Tuesday, January 31, 2012

prayers

On Sunday Sean and I met with a counselor in the stake presidency and got our temple recommends! Yay! He gave us some advice as they normally do, and then mentioned that Satan is going to work extremely hard on us the next few weeks to try and stop our wedding from happening. And boy, that happened pretty quick. Surprisingly quick.

Yesterday was awful. Not even 24 hours after our interviews, I woke up, went running, and right before I was leaving for work I went to put my ring on and I couldn't find it. I could not remember for the life of me where I had put it the night before. I called Sean in a panic, and he told me places to look while he was waiting for his class to start. I said a little prayer and continued to look. I even went outside with a plastic bag covering my hand to check Blaze's poop to make sure he hadn't swallowed it. (It was disgusting and I will NEVER do that again.) Luckily, Sean remembers my nighttime routine better than I do apparently and asked where I had put my ring after lotion. I then checked the pocket of the sweatshirt I had been wearing and there it was.

Now I'm not saying it was Satan that misplaced my ring, but my overreaction was probably, eh, most likely aided by him. It was a scary thing worthy of a few tears, but I was hysterical. It was a terrible feeling, and I know Satan wasn't helping.

Anyway, after I found it, I said a quick thank you prayer and hurried off to work. After work, Sean picked Blaze up and took him down to his house where we were eating dinner because I was getting off late. We borrowed a long leash from our neighbors so Blaze could move around while on the leash. At some point, he slipped his collar and took off. I have no idea how long he was gone, but it was a good 10 minutes before Sean finally found him. Again, though, the hysterics started. I couldn't believe all these things were happening and in such a short amount of time. I'm an emotional person, but not this bad. We got Blaze in the car and said another quick thank you prayer.

Prayer is amazing. In the last 48 hours Sean and I have had experiences that have helped grow our testimony of prayer immensely. I am so grateful that we are able to communicate with our Heavenly Father, and that He listens and answers even the simplest of prayers, like finding my ring so I don't have to go without it for a day, or finding Blaze after 10 minutes of looking and him not being injured at all.

I love this story President Thomas S. Monson shared in October at General Conference:

"I gained my testimony of the power of prayer when I was about 12 years old. I had worked hard to earn some money and had managed to save five dollars. This was during the Great Depression, when five dollars was a substantial sum of money—especially for a boy of 12. I gave all my coins, which totaled five dollars, to my father, and he gave me in return a five-dollar bill. I know there was something specific I planned to purchase with the five dollars, although all these years later I can’t recall what it was. I just remember how important that money was to me.

At the time, we did not own a washing machine, so my mother would send to the laundry each week our clothes which needed to be washed. After a couple of days, a load of what we called “wet wash” would be returned to us, and Mother would hang the items on our clothesline out back to dry.
I had tucked my five-dollar bill in the pocket of my jeans. As you can probably guess, my jeans were sent to the laundry with the money still in the pocket. When I realized what had happened, I was sick with worry. I knew that pockets were routinely checked at the laundry prior to washing. If my money was not discovered and taken during that process, I knew it was almost certain the money would be dislodged during washing and would be claimed by a laundry worker who would have no idea to whom the money should be returned, even if he had the inclination to do so. The chances of getting back my five dollars were extremely remote—a fact which my dear mother confirmed when I told her I had left the money in my pocket.
I wanted that money; I needed that money; I had worked very hard to earn that money. I realized there was only one thing I could do. In my extremity I turned to my Father in Heaven and pleaded with Him to keep my money safe in that pocket somehow until our wet wash came back.
Two very long days later, when I knew it was about time for the delivery truck to bring our wash, I sat by the window, waiting. As the truck pulled up to the curb, my heart was pounding. As soon as the wet clothes were in the house, I grabbed my jeans and ran to my bedroom. I reached into the pocket with trembling hands. When I didn’t find anything immediately, I thought all was lost. And then my fingers touched that wet five-dollar bill. As I pulled it from the pocket, relief flooded over me. I offered a heartfelt prayer of gratitude to my Father in Heaven, for I knew that He had answered my prayer."
I am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father that I can turn to in all situations for help, guidance, or whatever I need, and I know that He will answer prayers in His timing. Sometimes it is immediate, sometimes it takes years. But He will answer if we are willing to ask.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

life or something like it

Nobody told me planning a wedding was going to make me the busiest I have ever been in my life. Thanks all you old roomies/friends who are already married...

