Day 8: Tears, smiles, more tears, more smiles...

Here we are, almost one week from the wedding, and the beginning of the rest of our lives. People's first statement when they see me walking through work or church is, "Are you excited? How are you feeling?". Ha, what a question! AM I excited?! Are you kidding! More excited than I ever imagine. How AM I feeling? Well, that's a question I just don't have an answer for. :-) A rush of emotions would be the best I could say. There are bittersweet moments... moving out, picking songs for the father/daughter dance and Jer and I's first dance, planning the intimate parts of the ceremony, realizing this big step we're taking together.... tears of joy, nerves (but not nervous!)..... it's a beautiful mess to be honest. I cry a lot, and I know it's totally okay to. When I think of the joy I feel right now, it makes me cry too :-) Who knows why. Lol!

I'm so in love. But even more than being "in love", I know Jeramy is my best friend, cares about the deepest parts of me, is here to protect me, and is here to stay with me forever. What better blessing than to find a soulmate like him- who loves and adores Jesus, and me.

Yes, I have a lot more to do, and no time to do it. But, is that a big deal in the giant picture? NO way. Sure it might stress me out for 4 seconds on the day of the wedding, but I can't help but continue to think of this event as much deeper. It is spiritual, it is intimate, it is the joining of two hearts and many dreams. It is a moment, created by Jesus Christ, blessed by Him, and ultimately all planned out by HIM. How awesome!

I'm so excited and overwhelmed by the number of out-of-town family coming in town to support Jeramy and I's marriage. I know I'll get very little time with them, which makes me kind of sad, but just to know they'll be there as witnesses, ready to love and support us, is a blessing to my heart. They'll never know how special it makes me feel, and how much it overwhelms me.

To Jeramy:
Baby, our day is so close! We've waited a long time for this, and I know God has an incredible day planned out for next Friday :-) Thank you for loving me, cherishing me, and being by my side constantly in the past 2 years. I wish I could describe to you in words how honored I feel to become your wife. When I say those vows, I will mean them from the deepest part of my heart. I am filled to the rim with joy, excitement, and expectancy of what God is going to do with our future. I know as we continue to submit to Him, and stay in tune with Him, He will lead us on the mountains, and through the valleys, and will give us direction every single step of the way. I love you, more than I've ever love before, and I value who you are- your gifts, your desires, your dreams. I'm here to lift up your arms, and I'll be here until the day Jesus takes me home. Here's to an awesome last week of being engaged..... but man oh man am I so ready to be MARRIED to you. With all of my love and deepest thanks for being the man of my dreams. -Kath

Day 19: Final Countdown is on!

Can you believe it.... less than 3 weeks 'til our day! I'm excited, overwhelmed, and in awe that time flew so fast. Some of the things that are top priority on our "to do" list for this week and next week are:

• Finish painting the condo (just have the master bedroom to go!)
• Marriage License (top priority!)
• Wedding Bands
• Pack KB's stuff to move to condo
• Confirm booking of the rehearsal dinner catering (our FAVE restaurant for a backyard dinner!!)
• KB- get a couple cute dresses for the honeymoon :o) Going Caribbean!!!
• Mock hair appointment
• Mock make-up appointment
• Confirm and print ceremony programs
• Purchase bridesmaid/groomsmen gifts
• Schedule Bachelor/Bachelorette Parties

Next Sunday is my next shower- I'm super excited! My bridesmaid, Stacey, is hosting it at her home. It'll be a sweet time with my close friends and family. ;o) The last shower was amazing! So many friends came out to be part of the exciting celebration, and Jeramy & I were TOTALLY overwhelmed by awesome gifts. We're even more excited about making the condo "our home"... Moving all the gifts TO his house is another story! Hehe.... Lots to transfer to the condo!

Thanks for sharing in the journey. Our NEW journey begins in 19 days..... the journey of our life together!

Day 33- moving right along

Some of my favorite elements of wedding planning... a few of which I have already experienced, and a few of which I'm really looking forward to:  :o)

~ Dress shopping with my mom
it was more fun than I imagined!

~ Pre-Marital Counseling
it truly has already changed our lives! I'm so grateful we're going through it!

~ Mailing the invitations
make it seem like even more of a reality- people are actually coming!!!

~ Picking our first dance song 
ahh, gonna be such a sweet moment. A very special song to us.

~ Seeing my sister try on her M.O.H. Dress
can't describe how happy I felt sitting in that room!

~ Marriage License- we're getting it this week.... 
so stoked for our trip to the county clerk ;o)

~ Anticipating the wedding showers!!!

