wedding wednesday

"Holy buckets!  We just got married!"

From Dave Watkins of Narella Studio, www.narella-studio.com

ten quick things! i am....

1. stalling.  I have a pile (I kid you not, it is a pile) of dirty dishes waiting for me on the counter just a few feet away, and I can't find it in me to start to scrub them.  I'm pretty sure this will be one of those major stumbling blocks in living out my vocation - the delay and putting off of household chores, instead of rising above my laziness and doing the dishes out of love for our marriage.  It is a weakness that I definitely have yet to master!  Is there a patron saint of lazy wives?  Dishes?  Household chores?  :)
2.  treating our three little tetras for ick.  We took the plunge and bought three little neon tetras last Friday at the store.  After a rough weekend (each of them looked positively terrified until about Monday), we realized yesterday that they probably have ick.  We were a little bummed about the diagnosis - the parasite of the disease only affects fish that have been under stress for some reason or have an aquarium that isn't fit for fish.  We're hoping that they have ick because of the former, not the latter!  We have tried really hard in this last week to do all the right things for the fish - taking water tests, adding extra (good) bacteria to the tank, lowering the pH, etc.  We treated the little guys (named Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan, the Spurs - don't ask) with aquarium salt and an ick medication this afternoon, and we'll know more about their fate tomorrow.  We already think they look better, but that might be wishful thinking on our part.  Here's hoping it's not, and they really are on the rebound!  
3.  celebrating 24 years of life tomorrow, the Feast of St. George.  I remain so very grateful to God for these beautiful years of my life, and the gift of knowing Him (and the gift of struggling to serve Him and give glory to His name every day of this life!).  It's my prayer that God, in His infinite mercy, might grant me 24, if not 48, more years!  B and I will celebrate in the morning tomorrow - I don't quite know what he has planned, but I've heard a trip for breakfast to my favorite diner might be happening!  (I'm secretly hoping it also includes fresh flowers, but we'll see!)  We'll spend the weekend with friends and family - it will be a beautiful birthday weekend, I'm sure!  
4.  babysitting for a new family these days.  While B and I are "in pause" - not really sure of where we'll be, come August - it's been hard to commit to looking for and applying to jobs in this area.  With no assurance that we'll be here beyond summer, it's been a challenge for me to muster up the effort to apply even to a temporary position in the city.  In the meantime, while I remain employed on a part-time basis, I'm also picking up a few babysitting jobs here and there.  I met the newest family of three little girls on Monday - as I already blogged about this week.  I'll go back next Monday and be with them again, and I'm already looking forward to it!  
5.  continuing, in my human weakness, to attempt perseverance, especially in my prayer life.  Who knew that a life-changing, life-transforming vocation would add such difficultly to a spiritual life that was already semi-routine and constant?  The past nine months have been a deep struggle spiritually for B and me.  Our new schedules, compounded with the transformation of living together, has been taxing on our spiritual lives.  It has been terribly humbling for us, to realize our frailty and weakness before our good and loving God.  At times, it has also been rather painful for the both of us, to realize just how much we appreciated the routine of our spiritual lives when we were working as interns for the Catholic campus center downtown.  Life was definitely simpler then - within walking distance to work and just a 30 second jaunt down the stairs to the chapel, where Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament was waiting.  It's a relief to know that we aren't the only married couple with challenges like this - but my pride tells me that I should be better than this.  It's only after I surrender that pride and boastfulness to God that He can lift me up.  It's been a long time coming (and we're not there yet), but I rejoice that we'll have our entire lives to work on our vocation - and the spiritual life within that vocation.  And all my God asks of me is that I ask His forgiveness, pick up the pieces, and start anew. 
6.  officially going to Denver in just under a month!  My dear brother-in-law is graduating from college and B and I are going to be there with him and some more of the family during the commencement weekend.  On Commencement Sunday, I am my cousin's sponsor for his confirmation, so I am only able to be there Thursday through Saturday.  Despite the brevity of my trip (B will return on Monday afternoon), I am thrilled to be able to see them so soon.  
7.  rejoicing in another upcoming wedding - this time, in our family!  We learned earlier in the week that B's sister is engaged!  She and her boyfriend have been in Spain for the past ten or so days, and he asked her to marry him last weekend in Seville.  We are so very happy for them, and are definitely looking forward to at least one more wedding within the year.  Their hope is to be married in Puerto Rico, where the majority of B's extended family is.  A family wedding + Puerto Rico?  Count me in!  (I was always in, but the possibility of PR is definitely icing on the cake!) :)  We couldn't be more thrilled for them. 
8.  meeting an 8-week-old puppy tomorrow night.  B, unfortunately, has to work tomorrow evening, on my birthday, which isn't a big deal to me - he's had to work every Friday evening of this spring semester, so it's nothing new.  I was perfectly happy to spend my birthday night at home (after all, there is plenty of laundry to catch up on), but when my aunt heard this earlier in the week, she invited me to her home to spend the evening there.  They are bringing home their new puppy tomorrow afternoon - I might be the first in the extended family to meet him!  I was a little hesitant about going over - I didn't want to take away from this special moment for their family - but my aunt insisted that it would be just fine.  I am very much looking forward to it, and even more grateful to have someplace to go tomorrow night on my birthday!  
9.  making "country chicken chowder" for dinner this evening.  The slow cooker is doing the heavy lifting for me.  The more I use it, the more I love the slow cooker.  I am a novice in the kitchen, so having an appliance that will cook a meal all by itself is a blessing!  All I had to do tonight was brown the chicken, and put the broth, veggies, and chicken in the slow cooker.  Now I'm leaving it alone for about another two and a half hours or so - it'll be a late dinner, but it's Thursday night, and dinner is always late these evenings, because B's at class late.  I just hope it tastes as good as it smells!  
10.  going to do the dishes!  I think my biggest worry is that it's always going to take over an hour to complete.  The dishes that accrue always look very daunting and insurmountable.  But usually, it never takes more than twenty minutes!  (And here's hoping they only take that long tonight, too!)  


