Like Manna from Heaven...

I am often amazed at God's provision in my life. I have never been without something I didn't need, and often times without something I didn't want. I am overwhelmingly blessed by the family I've been given, my significant other, my wonderful friends, the opportunity to go to college and study music, the opportunity to go to a CHRISTIAN college, the experiences I've been able to have, etc. Lately I've been overwhelmed at the Lord's provision for wedding plans. Things are falling into place quickly and pretty easily (or it seems that way).

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about decisions and shoes. Since then, I found a truly awesome pair of shoes! Then I returned them. I know, kind of an anti-climactic story. It gets better, I promise.

I returned those awesome shoes to Dillard's and decided to look for some different truly awesome shoes. Wesley was actually with me, so I asked his opinion. Of course, he picked out the simplest shoes. Plain Jane. Boring. Cute and comfortable, but still not very interesting. I actually went ahead and got them...he's quite the persuasive one. I got them home and finally admitted to myself that I actually liked the simple more than the elaborate ones that I had first gotten. I still wanted something to spruce them up...some bling, some flowers, some something! I looked on etsy.com for shoe clips and found some interesting ones, but nothing that "struck my fancy" as my mother would say. I thought I was going to have to walk down the aisle with boring, plain ole blush/champagne colored shoes. Yes, I realize no one will actually see my shoes, but knowing that they're there will make me stand up straighter, I promise. Just go with me on this one.

So I was in my room last week writing a lesson plan. I looked down at my plain wedding shoes and thought "I need to find something to do with those." I looked for some type of jewelry that I could put up to my shoe just for a visual example. I saw a brooch on my dresser that I had gotten a couple years ago to wear with a dress for a recital I played in. I thought, "Hmm....that's pretty. Maybe I can find something like that. I'll try it to see what it looks like." ( Yes, I always think in complete sentences...) So I put it on my shoe. Then, something AMAZING happened.

It fit PERFECTLY. The shoes are peep toe and the narrowest part is 2 inches...the back of the brooch is 2 inches. It was meant to be!!

"But wait..." you say (as I did). "You only have one brooch, and you have two shoes." You are correct. It made me sad to realize this. I racked my brain to remember the brand of the brooch so I could look it up online. I remembered it was Liz Claiborne, and typed "Liz Claiborne rhinestone brooch" into Google. Lots of brooches. None of them were the ones I needed. I went to eBay expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.

I typed it in the search and scrolled down, and I saw a blurry picture of a rhinestone brooch! Could it be?! I clicked on it to get a closer look...my computer was taking forever! I grabbed my brooch and ran into the living room and pulled it up on Mom's computer. I held my brooch up next to the picture and got a second opinion. After discussion, we decided that YES!! It was the exact same brooch!! I had to order it! I bid on it...but then I had to wait 4 days until the auction was over. It was nerve racking....but fear not! Today, I am the proud owner of 2 brooches for my 2 wedding shoes. It should be coming in the mail the day after tomorrow!

It turns out she bought the brooch 2 years ago and it fell behind her dresser. She recently found it and didn't need it anymore. Thank you, Lord for allowing her to misplace that brooch!

So while brooches on shoes may seem like just another fun detail to the wedding, they are much more than that for me. When I put on those shoes on September 24th (8 months from yesterday), those brooches will be reminder that my God is Jehovah Jirah. He will provide. He provided something as small and seemingly insignificant as the brooches on my shoes. I know I can trust in Him for my future.

Matthew 6:25-34

25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^g 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I'll post a picture when I get the other :)

I'll leave you with a blast from the past. This was March 2006. Before we were dating...ahh the memories...

Confessions of the Complexity of a Twenty-something Year Old

Thursday night before I went to bed, I saw on Facebook that Old Navy was having 40% off on their already reduced clearance stuff. I, being the "bargainista" that I am, had to check it out just to make sure I didn't miss out on anything amazing.

After school, I headed on over to Old Navy. I walked straight to the clearance items, picked up anything cute I saw in my size, and went to the dressing room. I tried on 3 pairs of jeans because I've gotten clearance jeans at ON for 8 dollars or less in the past. However, they hugged all the wrong places and were about 6 inches too long. I was actually relieved...I didn't need to buy jeans anyways!

