I never gave an update on the rest of my So Cal trip, but if you read Alicia's blog you already know everything that happened! Even so, here's two of my favorite pictures. One is Malibu beach just as the sun was beginning to set, and the other one is us lounging on Hollyood Boulevard. When Alicia dropped me off at the airport to fly back to Kansas City we both felt bittersweet, the kind of feeling that envelopes you when change is near, and even though it's good change it's still a little hard. If you used to watch Friends maybe you would call it 'the end of an era.' The next time I see Alicia I'll be getting married.




The wedding is two months away. I've been addressing invitations, picking out flowers, and trying to figure out how to make my church gym look pretty. Lots of people have asked me how the planning is going, along with other various questions, so I thought I'd try and answer some of those on this blog.

The date is April 5th. The colors are chocolate brown, sage, and plum. We have five bridesmaids and five groomsmen. I have three songs including the processional and recessional. My cake is chocolate. Jared wants a picture of a leopard fighting a dragon on his cake but I've yet to find anything close to that. The flowers are cala lilies, hydrangeas, and tulips. We're having dinner but no dancing--I live in the country and I do not want Cotton Eye Joe played at my wedding. Along those same lines there will be no country love songs in the ceremony. We're going to Boston and Maine for our honeymoon. We're going to move in with my grandma after we get married. Jared's applied to grad school in Philadelphia and DC--so we're waiting to hear back and hopefully moving at the end of the summer! He wants to study international development and I want to pay our bills. One day we want to move back overseas. We don't know where yet.

Ok...that covers most of the questions I've been asked. Any others are welcome. I've enjoyed wedding planning, but I'm looking forward to actually being married. We've gone to several sessions of premarital counseling, and it's been fun to learn how to communicate with one another on a whole new level. I thought we were the poster couple for communication since the first year of our relationship occurred over the phone, but I've been humbled more than once through the small things. I usually make lunch for us and bring it work--nothing special, just sandwiches, fruit, veggies, and hummus. Anyway, Jared almost apologetically asked me the other day if I could put a little less mustard on his sandwich. Poor guy. I never thought about how normal people don't glob tons of mustard on their sanwiches the way I do. He'd been eating mustard with a little bread and turkey on the side for months without saying a word. I've had to learn not to assume that he likes everything the way I do. So what about all my married friends who read this blog? Any other helpful advice you can give me?

It's snowing here in the Midwest. I've been flipping through the pages of 1 John and reading about God's love and walking in the light and having fellowship with one another. On Super Bowl Sunday I'm speaking at an event put on by several churches in this area. You could say I'm the halftime entertainment...and I've gone back and forth over what to speak about. My high school bible study has been reading Isaiah 61, but for some reason I keep finding myself going back to 1 John. There's probably a reason for that. I guess I should get back to studying, but I'll let you know how it goes!