Wedding Preparations

We have devoted our Spring Break to the wedding. Mom and I went to College Hill Coffee the other day and spent 2.5 hours planning our detailed schedules and lists.

I LOVE lists.

There's something about having every single thing planned out that makes me feel so much more prepared and stress-free! Whoo hoo!

Anyhow, after we got the ceremony and reception timelines planned out, we got to work on the various projects that need to be done. Invitations must be finished, signs made, vases decorated, playlists chosen, music picked, and we have a big list of stuff we need the guys to build.
As of March 18th, we have 2 months, 13 days, and 2 hours until wedding time!

I can't decide whether the it has flown by or dragged on...

Here, Mom and Ally are in the process of making signs to direct people where to go. 

This will eventually be a chalkboard to put cute quotes on or whatever. 

Jonah broke his trike, and decided the best way to fix it was with the drill. 

We're going for the vintage, rustic look, and Pinterest is full of awesome ideas like vases full of sticks! Sounds stupid, but it will look awesome! 

I am so blessed to have an artist as my sister! 

Everything she does is beautiful and I'm so grateful for her.  

While we (they) slave over wedding preparations, the boys entertain themselves with target practice. 

I had to throw in this adorable picture of Jenna napping. How cute is she?! 

I would love to be outside in this beautiful weather, but... I have schedules to type out, invitations to finish up, and music to download. 

To those of you who are free to be outside - enjoy it for me! 

The Importance of Family

     One of the things that could make marrying into a big family difficult, is having everyone accept you. Luckily, Kyle has won over every single sibling I have! The boys have an especially close bond with him. Landon doesn't have an older brother, so he loves when Kyle comes over and goes possum hunting with him, or when they watch RC car youtube videos with each other.

Somehow watching those videos with his older sisters just isn't the same...

     More than anything, I love watching him interact with Jonah. There are lots of guys who shy away from the idea of having kids, and aren't really sure how to handle them. Not Kyle! From the first time he came over, he jumped right in. Now, they adore him. Jonah gets so excited when he sees Kyle's truck pull into the driveway. He yells, "KYOL! KYOL UCK!" and jumps around like a maniac.
     Jonah isn't the most easy-going child... He is often extremely stubborn and whiney. Kyle is one of few people that can get him to listen and obey.

     The other day, we went to the lake to hang out and celebrate having a small break from school. Kyle was flying with my dad and Landon, so he couldn't make it. Somehow, we still managed to have fun. ;)
Jackson made a little boat out of driftwood with Ally's friend, Drew. It made me smile when I heard what he named it; Kyle Bliss. Isn't that cute?!

You can read more about our trip to the lake in Emma's family blog: A Day at the Lake.

     The reason behind this blog, is that I want to point out how important family is in choosing a life partner. If my family hadn't gotten a good feeling, or the little kids didn't like him, the relationship would never have worked out.

Knowing that my family loves him almost as much as I do gives me so much security for our future! What's even cooler, is the fact that Jonah, Jenna, and maybe even Jackson, won't remember not having Kyle around. To them, he will have always been a part of their lives!

How We Met

Turns out, Kyle and I have a long, intertwined history. Through the years, we danced around on the edges of each other's lives, without quite making it all the way in.

Example 1: We sang in the same Christmas children's choir! I found old home videos of him showing my mom a craft he made (VERY excitedly) when he was about 8.

Example 2: His sister was one of our horse-riding instructors way back when we took lessons. He told me once that he remembers being there one day when it rained and we all played in the puddles together.

Example 3: I was in a home-school play with his sister. Their good friends have a home video of me talking with Kyle's mom backstage.

Example 4: We went to youth group at a local church for YEARS together. He remembers me... but I only occasionally remember him. Kyle insists he used to try to talk to me, but I'd just blow him off. In my defense, I'm not good at recognizing when someone is interested. Also, I was a little bit stand-offish.

It was only about a year and a half ago when we finally connected for good. One of his good friends wanted him to talk to me about something, so he messaged me on Facebook and we met up at McDonalds. Romantic, right?

Somewhere in that time period he had surgery on a hernia - which meant he was taking strong pain medication, so when we began to text/talk regularly I thought he was nuts! Pain medication does crazy things to that boy. After a while, I decided that this hyper guy was actually really sweet. He asked me to prom and from then on we were pretty much inseparable.

