12.5 hours in a car.

So today was a travel day. We started out super early (5:45 am early), okay so it isn't terribly early but I went to bed at 1 so early.

We aren't too un presentable for an early morning photo op.

So we were off and on the road to Holland Michigan. I slept until probably 10ish in the car and then napped on and off.

We stopped for lunch and the guys were persistent in stopping at the KFC for the buffet. I didn't know KFC's had buffets. I was modest in my buffet pickings....

Eventually in Illinois we had to stop and get gas and I realized just how cheap our gas in Memphis actually is (despite the fact that it isn't cheap...)

After potty breaks, rest stops, stops for coffee and snacks we made it to Michigan and in true Michigan style they had a light house at the welcome center.

After 12.5 hours of driving we made it!!! We had a nice dinner cooked out by family up here and then are now ready to hit the sack. No alarms will be set tomorrow. (to my knowledge.) We are ready for a Great Night's SLeep!!

12.5 hours later and those smiles are real. Mostly because we are ready to be out of the car and settling in for the night. ( in different rooms of course.)

Relaxation

It is finally here. 8 months later. After spending the end of December of 2011 until mid July basically plagued with asthma attacks and bronchitis and working the whole year and rather intensely the past few months for the wedding, I am getting away.

I don't mean to sound like I have just had a horrible year because the reality is it has been amazing compared to what some others around this world go through but in my personal life next to my parasite this has been a very eventful year. I am thankful though and wouldn't change it for anything. I always learn so much during times like these.

In about 7.5 hours I will be leaving for Michigan. I didn't think I was going to make it up there this year but it somehow worked out. I will get to see Eric's cousin M get married to his beautiful bride and I am so excited for that. We stay basically right on Lake Michigan up there so it is gorgeous views, sand beaches, without salt water, sharks, or jellies and basically all the benefits of the beach without the cons of the beach. It also has some of the most gorgeous sunsets every. Since we are on the east coast of Lake Michigan we get to watch the sunset over the lake and it literally sets right into the lake. Memories are made of this stuff. Seriously.

So up for a few days I should go and when we get back it will be time to hit the ground running with only 58 days left till we get married. This means showers, working like crazy, buying some last minute stuff, and all the other wedding craziness shall ensue. It is so hard to believe sometimes. I feel like just yesterday I met him.

As the wedding gets closer I get more and more little jitters. Being the center of someone's attention just makes me sick to my stomach. Oral Comm in high school was horrible and Oral Comm in college....well that has been non existent.

The butterflies I still get when I think about how lucky I am to marry my best friend still amaze me. We have been through a lot already and I know there will be more to come. We will be following a path that God will set before us step by step but E is the only one I would ever want to do it with!

Well I guess i need to finish some last minute packing and get some rest.

Crazy and Exciting Times

I haven't been on here in what feels like forever.  Things have definitely been crazy!

Wedding planning, working full time , making budgets, watching family, and mending myself have kept me insanely busy.

I must definitely say that back at the beginning of July things got super crazy all because of high arches, damaged ligaments, and weak ankles.

You may remember on July 5th I did a good number on my left ankle with a nice, little sprain. This led to conversations between my physical therapist and I of high arches, and chronic ankle sprains which I have had and how now that my ligaments are so stretched that more sprains in the future were very probable wiht running. (Joy)

So many talks of how proper running shoes, proper bracing equipment (for both ankles since I lightly sprained the right ankle last week) were a DEFINITE MUST if I wanted to run at all. Also, ice baths for my ankles have been my new best friend!

The humor in all of this is that EVERY time in my life I have sprained and torn ligaments it has been while i was walking on a basically flat surface not while running on uneven surfaces. Go figure. Haha.

So next week I am looking forward to purchasing the proper shoes so I can FINALLY get back to running. It has been to long. My lungs have fallen back into their wimpy state and are going to love me for whipping them back into shape.

I am looking forward to running again. I feel really accomplished and it is a great stress reliever!

On a completely separate note... there are only 70 days left until I get to marry my best friend! Super excited!!!

Training On Hold

 I have been super excited to get back into running since my whole asthma and bronchitis flare up and also since Eric is getting back into it to. It is great to have a little support system . I have been super excited to train for Disney Half Marathon although I hadn't decided if I was going to do the regular Disney Half or the PRincess Half.

