31 days...

...and I am getting married! Wow! For those of you who did not know, that is 1 month! We started counting down at 10. 1 seems SO doable!

Excited about:

• Our shower this Saturday and my Personal shower Tuesday!
• Britt being done with school!
• Moving everything into our apartment!
• Family coming into town!
• WEDDING!

Praying that:

• We can find a car.
• Britt can find a job.
• I can find a job.

Reminding myself:

"I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or His descendants want for bread." Psalm 37:25

"Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God!" Philippians 4:7

Those two verses hang by my desk and I look at them often and remind myself of who my God is:

The God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

The God who will supply ALL of my needs.

The God who loves me and gave it all for me.

Provider!

Sustainer!

Comforter!

God!

Turn it into praise!

Britt and I have been attending a new church on Sunday nights called River. It is located in Norman. It is some what of a new church (Started within the last 5 years). Britt and I believe that God is calling us to go to this church. We are excited to see all that God will do. It is so much smaller compared to First Southern. It probably averages about 150 people. They have Sunday night service and then you can pick a night of the week that you would like to go to "Community Group" (Kind of like Home-Churches). We are really enjoying the small personal feel.

We know several of the elders because they are also on staff at the BSU. The senior pastor, Dave Edwards, we did not know but I am quickly growing to respect. I guess when it comes to pastors he is the type that you would call a teacher. I like pastors like that. Sometimes the pastors who are "Preachers" can be more entertaining but when the man is a teacher I walk away with so much. Last night Dave talked about Worry. It was so convicting for me. If you struggle with worry then I encourage you to take the time and really read this verse below...

25"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30"But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' 32"For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34

God really convicted me. As Dave put it last night, "I am a world class worrier!" Yap! That would be me. For me it might be more of the fact that I am a control freak. If I feel like I am not able to control a situation then I worry about it. Normally this falls under the category of finances. I am REALLY good at worrying about money!

As most of you know, Britt and I both need to find jobs by this June. With both of us being "jobless" there is a tendency to worry about money. Ok, maybe for me there is more than JUST a tendency. Lately, I have been freaking out about it. Although, I don't know if I realized just how much I have been freaking out until the Lord began to convict me last night.

Following the message we sand the song "Blesses be your name. Part of the lyrics go like this:

"Blesses be your name when I'm caught in the desert plan though I walk through the wilderness blessed be your name......

Every blessing you poor out I'll, turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in Lord still I will say.

Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your name....

You give an take away. My heart will choose to say, Lord blesses be your name."

Tears came to my eyes as we sung that. I know that God is blessing us. When I stop to look I am overwhelmed by the blessing and yet I focus on things that I think we need and don't have, and then I worry. I had to ask the Lord to forgive me for that heart. I am giving it to Him and trusting Him with it ALL. My job is to pray and then watch. watch for the blessing that I know He will being and then turn it into praise!

disclaimer: Sorry it is all meshes together like this. I can not get the paragraphs to space in between. Don't know why.

Grace...

God has been teaching me a lot about Grace recently. Mostly about extending it even when I feel it it undeserved. Did He not do that for us? I am the most undeserving of all and yet He extended more grace then has ever been extended.

Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything; you may have an abundance for every good deed;

2 Corinthians 12:9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

The amount of grace extended to me was way too much! Surly, I can extend some grace to others.

40 days...

and I will be getting married! I can hardly believe it! April is almost over! I am grateful for that because I know that May will fly by! We have so much going on I don't see how it could not.

I only have 4 more weeks at work here at the Capitol. I am going to start job hunting soon for something at least during the summer. Please pray that I find something! We are still praying for a job for Britt as well. He has a few leads and is going to start applying.

We got the wedding band for my ring this week. It is so beautiful. Mr. Manison, a guy that goes to First Southern and is David's (Britt's good friend) dad, made it for us. He is the same guy who made my engagement ring. The wedding band is SO beautiful! I was able to take some diamonds out of a ring that I had and do not use and have him put them in the engagement band to save a little money. We went to pick up the ring yesterday and when he told us the price for it both of our mouths dropped open. It was WAY less then what we thought it would be even with the discount of using my diamonds. It was SUCH a blessing. Just another thing that God has blessed us on. The Lord truly is our provider and I can rest in that!

This week is going to be decently busy which I am actually grateful for. These days I like things to be busy because times goes so quickly.

Tomorrow night is Lizzie (My niece) Birthday party. She will be 2, I can hardly believe it!

Wednesday is Date Night. Britt and I talked about going on a picnic because the weather is supposed to be SO nice!

Thursday night we have Paradigm. There are only a few more weeks left of Paradigm. It is kind of weird. Britt is going to be done with school so soon! 4 weeks left! CRAZY!

Friday I am getting my hair trimmed and highlighted! I am really excited about that! I have not done anything at all to my hair since October so I am due for a trim. Friday night.... I am not sure what we are doing. We might go to Spring Banquet that the BSU puts on. We are still trying to decide.

So, it should be a pretty busy week. The weekends are always full these days it seems as well. I had to call CHA and let them know that I will not be able to sub anymore this school year. Every Friday there is something going on between now and the wedding. It is so crazy!

Hope you all have a good week!

Happy Birthday: To the man I love! <3

I few things that I love about you....



We have fun together....

We take every nice photos together... (haha)

I know that we will always be able to laugh together...

I know that you will always hold my hand...

You CAN be goofy with me... :)

You asked me to marry you!

You dance with me even though dancing is not your "thing".....

Here are a "few" more reasons... (Ok, maybe more than a few!)