Day 34- the JOY of the Lord

As today marks only 34 days until our wedding, I wanted to blog to share the feelings running through my mind at this stage in the engagement. :o) Feel free to read along... if it bores you, no pressure to keep reading. Haha.

I marry my best friend in 34 days. This time of engagement has had its up's and down's, amazing days, tough days, long days, eventful days, hilarious moments, deep moments, moments of reality, moments of bliss... It's been amazing to see God balance it all out- ultimately creating a season of growing and discovering more about each other over the past 7 1/2 months. There's so much more I have to learn about the deep things of Jeramy and his heart, and vise versu- 'tis one of the SO many reasons I'm excited to be with him for the rest of my life... learning about him, growing closer to him, supporting him...

My parents have been amazing in this process, too. My mom is constantly available to help in any way she possibly can, and is so generous! She's offered many great ideas, and is helping keep me at peace, focused, and stress-free!

Then there's Jenn. Oh my, I cannot even imagine having any other maid of honor other than my sister. Every time we talk about the wedding, I end up breaking out in hysterical laughter- simply because she knows how to spread joy! She cracks jokes at everything, and if I start going off on a random rant and she sees the stress building, she knows exactly what to say and do to bring me back to reality. I love having her involved, and as the wedding gets closer and closer, she seems to be a lot more involved. IT'S AWESOME! I love my sister so much. She is my best friend- always has been. I'm excited to have her right next to me for the biggest moment of my life!!!

The wedding planning is fun- the financial part is not. Haha. I'm excited to see all of the different decorations & elements come together on that day. I have a vision in my head of what things will look like and can't wait to see if it really looks that way... LOL! The bridesmaid dresses have all arrived, and alterations are in the works. So exciting! I'm on the hunt for their jewelry now :o) Boxes continue to arrive at our door, full of all kinds of fun stuff- paper lamps, gifts, centerpiece accessories, tulle, candles, etc.....

Here's to only 34 more days of wedding planning, an amazing 10-day honeymoon & 2 weeks off work, & an incredible life with the man of my dreams!

Down to 50, folks!

At 50 days until our wedding day, I sit here in bed thinking how crazy it is to say "my wedding is next month"... These past of couple weeks I've found myself looking forward to the wedding still, but looking even moreso forward to the marriage. Vacations together, traveling together, making big plans together, living together, dreaming together... Sure it'll have challenges, and I know even typing that that i have truly no idea how may challenges do come up in a marriage, but i do know that I'll finally have a best friend that will walk with me through every situation, awesome and tough, and will stick by my side till we head home (to heaven).

I've ordered lots of stuff lately, because i realize how little time we have left. I had a great meeting with our Ceremony Coordinator this week, and finished the wedding shower guest lists. I also started piecing together different teams of people I'm going to need for different things. (decor test, clean up team, food serving team, candle lighting team, etc...) As much as i hate asking people to do things, i realize every time someone says yes to helping that i get more and more excited because that's more of my friends involved in the celebration! So fun!!

Ive purchased my final shipment of paper lanterns (hopefully my final one... (I should probably do a final count & make sure I'm set) :o) I also purchased the plates, cups, engraved napkins (moms idea! Thanks mom!) more rose petals (yippee!) and paid off my cake!

Today i was able to spend a few minutes entering addresses in for people on our guest list..... Aye ya ya.... What a stinkin task! I've been putting it off, but its time to face it and knock it out. It will definitely take multiple sessions of sitting buried in the computer to complete. It will be so worth it though, to have all of our friends & family there!!!

This week I have to go in for a fitting for my dress. Not many alterations have to be done, which is awesome. And, the designer company that makes this dress does free hallow hem alterations, which means the length- that's the major alteration i need. Oh oh, and the bridesmaids dresses should be in any day now! How fun!!!!!

Ok ok, ill end this for now. Thanks for joining in the journey! We're kicking it into full gear in the countdown! :o) love and blessings!

2 months from this day.... only 2 months!

61 days.


So cool to think about..... weird, and so cool. I LOVE wedding planning, but I'm honestly just so ready for the MARRIAGE. My mind is on after the wedding... the adventures together, building a legacy, our travels, our trials, our friendship growing deeper every day as each other's support and life-long partner. I'm excited to be "wife" to the man who has stolen my heart.

I know these next 2 months are going to go by quickly.... every one keeps telling me that. But, still, I'm going to fight to treasure every single day. I continue to pray that as we come towards the final quarter of this "engagement season", God will prepare our individual hearts to become one. He already has been, and I know it's not finished yet. He'll have us ready for that day, and it'll be the start to a huge future!!