a presto!

wedding wednesday

I love you just the way you are.  
We had these lofty goals of starting our first dance slow, and then breaking into a salsa dance we'd practiced beforehand.  Well, finding a song that begins slow and then picks up the tempo, and can be danced to salsa, is a very daunting task!  We were three days from the wedding when we realized it just wasn't going to happen. Luckily, we had a favorite song on standby - Just the way you are, by Billy Joel, one of our favorite artists.  

And as I think back to our first dance, and dancing to Billy Joel's classic, I really wouldn't have had it any other way. 


As always, the picture's from Narella Studio, www.narella-studio.com

recent happenings at our casa, picture-style

Monday, 4/12 - B came out of work to find this not-so-pretty, not-so-nice dent in our car door.  After speculating that perhaps someone came out rather forcefully of their car and banged their door into ours, upon further review, my dad concluded that no, with that kind of dent, someone had hit us in the parking lot at B's work, with no note to be found.  To say we were mildly frustrated would be an understatement, and since then we've tried (and continue to try) to keep a spirit of forbearance about the situation.  B's filing a claim with insurance tomorrow - thankfully it's covered under our comprehensive part of the plan.  But with a deductible in the hundreds (not exactly money we have just lying around), we are not looking forward to spending some of our just-filed tax refund on fixing this door.  Grrrrr.......

 Tuesday, 4/13 - B got me these beautiful roses the Friday before, and after a weekend in water, they were starting to bloom.  The blooms were simply gorgeous at their peak!  We so enjoy having fresh flowers in our apartment; it adds a certain flair of color to an otherwise drab, generic space!  

Wednesday, 4/14 - during a random Monday evening stop at Goodwill, we found this TV stand for $6.99.  It is perfect for our aquarium, and I just love having more shelf space!  I am a tad bit obsessed with picture frames, so having extra space to display more of them is always a treat.  And we're definitely bibliophiles, so having room to store more books is always welcome!  I actually still have two big boxes full of books at my parents' house, so having shelf space is imperative once those books are permanently in our possession.  

 Thursday, 4/15 - Happy Tax Day!  On B's day off we received this beautiful wedding for late June in the mail.  On the front is this picture of the marriage of Mary and Joseph, and on the back is the traditional invitation with the wording.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep this picture, even after the wedding is long past!  It is really beautiful, and I know that the nuptials will be even more so.  

 Friday, 4/16 - Happy Birthday, Pope Benedict!  I am officially obsessed with Glee.  I could watch the episodes over and over again, even just with them in the background as I tackle household chores and various other things.  Mostly, I could watch it again and again because of the music - I found myself on Saturday with some time to kill and put on one of my favorite episodes, only to skip ahead to the musical numbers and listen to them!  And Rachel Berry is by far my favorite character, if only for her voice.  I could listen to her sing all day!  

