19 days!

as you know, there are many exciting things coming up!

... 8 days till tom and i leave vegas and make the trek north to washington!

... 9 days till we get there, and soon after that i will get to meet tom's grandparents!

in between: many very busy but incredibly fun days filled with family (i can't wait to see everyone! even my brother and his wife are coming all the way from england! holla!), showers, appointments (with the pastor marrying us, our photographer, the church lady, me with my dentist up there, and more), picking up my dress from being steamed, etc.

... 18 days till the rehearsal and bbq at tom's parents house!

and most importantly and excitedly,


... 19 days till i become tom's wife- his partner, his helper, his friend, his love. out of all the things i've ever been in my life, this is the most important and most significant. this is the role God created me for!

how do we know this?

God told us in His Word (italics mine): Genesis 2: 18-24 in the NLT.
18 "Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him."19 So the LORD God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the LORD God took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the opening.22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. 23 "At last!" the man exclaimed."This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called 'woman,' because she was taken from 'man.'" 24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one."

so, 19 days till the wedding, which i know will be beautiful and fun and exciting. but more significantly, 19 days until the beginning of our marriage!! the beginning of our life together. a book that we're hoping to read soon is called sacred marriage by christian author and speaker gary thomas. he explores the question: What If God Designed Marriage To Make Us Holy More Than To Make Us Happy? can't wait to dig into this! sidenote: another cool thing about gary thomas is that he, like yours truly, is a western washington university and campus christian fellowship alum.

oh, minor detail: i finished making my bouquet last night and i couldn't be happier with how it turned out! it is made of silk flowers, even though i initially wanted to use all real. i decided to go with silks for my bouquets, the bridesmaids bouquets, the corsages and the boutonnieres for many reasons: i can save mine and display it somewhere in our home as a decoration (i'll make a smaller one to toss at the reception), i can prep them ahead of time, and i don't have to worry that they will be dead or ugly come show time (my cousin, a florist, told me that hydrangeas, the flower i am using for a majority of the things, are iffy in august). i am so glad i decided to go this way!