I tried on 3 shirts, all of which fit and were around $4 a piece. They went into my "yes pile." I also tried on a skirt that was a strange color of purplish grey. I had decided not to get it because I didn't know what I'd wear with it, but then I reminded myself it was "only $5" (as Emily Bass and I always say). Thus, I changed my mind, put it in my "yes pile", and took it home to see if I had anything to wear with it.

The last thing I saw when I was making my final sweep around was a pair of capris for $7. They were regular length so I figured they'd be just right as straight jeans on me...why not try them? They were only $7!

I checked out and headed home. On my way home I had an epiphany. As you can tell by my previous posts about decisions, I'm an indecisive person. I'm a very careful decision maker. I consider all the possible outcomes and over-analyze the situation to death before I make a decision. EXCEPT when it comes to clothing. I'm an impulse buyer. I get chastised at Christmas time because if I see something I like, I just buy it for myself instead of telling someone I want it.  When you put impulse buyer with bargain shopper, it can be a dangerous combination. ESPECIALLY if something is "only $5!"

I also realized that while I'm a planner and feel better when Vera (my Vera Bradley planner) is by my side, I'm an intense procrastinator. My motto is "why do it today if you can do it tomorrow?" I work better under pressure anyways. Maybe it's that I always procrastinate so I force myself to work well under pressure...I don't know. Another realization was that while I like to be organized and clean, my room and car are terribly unorganized and messy. I like to call it organized chaos. I know where things are, but no one else can find it. Why am I so complicated?! I confuse myself.

I don't have any explanations or solutions to my complexity. The only thing I have is thankfulness to the Lord that he takes my complex mess of a life and understands all the complexities that even I don't understand about myself.

Back to my shopping spree. I got home and showed my dad all my deals...since he was dying to see them all, I know. (That's another complexity...even when I know the males in my family don't care about the clothes I get or the cute things I make, I show them anyways...) As I was pulling out my super awesome deals I noticed a couple things. 1) I got a shirt in XL when I meant to get it in M. 2) The capris I got were ACTUALLY skinny jeans. I have never in my life worn skinny jeans. Not only were they skinny jeans, but they have dark blue sequins all the way down the side...I'm not one for sequins, especially on my jeans. Especially if they're skinny jeans...If I'm wearing skinny jeans I don't want anything else on them that might add extra attention. I immediately put it in my "take back pile", along with the XL shirt and purplish grey skirt that I couldn't find anything to go with.

However, I had to model my clothes for my parentals, so I put on the jeans. At first, I almost threw up in my mouth. "No way, Jose." I said to myself. Then I put on a shirt I got for 3 dollars. The jeans grew on me with the longer shirt. I put some flats on to complete the look. I actually liked it. WHAT?!!? Sequined, skinny jeans?!?! Yeh, I still can't believe it myself. They're now in my "keep pile".

My, oh my. How complex I am.

Preparing to teach and planning to wed...

I made it through my first two days of student teaching this week! Of course, I didn't actually teach anything this week, but just having two days under my proverbial belt makes me feel better about this spring. I'll start teaching Kindergarten and 1st grade music classes in a couple weeks, and then build from there. After watching my cooperating teacher teach every grade over 2 days, I realized something about Kindergarten kiddos. They think EVERYTHING is funny. They tell you random facts. They raise their hand to tell you that their birthday is in July. I already have 2 Kindergarten kiddo stories after 2 days.

1) Upon the music teacher introducing me to the class as "Miss Lindsey" a girl raised her hand and said, "I had a dog named Lindsey once! But she died." The teacher responded, "You had a DOG named Lindsey?? That's a girl name!" The little girl said matter-of-factly, "Yeh, it was a GIRL dog!"

2) The second isn't quite as interesting, but it made me laugh. After the teacher explained why an unfamiliar girl (me) was sitting at her desk, the whole class stood up to look at me. They all waved with blank stares like they weren't so sure about whether I was going to be nice or not. Then one little boy, who was staring the most intently out of the whole class said, "I like your necklace", and immediately sat back down. I'm so glad that my fashion sense was confirmed by a 5 year old boy! :)

Another funny thing happened after a 3rd grade class in which the teacher had introduced me and given a small tidbit of my life. She told them where I went to college, that I am engaged, and that I am getting married this year. After class, two 3rd grade girls asked to look at my ring. I don't think I even knew what an engagement ring was in 3rd grade. Just kidding, but seriously I wouldn't have thought to ask to look at a ring in 3rd grade. I'm used to college girls and women asking to see my ring, but 3rd graders was a new experience. It was an experience that made me laugh, nonetheless.

