Monday, January 24, 2011

89 Days and Counting

I came home today from work thinking about how I needed to email my family about reserving a room at the ONE hotel in Baldwin City (the town were I'm getting married). So I sat down and wrote an email that took me forever to write and as I was writing it it really started to hit me.
Here I am writing and email to my family about hotels to reserve for my wedding. "MY WEDDING". Holy cow, it is going to be MY WEDDING. People are going to come to celebrate with Andrew and I as we give up our singleness to commit the rest of our lives to one another. Not only is it crazy I am actually getting married, but what a blessing it is going to be for our family and friends joins us as we make that decision.
Sometimes I just get this hint of realization that it is all happening and I get super excited on the inside. I spent so much time worring and fretting about who God had for me and the "what if God doesn't...", and look God has blessed me with a wonderful man who loves Him first and foremost but who also loves and cares endlessly for me. God is so good.
Now I am just praying that the Lord can really help me keep my cool over the next couple of months as the planning process continues and Andrew and I learn more about one another and decisions start to be made. It will all work out I know because God has never failed me! =)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Engagement

Yippee!!! I don't know how to start. This has been a very very busy last year for me, but it has been one of the greatest. The last time I posted anything was last year around this time my little nephew, Jack, had just came into the world. Isn't he just a precious little boy. God has blessed our family with this bundle of joy.
More importantly, for the sake of my blog, as my title indicates, I was a "Lady in Waiting". God had called me to my time of singleness to grow closer to Him and learn how to be the woman He has called me to be. I am still not proficient in either category, but the Lord seemed to believe it was time to bless me with my now fiance, Andrew.
I didn't want to write about my relationship with him, because I wanted to know where things were heading before I started telling the world about him. But now that he is mine, I am able to tell world about what and amazing fiance I have.
Here is our amazing engagement story.
So we wanted to take a trip to Silver Dollar City. The place we claim our relationship began to take root. Trip was planned, Andrew was in town and bags were packed. He picked me up from work and on the road we went. He missed his exit and when we turned around and got on hwy 7 from hwy 71, I said " Do you remember this is about the time that our discussion ended last year." He didn't say much he just mumbled. On our way back from Branson last year we had a heated discussion about life on hwy 7, and finished the conversation just as we almost hit hwy 71. As we were driving he started telling me that the temperature gauge on my car was going crazy. He said, "Jannie, oh my gosh, your temperature gauge just dropped below 190. I glanced over and politely said "Are you sure?", knowing very well that the gauge is always below 190. He kept insisting on how concerned he was about it. I asked him if he was sure it had dropped. He said "Definately, and I would feel better if we stopped to take a look and make sure that nothing is leaking". He wasn't totally off with that comment because the weekend before my dad had just fixed my leaky coolant system. I proceeded to say " Right now?" "Yes", he said. "Sure, do what you want."
While all this was going on I thought you should now we are driving down the highway at 6pm at night in December, which means that it is going to be dark outside. I didn't know what he was going to do if something was wrong. When I looked over at him, he was putting on a different coat than what he had been wearing. I kinda thought that was weird but didn't say anything about it. He walked over under the hood and looked at me. Then walked over to the car door and said to me, "Get out here I need your help right now!" Wow! I thought, we have to talk about the attitude when we get back in the car because lets just say, that is not necessary.
He showed me where he wanted me to hold the flash light, and as he was going around to the other side of me I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was getting on the ground. Again I thought, what is he doing. It is dark outside, does he really think that he can get under the car in the grass on the side of highway to see a leak, with the smallest maglight ever made. =) Well when I turned to ask him what he was doing, there he was on one knee with the RING in his hand. Immediately I turned away and started laughing. I didn't know what else to do. I turned back to him and gave him a hug. I don't even remember him asking me to marry him, but Andrew says that he asked me twice to make sure my answer was the same. When he stood up he proceeded to tell me why he had asked me on the highway. He said, "Jannie do you remember last year when we were on this road, well after our conversation as frustrated as you were making me, I told myself. This is the girl I want to marry." Such a sweet guy.
I had know at that time a year ago that this guy sitting next to me liked me, but I didn't want to have anything to do with him besides our friendship. God can do great things in people if we just let him.
A funny side note to the story, we were holding hands in the car, I told him I didn't really want to hold his hands because they were soooo sweaty and not only sweating but his finger tips were freezing. He said "I know but I'd rather my hands be sweating and hold your hands than not." So I kept holding his hand. After everything it hit me why Andrew would have clammy hands! =)
Now the planning begins. April 23rd will come soon.