{Friday Favorites} - April 13

1. Time Away - For the last couple weeks, I have had some much needed time away. I have spent quality time with my Fiance and my family; and I did a lot of wedding planning :)  I feel reprieved and refreshed. On Sunday, I leave for Haiti and will be leaving my fiance with my family for 6 weeks!!

2. Family - I seriously have the best family ever! I am so thankful for them!! I have enjoyed spending time with them and some time playing with my nieces and nephews.

3. New Lense - I am in love...Thank you Kelly for the recommendation. This isn't a great picture, but I was testing out with the lens could do...It has a 1.8 ap...awww..I'm in love :) Can't wait to use it in Haiti.

 4. Play time: Who doesn't love it... I love their laughs and giggles, their little voices!!! I am so blessed.

Photo by Kelly Schmidgall

 5. My Fiance: I love him so much! He has been so good to me. I love that he is continually pointing me to Christ!! I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!! June 22nd, hurry up!!!

{Friday Favorites} - January 27

 1. I said yes!!! On Tuesday, Claudy asked me to be his wife! I am so excited....Excited to see how God will use us in marriage, in missions, and in life!!!
The day started out with me being really frustrated, we ended up taking 18 people with us to the beach and I couldn't figure out why, and I just wanted to get there to get sun! So we finally sat down at the beach and I was ready to take off my cover and Claudy said, "lets go for a walk." I

 reluctantly agreed.  (Thank you Claudy for not letting me go for a walk in my bikini or I wouldn't be sharing these pics :) ) As we walked, he started telling me how happy he was, told me what he loved about me and our relationship, and asked me to share the same. He than started talking about his dream was to get married on the beach, but since he didn't think that would happen, he wanted to ask me to be his wife by the beach!

 He got down on one knee and said, "will you be my wife?" I said yes....then came to find out my friend Laura was behind us in the bushes and had captured it all!! What a great friend and great planning by you two!! So thankful to have it all in pictures!! We were than able to walk back to group to be congratulated by some of our family and friends!!Isn't the my ring gorgeous!! Great job!!!

 

 2. Meeting the Family: On Wednesday, we were able to spend some time with Claudy's mom, Odette. She couldn't be happier for the two of us!! It was a joy to spend time with her. I was also able to meet Claudy Sister. I'm excited to be part of their family!!!

  

 3. Visits with Cory and Shannon's Family: On Sunday, my brother Cory and his family arrived. It was a blast to spend time with them, share with them what we do in Haiti, have them get to spend time with Claudy and to see their family serve. We visited a lot of orphanages and schools. The kids did a great job playing, and sharing with the other children! They even did a skit of David and Goliath! Super fun! Thanks for coming.

 4. To top off the special week, the sent Claudy and I out on a date and painted my bed room!!! It looks great!! Thanks for the fun color :)

   6. A special thanks to Laura, for being sneaky, and capturing the special day and moment!!! I so appreciate your friendship :)

Sorry for all the pictures this week, but had so much to share :) 

{Worst Date Ever}

No I do not hate Valentines Day, but saw this on Stuff Christians Like and thought it was great. My worst date ever took place my senior year of college. At the time I was attending a young adult group at my church and a guy that I just met wanted to go on a date. Well, to make me "comfortable" he wanted to make it a group date (yes, very common in Christian Circles), so he asked a mutual friend of ours and my brother to come on the date with us....Mistake #1 (who wants to go on an awkward first date with their brother).

We lived near the Mall of America, so he suggested that we go there, which sounded good, should be a place to watch people and help ease the awkwardness that was already occurring. Well, little did I know he had a particular place in mind, here is mistake #2....the arcade. I know that I like a lot of "male" things...but the arcade. In which I had to play a shooting game and a race car driving game.

 At this point I am hating life and just want to go home. Little did I know that the arcade also had a bowling alley....yikes!!! I hate bowling, but I will give him a break here because he didn't know that I didn't like it (and no I didn't tell him, I just pretending to have fun)...then, He decided to get competitive. Definitely mistake #3. I love competition, but bowling, and on a first date, really. He preceded to tell me that he can't handle losing to a girl in anything, which didn't hit me well, since I am an athlete. After bowling, we finally got to go home :)

The only good part of the night was the free pizza. Worst date ever...note to all of the gentlemen out there, if you want to make a girl comfortable, don't ask her older brother to come (even though I love him, I don't want him on a first date when I am trying to figure out if I like you or not) and don't take a girl to an arcade.

What is your worst date ever? Would love to hear about it.