Pre-Wedding

Okay.  Let's see if I can't get caught up on blogging now:)  All these pictures are already on facebook so if you're annoyed that you've already seen them, well, sorry. 

 

A few weeks before the wedding we got started on or decorations.  Our bathroom was overtaken by pots of grass that we grew.  It was always fun to walk in and see all that fresh green grass growing even though it was still so freezing outside.  When we first got engaged we decided to go with spring decorations since, you know, March is a spring month.  Even though I was hoping for weather that was sunny and 70, I wasn't really expecting it.  However, I also wasn't expecting the SNOWSTORM that came through either!  Needless to say, the décor offered a very false representation of what was going on outside, but I still liked our bright, springy tables:)

 

 

On Thursday we got started on the meat.  For years and years I always said I wanted to have pizza and pop at my reception should I ever get married.  Because it's delicious and it's my favorite. food. ever.  But within the last few years a new idea started brewing and when it came right down to it, the southern part of me won the debate.  Southern BBQ, hush puppies, banana puddin'... all of which is also delicious.  Living in Alabama is such a huge part of my life and a huge part of what has shaped me and I guess I decided I wanted to acknowledge that.  I guess pizza shapes me to... into more of a roundish shape.  But anyway.

 

So Thursday we spent FOUR hours pulling the pork that was to be used for sandwiches.  In the middle of all that pulling we took a break for supper (thanks Jamie!).  It was kind of funny to me to see all those tables set up with only one of them being used.  Usually eating supper in the Fellowship Hall means there's a whole bunch of people eating alongside you!  It just made me smile a little:)

 

Friday was more food prep (all the fruits and veggies) and decorating.  While I absolutely appreciate and love everyone that came to help, I have to say that Laney was the cutest helper out there!

 

Friday night was girls night out with the bridesmaids and Haley.  The original plan was to get pedicures then go out to eat at Noodles and Co.  Well, I had set up and appointment for all of us, but when we got there we realized there was a miscommunication and they were only expecting one adult and one child.  Those Asians do a great job on toes but sometimes it does pay to understand English a little better!

 

But all was well.  They were so nice about everything and stayed open about 1 1/2 hours later than usual just so we could all get done.  They even let us just order our food to go and eat it while they pampered us!  The miscommunication turned out to make for a really fun (and later than expected) evening!

 

Next up: wedding weekend!  It was a great one, by the way!

Wedding Pics!

Well, we're married!  It was a great weekend and honeymoon and I do want to post more about it.  But not today.  Actually, I really want to get started posting more regularly again, but still- not today.  First we need to get the house organized (it's a mess!!), buy some groceries (we currently have none), go to Florida (family vacation), and have our second reception (first weekend of April).  So things won't be settling down too much just yet, but we'll get there!  Until then, here's the link to our wedding pictures. 

Our original photographer had her baby 9 1/2 weeks early and couldn't do our pictures, so Kasey stepped in at the last minute and did a great job!  We were grateful to have her there.  Enjoy!

Kasey Roth Photography

I'll Admit It. It's True.

Twitterpated: adjective- excited or overcome by romantic feelings; smitten

 

Lovesick: adjective- in love, or missing the person one loves, so much that one is unable to act normally

 

 

 

Both words could be used to describe me.

 

26 days!!!

Life Update

Soo..... engaged life is really busy!  Fun, but definitely busy.  There's been lots of travelling back and forth between IL and IN, lots of late night phone conversations, catching up with friends, getting "stuck" in Indiana for an extra couple of nights during the blizzard, honeymoon planning, registering, invitation stuffing, house shopping, getting to know a new family, getting to know Danny a lot better (he's a keeper by the way!), and the list goes on and on and on.  Just a few pictures of the last few weeks of life: 

 

 

The annual "Erin's home from Jamaica" lunch

 

Making snow ice cream

 

Invitation stuffing party

 

Let's just say- I'm ready for March 2 to be here!

The Start Of A New Journey Together



Well now.  Isn't this fun?!?!  I've waited a long time to be able to do a post about this topic and here we are!  I met Danny back in 2009 when I was living with is sister down in Alabama.  He came to visit a few times, and I visited her back at her house in IN a few times and got to know him a little through that.  And Cassie talked about him constantly so even though I didn't personally know him well, I knew a lot about him.  I guess for me, I've been feeling for about a year now that I should be married.  The desire was always there, but recently it's been more of a burden.  And when I say burden, I don't mean that in a bad way.  I just mean I felt in my heart that God was saying it was time.  However, nothing was happening.  This next part I'm purposely going to be vague just for the sake of all involved...  I felt pretty strongly that I was supposed to marry someone and had gone so far as to pursue that.  Since I did feel like I was supposed to be getting married.  I had let that person know how I felt and was waiting for a response when I found out I had a different proposal.  Now, I had never had a proposal before in my life, so the timing of it all blew me away.  I couldn't decide if I thought it was God saying "No, this is what I want for you", or if it was a test of faith, or if it was just a big inconvenience.  At this point, I didn't know who the proposal was from, and for the first couple days after finding out about it, I was not wavering from the original marriage pursuit.  But after almost a week, I felt pretty strongly that I should pray about the proposal.  I was so confused though, and begged God to make things perfectly clear.  I talked with the other person who, for various reasons, told me I should move on.  I was actually really happy to hear that because it took away all the confusion and I was able to confidently move forward without questioning things.  Regardless of what had happened with the other situation, the fact remained that I still felt like I should be married, and without even knowing who the proposal was from, I was pretty sure I was going to say yes.  Thanks to his sister, I suspected it could be Danny, but I wasn't sure.  Obviously, it was:)  When I heard his name it was kind of just a matter of letting it sink in and waiting to see if the peace that had settled in my heart remained.  I did want a little confirmation from God because, you know, it's a pretty big deal to get married and because that's just how I roll.  I was driving home from church on a Wednesday night and the radio preacher (who was someone I had never even heard of before) was talking all about marriage, speaking directly to the women, and was quoting scripture after scripture about marriage.  That was good enough for me and I gave my answer back the next day!

