So since the very beginning of the semester, my mom has been planning on coming up to see me in Towson. The plan was that we would do some Wedding shopping and planning. Apparently, my very good best friend Kristin has been planning this shower pretty much since I got engaged. And she kept it a secret and was able to keep everyone quiet about it... for months! I must say, I'm very impressed. I have NEVER been more surprised in my life! I honestly had no idea whatsoever. I've always wanted to have a surprise this good, but it's never happened to this extent or even close to it. I feel proud of my friends for being able to keep it that much of a secret for so long! And afterwards I found out just how many people knew about it - which was pretty much everyone but me. That's incredible!
So needless to say, it was amazing! Here's what happened. My mom picked me up when she got in town and we left my apartment to go "shopping." She told me she looked up directions to some stores near by. Well, a few minutes down the road she tells me she thinks she missed the turn and so she's going to pull over to look at the directions. Meanwhile, I am still clueless.
So she pulls over in this park's parking lot, and I see a few girls sitting on the bench. When we get a little closer I realize they are some of my friends from Towson. Cru had a community service project that morning, so I thought that maybe it was at that park and that it had just ended. I am still not connecting the dots. So my mom tells me to talk to them while she "figures out the directions." So I hop out of the car and start talking to them. About 2 minutes later two of my roommates walk toward us from the inside of the park.
"What are you guys doing here?!" I asked.
"We wanted some roommate bonding time since we don't get to see each other too much."
You might ask, did she really fall for that? Yes, yes I did.
A minute later, a group of girls walk up from behind us. In about half a second I realized it's many of my summer project friends, who most live anywhere from an hour to several hours away.
"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!"
"Don't you come out to the park every Saturday?"
Yes, at this point I was very suspicious. I started slowly backing up from the group because I was confused and had no idea what to think.
I look over and see two girls walking toward us. One I recognized right away and that was my future sister-in-law, Shandra. I let out a small scream because I was really surprised to see her and this is when I confirmed my suspicions - this indeed was a Bridal shower. But then...
What?
Who's that?
Could it be?!?!
AHHHHHHH.
Yep, that was a big scream, followed by a big freak out moment. My best friend, who lives in Indiana, a good 12 hours from here, was next to Shandra. Holy cow. That's love!
Maybe you're thinking, really? You didn't recognize your own best friend? My answer is no, I didn't. But to be fair she was holding a huge camera and recording the whole thing. So yes, all of these moments have been caught on tape.
So then my mom comes up and we walk inside the park. At one of the shelters a whole shower is set up and ready to go. Decorations, games, presents, cake, food, everything! All for me. I was so touched by all the trouble that all these people from near and far went to just for me. I mean really, those are great and true friends, and I am so blessed to have them in my life.
So we ate and played a lot of really fun games that Kristin planned and it was a blast. Afterwards, we went to my apartment and hung out and the Summer Project girls spent the night. The next morning we went to church and out to lunch, and then they had to leave. I hated to see them go, especially after such a whirlwind of a weekend, but I was so thankful to spend that time with them and forever touched by how much effort everyone put in to make a truly special and remarkable Bridal Shower for me. So thank you to all of my friends and family who were a part of this wonderful day! I'll never forget it and feel so grateful to have you all in my life!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
When it rains, it pours!
Hey everyone,
I can't believe it's been about a month since I've posted! So sorry! As you can probably imagine, it's been a crazy month since finding out our date. The week after we got the date was my Spring Break. And boy, was that a whirlwind!
I'll try my best to tell you everything we accomplished in that one short week, but it's going to be difficult because so much happened!
It all started on Friday afternoon when I got home for Spring Break. We immediately his David's Bridal. Well, after trying on about 20 dresses over a few day period, I thought I was never going to find "the dress." On Tuesday, I finally found it! And the veil! In the meantime, between Friday and Tuesday I found all four of my bridesmaid dresses (each one is a different color, and we happened to find the four colors I wanted at a consignment shop that was going out of business and only had a few dresses left! And they were 75% off!). I also found my shoes, booked my photographer(s), booked our officiants (yes, two. But that's another awesome story). One of the officiants is flying in on a red eye flight from his nephew's graduation in Arizona and will be arriving at 8am I think on Saturday. We tried to tell him that wasn't necessary, but he loves me :) Anyway, the rest of the week we also: had two fittings for my dress, figured out that my uncle would be our "videographer," which will be hilarious. Kristjan and I figured out what readings we wanted for the ceremony as well as some of the songs, we bought our favors (which was an amazing price) and started assembling them, we bought our invitations at a really sweet price. Some of my mom's very talented friends came with us to the thrift store to start purchasing decorations for the wedding. My sister is going to DJ, which will also be phenomenal and hilarious. We reserved the tent, tables, chairs, linens, arch, aisle runner, napkins, plates, glasses, etc. Oh and they aren't charging us extra to come set it up themselves on Wednesday before the wedding! We figured out the guest list. We met with this wonderful woman who will be making the cake, as well as loaning us TONS of catering supplies and buffet table decorations. And she wants to make an ice sculpture, and loan us a chocolate fountain as well as making and doing tons of other things. She's this sweet Christian woman who has been diagnosed with a rare disease, who instead of getting angry at God took it as a blessing because she could share her faith in the hospital to those who may have never heard anything about Christianity. This is an incredible woman who has graciously welcomed me and my huge fat wedding into her life, and has told us she is thankful for the opportunity to help us out and feels she is the one who is being blessed by it. I can only hope to be like this woman and have the strong faith she has one day.
