1 week and counting...

This is it friends! The time has finally come! This week I will go become Mrs.Benjamin! I am going to work Monday, Tuesday, and wednesday, and then Thursday will start the first day of my vacation. I will be at the church then setting up some stuff and getting things ready for the wedding day. Then Thursday night is our rehearsal at 6pm. Nate and I already have pretty much everything set up in our new apartment so we will be hosting the rehearsal dinner there. Last week we had our final meeting with our wedding coordinator and also met with our photographer. Last night we had our final pre-marriage counseling session with Chris and Katrina and it was probably the most fun session we have had. :)
I am just so amazed that the wedding is finally here. It's one of those things you think will never come but it does. Besides the dreams I keep having where I miss my nail and hair appointments and everything is going wrong on the wedding day, I am doing good. I have a lot of peace and I am excited but not anxious. I am excited to see all my family and to become a married woman. God has provided more then i think I even know during this process and I am so greatful. Thanks to everyone who prayed, gave, or just loved us during this time. It was such a blessing to have so many people care, and to know that my heavenly Father cares about the small thing in my life. Only five more days... wow.

2 weeks and counting...

Two weeks!!!!! Oh happy day, oh happy day :) I am glad that I am actually starting to feel happiness again after Mondays big event. I finally got my wisdom teeth pulled on Monday the 19Th and it was a very uncomfortable experience. Here is a picture two days after surgery.
I am still not completely healed, actually far from it. My cheeks are still a bit puffy and they are now turning yellow due to bruising, it's very normal :) Right after the surgery I woke up and immediately started to cry. The nurse said that it was the anesthesia but I was in a lot of pain too. Then they gave Nate a coupon to get me a McDonald's shake so I could take my pain meds (IB profin) and I cried the whole way to McDonald's. Nate said, "Elisabeth, we have to get you a shake to take your pill so you won't hurt." And I cried, "NOOOOOOOOO", like a big baby. Then when I took my first drink of the shake, I started to laugh and spit the shake everywhere. I realized I couldn't swallow and then started to cry some more :) Nate was enjoying watching me all messed up and freakin out. I guess girls cry when they come out of anethesia. Talk about mood swings! Nate then took me to my parent's house where he took care of me all day. He made sure I followed all of the doctors orders. What a good husband he will be :) As for wedding stuff, there hasn't been much. We had to cancel our meeting with the wedding coordinator and our photographer because of my mouth not being quite healed yet. But this weekend Nate and I will have a wedding shower hosted by one of my family members and we will also sign the lease to our apartment and start moving our stuff in on Sunday. Very exciting. I am so glad the wedding is almost here, I am just so done with this engaged thing :)

3 weeks and counting...

Three weeks!!!! I am getting very excited. Plans are being finalized and excitement is in the air! I am having a wedding shower on the 25Th with family members of mine and Nate's. They wanted to throw it for us so we said "yes!". Also, my grandma is coming on the 31st from Florida and will be staying with my parents for a bit before the wedding. Today, Nate had his bachelor party with some of his buddies and they went paint balling. Nate just got a new paintball barrel and was pretty stoked about it. He said it worked great. He wasn't too thrilled with the place he went paint balling at but it was cool that he got to spend time with the guys. I am getting surgery on Monday and am praying that it won't affect the way my face looks for the wedding, but I know God is good :) Anyways, that's the update for now!

4 weeks and counting...

Today Sonja and I went to David's Bridal to get her dress and Sharissa came with us to exchange hers for a smaller size. We accomplished both goals and we are all very happy! Only four weeks to go and I am so excited! Nate is really excited too. He keeps saying "four weeks!" :) We have our last counseling session this Tuesday and I can't believe we have made it through. I mean, I can believe it but it is such a cool accomplishment. Anyways, Just a small update and a picture of Sonja's dress.

1 Month and Counting...

Remember when we had five months to go and I said that one month was going to be so cool? Well, one month is finally here!!!!!! I can't believe it!!! This has been the most stressful but most blessed month probably yet. Nate and I have encountered many roadblocks to where we were trying to go but God removed those barriers and taught us a valuable lesson in trusting Him. As most of you know, I work for Teen challenge, and as most of you know, I don't make much money. Well, when I get married I will be making more, but still not enough to survive on. Recently I have learned to push through my fears and to trust God by requesting more money from my work. Over much stress, tears, and time, I got the answer on May 2ND that my request had been granted and they are raising my salary by $2 an hour! Not only did this miracle happen but a miracle with the apartment Nate and I wanted happened as well.
After getting a dreaded credit check through the apartment complex, Nate and I found out that my credit would cost us double the deposit that we would normally be making. A couple known mistakes have been on my credit report and I explained that to the apartment complex. They wanted proof. I tried to get the proof but to no avail. But at the last minute, God came through by providing the money for that extra deposit and now we have reserved our very first apartment together! We will not be moving into it until after the honeymoon of course but we are excited to finally have a place that we know we can afford!(I have put pictures of the actual apartment complex on this blog.)

