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| so many things going on. the wedding items arent terribly overwhelming now that we've met with a lot of our helpers.
Wedding:
- dj position has been secured. music will go to mg next wednesday.
- seating chart took a drastic change, which we have to thank justin and gracie for!
- place cards: jenny is printing them
- tuxes: all groomsmen pick-up by this wknd
- recessional song picked ("VLV")
- helper gifts all done
- rehearsal dinner food ordered
- iron pew bows if there is time
- print out scripture reading
House:
- trim all hedges once trimmer arrives today
- meet w furniture delivery ppl for bedroom set today
- shorter lawn cut (2.5")
- glaze front door window
- toilet paper roll holder installation
Pre-marital Counseling:
- last session tomorrow | | |
| i thought this might be a great opportunity to give an update on how things have been coming along. i know that it's been a while, but i've felt on a few occasions that i should write something since learning that some of you may not be in my day-to-day circle of friends and may not know what we are up to.
so as some of you may know, the wedding is in 2.5 weeks. it just makes my heart race when i think about it! it isnt that i am afraid to enter into a life-long commitment, but just the sheer fact that i'll be in front of so many people for an entire day. plus all of the preparation that goes with it... makes me wonder how anybody really enjoys that day!
this past wknd jenny and i had our respective bridal / bachelor parties. friday we headed up to the city, took care of some wedding related (and inevitable home-related) shopping. we got our rings and had them resized again since we first ordered them. had a quick lunch with david and phil, then picked jenny's parents up from the airport. on the way down to ikea and subsequently cupertino village, we had an interesting conversation about my family and why my dad was not going to be attending the wedding. we both figured that it was important for the future in-laws to know the background of the weird family drama that is happening so that there are no surprises. i also wanted to help reveal to them that although we are christian (as they are not), we want to be transparent about our struggles and give them a contstant glimpse into the hope that we have.
later that evening after dinner with the parents (my mom met jenny's parents that evening), i went with justin and david to the hayward house for the over-nighter. i did not expect the evening to play out the way that it did, but i think despite the "hiccups" in plans, it was a very eye-opening experience into what the world is like. it baffles me why anyone would get drunk and subsequently endure the consequence of essentially detoxification. justin's questions were fun to answer (how well do i know jenny, and how well do my friends know me!). although it was in my best interest that my friends do not get these questions right, it was flattering to know that they did know me well. later that evening / early morning, paul and i just stayed up playing tetris attack and chatting about life and growing up. we went for a hike at missions peak afterwards, arriving at the trailhead right when they were re-opening it from having a hiker collapse (and later we learned he died) at the top of the trail. the guys then took me to home depot, picked out home-improvement gifts and shared with me about advice they had for later life as a married man. we then ate at a crawfish place in newark to wrap up the time together. i had been awake for probably 30-40 hours straight. surprisingly i was not wasted!
the rest of the weekend was sunday. jenny shared with me some of the things they had done at the bridal shower, including a funny activity where each group would construct what they felt our kids would look like using our pictures. some of them looked pretty good - others just looked very.... interesting (cut-outs of different parts, like truman did in the truman show). we went to church (dunno if the sermon was recorded), went to MyDay to try on the tux and dress and review flower arrangements, and in the evening headed over to justin and gracie's house and went over the reception order of events. we have a lot of homework too! (music, flow, etc)
we're currently going through a compressed version of josh's marriage counseling too. it isnt too compact, as we've heard a lot of the topics before. but it's reassuring to know that he's already built in a post-marriage aspect of it. i think that's really important.
in any case, the day is approaching. we have a good list of to-do items, and we are doing our best to stay sane! i'm going to see if i can post another update soon, but chances are, i will not be able to. | | |
| i heard this on klove as i was driving to work from jenny's place today:
never place your happiness on anything you can lose...
which brings me to today, which has been such a blessing in so many ways. i feel that God has opened up the "flood gates" and is pouring out His blessings on us. today we met with the listing agent Dave, our realtor Steven, and the house inspector Todd. we talked about the neighborhood, property disclosures, and the findings from the inspection. we met the seller (the wife), and later her parents who live across the street. we all talked about Niles being such a peaceful tight-knit community. i told them about how we used to have block parties when someone moved into the area when i was growing up in saratoga. the loved the idea! they already have a yahoo group so think would not be out of line with that! afterwards we headed over to the fremont city planning dept to look at the bldg permits and other things we could learn about the place. all in all, it is sinking in that we did nothing to deserve all of this. in fact, it would be easy to accept it as it is, but even talking about interest rates and where we were a year ago, we could never have planned anything like this.
which i should come back to the beginning of my post - jenny and i always joke about such great things happening and then as we turn to go to the next thing, we get hit by trucks and it's all over. it's a comical and ironic twist in things (yet gruesome in real life), but i think the joking actually helps us put things into perspective. we are enjoying ourselves here, but as christians, we try our best to not allow these things to get into our view of God as the ultimate provider of things. so many things are just "falling into our laps" but we should consider where they are falling from! as we are updating our "blessings xls", we make note of the things we can rejoice in, even years to come. | | |
| It's a rare opportunity that I blog from my phone, purely just typing up a post at the moment I think of what to say. At least these days, anyway. So please excuse any typos.
Today Jenny and I saw a house that we thought we'd be interesting on buying. We raced over across Fremont to meet out realtors (we beat them) only to meet with the live-in owner. He greeted us warmly and invited us inside, and then proceeded to babble on about the home itself. In the narration that he was giving, he mentioned the reason he was selling, after having lived in that particular house for over 20 years, as a realtor himself, and with the intention of staying forever.
"funny situation. I'm getting a divorce!" he sai in what only could have been described as a hopeful sounding voice. Except the words didnt seem to match his tone. He mentioned it a few more times before we had finished looking at the property.
After we had left, we stood outside of the house with our realtor commenting what an interesting person he was. Maybe he had an explosive temper that we didn't witness. Maybe he had been unfaithful, or his wife had been. There could have been so many reasons. But regardless, it ddnt seem like it was a weighty mistake at any angle. Instead it was a life change for him, in light of his kids having now moved out of the house.
It made me think of the very opposite that Jenny and I are trying to accomplish. Yes, we were getting married and also looking to buy, instead of divorcing and selling. But also we are hopeful that circumstances and decisions in our lives, yes those that we have full volition over, guided by our God if we allow, will not only steer us away from shipwrecking our marriage but being instruments for others to strengthen theirs as well.
It's the difference between a marriage minded couple preparing for a lifetime of growing together verses a dating couple coming to terms with an upcoming marriage. There's more to living than just doing and thinking. | | |
| it's fairly quiet in the office today. i think everyone is feeling the ominous news coming. my coworker was telling me about the latest watercooler talk - people were counting the roster trying to figure out who'd be let go and who was staying.
so during lunchtime i was just staring out the window and watching the rain fall on the open parking lot. so much to think about! wedding, house shopping, job searching now, and plenty of other details in between. i'm glad to be in the position i'm in. sure, wedding planning costs $$$ and can be stressful, but jenny is such a wonderful girl that not to give God thanks would be stupid. house shopping - not much on the market and prices are high and getting higher, but i have so many places i could chose from and live in relatively luxury if i chose. can't complain. my job is in jeopardy, but my finances are not hurting from the financial blessings God has poured out onto me. what bad thing can i possibly (and validly) say about my situation? | | |
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