Tuesday, August 30, 2011

My little faith

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"
-Psalm 6:25-26
Can I tell you something about my sinful and unbelieving heart? It's a doubting a heart. One that I pray so hard will immediately trust in the Lord when hard things come up, but so often my trust in the Lord is recognized and acknowledged after I've tried a few "good" ideas that will certainly help me out and be just as good.
Ha.
I must say, I learned a very humbling lesson this morning about the provision of the Lord and am so so grateful that my tiny, laughable faith was enough for Him to show me that I'm more important to him than the birds... however undeserving I am. In light of all the wedding madness and expenses and stress, I have only acknowledged how the Lord has provided but not truly praised Him and thanked Him for EVERYTHING. So He reminded me this morning, how big things seem to me are so quickly taken care of by Him.

"I will give thanks to God, I will praise you before all others."
-Psalm 138:1

Monday, August 29, 2011

Wedding Week

I would say, "let the madness begin" but it seems that the last 5 or 6 months have already taken up that little characteristic... so maybe we'll just go with "let the madness continue"?
I'm officially back at my parents' house for the next 4 days and will get to spend the night before my wedding with 3 of the lovely girls I went to Namibia with last summer. All of my stuff, with the exception of just a few things, are in the new house with Daniel while we pray that this week goes smoothly and quickly.
Family will start to come into town on Wednesday and the chaos will increase with the number of people that come... in a good way. My parents are frantically cleaning and organizing things to make sure the 9 people staying at there house will be as comfortable, at least as comfortable as 9 people, a cat, and a dog can be in one house.
Also, included in this weekend, aside from moving, were very fun bachelorette celebrations! Two of my bridesmaids and very best friends took me for my "night-away because you're getting married extravaganza" on Friday night. We did this when the first one of us got married last year, and now we just have one to go! It included A LOT of ridiculousness, food, Arrested Development, a night at a lovely hotel, and a lovely spa afternoon, only to be followed by my bachelorette party later the next night. It was fantastic! I have to say I think I'm going to have to declare that my friends are just about the best ever. EVER.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

I love mason jars.

And have accumulated many for decorating purposes. I love them. It is likely that I'll go overboard with them, but I don't think I care. This site has given me many ideas.
The hanging ones are probably my favorite. 
 But the kitchen ones are good too.
 Bathroom mason jars look so tidy though.
But I think these babies take the cake. They are fabulous.

Monday, August 15, 2011

18 Days

Are you sick of my wedding posts yet? Well, only 18 more days allow the opportunity for them (at least in the engagement stage of things, there will surely be at least one more after September 2).
The last months are a blur. The planning is done and now it's on to scheduling. My list of to do's has not shortened but has changed (many of those to dos ending with "finish paying for"), as I've crossed one thing off and added another to the bottom. One of the things I was able to cross off as of Saturday were our cookie mix wedding favors!
What i anticipated being a two, maybe three, hour endeavor took about five and a half. BUT with the generous help of three of my bridesmaids it went much faster than it would have had it just been me!
I will say that as I've had other friends in this same season of life, I found it much easier to help them plan their weddings than for me to plan my own. My emotions have gone a little haywire from all the planning, budgeting, spending, and other unexpected challenges that life seems so ready to throw your way when you're least prepared. I'm looking forward to the end of this short season of being engaged and on to the next adjustment of learning how to be married. Hoping to back out of the chaos a little and settle into what the new normal will be.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Bridal Showers 1 & 2

My sweet bridesmaids and my soon to be mother & sister-in-law put on two fantastic bridal showers for me!
The first one was with a bunch of my close girlfriends. What fun it was! My amazing wedding photographer and good friend, Emmy Gaines (her site is here) took these picture from the day:


The second one was hosted by my fantastic mother-in-law-to-be and sister-in-law-to-be at the Desert Greens Golf course with the aunts, cousins, and grandmothers from Daniel's family. So much fun! (pictures to come later)

Both of these showers were such a blessing and helped so much in getting us started in our new home! I can't wait to put all the kitchen things to use once I'm in the house with Daniel in September. :) What a joy to know these women who spoil me far beyond the nothing that I deserve.

Also, 23 days until I become Mrs. Medina and we have a place to live! Woo whooo! I can't believe how quickly August is going by...