60 Days and Counting

“It will come sometime. Some beautiful morning she will just wake up and find it is Tomorrow. Not Today but Tomorrow. And then things will happen ... wonderful things.” 

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island.

"Dear Bride to be,

You hear a lot of lies and negativity in your own head and even from the lips of others (you are the center of attention, your wedding won't be very 'nice', your dress isn't right, the day won't be perfect unless everything goes according to plan, you only get married once so make it perfect...) and on and on. Here are some truths for you: it is God's performance, not yours. He did all the arranging so far, rest in Him! Weddings are special, but your man is more special! Look for ways to bless him and please him more than yourself. Don't compare. The seed of eternal discontentment is forever found in comparing. Don't compare dresses, budgets, or venues - you will never be happy. Instead, relax and have fun. This time is short and precious - enjoy it! Don't worry about what other people think, don't stress about matching or coordinating colors, embrace the uniqueness. Don't forget all the ways that God has provided through dear friends and family. They are praying for and supporting you and that is the best gift of all. Study the secret of being content - it starts at the roots. Be wide-eyed and sentimental but don't hold too tightly to plans or "ideals". The simple yet profound goals are to glorify God and get married, everything else is extra, not priority. Take it all in and work hard, but don't set your heart on silly desires or let your eyes glaze over with envy. It isn't about you... truly it isn't. It is about God and His marvelous gifts."

A blog post wasn't exactly on my "to do" list today, but I needed a break so what better way to do it? I've been struggling to journal and blog like I used to, as cliche as it sounds, I simply don't have time to sit down and write, but I wish I did. I look back on the last 200+ days in awe at how fast they have truly f l o w n by. Everyone told me it would go fast, but I didn't expect it to be going this fast! Our "longest chain on earth" is already quite short and in just sixty days our whole lives will change. I've been getting increasingly more sappy and busy with each passing day, but I am trying to treasure up in my heart all the wonderful blessings and joys of this special time.

A few weeks ago I did take some time to write a letter to myself because sometimes you just need to preach to your own face for a while until truths become more true than the lies in your head... or at least I do! I wrote it like I would write to Samantha if she was getting married. At first it made me laugh, but re-reading that letter has given me much needed perspective on several occasions. It is astounding how quickly my heart turns to my own desires and my own plans and dreams... it is astounding how selfish of a human I can be. And yet, what is even more astounding, is that through it all God's grace abounds more and more than I could ever deserve. So many people have come along side of us to helps us in every way possible that it truly floors me. 'Tomorrow' is coming; I will wake up one of these days and it will be Tomorrow. For now, I need to learn the secret of being content with each day of work, each day of planning, and each day that God's mercy and grace is new in the morning.

{For more consistent updates of my wonderfully sappy, random, and odd life, feel free to follow me on Instagram @imemilyjane. Word of caution: I'm not kidding when I say it is sappy. I'm a softy for anything romantic, whimsical, or sentimental and I like to capture as much as possible in a snap.)

The Boy becomes the Fiance

I should be asleep, but I am feeling contemplative, sentimental, and very excited!! This has been a crazy couple days, but some of my favorite ones ever! Christmas today was so special. I love my family so much and being able to spend a day together like today was truly a blessing. Saturday was pretty great as well ;) A lot of people have asked me, "how did he do it?" and because I love the documentation of my blog, I decided to post the story here (for those not following along on Instagram). 

I love a good story. Romantic comedies are the best... And ours is my favorite! Maybe someday I'll tell the story of how unlikely our love story was when we first met. How a weird punk boy met a weird homeschooled girl (who didn't look at boys, talk to boys, or interact with boys in any way) and how they teased and texted and eventually fell in love (with each other's weirdness). But that story is for a different time. Tonight it is the story of how this boy went from being a special man to being a very special man. 

