Vanilla or Chocolate?

So le fiancé and I began pre-marital counseling last night. We both wanted to do this so that we could be as prepared as possible to enter into the covenant of marriage. We are thrilled to have wonderful mentors in a married couple in our small group, and the husband will be officiating our wedding. It’s such a great way to open up and truly enter into this stage of our lives with Christ at the center.

Our first session was filled with telling our life story highlighting the most significant and important relationships. I had 15 minutes. 15 minutes? Are you crazy? How was I supposed to fit 32 intense years into 15 minutes? Where do I start? How do I explain where I came from, what I endured, and how I came out on the other side—in 15 minutes. What do I highlight? What do I keep out? What were truly the defining relationships and moments in my life? Think about it. How would you do this? What events and people truly shaped you whether in your walk with Christ or in life in general?

Needless to say, my story took a tad more than 15 minutes. As I sat there and opened up, I realized I had told so many parts of this story so many times that it wasn’t hard. I wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed. Le fiancé knew it all. The couple in front of us knew some of the sordid details, but I was among family, so the words flowed freely. I think everyone else was more exhausted listening than I was telling it. When I finished, it was good for me to know that nothing was new to le fiancé’s ears.

And then he began what he described as his more “vanilla” story. Ya know the old, grew up in the mid-west, two parents, house, one brother, dad built the family business variety. Its strange to hear the vast differences in our childhoods. As I sat there I envied him. How I longed for vanilla. For a house and meals on the table with my family and vacations and well ya know, the so-called American Dream.

Then I realized, my chocolate, vanilla, rocky-road of a life was unique. Each moment, each obstacle, challenge, triumph was for a reason. It shaped me, molded me—it was each of the significant events and people that led me to Him and him.

Had I not experienced each of those things my path would have led me elsewhere. I would be a different person—a different story. This marriage is the merging of chocolate and vanilla into a totally new flavor that we get to build together. It will be a mix of both of our lives, and our stories are just a chapter in the book we now get to write together as a married couple.

So, I thank my lucky stars and my Savior in heaven every day for allowing me to walk in light and darkness, for the struggles and obstacles, for the opportunity to live this crazy, mixed up, wonderful life that I have lived for the past 32 years because it has led me here. I am so happy to get the chance to start anew and have my happily ever after Winter Wonderland.

FROGS

Busy busy busy. My weekend was busy. Saturday began with visiting the wedding venue to do some layout and last minute table arranging etc... It was so cool to see the site set up for another wedding and just begin to get a feel for how the wedding will look.

Then it was off to the salon for a much-needed hair session. I have not seen my girl since July! July people. And let me tell you, nothing feels better than fresh color and a cut. I knew I wanted to keep my hair the same for the wedding, but  man it had been forever since I had trimmed those ends, and my preggo vitamins had caused quite some growth!

I am not fresh and fabulous and ready for the nuptials.

Then we headed out to the TCU/KSU game. We blacked out the stadium and it was awesome.

It was also our "Pink Out" game, hence the pink pom-poms. It was such a good game, and we came out victorious! I would also like to thank A&M for beating Auburn to help the Frogs out.

Sunday was just a hard day to do much. I woke up feeling less than stellar and just could not get to church. We opted to walk to get breakfast. My throat is just scratchy and my body just wants to sleep. I finally drug myself our for a short 2 mile run, then immediately plopped back down for nap. It was just all I could do to get myself to our first session of pre-marriage counseling.

I finally plopped back into bed about 10:30 and just was not ready for this morning. Here's to Monday!

Confessional Friday

Happy weekend everyone! Let's get to confessing!

I confess....

• I am wearing maternity jeans to work. Yes, I can still "fit" into my regular ones with the help of a belly band, but man these are so much more comfortable. Sexy? eh....
• I am finally getting a hair cut this weekend after too many months to count.
• I know the sex of our baby and I am making you all wait another week!
• Its one month until the wedding and I am only freaking out about my dress.
• All I want to do tomorrow is sleep all day, but I have wedding to-dos, hair to-dos and TCU takes on K-State.
• Everything I have on today is new!! Maternity jeans and top and cute booties from Sole Society! I know a photo would be nice, but that requires me to prepare in advance.

Happy Weekend ya'll!

One Month

Its here. The one month mark. In one short month I will marry the love of my life and become a Winter.

The past three months have flown by. Between job changing, wedding planning, baby planning I have barely had time to think let alone enjoy the process. However, I did enjoy cake last night. Cake tasting is just wonderful. All the options of flavors, fillings and icing. Yum. But, seeing as its a month away, I picked some flavors and moved on.

Here's to the last month of being at the beginning of the alphabet!

Backwards

So I never planned to get pregnant before I was married or get married while pregnant. I was trying to do things in the "correct" order. But then there was that fateful day when my doctor told me I was pregnant. I cried.

Yes you all I cried my eyes out. Not because I was scared, though I was, but because this was something I had wanted for so long. If you have been around these parts for a while or followed my blog before the change you know I was married before. And M and I tried to get pregnant. We did not avail. My body was against me. I was on chlomid and it just didn't work. I simply would not ovulate. Looking back now, I can see a small miracle at work. Shortly after round 5 of chlomid M and I were over. Do I blame the stress of trying, no. We were just not meant to be.

But, there I was 30 and convinced I would never have the one thing I wanted the most: a family.

Fast forward a year and half and there I was in my same doctor's office and he was telling me, after three tests, I was getting the greatest gift.

Sure there were pangs of oh no and what will people say. And the obligatory "knocked up" "shotgun wedding" smirks. But you know what? This is my life and this baby was made with the utmost love. Sure we fast-forwarded our timeline a tad, but the thing is, we are more in love and more in tune with each other now then ever.

So who is to say that doing things backwards is well, backwards. We are loved, in love and love this baby. And that folks is all I need.

Your Voice

Today is election day. Yes that day when you should head to the polls and have your voice heard. My motto, no vote, no voice, no reason for you to complain.

Hello Fall

Nothing beats the feel of crisp air on a morning dog walk. Yes, it's the sign that fall has finally arrived in Texas.

So, of course I donned my leggings and over-sized sweater, and found a wonderful lifetime movie to surpass the time. And then the TCU game came on. Talk about a heart attack! I love my Horned Frogs, but man do we have to win like that? But hey, a W is a W, so on to Kansas State.

I do have to stop and pause today as well. Heaven has received an angel. My should-be sis grandfather Daddy C passed away last week. I attended the visitation yesterday and man it was hard. He was the best surrogate grandfather to everyone. He just adopted all of my friend's friends and it just worked. He lived a long and wonderful life and I know he is watching over all of his grandkids.

And I have no exciting Halloween news or pics. Yup, boring people over here. We had burgers to celebrate a friend's birthday and called it a night. But next year, its on with the cuteness of baby costumes.

I did manage to tie up some wedding loose ends like flowers and linens Saturday. I was in and out of both places in less than an hour. Yup, that's how you do wedding on a timeline. Walk in, tell them i need x number of x types of flowers in whatever you got in purple and be on your way! Call me crazy, but just do not see the need to him and haw over the perfect bouquet or boutonniere. Just not worth it to me. I'll him and haw over cake. lol.

So that's the weekend in a pictureless nutshell! Oh... and did I mention I had a sonogram Friday? Did I mention the nurse is 80% sure she knows what it is? Did I mention I am not telling until November 14th?

Happy November ya'll