50 Reasons why I love you Britt Clay!

1. You love God more than anything

2. You love ME next! :)

3. You are slow to anger

4. You are pure and have remained so

5. You are a gentleman

6. You are continually seeking the Lord

7. You want to learn new things

8. You have strong convictions

9. You are honest with me

10. I know that you will always be faithful to me

11. You are the first and only man I love.

12. You are very good looking! :)

13. You are strong! :)

14. You are merciful

15. The way that you look at me

16. The way you walk

17. You do things for me just because you know I love it!

18. Your eyes

19. You bring me flowers for no reason

20. The fact that I love you more everyday

21. The fact that I learn more about you everyday

22. You talk good about me to your friends

23. You call me everyday while I am at work to check on me and see how my day is going.

24. You bring out the best parts in me

25. You make up for my weaknesses

26. I know that you will be a WONDERFUL father

27. You love me no matter how I look that day

28. You love me when I am having a bad day

29. Your wisdom

30. That you know things about me that other people don’t and still loves me the most.

31. You are the best friend that I have ever had!

32. You are THE ONE for me, the one I have waited for.

33. You were without a doubt a gift from God.

34. You are quick to forgive me

35. I can be crazy around you

36. I would rather be with you more than anyone in the world!

37. You have big hands.

39. You call me babe and sweetheart

40. Throughout the day you randomly tell me that you love me.

41. You are a good listener

42. We can tell what the other is thinking

43. You love my brothers!

44. You try to understand the way I feel even when it is hard for you to see.

45. You go on walks with me.

46. You love talking about “When we go to San Antonio”. It is so cute!

47. You will always be there for me no matter what.

48. You do not worry about things that you cannot control.

49. You pray for me and for others.

50. You are the man that I am going to marry and spend the rest of my life with! :)

I love you Britt! Happy 23rd birthday!

PS - To our readers: If you did not see the post below then you should look at it! It is pictures from our wedding shower.

Wedding Shower!

Like I said below, Britt and I were SO blessed at our shower. Here are a few pictures

All of the Bridesmaids and Groomsmen that were there...

Hannah and I

Britt and I with his friends that came from OU.

My bridesmaids (Minus Kristen) and I

Gifts!

and more...

and more...

and more... (Notice, it is a "C" for Clay.)

Mr. Manis (Host) was encouraging us on a few things...

Opening a gift from the Manis's

Cupcakes!

You can go to my facebook to see the rest! :)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=634321687&v=feed&story_fbid=86765765785#/album.php?aid=89074&id=634321687&ref=nf

Showers. Weddings. Grace.

Britt and my first wedding shower was this past Saturday. It was hosted by friends from the church I grew up at, Western Hills. Britt and I both felt blessed beyond words with the shower of gifts that we received. By the time it was all over with I felt somewhat overwhelmed. We have another shower hosted by friends at First Southern on May 2. I can hardly believe that we will be blessed with two showers!

The wedding is really coming up. The funny thing is that right now it still feels like forever away. I know that it is coming fast and sometimes I look at the calendar, and everything that I have to do and think “WOW! It is coming so quickly!” But yesterday was one of those days that I felt like it was still forever away.

I was telling a friend that it really just comes down to the fact that I am tired of waiting. I know that God gives the grace but sometimes it comes in a form that I cannot recognize if I am not looking for it! I guess that is because He wants us to be looking for it. Otherwise we would probably come to expect it.

So – I know that the grace is there and made available but that doesn’t mean that it is not hard. Everyone tells me to enjoy this time, and I do enjoy it, but I have a feeling that I am going to enjoy marriage even more! Basically, I am ready. End of story.

I will try to post pictures soon of the Shower on Saturday. I know that we have a few readers who would enjoy them! ;)

Well, hope you are all having a good start to the week. Happy Monday! (If there is such a thing! Haha)

Time is flying and...

...today is April 8. I don’t know why that is significant other than the fact that it is April and next month I am getting married!

I am so excited about so many things right now! Thanks to “The Wedding” that is bringing these exiting things!

1.) Our shower this Saturday. It is going to be fun! I am already cheating and looking online at what people are buying. It is so exciting and I know that we are going to feel SO blessed!
2.) May 2nd is another shower as well that is being hosted by First Southern. We feel double blessed that we have two showers!
3.) May 5th is my bridal shower. My matron of honor Amy has been so great and I am so grateful to her for doing this. It will be a lot of fun to get together with all the girls.
4.) May 8th I am taking my bridal portraits. That is going to make me SO ready for the wedding! Putting on that dress and getting all ready is going to make me want to just have the wedding that day! :)
5.) May 16th we get to move into our apartment. Well… We get to move our stuff and Britt is going to move in. haha… May 16th is also BRITT”S GRADUATION!!! I cannot even begin to tell you how ready I am for him to be done with school! I know that he is VERY ready too! AHHHH! It will be so nice!
6.) May 23 Beth and her kids as well as Becky will be coming to town! We were so blessed to be able to see Becky and John last month as well but it will have been a year since we have seen Beth and her kiddos. It will be so good to see them!
7.) That whole next week will be a blur I am sure as we prepare for the wedding and everything that will entail. Then…. After much planning and preparation…. After the sweat and tears… WE WILL GET MARRIED! *Exhaling long breath…* Yeah, I am ready!
8.) Then my friends we will be off to San Antonio on our honeymoon and as much as we love Oklahoma and everyone here I doubt we will think much about anything but each other which is just going to be WONDERFUL!

The fact that I can, in 8 points, talk about the upcoming events leading to the wedding is exciting alone! It is coming so quickly! I guess the fact that April 8 is significant is because I can’t believe it is already the 8th! Wasn’t yesterday March?!?! WOW!

Happy Wednesday to you all! :)