19 days!

"Oh, to grace how great a debtor,
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above."

Updated:

Referring to this post, I'd like to update you on where we are in this most important countdown:

1) Rings - we're working on it. The ring guy is fixing mine and has ordered one for Grey to look at
2) rehearsal dinner dress - CHECK! Ann Taylor Loft was having a great sale and I just couldn't pass it up. I would link it, but it's no longer available on the website....SOOOOO I guess you'll just have to be surprised! :)
3)Find a sub...CHECK! And she's an awesome sub too!
4)AS for friends...I've only got 5 discs of the 40 left to go! Rachel and Joey just got over being a fling.
5)total pig out session....hasn't happened yet. COME ON!
6) marriage license - DONE! And the woman at the court house was apparently having a brutal day because she was not too friendly towards us.
7) another tattoo? Not yet!
8) I finally took the most amazing bubble bath ever. Kristi ordered me these bath bars that are incredibly bubbly! It felt so wonderful. Holy cow. I was in heaven. Go here and look at the bubble bars and the bath bombs. It's heaven in a bubble wonder. My skin felt so soft and they smelled so good! Thanks Kristi!

20 days!
-B

Thankful

Yesterday and today have been incredible days. The Lord has shown me that even when I feel alone, there are people who look out for me.

Yesterday, I got the sweetest note from a secretary at Hillcrest just saying that I was in her thoughts and prayers. She is one of the sweetest caring people at that school. She is constantly asking me how I'm doing and how my stress levels are. She is someone who keep me going on a daily basis. I'm thankful for her sweet friendship!

Yesterday, I got invited to the Ms. Owen's class for a Thanksgiving lunch. I have one of her students in my class and I was his special guest. He was super sweet in that he waited for me to get there before he started eating. (Fortunately, the other incredible people there told him that I'd be way late and they convinced him to go ahead and eat.) When I showed up, his class stood up and sang Principal Chamness happy birthday and then they all pulled out pieces of paper. On their piece, they had each written an "I'm thankful for this person because..."
It was amazing. My incredible student told me that I was one of his best friends and that I had made math worthwhile to him. I cried! :) It was incredible. I'm so thankful that the Lord gave me that moment. It's so easy to get caught in the "first year teaching stinks" mentality but when the Lord shows me that I'm impacting just ONE kid, it makes it all worth it.

Today, I was waiting by the mailboxes for the post woman to finish putting the mail in when my old neighbor pulled up in her car. She asked what I was doing for Thanksgiving and then proceeded to tell me that her 10-12 year old son Isaac, was so worried that since I lived by myself, that I would be alone for Thanksgiving. He had begged his mom to call me up and invite me to Thanksgiving with them. I'm so thankful that the Lord has provided a friend for me to have in the apartment complex.

And lastly, I'm so thankful for my amazing family and friends. They have gotten me through a lot, supporting me, encouraging me, and loving me. I would not be who I am without them.
I love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!
-B

25 Reasons why I love my hubby to be!

1. He loves Jesus
2. He sends me bible verses during the day
3. He continuously points me to Christ
4. He makes me giggle.
5. When I refuse to sit with him on the couch, he sits there and smiles and waves at me like a little school boy
6. He's ok with my obsession with ice cream and even encourages it
7. He loves to sing
8. He always greets me with a hug and/or smooch
9. He LOVES to cuddle
10. He has guy friends that he enjoys hanging out with
11. He enjoys working out and running
12. When he first talked about his sister, he described her as "tall, blonde, and beautiful." A man who loves his family is near and dear to my heart
13. He picks on me but it's never too much
14. Even when I feel the most unattractive, he seems to think I'm the most beautiful
15. He doesn't care if I don't shave my legs every day :)
16. He watches chick flicks with me
17. I think he's adorable looking
18. He's always asking if I have enough money to take care of myself
19. He is a fabulous cook!
20. He gives me really good advice and encourages me to stand up for myself
21. He's constantly telling me how lucky he is to have me
22. I never feel worthless around him
23. His family is really supportive of him
24. He's a good ole southern cowboy
25. He can drive a tractor and he loves math :)

25 days!!!!! :)

Sisters

I am so blessed to have two beautiful sisters who offer up their wisdom. There are not enough words in the world to describe how blessed I feel on a daily basis to be able to call them mine. I LOVE hanging out with them, spending time with them, laughing with them, fartin around with them...every moment is just wonderful! I LOVE how even though we're 2 and 4 hours apart, I don't feel it at all. I LOVE how as a new bride to be, they're willing to answer all my "I'm too embarrassed to ask anyone else" questions. I LOVE how they're so generous and servant like. I LOVE how when I'm having the most horrible day, they still make me smile. I love love love them.

