We had out engagement pictures taken today! It was really fun. Chelsey did a great job making us comfortable and she was really encouraging. Rafa said he was not used to being on this side of the camera and I was nervous, but the shoot went great and I think the pictures will turn out fantastic. I'll post a link when we get it!
My heart is full
I am so full of love tonight.
I am so full of love because Rafa and I were part of the privileged audience at church tonight where two wonderful men were officially recognized as pastors of our church. Our church has been around for 10+ years. The goal that whole time has been to teach people how to live for Christ, a.k.a. to make disciples. The men who became pastors tonight have been serving the church basically since the beginning of The Rock. They serve with their whole lives and are wonderful leaders of our church.
I am so full of love over the way God leads our church. We don’t require certain training for a pastor; we won’t ever need to hire a search committee. We follow the straight-from-the-Bible example of church leadership. The qualifications for an overseer/pastor/elder are spelled out in Titus 1:5-9 and we know our new pastors have these qualities because we have been serving alongside them for years. :
1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out
what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed
you.
6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose
children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and
disobedient.
7 Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless--
not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent,
not pursuing dishonest gain.
8 Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-
controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so
that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose
it.
I was just filled with love over what God has done in our lives thorough this church. When I moved to Minneapolis and didn’t know anyone, people at The Rock welcomed me with open arms. The Lord called me to serve, they discipled me. When Rafa came to church, they welcomed him too. And now, when we are moving toward our marriage, they are supporting us every step of the way.
My heart is just so full tonight and I am very, very happy. Good night!
The Ninjas are Coming
It’s 93 days until the wedding, but we have another countdown going – only 28 days until the opening of Ninja Assassin!
Oink for me
One of the things we discussed tonight in Fit to be Tied was what love is. First, what it isn’t: a feeling, sex, emotions… all those things that it’s commonly mistaken as. Love is a commitment.
When Rafa and I talk about commitment, we talk about pigs. Rafa oinks for me; I oink for him. Let me explain – back when we were both in Distribution, we enjoyed colorful quotes from leadership. One of them was, “Are you a chicken or are you a pig? Oink for me!”
It’s all about commitment. When a chicken feeds you, it doesn’t necessarily have to give up its life – just an egg. But when you eat pig, it’s because it has paid the ultimate price – its life. So when you commit to something, you can be a chicken, and give something that didn’t cost you very much, or you can be a pig and give everything you have.
We oink!
Hola Canada
We just got back from a fabulous trip to visit Rafa’s family in Canada. It was so fun! Their home is so cozy and filled with love. It is also filled with delicious food…I got spoiled by the huevos y frijoles negros for breakfast on Saturday. Today, we had a late breakfast of pupusas y flan de queso!
Other than eating, we had so much fun just hanging out. We also got to meet up with Angel who Rafa knows from way way back. They had a lot of fun catching up. Angel is getting married in just two weeks! I’m excited for him and his wife to come visit us in Minneapolis.
Rafa’s favorite thing about the trip was just being refreshed. I have to agree. When you leave the country, even for a short time, it apparently forces you to leave your problems behind. It also didn’t hurt that my phone doesn’t accept international charges 🙂
I love spending time in the car with Rafa too. When we’re “stuck” together like that, we just get to enjoy being with each other. We get to talk and talk, and sometimes we just sit and think. Neither of us are ready to part ways when we get home. Less than 100 days, and we don’t have to!
When We Met
It was a day like any other at Target Distribution Communications, I was seating in my gray and purple cubicle plugging away. Amy R. was going around introducing her new direct report. I could hear the commotion coming from a couple rows away. To be honest I didn’t really care about new team members, I was in a team of 99% diverse women. Sarah claims that we had met in our previous job, but that is a story you have to ask her about because I cant remember.
The next thing I knew Sarah and Amy were outside my cube, and she introduced us. I thought “Oh happy day, another friend my age!” The next day Stacey A. and I decided we wanted to get to know the new girl, we asked her if she wanted coffee and she said “No Thanks” The day after we asked if she wanted breakfast and she again said no again.