I think that is about everything that we did over Spring Break. Oh and I also went internship hunting and had two places say they'd take me. Currently, Towson is looking into Curves to see if it will be approved. Which is awesome because it looks like a great internship!
Don't hold your breath because I have much more to catch you up on! In the three weeks since then we started printing the invitations, acquired many more decorations here and there at the Thrift store, Kristjan got his suit, my mom tentatively booked my hair appointment, Kristjan and I found and booked our Honeymoon place, and my mom's friend and our neighbor are going to be catering for us. Most, if not all of this was done by my mother. Thanks Mom :)
Okay, one more thing! Kind of. This past weekend I went home for another whirlwind. Friday: I drive directly to the seamstress to try on my dress for the final fitting. It was perfect! Then, mom, Kathy (my mom's friend who has helped with decorations and will be catering for us) and myself go to meet the wonderful woman who is making the cake. She shows us all her catering supplies that she's going to loan us. We walk in and she has her whole dining room decked out in what the buffet table could look like, with some fresh cut flowers and candles and everything! It was beautiful :)
The next day, mom and I head over to Norfolk bright and early to go to the Tent place again, and run into Michael's. We found our centerpieces! We run back to Hampton for our Mother of the bride tea party, which is for all the wonderful and talented women who are helping us out with everything. We show and tell our ideas. They give us feedback. It's awesome. Then, my cousin Sara offers some great advice (that will also be money saving) for logistics and decorations. And she also offers to do my makeup! Yay!
Whew. Tired? Me too. Sorry but we're not done.
Okay, so after the Tea Party, mom and I run to Norfolk (again) and run through 2 Michael's trying to finish our shopping before it closes at 9pm. We had a 30% off of everything coupon. Clearly. Or we wouldn't be so crazy about it haha. So we finish buying all the centerpieces, and about as many fake flowers/garlands for decorating as you can possibly imagine. Seriously, my room IS a jungle. Not looks like one. Is one.
Sunday. Easter. Praise the Lord, literally. Not only do we finally get some rest from such a wonderful, but whirlwind of the past 36 hours, but we also get to relax and praise God for sending us His wonderful son for us. God is SO FREAKING AWESOME. We got to enjoy the rest of Easter on a beautiful spring day. I saw my dad and Karen, and then went home. I ended up not leaving until Monday, and it was great!
I do have more to say, but I think that if you've made it to this point (I realize I probably have many many casualties), but if you've made it this far, you're most likely suffering from information overload. So, I will save the remaining parts for another time. Don't worry, I'll make sure it's not a month from now!!
So, God, I'm really sorry that I didn't and couldn't trust you earlier with this whole wedding business. But clearly, you are in complete control of this whole thing! I am overwhelmed by your showering of gifts and blessings with this whole wedding. What the heck, God, I don't deserve this at all. Especially after the way I acted. But thank you so much for looking beyond my very very many human faults and loving me anyway. And God, thanks so much for your Son. And Jesus, thanks so much for putting all my selfishness, distrust, and ugly mistakes to death and resurrecting your life within me on Easter. You are so freakin cool!
So, everyone out there, thanks so much for your prayers. As you can clearly see, they have been heard and answered to the 100th power. I am so grateful for each of you! Thanks for sharing this journey with me! :)
I can't believe it's been about a month since I've posted! So sorry! As you can probably imagine, it's been a crazy month since finding out our date. The week after we got the date was my Spring Break. And boy, was that a whirlwind!
I'll try my best to tell you everything we accomplished in that one short week, but it's going to be difficult because so much happened!
