engagement pics

i only bought the copyright to two of them... so these are the only ones you get to see. but i really like both of them! yay! 73 days!

My little sister graduated! I've been home for about a week now, and i've had a great week with lots and lots of family. :) on friday everyone came to russellville to celebrate stacy! susan's here, aunt karen, and then aunt joyce, uncle pete, aunt ann and uncle david, season, matthew, and sophie all came for a fun afternoon!
i'm so proud of my sister and can't wait to see what all the Lord has for her in the upcoming years. i know it will be good, wonderful, and influential things. i believe she's called to bring the truth of God to people... truth that he's going to burn onto her lips (isaiah 6)
anyway... i'm loving being home. i got to meet with the wedding planner and get a lot done... i now have a wedding dress (and it's so pretty! although i WILL have t get some spanx... haha) *sigh* it just feels so right being here. i'm ready for a fantastic summer!
(ps... chagee... i miss you!)

eek!

ladies and gentlemen.
today. is my last. day. of work. ever.
:)
yep. EVER.


until this summer when i teach swimming lessons.
and then until the fall when i am forced to work in order to eat and have electricity.
and then probably until i have a baby.
but you better believe... when i have a baby... no more.
none of this... work... stuff.

i kid, i kid.

but i AM VERY excited that this is my last day at the hospital. it's been... challenging... and stretching... and rewarding.
one concept i have been pondering a lot lately is character.
we do the right thing because it's the right thing... not because we get something out of it. (although it's always nice when we ARE rewarded for doing the right thing... but that is NOT why we do it.) but it's made me think.. from a worldly standpoint... that makes no sense. so why do we do it? and how do we just -know- something is the right thing, when there are no obvious benefits from it? what makes something intrisically good.. or right? and how do we instinctively KNOW?
i think YOU know the answer to this one... :)
charlie and i watched a rob bell sermon yesterday called "all things are spiritual"... it felt like i was back at jbu. he did a fabulous job of tying faith and reason together... and it's something i deeply believe in. just because we think science is saying one thing and our faith is saying something different, it doesn't mean that they conflict. it just means we have a limited 2-dimensional type view. his example was a 3D hand passing into a 2D world. it wouldn't look like a hand... it would look like 5 circles of different diameter that enter at different times because of finger length discrepencies. one of us 2D persons may say "you know... i just sense that it's something more than that... i think it's a hand!" but without some sort of faith or revelation... no one else is going to see a hand. they're going to call 2D #1 a crazy person. but it doesn't mean he is.. it just means he's seeing in another dimension (which... btw.. scientist agree that there's at least like -9-... probably angels live in some of those...) Gosh... it was so good. he also talked about how man's place in the world is the converging point between the spiritual and the physical. it was beautiful. we have God the creator who breathed into the physical dust and gave us his essence. ugh! i wish i were better at articulating!

in other news... i'm getting married! yay! charlie and i took our engagement pictures! i'm checking on copyright and all that... but you have to see them! they're -beautiful-. she did a fantastic job. i will try to post at least one when i figure out how legal it is :) i'm kind of scared i have NO rights to them (or will have to pay $450 for legal rights to them like i'm pretty sure i found on her site?) (uhhh... poor stephanie and charlie who will own 0 photos of themselves.) (and we were going to send one to everyone in their invitation! but... if we have to pay $15 for each 4x6... we sadly, will not.)

i think it's like 85 days until the wedding. *sigh*

if you've read this far... you're quite impressive. many of you have told me you have a hard time posting.. if so... try posting with explorer instead of firefox.. or try enabling your cookies. those are the 2 maybe-fix-its i found online.

okay... i guess i should get back to my last 2 hours of work! (ever)

i've had a lot on my mind lately. and i seem to have a snowball effect... when i have a lot on my mind it opens doors to other things and then i have increasingly more and more stuff rolling around in my head.
all this wedding stuff has me thinking about american consumerism. it makes me so sad for the culture we've built here of "i deserve this, and i deserve it now." but it comes at the cost of debt and non-responsibility. and it comes with the thought that we don't have to work our way up... we can all start at the top. i believe we call that -entitlement-. i'm very okay with the thought that i start off with a trailer and ugly used furniture and our used vehicles and eating ramen noodles and eggs and fish charlie catches for a few years. and the veggies he grows. i'm okay with not having the best of the -best- at 22 years old.
we're going to WORK for what we get. and that is going to give us an appreciation for what we have. why do i want to start off with thousands and thousands of dollars in debt? it's limiting. it will resrtict what charlie and i can or cannot do.
someone even suggested to me that i take out a LOAN to provide alcohol for my wedding. riiiight.
i'm frusterated at the state we're in.
and it KILLS me that i heard a christian i know say that the swine flu must be God's judgment on mexico. UGH. don't get me started on that. first of all... i don't really think that God's into that whole judgment thing (for now) (one day, but not now.) because of a little someone i like to call JESUS. some things just happen because God set up order on the earth. some things like disease just happen because we live in a fallen world. we have governments who can't (or won't?) provide healthcare for its people. (all of its peple.) but when i look in the Bible.. for instance at the plagues God sent to the egyptians... it wasn't on the poor/oppressed israelites... the plagues were on the oppressors. they went to the king, himself. do YOU think swine flu is killing ANYONE rich or in power? do a little research.
i would suggest that maybe we need the heat turned up on us a little. and you know, i wouldn't even really say it's because of " those crazy liberals" in office... or because some states are trying to pass gay marriage (which i DO believe breaks God's heart)... but no. i don't believe people who don't know his way or his truth can be judged for not understanding his way or his truth (there are consequences, yes... because the truth and order God set up... His principles are always the way that works. they are always our best option. things in opposition to it have consequences) but i think only christians are held to the standard for now.
God is about redemption. and no one is past the redeemable stage. no one. nothing. it's His heart and His purpose. i'm tired of american christianity. ego-centric. demanding.
no thank you.
God's way is bigger. so much bigger.