We have a wedding location!!! Yay! This has been the most difficult part of the wedding planning process so far. It's obviously one of the first decisions, so I don't have a lot to compare it to, but I think in the end it will rank towards the top. The main problem has been that I am 7 hours away from where I'm getting married and churches in east Tennessee don't always have websites, and when they do, there aren't pictures. Also, churches around Benton are small. Like 100 person capacity small. And churches with 100 person capacity expect about half of that to show up based on the size of their parking lots. Also, I really wanted an outdoor reception. So, I needed to find a church that either had an outdoor area to have a reception, or was close enough to a place for an outdoor reception.
We looked at every church in a 20min radius of our house. It's the Bible belt - that was a lot of churches. Mom, Shannon, Cheryl, and I went driving on a Sunday afternoon. We stopped at every church we passed. We peeked in windows, tried locked doors, met pastor's wives, came across birthday party carryovers waiting for the evening service to start, sneaked in through a door that was open because a sink was being installed, and compared every church to our church and all the other ones. We especially looked at carpet colors. I think carpet stores give major discounts to churches who buy green carpet - the bolder the color, the cheaper the carpet. Mom and I also drove to an area 45min away and followed every little white sign hiding in the grass around stop signs that pointed to a place of worship. We saw a lot of interesting places. George (my GPS who speaks in the voice of George Bush) took us on some interesting shortcuts. But ultimately we found it true that the prettiest place is in your own backyard. Or your neighbors' backyard...
We are going to have the ceremony at First Baptist Church in Benton where my parents attend and the reception in our friends'/neighbors' backyard. Buddy and Cheryl live up the river from us and have a pretty place down the hill from their house with a pavilion by the river. So, I am very grateful they are willing to let us use it, and very excited we have that all settled. Now to the rest of the checklist.
As for other non-wedding related things, I've found some music I like. I first heard about Adele from one of my RAs when I came to interview at MC. Only recently did I actually listen to her. I listened through a concert of hers and these are the songs that stuck out to me. She has such a powerful voice and evokes strong emotions. As Cody would say, she's got soul.
The first song is Rolling in the Deep. I really like the video as well. The imagery communicates so much emotion - passion in the dancing, anger in the dishes, anticipation in the glasses, and the build-up in the city. I really love the progressions too - the powder on the floor and sparks on the paper city. The background vocals and percussion of the song are awesome too.
Also so good - Someone Like You
Another song I love is If I Die Young by The Band Perry. I love the essence of the song. Something about the whole sound just connects deeply with me. I really like the video of this as well. I think if I fully embraced the artistic, hippie, dramatic, free spirit part of me, I would be the girl in the video. I love the nature and vintage setting. Agh, it's just so good.
In other media news, I am reading the book Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott. She's been called the female version of Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz). Traveling Mercies reminds me a lot of another book I read recently called I'm Perfect, You're Doomed. I'm Perfect, You're Doomed is about a girl raised Jehovah's Witness. It's about her childhood in the faith and how she questions it and about all her exploits. She gets involved in a lot of bad stuff - drinking, sex, a terrible teenage marriage, eventual self-mutilation. She kind of leaves the Jehovah's Witness faith, but still is kind of attached to it. I expected the book to eventually describe some kind of turning point in her life, but it ends with her in pretty much the same situation, except divorced by the end, I think. It was a disappointment. Not that every autobiography needs to have the person come to Jesus, but at the end of the story you would kind of like to know that the author isn't going to keep drinking and cutting herself, or is at least going to try to stop or get help. This book didn't give any hope of this. So, I'm left with the idea of some lonely 20-something girl sitting in her apartment drinking herself useless by noon, cutting, and experimenting with comedy and beat poetry, while living off of royalty checks she gets from her book. But, I digress. The point - while these books seem similar, I'm hoping Traveling Mercies turns out better. It actually already is better. Anne Lamott does come to a point of being willing to believe in God and she stops drinking. Now she's exploring how God plays into the daily struggles she faces as close friends die and friends' kids are sick and her own son faces the possibility of a disease. I'll let you know how her story turns out.
