They Tied the Knot!!!

Hey all! I have had one of the most exciting weekends ever. I came out of it a little frazzled...but it's okay, since it wasn't about me. It was about my brother and his wife (it feels weird typing that...), and their beautiful wedding. I don't have any "official" pics, but here are a few preliminaries that my boyfriend took.

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The handsome lieutenant (yeah, that's my brother y'all!) watches as his bride enters to "Canon in D" by Pachelbel

My dad reads scripture from Ephesians.

Bridesmaids (left to right: me, Stacie, Mary, Kristy)

Newly pronounced man and wife.

My roommate Alisha and I, smiling over cake at the reception.

My boyfriend Eric and I, tired after dancing but still liking each other... :)

The getaway!

In case you noticed, yes, the bride changed dresses. She wore her grandmother's gown for the ceremony and her mother's gown (with its more manageable skirt) for the dancing at the reception. I wish I had a picture of their first waltz together.* It was very sweet. The reception was a good, long party with lots of food, plenty of room, and lots of great friends, family, and of course, dancing! It was great. I hope the couple enjoyed it as least as much as I did!

I'm out!

*More pics courtesy Bobby:

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The hit men.

The waltz.

I Knew It!

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city girl with a small town heart, which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome. Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand...And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong In?

A Big Day!

Well, today my brother graduated from college, then commissioned into the Air Force!

What a big day. I'm exhausted so I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking (I took them all myself...)

Commissioning:

And I'm especially proud of this portrait of my future sis-in-law:

Well, that's all I've got right now. Update later...

G'night.

Whoa

I'm mostly just practicing with the digital camera. (I'm borrowing my boyfriend's for the summer.) But this is also to document the fun of moving!

Yeah, whatever. I am a terrible photographer, but that's just the way it is!

Chaos...

Well, a hurricane named Alisha hit my house...lol.

We are having fun already, even though unpacking etc. is a pain.

Dancing like fools in the kitchen to Broadway music...finding random things we each didn't remember we had...there's nothing like moving!!

I'm just glad I don't have to move my stuff. I did have to tear up my room, though, for the maintenance people to rip out the sheetrock and do something with some pipes. It's still not back to rights, but oh well.

I had a productive day. Six loads of laundry, new pairs of glasses, foreign currency ordered, a long lunch with my Bible study leader, a trip home and back to move some stuff, and a long time of unpacking and rearranging things so Alisha's will fit.

Oh yeah, and I did remember to eat somewhere in there.

I'm so tired. But I haven't cracked a book all day...yeehaw!

Good night.

Tandem Finis Venit.

Finally, the end has come.

I took my last final this morning. It was a relief to be through, but as I walked off campus, I felt sad. Is that odd? I always get a little Tech-sick during the summer, but it usually takes a week to set in. I guess I just know that the end of this semester brings a lot of other changes with it:

1.) My brother is moving out of our apartment.
2. )My brother is getting married.
3.) My brother is graduating from college.
4.) My brother is being commissioned into the Air Force as a 2nd lieutenant
5.) My brother and his wife are moving away to be stationed in South Carolina.
(I only have one brother, by the way. He’s just a busy man.)
6.) The love of my life is going home for the summer.
7.) Several friends that I don’t get to see enough are going home for the summer.
8.) Several other friends are graduating, and I may never see them again.

I could probably come up with a few other reasons to be depressed, if I tried, but I see no reason to wallow in despair. After all, I have several reasons to be excited:

1.) I have an awesome new roommate moving in this week.
2.) My roommate will be here with me all summer.
3.) I have a few other good buddies here this summer.
4.) I am going to Rome this summer!!!
5.) I get 5 weeks away from my job (not that I hate it, but you know).
6.) I am teaching in the summer Bible study during June before I leave.
7.) My boyfriend and I will teach our own Bible study group starting in the fall.
8.) At last I have time to clean my house, wash my car, and read that book I’ve been eyeing all semester.

So there you go. Listing like this is always good for me, to put things in perspective. I used to do it daily in junior high to remind myself that, no matter how many cruddy things happened during any given day, the smiley-face column was pretty much always longer. Even if I was in a bad mood and was trying to make that frowney-face column as long as possible, it could never quite keep up.

And besides, having Jesus as my savior and God as my heavenly Father counts as, like, infinity in the smiley column. :) Not to mention my family...

I am especially excited about my new role as a Bible study teacher! I just found out this week for sure; I’ve been meeting with my Bible study teacher and mentor for over a year in preparation, so I knew it was coming soon. But it is so exciting!!! I have felt for, oh, a couple of years, that teaching is my calling, the thing that God has for me to do. I am pretty sure it is God’s idea, because I seriously doubt my teaching abilities, and I don’t think I would have picked it myself. But this desire has been in me for a while now. It sounds weird, and I am not explaining it very well, but just trust me: it’s God. (He’s supernatural like that.)

So now, I feel like I’m finally going to be doing what I’m supposed to be doing, not just preparing and waiting. Yay!! And we’re teaching the Old Testament, which is exciting to me because I have as much to learn as anyone. We never studied OT in my home church. Apparently we were under the impression that it was obsolete, like a slide rule (lol). (More like an abacus, maybe.)

Yay for a life blessed by God. Change is okay.


Currently Listening: "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies from God Shuffled His Feet