Lots to Do!

The day before the wedding, we started bright and early with last minute prep.  Patrick finished building the arch that Brenna wanted to be at the front of the church.

He got quite sweaty.  Perfect time to give his girl a few last minute hugs!

Then, it was off to the camper to move in Brenna.  AJ and Brenna have bought 10 acres to build on.  But, until the building process starts, they aren't able to park their camper on their property.  Bummer.  So, they will be parking at a cute and quiet campground in the country.  I'm so happy for them.  When we were loading the car with some of Brenna's things, I saw Micah standing off to the side.  I asked him what he was doing.  He said, "I don't want to help.  I don't want to help Brenna move away from us."  And then tears.  Wow, this is hard!

But, the tears couldn't last long when I would watch AJ and Brenna and how excited they were.  I love how happy they are!  And how they speak a million words with just their eyes.

Then, it was off to rehearsal.  Things went so great!  AJ's parents catered in Olive Garden for the rehearsal dinner.  It was sooo yummy!!!  After that, us girls decided to head to Cheesecake Factory for a little girl time.  We laughed and laughed and had such a great time together!!

The next morning we headed out for our nail appointments.  It was so fun having us all together.  

 Then, it was off to Mexican for lunch.  

I'm so thankful my sister Tay arrived in time to eat with us. She was "Assistant to the Mother of the Bride."  We had her running everywhere! We ate and talked and laughed.  Then, we headed to the church to get ready.  Brenna went from laughing a bunch, then to being quiet and comptemplative.  I think she was getting a little nervous. I asked how she was doing and she said she just wanted to see AJ and was just ready to be his wife.  It was so sweet.  

It was a fun day preparing for my girl's big day.  Honestly, there weren't any major hiccups and everything went smoothly.  As we prepared to give our girl away we hugged and had some tears and thanked the Lord for Brenna, for AJ, and for their future ahead.

Link to watch the wedding of AJ and Brenna!

 Some have asked how they could watch the wedding.  It will be tonight at 6:30.  Our church will have it livestreamed, so you can find it on our YOUTUBE page of Victory Springs Independent Baptist Church.  Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and emails.  We are so excited about this day!!  God is so good!

My prayer for you...

 

My dearest Brenna,

Ever since we found out we were expecting another bundle of joy, we began praying for you. We first, and foremost prayed for your salvation.  We wanted to know that we would be spending eternity with you!  

We prayed for your future spouse that He would love God and adore you.

 Then, we prayed for a healthy and safe pregnancy.  At 20 weeks you decided you wanted to come early.  That was a scary time.  20 weeks was when our Bethany was born and we knew it was too early.  We begged God to protect you.  And He did.  Contractions stopped and you stayed safe in my womb for 20 more weeks.  

We prayed for a safe delivery.  God again protected you as you were born with a knot in your cord.  During delivery you become stressed because of this, but God stepped in and kept you breathing, healthy and free from infection.  You are truly a miracle! 

We prayed for you to sleep through the night, to tolerate solid food and to learn to walk.  All along the way God kept answering.  

I remember when you started asking questions about heaven.  Then, you started to realize you weren't good enough on your own to get there.  You needed Jesus.  Then, another prayer was answered as you accepted Christ as your Savior, there on that green striped couch.

  As you grew into a beautiful, spunky, young lady, we prayed for you to learn to read, to learn to multiply, and to make good friends.  We prayed for you to have a fervent love for God and His Word.  And He just kept right on answering.  

We prayed for you in your High School years to make good grades, to adjust well to a new community, and to love your new role as a pastor's kid.  

As you matured we prayed for you (and us!) as you learned to drive, graduate from High School and make choices about college. 

 As I would highlight the dates in my prayer journal it was amazing to see God continually answer.  He's so faithful!  

We prayed from the very beginning about your future husband.  We prayed that he would love the Lord sincerely and with passion.  We prayed that he would make you laugh.   We prayed that he would adore you like no other.  God has again answered our prayers in giving you AJ.

Tomorrow you will become Mrs. Blankenship.  You will step out the door of our home and be on an adventure to make your own.  Even now, I have prayers for you in this new step.

I pray that you will never stop loving Jesus.  Keep Him first in everything that you do!  It's amazing that when you do this, all other priorities fall into place.  After the Lord, let AJ be at the very top of your list.  Know with all your being that you were created to complete him.  He needs you.  And you need him.  Look for the treasure and choose to overlook the weeds.  Choose the good.  Use good, sweet words and smile.  A lot.  Make life fun in all the big things, and in the little things, too.  You have the wonderful privilege of setting the tone of your home.  Make it Christ centered.  Make it peaceful.  Make it fun.  

Your Dad and I have had so much joy watching you grow in our home for the past 22 years.  We've had the greatest honor of praying for you.  Please know that that will never stop.  You'll always be our little girl that we love and cherish.  We are so very proud of you!

With all my love,

Momma

Fall Family Fun Night

We wanted to fit in one more family fun night before Brenna's big day.  She said one of her favorite fall memories is to decorate the house as a family.  So, what do you think we did??  That's right!  Get ready for Fall!

Micah lit every candle and melt that I had for Fall.  He had the house smelling so good!

