The most wonderful time of the year!

Well, it’s officially freezing in Iowa. We had our first “blizzard” of the season yesterday, though I hesitate to call it an actual blizzard. I think a more accurate description would be “blizzard-like.” High winds, swirling snow, freezing rain, ridiculously low temps…and a little bit of Jenna’s “winter” driving, as Matt, and now poor Kalese, can attest to. (So, I tend to slip and slide and swerve on the roads when it’s bad out.. whatever. Winter driving just isn’t my thing!)

Despite it being an absolutely miserable -24 degrees temperature with windchill out, I’m quite enjoying this cozy Christmas season. This past week was filled with excitement but sadness at the thought of my college life quickly ending. But it’s also been full of sweet conversations with friends and yummy cups of coffee. My favorite combination!

Most importantly, I’ve been reminded the past couple weeks of the many blessings God has given me. The best gift is hope in Him. As I’ve gone through periods of discouragement about missing family, wondering the plans of the future and not understanding why God’s faithful servants can remain sick for so long, God has gently encouraged me to not give up. While I’ve been wrestling with the fact that I have food to eat everyday but the dear children I met in Nicaragua go without food all too often, I remember… His plans are greater than mine; the scope through which He looks is so much larger. And God cares for us. He takes care of His children and He provides for our needs.

I rest assured in this holiday season that God is sovereign and will care for my needs, and yours if you let Him. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever… the nearness of God is my good.” Psalm 73:26,28

What more can you ask for but a complete and satisfied heart – absent of emptiness?

More Engagement Pictures

So, unlike most people, Matt and I ended up having two engagement picture sessions. Originally we just planned on having pictures taken by our good friend, Megan. But it ended up that our wedding photographer (also a friend of ours) wanted to snap a few before the big day! Matt and I love how both Megan and Lauren captured us. I want to print all of the pictures, but I can’t for sake of limited wall space.

Here a some pictures by Lauren Hecox (L&H Photography).

Shorter days.

7 days until my sister and nephew arrive back in the States! 12 days until graduation and seeing my brother. 75 days until I’m married!

Somewhere, somehow, someone pushed the fast forward button on my life. Just a couple weeks ago, it seemed like eternity until any of these things would come to pass.

Where does the time go?

It’s a funny thing how life gets faster and faster by the day. Everyone comments on it as you get older, but I wonder how many of us stop to do something about it. Not that you can actually do much. But I find myself forgetting all too often to take each day and just enjoy it. Enjoy the fact that I’m even living and breathing.

Though there is so much happening over the next few months, I’m determined to try my hardest to enjoy each and every day.

As hard as it is, I’m going to try and enjoy the fact that neither Matt nor I have jobs related to our degrees lined up. I know God has something in the works, but we just don’t know what yet! I’m going to enjoy the fact that we don’t know where we’ll be living because that means an adventure is in store. And, I’m going to enjoy the fact I can rest in God’s peace and know He takes care of everything – big and small.

Oh! and I’ll be enjoying the fact that I get to spend Christmas with my whole family for the first time in three years.

A sneak peek.

A couple months, I asked my good friend, Megan, to take engagement pictures for Matt and me. (Yes, that’s proper English.) She happily agreed. So, I was very excited because Matt and I always have such fun when we’re with her. We road-tripped to D.C. with her last spring break, and I think I laughed more on that trip than I do in a normal month.

Anyway, it was very special to have her take our pictures. Here’s a little sneak peek. (She took so many great ones that I’ll probably just put them on Facebook.) Enjoy!

Photo taken by Megan Sharp.

Photo taken by Megan Sharp. Edited by Jenna.

Photo taken and edited by Megan Sharp.

Photo taken by Megan Sharp. Edited by Jenna.

Photo taken and edited by Megan Sharp.

Photo taken by Megan Sharp. Edited by Jenna.

Highlights.

Because I’m lazy and don’t feel like writing a complete blog post, I’m blogging in list format. This week has been busy and tiring, mainly due to my newly acquired cold. So, such a week seems worthy of such a post. These are in no particular order..

