Meetin' the family

Michael, Katelyn and I headed up to Michigan on Thursday to hang out with his friends and family. We spent two days with Clark, Joy and Callie in Tecumseh (1/2 hour south of Ann Arbor). Clark was Michael's pastor and he lived with their family for over a year. Clark's the best man in our wedding. Callie and her brother Clark (who's in Egypt right now) are going to sing and play guitar in the wedding and Clark is D.J.ing the reception. So I was really excited to meet these dear friends of Michael's. We had a great time visiting with them.

We spent a little time in Ann Arbor visiting with Mark and Pascal. Mark is Michael's groomsman. Yesterday we came up to the Sterling Heights area (northern suburb of Detroit) where Michael grew up. We're at his sister Ingrid's house. She threw us an engagement party last night and his very creative nieces, Stefanie and Emily, did the decorating. The monkey's were the best thing ever....Perfect, right?

They hung our whole wedding party from the tree. I loved it!!!

The party was a lot of fun and a great chance for Katelyn and I to get to know our new friends and family.

Katelyn has been AWESOME! She did great on the drive up here and hasn't been phased at all by all of the new people and places. She really is the best kid.

Here's Michael and I with his parents...Katelyn's new Oma and Opa. They've been spoiling us already and have welcomed Katelyn and I joyfully. It was really nice to visit with them and hear stories.

Ingrid's backyard is gorgeous. She is the gardener/landscaper extraordinaire. Katelyn has loved playing back here and has really enjoyed the hammock!

Michael's mom got us this cake and then they decided that they wanted to sing happy birthday to Katelyn and they didn't have a 3 candle but had the 1 and the 2. :)
Katelyn loved it...and really 1 plus 2 equals our new family...

What a great, great weekend we've had. We've got another day and a half to soak it all in before we head back to Lexington. But we have really enjoyed being up here and I'm so thankful for this time to get to be part of Michael's world....

I LOVE SPRING!

Hands down this is my FAVORITE time of year. Sunny and warm....rainy days that cool it down a bit...playing outside a lot....working in the yard/garden...a sweaty, dirty baby at the end of the day...PERFECT.

Oh, and I get to marry this wonderful man in 38 days...but who's counting?

The garden is doing great. We had lots of rain last week and it's been hot and sunny for the last few days so everything's shooting up. Back in the corner we have lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, turnips and broccoli.

We're going up to Michigan for Memorial Day weekend to spend time with Michael's friends and family. I'm so excited to meet them all and hang out. By the time we get back this broccoli will be ready to harvest! Yum. Katelyn's favorite veggie is steamed broccoli. She'll be so excited. I'm glad she gets to see it grow, help pick it, cook it and eat it! It's nice to be able to feed my little family some good, fresh food.

I thinned out the lettuce last night....

and our salad was extra delicious because the lettuce went from garden to plate in about 15 minutes. Doesn't get much fresher than that.

Katelyn got me a peony and a lilac bush for Mother's Day and I've got them planted now. We've got the herb garden bed and the big raised bed all weeded out and I'm having someone come in the next week to bring in some more dirt. Then when we get back from Michigan we'll do some serious planting. We're a couple weeks behind schedule but it was so cool and rainy for so many days last week that I"m actually glad we didn't have young seedlings in the ground yet.

I wouldn't trade lives with anyone. I'm positive this is the most content I've ever been. I knew 2010 was going to be great...I just felt it.

A day at the lake

Today was gorgeous...absolutely picture perfect outside...one of those spring days that make the winter worth going through. So where better to spend it than on the lake with the people you love the most?

(Only 49 more days until this man is my husband!)

Katelyn was so fun today. She LOVES being at the lake with grammy and papa. We put her in her swimsuit and took her to the beach. She playing in the sand and the water and was happy as can be. She's really loving the water more this year. She'll be a little fish before long!

What a life!

Katelyn was in search of the beach and making sure that's where we took the boat!

A couple of Katelyn's FAVORITE people. All the way back to Lexington tonight she said, "I wanna go back and see Grammy and Papa."

On the fast track wedding frontier...we've been engaged for a week. We set a date, reserved the church and the reception site. Got invitations, printed and addressed them. Have fabulous friends who's mom is going to let us use their townhouse in Williamsburg, VA for our honeymoon. Have friends who have offered to host the rehearsal dinner at their house. And, drumroll please.....mom and I went out shopping for a dress on Friday afternoon and in three hours we found the perfect one....in my size...on the rack...needs no alterations...great price...walked out the door with it and I have it in the closet!!! Really, really amazing week and we're just soaking up all of God's blessings. We know we've made just the right choice with our 2 month engagement and can't believe how all the pieces are coming together.

Engaged!

Saturday was my parent's 39th anniversary.

It was also the day Michael asked me to marry him.