 

 

 

 

For Danny, well, he always thought he would marry someone from his home church, and he for sure never thought he would marry me!  He also had been praying about getting married for about a year (I think...) and one day God spoke very clearly and directly to his heart saying that I was the person he should marry.  Just as I was blindsided by his proposal, he was completely blindsided by that thought.  He spent some time praying about it and then decided to bring it up to Cassie (his sister).  They had never ever talked about me in that way before, which makes me love the conversation they had even more.  Basically, Cassie knew that Danny was praying about marriage and before he even said my name she said something like "You've been thinking about Sarah, haven't you?"  Turns out God had spoken to her about stuff too:)  So, he asked, and that's where my story takes off. 

There is no doubt in my mind that this is completely a work of God!  It was pretty unexpected for both of us, but it's been awesome to move forward knowing that it's so right.  And I'm really excited!!!  So, there you have it.  If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I can talk about that in another blog post.

Odds-n-Ends

To say life is busy is a little bit of an understatement right now.  All in thanks to clinicals.  I wouldn't say it's hard, but they do add a whole nother level of busyness to the life of a student.  But since school just really isn't my favorite thing in the whole world I usually manage to squeeze in as much social stuff in as I can without completely neglecting my studies!

 

First up: a pumpkin carving party!  My team did the one second from the left, inspired by the CVE sweatshirt one team member was wearing.  The judges deemed it "most inspirational" but in our hearts we knew we took first place;)

 

 

A couple weekends ago was a much anticipated trip to Alabama.  I hadn't been to Athens since May so it was high time.  Saturday I had some quality time with Devin, who, much to my surprise, still likes to hang out!  I'm convinced that one of these days he's going to realize that I'm kind of getting to be an old fuddy duddy and won't want to do stuff anymore but until that day comes, I'll take him!

 

Aaaannnnd last but certainly not least, some really cute trick or treaters came to our house on Halloween!  I sure do love them:) 

 

Well one of the reasons I decided to blog right now is to avoid studying but I can see that it might be time to face reality.... always something to do, huh?  I do like my clinical, by the way.  I was pretty unsure of it before I started but the clients are all really sweet and fun to talk to.  So aside from the extra busywork, no worries there!  But that doesn't mean I'm not counting down the days until Christmas break, or at least Thanksgiving:)

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

The last few weeks my life have consisted of working at the elevator and loving it, along with still juggling school and not so much loving it.  The days I've been in class I find myself wondering how foolish it would be to quit school for a job that lasts just six or seven weeks out of the year.  Cause that's how much I love working at the elevator during harvest:)  But then I start thinking more "big picture" and come to terms with the fact that it probably would not be the wisest of decisions.  But really- I've been loving it!  (Harvest, that is)

 

 

However, except for one, possibly two more Saturdays, it has come to an end because I start my clinicals tomorrow.  I was excited about it at one point in time and I'm pretty sure I'll get excited for it again once I start, but until then, I'm not sure how I feel.  It's the whole harvest thing.  Once that's over I'll feel a lot better about being at clinical.  I'm going to be at an adult day care type place.  It's for people with Alzheimer's, traumatic brain injury, or something of the sort.  People who don't live in a facility, but can't be alone during the day when their families are at work.  The people with Alzheimer's are not really progressed in their disease yet, and will still be able to interact, though I may find myself having the same conversation 50 times each day.  In one of my jobs I worked with a lady who had Alzheimer's and I really enjoyed her, so I do think that once I meet the people and get accustomed to the place, all will be well.  But my nerves are definitely a little on edge right now!  I struggle so badly with feelings of inadequacy when it comes to my ability to do things.  I mean, I get it "on paper" and do fine in my classes, but I always have a fear that the way I implement the things I've learned will be wrong wrong wrong.  I can't tell you how many times during an evaluation in past jobs I've seen something like "Sarah does a good job, but she needs to work on being more confident."  What can I say?  I'm a lot more of a mess than people realize!  Oh boy.  Look at me, spilling all my secrets and insecurities.  Sure didn't intend to do that when I started this post!!

 

Anywho, other than that, I have an apple crisp baking in the oven right now for potluck tonight and smells deeeelish!  It's a recipe that I've never tried before so I sure hope it's good! 

 

Looking forward into the next month I'm pretty sure there will be some pretty entertaining events in my life.  Stuff with friends, stuff with friends' weddings.... it's always nice to have something to look forward to.  That's the only thing about harvest that I don't like.  You plow through all the long hours and then when it's over you realize you haven't really seen or talked to anybody in what seems like forever!  So it will be good to get out and be social again:)