Then, we started on our craft to make pumpkins.

Messy, but fun!

Right before I started the craft, I realized we didn't have any glue.  Patrick said we should make homemade, so I found a recipe of equal parts flour and water boiled for a few minutes on the stove.

The glue worked really well!!  Although my Silas was dying to see what it tasted like!

 Such a fun time getting ready for my favorite season!!

Bridal Luncheon

Some very sweet ladies from our church got together to give Brenna a "Bridal Luncheon."  It was such a sweet time!

They set a beautiful table with china and silver and served Brenna, her bridesmaids (that could be there), her Grammy and me.  It was so fancy!

Us girls laughed and talked and tried to be proper. ;o) It was such a beautiful time to be together as the countdown to the wedding has begun!

Although....after all this food we may need to go back to get alterations on my dress!!

 

God provides for a beautiful wedding

We officially have the beautiful wedding dress in our possession!  I posted a while ago about doing something crazy....buying a wedding dress on Amazon.  When Brenna got the box in the mail we were very doubtful this was going to work.  But, when she tried it on her eyes sparkled.  It was gorgeous!!  The only problem is that it needed a few alterations to have a perfect fit.  Alterations are expensive!!!  As I've mentioned before, we've given Brenna a budget and she is determined to make it work.  With a budget of $1350 (for the whole wedding, not just the dress), we weren't sure if we could afford alterations.  It's so neat how the Lord works!!  

I knew I wanted the dress to be everything she'd ever dreamed!  Part of that dream is a dress that fits her perfectly.  So, we started praying.  A friend of ours told us about someone they knew that did alterations.  I began praying, "Lord, please help her to charge less than $200"  When the sweet lady told us how much it would be for everything, it was $175.  Hallelujah!  That even included putting on a bustle!

So, after several fitting appointments, we picked up the dress.  It is so beautiful!  And fit for a stunning bride!

Brenna also found beautiful shoes.  Liberty was sweet to try them on and make sure they work for her Aunt Brenna.

 As I've said, it's amazing watching God provide.  Brenna had a pinterest board of all her dreams for her wedding.  God has provided each and every one.  For instance:

~Brenna wanted lots of white flowers and greenery.  My nephew's wife and a friend of mine gave us all the flowers and greenery from their recent weddings.  Guess what color?  White!

~Brenna wanted an arch built for the front.  Have you priced wood lately?  Yikes!  AJ had some leftover wood from a recent job that he was able to use for the arch.  Brenna stained it and it's gorgeous!

~Brenna found her dream dress on Amazon.  The price?  $149!

~A wonderful baker from our church is making the wedding cake. She is amazing at baking so it will be beautiful!

~Another sweet lady from church loves decorating.  We gave her the supplies we have and she is going to be working on the reception.  She is so excited and I know she will do a wonderful job.

~Ladies from church have offered to make the chicken salad and the pulled pork sandwiches.

~Joshua has a talent for design.  He designed the invitations.

~One of Brenna's friends took her engagement photos.

~Brenna's lifelong friend's Mom is a professional photographer.  Her gift to Brenna is to take the wedding photos.

It's just so amazing watching God provide, not just for needs, but giving my girl the desire of her heart.

3 more days until the wedding!

Missions Emphasis Sunday

We had a wonderful Missions Emphasis Sunday at VSIBC!!  I love the excitement in the air when we put up the flags and focus on missions!

This year we decided to do a big chili dinner.  We had 4 families make huge pots of chili.  We had cheese, crackers, chips, sour cream and jalepenos for topping.  Wow!  That chili was so good!!

Then, we had people sign up to bring desserts from around the world.  It was amazing!! There was every kind of dessert possible!!

We asked Bro Jerry and Mrs. Dee Nye to be with us for the day.  What an amazing preacher Bro Nye is!  He preached Biblical missions and Faith Promise Giving and it was so good!  I always love any chance I get to be with Mrs. Dee.  She is a truly lady and a Godly example.  We love the Nyes!!

And I love this photo Micah snapped of Freedom.  She was enjoying the desserts too!

It was another great Sunday at VSIBC!
 

Let's run to the beach!!

Most of the wedding planning is done!! We have just a few little things to accomplish.  But, for the most part this week, it's family time abundantly!  We decided a quick run to the beach was in order!

We sat on the blanket and read books.  We ate crackers and cheese.  We waded in the water and explored.  It was wonderful!!

It was a great little getaway for part of our day!  I'm loving each and every moment of our family time!!

 

A New Kitty for Callie

As you may know, my Callie loves cats.  She had a time with the last kitten we got her.  The Humane Society told us that all of the kittens they had during that time were sick.  So when Kiwi got sick, they didn't think she would make it.  She ended up having the same thing all the other humane society kitties had.  Callie was so sad.  They gave us a credit so we could get another one when quarantine for the kittens was over.  But, quarantine lasted a looooong time!  Finally, the new kittens and cats they had available were healthy!! Yay!  Micah and I had fun accompanying Callie to help her pick out a new furry friend. 

She decided to get this cutie pie kitty that is about 5 months old.  I'm glad she went with an older cat.  She named her Olive and her name matches her eyes perfectly!

So happy for my Callie!  Welcome to the family, Olive!