I didn't want to date in high-school, so we stayed just friends until I graduated in May. This may sound shocking, but we already knew we'd end up married before we officially began dating.

When you know, you know!

Growing up, I never could have imagined that this loud, goofy kid would become the man I'd spend the rest of my life with. It's amazing how God works!

Our Favorite Things

First off, I'd like to say a quick thank you to those who were so supportive of my previous blog! I loved hearing from all of you - thank you very much. :) 

     I'm totally loving the blog poll widget! You guys voted, and tied, so here is the first of the two winning blog subjects - our favorite and least favorite things about each other.

     I'm just gonna dive right in...

*What Kyle likes about me: My energy, sincerity, persistence, love for others, eyes, maturity, patience (I don't know where this one came from), and inner beauty.

*What Kyle doesn't like about me: My stubbornness, extreme stubbornness, and argumentative tendencies.

I need to work on my stubbornness if you can't tell!

What I like about Kyle: His confidence, goofiness, handsome smile, loving nature, understanding, work ethic, brilliance, dependability, muscles/height (you can't blame me for this one), and how he can cheer me up like no one else.

What I don't like about Kyle: His stubbornness, his need to fix problems instead of listening (he's getting better though!), and his disdain for my favorite T.V. shows - Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings.

     Here's the point of this blog: neither one of us is perfect and we know it. I need to work on being less stubborn and listening more, while he sometimes needs to let me watch girly shows (hint, hint).
     I'm extremely blessed to be with a guy that doesn't get hurt or angry when I tell him he's being annoying. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for myself. Sometimes it's hard to listen to criticism, but I am trying to recognize when I'm being stubborn or arguing just for the sake of arguing.

To Kyle: Thank you for putting up with me! :) You're the best.

*Both of these came straight from his text with little/no editing from me!

19 and Engaged

      The average reaction when people hear we're engaged is, "Wow! You're pretty young aren't you?" or "Hm... Are your parents ok with this?"

     Unfortunately, this isn't a totally unreasonable response to the knowledge that two nineteen-year-olds are planning on getting married. What is more unfortunate, is the idea of a nineteen-year-old couple moving in together without the commitment is more acceptable in our society.

Yeah. That's sad.

Here's my answer to both of the above questions - Yes and yes!!

      The truth is, we ARE young. But we've both been raised to understand the seriousness of marriage and choosing a life-long partner. We were homeschooled and were raised by parents that took the idea of dating/courtship very seriously. Dating, in our minds, has always been for only one reason; to see whether or not the other person is a good match for marriage. Therefore, we spent the majority of our courtship at our families' homes; making dinner, watching movies, and playing games. Occasionally, we did spend some time alone together, but not very often.

And you know what? It was fun!

      I can honestly say that I'm good friends with Kyle's parents and I know he can say the same of mine. Not only that, but he has earned the acceptance of every one of my siblings, which is hard to do since I'm one of nine!

     While we know it's one of the best blessings, we also understand that marriage is difficult. We're going to fight, and we're going to get annoyed with each other. Sometimes, it'll be hard to remember WHY we love each other. Society has taught us that love is something that you feel; something that you shouldn't have to work for. That isn't how it works! Marriage lasts because people work hard to love each other. Love is being selfless not selfish. It's when you put the other person's feelings above your own. Sure, it'll be frustrating at times, but we have an awesome support system of family and friends that will help us get through rough patches, because there are always rough patches.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Gen. 2:24) 

     This doesn't mean that I don't have the butterflies-in-my-stomach feelings when I see Kyle or hold his hand; I definitely do! It just means that after 20 years, I'll still be excited to see him when he walks in the door after work. I'll still want to make him his favorite dessert, and I'll still look forward to spending time with my best friend. And if the time comes when I'm feeling like it'd be easier to give up,  I'll pray that God gives me the selflessness to consider my husband before myself and remember why I chose to marry him in the first place.

    That's what marriage is. It's choosing the person that you share your happiness and your hurts with, your goofiness and your seriousness; it's knowing that you'll be there for that person when they need you because no matter what happens they'd do the same for you. The only thing that should be more important than each other, is each person's personal relationship with Jesus Christ!

Jesus + selflessness = a successful marriage! 

    You may be thinking, "This all sounds lovely, but it's harder than you'd think!" That's also true. There will be many occasions when I will fail to be selfless. It's human nature and VERY hard to fight. All I can say is that I hope when those moments of weakness come, that Kyle will remember why he chose to marry me!