves over someone else's happiness.

Wanting to get married wasn't the only thing I was/am envious of. Ron also mentioned others' talents. I had a friend who I used to be so jealous of her God-given gifts and abilities and how she was able to serve others with them, that I almost had trouble liking her!

One of the points Ron mentioned for helping us get over our envious feelings, is to appreciate God's sovereignty. I think this is what is helping me right now. This is truly, for me, the answer to not being envious! Although it's hard when you are in a situation that doesn't seem like you are doing anything and others are doing so much. But I guess that's the trust part. And life goes up and down so much that even if you are up, you'll be down again some time. It's nothing to get depressed about, but to recognize and appreciate. Right now I'm UP!! And very much appreciate that!!

Random things from life today

Here's my newest entry of "random things from life today"

- Sometimes when I run Terwilliger it's disheartening when other runners don't seem to see me when I try and catch their eye to say 'hi'. I try not to take it personally.

- Mark and I spent last weekend with Steve, Michelle, and little Rian (his bro, sis-in-law and niece). It was awesome to hangout and relax and they were SUPER great to us!! I'm totally excited to be a part of the Peeples family!! I'm definitely blessed compared to what it could be!

- A couple weeks ago I accidentally purchased a base-coat nail polish instead of a top-coat (I never use a base coat). I couldn't return it and it wasn't cheap so decided to use it last Thursday night when I did my nails (I normally do them twice a week). The polish is STILL on with very minor chips and it's beena WEEK!! That stuff was worth every penny!

- Thank God for craigslist!! I found the perfect wedding dress, with the not-so-perfect price tag when shopping at Charlotte's on Monday night with some of my bridesmaids. Some random bride in Seattle decided to sell her dress, the exact one I want, in the exact size I need, hemmed to exactly my height, she's even including the under garments and shoes, for less than half the new price!! I'm waiting to find out for sure, but it's looking really good that I'll be able to get it!! My awesome future sister-in-law is going to look at the dress and if all is well, pick it up for me!! Yippee!!

- I have something scheduled EVERY night (and then something after that) for the next 3 weeks. Literally. I have something every weekend from now through July! Although about half of the activities are wedding events for me or Stacey. Fun! Next month is mostly graduations.

- Speaking of graduats, I have about 10-15 students graduating in the next few weeks. The graduation announcements have started coming ;) I'm excited for them, and sad for me that they are leaving!

- Last night we started sorting through Mark's apartment, getting him ready to pack/move next weekend. I LOVE doing stuff like that so I had a blast! We trashed his spare room as we pulled everything from the closet, emptied a shelf, and went through some totes. I thought it was fun but he was disappointed a seemingly lack of progress. We have much more to do. It's exciting that he'll be moving into "our place" and we get to start setting up house, even though I won't be moving in until after we are married.

- My friend (and bridesmaid), Noell, sent me a "happy you're engaged" package! It was full of fun little stuff!! Mark's mom also sent me a beautiful Waterford Crystal ring holder with a note that said now I have a beautiful place to put my beautiful ring when I need to take it off ;) My friend Stacey also got us a "happy you're engaged" gift of these fun books with 100 questions to ask about how well you know your bride/groom. Mark and I did them on the drive to/from Seattle last week and got about 15 wrong each... not bad!! ;)

Now I'm off to work on wedding planning stuff before Mark gets here with dinner.

A few pics from this weekend:

More from the C-rizzle (as my bro calls me)

Life is plugging away!! Seems like things have been crazy busy for the past couple of weeks!

I have to keep this short because Mark is on his way over to watch Monday's 24 that we still haven't seen (yippee for DVR) and I still need to pack a little. We're leaving tomorrow after work to spend the weekend in Seattle with Mark's brother, sister-in-law, and niece. We haven't seen them much so far in 2007 (although Mark has more than me), so we're very excited!! It will also be nice to get away from our normal life for a few days. We feel like we haven't had hardly any alone time lately, so this weekend will be good.

Speaking of Mark, it's our 1 YEAR-since-we-started-dating anniversary today! Woot!! It's really neat to be engaged by the 1 year point! I'm just so madly in love with this man I can hardly contain myself most of the time!! 114 days until we get married (less than 4 months) seems not that far away and an eternity at the same time!!