Kristi and Jen, thank you for putting up with my sassy butt since I'm the youngest one! :)

27 Things...

I like to watch!
1 The movie "Elf"
2 "Home Alone"
3 my students groan when I annouce they're taking a pop quiz :)
4 NORA!
5 Nora smiling
6 Nora bouncing herself up and down while someone is holding her
7 Nora lunging towards a spoon filled with greenbeans
8 kittens playing
9 Clemson winning
10 SNOW!
11 the weather station announcing that school is out due to snow!
12 christmas lights twinkling
13 donuts being made
14 Friends (the tv show)
15 Kids sitting on Santa's lap
16 gingerbread houses being decorated
17 weddings
18 I LOVE people watching
19 Glee
20 Christmas Eve Services
21my stomach expanding after dinner so much that I could easily pass as 4 months pregnant
22 Cookies baking
23 Kim Possible
24 "Wicked" - the play
25 the leaves changing colors
26 bonfires!
27 The office

29

We're at 29 days, so here is the 29th countdown!
"My 29 favorite desserts"
1 Breyer's Dark Chocolate ice cream
2 Fudge
3 Green Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream
4 raw cookie dough
5 hot brownies
6 hot brownies with vanilla ice cream
7 warm chocolate chip cookies
8 warm chocolate chip cookies with chocolate ice cream in between
9 neopolition ice cream sandwhiches
10 home made eclairs
11 Jenny's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
12 Nanny's sugar cookies
13 Peanut butter cookies in the "Big Fat Cookies" cookbook
14 Oreo Cheesecake
15 Andes mints
16 Ice cream cake with a bottom made of chocolate chip cookie dough
17 chocolate milk
18 chocolate covered strawberries
19 no bake chocolate cookies
20 English Toffee
21 Truffles
22 5 layer bars
23 CANDY CANE COOKIES
24 Peanut butter fudge pie
25 oreo balls dipped in dark chocolate
26 puppy chow
27 Milkshakes
28 Molten lava cakes
29 Cinnamon toast!

:) Aren't you hungry now?

Tomorrow=big day

Tomorrow is the official ONE MONTH count down until I become Mrs. L (that's right...add that "R" in MS.) :)

I know that the Lord has been working in multiple ways since Grey and I started dating but especially since we've been engaged, it's been awesome to see Him at work with my emotions.

I have gone from not caring about wedding plans, to being overly concerned about certain wedding rituals (if you'd like to call them that :) ) to being at the utmost peace about this whole process.

So where do I currently stand? I'm ready to get married! I'm ready to end this awkwardness of the "in between" stages of dating and married. I'm ready for him to "stay over" instead of leaving my apartment at 9:00 every night. I'm ready to see him every day instead of once a week (weekends if I'm lucky). I'm ready to cook him waffles and chocolate chip pancakes. I'm ready to cry and have someone there to comfort me instead of two hairy fur balls of Oliver and Franklin (cats in case you missed that). I'm ready to travel places together, have married date nights, and snuggle past 9:30. I'm being completely honest here, but I'm ready to not have a set of boundaries scrolling in my brain at all times. I'm ready to snuggle with him at night when I'm cold instead of snuggling with a pillow. I'm ready to fight with him and have the complete certainty that everything will be ok because we're committed to each other. I'm ready!

How excited am I to be marrying this guy?!



I'm thrilled! :)

No Matter What!

Kerrie Roberts -
"I’m running back to your promises one more time, Lord that’s all I can hold on to, I gotta say this has taken me by surprise, but nothing surprises you. Before a heartache can ever touch my life, it has to go through Your hands, and even though I, keep asking why, I keep asking why,

No matter what, I’m gonna love You, no matter what I’m gonna need You, I know that You can find a way to keep me from the pain but if not,if not, I’ll trust you, no matter what, no matter what."

