the proposal!

Thursday, May 15

I awoke to a text message from Joe, followed by a phone call. He was unusually alert for that time in the morning, sounded really excited to get to work, and was even on his way into the office a half-hour early! I wanted to go back to sleep, after having stayed up until 3ish finishing a paper, but his excitement really awakened me. "You're going on vacation today!" he said. He seemed more thrilled than I! We talked about my schedule for the day, which included swinging by RTS on the way out of town to finish a take-home exam. "How long will that take?" he asked. "I don't know, no more than 2 hours."

So I was out of bed in minutes, tidying up my work inbox for the week and packing my bags. I was expecting to have 2 days to myself at the beach, so I packed like a champ with books, stamping supplies, magazines, etc. (never got used, not a last one of them :) I talked to Joe maybe 2 more times before finally settling down with my take-home exam at RTS. He was persistent in asking "how long will your exam take? When do you think you'll be heading to New Smyrna?" It never got to the point of annoying, but I definitely noticed he asked me so many times! I finished the exam 3 hours later (yikes), did a little jig, and was on the road to my final destination!! I have grown up loving my mom's family's beachhouse in New Smyrna Beach; I've always said that when I cross the bridge to beachside living, my soul knows it's time to rest and I breathe a big sigh of relief. And NSB did not disappoint this day either!

I drove up to the house, texted Joe that I had arrived, grabbed a few things, and went inside. The main living space is on the second floor, so that's where I headed first. Wow! -opened the curtains and the beach looked glorious! The phone rang and it was Joe. "I'm here!" I said excitedly. He said he was so glad I made it and asked how the weather was. I walked out onto the deck overlooking the beach and started telling him how it felt, "it's a little overcast, but feels great! I definitely want to take a walk first before I do anything else!" He responded, "a walk on the beach sounds so nice, I wish I could walk with you." Not thinking much of it, I said, "yes, honey, that does sound wonderful."

"Well....come downstairs!!!" WHAT?! His head popped up from the stairs leading down to the beach.... my eyes bugged out... is that my joe?!?! I could not even begin to grasp the fact that he was standing down there, right in front of me! I kept saying silly things like 'is that really you' and 'what are you doing here' and 'don't you have small group tonight', while he was still coaching me to come downstairs.

(the view from where I was standing on the deck, looking down to the stairs where Joe emerged)

Let me tell you, I RAN downstairs.

He greeted me with a kiss and I knew. This was it!

So we sat down on the stairs leading down to the beach, and while the wind was blowing in our hair and the waves were crashing about 20 feet away, Joe gifted me with a beautiful speech about our relationship and why he loves me. And then he asked me to MARRY him!! I couldn't believe it. I'd been waiting for this moment maybe all of my life, and it turned out to be more perfect than I could ever have imagined.



After several yeses and squeals and kisses, he promptly apologized for all the lying and deception he had authored over the last several months. HA. Poor guy hated living a secret life. But I really had no idea! He confessed to several "remember this? well, I was really doing this." (I thought he had been watching an unusually high volume of TV lately!)


It was absolutely blissful! He presented me with a stunning ring! And we talked for a long time and then he prayed for us. I might have opened one eye once or twice during the prayer to peek at the diamond on my hand (!). Yes, it's really there!



Joe came back on Friday and we had an amazing day just the two of us. Once my parents arrived on Friday night, we talked wedding for 3 1/2 hours straight before we all collapsed in bed. My brother and his family arrived on Saturday and we all had a wonderful weekend celebrating God's goodness to us!

We feel exceedingly blessed and are grateful for your excitement with us!!

--pause--

I'm on a little break this week...I'm dying to blog about going green, but I don't even have the time to think on anything but exams!

Papers, exams, and vacation coming...

Be back soon!

time out: a quote from my reading

Time out: I know I owe you a post on "going green", which I'm quite eager to write about, but in the essense of time, today's post is an excerpt from my reading.

This is from the book The Sermon on the Mount / The Character of a Disciple by Daniel Doriani. pg 166-7

"To love God with the mind means, third, to speak about money in ways that reiterate his truth. For example, we should not start to make our financial decisions with "Can we afford it?" Instead, we should ask, "Does this glorify God? Does it make me a better servant?" Parents must especially take care not to answer their children's petitions for toys and games simply by declaring, "We can't afford it." Those four words end the conversation very effectively at some ages and keep parents from seeming insensitive. But the subliminal message is, "The adults don't make the decisions in this family, money does." When we make decisions, we should let God and his law have the final word, not money."