Today in Sunday school we were talking about King Jehu (2 Kings 9-10). To sum up the story - God tells Elisha to proclaim Jehu king over Israel. Once Jehu is king he kills Jezebel, Ahab's family, and all of the servants of Baal as a cleansing of Israel, according to God's will. But, he doesn't stop the worshiping of golden calves. God tells Jehu because he has done his will completely regarding Ahab's household and other areas, Jehu's descendants will sit on the throne of Israel for four generations. After that Jehu was "not careful to keep the law of the Lord," but God still kept his promise and Jehu's descendants were on the throne for four generations. It reminded me of David. He was called a man after God's own heart, and yet had an affair with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. It's comforting to know that even the guys with huge faith and who pleased God screwed up sometimes. We feel like it's ok that we mess up sometimes, since they did. We can even feel better because most of us haven't had an affair, or murdered someone. We aren't that bad. But, how many of us have defeated Goliath or led an army to victory or carried out a risky mission for God? We might not have as low of points as David or Jehu, but we don't have as high of points either.
We live like this:
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
And David and Jehu live like this:
/\ /\ /\
/ \ / \ / \
/ \ / \ / \
/ \ / \ / \
/ \/ \/ \
Which does God actually prefer from us? Radical obedience and faith with occasional really bad mistakes, or small faith with small mistakes? Judging from these 2 guys and Moses, I would say the former.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Quick Catchup
Well, a lot has happened since that last entry. For all you people know, I never made it out of Peru. You can rest easy, I am back in the USA. We had a great vacation time in Puno, and then all gratefully headed home. I came back home to Tennessee, so glad to be back to familiar foods and digestive normalcy.
I spent the fall semester fishing, doing Pilates/Yoga, traveling to Baylor and the beach, cooking, taking pictures of food, and, oh yeah, looking for a job. Finally a week before Thanksgiving, Larry Correll-Hughes (my old boss/hall director at Baylor) saw a post of mine on Facebook about looking for a job. He knew a former Baylor Residence Hall Director, Sharia Brock, who is now the Director of Residence Life at Mississippi College. She had an open position for a Residence Hall Director (RD). I turned in my application the week of Thanksgiving, did a phone interview the next week, and traveled down to Clinton, MS for an on-campus interview the week after that. The next week I traveled to Dallas for Cody's graduation from nursing school (YAY!). I came a week early so we could spend some time together before heading separate ways for an undetermined amount of time (Cody home to Alaska, me back home to Tennessee). That Tuesday Mississippi College called and offered me the position. I accepted it on Thursday. Friday Cody had his pinning ceremony and that night he proposed to me on Baylor's campus on the swing we sat on when we first talked about our feelings for each other! I accepted that offer too. I was completely surprised and very excited. The next day he graduated from Baylor with his BSN. Less than 2 hours after graduation, however, Cody's car was broken into while we were eating a celebratory lunch at Cheddar's. A plethora of actions were then required. I won't bore you with the details.
Monday we left Dallas - the Sherman's driving to Florida and me along for the ride until reaching Georgia where I took a shuttle to Chattanooga and then went home. Christmas was the next week. We had the usual catfish stew Christmas dinner with mom's family and wrapping paper fight with dad's in Columbia. Then New Year's Day I packed my Honda and moved to Mississippi. Among all that, Kim, my youngest sister, went to India on a mission trip for 2 weeks, including Christmas Eve and Day. So, we actually celebrated our immediate family Christmas at the beginning of December, before all of the Texas excitement. She had a great time and returned safely.
I have really enjoyed my job and life in Mississippi. I live in an apartment on the campus of Mississippi College. I am in charge of 7 RAs and a building full of upperclassmen girls. Mostly I meet people - RDs for weekly staff meetings, RAs for weekly staff meetings, RAs for bi-weekly one-on-ones, students when they lock themselves out of their rooms. I also get to be on call a few weeks of the semester. Mostly you just carry around a phone and hope it doesn't ring :) I work in the Counseling Center on campus as the other half of my job - planning outreach events, organizing files, and other general office work.
