fifteen & counting.

Fifteen days until J & my best day ever.
We are so excited, yet a tad nervous about finishing all the last minute details.

Lately in my life,

1. My best friend Alex got engaged!
I could not be more excited and happy for her and Wes. They are going to have a wonderful marriage, beautiful babies, and I have no doubt they will follow God where ever he leads them. And also I am just PUMPED that I don't have to quit with wedding planning/crafting for about another year!

2. I have become the wedding crafter extraordinaire. 95% of what is at this wedding will be made by yours truly and my friends and family that have been so gracious to help me.

3. Dad and I wrote a song to be sung during the ceremony. It's a tear jerker let me tell ya. Todd, Jennifer, and Ryan knock it out of the park EVERY SINGLE TIME.

4. J and I got our scuba certification! And we booked two dives in the Keys for the honeymoon. I have dreamed about doing this for such a long time and I am so excited that I get to do it with my very best friend.

5. I cried thinking about all the wonderful people traveling from all over creation to come celebrate me and J. It is so overwhelming to be honest. God has blessed us in so many ways.

6. My photography business is really skyrocketing. An OBGYN is letting me display my labor&delivery sessions in his office. I am photographing 2 weddings in August. And I have a ton of other sessions lined up for after the wedding. It is so neat watching a dream of mine become a reality.

7. We moved most of my belongings to J's house Saturday.

8. We have been showered with wonderful gifts and well wishes not once, but three times.

9. I treated myself to a brand new honeymoon wardrobe. Alex witnessed the greatness.

10. I have converted myself to a graphic designer trying to finish up last minute wedding details. (Lots of youtube vidoe tutorials for this girl, but I am happy with the finished product)

11. I finished my last day of work at the daycare, and my last day of work until after the wedding.

12. Went on a lovely, relaxing weekend with my girls.

13. My life is good.

it is time.

the title to this post makes me think of The Lion King.
and I love that.

much to everyone's dismay I have not blogged in a long while...
I know, heartbreaking.

my life is good.
very very good.

49 days until J and I are wed, and my eye is twitching just thinking about it.
apparently I am far more stressed then I allow myself to believe.
(if any of you have the cure for a twitching eyeball help a sister out)

we have bottles on bottles on bottles at our house.
they are everywhere & we are still collecting more.

I have house fever.
and I am IN LOVE with the one in Rural Hall on Main St.
someone buy it for me please.

Delana Carter is the best master of ceremonies (wedding coordinator) you will ever meet.
and she is one heck of a friend.

Mom is so cute when she cries about wedding stuff.

J and I scuba dive on Saturday!

as I said,
my life is very very good.

sick on vacation.

We are in Utah. 

The first day I skied.

The second and third day I was sick and so I did not. (insert very sad face)

On the up side, I have made some serious movement on wedding plans. 

And on an even more up side than that, tonight at 6:30 we will be under 100 days. 

Double digits everyone, double digits. 

Love is not love.

With the big supreme court hearing today and all the controversial talk I am seeing on my facebook page I decided to give my two cents.

I would first like to say that this is not a bash against homosexuals, nor do I hate gay people. Quite honestly this post isn't even really about "marriage" between two men or two women. 

While reading the never ending post about why gay "marriage" should be legalized or why it shouldn't I found a very common response, and majority of the time from someone that is around my age. 

"Love is love."

If I read this once I read it twenty times. 

But sadly, that is where they are wrong. 

Love is not love. At least not the definition that they believe it to be. 

My generation has been brainwashed with love whatever, whoever, and whenever. It doesn't matter as long as you feel it. As long as that wonderful bliss is there you are in love. 

We love ice cream, and we love our dog. We love Iphones, and we love Target. We love movies, and we love shopping. We love football, and we love rollercoasters. 

Then we say, we love God. We love our family. We love our boyfriend/girlfriend/fiance/husband/wife'etc.

Basically we put all these things into one finite category and leave at that. 

Since when have we really sat back and thought about what love truly means. 

Millions of people have tried to put a definition on love, and although I can not put it into words myself I have given it some thought. And I do know that love is NOT what my generation has so loosely made it. 

I do know that it IS perfectly demonstrated by Christ and that if we are ever going to possess real love we first have to possess Christ in our life. And I don't mean "possess" by going to church and being a good person, I mean that we must be filled with the Holy Spirit and continuously be following his direction. 

Love cannot be a feeling, although it brings emotions when experienced, because we are commanded by God to love. It does not come easy, but I think that that is what is so beautiful about it. When I think about J and my relationship I "feel" more loved knowing that he has to put effort into loving me and that it doesn't just come naturally to him. I think that if it came naturally then it wouldn't be as near a big deal as it truly is. 

I also think that when people read "the greatest of these is charity (love)" we give little thought to how much it must really amount to. God said that between faith, hope, and love, love prevailed. So I am SURE that love has to be more than what the world claims it to be. 

So, love is not love. 

At least not the definition you are basing this statement off of. 

1 Corinthians 13. 4-13 

⁴ Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,⁵ Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;⁶ Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;⁷ Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.⁸ Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.¹⁰ But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.¹² For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.¹³ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

2013.

things to do in 2013.

1. get married.
obviously.

2. scuba certification.
finally.

3. scuba dive.
yay.

4. The Color Run.
this will indeed be my first 5k.
unless you count the one I did at the Naval Academy.
which was anything buy happy.

5. move.
into my very own house!
and Josh's of course.

6. make sushi.
because it is so expensive to buy.

7. join a book club.
and read a book every month.

8. get the possible etsy shop up and running.
almost there.
it may actually make a profit.
maybe.

9. play matchmaker.
because it is fun.

10. get married.
did I mention this already?

unlikely

sometimes God meets with you in the most unlikely places. 

in the most unlikely mindset. 

and with the most unlikely people. 

what a Merry Christmas this was indeed. 

he is,

let me just tell you something.

I was at a point where I didn't want a person and I was satisfied with being alone for... for ever.
and then this annoyingly cute state trooper shows up and decides it will be okay to make me fall head over heels for him.

so I fell.
hard.

and well here we are.

but let me just tell you something else.
he is good.
he is smart.
he is handsome.
he has the prettiest blue eyes you have ever ever seen.
he is brave.
he is absolutely hilarious.
he is going to be a wonderful person to spend forever with.
he is paranoid... and it kinda makes me smile. (don't tell him that)
he is kind.
he is oh so very patient.
he is thoughtful.
he is mine.

and he is more than I was ever looking for.