22 Month-iversary

We have versaries everywhere this week. Monthiversary.  Engagementversary. Any excuse for a celebration-versary. :)

Yesterday marked 22 months since we said I do. Man. How CRAZY is that!?!?! We are looking our second anniversary right in the face, and we are just so grateful.

Our 22 monthiversary didn't go as we planned. Lat month, you might remember, we spent this auspicious occasion at our Greentown house, where Ryan fixed plumbing with his friend Randy, and I went on a walk with my friend Amber. We ate pizza on the back deck while I got eaten by mosquitoes and I bought overpriced coffee at Subway to constitute our anniversary coffee.

So this month was at least a little bit less work oriented. :)

Every month we take a picture together {with our coffee cups of course...} just to chronicle our journey. Usually we take these pictures in the evening, but we had plans to work out that night, so I suggested we might want to take the picture in the morning before work.

SOMEone in our marriage has a tendency to blink in pictures, so I told him we were going to take ten pictures. In that, I hoped to get one good one.

I should have known.

Just look.

Well.

At least he didn't blink.

And I never noticed it the entire time.

The day was long, and the evening was hot, humid and rainy. There went our fire pit date I'd planned. So instead, I whipped up some mac and cheese and Ryan grilled hot dogs, and we ate in the comfort of the living room while we watched a rerun of Mad About You.

Ryan even brought home a treat; one of his patients brought cupcakes from a delicious cupcake place in Kokomo. These were banana split cupcakes. SO GOOD!

So it wasn't quite the day we planned, but any time spent together is still my favorite!

Two Years

Two years ago today {by day of the week}, this happened:

The surprise of my life.

The surprise of a lot of people's lives. I had some 'splainin' to do with about 100% of my friends. Many had just learned I was dating...and some hadn't even learned that yet. And the thing about a live on-air proposal is...word tends to get around before you have a chance to prep folks for it!

But you know what I loved about that proposal? {Besides, you know, the fact that I got the perfect-for-me ring and the chance to plan a wedding and end up with a husband?}

Even the method of proposal was part of the redemption.

It was the first time ever in my 34 year old life that a man I dated was willing to stand up and claim me in public. The first time that someone ever said I love this girl and I don't care who knows it or what they think of it. The first time anyone ever took a monumental risk for me.

To be publicly claimed and publicly chosen, for me, wasn't about being seen and heard. It was about being unreservedly picked.

It was something that I don't even think I fully understood was still an open wound in my heart until his words poured out and healed it.

I treasure that about our engagement. I treasure that his love and his anticipation for our future overrode his fear of what people would think about the time frame or the choice at all. I treasure that he was able to discern something about my pain that I hadn't even recognized and he set out to allow God to use him to redeem that.

In the two years that have passed since this day, I've talked to a lot of you - by email, in blog comments, in person. And I have loved hearing how our love story has encouraged you. As I sat to write this, I didn't want to just haphazardly throwback to a Thursday two years ago for fun. I wanted to try to encourage you who are waiting and praying like I did for so many years.

My prayer that I am offering up today over each of you is that when your day comes, it will be entirely redemptive.

Your day will look different from mine. Your love will probably not crawl through a radio station and surprise you with an on-air proposal. And that's okay. The details of yours will fit your story.

But God doesn't leave His hurting children unredeemed. If you look closely {probably later, since in the moment, you will probably be trying not to cry/freak out/pass out}, you'll see the unmistakable fingerprint of God healing a heart wound.

I can't wait for that for you!!

Help My Brain!

Ryan and I have been wringing our hands {figuratively speaking} as we wait...and wait...and wait some more for our Greentown home to close. We have been given a time frame in which it might close, and we are very excited about that! Praying fervently that everything goes through smoothly, more for the sake of our longsuffering buyers than anything else.

WHICH brings me to my question of the day.