And that, cari amici, is a smattering of our week in pictures.  Not terribly glamorous, but it's our life and we are blessed to live it.  :)

A presto!

they really do say the darnedest things.

While babysitting for a new family today of three little girls, the three of us got on the topic of how I knew them.  My name and number were given to their mother by my aunt, who has a daughter who is the same age as the eldest one of these girls - about eight.  I began to explain to them that she's my cousin, which they couldn't quite seem to wrap their heads around.  The middle girl, about five, behind the cutest bespectacled eyes said to me, "well, if you're her cousin, how come you're a grownup?"  I ate it up!  Apparently they don't have any "grownup cousins", and thought it was pretty neat that my cousin had one!  

In His good and perfect will, if God chooses to bless us with children, and only blesses us with little girls, I would be perfectly okay with that.  These little girls warmed my heart so very much.  It was in the little moments of my afternoon that I realized, Yeah, I can totally do this - be a mom.  And boy am I going to love it!  I would be perfectly okay with any beautiful soul God chooses to give us, but.....wow, little girls.  They are so beautiful!  :)  

A presto

il Santo Padre

picture from time.com

I am sick and tired of the attacks on the Holy Father.  

I am sick and tired of journalists and mainstream media-types thinking they have some kind of authority to pass judgment on how the situation was handled and is still being handled.  

I am sick and tired of people calling for him to resign.  If people truly sought to understand the dignity and gravity of the papacy, they would quickly realize that resignation, especially for this Holy Father, is simply not an option.  

I am sick and tired of the following words used to describe the church: old, hierarchical, patriarchal, antiquated, obsolete, out-of-touch, insensitive, etc.  

I am sick and tired of the evil one and his despicable, deplorable, slimy hands in all of this.  

This Holy Father, il Santo Padre, even five years after his election (Thanks be to God, five years ago tomorrow!), is still so misunderstood.  For the media to suggest that this man, the Vicar of Christ, is out of touch with the Bride of Christ is simply baffling. 

......In other news, B and I are, no doubt, more tired than usual this Sunday morning.  We were roused from sleep around 1:00 this morning to the sound of banging and hysterical, blood-curdling shrieks from our front door.  In our just-awake stupor and in the midst of trying to get our bearings, we were able to call the police and report what we heard.  I kept post at our bedroom window, straining to see if the source of the voice had yet moved from our door - which it hadn't, which made me dread what the authorities would find once they arrived at our apartment.  

Thankfully, the police arrived about fifteen minutes later - two squad cars and three officers, in fact - and, as it turns out, a pair of highly intoxicated souls had stumbled to our door, believing that our apartment was where they were staying the night.  When we didn't answer, they panicked - albeit a bit melodramatically, as they were screaming and banging with what seemed to be an air of sheer panic.  The officers were able to get them both on their feet and into the squad cars.  I certainly hope they were able to get the help they needed last night.  So, needless to say, after about an hourlong saga, around 2:00 we went back to bed - and the 4:45 alarm so B could get up in time for work came much too fast this morning.  

What a night!  

A presto :)

ten quick things! i am....

