Grandma

Today is the anniversary of my Grandma's death.  She was killed unexpectedly in a train/car accident when I was 7.  I remember so vividly when my dad woke us up very early.  I knew something was wrong and I knew it was Grandma.  I've been told I am a lot like her- in the good ways of course.  We both love bright, fun colors, designs, etc.  She was a bit crafty, a bit crazy, and I remember her as being fun.  On this anniversary of her being gone, I find myself sad that she isn't here to share in our wedding and everything leading up to it.  I also found myself extremely thankful that I still have my mom.  I know she's missing her mom today.  I'm glad I've got her around cause I know I wouldn't have made it without her.

Here's an old picture of Mom and me with both of my grandparents who are no longer with us:
 And this is a picture at my kindergarten graduation.  It's the last time I remember seeing Grandma.

Love you Grandma and we still miss you...

It's November?!?!?!?

It's November... already... Not only is it November, but its also mid-November.  Where in the world is time going???
Here's a brief catch up to what is going on:
1) We had engagement pictures taken by the fabulous Katie Dye (Katie Beth Photography).  We went to the new house, Earlyworks (for the awesome big red door), and to the back part of Big Spring Park.  The pictures can be found on Facebook.
2) We haven't been to the house since we took engagement pictures, but they had already put in the electrical and the ductwork.  They even switched out the master shower like we requested.  Can I tell you how excited we were about that?  We had some good leads on the sale of the condo this past weekend.  We are really praying that something will come of it soon.  I'm planning on putting my house up for sale with a realtor in the next couple of weeks.  It'll remove a little less stress and get the info on my house out there.  Not that I have had a lack of calls.  We've decided to make renting it out the absolute last resort as we don't want to have anything extra to deal with.  Trust me we don't need anything extra.
3) Wedding stuff is really coming together.  We have over 300 (out of 500) boxes completed thanks to the help of Mom, Katie, and some of our wonderful SWAT sponsors.  I've been making my thank you notes too.  I'm done with about 170 or so of those.  I met with the wedding coordinator at Whitesburg so we know have all that reserved.  It was a bit overwhelming, but I'm slowly adapting to the craziness.
4) Matt is starting his doctorate.  It's going to make things sooooo much crazier, but hey, adaptibility is one of my "core" strengths (or so the work test told me).  I'm pretty sure I'll see even less of him, but I'd rather him get it out of the way now then when we have kids.
5) I have now dropped every extra ministry I am involved in that has nothing to do with SWAT.  I realized that I do NOT under any circumstance be super stressed out with all this wedding stuff.  I was starting to feel a lot of pressure with my various ministries, so something had to give.  I still attend/help out with high school Bible study as I feel it is important that I am there for the kids for more than just Sunday's in SWAT.  I felt a big sense of relief when I dropped the last one.  It'll give me more time and opportunity to help Matt, be with the kids and plan the wedding. 
6) I did however add a new business (maybe two) to my list as well.  My friend Malea and I have gone together to open up an etsy shop.  Once we get the debit card for our account, we will be officially set up.  Desilea Boutique will officially open- hopefully- next week.  I'm also hoping to sign up to sell Stampin' Up products to earn some extra money.

Lots and lots going on right now.  I'm not sure it will EVER calm down, but you know what? I'm ok with that.  Is it stressful? YES.  But I don't think I'd know what to do with the calmness.  I love our crazy life!

House Update

The house has been coming along quickly!  I drove by last Friday morning and the brick was about 1/3 of the way finished.  By Saturday, they had almost completed bricking it!!!  It's going to slow down soon, but I'm looking forward to it getting finished!

Front of house

Back of house (Lake View)

I love that the number is IN the brick!!!

The house weathered through a multitude of storms yesterday.  I think its going to be pretty sturdy!  Now, if we could just sell the condo... 

A New Adventure: Race Day!!!

