Pictures of our place :)

Well, in an earlier post I had said I wanted to post pictures of our new home.  It isn't completely ready yet (we need to get pictures in frames, paint a dresser for our bedroom, etc.), but this is the best it has looked so far! 

A view of our living room...yes we have the Olympics on :)

A different view of the same thing because you can see some different things :)

The back of our living room :)

Kitchen table and a bookshelf :)

Our lovely kitchen :)

If you came to visit, you would walk through that door :)

Our extra bedroom...good for exercising and random storage :)

bathroom--we are mad for our shower curtain!

pretty shower :)

messy and HUGE closet :)

The back of our bedroom

The front of our bedroom

I am just really happy about this whole arrangement :)

We are well blessed and so very thankful :) 

19 Years with a Brother

19 years ago today my brother Sam was born.  Now this changed our family in a number of ways: instead of a family of 4 we became a family of 5, instead of only daughters a son was added, and we gained the blessing of a family member with special needs. 

I don't think I really remember Sam being born (who can blame me, I was only 3 1/2 at the time) and as a result I cannot remember (or think) of life without him and nor would I want to.  Sam has been a wonderful gift from the Lord.  He is such a blessing and a delight.  It breaks my heart a little bit inside to know that I can't be with him today to sing his favorite songs (including happy birthday to him) and repeat his favorite lines from Veggie Tales. 

In honor of Sam today, I wanted to share some of the things I love most about him:

• Sam does not go light on showing affection.  He gives hugs and kisses all the time and if you're one of the select few, he will play with your hair (this is mostly Mom and Charley).  
• Sam has some groovy dance moves and he is not afraid to show them--pure joy and delight!
• Sam has very pure emotions.  What you see is what you get.  If he is excited you can expect giggling, a huge smile, and him 'tickling' his hands together; if he is sad you can expect big tears falling from his big, brown eyes.  
• Sam is a goofball and he really is quite clever.  Sometimes he might pretend he doesn't know who one of his favorite people is when they aren't where he wants them to be (for example, Sam loves the chorus teacher Mrs. West at high school but will many times pretend he doesn't know who she is at church).  Sometimes Sam will sneak upstairs to get a snack (bread, crackers, cookies, etc.) and if he succeeds in eating it all he will put the box or bag back where he found it completely empty.  If he gets caught, he will generally start dancing in order to distract us from what he's up to.  
• Sam loves to take people's drinks, he loves hiccups and burps, say P.U. skunk to him along with a few other words (gross, ick, nasty, feida) and you will have him laughing immediately.  
• He has a selection of songs he loves and a selection he does not want sung to him.  
• He loves being a part of the group.  For example, last weekend when Michael and I went to hang out with my family at the lake house we all sat down to play some Mexican Train Dominoes and Sam came over and plopped down with us at the table. 
• Sam loves pictures of himself and the people he loves.  We found a picture of the 5 of us with our cousins Jessi, Jordan, and Jackson from like 8 years ago and as soon as Sam saw it, he had to have it for himself to look at and admire, pointing out different individuals.  
• Sam in ornery.  Try taking him on a walk sometime...I promise he will try to walk in the opposite direction every chance he gets.  :)
• Sam loves routine and he knows exactly the way things should go.  For example, if we start driving down a certain street in Story City and don't follow through with going to Grandma's, he is not pleased.  At church he runs out of the 'sanctuary' and down to the high school Sunday school classroom as soon as he is sure the service is over (sometimes this is a little early haha)
• Sam loves pizza, cookies, pop, Subway, apples, carrots, beets, and potato salad (to name a few things).  
• Sam loves our dog Lacey.  He loves going and laying on/next to her when she is on the floor, he pets her every day, and loves when she and our other dog Libby wrestle.  
• Sam has the best smile and the greatest laugh. 

I could truly go on and on about the other ways Sam is a delight.  He is such a beautiful picture of joy and honesty and truth.  I am so thankful for him and wouldn't trade him for anyone else.  The only thing I wish was different about Sam is his lack of desire to talk to me on the phone or over Skype...this makes me miss him more when I can't see him, but oh well :)  I will just have to wait to sing him happy birthday another time.

Hanging out with Dad :)

Snack by the steps--I love this picture!

Family Picture after Jos came along :)

Hanging out on the trampoline--did I mention Sam LOVES the trampoline? :)

Vacation to Colorado and other western states a few summers back.

Sam giving Mom some love at my wedding rehearsal.

Sam and some of his favorite girls :)

Family picture at the wedding :)

Sam and I at his graduation party this spring--he rocked it!

