I Want to be a Farm-girl too!

I found this neat-o site when I was on blogger one day. I haven't explored it fully, but wanted to draw attention to it incase I forget about it later. It's about a girl on a farm in Missouri. That's pretty much all I know, but it looked to be something you should check out for fun. Farmgirl Fare

Standing on the edge of possible change is never something I have fully enjoyed or embraced. I don't think I sat down and really thought about how my life would change after I got married, and thus my wedding was not as overly emotional as it could have been. I have since processed a lot of those emotions and the changes, and I am feeling better about them. We are enjoying life, as every day together is truly a gift.

I would like to request prayers as we continue to seek out where the Lord has in store for us to be next year. Immigration status changing is the thorn in our sides at the moment, but through all of this we know that we have not been abandoned, and that there is still a plan...I'll let you know when we figure out what that is.

I wanted to post a few pictures on here from our trip to Nebraska at the end of May. We went there for Charles' nieces wedding. First picture is of Naomi & Talitha before the wedding (sisters, Charles' nieces):

The next picture is of Charles' nephew Ben & fiance Martha at the reception. We're hoping to go to their wedding sometime around New Year's way up in Alberta.. I hope we can:

What happens when Charles' crazy nephew Daniel gets ahold of my camera:

Charles & Naomi at the reception:

Finally, and I always love these pictures, is Naomi and Robert leaving the wedding. I think I like these photos because they always seem to really capture the blissful moment.

Near indignation.. thus, this is the expression on my face. Does anyone read my blog? Is it boring and not noteworthy? Sometimes it's like talking to a brick wall, you people. I appreciate that Kristen adds comments, but she's the only one.

:( Just because I save the juicy stuff for my personal hidden blog is no reason to not read this one. This one is good too. Right? Actually, the reason for my rant is that I really wanted to use this icon. It's such a great expression. Thank you Deborah (www.livejournal.com/users/maplest) for letting me steal icons. Love ya.

Thankfully, it's the weekend, and fun will be had by all.

Speaking of something that feels like home, I ran across this blog today, and though I only read a few posts, it was nice to "hear" from someone posting in England. Check it out: Unique British Gifts

I'm up to photo collaging again.. Here are some of the flowers I shot on our honeymoon in Williamsburg, and at Monticello, Virginia.
  

So I know this is just a random thing to write a blog about, but I couldn't resist. Sometimes humorous things happen from day to day, and if you don't write about them, you'll forget.

Wednesday I went to go into the restroom at work (or washroom, for you Canadians) and there was a huge cockroach on the floor (are they ever little??). I yelped and went to get a faithful co-worker, Donna, who rescued me from the terror of the roach. I thought little of it until the next day when I see two guys from Cooks Pest Control standing in the lobby. One of the tellers, Princess, who has humor akin to my own, turns to me and says with a slight smile, "Amanda, could you please describe the purportrator for us?" Of course I laugh out loud, because I know she's talking about the cockroach incident from the day previous. The Cooks man evidentially did not find this exchange amusing, for he said (and I am not making this up), "Ma'am, this is a serious matter. It may seem humorous, but it really is a serious situation." How in the world he could say that with a straight face, I don't know. I went into graphic detail, as prompted, of all the roaches characteristics I had committed to memory from that horrid incident, with all the skill of someone describing a burglar or robber. I squelched the urge to say, "Well, last I saw him he kind of looked like this: [mime of squashed roach]". It was probably a good thing I didn't.

But on a serious note, if you want serious extermination of any sort of pest (of the bug and vermin variety, of course), these are definitely the guys to call.

Benevolent Director

I found a really awesome personality test online. You should check it out. Here are my results:
My Personal Dna Report. Let's take a poll, who thinks this is a good summary of me? Thanks for your input.

This is a picture of Betty & I. Betty is my buddy from Newbold, a short-term roommate actually, who is over here from England taking classes at Wildwood. We randomly connected this weekend, after not seeing eachother in over 5 years now (has it been that long?!?!). We went downtown for a bit and walked around. It was great to see her, and I hope to see her again before she takes off across the big pond. :)

  

At long last we are married! The wedding went by in a blurr, but was absolutely wonderful. We had a great time visiting with friends and family from all over. The honeymoon was great--maybe someday we'll live in Virginia, we loved it that much. :) I will be posting more photos probably on my flickr site, but here are a few for now. Thank you for your love and support as we made our lifelong commitment to each other.

Hello everyone who thought I wouldn't blog until way after my honeymoon! Here I am, with a moment to think, and even though I should still be enjoying sleep, I'm wide awake. I haven't gone to bed before midnight (well last night was 11) in 6 straight days, and haven't slept in past 7:45 either morning either. Just a few things rattling around in my head that keep me awake.

This week has been utter and complete pandemonium. We have all, in my family, been running around like crazy people from sunup to sundown (I first typed that the other way around and then realized that was wrong.. haha). I had a to-do list a mile long at the end of last week, and this week I finally learned how to delegate, or "let go" as some people call it. My nerves started the healing process after I finally got the invitations to the printer. That was definitely something I should not have saved to the last minute. What else did I do? Shopped some, that was the fun part.. I like shopping, especially when I have money to do it with. I painted birdv houses, decorated my flower girls' basket and hair barett, made welcome baskets for Charles' family, picked peonies in someone's yard, and all of this with getting 50+ phone calls a day. Yay. On Friday I treated myself to a massage (but unfortunately it was only 1/2 hour, since time was so valuable yesterday). I have never had a massage, but I highly recommend one--especially at my friend's salon "A Better You." Very nice atmosphere.

