10 days!

so i am going to be a wife in 10 days. this is big. i've never been a wife, i'm pretty excited about figuring it out. you'd think that time would be flying by with how busy i am but time continues to crawl. on a side note does anyone ever watch the local news? it is amazingly bad. to day the top story- a man was going too fast in his motorcycle and then crashed. riveting, be sure to tune in 5:00 on channel 7.
so back to the marriage thing. i really want to be married, which is good since i will be next friday. there is no real point to this email other than just repeat over and over that i'm getting married next friday.
today i ran into erin johnson in the union and we talked about how we never blog, well look at me now erin, i'm typin' away!
i'm excited about the reception that will follow my wedding, i think it's going to be a pretty happening party, so bring your dancing shoes, and your cash, cause we couldn't afford an open bar. well, i'm going to stop rambling, t minus 10 days, and counting.

yay TEAMWORK!

i was talking to the lovely erin johnson bright and early at our community group friday morning, and she was talking about the grove raising up entire teams to go to the mission field together; an idea that i have often thought of but had lost hope in. everyday i pray about God sending stephen and i out to the people He has made us passionate about. i think of going with a group of people i already know and trust, people that God has brought together before ever sending us out. but over the last few months i've lost hope in that thought because it seems like everyone i talk to already has it planned out where they want to go, none of which are the place i want to go. but talking to erin the other day i saw how wrong i was to have thought this and it was a burden lifted off my heart. i trust that God has called stephen and i to the bengali people and he will provide for us and protect us, but somehow i'd thought that He wouldn't be able to raise people up here to send with us. oh the stupid things i let satan convince me of. anyway, i was remembering how excited i would get when i was very first thinking about going and how when i prayed about it i saw stephen and i with other people from here, it might just be my wishful thinking, but it also might be God calling us to go to the nations as the body of Christ and live lives that are exemplary of Him, serving, worshiping and caring for each other. so, please pray with me about God raising up a team that is willing and excited to go and serve together.

and on that note of being excited to go, do you ever just lay in your bed and cry because God has you here, an your heart wants so badly to go to the people that you love, but you can't yet and it just hurts? cause if you do we really need to talk. i feel like i'm rambling on and on about things that people don't really care about, but i know that they're out there, anyway, if you want to move to southeast asia in the next five years, let me know asap!

weddings: the anti-savings

so, i've been thinking a lot about money lately....i know, not much like me, but its taken up much of my thoughts since i stated planning my wedding. and my conclusion is weddings are freaking expensive in the u.s. but does that justify me joining in with everyone and spending an extravogant amount of money? i mean the wedding is essentially about the covenant between stephen me and God? so why am i expected to pay thousands of dollars to make it the most wonderful day of my life? eating some cake and sipping on $30 per bowl punch aren't whats making it a huge landmark in life. i'm just don't think i can have a broken heart over the 25 thousand children that starve to death everyday and justify spending $800 on a wedding dress. and am i the only one who thinks its a little outrageous that to spend 45 minutes in a church is going to cost me $600 hundred dollars? its not adding up to me how the body of Christ puts such a high price on a wedding ceremony. aren't we supposed to give without expecting anything in return? stand apart from the world? not join in the lie that good means expensive? is anyone else confused about any of this? what to do? cut the guest list, only invite close friends to save on costs? or rebel against the whole thing and just go to the court house? or just go along with what everyone else is telling me, that its ok to spend all that money on a wedding?how am i exemplifying a lifestyle of simplicity that i think believers are called to by having a wedding that is the cultural norm? and how do i help the people around me to understand this? how do i tell my parents who want to pay for all of this so that i can have a beautiful wedding, that the gift they're offering me isn't what i want or believe is right for me?feel free to answer any of the ba-zillion questions i've rambled.

so, engaged huh?

so, i'm engaged, its wierd, but good. very new to me, this getting married thing. its a great conversation starter when people as how my break was though. my ring is the greatest ring i have ever seen, no offense to the other engaged ladies, but mine is the best. the center stone is a ruby. my love for my ring is twofold:
fold 1. it is very unique, and i like unique, i do things sometimes just becuase no one else is, thats just who i am.
fold 2. the diamond industry is an unjust and rather oppressive one, so i was deffinatley ok with not having one.
another thing i like, anne antoine. she and i have been sharing a room for almost a week now and i like her more everyday. if you get a chance ask her about the oddessy of the missing panties, its a thriller.
on a completley different note, austin bell might have gotten a mammogram today.
well, thats it.
i'm no longer a blogging virgin