I found a really great church close to campus. It's called Morrison Heights Baptist Church and I love that they have lots of opportunities for people to serve. From the first Sunday, I felt like I was needed. I am also a part of a great singles Sunday school class there. I know I'm not exactly single, but I'm not married either, so I've settled in the singles class. And I'm so glad I have. The people are great, and everyone really has ownership of the group. Recently we've enacted a (frequency to be determined) game night. At our first meeting we had a great time playing Nertz, Taboo, Bananagrams, and Psychologist.
Probably a month ago Cody accepted a job at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Palmer (his hometown) as an RN. He then passed the NCLEX, officially becoming an RN! He completed training at the hospital almost 2 weeks ago and is currently on his 5th night shift since last Tuesday. Two and a half more weeks of night shift and then he will be working during the day, for a few weeks at least.
The excitement and stress overshadowing all of this is the not so happy counterpart to engagement - wedding planning. The first decision we made on the drive from Dallas to Georgia was that we were getting married in Tennessee. It is where my family is, a really pretty area, and in the middle of his family in Florida and Kentucky. Then we debated whether to get married in September and live in Mississippi, or wait until May 2012 and live in Alaska. September because I like fall and May because I would have stayed at my job for at least a year and a half.
Three months and not enough decisions later, we are getting married in September and moving to Alaska. And...that's about all the things we have confirmed. Between starting a new job and being 7 hours away, it has been difficult to plan a wedding. I have spent Spring Break this past week at home in Tennessee in hopes of nailing down a lot more details. Or at least a place and a date. Hopes were high for a church I stumbled upon last fall and loved. It has a beautiful prayer room and a creek running alongside the property. I was called back tonight and told that they no longer allow any non-church members to have weddings there :( So I kind of feel like it's back to the drawing board. I have looked at other places this week though and still have a few things to check out. It's just not going to be as easy as I'd hoped.
As for Cody and me, the night shift and a 3 hour time difference doesn't make for the easiest communication, but we've had a lot of practice being apart and I'm sure we will adapt to the added challenge. I'm excited he is finally getting to do what he has been studying for so long.
My feelings change daily about the decision to move to Alaska. On one hand it will be a great adventure and experience. On the other it will be cold and dark and far away from my family. Cody will be able to stay at his job after completing 3 months of a training/supervision stage. I will have to leave my job and church that I really enjoy after only 5 months. We get to be around his whole family. We will see my family at Christmas and my sister's graduation. Also, I will have to sell, or transport and store at my parents' house, the furniture I just bought for my apartment. Whichever location we had picked, one of us would have to give up a lot. This time it's my turn. I call dibs on picking the next location though :)
I was going to just start the blog back up once I moved to Alaska, but after some wedding location search adventures this week, I figured I could start now. Hopefully from now on posts won't be so long, or cover so much time. They should be more in depth, humorous, and serious as well. Happy following.
I spent the fall semester fishing, doing Pilates/Yoga, traveling to Baylor and the beach, cooking, taking pictures of food, and, oh yeah, looking for a job. Finally a week before Thanksgiving, Larry Correll-Hughes (my old boss/hall director at Baylor) saw a post of mine on Facebook about looking for a job. He knew a former Baylor Residence Hall Director, Sharia Brock, who is now the Director of Residence Life at Mississippi College. She had an open position for a Residence Hall Director (RD). I turned in my application the week of Thanksgiving, did a phone interview the next week, and traveled down to Clinton, MS for an on-campus interview the week after that. The next week I traveled to Dallas for Cody's graduation from nursing school (YAY!). I came a week early so we could spend some time together before heading separate ways for an undetermined amount of time (Cody home to Alaska, me back home to Tennessee). That Tuesday Mississippi College called and offered me the position. I accepted it on Thursday. Friday Cody had his pinning ceremony and that night he proposed to me on Baylor's campus on the swing we sat on when we first talked about our feelings for each other! I accepted that offer too. I was completely surprised and very excited. The next day he graduated from Baylor with his BSN. Less than 2 hours after graduation, however, Cody's car was broken into while we were eating a celebratory lunch at Cheddar's. A plethora of actions were then required. I won't bore you with the details.