Here's a little sneak peak on wedding planning so far:
- 1st dress shopping trip has happened, one more on Monday and then I might have my decision
- 1st plane tickets by family have been booked (I might have mentioned that in my last blog, but it's just SUPER exciting to me!!)
- My mom's plane ticket has been booked to come visit the first week of June for wedding planning!
- The invite list is coming along... S L O W L Y
- And more, but I can't think of those things at the moment

My time with God has been less consistent for the past couple weeks. I've still been hitting Starbucks every lunch session, but have also done 2 talks at the college group (the past 2 Tuesdays), so was spending time on that. Yesterday and today's lunches were a little shorter than normal. I think the time away from wedding planning and our usual people and routines this weekend will be a much needed little break.

I LOVE Mark!!! ;)

Day 6 of being engaged!

I think engagement suits me! I've been nothing but blissfully happy since Saturday ;) Although I'm sure married life will suit me even better!!

Mark and I are just SO excited and I'm having a BLAST making plans!! Seriously, I'm almost sad I don't have more that I can be doing right now.

We have a DATE, September 2nd. And a LOCATION, Sunset Pres. You can read all about our wedding plans and us, on our wedding website. Also, the first plane tickets have been booked!! My brother (Jared - groomsman) and his wife (Sara - bridesmaid) booked their plane tickets last night after we got off the phone. YIPPEE!!

I'm VERY excited because my friend Stacey is getting married 2 weeks after Mark and me, so we are VERY much looking forward to wedding planning together!! We decided that it works out well since the rest of our friends might have gotten tired of talking wedding details ;)

At the moment, I can't think of much else to write at the moment. Well, I could probably think of TONS to say, but Mark just walked in the door and I want to go hangout with my fiance!

We're Engaged!!!

One year ago this weekend, Mark and I got to know each other at the Sunset Quarterlife's retreat to Cannon Beach Conference Center. We actually noticed one another a week or two before that and only talked to each other for the first time the Wednesday before the retreat. There was an immediate connection. While at the retreat, the connection deepened and he invited me to join him to watch the "sunrise" (although since it doesn't rise on the west coast, we called it watching the sky "brighten") at 5:30am on Sunday morning. It wasn't really my habit of accepting 5:30am hangout invitations from guys I didn't know very well, but there was something about him that made it worth the risk. We talked for over 3 hours that faitful Sunday morning. That's when it all began...

For the past three weeks, we have planned to go with Barb back to Cannon Beach (she was speaking at a retreat), for the day yesterday. We were excited when we realized it would be the 1 year weekend since the retreat last year. Last week I had told Mark that I really would like to get engaged that weekend, and that's when he started feeding me all kinds of lies to get me off the trail. It was a HARD week when, I thought, he was very real and honest about how he would not be asking me this weekend. I cried and he later told me that he felt HORRIBLE for making me feel bad, but it was totally worth everything to have it be such a surprise!

So yesterday morning we set out with Barb, after a quick stop at Starbucks. I had resolved myself to the fact that he would not be asking me that day and decided to enjoy celebrating 1 year from when we got to know each other. We didn't even need to talk about how one of the first things we would do after arriving at the beach, was to go find "the spot" where we had sat for 3 hours that Sunday morning.

We arrived a little early and drove around town (Mark later told me this was hard because he was so anxious). We finally parked at the conference center and Barb went off to find the group while we used the restroom and then waited at the car for her to come back and unlock so we could get our stuff out for the morning (she said she would unlock before she left, but forgot). Poor Mark, this seemed to take a while. When Barb got back, we gathered our stuff and headed down to the beach.

As we walked, we talked about where "the spot" was and how we could try and find it again. We knew it was past the little "river" that's on the north side of the beach. We looked for the log we leaned against that morning, but knew that was a stretch since people could have moved the log since then. We found a spot that we figured was close enough and spread out our blanket. I sat down and wondered why Mark didn't sit down as well, but stayed on his knees. While I wasn't paying attention, he pulled the ring from his pocket and placed it on my finger.

...it was like a dream...

I don't remember much of what we said, but I remember bursting into tears... happy tears...

I was so shocked! All I could do was hug him and cry and finally said YES.

Here are some pictures of the best day of my life!!! So far!

Minutes after he asked me!! See the ring? There has never been a ring on that finger!!

The BEAUTIFUL ring!! He did SO good!!