Kidding! It's been great! Super busy. That part is true. But great. As the wedding gets closer and closer every day, I sometimes have to step back and realize all the little things in my life that are good. Because stress definitely hides good sometimes.

-Sean and I moved me into the apartment we will live in when we get married. We live in someone's basement, and they live upstairs. Super convenient. Blaze has adjusted well, and is loving his new friend that he gets to play with, a dog named Jake. Who doesn't really play. Poor Blaze. He misses Ruby. It's really fun knowing that it is "our"place, and I can't wait for Sean to move in :) Oh and apparently the whole ward knows we are coming. Great.

-Sean's family is fantastic. All of them. They have all helped so much with the wedding. His sister took our engagement photos AND designed our announcements (which are in the mail) at no cost! She is also doing my bridal shower along with Sean's sister-in-law. His dad teases me more than anyone else I swear, and they claim it is out of love... haha it's fun being part of their family. His mom lets us eat dinner there whenever we want, so my grocery bill has gone way down. Plus whenever I am there we eat at the table, which she loves. She has also done so much to help with the stress; printing labels, helping me stuff envelopes, buying random frames for the reception, giving me fabric advice for the centerpieces, tons of stuff. His aunt is an angel and is making my wedding dress. Custom made. Isn't that every girls dream? She has 10 yards of white satin in her living room and will start as soon as the fake-o is done and fitted to me. And did I mention all I had to do was pay for the fabric?? Yeah my mom loves me.

-My family is fantastic. My parents know I am getting things taken care of and all I have to do is check in and say, this is how much this cost and they lovingly reimburse me. Wow! I really wish my mom was here to dress shop, help with the reception, etc., but it is nice having Sean's family here to help with that.

-Work is going well. Shocker. Actually, they changed my position (again) and are moving me to another desk (again). I still am in the same department, but now I talk to military spouses all day and help them get started in the program. There is a funding for them through the MyCAA which basically allows them to enroll in any of our courses for free. So I help them through and get commission based on how much revenue I bring in. Paid of credit cards, here I come!

-Sean is in school. And he is smart. Way smarter than I was in school. He's in his hardest semester but still does a really good job of showing he loves me. He's wonderful :) He is working two jobs; he still works for catering at BYU and he also started as a Physiology TA this semester. He made the Dean's list last semester, so proud! We are both just counting down the days until he doesn't have to leave at night. So glad gas prices are cheaper right now.

-Did I mention wedding announcements are out? No more stressing about addresses. Phew.

Okay, so now comes the update on the actual wedding details. Ready? Go!

-Colors: a sort of cobalt blue, green and yellow. A nice, soft green and yellow with a splash of blue. Love it! The boys are wearing blue ties and gray slacks, girls are wearing gray skirts and blue shirts. Sean's tie is green and yellow, and we just picked up his suit on Monday. He's gonna look dang good!

-Location: we are getting sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple on Friday, Feb. 17th at 11am. Luncheon for those at the temple after, then a reception from 6-9. Both are at a church building in Provo, down the street from Sean's parents house. We are serving fruit and veggie trays, and angel food cake.

-Random: cake will be pretty small, since we are serving angel food cake for everyone. It will be pretty though, no worries. Centerpieces are going to be mason jars filled with sliced lemons and limes, with white flowers in them. They will be sitting on blue squares of fabric. Which I bought yesterday. And need to make into napkin size squares. Yikes. The ceiling will have fabric draped across it and lights strung below that so it doesn't look so gym-y.

-Dress: as mentioned, Sean's aunt is making it. She is a professional seamstress. As in has her degree in it. Awesome. It will have long sleeves, a higher collar, (helloooo it is going to be freezing) and is going to be gorgeous.

-Honeymoon: we are going to Moab for a few days and will be back at school/work on Tuesday unfortunately. But, we will be doing a southern California trip in May around Sean's birthday.

I'm sure I'm missing a ton of details that people want to know. Oh well. Just ask me.

And for those of you DYING to see the announcements and can't wait another day or two:



I think they look wonderful :) Yay getting married!