Friday, May 29, 2009

Mosier




In twenty-eight days I will become Mrs. Mosier! Our wedding is fast approaching. I am going to be MARRIED, I am going to have a HUSBAND! That is exciting and scary and amazing and crazy all at the same time. I feel totally at peace about the man God has chosen for me. The crazy and scary part is that my life will forever be changing after 31 years of singleness.

We have been seeing a couple for premarital counseling over the past month plus and I am learning so much . . . about myself, about marriage, about how to love and submit to a husband and what my role will be. Areas of sin in my life that I have done my best to bury have come to a head. Selfishness, self-centered thinking and acting are a couple of biggies I am dealing with currently. I have had 13 years of adult life with myself being #1 as far as decision making goes. The amazing thing in all this is that I am quickly gaining a much clearer picture of what Christ's sacrificial love for the Church was. I am completely humbled at a new level.

The man God has given me is a gift beyond what I knew even in January when he proposed. The more I get to know Ben and the more I see him act out his love toward me, always putting me first, always uplifting and encouraging me, always looking out for my best interest the more I am blown away that God would choose to bless me with such a man. Ben is a RARE find. I have met a "couple" of men over the past 13 years and none compare to him. I am grateful to God for giving me such a loving, patient and godly man.

This past Wednesday at our premarital session the couple counseling us gave us this sign as a wedding gift. I love it and look forward to hanging it in our new apartment tomorrow. We decided to find a place to rent before we left so we can come HOME to a home and not be unpacking a storage space in August. We are renting a place just north of where I am now in Castaic in the same complex that Ashley Ryan/Merhinger lives in! Small world. I move in tomorrow and Ben will move in on the 10th when I leave for Alaska. We are EXCITED to establish a new home together and are counting down these last 28 days!! God is so GOOD!!

Monday, May 18, 2009

a bath bridal shower . . .





Stephanie and me














This past Saturday friends in CA put on a "bath and bridal" shower for me. It was so sweet. Stephanie Niednagel hosted it at her home and had a brunch. She is the wife of the couple I stayed with when I flew to CA last Labor Day to meet Ben and when I first moved to CA in Dec/Jan. She has been a blessing in my life and transition to CA.

There were about 10 women that came. These were friends from all areas and all walks of life. It was a super special time. A friend from Orange County came up that I know from CIU. We both lived in SC two years ago and met at seminary. She transferred to Biola and now I am here too. SMALL WORLD. Ashley Meringer was there, we grew up knowing each other from WBC in AK. Other women from Bible study, seminary wives and work came. It was a special time of fellowship.

The theme was a shower of bath gifts for our bathroom. We got a lot of towels and bathroom stuff off our registery.

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Alaskan Bridal Shower





Merry sharing part of my devotional, she made an amazingly intricate shawl that took one year to put together! I am honored to be the one receiving something so special Merry! Thank you!


Janeen (on left) is putting together our wedding slideshow for the reception :) She's my tech guru assistant!








Our shower curtain with "Advice for Ben" notes all over it :)









When I was home for spring break the first week of April Sarah Brown (my matron of honor) along with Aimy, Carrie (bridesmaids) and several other friends put on my first bridal shower. This was where the rubber hit the road for me so to speak. Up to that point "wedding" was just something far off that Ben and I were planning and taking about but still kind of a dream. Having a shower solidified that it IS actually coming!

So the night was amazing. Sarah oversaw the night but as I mentioned several people helped out. There were about 80 woman there to celebrate with me. I have to say it was a night of tremendous blessing. I was also humbled to have so many friends who love me (and Ben) and want the very best for both of us as we start this new chapter together.

Two highlights from the night, Merry Done made several different veils that were placed strategically at the head of each table with a reserved seat for me. The purpose was for me to move from table to table throughout the night changing veils and making sure I had an opportunity to talk with friends at each table. GREAT idea, I loved it and the veils were a super fun and cute touch! Thanks too Heidi D. for helping create some unique veil styles. :)

The second highlight was my devotion. Most showers I have been to, all in fact I think have one special friend or family member that does a devotion for the bride. Sarah went above and beyond with a creative idea she saw somewhere and had eight women take part in my devotion. Each woman came up and added something (i.e. kitchen utensil, journal, book, etc.) to a big basket of things to remember in our marriage. The women that shared were friends and mentors that have played key roles throughout my life. These women were Tonya Jones, Amanda Bacon, Aimy Eller, Sarah Brown, Merry Doner, Karen Schindler (via Karen Spear), Trisha Mitchell, and my mom.

I was showered with gifts, hugs, words of encouragement and advice. It was a sweet blessing and time of celebration. Thanks to all the friends and family that helped make the night special!

Ben's birthday





I am a month + overdue in updating my blog so these posts are little . . . late. Ben's 28th birthday was April 22. The Friday prior to that they had a "teacher night" discount for all employees in my school district to go to Six Flags for $15 a person (myself and all family and friends we wanted). YES!

For those who don't know me one of my FAVORITE things to do is ride BIG ROLLERCOASTERS!!! I LOVE rollercoasters and I now live literally 7 miles from a Six Flags, providence perhaps?? :) This is also one of the perks to working and living in a big city. I am not a fan of cities but discount nights to Six Flags are pretty fun.

Tickets are normally $65 per person so we both got in that night for $30! Because it was off season there were also NO lines. We road coasters from 6:30-10 p.m. straight until I had a massive headache from all the jarring and shaking. I loved every minute! I also realized this is a benefit of lines, you have so much time waiting in between rides that you don't get headaches from the G-forces.

Ben had never been on BIG coasters so it was a first for him. A nice change of pace from the Tea Cups that he almost lost his dinner over during my b-day weekend at Disney Land. :) Yes, we are kids at heart!

a little R & R






In a mere 5 weeks and 21 more IEP meetings I will be done with my first semester of full time speech pathology in Southern CA and on my way back to AK to finishing wedding plans! WOOHOO! I am getting MARRIED this summer!! I can't wait!

Ben has one more week of finals this coming week and then he will work full time for his extermination co. and help with future plans (i.e. finding a place for us to move into when we get back the end of July). :) That will be a double blessing for both of us b/c we will have more time TOGETHER. He lives about 30 min. from me w/ no traffic (1-2 hrs.) with traffic so there are times during the week especially weeks preceeding finals that we don't see each other much.

Today to take a break from the busyness we spent a quiet and relaxing afternoon at one of the pools in my neighborhood. There are 3 pools that I have access to w/in two blocks of my condo, NICE. There was one other woman at the pool today so we basically had the place to ourselves. Quite, sunny and RELAXING the perfect Saturday.

I'm adding some fun pics I got from a friend who is currently overseas of some China beaches, something quite different from our experience today. If you ever need a little break and some R & R in China . . . make your reservations EARLY! And also enjoy some smog with your sun. :)