 Well....I managed to do it again. Tore my ankle up. It didnt ask for it. The poor thing.

When I tear ligaments and sprain my ankle it is one of those tears and sprains where the Ortho doctor flat out says you would have been better off breaking your ankle....thats always lovely to hear isn't it? LOl.

The most embarrassing part is always how the ligaments tear. About 2 years ago this happened to my other foot. A few days of popping and pain and ankle rolling and then it finally gave way while coming down the stairs at a friends house during a tornado warning. I tossed and turned the rest of that night while my ankle was swelling and endured most of Sunday in that state. I went to Campbell Clinic the next day to find out that i had torn ligament on the outside top of and inside of my ankle....OUCH. I was then told to that I might as well have broken it and it might have healed more quickly (although would be more painful)....THanks doc but I will stick for the less painful injury. I spend that whole summer in a walking boot....although I will admit it is much better than a cast since the boot can be removed. Now fast forward.

On Thursday I was at David's Bridal with one of my bridesmaids and Eric's mom. My ankle popped a little and had a sharp shooting pain. (story of my life) So I decided to try and walk it off and roll my ankle around. This was painful but I'm a trooper and walked it off. Purchases were made and as we were leaving the store my ankle made a HUGE POP and completely gave way and buckled right in the middle of the street.
Stay calm Allyson. So you are in the middle of the street. Can't walk and there is a car coming. Hobble on over to the sidewalk. I was slightly agitated as I hobbled to the side of the street and the person in the car honked at me to get me to hurry up. Really sir? But, I digress.

So I decided to ice it and elevate it and hope I had just over stretched it a little to far but no tears. Fingers crossed. After a few hours the pain was becoming more and more evident despite the ice and pain killer and I was still unable to put weight on it. So I gave in and went to my job's sister group Memphis Orthopedic Group. After a very rushed visit, the doctor told me I had torn ligament on the inside of my ankle gave me a sports brace and I was on my way.

Thursday night was pain as it should be. Friday morning I woke up and even with the sports brace could not bear any weight on my left foot. I have an old walking boot from my right foot injury so decided to wear that and headed on to work at Ortho Memphis. I spent the majority of that day hobbling in the boot in pain. (Even with the boot I was not able to bear great amounts of weight on it.

One of the doctors at Ortho Memphis ( a foot and ankle doctor) graciously offered to see me that afternoon despite his busy schedule and upon examination came to the conclusion that I had indeed torn the ligaments on the opposite side of my ankle and the pain I was feeling on the inside of my ankle was the bone banging into some cartilage from the lack of support from the outside tendons being torn. He gave me an aircast to completely immobilize the left and right movement of my ankle. This brace helped TREMENDOUSLY!!! He also told me my walking boot was too big and thats why it wasn't helping much because my ankle still had room to move side to side.

I know what you are thinking. Allyson, don't move your ankle from side to side when you walk....I can't help it I have high arches and am a natural underpronator (for all of you who hate me for using terms like that let me simply put it....I walk completely on the outside of my feet not in the  middle from side to side like I am supposed to) which is why I tend to sprain my ankles so often according to the doctor. With the air cast and the walking boot on top of it with a snug fit in place, I am now good to go. I can walk in the boot. I am already starting ROM exercises as tolerates to try to avoid losing any of that. A few PT sessions for strengthening and I can start back walking on tracks in maybe a month but he wouldn't suggest training runs until the end of September or October....progress pending of course.

ALso, some new shoes for people with high arches will have to be bought which the PTs at Ortho Memphis clued me into just means shoes with cushioning or flexibility really.

So with this happening my mind was definitely made up to do Disney's Princess Half and not the regular Disney half since I will now be on the training program for that time schedule and I will just do the St. Jude 5k and the Disney 5k...maybe even the Tinkerbell 5K for practice and endurance. i will now have to run with sportsbraces on both ankles (you know the kind that lace up and then Velcro in about 4 different directions to hold my weak little ankle together as I run. I'm not willing to give up run and spin though. I love them!

Well onto more icing and ROM exercises. Pain is gain.

Faith and Trust

For those of you who know me you know I would have wanted to add on the phrase "and pixie dust" to the end of this blog title to satisfy the Disney freak in me, but I refrained.

Over the past 5 months i have had to relearn something, something that, ahsamedly I admit, I have forgotten. Something that I shouldn't have forgetten. I am learning right now how to completely trust and have faith in God. I guess over the years the familiarity of it all got its best of me. I'm being completely transparent her so work with me.

