25 days: musings

liquid amber carpet

i had to buy 3 new long-sleeved shirts. It has been consistently not-hot for a little while now, and i realized how ill-prepared i was for it. (not that i wasn't super happy to go out and buy a few things to wear!)

i can without a doubt say that time flies no faster than when you are counting down the last days til your wedding. in 3 and 1/2 weeks i'm getting married. it seemed so far away at the beginning of the year, and it has gone by. so. fast.
i'm finding myself scrambling with little things (and a few big things) that i feel like, just yesterday, i had months ahead of me to take care of. Note to all who may benefit: *one's previously quirky and sometimes delightful penchant for procrastinating is not a boon to wedding planning*

Chad and i are still looking for a place to live. We're not exactly worried, we know that God will have us where He will, but it doesn't mean we're not anxiously scanning rental sites and driving up and down streets of surrounding cities. We've actually narrowed down some promising leads as of yesterday, so that's exciting!

We've been doing some premarital counseling with Bob, the man who is marrying us. (He watched us both grow up, my sister was the maid of honor in his daughter's wedding, and his son and i went to school together from pre-k through high school.) Aside from being a sweet and new way to get to know Bob--the goofy 60-something that likes to surf around the world and used to let me jump off of the top of bookshelves into his arms when i was 3--it's given Chad and me some good perspective, important issues to consider, and things to closely examine in ourselves. Which is probably more of the point (:

With my sister, Sarah, and her husband, we've been going through a book called The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller, and that has been wonderful. God is amazing. His word is not obsolete. It means and applies to our lives just as much now as it ever has.

Chad and i are slowly preparing for the merging of our two very separate lives into one. From our possessions to our souls. From our bank accounts to our bodies. It's overwhelming. amazing. unreal. and yet...one of the most starkly real things i will ever do. 

It has been humbling, difficult and often painful. Also i'm seeing what an amazing man i have been blessed with...along with becoming more aware of his flaws, i'm also seeing more and more of his talents, his beauty, and his Godly spirit; one who longs to love me as Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for her. 

what more have i to say?

Bilbo and Frodo's birthday!

waaay past eleventy-hundred. and i'm not quite geeky enough to figure it out. but it does remind me that i'm excited for The Hobbit in December. i'm glad i'm excited, i wasn't expecting to be so very much, seeing as i've almost disowned the LotR movies for my own tolkien-purist reasons. ahem. that aside...

also, it's one month from my birthday. my THIRTIETH birthday. 

honestly? just a few years ago i never pictured myself living til i was 30. i know that sounds terrible, but i was in a different place then. thank God :)

anyway, i feel like the blow of 30 years would be greatly softened if someone made me some birthday cake pancakes. thanks internet!

i moved out of Joey and Ginger's last week so they could have more room for their 3 now very active little boys. and i miss them. i miss them so, so much! except for Henry's parting gift to me of a chest infection...i won't miss that.

Chad and i are now 84 days from the wedding, and aside from the planning insanity, i'm beginning to get all nest-y. which will be much easier to deal with when we get a place of our own and i'm not freshly shoved into my parents guest room, with boxes and bags surrounding a mattress on the floor. (did i mention they are moving, too?)

this is what i want my breakfast table to look like when i have a house someday. this picture makes my heart feel so happy. plus, for this to be my kitchen table in my own house someday, i think i will have fulfilled a hefty number of life goals to make that happen, and that feels good, too.

this skirt, please, thank you (and the sweater. and the floor.)

Belgium? This is in Belgium? Then that's where i'm going.

and i like this tumblr.

thingz

Chad and i have been making lots of terrariums...it started out as his Valentine's day surprise project for me :) i was already kind of obsessed before that...but now i'm TRULY obsessed. Like, buying books and constantly looking for new materials. At this point we're just experimenting for possible wedding centerpieces and also because they're super fun to make. We'll see if what we're doing is working!

Still sick...still. Just, exhaustion, dizziness, nausea...it's been weeks now. It's certainly the epstein-barr...i just don't feel like going to the doctor and getting poked with needles and paying lab fees to have them just tell me what i already know. :[

We've all been enjoying time with the boys...Ian is doing a lot better as far as his ability to move around, so that's been wonderful. I was looking at some pictures and videos i took of him before they left for arizona for christmas, and he looks like a completely different baby...not swollen, not pale, and head just brimming with long blond waves. Sweet babe...

Caid went in for bloodwork yesterday to begin to determine his eligibility to be Ian's bone marrow donor.

i miss painting so much that it's kind of aching in me. i think--i think--i have a pretty rad idea for a figure series. And it's nagging me to get started...but where, how, etc...is a mystery to me.

engaged to my best friend