This struck a chord within me... How much my mind needs to be re-wired when it comes to money! I've been pondering recently the degree to which I'm affected by marketing, advertising, and our generally extraodinarily materialistic society. It's scary. Growing up in my community/culture has programmed me to think, act, and make decisions according to a particular financial worldview. Eww, it's not pretty. It's not Christlike. It's not a Kingdom-minded perspective.

This is one of my "character-goals" for the summer: to take a hard look at my spending THOUGHT-life. I'm not a big spender these days; I am, in fact, a very poor student. But this is a good time to examine the deeper issue of my attitude towards all-things-money. What do I covet? What kind of lifestyle do my spending habits perpetuate? What triggers in me a desire to spend money? What do I really need and what I do try to slide into that category unnecessarily? When my sister-in-law Ashlee was here a couple of weeks ago, she was a good accountability in conversation to stop myself and say, "I don't need a new pair of black sandals, just because my flat, casual pair that I wear with everything is falling apart." Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. :) My flip flops or dressy sandals will do just fine, won't they?

This is just one example of the many ways I see my ungodly thoughts influencing ungodly spending. I'm not against a new pair of sandals (a girl LOVES her shoes!!). I'm against anything but God driving my decision making, all the way down to how I spend money. (almost wrote my money...but i'm not sure that's true either! ugh, i've got a lot of growing to do)

May His Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven - starting in me!

Black Bean Burritos

During the month of April, I took part in a pilot mentoring program through my church called Recipes for Life. In short, a group of older and younger women met on Tuesday nights to share a meal, study the Scriptures, and share our lives. I got to know some new friends and learned tons of new recipes!

I'm in this strange stage of life (short-lived, I pray:) between not really being single and not being married yet. For you ladies out there: I'm sure you'll understand. Although I've always loved anything at home, I find myself more excited than ever to cook, clean, decorate, garden and generally take care of a home. And I also am being drawn to older married women who can teach me the art of being a good wife. So -- this mentoring program was for me!

Here's one of my favorite new recipes that I've made maybe 3 times in the last two weeks. :) It's so easy, cheap, fast, and a real winner! Thank you Lou Jones for sharing.

Black Bean Burritos

2 green onions
1 clove garlic, minced
I T. vegetable oil
1 can black beans, drained
1 jar salsa
1 t. chili powder
1 1/2 C. mild cheddar cheese, shredded
4 tortillas (soft taco size)

In a large skillet, cook green onions and garlic in oil for 2 minutes. Add beans, 1/4 C. salsa, and chili powder and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in 1 C. cheese. Spread black bean mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in a lightly greased baking dish. Spoon additional salsa over top of tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes OR cover with plastic and microwave for 3-5 minutes. You may wish to top with sour cream or cilantro to serve. YUM!

This recipe makes 4 burritos, but it doubles or even triples very easily!

PS...the Jones family particularly likes this meal because it's meatless. But Joe prefers it with chicken. :) I used just one boneless chicken breast and it was sufficient.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, Oh God!

"Divine omniscience affords no comfort to the ungodly mind, but to the child of God it overflows with consolation. God is always thinking upon us, never turns aside His mind from us, has us always before His eyes; and this is precisely as we would have it, for it would be dreadful to exist for a moment beyond the observation of our heavenly Father. His thoughts are always tender, loving, wise, prudent, far-reaching, and they bring to us countless benefits: hence, it is a choice delight to remember them...

Dear reader, is this precious to you? then hold to it...The Lord lives and thinks upon us, this is a truth far too precious for us to be lightly robbed of it..."


-excerpt from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, April 30.
Title is from Psalm 139:17

some thoughts...and posts to come

So...it's been a while. After a long absence in posting, isn't it hard to know what to say? I figured I might sum up a few things I've been thinking about lately....

1. Great words from Spurgeon about how wonderfully thoughtful God is toward us! Future post on this.

2. I love cooking; it's so fun. Due to my current schedule, I've taken up cooking all weekend to supply meals for the week. And I am digging it right now. :) Post on recipes forthcoming.

3. My current schedule, as previously discussed, is about to change... I cannot believe this semester is nearly over! (2 wks to go) It's been a dream come true to be a full-time student again, take part in other activities my work schedule prohibited, and to take a break from being a working woman. :) The Lord has been so incredibly good to fulfill this dream...I still can't believe I'm living it! Thank you, Lord!!

It's been a fantastic semester on campus, and now I move into a time of personal study as I finish up my degrees. I'll primarily be taking virtual classes now through December.

4. To completely change the subject...I've been thinking a lot about how exactly I can "go green"? Maybe I'll save this discussion for another post, because I feel like I have a lot to say. Hmmm...sorry for the teaser, but I'm going to wait. And I want your input!

5. Joe is the best! I'm crazy about him!

That's all. Have a nice day. :) Thank you for reading.