God has been so good to us. He has blessed us with money for our apartment, more money at my job, and money for the wedding. He has even blessed me with a good friend who took pity on this poor woman with no clothes for her honeymoon and is taking me shopping so I can look extra good for my husband to be in Hawaii :)
Wedding planning is slowing down because it is coming to an end. We have pretty much everything finished except for the finalizing of the schedule and other details for the day of the wedding. We will be meeting with our wedding coordinator soon to discuss all of this and finalize it.
On a personal note, please pray for me around the 19Th of this month because I will be getting my wisdom teeth out and during the surgery they will be fixing something in my nasal cavity as well. It will be an extensive surgery and I will be out of work for three days. I don't want any of this to cosmetically mess me up for the wedding so please pray that I have a fast recovery.
I am getting so excited for the wedding. It's so close that I can't hardly believe it. I am just ready to finally be Mrs.Benjamin. I am more in love with Nate now then I was at the beginning, and I hope that it will be like that until the end- we will always be falling deeper in love as time goes on.

2 Months and Counting...

Wow, being two months away feels great! Time seems as if it is slowing down again though. Next weekend is our friends wedding and one week seems like forever. I am sure that they may feel this way. Well anyways, this last month that went by was the toughest month that Nate and I have gone through personally. Now that we are out of the storm things feel normal again, but for a while there I really wasn't sure what things were going to look like. Because of certain reasons there was a possibility that we would have had to postpone the wedding until an unknown date. Nate and I were very broken about this and we relied heavily on God's strength during that time. But God came through and did an amazing thing and now things are right back on track. The month of March was probably the month that we planned for the wedding the least, but personally grew for our marriage the most. it's so hard sometimes to remember that it isn't just about your wedding date- it's about sharing a lifetime together. Getting our focus back on that was a blessing.

One of the cool things that happened this last month though was my Bridal shower. My maid of honor, Krissie, planned the whole thing. I had friends from all different parts of my life there and it was a blast. Krissie had fun games for them to play, I cut the cake with Sonja and she smashed a piece in my face, and we opened presents, most of which were very interesting to open in front of everyone; I will only say that much. One of the games was actually only a game I could play. I had to put on all the silly clothes with a blindfold on. It was funny and embarrassing at the same time. Especially the grandma underwear that went over the pants and skirt and up to my waist. It was an awesome time.
Nate and I were also blessed with Visa gift cards that we are planning to use on our honeymoon. Nate was also blessed with a very large bonus at work because he is amazing at what he does and he is a very hard worker. God has been so good to us through all the downs and now the ups. I am so grateful that we were able to go though the situation and grow closer to the Lord and each other.
As far as how I am feeling lately, I am getting very impatient for everything. It's getting so close and my patience is wearing thin. I need another dose of right focus. It's not hard to get your focus off towards the wedding date. When you first get engaged your focus is thrown off totally. All you can think about is the wedding. But then you get into the planning for a couple months and you realize you have a ways to go yet, so you regain focus again. But when you get close, the focus is lost again. You know it's coming soon and it is so close you can taste it. All I know is that it's going to happen. It may feel like it never will but feelings are deceptive. God told me the other day not to look at how far I have to go but to look at how far I have come. He had me look at all the areas of my life with this truth, and it truly is a wise thing to do. The other day I looked back at my blogs and remembered when I was just writing about my engagement. Wow, time does fly. We have come so far, not just with wedding stuff but in our friendship, our love for each other, and our willingness to grow together. I am coming to realize that these are what is important, and that relationships are a daily learning experience, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Ahhh, it makes me think of a good time oldie that most would know:
It Had To Be You
Frank Sinatra

Why do I do, just as you say
Why must I just, give you your way
Why do I sigh, why don't I try to forget

It must have been,
That something lovers call fate
Kept me saying: "I have to wait"
I saw them all,
Just couldn't fall 'til we met

It had to be you, it had to be you
I wandered around, and finally found
The somebody who
Could make me be true,
And could make me be blue
And even be glad, just to be sad
Thinking of you

Some others I've seen,
Might never be mean
Might never be cross,
Or try to be boss
But they wouldn't do
For nobody else, gave me a thrill
With all your faults, I
Love you still
It had to be you, wonderful you
It had to be you