Highlights of my week (I’m trying this new thing called being “positive.”)

1. Election week – It’s fun to see the nation energized and actually exercising its right to vote.
2. Election night – Seeing how communications and media relations for a political party works during its most important night of the year.
3. Skyping with my sister and baby Kaleb – His chubby little cheeks get me every time!
4. Getting a cold – God helped me realize how important it is to feed my body more nutritious food.
5. Envelopes and paper – We received invitation supplies in the mail this week!
6. Duvet – Matt and I found a duvet cover on clearance last week on target.com. So… we bought it! Our first purchase together. (Well, Matt made the purchase, but you know what I mean.)
7. Chapters – I finally read through a few more chapters of my Beth Moore book. It’s all about total surrender to Christ. Very thought provoking!
8. Job searching – Matt applied for a job he’s really excited about. I like seeing him get excited about using his talents and passions!
9. Catching up – It’s always good to catch up with friends. I had a lovely chat with the one and only Rachel Moye this week. And I had great conversations with Emily and Katherine! I’ve also made plans to talk with ANNIE this weekend. How wonderful a week. Now if I could only catch up with everyone!
10. Witnessed a small miracle – My grandma had surgery today, and the doctor said the hole in her eye was healed. Thanks God! Now my grandma won’t have to sit in a special chair, where she can’t move all day, for the next few weeks.
11. Maintenance request – I thought my window was broken because it let in so much cold air. If you know me very well, you know I practically freeze to death when any amount of cold air touches my skin. So, what did I do? Put in a maintenance request for them to cover my window with plastic wrap. I came back to the apartment today to find a note that said… “Tenant: The window was not closed completely, gently push on top while closing. You will know it’s closed properly when latches go into slot.” Sorry, maintenance guy. I swear it was shut. The latches were even locked. I guess the key word here is “properly.”
12. My mom – I got to see my mom this week! That’s always exciting and generally long overdue. We taste tested some cake, and she finally saw my apartment.

Well, that’s about it for my week so far. Well, at least the exciting things that have happened. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Stay healthy.

Words worth reading.

Here’s an op-ed column written by an all-time favorite journalist of mine, Tom Brokaw. This piece of writing makes me admire him all the more! I love the message.

Like it or not, we need to stop ignoring the fact our country is at war.

Much welcomed news.

This weekend was great. Absolutely wonderful.

Sleepover. Hosting a dear friend. Date night with my fiance. Dinner with my wonderful cousin and her cute little family. Skyping with my BROTHER!

Can a weekend get much better?

Only if you get a little more sleep than I did. But really, this weekend was wonderful.

See, it’s not often I get to see my brother face-to-face. Okay, it’s only Skype. But I’ll take what I can get. With Brad being stationed in Germany and serving in the military, it’s not often we get the chance to talk. So talking and seeing him on Skype is a special treat.

Talking was wonderful but what I found out in our conversation was even more wonderful. He’s coming home for Christmas! Well, most likely. Still, he sounded more sure today than he has in the past. Our family hasn’t celebrated Christmas all together for three years. So I’m praying Suzanne and John can come home this year, too.

I love my brother’s sacrifice for our country. I am the proudest little sister. I selfishly wish he’d come home, but I’ve come to find a deep appreciation for all the men and women who serve our country. They give up so much of their own lives to ensure freedom for ours.

Please remember the war going on right now. It’s easy to forget how much sacrifice those in the military make. Even if you don’t support the actual war, support our troops!

To love and be loved.

 

Inez and I having our weekly McDonald's date. We like to chat over their coffee!

I’m sure I’ve told you about her before, but her name is Inez. Inez is my dear friend – age 95.

 

God brought her into my life (or as she might say, brought me into her life) nearly a year and half ago. After talking with a friend at Bible study and learning of a volunteer program through a local senior services center, I started visiting her each week. What started out as a “volunteer opportunity” quickly turned into a sweet friendship.

