It's been awhile

It's been awhile since either of us have updated you all and I think it's telling of what life is like right now, busy. Cassia has been busy with mid terms at school which includes papers, projects and exams. On top of that she has work, ministry, planning a wedding, being a daughter, sister, friend and fiancee to balance in her life as well. I personally think she is doing a bang up job considering all she has set before her. I can't say I'm as busy as she is, because I'm not. But I've been preparing to move into the apartment on Nov 7th, buying the necessities, figuring out my budget, realizing I really should start packing soon, having more opportunities to play on various worship teams and with the band again which is definitely something I needed. I was getting pretty discouraged about that lack of opportunity lately so it's been a huge blessing.

As far as the wedding planning goes, we did pick out a cake and let me tell you, you guys are going to LOVE it. It's so stinking good, in fact thinking about it is making me hungry right now. Cassia has started to look for flowers and work on the invitations, which means we need to finish up our guest list soon. Which will actually be a pretty daunting task. We start our group pre-marital class on Nov 1st with a few other couples who recently got engaged (we started the trend) so that should be great. We're currently going through a "great expectations" packet which is really in depth and although some of the questions are ridiculous, it is full of things that need to be considered.

Some things we could use prayer for are; patience as we both are finding it hard to wait now as we come up on 4 months left to go. Financial guidance, as we figure out our budget and start to see it in action with me moving in. That our hearts will be guarded against Satan's attacks. And one of the bigger things right now is just that we can stay close to God right now and listen to what He desires for us, and as we continue to learn and see what our roles should be.

Premarital Counseling

Tonight is our first premarital counseling "session" with John Lasley. I'm honestly slightly nervous. We chose to go with John because we knew that he would be entirely honest with us. We definitely felt some other pastors and elders are more attached to us and our relationship and that "bias" could get in the way of honest spiritual counseling. I think John will be tough on us, but in a loving way and will bring forth changes that need to be made in both of us. I will appreciate your prayers tonight.

Big purchases

We bought a dining room table! And we actually got an additional $50 off -- thanks Lisa Mishler!

Also, pray for us as we're making a decision about an apartment; we're pretty close to making a decision.

The dress

My dress came in this week! I went with my mom and Aunt Lisa to pick it up yesterday. Since some changes had been made, I tried it on again at the store, and it fit better than before, and I loved it even more than I already did. The actual dress I will be wearing at my wedding is now in my house. I'm stoked and just hope that Ben will love it when he sees it for the first time on March 13 -- just a little more than six months from now.

I would love to post a link, but that could be problematic, since Ben accesses and even writes in this very blog... so I'll avoid even the slightest description. It's a dress, that's all he needs to know :)

Personal data inventory discussion

On September 16 Ben and I will be meeting with John Lasley for our first premarital counselling session. There are so many great things about marriage that I'm looking forward to, but there are going to be difficulties that we just can't ignore. We had a really good conversation going through our premarital applications together. It was hard at times, but it was beautiful because we were able to be open and honest with each other. I was left feeling edified and reminded once again of the reasons I am marrying Ben.

In other events, I am going to call some cake places today to see if they're open on Monday. The time has come to really start looking into these kinds of things.

Proposal photos

Kha Do: what a wonderful and gifted friend you are. Thank you for capturing this moment for us and sharing it with us.

Tuesday morning, July 28. We got up early in the morning to see the famous Charles Bridge. Ben thought it would be a good idea to pull me aside and start having a private conversation.

Why are you saying all of these sappy things, Ben? Oh, wait... this is far from a normal conversation...
Ben: "Are you going to say yes?" DUH!

Oh my gosh. I can't believe this just happened.

This was probably one of the most amazing moments of the whole proposal. Everyone's support was overwhelming and incredibly encouraging.

That just happened!!!

Overjoyed.

Personal Data Inventory

We got our first packet to fill out for our premarital counseling with John Lasley. It is a "personal data inventory" packet and has some straight forward questions and some that are really making us think. For example, one is "List 5 reasons why you want to marry your fiance." Of course I know I want to marry Cassia, and I know why I do but articulating them into something more than "I'm in love with her, that's why!" is proving to be interesting. Cassia feels the same way about that particular question too. There are some other challenging ones too, which I won't share. I personally think one is a trick question that Nancy put in there and we aren't supposed to be able to answer it. ;) We are going through our packets by ourselves, but we decided that when we're done we are going to go over them with each other before turning them in. I think it'll be good for us to be able to talk about our answers alone first.