Having battled various respiratory illnesses and attacks since January has definitely taken its toll on my physically and mentally. I had to forfeit a job at Disney, which actually led me to be home for a very special moment in a friend's life. It has led to me to accumulate numerous bills for ER visits and tests and doctor visits and x-rays and blah blah blah the list could go on and on.

Don't get me wrong. I am not trying to say I have a life threatening illness and that I could die soon because that is definitely not the case. God has actually brought several people across my path or across my mind through blogs that really convict me because of the faith they show during life threatening times in their life. Yet, their faith shines. The smiles on their face and the glory they are bringing to God throughout their times of hardship are such a conviction and encouragement to me.

Matthew 6:25 says, "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?"

I definitely have had trouble with this. Keeping a job has been difficult. I opted to leave Disney and come home simply because I could not stay well enough to work. Fevers and coughing and sneezing don't quite mix with serving people their food or loving on their kids.

So after much prayer I decided to come home both physically exhausted and mentally exhausted. When people tell you that Satan attacks you when you are down they definitely weren't joking. Sadly, there have been many moments when I have fallen into Eric's arms and just asked through sobs, "what have I done for this to happen to me", as I look back on those moments I am so ashamed.

I don't know what the reason for this event in my life but I know God has a purpose for it. I have watched God be faithful my whole life. Even when I came back for Disney and was on a job hunt for a few months. God always provided just enough sitting job or sub jobs for me at old jobs to make bills. He really has ALWAYS been faithful.

One of my favorite quotes right now is by Oswald Chambers and he says "Trustfulness is based on confidence in God whose ways I do not understand."

I don't understand them but I know that God has promised in Romans 8:28 that "All things work together for God to those who love God to them who are called according to HIs purpose."

I told a gentleman in orchestra at my church a few weeks ago, when he asked how I was doing, that "I'm just following this small path of road I see in front of me and when God turns it left or right I just follow it and see where it leads."

Life is a journey and God has already brought me through so many things and it has made me a much better and stronger person because of it. I'm not going to falter and quit trusting HIm now. I had my own little mini revival in my car the other day. One of my favorite songs came on the radio. It has been a song I have claimed my whole life and this song is a song off the great old hymn Great Is Thy faithfulness. As i listened to the song I realized that God has blessed me so much in the past and with all of this sickness I had been relying on my own strength and not the strength and peace that God offers to all who seek it through Him. I had been distracted and frustrated and for that I did ask forgiveness from my Heavenly Abba.  I broke down in tears as I drove down the road and just asked my Abba for forgiveness and for renewed strength and peace. Instantly I felt a peace.

I don't need to worry about this new job I have and whether or not I will lose it because of all of the recent medical things that have arisen. If God wants me to keep it then I will keep it. He will give me the strength to do all that I need to do. I need just trust Him and have faith in Him.

I know there will be times when I falter and worry and rely on my own strength or question His ways, and for those times I am so thankful for a wonderful fiance who can remind me not to worry and to do my best and trust God. I am also so thankful for an Abba who is a forgiving Abba and an Abba I can crawl up into His arms and tell him all my frustrations and leave them all at his feet and know that He is listening and will offer a comfort and a peace to me that passes all understanding.

Once again, I don't want this to sound super dramatic like I am dying because i am not. i just want to share what God has been doing in my life lately. 

I will close with the lyrics to the song that I mentioned above. It is "He's Always Been Faithful". by Sara Groves.


Morning by morning I wake up to find
the power and comfort of God's hand in mine.
Season by season I watch Him amazed,
in awe of the mystery of His perfect ways

All I have need of His hand will provide.
He's always been faithful to me.

I can't remember a trial or a pain
He did not recycle to bring me gain.
I can't remember one single regret
In serving God only and trusting His hand.

All I have need of His hand will provide,
He's always been faithful to me.

This is my anthem, this is my song
the theme of the story I've heard for so long
God has been faithful He will be again
His loving compassion, it knows no end.

All I have need of His hand will provide
He's always been faithful x 2
He's always been faithful to me.

God is So Good!!!!

Well today I got great news!!! I AM EMPLOYED!! God is so Good!