3 months and counting

Wow! Three months to go! The months are going by so fast and yet I still feel like the wedding is a million years away. I know it will come sooner than later though :) Today two people I know from my church got married and even though I wasn't there, I could feel the excitement in the air! Just dreaming of what it will be like is amazing :) So, now on to what we have done in the last month. Let's see... recently I just finished our slide show for the reception. The slide show starts off with me as a baby and then growing to an adult. Then it's Nate's turn.
We have all his cute baby pictures, then his handsome pictures of him as an adult. Then we go into the pictures of us together. It's really sweet :) Also, we had a meeting with the new wedding coordinator. We figured out some things with her and it was extremely stressful to get an idea of all the details that we still have to deal with. Also, last weekend Nate's mom and my mom went to David's Bridal to look at "mom" dresses. We have a great consultant there named Dolly who has helped me from the beginning and she worked wonders with the moms. Nate and I have also started a Financial Peace class on Sunday nights. It's going to help us in the future be a couple that can make it through the financial struggles because we will have the tools to do it. That's pretty awesome :)
So, as far as how I am feeling lately, I feel pretty calm for the most part but I have moments where the excitement becomes really real. I have moments where I am SO excited! I just want it to come fast and it is. Also, I have seen God come through this month with a $500 check from a dear family member.God is so faithful. I was really starting to doubt that we could do this (paying for the wedding I mean). It was getting stressful and was weighing on me, but God came through and He is going to keep coming through for us! I am excited, also a little scared. We have a lot to do in a short amount of time, but we are on track. I will just be happy when it's all over and we look back and say, "God did it! He came through,and thank God we're finally married!".

Four months and counting...

Sooo, four months. I have been waiting for this to finally happen and now it seems like four months is still a long time :) I was thinking, "hey, four months is going to be an awesome place to be. We will be so close." But now I am starting to see that being content where I am at is a problem for me because I still feel like the wedding is forever away :). Anyways, the pictures that I put up this time are actually from the last engagement photo session we had by this guy named Jason Fukura. He is an amazing photographer. I was on his webpage today just marveling at his work. He did a fun photo session with Nate and I last Sunday and his sweet wife came with him. She was very cool. So, as far as wedding stuff goes, in the last month, Nate and I have got a lot of things done. We got decorations for the church, picked out our cake, we have began to put ideas and things together for music and our slideshow, I had a hair consultation today and have a makeup appt. next weekend, we bought invitations, a guest book, and cake knife and server, and I think there were a few other things but I can't remember. The little details are being filled in now. As of current needs we are still looking at around $1,500 more to pay for the bigger costs of the wedding. This includes the building ($750), the photographer
($600), and the catorer ($200). We are also still needing money for our honeymoon (about $1,000). Any help at all would be so much appreciated because the weight and the stress of this tends to weigh on me sometime.
As far as how I am feeling lately, I guess it's been kind of weird. I am going through my own trials so it seems to affect my excitement for the wedding. I still look forward to it, I just am not bursting at the seams with excitement. I don't like to be anyways because then I feel impatient and that sucks. I am really trying lately to look past the excitement of the wedding day and focus more on the excitement of sharing a lifetime with Nate. I think that I was too focused on one day that I forgot that I would spend a lifetime with him. Committment is a big scary thing but I believe that it is worth it. I think I am starting to have that revelation that another bride I knew had about the fact that your life would never be your own again. But our life is not our own anyways. It belongs to God, sometimes we just choose not to give it to Him. But there is joy in surrendering, and that is what I believe it will be in marriage. Not a continual happiness, but a continual joy and honor to join my life with another. Wow, four more months... very cool.

5 months and counting...

Five months! How exciting! I will be freaking out at one month. Now that will be a cool feeling :) Well, the last month has been really cool. Nate and I spent our first holidays together and new years eve too. Although, this year I felt old. All I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch the space needle from T.V.. Nate didn't even want to watch T.V.. He just wanted to go to bed. But he stayed up for me :) On another note, lately I have been feeling more patient for the wedding then normal. I'm just learning that the more impatient I get the slower time seems to go. I'd rather time go fast. Also, another cool thing that has happened is that about three weeks ago, Nate and I got a joint account so we could be saving together for our wedding, honeymoon, and apartment. It is overwhelming to think that we have to save for all of that ourselves. That's why I am counting on God to come through. But anyways, Nate and I had saved enough to buy our airfare for our honeymoon to Maui. Also, about a week ago, we sent out our "save the date" letters. Normally, "Save the dates" are just cards that you can order and then send out to people.But Nate and I decided to do it differently. We actually sent out letters and also a registration and wish list with the things we are saving for and need help with. We also sent RSVP cards to know early how many people to expect. Now we are just waiting for the replies. Also, lately I have been feeling like our planning speed has slowed down. I think we have been concentrated on the letters and will be picking up speed soon. There are things we still need to do like:
-order real invitations
-figure out the details of our decorations and video/audio with the church
-figure out pictures
-register at other stores
-figure out groomsmen and get tuxes
-get appointment with cake people
-get our rehearsal date set
This is all according to a few different wedding check lists. Even writing this makes me stressed out. O'well, we will get it done. It will all work out. That's all for now. Until next time!