The spot where he asked!

I am definitely the happiest woman that has ever been engaged to my best friend, EVER!! You may think that everyone is as happy as me and I only think I'm the happiest woman. But you are wrong. I'm the happiest woman ;) Not because he finally asked me or that I have always wanted to be engaged (although both of those are a true as well), but even more so because Mark is my best friend! I've had the best year of my life with him! He loves Jesus and wants us to grow in that area of our personal lives and relationship with each other, more than anything. He's my movie buddy, loves to be silly with me, laughs and smiles at me all the time, he seems to delight in me, he cares about me, he's sensitive towards others, he shows me how to be giving, it doesn't hurt that he's the best looking guy in the world!!! I am SO thrilled he has asked me share this life with him!

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged, supported and loved us along the way (so far) and even those who have gently expressed concerns. We could not do life and our relationship without those who have shaped us into who we are today.

Be watching for more news and dates and information to come!

Give up my issues... pretending??

On Friday I had a great email exchange with my momma. You know, she spends her days at work walking people through their conflicts and she has EXCELLENT things to say. Here's some of what we talked about:

Me to Mom: I feel like I walk around trying to be okay with the things I hate about myself (and the things I feel like other people hate about me) and sometimes I get tired of trying to be okay. It gets tiring. So sometimes I just don't want to pretend any longer. How do you balance pretending to be okay so you can focus on the other person and TRULY putting yourself aside enough to focus on them (in a sacrificial and others-focused kind of way)? I have to admit that I can't get past the "what about me?" question. Like today, I felt like last night I needed something and didn't get it. I came away fighting frustration because I know I'm not supposed to be needy of other people and be okay without. I feel completely fake by trying to push my stuff aside to show love towards others and try not to care about the fact that I feel like I didn't get what I thought I needed. I tried to be "good", but felt totally fake and a mild form of frustration that it seems like it didn't really matter.

Here are some of the excellent things my mom said in response: Well that is the million dollar question, "What about me?" And a similar struggle goes on with all women. I am not sure I have the instant fix for learning to be completely unselfish. I do know we are told to imitate Christ (Rom. 8:28-30, I John 2:6, Rom. 15:1-3, Eph. 5:1-2)) and he came to serve, not to be served (Matt. 20:28). I read in scripture "dos" and not "feels" for instance, we are told to put off the old self but I read nothing about whether we feel like it or not. I do read that we are to renew our minds, and that out of our mouths our heart speaks (where the minds interpretations of truth take root) and that our heart is the well-spring, the thing that feeds our lives.

More: Sometimes, focusing on what is happening to/in/around/without you and not only "God, what are you trying to tell me? Is there some action or thought I need to forsake, or some action or thought I need to change or add?" In other words, where can I put off sin and put on God. God has promised never to leave me or forsake me, and He has also promised to transform me. He does this through the world around me. If it is true that His grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 9:8) and that He has given me everything I need for life and godliness RIGHT NOW (2 Pet. 1:3), not later, but now, then He calls me to stand up under whatever comes across my path without sin (I Cor. 10:13).

I think this was one of my favorite parts: Yes, it is weary to feel fake, but honesty is not about where others are bugging you, but where are hearts are deceiving us. We are not given latitude to share our feelings all over the place, but only where it will edify others. Does it feel like you are not being honest? What is the purpose of honest exchange? Is it to build them up in Christ or glorify God.

It is hard to find verses that say first, make yourself feel complete, happy, content, etc. then love others. Instead we are told to lay our life down, carry a cross, imitate Christ who died for us. But the hope is that trusting God, our only hope because of what Christ did for us is what will fill us with joy and peace (Rom. 15:13)

Gal. 5:13-15
"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."

Wow!!! Reading this all now feels inspiring. Great stuff!!!

I actually remembered all of this and put it into practice on Saturday morning. I found that in putting myself aside and focusing on loving others, it was the very thing that filled me up. Apparently God means what he says about giving up our lives to get life. That might not make sense... in other words, when I give up what I hope to get and genuinely seek to love others, it's in loving others that the need is met.

Now, if only I could remember this!!

In other little news, we had a wonderful birthday dinner for Barb last night. Mark bbq'd some fabulous chicken and veggie kabobs and we enjoyed the company of close friends and mud pie ;)