Ryan and I have such a heart for this family. We've been praying for them and praying for the house to be a wonderful thing in their lives. We wanted to put together a little housewarming gift for them, and I've been scouring Pinterest for good ideas of things to offer, but I figured all of you are as good as Pinterest, so I'll ask you!

I'm particularly trying to think of things that you might need when you first move into a home and you need that one thing you didn't think of! Greentown {if you've never been there} is not really a metropolis, and while they do have a Family Dollar store, it doesn't stay open 24 hours, and it doesn't have everything you'd find in a big box store, so I'm trying to think of things they might discover they need late at night when the store is closed and they don't want to drive all the way into town for it.

I did find a really cute idea on Pinterest for a "TP Tower" for the bathroom, and I liked that. Nothing worse than moving into the house, guzzling down a fountain pop and then realizing you gotta go and there's no toilet paper!

I also thought of buying a case of water bottles and leaving them in the fridge, because moving is hard work and sometimes you just want cold water.

Another thought that popped into my mind was an assortment of light bulbs. You know - you're assembling your lamps and turning on lights at night for the first time and then one burns out, or you need four and you only have three in your stash...who can't use more light bulbs?

So this is the start of my brainstorming.

So tell me, my friends! If you were moving into a new home, what would you want to find there to save you time, trips to the store, headaches? Or if you've moved recently and you can remember something you did or did NOT find that really stuck with you, tell me!

I haven't moved since 2000, so it's been a while since I went through this!

Beautiful Offerings Tour

This past weekend, Big Daddy Weave, Chris August, Dara Maclean, and Group 1 Crew were in Fort Wayne for their Beautiful Offerings tour. I worked the concert to be able to spend time with a contest winner...who got to be the official WBCL photographer for the evening! It was a pretty cool thing for her to win, and she was FUN to hang out with for the night!

First time I've ever had an official all-access pass from the artists. {I had to give it back.} So of course...a photo.

Our guest got all kinds of really fun moments that we don't usually get to see, and I had the chance to tag along with her while she photographed. For example...

...the tour buses!

We actually got to peek inside, which was pretty cool! I could NOT handle those little bunks they sleep in. Three of them stacked on top of each other. I would be too claustrophobic! Ryan asked if the bus was smelly. LOL! Logical question with a bunch of guys on tour! Nope! Not smelly!

We also had a chance to stand in the back while all the artists and band members gathered for prayer and "church" prior to the concert. I have to say, I was REALLY impressed with their heart and passion to not only experience the presence of the Lord, but to help those in attendance to do the same. They were passionate about it and it was an incredible conversation to witness. Thankful for that moment.

We went to the Q&A session before the concert as well...took some pictures while guests had a chance to ask questions of the artists.

 This was my favorite sight though, from my tour of the sanctuary during the Q&A.

He seriously deserves an award for all his hard work that night. He gave up an entire Saturday {after getting up early and going to work, himself} and helped haul in stuff from the van, helped set up the table, ran out and got dinner for a bunch of us so we didn't have to wait until 11 p.m. to eat, helped me take pictures, and fended for himself for much of the night while I was busy running around with our contest winner. I appreciate him so much!!

Our table was busy throughout the night!!

Ron was the emcee and he asked me to go with him, so we went backstage to wait. I'm not sure what we are all so focused on, but Ryan caught this and it just cracks me up!

 Onstage...where I forgot 50% of what I was supposed to say. This is why I need NOTES.

And then it was time for the concert! A few photos from throughout...

The concert was a long one - but so worship-filled! We didn't get home until about midnight, but it was a good day and a fun experience!!

92 County Tour: Wells County

This past Thursday, as you know, Ryan came to work with me and was a guest on BLT. We drove up together to save gas, but I hated for him to just sit in my office the rest of the day after the show was over, so I took the afternoon off work, and we squeezed in a county tour! I wanted to choose a county that we could fit into just part of a day and also one that was nearby so we didn't have to spend part-of-the-part-of-the-day driving there.

