I love this man!!

My wonderful husband said I was overdue in posting a few pictures, so I thought I'd just add a few favorites! :) I have a few different slideshows on Facebook since that goes so much faster to upload, but I also realize I'd like to keep this blog more up-to-date as our "online scrapbook".

We've had a few busy weeks, with Brent's job-change stuff all happening, and I also picked up quite a few shifts these last three weeks. We're like two ships passing in the night, literally, with me coming home from work just minutes before Brent leaves for work!

Besides work, what else have we been up to? We're working on getting settled around here, sorting through honeymoon pictures to post (there are hundreds!), waiting for our professional pictures to come so we can order our thank you notes, getting more involved at chuch (we'll be starting a choir that Brent will direct), and just spending time together. We're looking forward to the MINNESOTA STATE FAIR this weekend -my favorite day of the summer each year (except this summer, of course, because there was a wedding day that was by far the best day ever!).

It's been a good, but busy, first few weeks of marriage!

Super Thursday

For my first "official" blog post of married life there is much news to share. As of this last Thursday, August 13th, I have resigned from the Hilbert School District as Director of Library Media Services. As many of you are aware, I have been going through a somewhat tumultuous off-season. First I was going to be dropped to 50% time, so I went and found part-time employment after our honeymoon. Less than a week after starting I received a call from my Superintendent telling me they had located some funds and that he was going to recommend my time be increased. Jumping to the end, I found out last Wednesday that he was going to recommend at this coming Monday night board meeting that I be reinstated to a shared position between Hilbert and a neighboring school district who had cut all of their Media Specialist positions at the end of last year. After many years of being a media specialist I can assure you that when you are made to serve two "masters", especially in education, very little good comes of it.

As we, along with many of you, have been praying for this situation, our recent prayers have been that God would give us clear direction and make the choice obvious. I really think that was accomplished. Paralleling the school storyline, my part-time job had been going very well. I really enjoy what I am doing and the office in which I work. I currently work for Appraisal Group One of Oshkosh, WI. This company is not just your run-of-the-mill appraisal firm.

At AGO, they provide specialized appraisal services including eminent domain valuation, which is essentially fighting for the personal landowner's rights against large utility companies or the Dept. of Transportation (whose intent is to either take or use land to run pipelines, power lines, wind turbines, etc. without truly valuing the impact on people's property value). Additionally, their skill in expert testimony has led to identifying this in-depth style of appraisal to be referred to as "forensic" appraisal. A forensic appraiser then is a recognized expert witness who gives testimony in court as to the value of a property.

So, I begin my new journey as an appraiser trainee. The owner of the company has made a commitment to put me on the full-time fast track of licensing. What a blessing and opportunity. We will have to live frugally these next few years until I reach all my levels of licensing, but God is always faithful and as we diligently trust upon Him, He is faithful in ALL things.

I realize there will be many sacrifices along this path to come, and some have already begun to happen. I am grateful for such a supportive and loving wife in Kari. I can't begin to express how calming and stabilizing her support through all this has been. Additionally, it should be noted that she has had to sacrifice her RAV4 for the cause. This was an incredible gesture on her part as that car represented a lot of different experiences and feelings for her these past few years. She has given that sporty woman-on-the-go persona over and we now have joined the mini-van brigade! :| (Although I must say she will always be a "sporty" woman-on-the-go in my eyes. :))

Please continue to pray for us, and thank you for your continued encouragement. We greatly appreciate it.

Brent

Our Big Day

Here's a glimpse into the super fun event that was Our Big Day! These are some of the pictures taken on my camera. I have more from my mom and brother-in-law, but those will have to wait for now.

I was blessed with a really wonderful personal bridal shower on Thursday evening and here are the fun friends that were able to join in the celebration. One of the best parts of it all? The planners specifically didn't plan any of the typical "bridal shower games" because they knew that what I would most especially like was time to just visit with all these fun friends that I don't get to see very often! It was a wonderful way to start off the wedding weekend!
Fun Fergus Friends, back together again! Carrie, Christine, me, and Laura.

It was so fun to have Christine and Carrie help me all throughout the wedding day as my personal attendants. We realized that the three of us have now gone full circle in blessing one another in this way on our wedding days. Here they are steaming my dress that had traveled all the way from Appleton to Fergus.