We first chatted at Bubble Island three Novembers ago. He brought me back there on Saturday morning (even though he hates the tea) only to find that it was closed for renovations. Although it was kind of a bummer, we made the most of it and he escaped without having to drink Bubble tea a second time in his life ;) Right next to Bubble Island was a bookstore. We walked by and he saw my head turn and my pace slow. He asked me if I wanted to go in. I knew this was a special day and part of me just wanted to skip ahead to the end. But the other (very large part) wanted to go into that quaint little shop with him and just enjoy the day. He smiled encouragingly and I nodded. The door bell jingled as we entered and I am so glad that we went in after all! It smelled like epic stories and ancient wisdom. On our challenge to find the oldest, we bumped into one that had "1899" printed in the cover! I felt like Belle in the beast's library! It was such a fun way to start the best day ever. 
After the bookstore, he took me down memory lane on campus. Because I always have to go there to pick him up, we have had some crazy adventures on that campus. Sometimes it is fun to think about my parents walking the same trails and making the same discoveries that we are making. Campus is a great place to be! As we talked about some of our favorite things (like Reese Peanut Butter Cups and Pentel RSVP Pens), he pulled them out of his pockets and gave them to me! It was somewhat random, yet so fantastic! Then he told me a silly story about an old myth. He explained the story and contrasted it with the infinite love of God (at which point he pulled out of his pockets the fluffiest, white, infinity scarf of all time!) I was laughing so hard and the imagery and preciousness of the moment. 
Next - in memory of our first (semi-awkward) adventure (modernly called date), we played football in front of his dorm. The air was freezing and eventually he asked if I wanted to do something that didn't hurt my hands in the cold. I walked around the car to discover that he had bubbles!!!! For the next blissful minutes I ran through the bubbles while he blew them across the grass... it was magical :) (I'm basically a three year old at heart). Lastly, he took me to the MSU gardens where I take a lot of photos. We sat on a bench and sang camp songs with his guitar. I love the way he sings and plays music. After two of my favorite camp songs, he asked me if I knew the next one. My eyes were fixed to the strings as he proceeded to play me a song he has written!!! It was perfect. I told myself that I wouldn't cry, but the moment he got down on one knee it became something that was out of my control. I've never been more excited to answer a question in all my life! (Although it did take me a minute to gather myself enough to respond) haha and then the giggles and smiles abounded! (Ohhh and after I sobbed "yes" he slipped the prettiest ring on my finger!) 

The next thing to do was have a party! Xav brought balloons and party poppers for the occasion and we spent some time in the parking lot running around and celebrating. We then called our families to tell them the news. Samantha's response will be forever cherished in my heart! She was screaming congratulations through her tears; I've never heard anything more precious! I am so blessed by these people <3 

And that is how he did it! Turns out, he had saved the list of my favorite things that we swapped when we first started dating and used it as the basis for this day (i.e. bubbles, books, Bubble Island, Reeses, pens, balloons, guitar-singing, meaningful words, etc) SO AMAZING! Hopefully I will get the photos up here soon as well as other stories that come to mind. Sometimes these story telling moods happen late at night and I just go with it (but usually I just go to sleep! *whoopsie*). I hope that you all had a joyous and blessed Christmas, what a gift that we celebrate! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night :)

Not According to {my} Plan

Sometimes I feel like I write the same blog post over and over again... I guess that goes to show that God is a patient teacher and that I haven't fully grasped the concept of giving my plans to Him. About a month ago I was taught once again that my plans are not my own.

It was a Tuesday, and I was babysitting Luke when I started to feel like my acid reflux was getting bad. I left his house mid-afternoon and by then the pain was getting worse. After a rough drive home, I collapsed on the living room couch where I stayed for about 8 hours before consenting to go to the hospital. I really hate hospitals. I also really hate pain. But the hate for the pain ended up winning. I wasn't sure what was causing it, but I had a tiny concern that it was my appendix. Based on watching Ben go through an appendicitis attack a while back, my mom was thinking the same thing. 

We got to the hospital a little after midnight and, had it not been for a Brian Regan moment, I might have freaked out. My mom dropped me off near the entrance to go find parking. . . yeah. "Go on in, tell em you're shot"/"I'll just go up a couple levels". The humor was good for me. Next was to see if the emergency room was even open. The lights were all off and no one was inside when we walked in. Way at the back of the room we saw a woman sitting at a desk and thankfully discovered that they were not busy at all!

After the worst was over (the awful needle), they tried to figure out what was going on. I had a low grade fever, but in the CT scan they couldn't see anything wrong, in fact, they couldn't even see my appendix. The next morning at about 10am, we met an assistant surgeon man who did some evaluations and decided that we should consider surgery anyway. 

I was so blessed by friends who were texting me and praying for me throughout the morning. The second surgeon man agreed with the first, and he too thought that it was likely my appendix even thought the scan didn't show it. I really didn't want to have surgery for no reason, and I kept asking how long he thought it would take to recover. He estimated about a week before I was back up and running and three weeks before I could life heavy things. Mentally I calculated how many days I had before my planned trip with Xavier... 5 days. Basically equivalent to one week. I figured that I would be totally fine by then, after all how much can a tiny appendix hurt once it is gone? 

Even big girls need their stuffed animals! 

I really didn't take everything into consideration and I quickly realized after I woke up from surgery that it was going to take me longer than I thought to bounce right back. Thankfully it was my appendix that had been infected, but now I had a different pain! I was still holding out hope that the trip would happen after all... but I was a little more doubtful. Between pain, pain meds, and the constant ice pack, I was pretty grounded at home. 

Balloons and flowers! Some of my favorite things! As the week progressed, it got closer to Saturday (when Xavier was coming back from Camp Barakel) and closer to Monday (when we were planning on doing our second east-west/sunrise-sunset Michigan trip). Xav's sister, Matilda, came to hang out with me on Saturday and I enjoyed the mental distraction. We watched girly movies, painted our nails, did hair, and it was so nice to catch up and chat.

