Greetings From South Carolina!

Hello friends!

Hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We enjoyed some serious southern cooking and some wonderful company for our turkey day. I think this has been the most relaxed Amanda and I have been since we have been engaged, which is probably what I am most thankful for this year :) We haven't had to cook or worry about anything. After the day settled down we finished out the night watching movies with the rest of the family. As opposed to our first night here, we got plenty of sleep (especially Amanda who woke up and then slept from 9 till noon again). Amanda's sister and mom got up at the crack of dawn to do some shopping so Amanda and I and her/my future brother-in-law, Adam, watched movies. Well like I said, Amanda slept, so really just Adam and I watched movies. Amanda and I stole the car for a few hours this afternoon to go grab some lunch and do a little shopping just the two of us. We are finding more and more how much we enjoy just being together. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp after just about one and a half months of being engaged of this whole I am about to get married thing. At least I think so.... other moments I kind of have to catch my breath but overall, I think Amanda and I both have a better vision for this new part of our lives. I can hardly freaking wait to be married :) We are just best friends and that is all there is to it! I mentioned earlier that this trip has really been amazing because we have not had to do a thing. Speaking for both us, some time to chill was much needed. School has been nuts, life has been nuts, work has been nuts, so having no responsibilities for a few days has been a real moral booster :) Sorry if this blog has been more like a play like play. Normally I would bestow some enlightening thoughts for the day but I have been so relaxed here I havent taken the time to reflect on life. That in itself is probably a big lesson for me to continue to learn. We have a long drive home tomorrow, although we wont be driving so no complaints there. I am so thankful for my new family and for my family and for all of our friends who are giving Amanda and I so much support. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-DJ

Thanksgiving 2007!

DJ really was a birthday princess.

Tomorrow we leave for Columbia, SC to see my sister's family. We're so excited to spend some time with them. Pictures will soon be posted.

Its so exciting to get to share holidays with each other now. Last year, exactly around this time, DJ and I has just really met and started to hang out. Its so fun to go back and remember the cute things we did with each other. I never would have imagined that this year I would be engaged to the love of my life. Its all so exciting.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Love you guys! Thanks so much for your prayers and support.


-Amanda

I think things are only going to get busier.

So, if anyone actually reads this I think you will notice the lack of blogs from me. :)

I've been super busy with school. This is probably the craziest semester yet...15 pg research paper of Tanzania, 5 pg paper in Spanish over futbol and 2 papers in Spanish for Diaz. My brain is ready to explode.

I'm trying to stay calm at the thought that everything is only going to get more crazy. Planning a wedding, taking 21 hours next semester and working seem like a lot to handle. I'm hoping I can do everything and stay sane. It all seems stressful, but DJ and I can handle anything because we're Team Awesome. It doesn't get any better than that.

Other than that, DJ and I have just been relaxing together and going on fancy dates!

For DJ's birthday, I threw him a mini surprise party with a few of his friends that turned out well.

I'm so excited about life right now. I love my fiance very much! :)

-Amanda

Our Story

So Amanda will probably get mad that I am writing another blog before she does but I really wanted to share some thoughts on a sermon I just listened to. Donald Miller, a well known author and familiar name to most of you I am sure, recently spoke at Mars Hill Bible church in Grand Rapids Michigan. I am a big fan of Mars Hill and receive their weekly message via podcast. So, I noticed Miller was speaking and decided to take a listen today while I was working. His message was on how our lives are basically a story, which is not exactly a new idea, but his twist on the idea was amazing. One of the things I have been learning as Amanda and I have been engaged is that we are living out this new story about our life together and really what that story is playing out to be. Miller explains in his message what is required in a story or movie in order for it to be interesting to the reader/viewer. A story has to have a main character or protagonist. A story has to have some sort of conflict, a story has to have a point of climax, and finally a story has to have some sort of resolve at the end. Miller goes on to talk about how many times in the Christian faith we kind of cut off our chances of letting God play out this story in our life with sayings such as "well, God closed that door." I found this very interesting because I myself have used that phrase before and I am sure many of you have as well. Miller mentions this mindset to point out that we should not defeat our own stories by giving up on a situation or defeat ourselves by assuming if something is not the way we imagined it would be that there is something wrong in our lives. God picks up at the point of our mistakes and creates the story from there. God knocks down the door he doesn't close it. These two ideas kind of struck me to the core. It is really easy to water down our own story rather than just live out a great story. So I started thinking about how this idea applies to Amanda and I's story together. We want to have a great story. You can't just want to have a great story though, you have to live out a great story, you have to be that story. Don gives an example of a friend of his whose wife just had a baby and how this husband was telling Don how much more in love with his wife he was now than when they got married. The sad thing was, he wasn't doing anything to show his wife that love so this love only existed in the husbands story. We have to live out our stories. I think Amanda and I are going to have a great story. We had great stories before we even met. But I dont just want to have a great story with her, I want us to be a great story. God uses every aspect of our lives to help push our story forward, we just have to keep on living. Sounds simple enough, but it is very easy to get bogged down with the crap life throws at you. I was very encouraged and challenged by this message and hope that this blog is a reality check for others as well.

On a side note...we have done basically zero planning the past few weeks. Instead we have just been hanging out and enjoying being together. We went on a great date Tuesday night, something we haven't done since we got engaged really. Next week we are heading back to South Carolina for Thanksgiving and then finishing up with school for the semester. Thanks as always to everyone who is watching out for us and supporting us through this process of writing our new story. We love you all!

One month down

Wow, I can hardly believe Amanda and I have already been engaged for a month. Pretty crazy! I don't think I would have ever expected what this month would hold for us either. I think it is safe to say that it was tough. So many people to tell, so many people to see, so many people to please. This can really wear two people down when they are just trying to be together. It is easy to miss what your identity as a soon to be married couple is when you are trying to give all of your time in so many places. This whole weekend Amanda has been the most amazing fiance any guy could ever ask for. She took me out for my birthday basically all weekend, organized a surprise party at her house for me, took me out for a wonderful dinner at PF Changs, and then just sat and talked with me for hours. We realized last night how important our identity as a couple is. We realized how easy it is for things to get crazy when we lose sight of that. Because of this realization and the chance to talk about, we were able to connect on a deeper level emotionally and remember how in love we are. In fact, I would say we are more in love today than we were yesterday. It is an incredible feeling! Turning twenty, being engaged, and planning a wedding can be a bit overwhelming. Thankfully though, we are loved by a God who will stop when we stop and help us take a deep breath in and find the truth that exists when love is real. That is what we are holding on to.

PS- we took some amazing pictures if you havent cehcked them out yet. I have the best looking fiance in the world...no questions asked!

Engagement pictures from Michael Howard

Check this out! http://www.howardphoto.net/
We're so excited!
Thanks, Michael Howard!

Strange

I have come to conclusion that the whole concept of engagement is just strange. It is almost a game of how long can we actually wait before we elope :) I love being engaged but I am finding everyday, as many have said, it is just kind of lame on a scale of time. You find the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you ask them to marry you, they say yes, and then you wait around for a long time until you actually get to be together. Amanda and I talked along time about this last night after going as Britney and K-Fed for Halloween. I was reminded how much I enjoy just staying up late and just talking and laughing with my best friend though. There is something very cool about relaxing on a nice evening and taking things easy with someone you love. Anyway, I have gone off on a million rabbit trails in this blog. I just thought I should share my angst against the whole engagement process. Despite my angst, the end result is going to be the most amazing day of Amanda and I's life.

-DJ