I said yes!

Michael got my dad's blessing. He came upstairs with the ring in a jewelry box his dad made out of African teakwood. (It's really amazing!) He got down on one knee and proposed....and then I think his heart about pounded out of his chest. :) Sweet, sweet.

Michael has shown me such love and kindness. He's thoughtful and helpful. He adores Katelyn and I. He loves Jesus and has such a heart to love and serve others. He makes me laugh. He's so intelligent. He fixes things I break. I feel blessed everyday to know him. It will be an honor to be his wife.

I knew he was "the one" after the first date. And confidence in that crazy feeling has just grown and grown as I've come to know his heart and character.
I mean really, who does this happen to? I feel so blessed.

I asked Katelyn if I should marry Michael and she said, "Yeah, and then we eat treats." So basically, the wedding's a go for her as long as there's cake. She's easy. :)

So, we've decided to go for it.

July 3, 2010

Yep I know that's only seven weeks and five days from now.

Our pastor at The Rock, where I'm on staff, will marry us.
I called about one of my top choices for a reception site today (not thinking in a million years that they'd actually have it available) and the guy said they just had a cancellation for that day...the only Saturday free all summer...and we could have it for 50% off the rental fee and he took a chunk off for the food costs also because he had already gotten money from the couple that cancelled! And again, who does this happen for?

I've seen God's hand over and over again in my entire relationship with Michael...why should the details of the wedding be any different?

I'm really pretty happy....

They're back...

Grammy and Papa made it back to Kentucky for the summer!! Whooo hooo!!!!!

Katelyn is really excited about this new development....

Of course, she had to show them her garden. Really it's just a big dirt box for her to play in right now which will only be the case for another week at the most. She's going to be very upset when we plant vegetables here and she can't stomp around in the dirt and dig. You can see the herb garden we put in behind the raised bed along the fence-line.

Grammy already had the bubbles going for Katelyn.

After Katelyn was done with Grammy she had to start it all over with Papa. She played out in the dirt last night for a good hour. :)

Okay Michigan relatives...who does this remind you of? Katelyn loves rolling around on the floor with her Papa. Grammy then read her books and rocked her to sleep.

Michael and I are going to go out tonight. On a Friday night. Without a child in tow. Grammy and Papa are in charge.

Everyone's happy.

How did I make it through the last six months?

Happy days...

It's been a very full week and a half. Last Thursday was Michael's birthday. Although Michael enjoyed his birthday, Katelyn REALLY enjoyed his birthday. She "helped" him blow out his candles and open his presents. What's hers is hers and what's ours is hers...

Uncle Mike and Aunt Mimi came over for dinner and cake. Wednesday night I took Michael out for Mediterranean food. Yum, yum, yum!

Last Saturday we went to the farmer's market for the first time of the season. The city has built a new pavillion to house the market and it's wonderful. We've been enjoying some fresh veggies this week. The Living Arts and Science Center was having a free family fun day so we went over there as well. They had different hands on exhibits, a drum circle, a petting zoo, different arts and crafts the kids could do. Katelyn loved it. She ran from thing to thing (a bit too excited about it all to focus on any one activity for more than 30 seconds.)

Michael is 6'4". Katelyn's Dora tent is not. But she was super excited to welcome him into her play area. And he is a super good sport. They ate play food until they were full. :)

Yesterday Michael helped me create an area out back for an herb garden. I've grown herbs in containers on the porch but they'll do much better in the ground. The containers dry out so quickly. So he cut out the bed and put the edging in and we pulled out all the grass and tilled up the dirt. I'm going to have someone from church who does landscaping get some good composted soil and bring it over for the raised bed so we can plant seeds and seedlings next weekend. (I'll take pictures when we get this done.) On a positive note, my cilantro, onions and oregano have come back from last year. The broccoli, swiss chard, turnips, spinach and lettuce that I planted the weekend before Easter are coming in nicely. I'm still amazed when I put seeds in the ground and things actually grow.

Our church has a potluck/worship gathering that's hosted by different families each month. I hosted the one tonight and we made chili and everyone else brought yummy food. One of the youth comes to help with childcare. We had 18 adults downstairs and 13 kids and a youth upstairs. The funniest sight was everyone's shoes in a pile by the door. We had a lot of fun together! I'm so thankful that this house is full of people and laughter again. So much restoration has taken place and I'm thankful for the life I have here.

Mom and dad leave Arizona on Monday morning to head this way and will get here on Thursday. We can't wait to have them back here in Kentucky. Katelyn's already talking about the boat and the beach.

In closing I'll leave you with this week's Katelyn-isms:

Yesterday Katelyn said to me - "Mama, quiet in Chinese is shhh."

This morning she was walking around the house barefoot and said -"Mama, I don't have socks and shoes on, just my toes."