rooms for our honeymoon!!

these are rooms at one of the hotels we plan on staying at in our road trip honey moon. they are pretty strange, but that's what really appeals to us any ways!! it's going to be sweet :D



option number 1 the cave man room !! the whole room is made of stone, and the showers and sinks are too!!


a view of the bathroom





option number two the old world room same stone type set up, but a classier version lol

forgiveness

God has been doing a work in my heart lately, even though i have felt distant from Him. my own doing of course.
little bits and pieces have been coming together to bring me to a foundational truth that i have let slip from my thoughts.

Forgiveness.
i have been angry and have had malice in my voice all too often towards people. i have been holding grudges and letting resentment and bitterness take over my thoughts. all of this is a result of forgetting the power of forgiveness. and i gave in all to easily because it is always easy to slip back in to old habits. they felt comfortable at first so they go unnoticed, but i quickly noticed the symptoms, the restrictions that come with the old ways. it's like when you are wearing sneakers all day long and you finally realize at some point during the day that you feet are hot and uncomfortable. all you want to do is stop right where you are and take them off, let your feet breath but you cant. in fact, you still choose to wear the shoes for another 3 hrs, and they are seemingly the longest 3 hours of your life. you dream about taking them off and how relived you will feel but you are punishing your self unnecessarily. when you get home instead of fixing the problem entirely you just take the shoes off, or only take care of the outer issues that are obvious to others, rather than going all the way and taking off the socks too; exposing your feet which would be not settling for the temporary smoothing of the surface dysfunction but going for the root.
7 months after england and i have already began to forget what God has shown me about His love for me and the world and His ultimate sacrifice. i started picking up on it a few weeks ago, and today in church pastor phil really laid it all out there for me. what was the baggage that i was carrying around that was causing me to not be able to forgive others? what did i still need to deal with?
because of this digression i have lost my vision of love for people and His vision of love for people. i want those eyes back the ones who see everyone through an umbrella of Christ's blood. to see people as His children and beloveds... just as i am.


God..Lord...Father
please help me to see as you do with love and compassion and grace;
help me to remember to forgive as i have been forgiven;
give me the knowledge to act as you would desire me to
i pray Lord that i would recommit my life to this mission of showing your love and grace to those who don't deserve it just as i am shown your love grace.
i love you Lord and i thank you for your grace and forgiveness.
in your awesome and holy name
Amen

so i'm taking off

no, i'm not going any where even though i thought bible college was in my future. not any more... nuff said, moving on.
i'm excited about how God will be using me here and i am open to the possibilities. College group is getting bigger and Over flow is going to be starting up very soon with tons to do there i will be busy.
although i'm not leaving Santee, i am leaving behind being so dependent on my parents and running straight into this crazy thing called being an adult. it's fun, scary freeing, intimidating, and long over due in my mind. i'm quitting my job at Color Me Mine and i'm looking for a full time grown up job.and i'm done with school for now; it will be nice to live a life that doesn't revolve around the semester system.
i'm growing up, and closer to God and in the process hopefully encouraging and influencing those around me.

YAY LIFE

so i was reading over all the blogs i posted, all the way back to the stuff from when i started the blog, and i just see how god has changed me and where i am in my life now. i'm in the same situation as i was last year filling out yet another application to bible college and yet my reaction to this is very different. i am still nervous and yet it is not consuming me. i still and anxious about my new room mates ( supposing i get in) yet i know that we will be the people god has appointed to care for each other for the next 4 months. the issuse of health insurance has come up too but i know htis will all work out.


the main difference is that i know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is in control.
God is soo good, life is soo good.
yay!

ps i'm not on drugs i swear :D

Please Don't Leave Before I Do

Aaron and I were driving in the car and he says" Donna, I don't want you to die before me"
I thought about that and I don't want to die after him, I can't imagine how hard life will be after we have lived together so long. I think about Heather's grandma who is living on her own getting by day by day, or Tiffany's G-ma who needs the support of Tif to get through one moment.
The heart break will be something I doubt I could ever fully express in words, and even now thinking about it makes the breath get caught in my chest.
I know it is very selfish of me to think this way. If me leaving second spared Aaron that pain then i would rather him go to see Jesus and wait till we can both be before the Lord. I pray that it will be a very long time before any of us have to think about this.

Thoughts For Today

I was looking at pictures of us from England and the longer we were there the whiter we got... England sucks the color or colour right out of you.
That being said, I miss being there and the weather and the people and all sorts of different challenges. But I love that God is using me here and I am trying to keep my self open to that.