1.  beginning to have an unhealthy obsession with Glee!  My mom gave me a giftcard to Target as an "Easter gift" a few weekends ago and I used it this week to buy season one on DVD.  I just can't stop watching it - mostly because of the music.  I could listen to it over and over!  :)
2.  very, very excited for the weddings we'll attend this summer.  Wedding season is nigh upon us - and weddings have been on my mind all week, since we heard the news of our dear friends getting engaged over the weekend, and we received another wedding invitation this week for late June.  If I counted right, we'll attend six weddings between Memorial Day weekend and early August.  It plans to be quite the summer - and we're still so honored to be counted among those to be invited to all of these joyous gatherings!  
3.  dreading having to give the kitchen a good clean scrubbing.  We had the dear priest who married us out for lunch last Sunday, and there are still remnants of that culinary adventure on our kitchen countertop - I haven't dreaded doing the dishes this much since before Lent!  Hoping to wake up early and tackle them all tomorrow morning, or even make a dent tonight at some point.  I don't know what it is about them, but I just hate doing the dishes.  
4.  suffering from a lot of pulled muscles, everywhere!  I have gotten back into an exercise regimen and it's kicking my butt this week.  I've started a walking schedule and I'm trying to implement some free weight/dumbbell lifting too.  Well, my legs are killing me, my feet have blisters, and my abs are hurting from the (very few) crunches I've done this week!  I have definitely been out of an exercising routine for quite some time!  But it's great to get back into the swing of things and to get my heart rate up, even if only for half an hour a day.  
5.  reveling in the fact that we had our taxes taken care of three days before they were due to be postmarked.  We went home to my parents' last weekend for just a day to have my dad help us compile everything - it was my first real lesson in filing taxes and I learned so much.  I didn't learn enough to be comfortable filing them on our own next year, but it was certainly a step in the right direction.  They've been in the mail since Monday - hopefully both the federal and state returns have made it already to their final destinations!  (And we certainly can't wait for the refunds to start coming - we're looking at a refund much higher than I ever expected it to be!)  
6.  enjoying immensely the addition of an aquarium to our apartment!  B and I have been interested in having a small aquarium for awhile now, and we finally acted on it.  We went to PetSmart on Monday to get the lowdown about aquarium maintenance from one of the people on staff, and then returned there yesterday to buy the supplies.  We're hoping to get back there tomorrow morning to get our fish!  We're looking getting a few neon tetras and an African dwarf frog.  (I could have done without the frog, but B seems to really want it!)  We found a great used TV stand at Goodwill for $7.00 on Monday night, which has turned out to be the perfect piece of furniture for our little aquarium.  I can't wait for it to be complete - hopefully at this time tomorrow!  
7.  asking the prayers of anyone and everyone for B's spot on the waiting list at the law school.  We seem to have asked the prayers of everyone we've come across these last few days - it is such an honor (and a relief) to have so many kind souls lifting us up in prayer.  We haven't heard anything yet, but B has started to write the supplementary letter he will submit to the admissions committee  to reinforce his intent to enroll at the law school, should he be accepted.  
8.  rejoicing in the gift of the life of our Holy Father, who will turn 83 years old tomorrow!  I remain so very grateful to Father God for the gift of Pope Benedict XVI to the world.  And I can't believe that he will have been Pope five years, starting on the anniversary of his election, on Monday the 19th!  Hoping that we can celebrate somehow tomorrow, maybe with some sweets?  Despite the mudslinging in the mainstream media and the fallout from it, I am in unequivocal support of our Holy Father.  He is a wonderfully pious, holy man!  
9.  looking forward to my birthday, in just about a week's time!  I have no idea what B has planned for that weekend (if anything!).  Nonetheless, I am very much looking forward to it, if only because B has the weekend off!  :)
10.  watching Braveheart, and eagerly anticipating my husband's return from class!  Thursdays are really hard on him - class is all the way on the east side (about 45 minutes from where we live) and class usually goes until 9:00, if not a little later.  Here's hoping he's already on his way home!  


:)
A presto!

living it out

Our vocation is such a beautiful gift.  I think very often I forgot, especially in my discernment, that it is simply that - a gift from God.  Usually I had this sense of entitlement - that I deserved this vocation or that vocation - but truly, honestly, wonderfully, it's a gift from the Father.  While I fail and stumble and struggle through this vocation day in and day out, it remains one of the most beautiful gifts I've ever been given, and it's a permanent gift - it is not going away, ever.  Especially in our engagement, the permanence of the vocation would sometimes make me uneasy or afraid - the evil one knows especially how to make me weak at the knees and writhe in confusion, and he did just that during our engagement.  But as the days go by, and B and I struggle with some things and excel in others, the permanence of our union is such a relief to the both of us.  We are going to be in each other's corners, rooting each other on, for the rest of our lives.  We are bound up in one another, and have been called to bring the other to holiness.  Bringing B to holiness has always been something that makes my stomach knot - immediately I think of my human frailty and I gulp at the thought of bringing my beloved to holiness.  How can I help B achieve heaven, if there are some days when I'm so covered in sin that it's a struggle for me even to think of Christ?  It is a daunting thought!  

Yet B and I were created for this - I will never forget this strong, overpowering feeling very soon after marrying him.  All of a sudden, like a wave in the ocean, it came over me: In His infinite love, God created me for this.  In those moments of pure, unadulterated weakness, the love of my Father God is pretty much the only way I can get by.  And, I'm slowly realizing, it is only by His great grace and limitless mercy that B and I are going to bring each other to holiness.  And that is, by far, the greatest relief, because there is no way I could live out this vocation without His grace!  

I'm sure none of this made sense.  B and I had a conversation tonight about living it out - living out this vocation, and how we will best live this out for the rest of our lives.  It sure stirred up some strong feelings in the both of us.  What a joy it is going to be to figure this out, with God's help, for the rest of our lives!  

wedding wednesday

an hour early. :-)

We were only about two minutes from the church - our photographer found this amazing tree literally just down the road.  What you don't realize from this picture was that we had to wade up to almost our waists in thick, meadow-like grass in order to get up the hill to this tree.  By that time, I was thinking, "Heck - sounds good to me!  The ceremony's over, so the dress can get a little mussed up!"  