Monday we left Dallas - the Sherman's driving to Florida and me along for the ride until reaching Georgia where I took a shuttle to Chattanooga and then went home. Christmas was the next week. We had the usual catfish stew Christmas dinner with mom's family and wrapping paper fight with dad's in Columbia. Then New Year's Day I packed my Honda and moved to Mississippi. Among all that, Kim, my youngest sister, went to India on a mission trip for 2 weeks, including Christmas Eve and Day. So, we actually celebrated our immediate family Christmas at the beginning of December, before all of the Texas excitement. She had a great time and returned safely.
I have really enjoyed my job and life in Mississippi. I live in an apartment on the campus of Mississippi College. I am in charge of 7 RAs and a building full of upperclassmen girls. Mostly I meet people - RDs for weekly staff meetings, RAs for weekly staff meetings, RAs for bi-weekly one-on-ones, students when they lock themselves out of their rooms. I also get to be on call a few weeks of the semester. Mostly you just carry around a phone and hope it doesn't ring :) I work in the Counseling Center on campus as the other half of my job - planning outreach events, organizing files, and other general office work.
I found a really great church close to campus. It's called Morrison Heights Baptist Church and I love that they have lots of opportunities for people to serve. From the first Sunday, I felt like I was needed. I am also a part of a great singles Sunday school class there. I know I'm not exactly single, but I'm not married either, so I've settled in the singles class. And I'm so glad I have. The people are great, and everyone really has ownership of the group. Recently we've enacted a (frequency to be determined) game night. At our first meeting we had a great time playing Nertz, Taboo, Bananagrams, and Psychologist.
Probably a month ago Cody accepted a job at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Palmer (his hometown) as an RN. He then passed the NCLEX, officially becoming an RN! He completed training at the hospital almost 2 weeks ago and is currently on his 5th night shift since last Tuesday. Two and a half more weeks of night shift and then he will be working during the day, for a few weeks at least.
The excitement and stress overshadowing all of this is the not so happy counterpart to engagement - wedding planning. The first decision we made on the drive from Dallas to Georgia was that we were getting married in Tennessee. It is where my family is, a really pretty area, and in the middle of his family in Florida and Kentucky. Then we debated whether to get married in September and live in Mississippi, or wait until May 2012 and live in Alaska. September because I like fall and May because I would have stayed at my job for at least a year and a half.
Three months and not enough decisions later, we are getting married in September and moving to Alaska. And...that's about all the things we have confirmed. Between starting a new job and being 7 hours away, it has been difficult to plan a wedding. I have spent Spring Break this past week at home in Tennessee in hopes of nailing down a lot more details. Or at least a place and a date. Hopes were high for a church I stumbled upon last fall and loved. It has a beautiful prayer room and a creek running alongside the property. I was called back tonight and told that they no longer allow any non-church members to have weddings there :( So I kind of feel like it's back to the drawing board. I have looked at other places this week though and still have a few things to check out. It's just not going to be as easy as I'd hoped.
As for Cody and me, the night shift and a 3 hour time difference doesn't make for the easiest communication, but we've had a lot of practice being apart and I'm sure we will adapt to the added challenge. I'm excited he is finally getting to do what he has been studying for so long.
My feelings change daily about the decision to move to Alaska. On one hand it will be a great adventure and experience. On the other it will be cold and dark and far away from my family. Cody will be able to stay at his job after completing 3 months of a training/supervision stage. I will have to leave my job and church that I really enjoy after only 5 months. We get to be around his whole family. We will see my family at Christmas and my sister's graduation. Also, I will have to sell, or transport and store at my parents' house, the furniture I just bought for my apartment. Whichever location we had picked, one of us would have to give up a lot. This time it's my turn. I call dibs on picking the next location though :)
I was going to just start the blog back up once I moved to Alaska, but after some wedding location search adventures this week, I figured I could start now. Hopefully from now on posts won't be so long, or cover so much time. They should be more in depth, humorous, and serious as well. Happy following.
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