Pear said to me the other day that in the end God will do great things in your life, but His end goal is to have a great relationship with you.

So instead of trying to learn all there is to being a pastors wife way before my time (not really possible till i am one) or trying to prepare myself for my life in ways that I am not even sure if God will take me. I need to stop grasping at straws and simply learn to love God more and learn how much He loves me.
This time not a learning of the mind, but rather of the heart. Recognizing all the simple things that delight me are from Him like the way the sky looks as the sun goes down, or catching that moment when a leaf falls. Or seeing a cup on top of some one's car stay there the whole journey.

i had a dream last night and some random person came up to me and said " the verse you are looking for, the one that you need, is Hebrews 3:13" i've never read this verse in my life and i just remembered the dream a moment ago, so i looked it up it says



"But encourage one another day after day, so long as it is still called "Today", so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin"

The sin that is being reference here is the sin of unbelief in God. The passage also hits on the need for fellowship because in order to exhort one another or to be exhorted, you must be in relationships with other people. So if you are not in fellowship with other people, how easy then is it to stop believing? Not stop believing that God exists, but stop believing that His will for your life has any influence and weight in your ways.


Not sure yet why this was given/shown to me by God, but if you have any ideas throw them out there.

Engagement story

It all started on a cold rainy night in England, where I asked Donna Blaisdell to be my girlfriend. From that point on the Lord began to knit our hearts more and more together. (We'll one day tell the entire story, but as for now we are just going to tell the engagement portion of this grand tale.) About a month and a half later I told her that it was my intention to eventually marry her.
Flashing forward to the end of that semester, I gave her my ring as a "statement of intention" and it was at that point that we both knew that we were going to one day marry each other, and that is where this story picks up. Starting with the amazing Aaron's portion, followed by the mega beauty/super foxy Donna's.

Aaron's Portion

On December 15th, my love left England, taking with her both my ring and my heart. Thoughts were flowing through my mind, about how excited I was, but at that point I was also nervous. My parents had spent the evening talking with her, and I was afraid that they would for whatever reason not like her. But on the train to the airport, we talked about how she was the one I was planning to marry, and they surprisingly responded with joy. They said that they liked her, and that they could see how much I loved her and so they said that they supported me in this.
I was in Germany through Christmas, and I tried to figure out how and when to find the time to talk to her (there's about a 9 hour difference between California and Germany) but somehow we were able to talk every day, and soon after I moved in with my sister and her husband in Georgia.
It was there that I was faced with the fear that because we could only communicate via skype, we would slowly grow apart. But instead the exact opposite happened. We fell more in love with each other, and I wanted more and more to marry her. So around Valentine's day, I began to search for the perfect ring. The one that I could afford and at the same time would be beautiful, and I found it at Friedman's Jeweler's. So after much prayer, and searching, I bought the ring. But I was now faced with the task of figuring out how I was going to propose to her, and also what it is I would say when it came to asking her Father for her hand.
Now Donna knew that I was planning to propose, but I wanted the when and where to be a surprise, so I told her that I wanted to wait to propose until she came to visit in June, and I also got her mom to help me in this facade. Meanwhile she helped me figure out places to propose.
Finally after being apart for 3 months I finally arrived in Santee, to see my beautiful babe. And with that came the stress that came in the form of her dad. I knew that he knew that I wanted to ask him, but at the same time, I was unsure how it was that he was going to respond, so in my mind I was trying to answer all the questions that he may even possibly ask me, because Donna's hand/his blessing was something that was important to me.
So that Sunday I took him out for coffee, and on the way there we talked small talk, but I was FREAKING OUT on the inside. So we went to starbucks, and he asked me why I had taken him out. So I told him that I was in love with Donna, and that I wanted her hand in marriage. His response surprised me, because instead of an interrogation he just said "Yes. I have spent the last 20 years trying to figure out what I was going to say to the man who asked me this, but I don't feel that I need to tell you this stuff. It's obvious that you love my daughter, and you make her happy, and so I give you my blessing." It was at that point that it felt like a weight was lifted off me, I was at this point free to propose to Donna and I knew when and where I was going to do it.
On Wednesday March 19th 2008, I took Donna out for a "dress date" we dressed up nice and I took her out to Olive Garden. After that we went to Balboa park to walk around. It was Donna's favorite park, filled with nice gardens and various other paths and stuff. When we got there Donna began to explain to me all the amazing things about the area, and why it is that she loved the place, and what everything is. But, to be honest, at this time I didn't really pay attention to anything that she was saying. All I was thinking was, where can I propose to Donna? Where would it be nice? Finally we went to the Organ Pavillion, and it was there that we went on the stage and I decided that that would be the place. So as Donna was about to walk away, I grabbed her hand and said "Wait a second." I then took her other hand and said "Ever since that day in Rome... I mean in the laundry room where we were talking about Rome, I knew that I wanted you to be my bride, and ever since that day I have been trying to think of what I would say when this moment came. But to be honest at this point my mind is going blank. I love you Donna, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." I then got on one knee and then said "So I guess what I am trying to say is, Donna Mae Blaisdell will you marry me?" Donna at this point was smiling from ear to ear and she said "Yes!" So I put the ring on her finger, and we kissed for the first time as fiances. We then walked hand and hand together around in the area, smiling and talking about how we are now officially engaged. Donna called her mom and told her, and then after Donna went to the bathroom, we went back to her house and her mom took pictures.

