Post-Wedding Blues

Hi! Wow, it is so hard coming back to earth after such a busy and wonderful weekend where you're just kinda floating around and are there but kinda not-partly because you're exhausted and partly because you are overwhelmed! The crash is even harder when you don't get a chance to say good-bye to everyone and you have to leave and you find out later that the rest of the wedding party went and hung out all evening and you missed out. =(  And I know a lot of people are anxious to hear all the details of the day, but that would make for a really, really long post, so I will be making some phone calls instead ;) BUT I did get hold of some better and different pictures. =)  ( Compliments of Kathy via sneaking them onto my laptop from FB =D )

Kathy and Viktor

I like whatever setting Kathy had her phone on...this is a really cool tone.

All the girls! :) Kathy, Marissa, Nichole, and me.

Eugene

Alah

Love the tone setting on this!

Lol, Kathy made Roma and Viktor pose with our flowers...Nichole wasn't there  at the time, so Dmitry didn't have  flowers to pose with. These guys are incredibly sweet and patient and fun!

The Maid of Honor

Bridesmaid number one ;)

Right to left: Nichole & Dmitry, Kathy & Viktor, Me & Roma

They did a kissing jar and wouldn't kiss unless people put money in. We did that instead of the tinkling of the glasses, in hopes that they would actually get to eat and talk and not have to kiss all the time like with the easy-peasy tinkling of the glasses, but people were mighty generous and they ended up kissing a lot! Lol, they even made the photographer pay to take a pic of them kissing! =D

It was SUCH a perfect day!

Roma

The guys getting us drinks =)

The End!

Pro pictures coming in a few weeks, which I am SUPER excited about! 

Pics

Marissa trying on her dress.

The rehearsal: Marissa and Vladimir. It looks like they are kissing, but they aren't ;)

The ring bearer and flower girl-Alah and Eugene, Vladimir's niece and nephew.

Kathy and Viktor

Nichole and Dmitry

Gettin' ready!

Our flowers!

The photographer and videographer starting the day at the hotel room with pics of us doing the final touches.

Starting the photoshoot and waiting for the moment when they first see one another.

Just after they see one another the first time.

Nichole, Kathy, and I

Roma and I ;)

Sorry about the quality, my camera wasn't working right.

Me and my Daddy :)

More coming as soon as I can get them-better ones too! :)

Duh Da Da Dum!

 So it's the night ( actually, by now it is the day of the rehearsal! ) before my friend Marissa's wedding rehearsal and we have gotten a lot done the last two days I have been up here in Portland and there is still a lot of that last-minute stuff yet to accomplish. We have an amazing crew of people that is being so wonderful in pulling this wedding together. Right now I am at her Grandma Eunice's house ( her Dad's mom ) with Missy and her other bridesmaid Katy.
 We had a busy day with getting lost in Portland and getting dresses and jackets fitted and last-minute alteration decisions made and trips to malls and all that good stuff. While Missy was at work ( The crazy girl! Worked all week...bleh. Tried to talk her out of at least today, but she wouldn't listen. ) Kathy and I did hair masks to make our natural highlights pop out a bit more and I did a mud mask. When Missy got home from work this evening, we did her hair and she and Kathy did mud masks too. Holy cow! They made SUCH a fuss about the smell. It was hilarious.
 Grandma took us out to a lovely homestyle-cookin' restaurant for dinner, just her and Kathy and I. It was so fun! Kathy and I ordered hot chocolate...WHOA!!! I have never seen hot chocolate like this before. They served it in a gigantic mug with an enormous pile of whipped cream on top. Love. At. First. Sight. =D
 Yeah, so I can guess some people are thinking " I WANT TO SEE PICTURES!! " ...well, I will indulge you. =) I don't normally post yucky pics of me on anything, but this was for a worthy cause and and I wasn't the only one running around looking strange, ( =D ) so I am justifying my outrageous, gross pictures of me with that. Hahahaha. Without further ado:

Me and Kathy :) She is amazing :) I love this girl! She is true blue ( or red, since she's Canadian ) and we have sucha blast together.

 Me all slopped up in the herbal highlight-enhancing sludge, hahaha!

 And yes, this shirt says Victoria, Canada...I packed it totally not thinking about Kats being Canadian =D

 The awful plastic bag hat! Had to wear this for an HOUR! And imagine a mud mask too...ooo, let's NOT!

 Kats getting her treatment. Her hair did AMAZING! Mine was a rat's nest all said and done, but her's was not...lucky ducky =)

 Out to eat...She is just as much in love with this drink as I am...and it really is about as big as it looks! =D

 Perrrfeeeection!

 All gone!

 Grandma Eunice and Kathy

 The Bride!

 Ain't she just so purdy? I love you Missy!