Thirty-seven

Goodness gracious!  So much has happened since I last wrote...here are some of the biggies :)

• I married my best friend!  We had a lovely and well blessed wedding.  The day went more smoothly than I could have imagined and made all the months of planning worth it.  It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many family members and friends.  Here are a few pictures from the day: 

Michael's family

My family

Our wedding party (unfortunately my amazing personal attendants and beloved guestbook attendants aren't in this picture)

Bride and Groom

•  After our beautiful wedding, we went on an Alaskan Cruise for our honeymoon.  It was incredible!  We had a lot of time to relax, got to see a lot of God's majestic creation, and had some really good food.  I don't think we could have asked for a better honeymoon and we both are so very thankful to have gotten to take that trip.  here are a few pictures from that: 

After dinner one night

Enjoying the scenery around the ship

At the Mendenhal Glacier

Walking along the road in Sitka

Visiting Fortress of the Bear

Kayaking in Ketchican

The whimsical and romantic Butchart Gardens

After the wedding and honeymoon...

• We have spent a lot of time settling into our townhouse.  We are loving it!  I am planning to share a few pictures up here after we get a few more things finished up :)  
• We have gone to several weddings which has allowed us to see many friends and lots of family.  
• We spent last weekend with my family at a lake house further north in MN as they began their vacation.  It was a lot of fun to get to go and relax with them for the weekend.  
• Michael has been enjoying his job (Praise the Lord!) and I am still on the job hunt for the fall.  
• We have gotten to have several friends and family members over to visit our new place--I love getting to share our home with others so if you ever want to visit, let me know :)  

 There are many other things that have happened in the last 5 weeks, but as far as I can remember right now, these are the big ones.  Hopefully now that things are in more of a routine I will write more often, but we will see :)  And now I am off to bake some cookies and work on some thank you notes! 

 

 

 

 

The Final Three

Well it's Wednesday June 13, 2012...and I get married in 3 days.  Wedding week has been much busier and more tiring than I had anticipated and if all brides are like myself or have more to do I have no idea how they make it to their honeymoon without getting sick!  So far I am doing fine on that front, but my goodness I can see where sickness could weasel its way in.

I thought it would be nice to take a little break from the final details to reflect on my current feelings.  Here is how I am feeling 3 days before I become Bailey Olson.

• I feel excited!  Michael is driving here right now and I cannot wait to see him!  I am also thrilled to become his wife.  
• I feel tired.  There has been a lot of running around lately to finalize things...that combined with staying up late talking to my honey and getting up to exercise in the morning and I am pooped by the end of the day :)  
• I feel blessed.  My family has been a huge help in planning.  Mom has been running around with me in the mornings getting errands done and it has been awesome to that time with her.  My aunts have also basically taken over the decorating and it has been awesome to see the plans coming together.  
• I feel bittersweet emotions.  I am both excited to move to Minnesota with Michael and be around people up there and sad to leave home again.  There are so many things I am looking forward to getting to do in Minnesota but also so many things I am not looking forward to leaving here...Not worrying about it though, just seeking God's peace and trusting his goodness and timing and consistency despite my mixture of emotions.  
• I feel speechless.  Not the best word, but it seemed better than shocked or surprised.  I cannot believe the wedding is in 3 days.  I don't know how to express the strange feelings I have about my life changing in less than 72 hours.  I mostly cannot believe this time that I have been looking forward to for as long as I can remember is finally here.  Crazy :)  
• I feel NOT stressed.  I am really not concerned about things right now.  I am slowly crossing things off the list and taking one thing at a time.  God is good and our hope is that Saturday will be a day focused on glorifying him.  There is no point or truth  in worry or stress.  
• I feel thankful.  I am thankful for salvation, thankful for the wonderful man I am going to marry, thankful for our families and their support, thankful for our friends that are coming, etc.  

There are most certainly other feelings I have, but these are the easiest to describe.  I am content to be where we are at.  I am loving these last few days at home with my family and I am looking forward to the wedding day and celebrating with others!  Praise the Lord for his faithfulness and love!

A picture of Michael and me on our first day on staff at Hidden Acres.  This was the day we met.  Amazing to think of how our relationship has changed in the last 6 years.  Again I say praise the Lord for his faithfulness and love!

Reflection of the last 12 months

A year ago today Michael and I spent a lovely day just hanging out and enjoying the company of one another.  We went out to supper with coupons and then headed over to Jason and Claire's for a game night.  Instead of a game night I was met with a romantic room and a dreamy proposal.  I cannot believe it was a year ago! 