LOVE IT! :)

30 DAYS!!!!

Footed PJ's and Fiance Goodness

Footed PJ's are as my oldest sister says, THE BEST THING EVER!
You can read it on her blog.

What are footed pajamas you might ask?

They're the comfiest, softest, FLEECE LINED, bed time wonder that you've ever experienced. AND! Can I just say that the polar bear feet have SQUEAKERS on them!?
As Kait would say, "Hallelujer!"

As you might guess if you looked at Kristi's blog, you can tell that both Kristi AND I have footed pajamas. Can you guess what's coming next?!

Dearest Jenny,
It is imperative that you buy footed pajamas if you want to fit in (just kidding) and/or have the most blessed sleep ever. Look at the picture below...We're missing you in our hug! :)
Love, your two older sisters
**Disclaimer** I realize that I can't speak for Kristi in this situation, so I'm just going to assume that she agrees with me! :)




Hehe...

On the other hand, I cried today when I got home. Do you know why? My super wonderful, sweet, handsome, God fearing fiance did this:


I'm totally blessed! :) Happy Monday!
-B

Countdown!

Things to do before I get married (both practical and not) in 37 days!
1)Get wedding rings
2)Find a rehearsal dress (I'm hoping for a sweater dress and boots look...any suggestions?)
3)Find a sub for the Thursday and Friday before
4)Finish round two of the entire Friends series (Currently, Rachel has a bun in her oven)
5)Have a total pig out session and finally order a pizza at 3am like I've always wanted to. Any takers? (You'll have to convince me to stay up that late though)
6)Get a marriage licence
7)I'd REAAAAAALLLLLLLLLYYYYYY like another tattoo (something tee-tiny on my ankle)
8)Take a bubble bath (I haven't had the chance to take one since this summer)

Any you think I should add?

:)

Who is exited to see THIS girl this weekend?




ME!

Mawage

The Impressive Clergyman: Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...
[cut to Westley, Inigo, and Fezzik]
The Impressive Clergyman: And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva...
[cut to the trio again]
The Impressive Clergyman: So tweasure your wuv.
Prince Humperdinck: Skip to the end.
The Impressive Clergyman: Have you the wing?
[cut to the trio once more]
The Impressive Clergyman: ...and do you,Pwincess Buwwercup...
Prince Humperdinck: Man and wife. Say man and wife.
The Impressive Clergyman: Man an' wife.

So...marriage. Is it really all it's cracked up to be? Is it really the truly life fufilling, soul satisfying, dream within a dream?

As we've gotten closer to the wedding (44 days!!!), my thoughts have turned to these. Now let me clarify something. I am by no means second guessing my decision to marry Grey or doubting that he's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with...I'm merely just wondering at the amount my world will change.

I think as I get closer to becoming Mrs. L, it's important that I keep my hopes and dreams locked in one particular thing - Jesus. Jesus is the only one that will truly satisfy my heart, that will truly love me unconditionally, that will never disappoint me. He is my life, my hope, my love.

It's going to be important that I look at Grey, as my almost husband, and look at him purely as a gift from God. On earth, he will take care of me, he'll love me, he'll support me, etc. We'll be hopefully have children, we'll hopefully grow old together, we'll hopefully buy rocking chairs and put them on our front porch and sit there when we're 90. He will be my soul mate and my best friend. I am so excited to be marrying him. However, he is still human. He will make mistakes as will I. It's going to be important though, that I keep an eternal perspective, that we look at marriage as being a picture of Christ and the church, that we look at our marriage as displaying a picture of the gospel to people who have never seen it.

For me, this means God is going to continously be asking me to be patient with Grey, to love him and support him as a husband, to serve him as his wife, and to just have fun with him.

I think it's going to be quite an intense couple of months at the beginning as God begins working in both our hearts of what it means to be husband and wife. Hopefully, if we truly keep an eternal perspective and remember that Jesus has our hearts and souls, we'll remember that we love each other and that everything will be ok (even when we fight over an open/closed shower curtain)! :)