 Well, I should go...I have to finish getting some stuff done before I head to bed. I'm the last one up and I will be the first one up too. Six. A. M. - so I get 4 hrs sleep if I'm lucky. Ugh. SO worth it though. I'm getting up to take my shower first, but also to have some time alone with the Lord and do some serious praying for the day and the wedding and the days after the wedding.
 We all need Your strength Lord, each in our own way. Lift us up when we can't carry on another step, too weary to say a word or think a thought. Give us peace in our hearts and the love and joy that only Your Holy Spirit can bring. We thank You, Lord. We are so richly blessed- beyond measure. Bring home our wayward loved ones and grant us rest this night. May all who find rest and comfort in You and all those who especially need a touch from You wake recharged and refreshed from whatever amount of sleep they've had and ready to take on another day. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
 Bon Voyages, mi amores. I shall be back next week! Pray for us! We really need it-more than you could ever imagine.

Songs and Trials

 There is this song by the Hemphills called " He's Still Workin' On Me " ( To make me what I ought to be ) and goodness, but isn't that the truth. Last time I posted, I had just come through an uplifting and victorious week. Well, now my faith is being tested! That is just how it works. =) Anytime you grow in the Lord, He will bring something along to test you and see what you're made of. To see if it's just talk or if something really happened. Then as a result, you grow again!
 Sometimes it gets really tough. Trials are never easy. There is one rest I have though. He never gives us more trouble than we can bear. Isn't that incredible? It may seem like the hardest trial of your life, but God knows you can get through it or He wouldn't have let whatever it is happen to you. Not that that really makes it seem much easier sometimes, but it reminds me that God is in the trial and that He is working on me to perfect me through it. A lot of times when the troubles and trials come, it makes me really soul-search and draw extra-close to God. Many a time I find that I had not been as close to Him as I thought and perhaps that is why I am going through a hard place. This time it was that I had not been praying enough. I of course pray, but not for others like I should and certainly not always with the expectation that God really wants to come on the scene when I pray. That is going to change.
 Whenever hard times hit, I find great strength in music. There have been many times when a song has spoken to me more than anything else could. I know I mentioned the song by the Hemphills, but three songs that have really touched me and spoken to me lately are " The Potter Knows the Clay " by The Perrys and " Blessings " by Laura Story and " Faith to be Strong " by Andrew Peterson. The words contained within these songs are amazing. So if you are going through anything right now, take some down time and listen to these songs and I pray they will be as much of a blessing to you as they have been to me. Bon Voyage!

Growing and Travelling

 Hello! I'm back from a wonderful adventure! Last Tuesday I went to stay with a family from church who was hosting some visiting ministers so I could help out with cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the kids. As always, even though there was a lot of work involved and not much rest, I had such a blast. This family is like my second family, and I go over there whenever I'm able to to play with the kids and help the mom out. ( Sorry, I'm not posting pictures of the kids, though I may try to upload a video of the girls singing VeggieTales songs in the car since it was at night and you can't see anything. )
 On Friday night we had a youth meeting and it was sooo good! Bro. Ken Boyer, a minister from Calgary, Alberta, spoke about Psalm 37. He particularly focused on verses 3-5 & 7 where it talks about trusting, delighting, committing, and resting in the Lord. What was so wonderful about the whole weekend was how much those things were in focus. There were so many testimonies of God's faithfulness and how we need to simply trust in Him and rest in Him because He will supply whatever we need when we have perfect confidence that He will take care of us. Between the youth meeting and the Saturday and Sunday services and all the constant fellowship with those of like precious faith, I really grew in the Lord. I found that I grew as a person as well. The more love I have for the Lord, the more my confidence in Him multiplies, and the more confident and complete I feel as a person. I am just so happy and excited over the change I have felt within myself over this past week! There is so much I could say, but that would make for a really, really long post so I shall move on. =)
 Another part of my travelling, besides going to this family's house, is Monday we all went to the coast! It was a perfect day! A sunny, windy 60 degrees. Considering all the rain we've been having, it was like being handed gold dust. =D We went to Mo's for lunch, then walked down the beach a ways watching the water and basking in the sun and watching the sea lions and collecting shells. Then we went to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and for the first time I actually got to go up inside! It was really neat, all the history and architecture and the views. Then we went and got ice cream and coffee and then we went home. =D Pictures are following! But first, videos! The first one is Emily, who is three. Sorry about the argument in the background at the end...lol. The second one is Anna and Amanda, who are 10 and 6.

Is it just me, or does this rock look like an alligator to anyone else??

Stairs going up to the top of the lighthouse. I really like this picture-yeah, i'm weird. =D

The lights of the lighthouse. I love how you can see the scenery behind me in the shiny copper reflector.

                                         The End & Bon Voyages! =D