Michael is an amazing young man and I love him so much.  He surprised me and came down last weekend for a visit.  It was wonderful to see him and to just spend some time hanging out both with my family and just as the two of us.  Charley also had prom this weekend so here is a picture of the two of us with her :) 

I found it appropriate today to do some reflection on the last year of our relationship.  High points, low points, growth, etc.  And here is what I have to share:

• This has been a year of A LOT of time apart.  I do not kid when I say A LOT.  We were together for the months of (most of) May, September, October, November, and most of December.  Yes, 5 months with a smattering of weekend visits and two wonderful longer periods: our family vacation and spring break.  It has really taught us to treasure the time we have together and to make the most of it.  For example, this weekend we literally did not do much other than enjoy spending time with one another and those present.  No wedding planning was done and we left the house twice (a date and church).  The rest of our time was spent relaxing, playing games, etc.  It has been quite difficult to have so much time apart, but it has been very good for growth as well.  I am so thankful both for the summer at camp and my semester at home and truly would not want to do it any other way despite the difficulty of being away from him.  We have 47 more days of engagement, 39 or so that will be apart--hallelujah we are reaching the end!  :)  
• This has also been a time filled with planning.  It began with wedding planning...setting a date, choosing people to work with, colors, budget, honeymoon, etc...etc...etc... Needless to say, after a year I am pretty much over it :)  Which is good because there isn't much left to do.  We really only have logistics, confirmations, making a few more things, and a few minor details left and that feels awesome!  In the last several months our thoughts have switched more to future planning--living space, jobs, budget, cars, etc.  This is what we are more excited about right now especially as things fall into place.  Finally, I like to know when things are going to happen so at the beginning of each of our long separations I sat down with a calendar and tried to figure out which weekends would work for us to see each other and what would be best to do during those times.  It has been both good and exhausting :)  Praise the Lord that neither of us are so set in stone on these things that we have worried too much about any of this.  What a waste of energy that would be!  
• It has been a year with several big events!  Two of our dear friends got married in May, Michael bought a car over the summer, we spent our final semester at college together, I graduated and got a part-time job at home, Michael's nephew (August) was born in February, Michael has been working on his last semester of college, Michael got a full-time job at the place he has had his internship at which will begin June 1, and we signed a lease on a townhouse!  Big and exciting stuff! 
• There has been a lot of growth for us individually, but also as a couple.  I can honestly say that I love him more today than I did a year ago.  I think our way of handling conflict has changed a little bit.  Do we still have dramatic arguments?  Umm of course...but I think we tend to not get hung up on our arguments for as long.  We talk about it for a while, get it all out there, and then choose to forgive and move on.  Such a blessing to have a godly man who chooses to forgive me because he too has been forgiven a greater debt by Christ!  How beautiful :)  
• It has been a year filled with advice and marriage counseling.  What a joy it is to receive support from other couples!  We have also thoroughly enjoyed our marriage counseling and I am sad that it is coming to an end.  It has been good to take an honest look at our strengths and weaknesses as a couple, topics of marriage/life, etc.  It has opened our eyes to many things, and has made us all the more excited to join hands with one another under covenant between ourselves and God on June 16.  By his grace we (choose to) love one another and walk this life together seeking to bring glory to him as a unit.  So thankful for this time of marriage preparation!  Praise the Lord!

Those are just a few of the big things I came up with in my reflection.  It has been a big and full year and as ready as I am to be done with this period of engagement and physical 'apartness', I know that God has given us this time to strengthen us and teach us both individually and as a couple and I am content to rest in his perfect timing.  I love that my God is over all, in all and through all.  Hallelujah!

Our Humble Abode

Just over a week ago Michael began looking for a place for us to live after we get married.  He found several apartments, and last weekend when I was up visiting him we went and saw 6 of the options he had found.  Saturday we were not terribly wowed by the three we looked at.  One was nice, but too expensive and further south than we would like to be in relation to Michael's job and the other two just weren't quite what we wanted to spend money on.  Sunday we were a little more excited about two of our options, but again one was further south and the other one was nice, but we were unsure of whether we wanted it or not.  Through this last week Michael has been looking online and visiting different places, and it seemed like every other day was things looking good and then things looking less good.  We were really striving to be in prayer about it and hand it over to God because we knew He would provide us with a space to live.  And He most certainly did! 

Wednesday night as Michael was searching a townhouse became available in a suburb very close to his job location.  He set up a time to meet with the renter on Thursday, met with him, and called me immediately afterwards filling me in on all of it.  We looked at pictures online, talked about our options, shared our thoughts with our families and then decided to go for it.  It is most seriously the complete package for us.  We had hoped to spend a little less than we will be spending, but from what we looked at this past week, this townhouse is not very far off from what we would have been paying for an "incomplete package".  On Friday Michael turned in our application and then spoke with the renter who told him to go ahead and come over  and sign the lease.  So as of yesterday afternoon, Michael and I officially became renters!  We are so so so very excited :) 

Here are a few pictures of the home God has provided for us: (this of course is how it looks now with the current tenant living in it)

A little courtyard area between our single car garage and living space :)

The back view complete with a small deck and patio--how fun!