Brent and I chose to have StromStudio take our professional wedding photographs. We had a great time with Eric and Susanne all day and truly had a fun time during the photo session. First we went out to a few places for pictures of just Brent and I, and Carrie and Christine came along to help and also snap a few shots from my camera. It was so fun! I'm looking forward to seeing the professional shots and will share those with you once we get them.

(Here's the one picture all day that shows that yes, I did wear flip flops the entire day and was totally comfortable in them and SO thankful that I wasn't wearing flimsy high-heels since no one could see my shoes anyway! My skirt was blessedly big enough!!)

My handsome groom

Our wedding party joined us for some group shots. I am so happy with how the pictures look, seeing the fun red dresses that my bridesmaids wore, along with the fun, bright, and cheery flowers. Brent had three groomsmen, and then we each asked our brother-in-laws to be ushers along with my cousins Sara and Tami (the women in black dresses). Brent's nephew was our ring-bearer and my goddaughter was our flower girl.

Me and my girls

I love my ring! Brent gave me a beautiful diamond and I love how it stands out and sparkles. It's already been a month (how is that possible????) and I keep finding myself staring at it often! I'm also really happy with how our flowers turned out. I knew I wanted yellow roses and red gerbera daisies so I had those in my bouquet along with red roses and also a few calla lilies and some fun berries. The bridesmaids had yellow and red roses with the berries. I'm hoping to show you a better picture once I get my hands on one.

I was also really happy with how the sanctuary looked. There was a funeral at church on Friday morning and a piano concert on Friday evening so we weren't able to decorate until late on Friday night. It honestly wasn't stressful for me because I knew just what I wanted to do and that I wanted to keep it all fairly simple. I had found some really fun yellow pots and planted geraniums in them and added a few candles. I'll find a better close-up picture and show you later (or I think you can check the link to Candis' blog and see some pictures there).

What post could be complete without a picture of this guy? David was our honorary ring-bearer and from the very beginning, I knew that all I wanted was for him to be in a family picture. I had been a wedding coordinator long enough to know that there's no way you can count on a two-year-old to do something. So, I completely went into the day knowing that it didn't matter one way or another if he walked down the aisle or not, was in any other pictures or not, or really had any involvement whatsoever. He was in the family picture, he was not in any other picture, I think he walked down the aisle and then went directly to the nursery. After the ceremony we all went back to a side room to wait until the guests were ushered out and here's the shot I couldn't resist taking! What a hilarious cutie-pie!! He loves that puppy, and it appears he loves watching Veggie Tales as well!

And finally, a sweet smile to finish the post. I love this amazing girl! She's such a sweetheart, and it was so fun to have her involved on Our Big Day. I love when she answers the phone when I call, or wraps her arms around me in a hug, but especially when she gives me this shy, sweet grin!

There you have it, a glimpse into Our Big Day. I'm looking forward to seeing our professional pictures, or any other fun pictures that you might have to share with us. (feel free to email or send them!)

Wedding Sneak-Peak

Here are just a few wedding pictures to preview! We haven't gotten our professional pictures back yet, so while we're waiting, I've been going through some of the pictures I've gotten from my mom or brother-in-law, etc. I am working on a few posts of all sorts of fun details, but as you can imagine, there are quite a few pictures to sort through!

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a few of the pictures that others snapped on my own camera. I see I uploaded them in reverse order and need to shut down my computer so I can get to work, but here's a little preview of what our BEAUTIFUL wedding day looked like!

More to come later!

And a Post-script: will you pray for us? It's been pretty busy since we've returned from our honeymoon and there are many things going on which require some decision-making. Will you pray for wisdom? I'll share more as I'm able, but Brent and I would appreciate the Lord's guidance and we've been asking Him for wisdom. Thank you for joining us in that request!

The Upside of the Day

Brent and I decided to come to the Twin Cities this weekend. Here's how it went:
The upside of the day was at the end of it, when we went to ColdStone Creamery with my parents and Little David and his dad (Julie was working). It seems as though Grandpa thought that all little boys should learn about puddles. I think he caught on okay!