As if Matt and I weren't doing enough, we have spent the last 12 weeks training for a 5K.  We have been a part of the Run for God program at our church, where we have trained with a large number of fellow church members. 
Here is our group shot:

I have attempted running/walking the Liz Hurley Ribbon Run for the past 3 years- each year beating my time, but not yet running the whole thing.  This was Matt's first 5K experience.  He did an INCREDIBLE job finishing with a time of 27:30!!!  My time was 44:42- which was around 3 minutes off my time from last year.  I still couldn't run the whole thing, but I was happy with that due to everything that I have dealt with throughout training.  Matt has been my biggest encourager all the way to that finish line.  I'm so thankful God gave me him.  I had planned on this being my only 5K for the year, but we're all discussing running a few more that are coming up to keep ourselves going until the next Run for God training program begins in March.
Here is a pic of Matt & I before the race:

We have been all about "adventures" in our relationship.  So, this was OUR first 5K together.  What a great adventure it was!

Our New House...

They broke ground on the new house about 2 weeks ago.  Since then it seems to be going up rather quickly... ok, scratch that, it doesn't just seem to be, it is!!!  It's hard for us to keep up and get pictures as it goes by, but i thought I would share where we were at with it on here as well...
                                          

                                                               This is our backyard!!!

                                                                       October 1

                                                                        October 2

October 5

October 7

All that was done in less than a week!!!!  I drove by yesterday, and was like "WOW!!!  It actually looks like our house!!!"  I'm excited!!!

We are still waiting on his condo to sell, so it's not really ours till that happens, but we're trusting God to sell it at the right time.

Wedding Mayhem

It has been a crazy month since we got engaged.  Two days after, we lost the house we put the contract on, which brought us to a place where we had to decide to let it go and pull his condo off the market or let them build a new house on a different lot.  We opted to go ahead and build.  Crazy???  Yes.  We are.  : )  So, we've spent the last month previewing, researching and FINALLY choosing everything for it.  When completed, it should be an absolutely BEAUTIFUL house with a great view ON the LAKE!!!  We are so excited!  It's so much more than either of us ever dreamed we could have.  God is so good!  They should break ground in the next couple of weeks.  Now we are just trusting Him in the sale of Matt's condo.
Needless to say that because of all of this, we have been wrapped up in house plans and haven't had much time for wedding plans.  However, after 3 weeks of scheduling difficulties, we have finally chosen a date.  JUNE 18, 2011!  Now to get everything else going...
It's an exciting time, but also a busy one for us.  We have a lot to juggle and the strength to do it all is solely coming from God.

He Popped the Question!!! :)

August 15 was planned to be like any other Sunday.  I went to church and sang with the choir.  Matt made faces at me from the piano.  Ate lunch with the fam then headed to home to get my house ready to show.  I was pretty excited about SWAT starting back.  I sure have missed seeing all of those kids on a weekly basis.  It was during SWAT that things took a bit of a change...
I helped register new students then sat in the rehearsal for a little while.  I sang on praise team that evening so I had to leave early for rehearsal, which normally isn't a big deal, but Matt requested me to come back in around 5:50 for sponsor prayer time.  I thought that was odd, but he is always trying new things, so I just let it go.  I made it back in the room right at 5:50 and he asked me to get all the sponsors in the room.  So, we lined up in the front of the room.  Matt asked Jess to pray over the sponsors, but asked the kids not to leave because he had one more announcement.  After the prayer, Matt says, "You kids know I love you right?"  After some loud screams from the kids, Matt goes, "Well there is someone in this place right now who I love more than you guys.  And I need to ask her a question."  The kids were all SCREAMING!  I am stunned.  Matt turned and looked at me and said "Are you surprised?"  The next thing I know, he is down on one knee.  He takes my hand and tells the kids to be quiet.  He says "I have loved you since the day I met you and God knew that we would be together. I am just so thankful that you are in my life.  Will you marry me?"  Then, he asked me if he could kiss me.  So, we had our first kiss in front of everyone. 

It was a perfect night.  One I'll remember forever.  We even have video (which I probably shouldn't mention how many times I have watched it). I am so glad God brought him into my life.  I can't wait for all of the "adventures" we will have together.