What do we do? Well, not much. Before she broke her pelvis, we used to walk around the mall and chat over McDonald’s coffee. Now, she’s in assisted living, and we generally just chat between periods of silence. I absolutely love it!

Inez teaches me what it’s like being old and wise. She’s been through so much. As the oldest in her family of ten children, she helped raise most her siblings. Now, she survives all but the two youngest. She was married twice, but sadly, both her husbands passed away. She’s never had children of her own but is a loving mother to four step-children. She lost one child to cancer several years ago.

This dear woman has endured so much heartache and loss, more than I can even imagine. Yet, she remains positive and leans on God. This is something I truly admire about her. She doesn’t act like it’s easy or puts on a face that everything is fine. She is genuine and real. But she never gives up hope.

I could go on and on about how much I love my dear friend, Inez. But I suppose I should get to the point of this post.

She lost a very close friend this week – her only sister. I found out today when I visited with her, and my heart broke. I can’t even think of what that would be like.

Being young, I have a tendency to see losing friends and family at and old age as natural. It’s anything but that. It doesn’t make it easier. Being old doesn’t take the pain away of losing someone you love or even lessen it. If anything, it makes it harder because you generally have less of a support group. You’re lonely and sometimes feel forgotten.

Don’t forget about the elderly. This happens way too often. I believe it’s one of the most overlooked flaws our society has. Just because our grandparents or great grandparents grow older in years, doesn’t mean they lose touch with feelings and emotion. They deserved to be loved as we love anyone else. After all, they are the ones who have taught us how to love.

One step closer.

Well, this weekend was yet another blur. This seems to be my life lately! But Matt and I finally got to work on some wedding stuff together, one being registering! The other was planning our invitations. Though I think he fell asleep on the couch, while I searched the internet for just the “perfect” paper.

I knew registering would take awhile, but I didn’t realize Matt and I would spend THREE hours in Bed, Bath and Beyond. Ridiculous if you ask me! Luckily, we made it out without arguing one bit. (I’ve heard registering can be a trying experience We actually really enjoyed picking things out together and had a lot of fun. We found the whole experience quite funny because neither of us really have much of anything. Add that to not knowing where we’re living in four months, and you get a pish posh of registry items.

After making it out of Bed, Bath and Beyond, we headed to Target. We were both exhausted and worn out by this time. Needless to say, our Target trip was much shorter. I think the only part of Target Matt enjoyed was that he found a popcorn maker to register for! Never would have thought he’d get so excited over that

And after allll that, I finally figured out our invitations. It seemed like I searched for hours online to find nice paper at an affordable price. Finally, I found something! We decided to order a few sample sheets. Once we get those, hopefully we’ll be one step closer to making the big day actually happen.

Whoever said you couldn’t plan a wedding in six months?!

February 19, here we come.

5 months ’til marriage.

It’s 12:33 am. I’m not sleeping, but I probably should be. I can’t help but think about what I’ll be doing five months from today.

Yep. Not sleeping. That’s what I’ll be doing. But only because I’ll be getting married that day! I’m sure I’ll be too excited to sleep.

I just cannot believe it is coming so quickly. Not that I’m surprised. I guess that’s what you get for planning a wedding in six months. But I couldn’t be more excited and feel really blessed I don’t have to wait any longer than five months. Though, it would be nice to know all my family can be there, I’m excited to share the day with so many people we love dearly.

Just pray there’s unseasonably warm weather that day. Or even just no snow on the forecast. I’d live with that.

Our engagement has been such a neat growing experience for Matt and I. To clarify, a good experience. We’ve really been able to focus on growing as a couple and encouraging each other rather than getting too caught up in the wedding process. It’s nice that we both agree the wedding is more about our marriage than the fun decorations or nice dinner, etc. So as a result, we’ve focused on preparing ourselves for marriage and the hardships I’m sure we’ll face, as every marriage does.

So, as we wait out the next five months, we’re excited to see what God does in our relationship. And with our future. (We still have no clue where we will be living!) At least we know we’ll be following His lead.