I laughed, I cried...I screamed in horror... ;)

Last night, I had the absolutely unforgettable experience of being bridal showered by 5 lovely girls from Saudi Arabia, 3 of whom are or have been my IEI convo partners.  I did not know exactly what to expect (I was just told to dress up...), and it was such a special night.

Look at these cute decorations :)

Quick note:  These pictures make it look like I am in this apartment alone, but Saudi culture encourages women not to display photographs of themselves for the world to see...

We had absolutely delicious food, and LOTS of it, and they showed me some traditional music and dances.  We had coffee and dates, and they showered me with perfume and incense:

Also, there may have been a henna demo involved... My friend Nourah is so talented! :)

...And then, onto the part where I screamed in horror...

I was in a conversation with another guest, and wasn't really paying attention to what was going on.  Somewhere in the back of my consciousness it registered that Nourah had come in and pinned a pillowcase to my head like a wedding veil.  It also vaguely registered that the Saudi music playing in the background had switched to the Wedding March... and I should have been slightly alarmed that all 5 hostesses had left the room...Anyway, the next thing I knew, a shadowy figure creeps around the corner wearing a Ryan mask! ...Shortly followed by 4 other creepy figures in Ryan masks!!  5 lifeless Ryan faces started to surround me....and yes, I screamed in horror...after which I started laughing uncontrollably (to tears) for a long, long time.  Then Roba/Ryan came at me with her arms stretched out, and I screamed in horror again and backed myself into the corner, hahahaha.....  It was truly horrifying.

This picture pretty well sums up how I was feeling about then...veiled, flushed, teary, and in need of hydration. :)

 

And here I am with the scary-beyond-all-reason masks of Ryan.

Eesh osh.  I much prefer the real thing...And I'm good with having only one.  Haha.

All in all, Nourah promised to give me an exceptional night I would never forget, and she definitely succeeded!!  

I am so blessed to have so many talented, creative, loving, special friends. 

:)

All sorts of fun....

I always decide to blog at inopportune times...So this post feels a bit rushed, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.  Lots of fun things have been happening, and I will quickly add a few pictures to highlight them: (None of these pictures were taken by me, by the way...Thanks to Greg, Sydney, and Dad E. for faithfully having cameras around!)

 We went to Athens to visit Sprouty-Sprout, which was fantastic.

I hope we never grow up...doesn't appear to be much danger of that...

 

 Then we had a crazy shower weekend.  3 in 24 hours.  Here's a couple pics from Champaign:

Those flower pots are dirt cups.  Adorable AND delicious! :)

 After the crazy shower weekend, Dad E. volunteered (or was volunteered??) to take some more pictures of Ryan and I.  He got a couple good ones. ;)

Last but not least, this one was taken at my bachelorette party-type thing.  I've been planning this picture in my head for a long, long time...haha.

Not that Syd will ever be any less of an Eisenmann than ever, but it's a fun picture ;)

The weddings begin...

Welcome, Summer!  Yes, oh yes... you are very welcome. :)

With the beginning of summer came 3 weddings.  I did not take many pictures at any of them...and my camera is pretty bad anyway (yes, always blame the camera ;)...but please accept this humble photographic offering.

Wedding #1: Amit & Sydney (Although I didn't get any pictures of Amit...whoops)

 

Getting ready

Bridesmaids

:)

At reception.  Ryan got to crash the head table. :)

Wedding #2: Craig & Lindsay (Okay, so this time I didn't get a picture of Craig OR Lindsay...ah well.  Here are some pictures of Andrea and Ryan. :))

 You may think there would be a story behind these telephone pictures, but there really isn't...which sort of sums up Andrea and I's relationship. :)

 Same with these bird photos... Seemed like the thing to do at the time...

Yeah...these are two of my favorite people on Earth. :)

...And this IS my favorite person on Earth!

 Wedding #3 was Joel & Laura's!  As my ability to take relevant wedding photos has been decreasing as the summer progresses, well, I did not actually take any photos at Joel and Laura's wedding. :(  But it was lovely and everyone looked lovely. :)  Of course, the important thing anyhow is that all of these people got married.  ...Says the girl attempting to plan her own wedding in a couple months... Currently, I am on a lake (well, sitting in a condo by the Lake of the Ozarks) with Andrea, Aunt Marcia, and Uncle Marty, so summer life is pretty rough...I could get used to this.  Yay, summer. :)

This seems a bit overdue, so...

...it is high time to post something [reasonably] mushy about how incredibly blessed I am and how amazingly HAPPY the loving God of the UNIVERSE has made me.

**heart**

  Psalm 37:4 --  Delight thyself also in the LORD, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

I am not posting that verse to say, "Wait long enough and God will always give you what you want."  We all want to have what we think we desire (by definition), but God is bigger than that. When we are surrendered and focused on the Lord, He can first tell us what we really want (what is really best for us) and then give it to us. 

AMAZING.

You may wait 3 days; you may wait 3 years (as in this case); you may wait 3 decades...

God is faithful.

In His way, in His perfect timing.

Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD.

Praise ye the LORD.

--Psalm 150:6--

P.S.  In case you missed the memo, I get to marry Ryan. ;)

Money's Worth

 You know those times when you buy something, and you're not really sure if it's worth the money?  Maybe you don't know if you will fully use or appreciate the purchase in the future.  That is sort of how I felt when I bought these wall decorations in Michigan a couple years ago. 

Now I am glad that I bought them.

Believe, Explore, Leap Fearlessly.

Or, as I read it to myself some days...BELIEVE!  EXPLORE!  LEAP FEARLESSLY!!

Our great God has our back in all circumstances, and it is nice to have encouraging wall decor to remind ourselves of that from time to time. :)

_________________________

Also, the YG went to Perkins last night.  Totally about filled up the back room.  It was good to see.  

