it's undeniable that God's paving the way for our wedding to happen and for us to start life together. i want to make sure that i document these blessings so josh and i won't forget Christ's goodness through this season of engagement.
1. i went dress shopping a couple of weeks ago and fell in
LOVE with the first one i tried on. it was even on sale (my favorite word in the dictionary = SALE)...but still more money than i felt comfortable spending on a dress i'll wear once. i'm going shopping again today with my mom-away-from-home, deb, and i just have a great feeling that i'll find a dress just like the last one...but cheaper! it hasn't happened yet, but i'm writing it down as a blessing because i have a
good feeling about today (:
2. i wrote a few days ago about our idea for wedding favors. as josh was working down at the market today, his boss jimmy said that him and his wife lisa wanted to
give us the baby jams as a wedding gift! this completely blew me away! their generosity is a huge blessing because that allows us to use that $450 to give to Lydia's House, the charity we have chosen since they cared for my Grandma Baker when she passed away from Alzheimer's in october.
3. my mom isn't just playing mother of the bride in september, she's also my matron of honor! we found her the perfect dress from nordstrom and she ordered it online soon after i got engaged. she loved it and even though it was a little spendy, we figured it was worth it since it was something she'd wear again and again. i was prowling on nordstrom.com the other day for bridesmaid dresses and came across mom's dress
on sale for 40% off! whoohoo! since nordy's is THE BOMB, she took the receipt into the store and they gave her a price adjustment, paying mom the $55 difference! if it goes further on sale between now and september, they will continue to do this for her. awesome.
4. when we went and saw oak grove church, we fell in love with it for tons of reasons. it is built in a filbert orchard where my great-grandparents used to pick hazelnuts and is so adorably charming. it's a classic white chapel with a steeple to boot. anywhoo, we didn't know who to contact about reserving the church and my faithful grandma mates went to highschool with the woman who is the "event coordinator" for the 16 pew church and happened to have her name and number hanging around. i spoke with her and the church was available for our weekend, fits the perfect amount of people for our little ceremony AND costs pennies.
5. as i was writing this very post, josh called me and said it just crossed his mind to call student financial services to make sure his finances were all settled for next quarter. he was just awarded a service scholarship for over $4500 (blessing!) and wanted to make sure it had been credited to his account. the SFS rep informed him that it had come through, and there had been an accounting mistake fall quarter so he will be getting a $3000 refund for spring quarter! this is so awesome for josh because he takes such hard classes, he only is able to work on saturdays. this money will give him money to live and pay bills during spring and will also give us more to sock away for the wedding and married life!
as God continues to create opportunities and have His hand and fingerprints in this process, i will keep writing these posts...as much for my benefit as anything else. i so easily forget that He is ever near, ever dear and ever mine. it makes me wonder just how many "little blessings" i have overlooked and failed to be thankful for simply because i don't take the time to reflect in gratitude for His work.
