this SEMESTER is coming to an END!

WOW. i have one more test left and a research paper to turn in and then i am in my senior year of college!! holy moly, where did the time go?? i feel like it was just yesterday when my parents were helping me move into my freshman dorm room and i was so scared to be at college. wow the memories and moments i have made in these past years.
next week i will be moving out of the dupe with the girls and my parents will be helping me move my stuff into reagan's and mine townhouse. wow, this just doesn't seem real!!
the wedding invitations have been sent out, and that just makes the wedding feel and seem even more real. i got real butterflies for the first time today just thinking about how close the wedding really is. i am super excited, but wow the life changes i have had in this past year i never would have imagined--> from getting engaged to reagan, to having the worst fall semester of my life -- to getting the amazing opportunity to step away from school without it hurting me, finding my strength in God and relying on HIM completely, to making child development as my major and falling in complete love with it, to all the job internships i am finding are available and loving the options i am being given. wow that is a lot of gibberish and it may not make sense, but i am just amazed by the huge changes God has done in my life and how they have all been for the greater good of His kingdom. wow, all i can say in all my amazement is that God is so so good, and even before all of these life changes happened in my life, HE knew that they would and that just amazes me even more about my wonderful and marvelous God.
life is good, and it is changing fast... i will make sure to keep everyone updated as the wedding gets even closer!

"life is like a roller coaster, with unexpected loops and turns--- that can reveal the most unexpected but exciting moments in life."

Keys unlock the door to OUR Future

today was a big day in my life. it started out as any other day--- breakfast, a little studying, lunch with leah at potbelly's---- but it ended so differently than any other day before. at 4pm today reagan and i signed the lease to our first townhouse... our first place to live. we signed our signatures and initialed on the lines and gave big smiles as we anxiously awaited to have the keys to our first home in our hands. once the manager of the townhouse handed me my set of keys i almost felt like crying... it felt like i had grown-up in the blink of an eye and i had my first home with my soon to be husband. it would have definitely been tears of joy, at how amazing GOD is and how HE works all things out for our good. once we had the keys we drove to our townhouse, #1108. i took a picture of the outside... i had to document that this was our first home, and when we walked through the front door together i was overwhelmed with so many emotions. my mind was running in circles, i kept thinking of all the memories we would make in our first home and how excited that makes me for the future. it was wonderful, and definitely a moment that reagan and i shared together that we were so grateful for. once we walked around our place, then we headed to the jewelry store to pick up reagan's wedding ring. as soon as reagan put on the ring he had the biggest smile on his face, and he didn't want to take it off. that is when it hit me, in 49 DAYS we are going to be husband and wife... HOLY MOLY!!!! having a home now makes it feel real, makes it feel like we really are going to be a family, and after June 12, 2010 we will have a place to live as husband and wife and that more than anything makes me so happy.
today was an incredible day, the door that opened the first chapter of our life as a soon to be married couple. i cannot wait to move into the townhouse once we get back from our honeymoon and begin making memories together. these moments in our first house are ones that i know we will cherish for a lifetime.

"You hold the key to your Future, but GOD is the one who knows which key will unlock the right door for your life."

ExHaUsTeD

so this weekend has been a crazy weekend and i am completely drained... like have no energy whatsoever and i feel like it may take me days to recover. this weekend Reagan had a youth event planned, and at the last minute a lot of the people he recruited to help could no longer help... so fiance to the rescue. so once i finally made it mansfield late friday night, i realized well crud we may not be able to have this event because it is supposed to storm in the morning and get really cold. so reagan and i had to brainstorm even more along with the other helpers and figure out what we were going to do... we came up with nothing, we could not think of a good back up plan! so me being the worrier i am i tried figuring something out, because i wanted his youth weekend to turn out great... and i ended up staying up till 3:30am trying to think of ideas... no good ideas popped in my head. the messy mania saturday ended up happening with the youth... and it was nasty outside, but the kids got even nastier. i was exhausted on saturday because i stayed up so late on friday night, and by the end of the day on saturday my exhaustion turned into zombie mode. i still feel dead tired... and i have a headache so i know i have not gotten enough sleep in the past few days. oh well, there were several positives to the weekend: i got to spend time with the youth which i never get to do because of my crazy 18 hour school schedule, i got to be a part of seeing these kids have a fun saturday and see their smiling faces, and i got to capture it all through pictures! i loved this weekend and the people i got to spend time with, but i also learned that i have limits... and i definitely passed my tired limit. though, i can never take back the memories i made with the youth this weekend, it was a blast... so youth kids just know that i gave up the sleep i require each day to be with y'all and i wouldn't change it for the world! love y'all :)

"Enjoy the memories you make each day with the beautiful people you are surrounded by."

Friendships=Life

as i sat and did my quiet time this morning, God just kept reminding me that the people in my life are there for a reason. the people I am surrounded by daily leave tiny imprints on my heart that can never be erased. through this year, I have really learned to open my heart. to allow myself to get hurt in order to allow someone to love me to their fullest. i now know that every relationship isn't perfect... the people you love the most are going to hurt you and let you down. though, if you love them the way God loves you, you will always forgive them. life is not meant to be lived alone, and the relationships you encounter in your life are there for a reason and a purpose, to teach you what God needs you to learn in your season of life.... is that a beautiful concept?! i sit back and think of all the wonderful relationships i have in my life and how each one of them have touched my heart in a different way and how each person has taught me so many different things. i am so grateful that the people God has given me in a relationship to grow with are not all the same, but the person God needs them to be!

"Friendships are something to be treasured and embraced with an open heart."

OUR temporary HOME!

so Reagan and I just found out today that we got the TOWNHOUSE that we put in an application for!!! i have never been so excited in my life! we have a place to live WOOHOO!!!
it brings me so much comfort in knowing that him and i have a place, we may not live there for forever but it will be our FIRST HOME together... and that means a lot to me :)
Reagan will be moving in to the townhouse the last week in April. Once I am done with finals the first weekend in May, my parents are coming up and moving all my furniture and etc over so that I don't have to take it all home and then turn around and bring it right back. Once we are done moving all my stuff in, I will head back to SA TOWN for one month with my parents and then it will be OUR Wedding and then the HONEYMOON and then we will get to come back to OUR HOME in Arlington.... WOW that is so crazy, but i am so EXCITED!
i will hopefully post pictures sometime in June so that everyone can see our cozy little townhouse!

"Life is the most beautiful journey --- so be grateful for every moment you spend on it!"