Very good. 

:)

College Weekend #.....14??

...Because I just can't seem to escape College Weekend, no matter how long I am out of college.  :)

It was a marathon few days.  The weekend started off with Amber, after 5 years of waiting, finally obtaining a much sought-after card catalog from PACA!  It is very large.  And very cool.

 

 Then we went to church to set up for the festivities.  No, Laura and I did not plan to dress exactly the same...  Festive yet subtle. :)  Great minds think alike.

Meal #1 of the day.  Lunch for our YG while we wait for our guests.

More food prep...

And, um, a tower of angel food cake cups?  This was starting to be the time of the evening when I wasn't really sure what was happening anymore. :)

Okay, these pictures mostly involve food, but what party would be complete without a fountain of nacho cheese?  The fountain ended up being a bit gloppy, but it served its purpose well enough.  Brent (and Brooks) approved.

The weekend went amazingly smoothly, considering no one really seemed to know what was going on until just a few days ago.  So praise God for that.  Good speakers, good fellowship, and good food.  More importantly, God was being glorified, and the Spirit was working in hearts that needed it.  

Win, win, win, win, win.

Strength

It's remarkable how a piece of paper can be taped right next to your bed for six months, and you can still manage to hardly notice it, much less employ the principles denoted thereon... Well, let me take this opportunity then to MAKE MENTION of how awesome our God is! 

 Have you ever had the experience of God telling you to do something that seems really stretching at the time...however, when you obey, God adds a gazillion things onto that one thing that are all actually much more stretching but CRAZY good for you, and you never could have dreamt up any of it? And looking back, the first stretching thing seems like a no-brainer walk in the park, and as you continue to obey, God starts setting off miracles like fireworks exploding all around you (in a happy, colorful way...not a scary, blow-a-member-off way), and you have no idea what to do besides lie down, look at the sky, and enjoy the show? If you are a believer, I suspect the answer to this question is a resounding, "YES, YES, YES!!" because God is just awesome like that, and that is how he works with his children. He calls us to faith and obedience, and He vows his great, unchanging faithfulness and limitless strength in return. 

 Can I get an "Amen"? :)

Trust vs. Complaint

Another entry in the apparent series about our Teacher God:

There is a 5-year-old at my school who whines every time I come get him.  He whines, crosses his arms, sheds (fake) tears, and all-around shoots off the bad attitude vibes.  He whines about how he doesn't want to come with me, how he wants to stay in his classroom, how he wants to do absolutely anything besides whatever it is I have planned for him.  (The entertaining part is that his speech is pretty bad... so most of the communication that I understand during these fits is done through extensive body language and the occasionally-intelligible "wanna play"...)  The frustrating part is that he never even gives my activity a chance before he complains, and my activities are typically not that boring. :)  He refuses even to acknowledge the possibility that my plan is better for him AND more fun than whatever he was doing in the classroom.  (And maybe my plan isn't always more fun, but it is usually better for him, and that alone would ideally be motivation to participate willingly...)  He assumes that his idea is/would have been sooooo much better, and he is so whiny about it that he misses the opportunity to fully enjoy the fun and helpful activity provided.  He sits and complains for half of our time before we begin.  Then, when we do the activity, he ends up enjoying it.  It is unfortunate that he spends so long whining about what he does not want to do instead of trusting his teacher in the first place.  How much more pleasant would those 10 minutes have been for both of them!

These entries are not to meant to be me venting or complaining about whiny students...the opposite is true.  I have become increasingly thankful for these behaviors in my students, because they have taught me so much about how I must appear to my Teacher God daily.  He always has a plan for me, a plan that is so much better than anything I could think up, and yet my tendency is to drag my feet, complain, and waste time, instead of trusting him and thanking him for the countless wonderful things he gives me every day. Despite the negative things I put on here, my students really are great. :)  God has been teaching me so much through them, and the lessons God gives me make it that much easier to be patient with the kiddos.  It is so easy to relate sometimes!

Psalm 9:10-- And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. 

Shine!

(Primarily written to myself...)  

Are you afraid to open up and show who you are inside?  Do you have things buried inside of you that you are afraid other people won't accept?  If you are a believer, the fact is that the most important thing dwelling inside of you is the holy GOD of the universe.  If you truly believe that, you should be excited to be transparent so that the world can see GOD through you.  You probably have some garbage in your life...who doesn't, really?  You probably have a personal story (at least one) of darkness and brokenness, but more importantly, inside of each believer is a miraculous story of God's love and redemption.  How can we not be excited to share our stories with others so that they may be encouraged and/or seek the same redemption for themselves?

Let's be excited to show Jesus to the world, even when that means showing something of ourselves that we're not sure we want the world to see...  

This is something I continuously need to work on. :)

"What about me?"

At my school, there is one 3-year-old in particular that inspires my musings about parallels between our Teacher God and earthly teachers.   After I spend the morning with this student, I often leave scratched, bitten, pinched, or mildly beaten.  He refuses to listen to his teachers, and hardly hesitates to hurt us.  Sometimes if I show him a particularly deep scratch he has given me, I think I see a glimmer of remorse, but it is usually short-lived.  I might get a quick "sorry" out of him if be is prompted...not too convincing.  Soon he is back to his old ways, whining and screaming, "what about me??... I don't want to!!"  We remind him that it is not about him, and it ultimately does not matter what he wants.  He has to do what he has to do.  We all have to.

The moral of the day?  I may end this morning with a small, bleeding scratch on my hand from my student's transgression, but my transgressions caused my loving Teacher to be tortured and die on a cross.  Can I ever, in good conscience ask the question, "What about me?"