 Looking back on it, however, I definitely should have worn different shoes for this part of pictures.  :-)  

B and I are gearing up for wedding season 2010 - we had a wedding in Texas about six weeks ago to kick things off, and, if we've calculated right, we have six more to attend between now and September.  Some of our dear friends were actually engaged over the weekend and are planning August nuptials - amazingly beautiful!  We're looking forward to traveling for some of these weddings (we actually need to book some plane tickets to Kansas City for a wedding in July), getting into "wedding attire" shape, and maybe even purchasing some new digs for some of these occasions!  (I'm getting a new dress from my mom for my birthday, so I'm particularly excited about that!) 

It is truly an honor to be present at these occasions - to witness a beautiful couple stand before God and their families and unite themselves to one another for life.  Each time, it reminds me of the beautiful vows we took last August, and almost serves as an examination of conscience for me.  Am I living out the vows I made to B at our wedding Mass?  Am I being faithful to the promises I made to him, and to God, on that day?  And then, I am reminded of my human frailties and the times I've stumbled in these past eight months, and resolve to be a better wife to B, and to live out better my vocation so as to give all the glory to my Father God. 

Picutre taken by Narella Studio, www.narella-studio.com

"in case you forgot....I'm here."

Last Thursday was a difficult day - at least parts of it.  For the first time in a long while, I accompanied B to the east side of town to the technical college for his class that night.  Once I dropped him off, I went onto pick up my cousin and hang out with her for a bit while her mom hosted a "ladies' night" get-together at their house.  On the way over to the east side, B and I had a really great conversation - skipping around from topic to topic, what we normally do during long car rides.  Eventually, however, the conversation switched gears, as we started to talk about the future.  

In recent years, I've always approached the future with hesitance.  For two straight years, B and I have endured a spring where the future was totally unknown.  The never-ending sea of graduate school applications always leaves guessing and speculating about where exactly we're going to end up, come August.  We lived through this last spring - planning a wedding, rejoicing in engagement, but not knowing where we were going to be ultimately.  One of my favorite phrases last year, when folks would ask about our plans, was, "well, we know we're going to be married in this church at this time on August 22nd, but we're not sure where we'll be on August 23rd."  Ideas and dreams and hopes about the future swirled in our minds - would we be able to honeymoon?  Would our honeymoon consist of traveling cross-country in a Uhaul, off to law school?  Would we have to move before the wedding for law school and come back to Madison to get married, and where would we both live separately in the interim before the wedding?  The sheer uncertainty of it all was enough to throw me into a tizzy on more than one occasion. 

And the irony is, that a year after our first round of law school applications and not knowing where we would end up, here we are again, nearly eight months into our marriage, and completely unaware of what the future holds yet again.  There's no denying that God really does have a sense of humor.  This time around, I know there's been a lot more anxiety for the both of us - to us, it seems like there are so many more variables spinning around this decision.  Will law school happen for B?  What school, if any, will accept him?  Where will it be?  If law school doesn't happen, do we really want to go through another round of applications next spring?  Where does starting a family fit in?  The questions seem endless for us - probably more so for a high-strung person like me, but I know that B has been struggling with the uncertainty too.  

Anyway, back to the drive to the east side.   The conversation switched gears and all of a sudden out of my mouth spilled all of the uncertainty, worry, and doubt about the future.  All of those questions that we've asked of each other, and of God, spilled out into yet another conversation between us.  And as always, B was gentle and encouraging, reassuring me that we will know in time where we are meant to be.  And I, as always, in my weakness, was doubtful and uncertain and worried.  All of my worry was suffocating, quieting me for the rest of the trip to the tech school.  I tried to shake it off as I said goodbye to B, but the trip to my cousin's was one of unease, and I tried my darnedest to pray in that moment, even in simply a whisper to my Father God, asking Him to keep our situation close to His heart.  

The night passed, B's class ended, I took my cousin to Culver's and the library and we had a wonderful time out on the town.  B and I headed back to the west side and prayed the rosary on our trip back to our apartment.  We piled into our place, dropping our bags and belongings, and I logged onto the computer for a minute before our weekly TV show came on.  Eventually, we logged onto Brad's e-mail so he could check for any messages.....


and there it was.  

