Hey everyone! Just a little update so you all don't think I've fallen off the planet. My sis is a much better xangatist than me...but I guess y'all figured that out by now!

Wedding planning is very fun! The best part is seeing God do it for us! I've been so absolutely blown away and amazed at how the Lord takes the things that I needlessly worry about and works them all out in ways that I never could on my own. Worrying and fretting really is futile!

Today Chris is driving home from Little Rock in an incredible answer-to-prayer wedding gift!!!! We've been given a Toyota 4Runner! It's a nicer vehicle than Chris or I ever thought we would have. We praise and thank the Lord for His kindness to us!

"Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rathter seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

Luke 12:27-32

Love to you all!!!

(I'll post a pic of our wheels - God's wheels! - in a few days, when it's here)

Hi my friends!!! I've been SO overwhelmed by your comments! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hate that I'm writing to you on xanga, and wish that I could sit somewhere with each of you and tell you every detail of what the Lord has been doing in my life - one on one!

Ok, so I promised the engagement story many moons ago...well, here it is! Maybe I should tell you how I met Chris first...ok, that sounds like a plan.

I met Chris just barely over two years ago at the first ATI conference in Big Sandy! There I was, a new Family Consultant and racking my brains to finish the ATI web site redesign project in between breaks. Being shy about asking for favors, it meant the world to me when a really gentle, friendly guy in an ALERT uniform went out of his way to make sure all of my computer needs were met.   I called and told mom about him that very week.

Fast forward a year (in which I saw Chris again twice, had my dream trip to China, loved being a Family Consultant, went to Mexico, got my degree, and more!)

I saw Chris again at the ATI Conference in Big Sandy last year, and, a couple of weeks after got an email from him out of the blue! Imagine my surprise!  I didn't know what to do, and so with encouragement from my dear fam and a friend, we emailed back and forth for about 2 months.

(Did I mention that Chris has been an officer at ALERT for 8 years. He's in charge of computers and telephones, and is the chief of the Big Sandy volunteer fire dept.  Yes, Brookies, he's a fireman!!! )

Ok, back to my story...after lots of praying and praying and wondering and friendly emailing with nothing to make me suspicious, except for the fact that we were emailing, my dad got THE call.   And that began, not a courtship, but a time of getting to know each other and learning to love each other as brother and sister in Christ. Not an "official" courtship because, well, we didn't know each other that well.

(Insert into this year more praying, seeking God, revelations of God, and emotional wonderings and questions than you can ever imagine! Jesus showed me whole new aspects of himself, better than I could've hoped to know! And it will only get better!)

Fast forward to May 2006. ATI conference again! During that week, I was feeling that it was time to move forward. I didn't know it, but Chris was too. That lasted about 2 weeks until Mother's Day when dad and I talked and then dad gave Chris his blessing.

A week and a half later.....NOW for the engagement story.....

You've read about Kronk the Gator, right? Well, Chris came to visit, and I wanted him to see Kronk. So we went to the pond, but no Kronk. Then a little later, we went again because Chris wanted to. Well, there we were sitting by the pond, and Chris started talking about how he was praying about when and where to get engaged, and I'm think he'll say in a month or so or whatever. Then, he asked me to marry him! AHHHH! I was speechless, literally!  (I asked him if my dad knew - of all the dumb questions.) So in the midst of my speechlessness, we hear Sarah about 20 feet away say, "Chris, there's a snake!!!" She didn't know what was happening and at the prompting of my dad was sneaking out to scare the living daylights out of us when she almost stepped on a snake, foiling dad's plot. So I'm still speechless, and Chris says, "...guess I should kill the snake..." So he does. In the meantime, mom and dad come out, and I tell mom what's going on (I'm in shock at the time, and think I should've been treated.) Ok, so after the snake incident, we find out that it was not poisonous and was murdered in innocence...and then dad asks if we want to go look for the gator in the back pond, so we walk back there (me - insides all cattywonkers). After that, dad walks inside, and Chris and I lag behind, and after dad went inside, I told Chris "Yes!"  

Come to find out my parents and my sis did know that Chris was proposing that weekend, though they didn't know it was that night. And dad had gone to pick up the ring for Chris that very morning!  

God is so good. In the midst of all my worrying and fretting and sin, He continues to bless and comfort, to lead and guide. I wish I knew how to glorify Him more!

Love to you all!!!!