Enter Wells County. It was named for Captain William A. Wells, who was captured {as a boy} by Native Americans and adopted by them. He was killed by the Potawatomi in the War of 1812. There aren't a ton of cities in this county, but we still had a GREAT day visiting.

We went a bit out of our way to work that morning to swing through the tiny {and darling} town of Ossian to visit Heyerly's bakery, which opened back in 1931. It isn't a huge place...somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 people. And I'm pretty sure Heyerly's had a donut for each of them inside. I have seriously never seen this many donuts in one store: especially a little hometown place!

We bought some for the office and continued on our merry way. {Note to self: if ever moving to Ossian, move in next door to THIS place!}

{Enter the break in the date for us to actually go to work. After eating lunch in Fort Wayne, we headed back to Wells County for part 2 of the date, which was to find a coffee shop.}

I almost thought this would be the first county to break the coffee shop part of the adventure. I'd been told there was a coffee shop inside the public library, which, for the record, sounded like a BRILLIANT plan. But when I called to check on it, they said it had closed. But they mentioned a little shop downtown in Bluffton, so I hunted until I found Grounds and Grains!

 It was in a storefront in downtown Bluffton, right by the courthouse. Cute little shop with some fun things unique to it:

They had maps of the US and world so you could put a pin where you were from. LOVED IT. Also could not find the pins, so our visit is not reflected. Sadness. But it was pretty cool to see pins from all over!!

 A menu inside a window? Yes, please! So Pinteresty!!!

 Ryan and his coffee, which I tasted, and I'm not gonna lie: it was good. It was called the Nutty Zebra.

 Mine was a cinnamon caramel roll. You can't go wrong with that. And it was nonfat, just to make me feel better. :)

 They had an area with items made by local artists. See the row of blue books? That is a devo book written by Zach Bertsch and his brothers. Zach died of colon cancer not too many months ago, and prior to that, he was a guest on Mid-Morning. One of the most memorable guests/stories we've had. I was so glad to see they are still sharing his book!

After we loaded up on coffee, we headed out to Ouabache State Park for the rest of the afternoon. {Per the internet, it's pronounced "Wabash," though you will also hear a lot of people call it "Wa-bach-ee."}

It was THE perfect day to visit a park. Perfect temp, sunny, slight breeze...let's go hiking! {After surviving the bathroom I will NEVER use again.}

Our first stop was to see the bison. There's a 20-acre enclosure in the park that serves as a bison exhibit. Bison used to roam free in Indiana - especially in southern Indiana, where they congregated around the salt licks. The bison were pretty much gone from the state in the 1800's, but they are on our state seal, so it's kind of a cool part of Indiana history. The enclosure had less than a dozen bison in it, but MAN are they ever huge. Glad I got to experience them from the other side of a fence and not roaming free!

After visiting the bison {one of which Ryan named Brutus}, we headed out on a hike - a little over 3 miles. GORGEOUS.

 Leaves were JUST starting to turn. So lovely.

 We only saw one other person out on the trails. So lovely to have the place to ourselves and get to walk and talk!

 Our hike ended around this big lake, which was beautiful!!

 Photo opp!!!!

 Perfect way to end a hike.

Before we left, we stopped by the fire tower, which was open to the public for climbing. We both climbed the one in Brown County the day after we got engaged, and even though I am PETRIFIED of heights - specifically open heights - I did it! So I gathered my courage and started up this one as well.

It was WAY up there. 

 Scared out of my mind and I've barely left the ground.

 Yep! That's where I got stuck! The top of the third flight. Literally froze and could not move anymore. I wanted Ryan to enjoy the tower, though, so I stayed fixed in this position while he climbed to the top and then back to me.

 The view at the top.

 And the spectacular view FROM the top.

 I was disappointed I didn't get to enjoy that. And then a picture like THIS reminds me why.

 Sad girl back on solid ground.

 One more look at that massive thing.

And that was Wells County, my friends! A very fun day - and could not have asked for better weather!!