But then Sunday came and the next day was the trip day and I still couldn't walk without my ice pack. I shed a few tears as I told Xavier that our plan wasn't going to work. I knew that we would both be going back to school soon and that there wasn't another set of days that worked. He said it didn't mind and offered to come just hang out with me for a few days... 

Needless to say, it was good medicine! I managed to adventure out into the world and we traveled to Walmart (living on the edge). He also took me to see Guardians of the Galaxy (we are clearly very adventurous people). Then he went back home for a few short days before college move in.

Way back when, I heard of... or somehow got the idea of seeing the sunrise on the east side of Michigan as it rose over Lake Huron and then traveling west (in the same day) to watch it set over lake Michigan. Last year Xavier and I did just that and it was quite the adventure. All year we had been talking about how much fun it would be to do it again. After it got cancelled, I just couldn't let it go away completely. We talked about it and the logistics and finally decided on just a one day trip to Ludington and Grand Haven. That way we wouldn't have to get up at 3am and do as much driving. There was one day that worked for the schedules... and it was supposed to rain and storm all day. 

We decided to go for it anyway and see what happened.

We saw the sunrise while driving and it was just as beautiful and exciting! 

(Xavier is getting to be a pretty good photographer :} )

We ended up in Ludington and followed the signs until we reached the sand dunes. How can you not run up and down sand dunes before dipping your feet in the water? I ended up stowing my camera before too long; I just had to capture a little bit of the view first.

There is no better sea.

 We walked along this "beach" for a while getting thoroughly wet along the way. Xavier eventually gave in and went for a swim while I watched him wave jump. I briefly chatted with a friendly grandma who was walking the beach and warning people of the rip tides. I assured her that Xav knew what he was doing but waved him back to shore once she left just to make sure.

Traditions are fun little fellows... as much as I tease my mom for all of hers, I can't help but begin to understand the fun in them. Last year we played putt putt golf at this quaint little place in Ludington, where Xav scored a hole in one and won a free round. We managed to keep it all year and brought with us to use on this trip! It looked like it was going to rain, but we made it through the course and stayed dry!

Picnics are the best! So much summer :)

Tie the trash bag to the keys so it doesn't fly away... he's basically a genius.

The wind was picking up and the sky was getting darker, but we decided to walk out to the lighthouse anyway. Waves kept splashing over the pier and I had to keep protecting my camera from the spray... but it was so fun!

A funny thing about travel is seeing people you don't expect to see. Xavier ran into some of his engineers from the summer and they chatted for a bit while dodging the waves that kept crashing on the lighthouse. 

 Through all this, it never actually rained on us! What a marvelous gift.

After thoroughly enjoying Ludginton, we ventured to Grand Haven for the sunset. The following pictures sum up the day pretty well. Silliness, challenging selfless with a heavy camera, breathtaking clouds and watching a perfectly gorgeous sunset from the same spot as last year.

PC : the boy

If (nearly) perfect days exist is this crazy messed up world, then this surely was one of them. It far surpassed my own plan for how and when the day would happen and I am so thankful for God's grace in the daily unexpected. 

Blueberry Picking // Storytelling

"Little Sal picked three berries and dropped them in her little tin pail... kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk!

She picked three more berries and ate them. Then she picked more berries and dropped one in the pail, kuplunk! And the rest she ate. Then Little Sal ate all four blue-berries out of her pail!"

     - Blueberries for Sal

Ever since being little I have loved going blueberry picking. My mom used to take us with her as her helpers, although I think our tendencies were to be more like Sal than mother. We would always leave with blue lips and slightly upset tummies. It has been several years since we have been able to go blueberry picking and this year I had a strong desire to make that a priority. With my family being frequently busy and Xavier being gone at camp I didn’t think it would be an option since I know how short the season is.

When I heard that Xavier’s week off was going to fall right during blueberry season I had to ask him if he would take me. He laughed and said he would look into it when he got home. I waited not-so-patiently and then pestered him again when he finally got back to Grand Blanc for his week off. He said that he found a place near his house but didn’t know if it would work. I Googled the farm and emailed them to see what their times and prices were. Upon receiving a reply I decided that it was doable and Xav agreed.  

After work on Friday, I went straight to Grand Blanc and we left shortly after for the blueberry farm. I was so excited!! We got our little pails (just like Sal’s) and headed into the field. I had never seen blueberry bushes this big before! They were more like trees! And the blueberries were huge, growing in clusters that looked like grapes. It was warm but slightly breezy and it was such a beautiful farm. The kuplinks turned into kuplunks as the buckets started to fill and I snuck less from the pails than I did as a child.

It was so wonderful to chat about our summers as we picked and to revel in the fact that we were doing something together! After about 2 ½ buckets, Xav mentioned that it wasn’t quite as novel as it was at first, but he stuck with it like a champ and we finished off 4 full pails. When we were done they weighed our results and we had picked about 18 pounds in the hour and a half. Back at his house we became blueberry chefs and made muffins, crisp, syrup, and pancakes with the bounty. It was a wonderful way to fulfill my blueberry wish and it provided a lot of tasty summer delights.