Wedding Month

It has been such a whirlwind these past two months -- hard to believe so much time has passed so quickly!! It has been so packed with awesome fellowship, and we have felt beyond blessed to have such amazing family and incredible friends to show us support and love and encouragement during this joyful time.

April was very busy as I was finishing my move over into the new place, and I kept myself occupied with decorating, organizing, cleaning, and preparing to move furniture from Goeffrey's apartment. I was also finishing up my Spring semester with Clemson, which proved to be the most challenging yet.  It was very challenging and made me really contemplate why I was putting myself through such stress, and gave me a renewed motivation to keep pushing through for another 4 semesters. However, it was very rewarding to have my efforts pay off and walk away with a 4.0 for the courses! As I wrapped up my finals, I also packed up and headed down to Hilton Head Island with the most wonderful group of girls to celebrate my Bachelorette weekend! My beautiful bridesmaids and roommate in Columbia came down for time to relax, eat, drink, and catch up as we are spread out from Baltimore and NYC to Hilton Head.  I can't express how special they made that time together.  I am truly thankful for how the Lord has blessed each of those relationships, and how the distance between us doesn't hinder their support or shared excitement for Geoffrey and me.

May was a month of "showers" ...figuratively and literally.  Our first party was given by Blake and Jess in Barnwell, and they had to move their efforts inside, as the rain hindered the plans they'd made for the front lawn. We were still fortunate enough to enjoy dinner on the front porch as the rain gave us a break to spend time together.  We felt so encouraged to spend time with our Chick-fil-A family, and receive such support from them.  A few weekends later, the rain continued for our travel weekend from one side of the state to the other.  We spent Friday night in Greenville and celebrated Saturday with our family and friends in the Upstate! It was such a fun time, and hard to believe that a good majority of it was spent introducing Geoffrey to so many people who have played such big roles in my life growing up.  It was very special to have that time together, and to have such generous gifts given to help continue to build our home together.  It has been quite an adventure organizing and arranging the house!  Sunday we traveled to Sumter in monsoon-like rain for a shower that some of Geoff's teachers and "second mamas" threw for us that afternoon.  It was such an honor to have them want to put on something for me before we'd even met -- really a joyful time to celebrate and get to know people.

Today is the first day of our wedding month and marks two weeks from the wedding...it's hard to believe that we are finally this close!  We couldn't be more excited to see all of the details come together and the work pay off -- see you in 14 days!!

Making Progress

The past few weeks have been full of lots of excitement and fun! Last Friday, I was able to take a day off of work to pick up the keys for our new apartment!!  I spent the whole morning cleaning and brainstorming the layouts and decorations for our new space. Geoffrey was able to take the afternoon off, and we celebrated by grabbing a late lunch at a local spot right up the street, and made lists of improvements and ideas that we had for the place.  

Saturday was Geoff's birthday, and we started the day by joining his department at work to serve the homeless community downtown.  It was such a great opportunity to serve with his co-workers, get to meet and get to know the staff, and see what an impact the corporation has on the city.  We set up several tables of food including home-made chili and baked goods, with a big grill for hot dogs and other snacks for them to take with them.  We were able to serve over 150 people for lunch, and hopefully offer encouragement and kind words in their time of hardship. 

We left that afternoon to head towards Lexington where we went to meet our parents to celebrate our new home and Geoffrey! My parents were able to bring an old sofa and my futon down so that we at least have some seating space in the living area while we get everything set up and decide what furniture we will want in the future. We all went to dinner at one of our favorites in Lexington, Flight Deck, and the in-laws had good time to get to know each other.  After dinner we had Lynn's wonderful "earthquake cake" (delicious layers of chocolate, cream cheese, coconut and pecans...) and ice cream and had Geoffrey open gifts.  It was such a great time to laugh and enjoy each others' company, and Geoffrey and I are so thankful and feel so blessed that our families get along so well.

Sunday afternoon we hit up all the usual spots for pre- move-in needs: Target, Bed, Bath, and Beyond,  and Wal-mart for a couple of things we wanted to accomplish.  It was a bit overwhelming at first to start from scratch, but we were happy to find that our tastes are similar and we were able to make pretty quick decisions on what we wanted.  We found a futon cover and slipcover for the couch, and a double curtain rod to add a little color and let light through the french doors in the dining area. We were able to get all of these hung and put together by this weekend, so the place is really starting to feel a little more homey. Although I'll live there for a few months alone, it really is starting to feel like our space as we are investing in it together and spending time on it.

Friday night I drove to Greenville to spend the night with my family and prep for a very busy Saturday! Mom and Mary Grace and I all went to the reception venue to talk details and confirm some plans that we had made on our first visit. I'm SO EXCITED to see it all coming together!! We were able to see them setting up for an event that night, so it really gave me a good idea of how great it will look on our wedding day! Following TWIGS, we went to taste a lot of delicious cake and decided on what I wanted.  It wasn't too hard to figure out -- the filling and icing I chose were gone first, as opposed to the others that were almost untouched!

After an eventful morning, I was so looking forward to seeing my old Clemson roomies and celebrate the future baby Zadie!! Such sweet time reminiscing and catching up on each others' lives and congratulating Maria and Sean on their daughter-to-be. So thankful to have that time with them and to be a part of something so special. 

 

-- Pilot --

Welcome to our Blog!

Geoffrey and I decided that this would be a fun way for us to keep everyone updated on things going on in our life! We know that with both of us working, in school, and building our home together we will be very busy! We want something to make us slow down and reflect on what the Lord is doing in our life. We want to be intentional about growing and sharing that with our family and friends. We hope that you all will keep us updated as well, and will enjoy reading about our journey into married life!

We are currently busying ourselves with all of the pre-wedding details! We knew it would be a lot to squeeze into a six-month engagement, but everything is moving along so far, thanks to my wonderful Mother-of-the-Bride :) Hard to believe we are almost halfway through our engagement period, but this time has been such a blessing. We have had such a great opportunity to receive counsel from a couple at our church and tons of encouragement and excitement from our friends and family. This weekend we are going up to Greenville to indulge in cake-tasting and settle on some ceremony details.

The Lord has provided so much and answered every anxiety and concern that we have had over the past few months. After being ready to give up looking, I happened across an available duplex in Lexington.  We had been discussing where we wanted to live seeing as I work on one side of town and he the other. We did want to be closer to Lexington since that is our church community, but felt unsure.  This little townhome was definitely the Lord's answer! A 2 bed, 1.5 bath is plenty of space to build our first home together! That being said, our concern was the 45-60 minute commute Geoffrey would have to make if he were to work on the other side of town and fight traffic. Geoffrey heard about a job opening, interviewed, and was hired on with Southeastern Freightlines only a week after we found it! He started his training this week, and the company and position seems like an incredible opportunity. Great team, great benefits, great opportunity for growth.  It's a blessing to look onto his brief time at UPS and see how God provided the training and preparation to move into this role.

While that hardly sums up how busy we are, we will keep  you updated as things continue! We hope all of you are well, and we look forward to celebrating this time with you!