The simplest, yet most wonderful reminder of God's hand in all of this.  

 
An e-mail from the admissions committee of Brad's top choice, informing him of his spot on a waiting list for admission.  


It was as if the voice of my Father God had whispered to me, His silly little girl: "All of your worry and your doubt of my faithfulness, and look!  In the midst of it, I am still here.  And I still love the both of you."

It was littlest, but most needed glimpse of His work in our lives.  Even in our weakness and in our failures, especially our failures to return to Him faithfully in prayer and sacrifice, He is still present in our lives.  In spite of our broken humanity, God still works in the situations that, to Brad and I, seem most important in our lives at this moment.  He is still there; He is still faithful.  The e-mail wasn't an invitation to admission, but it also wasn't a rejection of admission.  For me, that 200-word e-mail was a profound reminder that God is still in the midst of things, even when we doubt He's even there.  

B might get into that law school in the fall, and he might not.  Yet now, more than ever, my husband and I remain convinced at how much God is working in our lives, even when we fail to notice it, and fail even more so to give Him the glory, honor, and praise He most assuredly deserves. 

ten quick things! i am.....

1. listening to "Dancing with Myself" from the cast of "Glee" as I type this.  It is by far my most favorite song of the soundtrack!  Who knew that they could take a Billy Idol song and make it so dang catchy?!

2. trying to catch World Cup Fever as acutely as my husband.  He just spent the last ten minutes on YouTube watching Maradona, Pele, and a host of other futbol legends.  We're already starting to trash talk about the upcoming tournament - he bleeds Spanish yellow and red, and I bleed the blue of the Italian Azzurri, while we also both root for the red, white, and blue of the American motherland.  It will be quite the start to summer - it is right around the corner!
3. going to attempt to be more faithful to this pitiful excuse of a blog!  I really am - it's sad, the infrequency of it.  If anything, I would like to use it as a journal of our lives together - growing up, figuring stuff out, and, God willing, raising children.  
4. filing my taxes with my dad this weekend.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute!  I certainly wanted them to be filed sooner, but a mix-up with payroll at work kept me from getting my final W-2 until just this week!  Ugh....
5. booking airplane tickets to Denver for about a month from now!  We're hoping to get out west to see my brother-in-law graduate from college.  I have never been to Colorado, so I am super excited at the prospect of going!  I can only stay for a couple days - my husband will stay longer and I'm going to need to fly home two days early, as I'm the confirmation sponsor for my cousin in his ceremony that weekend (actually, the day of the graduation ceremony, too).  But I am so very excited to see my in-laws again - haven't seen them since the wedding!  
6. enjoying immensely our high-resolution wedding photos.  They are just as beautiful as the day they were taken.  They transport us right back to that beautiful, sacramental day!  :-)  
7. anticipating the cooking of beef stroganoff for Divine Mercy Sunday.  The dear, wonderful priest who presided at our Nuptial Mass back in August will come to our apartment on Sunday for a long overdue visit.  His assignment is downtown with the UW crowd, so he rarely has a free moment - this will certainly be a treat (not to mention a blessing) for us.  I promised him a stroganoff from Williams-Sonoma's slow cooker cookbook - let's hope it turns out as well as it did the first time I made it! 
8. learning (always!) to trust the plan of my Father God.  We're back in the throes of uncertainty these days, not quite sure where we'll end up for the next academic year.  Law school applications are being thrown around, letters are slowly trickling in, and in the midst of all of that, we're trying to remember that He has our best intentions in mind, and that He really does will the best for us.  It's just painfully hard for us to recall that, when we're living in what seems like a mess of confusion!  Jesus, I trust in You.  :-)  
9. continuing, ever so slowly, to organize our apartment.  It sure does seem that life gets in the way, every time I try to tidy and organize our belongings in this space.  As soon as the bedroom is clean, all of a sudden, life happens! -And I'm caught in the struggle of trying not to fall behind in household chores.  Someday, I will (God willing!) master the ability to keep on top of things!
10. listening, now, to "Africa" by Toto, and needing to wake up my husband from his nap soon!  Then we're off to the tech school campus for his last class of the week, and I'm off to hang out with my cousin while her mom hosts a get-together at her house.  Pair that with our weekly viewing of Project Runway (really, often our only "quality time" of the week), and it plans to be quite the evening!  :-)  


a presto!

wedding wednesday

As always, from Dave Watkins of Narella Studio, 
www.narella-studio.com