a tadpole with legs

Zack loves analogies. Every time he explains something to me, he relates it to something else. When I'm taking notes in church, I write all of the analogies to the side so that when he asks me what I learned in church, I can explain the message by the analogies. 

My very favorite analogy that Zack has made up has to do with our engagement and how it's such an awkward time between dating and marriage. He called us a tadpole with legs. Not fully swimming tadpole, not fully hopping frog; a tadpole with legs.

It can be tough trying to move between states, set up house, and take care of errands for each other when we aren't legally married. We don't live in the same place, but we will soon. We don't have to make decisions together, but we will soon, and we want to now. We celebrate holidays with both of our families as if we were married, but we go home to our separate houses. Our stuff. is. everywhere.

I am so looking forward to finally being a frog!

snowy engagement photos

For Christmas, Zack's sister generously gave us an engagement photo session with Leslie Perkins Photography. We got snow at the perfect time when Zack was in town and Leslie was available to take these photos. Leslie was easy to work with, and I'm pleased with the photos. 

I am entertaining the thought of wedding Wednesdays. Would you be interested in reading wedding posts? What would you like to read about? Comment below or email me! 

Valentine's Day 2015

I wasn't planning to post anything about my Valentine's Day, then one of my coworkers said she was looking forward to reading about it on my blog, and I started thinking. I always enjoyed Valentine's Day as a single gal, but I know the eye roll that goes along with the tenth bouquet of roses and chocolates and sappy post about my wonderful boyfriend/husband that you see on social media. I don't want to contribute to alienating single people, but maybe it would be helpful to see a dose of real life. 

Things aren't as fancy around here as they used to be.  Last Valentine's Day: 

I sent my gal pals a photo Valentine's Day card (who does that?! me.), and I had a few friends over for a girly dinner party, complete with a fancy and delicious chocolate cake that my SIL made. I LOVED sending Valentines and taking care of my single girl friends on V day. 

This year, I'm engaged. That means I had a grand, romantic Valentine's Day with flowers and chocolates and a whole day spent with my love, culminating with an expensive dinner out and champagne, right? No. At least not exactly. 

Zack is wonderful every day, and Valentine's Day is no exception. I still choose him if/when he is not wonderful, but I have yet to see it. We're living 388 miles apart right now, and he is working 14 days in a row. I could have gone to see him, but it was questionable whether he'd be home or have flown to Canada. 

I was home sick part of Thursday, and I answered the door to a woman with this bouquet. My fruit went great with my dad's birthday pie :)

On Valentine's Day, I sat around in sweats most of the day, running out only to go through the Chickfila drive through with Dan to get some free iced coffee and a heart shaped biscuit (worth the carbs). I baked bread to take to a girly Valentine's dinner at my friend's house. It was an awesome day of rest. 

While I was getting ready for my friend's party, my mom and Tracy came in with a beautiful hydrangea. They're my favorite flower, and I'm hoping this one will survive inside in its pot until it warms up and I can plant it at our new home. I had told Zack that I'm not into grand gestures, and this was perfect. I ate the fruit, and I'll plant the flower, and that's that. Perfect. 

What did I get him, you ask? Well, I mailed him a card and a box of "little happies" as my SIL would say. By the way, my engaged friend and I had a laugh together about the Valentine's cards available for engagement. I only found ONE card for a fiance, and it had a watermelon on it and said something about "sweet" and "delicious" ... no. I'm pretty sure what I actually sent Zack was for a husband. 

Back to Valentine's Day. My friend Kelly and I went to the party, where we enjoyed good food and games. Then, literally while the hostess was acting out The Excorcist in a game of charades, the power went out. The wind was howling, and it snowed on our way home. 

At home, I scrolled through Instagram and felt more jealous of all the happy couples than I ever did when I was single. Maybe my memory is clouded? Engagement can cause delusions. However, I truly have no room to complain. I'm so thankful to have him, even if we never spend a romantic Valentine's Day together. 

thankful Thursday: rest

The Lord is so gracious to give us rest. Even during a season of being engaged and planning a move.  

Right after we got engaged, I got sick. It lasted and lasted, eight days with a fever, etc., so I rested. I ended up staying home sick before Christmas break, so I was out of work for even longer. Somehow it was still such a sweet time. 

Zack and I got to soak it up, being engaged over Christmas, not planning our wedding yet. We spent time with family. We spent time with each other. And we rested.

As much as I go, go, go now, even this week, it snowed and iced, and my work was closed. There's still work to be done, of course, but for now, I have to stay home. Last year, school was closed more than any other time I remember because of so much winter weather. I remember then thanking God for a slow down. When I started to get overwhelmed at work, there was nothing I could do; I had to stay home.

If I live by my to-do list, there's no way I will finish it all. I may as well rest when I have the chance. Each morning, sitting and reading God's word and praying, that time is essential. Once in a while, and it's always unexpected, I get a few free hours, and I can rest more. The time is rare, and I'm thankful for it! 

love is in the air

Last Friday afternoon, I got off work and headed to the airport to meet Zack. We were planning to fly to the beach to spend the weekend with our friends, but a couple of hours before I left work, Zack's sister texted to ask if we could fly south to take her some things she had left in his truck, on our way. 

Little did I know, Zack was painting this giant sign while I was at work, and his sister was in on the surprise. 

Zack had scoped out his friend's field from the air earlier in the week, and he spent Friday picking out paint and supplies and painting the sign. 

We took off and headed to look at my workplace, which is close to the airport. We had never done this before, but I didn't think anything of it. Then, Zack turned and started descending rather than climbing and heading toward his sister. I was a little confused until I saw the sign. 

I asked, "is that for me?" and Zack pulled out the ring and proposed. I said "yes," of course (!!!), and we circled the field taking pictures of the sign and watching his mom, dad, and friends wave to us. 

On the way back to the airport, he let me know that my mom was going to meet us at the airport along with our family and friends who had been waiting, guarding the sign, in the field. 

Since it's impossible to get down on one knee while flying our plane, Zack got down on one knee once we'd landed and taxied. 

Torri was "hiding" and taking photos of us. 

We took a few photos then spent the evening celebrating with our families. We are so happy to be engaged!