The Real Story from Donna
so starting from when i left england...
i was a mess that day what with dorm cleaning and meeting his family for the first time and the graduation there was a lot going on in my brain. but the thought that my mind was obsessing over was that "i am leaving aaron tonight and trusting that this is what god wants for us and that He will watch over this relationship while we are apart." you always hear about bible college romances and how they last for a season, then are over a few weeks after the semester ends. i didn't want that i loved him and i knew very early on that he was the man i wanted to marry. so before i left while we stood outside in the freezing cold he gave me his ring and told be that it stood for 3 things our purity in this relationship, a reminder of his love for me, and a "statement of intention". early the next morning we said goodbye and amidst tears and hugs and kisses. when we were waiting for the train i told my friend lauren about the ring and she told me she knew it was from god this relationship, because we fit together like puzzle pieces. when i got home i missed him so much and all i wanted to do was talk to him on skype but i had work and school to get back to so we struggled to find time to talk to each other. when he moved to georgia it was easier and we would talk for hours. learning everything about one another. we talked about marriage and what we wanted for our future and i knew when he was looking for rings. i thought i knew he was going to propose when he came out in the spring but between him and my mom they had me convinced that he would wait till that june. so when he came out i knew he was asking my dad for my hand in marriage and that he was incredibly nervous about it. we prayed about it before he went to talk to him and i knew it would go well. when we were at my college group that night he told me and my friends how it went and it was all good news! and as far as i knew that was the only progress in that area that would be going on while he was here. we wanted to go in a fancy date where we dressed up and went out to eat some where nice so we did that wednesday and it was fun. i thought at the beginning of the night that he might propose that evening so when i realized my purity ring was not on my hand i asked him if when we go back i should could pu tit on. he said sure and so in my mind if i would be wearing my ring, then that meant he didn't plan on putting another one on there and therefore no proposal that night. not that i was upset, because i just figured it would happen this summer. so we went home and i grabbed my jacket and ring before heading off to Balboa park my favorite place in all of san diego. it's filled with great museums and gardens and the buildings are so cool. so we were walking around and i was talking the whole time telling aaron about different times i had been to the park, and different places that had stories attached to them for me. when we got to the organ pavilion i was telling him how people get married here all the time and how beautiful it was so we walked down the aisle towards the stage and we got up there and i was still taking about who knows what now when he stopped me as i was about to go off to the next place. that's when i knew. i looked at his face and i saw what he was thinking before he said a word and i knew this was the moment i had been waiting for since i left england. he started talking and all i could think was " he's asking me to marry him. I'm gong to be his fiance after this moment." i only caught the first part of what he said about how when we were in the laundry room talking about rome and how we weren't going to go then he knew i was the one god had for him and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. then he got down on one knee and asked me. it was perfect perfect man perfect time perfect place all before God. we prayed afterwards that God would be the center of our relations ship, and dedicated it once again to Him. then we walked into the light so i could see the ring better; it was gorgeous. after that we walked around some more and i pointed out more buildings, and we talked a lot, not sure if aaron remembers any of what i told him about the park so we will have to go there again sometime but i'm ok with that.

this is our story so far it's still being written by God and it will be the greatest adventure we could ever take part in. we can only imagine how great it will be to serve the Lord together and to carry out his work as a team. he made us for each other and we will complement one another in ways we never could have imagined. it's better to let God be our story teller and to enjoy the moment he has us in now. it is always changing and always something new but still feels like a favorite pair of jeans, comfortable and leaving you feeling confidant in each step you take.