Jeramy continues to work hard as the manager of Chick-fil-A, and does an amazing job managing his great team! He stays pretty busy, but I'm thankful God has given him a job he enjoys. As for myself, I continue to adjust to another position at work, and am loving what God is doing in my heart & in my ministry. We're both looking forward to 2 weeks to refresh from work, stress, long days, and to-do lists... hehe :o) Looking forward to an awesome honeymoon in Ocho Rios, Jamaica! So amazed it all worked out and we'll be staying at a beautiful resort right on the ocean!!! Score!!!

We love you all! Stay tuned as the clock ticks down!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 73: It's Revived!

Only 73 days until our moment... until our day... until the beginning of the rest of our lives! So awesome and yet unbelieveable. We've gone from 257 to 73.............. HOLY COW!
Time has flown by, and I know these last 73 days will too.
As I've been thinking about what marriage will look like, and what it means, I realize more and more than things I'm NOT going to miss about being a single woman. Like, I'm not going to miss going to bed alone. And, I won't miss having to drive to see the one my heart loves (or him having to drive!) I won't miss coming home from work to a dark, quiet house. And I won't miss having to decide whose house to cook dinner at :o) We'll cook it at OUR house, in OUR kitchen, with OUR dishes, and eat at OUR table... How awesome!

I've been talking to Jeramy about this some lately, and I'm sure I just sound silly to him. But the thought of having our own dishes, and our own groceries, and our own towels... just everything, it's so cool, weird, exciting, and just blows my mind when I start thinking about it too much ;o) It'll be fun to make "OUR life". It'll be a HUGE adjustment, especially for me coming out of a house with my whole family AND our two dogs.... I'm not sure how long I'll be able to go without a puppy.... just sayin' ;o) LOL!

The wedding plans are coming along. It's not as stressful as women seem to talk it up as. Especially those shows that make it look like the most miserable thing a woman will EVER have to do! Hahahahahaha... I just laugh. I LOVE wedding planning! Aside from the financial burdens and how gosh darn expensive even the CHEAP stuff is, I still love it in so many ways. It's fun, especially when my mom and I start talking through ideas and brainstorming.
Here are some things I've accomplished since returning from China in late July:

> Aisle runner- ordered and arrived. It's beautiful! :o)

> Sparklers- 300 of them to be exact. Hehe, so fun. They're sitting in my foyer ;o)

> Tulle, Tulle, and more Tulle! Just got the new big box in this week.

> I've decided on the centerpieces...finally.... now to order the special pearls ;o)

> Found out even more of my extended family members are coming in town- HOW AWESOME!!!

> Received the proposal and official agreement for the catering :o) Yummy!

> Picked a song for Communion/Unity Candle time.... will be sung by one of the sweetest voices! (I'll keep that a surprise... for those who go to CRC, you'll love love love it!!!)

> Found INCREDIBLE deals on tables and linens. Gotta call and book them. Great prices!

> Ordered engraved napkins (my mother's idea...!) LOL. They were quite cheap though.

> Discovered (thanks to JENN!) that Mac store does free makeovers for these type of events. Definitely headed to the Town Center on the morning of, for some makeovers! WAHOO!!!!

> Purchased my shoes.... shhh.... it's a secret! They're AMAZINGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

> My dress has arrived! AND, I tried it on! Now just for alterations..... oh oh oh, and it's STUNNING. I want to cry every single time I put it on. It's so me!

> All of the bridesmaids dresses are ordered & on their way :o) Yippee! Good job, ladies!

> More paper lanterns are headed this way! (one of my favorite parts of the whole reception)

> Found the flower girl dress.... it is so NOT typical, which is exactly what I wanted! It's beautiful, flowy, sparkly, and SO Logan Venn :o) Can't wait to see her in it!!! Trying it on her this week.

> Chose the Junior Bridesmaids dresses... and found them for $29!!! Yes, seriously, $29. :o)


Sigh.... so, as you see, I've been a busy bee in my spare time, and am excited as boxes continue to arrive at our door! The coolest part will be seeing it ALL come together on that day into one big, beautiful scene of love, laughter, and unity with each other, and with our dear friends and family.

THIS MONTH'S MAJOR TASK:
The GUEST LIST..... dun dun dun...... and invitations. Yuck! The one thing I'm NOT looking forward to working on! LOL! Gonna be a long, tough task. But fun afterwards :o)


I pray you've all had a wonderful, sweet summer- full of adventure and amazing moments with Jesus!

Love,
Kat