It should be fun, but I just have to work on my comedy act for the Kindergarten classes to get them laughing...which shouldn't be too hard. Yesterday they thought a song about hippos in the snow was the most hilarious song ever written! Yet another reminder that the next 2 months will be fun and filled with stories!

Well wedding planning is in full swing. I still don't have any super awesome shoes, but it will come. It's funny to look back each week and see how much has been decided or changed in the wedding plans...even in a week. This week we set the date.

We are planning to get married September 24th.

I didn't want the date to get lost in the rest of the words. Mark your calendar, save the date, circle the number, etc. I'll let the blog world know if it changes, but I don't think it will now. Having a date makes it so much more real, and it gives us a goal to work towards and a specific time to look forward to. We're excited! :) I feel like it's all going to come together, and hopefully for a reasonable price. My goal is to be practical and simple, but still classy.

I came up with some themes the other day while I was cleaning my room. Prepare yourself. The awesomeness of the alliterations may have the potential to blow your mind. Just kidding, but I really like alliterations so I'm proud of my themes.

Neutral and Natural. Linen and Lace. I like the neutral and natural colors, and I think linen and lace add a southern charm of sorts. We'll see if I stick with these themes. Hopefully I will because if I don't, I'm not sure if I can come up with anymore alliterations...

Be inspired by this inspiration board by  Every Last Detail blog

Decisions, Decisions....

As of yesterday, I have been engaged for 5 weeks. Although I haven't made a huge dent in the to do list of planning the wedding, I have made a dent in my research. I have come to a conclusion. There are about 1239874234 decisions that have to be made between now and the time I get married. Such as...

What color do I want the bridesmaids to wear?

What shade of that color would look good?

What material of that shade would be good?

What flowers should there be?

What shade of those flowers would look best?

How many of each shade would be good?

How many pew markers should there be?

Will we have a singer?

Who will sing?

What will they sing?

At what point will they sing?

Where should we register?

What should we register for?

When should we register?

How many towels should we register for?

What color towels do we want?

How many lamps do we need in our house?

What color furniture should we get?

Oh...and where will we be living?

Geez Louise. Yes, I'm getting a little carried away...mostly for dramatic effect. But as I participated in a best friend's wedding a couple weeks ago, I realized something. There are a bajillion decisions that go into one day...3 hours really. Of course some of the decisions on registry and where we will live are life decisions... (no pressure), but the others effect 3 hours of our life. At the end of our wedding day, we'll be married. Whether we have cake and punch or a sit down meal, we'll still be married. Whether we have roses and peonies or wildflowers, we'll still be married. Whether my bridesmaids wear gold or chartreuse, we'll still be married...but probably short a few girl friends :) Basically, I've come to the conclusion that I want to take it all in stride, enjoy the wedding planning process, and most importantly-take it ONE DAY at a time. ONE DECISION at a time. 

Today, I made a decision about my shoes. I decided I want fun shoes. I don't know if I'll have colored ones, but I do want interesting ones. After all, pretty shoes make you feel pretty! In less, of course, they're uncomfortable, then they just make you irritated. So I guess I just made another decision... I want fun, semi comfortable shoes. Another decision! I'm on a roll. 

I've already begun my quest to find said shoes. I started with Ivory just for my conservative side's sake. In my search, I found these super awesome shoes!

While they are, as previously stated, super awesome, I've decided not to get them. At least not right now. I came to this conclusion for 2 reasons. 1) They're in Europe and I don't know my size in UK shoe sizes, 2) They're $70 and I can't justify buying them impulsively without trying them on knowing that I'll probably only wear them on my wedding day.

Either way, they're still some of my favorite shoes to look at. Excuse me....at which to look. (Thanks to my 6th grade English teacher, every time I end a sentence with a preposition, I get onto myself. )

Yet another decision made today. Whew, I think I might turn my decision making off for now and enjoy this New Years Day.

Happy 2011!...a year of many decisions and exciting times :)