Regardless, I was going to be nice to the new girl and try to help her make Minnesota home. I know how badly it stinks to be new in a big city and not knowing anybody. I stetted up a meeting to take her around downtown and show her a where she could get food and coffee. We walked around for a while and I got us lost, what’s new right.
I wasn’t planning on falling in love with Sarah, it just happened. I remember one night, long time after we met telling my self “Rafa? Don’t you go and fall for Sarah” well, sadly I was talking to myself too late. I prayed a lot and asked God to tell me what to do about my feelings and to help me clarify them.
I decided to tell Sarah how I felt, and let God and her decide what would happen. After that I prayed almost every day about it. First I would ask that Sarah would feel the same way I felt for her, then for patience and lastly for strength to accept if the Lord didn’t mean her for me. I couldn’t have asked for my story to be written any differently.
With time Sarah became my friend, my friend became my best friend and my best friend is soon to become my wife.
Two years ago
When I opened up my One Year Bible this morning, Oct. 22 had a big circle around it and a note about 2007. I received the Bible as a gift from my then-small group leader, Deb, and began reading through it on Oct. 22, 2007. I have read through the Bible twice now! It is crazy to think of it like that, because the Word always seems fresh to me. God helps me understand different verses in different ways at different times.
The reading for today was Jeremiah 39:1-41:18, 2 Timothy 1:1-18, Psalms 90:1-91:16, Proverbs 26:1-2 [Read Online].
I especially liked these verses in Psalm 91 to reflect on as Rafa and I continue to prepare for marriage. God gives us some amazing promises!
9 If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,
10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.
11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
13 You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.
15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them.
16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”
The rest of the story…
I had to check with Rafa before I told the funny part of our mentor meeting publicly 🙂
Last night, our mentors asked us if we were waiting to have sex until we are married, and we said yes. Then Dan made a comment about our wedding night. Rafa said, “No, lunch,” as in, we are having a lunch reception so we don’t have to wait until our wedding night. It took a few minutes of laughing to explain that one with a red face!
God is good and has given us a wonderful gift to give to each other when that time comes. That’s probably all I need to say about that right now!
Squash and Mentors
We met with our awesome mentor couple, Dan and Kita, last night. They just celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary and have a lot of wisdom about growing closer as a couple and growing closer to the Lord. They are wonderful teachers and examples. They are also good friends and just really fun to be around 🙂
Kita made us a delicious dinner of catfish and acorn squash. It was Rafa’s first squash experience and he liked it (I think) – I loved it! MMM. We spent the rest of the night talking about our history, separately and as a couple, and about all the topics we’ve been discussing in Fit to be Tied.
I am so thankful that Dan and Kita are taking time to mentor us. It is important to have a couple here that we can be accountable to and get advice from.
Shopped and dropped
I found my dress! Mom came up to go shopping with Jennifer and I. We started the morning with two appointments. The first one went pretty well. When we started driving to the second one, we saw a place just down the street and decided to stop because we had enough time. They were super nice there and had a ton of great dresses – and I found several I loved in my price range! We had to run out to go to our next appointment, but I couldn’t get those surprise dresses out of my mind. We walked out of that appointment after about 15 minutes.
The last appointment of the day was at David’s Bridal. I was so happy to have Gilda, Adrienne, Beth and Cadie meet up with us in Richfield for that appointment. I was not very happy with the David’s experience and style selections, but it didn’t really matter since I was pretty sure I would be going back to the shop from the morning. I was so so so happy to have these ladies I love so much with me.
So now I know what dress I’m getting!! Jennifer and I are going back this week sometime to order it. We have to put a rush on the shipping to get it in 8-10 weeks, which will get it to me about a month before the wedding. I’m definitely not going to post any pictures, but I will say I will be wearing more white than silver. I was so sure I wanted a silver dress, but through the influences of people who love me and by seeing it on, I’m going traditional.