The rehearsal yesterday was a little stressful. I just felt really unorganized. We didn't have everyone's gifts together (the guys', mainly), I forgot to bring the flower girls' basket, a copy of the wedding program for the coordinator & organist, and I forgot to put out these little cards on the table where people were suppose to write their marriage advice for us. I was too rushed. Oh well. The show goes on.

I would like to ask that you continue to pray for us as we take this exciting step in marriage. :) Hope to see you tomorrow! I will leave you of a picture of me wearing my moms veil.

 
Before I blog about my crazy pre-wedding life, I want to send a huge congratulations out to Bekah, Jon and Bryden for they have just received the news that they will have an addition to their family!! Yay!!! I'm so excited for them. They have chosen as their new motto: Think Pink! So, say that three times and maybe they'll have a little girl. J/k This is a picture of us taken right before my Bachelorette party a few weeks ago. :) 

Does anyone know how to make a "subject" or "title" for these blogs? I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Today my students were absolutely crazy... maybe it's the storms, maybe it's the alignment of the planets, but they are so ready for a weekend (me too!). These 4 boys in my class today are obsessed with one of the teachers. It's really sad. I'm like, you guys are gross.. you need to look at girls your own age (or none at all, since they're only in 7th grade.) It's sad. The unfortunate thing was it was raining today, so we stayed inside to take photos. You can only guess where the guys went.. That's right, straight to this one teacher's classroom to play paparazzi or however you spell it. Teacher crushes. hummmp.

So I'm dog sitting for these people again this weekend, which I don't really mind, except it's kind of weird to plan your whole weekend around a dog. He's a mini-Schnauzer named Bowser, and is cute as a little old man (that's what those dogs remind me of, with their gray hair and beards and all). The only thing I don't really like is that they keep him in a wire cage thing during the day when no one's home. When I let him out, he is all wobbly-legged, and I can't help but wonder "does this border on dog abuse??" I let him run around as much as possible when I'm there, just so he doesn't go nuts.

I'd like to send a Happy Birthday out to the Queen. Her actual birthday is tomorrow, but I know I'll forget to blog about it. She invited everyone who has her exact birthday to the palace for dinner. How cute is that? She called them her twins. One lady said it was the happiest day of her life. So sweet. Anyway, she also had a meet'n greet at Windsor today and I think tomorrow. Wish I could be there, but I missed my flight.

The weeks are really flying by! I can't believe in 3.5 weeks I'll be a married person. So much to do .. wow. So anyway, the Bachelorette party went really well, so Thank you Heather, Kristen, all who were involved. I appreciated it a lot. My nerves were put to rest the moment Rochelle turned her car around on Brainerd Rd. and started heading back toward Ooltewah. She and Fern were told to stall, but they just told me that they were taking me someplace "special" that I had never been to before. As we were driving in that general direction of the downtown I thought "nothing good can come of this." But it did.. Thank you to all the girls who came, it was a lot of fun. :) I may post pictures, I haven't yet decided. Probably won't, for I wouldn't want anyone's "professional integrity" to be challenged.

I had something I wanted to write in a blog, but I can't remember what it is now. I would write these things down when I think of them, but I need more lists like I need a hole in my head. Right now I am trying to format the menu cards for the reception. The paper I bought for this is 12x12 scrapbooking paper (don't ask why I did this). I cut it in half, and still, the printer doesn't like me for doing this. It's like trying to fit something round into a square. Sad.

I made a sad discovery yesterday while I was doing some spring cleaning. I found where my canister of paint brushes had fallen behind the sofa, un-noticed. When I retrieved them (about 30 in all) they were covered in cob-webs and dust. It made me stop and try to remember the last time I painted, and it made me so sad. I'm hardly an artist these days, for an artist is one who does art. I haven't done art in so long I don't feel like I'm worthy of the title. Oh well. Maybe later in the summer.

I will leave you with a happy note: Spring is here, and the weather was absolutely beautiful this evening as I walked up at SAU with my mom. There was a cool breeze blowing, and the mourning doves were cooing, and the azaleas were blooming. Makes me want to be a poet.

I have decided to start using this blog, rather than the Angelfire one. For some reason I always have the hardest time logging into the angelfire site. It's getting quite frustrating, so I give up. This format is simple and easy and I like the fresh way it looks, so I'm going with it.

Friends have complained because it's been eeons since I posted anything, so this is for all my friends out there, who would faithfully read anything that I happen to type on my blog, whether or not it was interesting. :)

These past few weeks have gone by so quickly, I hardly know where they went. I was super-industrious and got most all of the invitations out (with the help of Heather & Mom) by week 5-till wed. That was the most time consuming exercise--I'm glad to have it behind me. Now I just have lots of thank you notes to write to people who generously gave us wonderful things at our shower. The fun thing is that the gifts continue throughout the week. Also, I get response cards back in the mail every day, so I feel like I get fun mail now (rather than catalogues or bills :S).

I don't know what else to report, other than that I am looking forward to this Easter weekend. We're signing in a cantata at Church Sabbath, which will remind me of the last Easter Cantata I was in--at Newbold, so many years ago. Has it been 5??. Wow. Also, my Bachelorette party is going to be Saturday night, so that's something exciting to look forward to. Katie is going to be down from Andrews, Kristen and Fern will be here from Florida, and Rochelle's coming up from Atlanta. And those are only the out of town people. :) I hope it's not too embarrassing. :)

I will leave you with our Engagement photo, April 2006.

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