Who Knew?!

I am in the process of making an Ebenezer from my trip to Israel last year. It is a Photobook from Shutterfly with all the pictures that I have from the trip. Yet, sadly my camera broke Day 1 of the trip, I mean we weren't even out of the US yet and it just crashed, so I had friends graciously take pictures of me.

So needless to say I had pictures of me specifically in a hundred different places. I copied a bunch of facebook and had friends email me a few too.

Until recently I had a friend, Patoya (love her!), email me a bunch that she had taken so I could finish by book. And by surprise this was one of the pictures:

Blake and I in Israel, Gamla I think

You look at this picture and you think oh how cute, right?!! When Blake and I look at this picture we think...CRAZY! Who knew?! Only because this trip to Israel is where we met without even knowing it.

In the fall of 2009 I decided to raise money and ask for support to go on a 12-day study tour through Israel. The Lord provided in crazy ways and I was able to go in March of 2010. There were 50 people going, half were from the forge, a quarter were Pine Cove staff like me and then the other quarter were people who knew about the trip and were connected with Pine Cove, one of those people being Blake.

All 50 of us spent 12-days straight together, learning, laughing, and hiking a lot and not once did Blake and I talk. Now talking about it today, neither one of us were on each others radar. Which for both of us at the time, was a good thing as weird as that sounds. I had an amazing trip with absolutely no distractions, (because Blake WOULD have been! haha), and it was GREAT! 

It wasn't until we were back in the states that I began to notice Blake. I mean when you go on a trip with people for that long and that meaningful they are practically already your best friend!

It was on Thursday mornings at Einsteins that I would continuously see him, because I was meeting with my friend Adrianne there in there mornings. He would be there working and we would say our cordial hello's and I thought he was great, but that's about it. Then I started to see him at other places afterwards like Macalisters and Pine Cove events, and that's when it all started!

After one wonderful talk at Macalisters and sharing a chocolate chip cookie we exchanged numbers and it was history from there!

So now being engaged we look at these pictures when we are right beside each other in Israel where it all started having no clue.

Who knew that when we were right beside each other then, that we would be that way forever.

 

Blake's birthday, a week after the engagement!

Between Wondering and Wanting

Well Blake and I have been engaged one month to this day and you better believe I will be riding cloud 9 as long as I can.

So far we have conquered some huge wedding plans and I am pretty proud of us.

Date: October 16th, 2011

Ceremony and Reception: Stone Oak Ranch Murchinson, TX near Tyler. Click here to see pictures. It is a beautiful barn, my dream was to have my wedding in a barn! And the people who run it are so nice.

Photographer: Brandi Burkett, who is simply wonderful and has the same taste as I do. Click here to see her blog.

Officiant: Chris Sherrod and he and Chris Legg are going to do our Marriage Counseling

Wedding Coordinator: Adrianne Miller, a SWEET friend and amazing women who will do so well!

Cupcakes: Mandy Sisco and her sweet friend, this is a huge feat and she was so sweet in wanting to help and even have a tasting!

Registered: a tiny bit at Bed, Bath, and Beyond...Blake and I had a lot of fun. He allows me to dream!

Misc: I have already gotten HUGE help from people around Pine Cove and great connections from my future in laws!

I don't have a dress yet, but I went shopping with my mom over Easter and my best friend Megan is coming May 6th. So Lord willing that will come quick and easy!


And if you are wondering, yes I am still working on the colors

Phew...we have come a long way in one month! I am trying to get all the big stuff done before May 14th, because that's technically when summer camp starts and I will be MIA with all this free time!

Blake and I have done a lot and made a lot of decisions. Yet, our biggest question is how on earth do you be engaged exactly. What does engagement look like?

There are books up the wazoo about dating and how to date and specific books on types of dating and tons of advice from friends. Then there are even more books about marriage and how to be married, work on communication and even more great advice from people. Yet, how do we do engagement well.

So I feel like we are in between wondering and wanting. The first stage of dating is wondering if we are going to get married, wondering if we are a good fit. Then realizing we could totally marry this person and wondering when it will happen. Then the other stage is then wanting to be married, we now know we will be getting married and the wondering stage is done. Yet, now we want to get married (sometimes next week), and we know it is coming but what does engagement look like? How do we serve each other in this season of life.

I realize the basic things, like this is a time to prepare for marriage with christian counseling, reading books, talking through stuff and planning a wedding. If this is what engagement is all about then great, its been a fun ride. Yet, this new season has brought our relationship to another level and its important to continue to cultivate this time together and my question is what does it look like?

So Blake and I decided that instead of trying to fit our engagement into our lives we would create a foundation and filter the actions of engagement through scripture. So the goal and desire of our engagement is to:
1. Glorify God
2. Be an example to those around us with his power

So in this season we thought that we would pray Romans 12:9-13 over our relationship.
"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection.Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality."

Being engage is so AMAZING and we are slowly looking at what this means in our lives as we are learning to understand one another in preparation for marriage.

Yes, we're engaged, but...WE ARE GETTING MARRIED...and that's what its all about! 

 Two Words: Pure Joy