It all started on Friday afternoon when I got home for Spring Break. We immediately his David's Bridal. Well, after trying on about 20 dresses over a few day period, I thought I was never going to find "the dress." On Tuesday, I finally found it! And the veil! In the meantime, between Friday and Tuesday I found all four of my bridesmaid dresses (each one is a different color, and we happened to find the four colors I wanted at a consignment shop that was going out of business and only had a few dresses left! And they were 75% off!). I also found my shoes, booked my photographer(s), booked our officiants (yes, two. But that's another awesome story). One of the officiants is flying in on a red eye flight from his nephew's graduation in Arizona and will be arriving at 8am I think on Saturday. We tried to tell him that wasn't necessary, but he loves me :) Anyway, the rest of the week we also: had two fittings for my dress, figured out that my uncle would be our "videographer," which will be hilarious. Kristjan and I figured out what readings we wanted for the ceremony as well as some of the songs, we bought our favors (which was an amazing price) and started assembling them, we bought our invitations at a really sweet price. Some of my mom's very talented friends came with us to the thrift store to start purchasing decorations for the wedding. My sister is going to DJ, which will also be phenomenal and hilarious. We reserved the tent, tables, chairs, linens, arch, aisle runner, napkins, plates, glasses, etc. Oh and they aren't charging us extra to come set it up themselves on Wednesday before the wedding! We figured out the guest list. We met with this wonderful woman who will be making the cake, as well as loaning us TONS of catering supplies and buffet table decorations. And she wants to make an ice sculpture, and loan us a chocolate fountain as well as making and doing tons of other things. She's this sweet Christian woman who has been diagnosed with a rare disease, who instead of getting angry at God took it as a blessing because she could share her faith in the hospital to those who may have never heard anything about Christianity. This is an incredible woman who has graciously welcomed me and my huge fat wedding into her life, and has told us she is thankful for the opportunity to help us out and feels she is the one who is being blessed by it. I can only hope to be like this woman and have the strong faith she has one day.
I think that is about everything that we did over Spring Break. Oh and I also went internship hunting and had two places say they'd take me. Currently, Towson is looking into Curves to see if it will be approved. Which is awesome because it looks like a great internship!
Don't hold your breath because I have much more to catch you up on! In the three weeks since then we started printing the invitations, acquired many more decorations here and there at the Thrift store, Kristjan got his suit, my mom tentatively booked my hair appointment, Kristjan and I found and booked our Honeymoon place, and my mom's friend and our neighbor are going to be catering for us. Most, if not all of this was done by my mother. Thanks Mom :)
Okay, one more thing! Kind of. This past weekend I went home for another whirlwind. Friday: I drive directly to the seamstress to try on my dress for the final fitting. It was perfect! Then, mom, Kathy (my mom's friend who has helped with decorations and will be catering for us) and myself go to meet the wonderful woman who is making the cake. She shows us all her catering supplies that she's going to loan us. We walk in and she has her whole dining room decked out in what the buffet table could look like, with some fresh cut flowers and candles and everything! It was beautiful :)
The next day, mom and I head over to Norfolk bright and early to go to the Tent place again, and run into Michael's. We found our centerpieces! We run back to Hampton for our Mother of the bride tea party, which is for all the wonderful and talented women who are helping us out with everything. We show and tell our ideas. They give us feedback. It's awesome. Then, my cousin Sara offers some great advice (that will also be money saving) for logistics and decorations. And she also offers to do my makeup! Yay!
Whew. Tired? Me too. Sorry but we're not done.
Okay, so after the Tea Party, mom and I run to Norfolk (again) and run through 2 Michael's trying to finish our shopping before it closes at 9pm. We had a 30% off of everything coupon. Clearly. Or we wouldn't be so crazy about it haha. So we finish buying all the centerpieces, and about as many fake flowers/garlands for decorating as you can possibly imagine. Seriously, my room IS a jungle. Not looks like one. Is one.
Sunday. Easter. Praise the Lord, literally. Not only do we finally get some rest from such a wonderful, but whirlwind of the past 36 hours, but we also get to relax and praise God for sending us His wonderful son for us. God is SO FREAKING AWESOME. We got to enjoy the rest of Easter on a beautiful spring day. I saw my dad and Karen, and then went home. I ended up not leaving until Monday, and it was great!
I do have more to say, but I think that if you've made it to this point (I realize I probably have many many casualties), but if you've made it this far, you're most likely suffering from information overload. So, I will save the remaining parts for another time. Don't worry, I'll make sure it's not a month from now!!
So, God, I'm really sorry that I didn't and couldn't trust you earlier with this whole wedding business. But clearly, you are in complete control of this whole thing! I am overwhelmed by your showering of gifts and blessings with this whole wedding. What the heck, God, I don't deserve this at all. Especially after the way I acted. But thank you so much for looking beyond my very very many human faults and loving me anyway. And God, thanks so much for your Son. And Jesus, thanks so much for putting all my selfishness, distrust, and ugly mistakes to death and resurrecting your life within me on Easter. You are so freakin cool!
So, everyone out there, thanks so much for your prayers. As you can clearly see, they have been heard and answered to the 100th power. I am so grateful for each of you! Thanks for sharing this journey with me! :)
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