It's a split level so this is what you see when you walk in. 

Isn't this lovely? :)

 On the first level we have the kitchen, dining, and living room. 

A peak at the kitchen which is connected to the dining room.  Through the door you can see the beginning of the living room!

Dining :)   

The front of the living room.

This is the back of the living room.

And on the lower level we have two bedrooms, a bathroom, and LAUNDRY!  

One view of one of the bedrooms

Same bedroom, different view :)

The bathroom...it also has a little vanity, but I forgot to download that picture. 

Laundry!

I am so very thankful to not only have this figured out, but to have such a wonderful space for Michael and me to start our married lift at.  God is an awesome provider in all things and in all times and He never ceases to amaze me in his blessings.  I pray that we may use this space for his glory. 

Some of My Heart Lately

There have been several things that have been on my heart lately and I thought I would share a few of them. 

First, one of the most influential portions of my last few months has been a Beth Moore Bible study I did with my mom and a handful of other women at the church.  What a blessing that study was!  It was wonderful to be able to not only learn from Beth Moore in the study, but also from the other women in the study!  Praise the Lord for fellowship!  My favorite part of the study was just how it opened my eyes to more of who Jesus is.  Man, I love him.  What an awesome savior!  I could share countless examples of how great He is and of the new things I saw/learned about him in this study, but I will just share one for now.  To begin I just need to lay out two things.  First, Jesus was both fully God and fully man and as God He was (and is) omniscient.  There are several examples throughout the Gospels of him listening in on the thoughts of others and then sharing a lesson with them.  Secondly, the Gospels share that Judas' heart was not fully invested in Christ before he chose to betray him.  He is more concerned with himself and money.  Now consider this: Christ knew Judas wasn't invested and that he would be  the betrayer, and yet treated him no differently than the other disciples because when Jesus told the 12 that one of them would betray him they had no idea who it would be.  How cool to see Christ's love for even his betrayer! 

Something else that has been on my heart lately relates to the song "The First Place".  Oh my goodness, it might be one of my very favorite songs right now.  What a delightful worship song!  The second verse has really touched me lately, it goes: "Victor, over sin and death you triumphed.  Firstborn, you've shown us life beyond the grave.  Bridegroom, we long for you in expectation.  Jesus, your church rejoices to proclaim..."  Now while I love Jesus conquering death and showing us life beyond the grave (Hallelujah!) I have been especially touched and convicted by the third sentence about longing for a bridegroom.  As Michael and I have been apart this semester I have found myself missing him more and more and eagerly anticipating the day when He will be my bridegroom and we will get to finally be together.  I had my first substantial breakdown over this waiting process last week.  My breakdown had nothing to do with being discontent with where I am or anything like that (I LOVE LIVING AT HOME) I just simply miss him.  A lot.  Then I compare those feelings for my longing for Christ as my spiritual and eternal bridegroom, the only one who can make me whole and I am ashamed to lose sight of him at times in my sinfulness.  However, I can fully proclaim that I eagerly await his return.  I am excited to meet my savior face to face; may my life be a pleasing aroma to him.  Oh just dwelling on those words makes me want to throw my arms up in the air, not say a word, and let my loving and thankful tears roll down my face.  Hallelujah, what a savior!  Hallelujah, what a friend!  Saving, helping, keeping loving, He is with me to the end! 

Mmm God is good!  All the time.  He never changes and nothing can change Him.  His plans will not and cannot be thwarted.  He is over all, in all, and through all.  I listened to a two minute portion of John Piper's sermon from last week (I think it was from last week) and here is the link to it ( http://dsr.gd/HzOxxq ).  I encourage you to take two minutes and listen to it.  How encouraging to know that God can go in our lives where no one else can go!  Ah, the comfort and peace of being in his loving arms.  Seriously, take two minutes and listen to it. 

There are several other things I could share, but I will just list one more thing, well person really, who is my dear friend, Lizzie.  I met Lizzie my second summer counseling at camp.  She was got to know Lori first and then we all began hanging out together.  We worked 3 summers together and made several memories both during camp and other occasions when we would get together during the school year.  The four of us (Lizzie, Lori, Tina, and I) enjoy getting warm beverages, eating out, shopping, talking, laughing, etc. with one another.  She is a delight to know and she is a guest book attendant at my wedding.  A few things I love most about Lizzie are her fun sense of humor, her easy smile, her excitement for life, her faith, and her joyful attitude despite circumstances.  Lizzie has had a bit of a rough second half of the semester with mono (among other things) and she is such a trooper.  I have really been striving to pray for her as she finishes this last stretch of schooling.  I am excited for her to finish both so she can be done and so the two of us can get together more easily before I get married. 

Out to eat on a weekend!

The end of a summer at camp

Caramel Apples at the state fair :)