For a few months I have been led down dead ends in the job search. I have some major bills to pay and a wedding to save for. I know that this is not a huge deal like some people who have been out of jobs and are on the verge on foreclosure, but in my current life place it was a big deal. God has always provided just enough money every month for me to meet my bills so I have learned to trust Him. He would provide me a job that He wanted me to have when He wanted me to have it. I was telling a guy at church I know the other day, in my life right now I am just letting God pave a path a little at a time and I am just following it. It has been an amazing time of discovering Him more!

Today as I was working at Mother's Day Out with the babies and contemplating my plan of action for teaching the preschool Enrichment class I got a call.

This call made my day! Medical Transcriptionist job opportunity! Full time! It was all I needed to hear. They even wanted me to start today. The place that helped me get this job sent me my congratulations email and I was so ecstatic. They told me the place wanted to know if I could start today!!! So, after working out the logistics of having to leave with my boss and supervisors at Mother's Day Out, I came home and got ready for training!!!

This email just got me so excited!
So as I got off this afternoon  I went to Walmart and bought the scrubs I needed. I also went and ordered my glasses. I have needed to order my glasses for months just put it off since I have my contacts. However, I learned today that staring at a computer screen causes your eyes to get dry and your contacts to come out. No bueno. :( So after a small shopping spree today I am ready for my first full day tomorrow and my new job! The colors are slightly distorted in this picture, but my start of my scrub collection :)

 I love that scrubs are so comfy but sometimes I wish they were a little more flattering. Business casual and business dress just aren't for me 40 hours a week though. I love gettig dressed up but i think doing it 40 hours a week takes the fun out of it, and let's face it...who wants to get all dressed up to sit at a computer and stare at the screen all day....NOT ME!

Funny faces and Mini celebrations!

Today was full of happiness for me. i got to go hang out with big sis and Little Miss again :) Day brightener! Little Miss made some funny faces today and we mini celebrated her being one month old! We even got some cute pictures!

Little Miss had a moment and series of faces which just about made sis and I fall on the floor laughing. The laughter did stop long enough due to lack of breathing though. So over a 5 second period of time these are the pictures that occurred. Lets see if you find them as humorous as we did.

I shall leave interpretation of these faces open to the viewers...but we were certain we were going to have a stinky baby on our hand, alas, it never happened. Just a silly series of faces we guess. Can't deny it is too stinkin cute though.


We also had a little photo shoot with Little Miss today for her one month pic. Big sis bought some cute little month stickers to stick on her onsies for cute little photos every month. Today we did her one month pic. I think her daddy needs to try for some photos too because me and sis are def. amateurs at pic taking. Anyway here are a few cute ones i caught on my phone. on my favorite pic she is covering the one though. Stinker Little Miss is she either always had her eyes closed or was covering the sticker.  Oh well she is just  a month old. Here is to 2 months being more successful. still so cute. Here are a few shots.

 I love this little lady and her family :) They warm my heart.

On a separate but random note. There are only 157 days left until Eric and I get married to my best friend.

Also, 6 days until he gets home!!!

I scheduled our engagement photo session today for May 23! I am so excited! Our photographer is super laid back and is so helpful in this process. I can't wait to work with her during our wedding!!!

Exciting Tuesday!

Today was such an exciting day for several reasons.

1. There are only 7 days until Eric will be home! I am so excited! Although I know that Eric will be very sad to leave (and I understand) I am very happy he will be back in the same town. Long distance relationships arent as hard as I thought they would be, but I'm not asking for any more time in this one lol.

2. Eric got an awesome recognition today! At the Grand Floridian they give out Quarterly Awards for outstanding employees every quarter. Well Eric was presented with one today!!! I am so incredibly proud of him!!!! I know he has put in many extra hours in OT and much enthusiasm into his job. He even worked over 16 hours one day to help! That's commitment! I know Disney is truly his passion and I am so glad God has allowed him the awesome opportunities he has had there. Eric really does have his foot in the door for a great company where he wants to be.

3. This seems so silly, but my shutterfly stuff came in! I have been going Shutterfly crazy lately!!! I have giftcards I am trying to use before they expire, in fact I ordered some more stuff today! I just love seeing that orange envelope in the mail (no I am not addicted)

4. I got to babysit sweet little Eli today. I enjoy my weekly Tuesday play dates with Eli! I tease Eric that he is my second boyfriend! Tis little boy has stolen my heart! We played today and his smile and silly giggles just brighten my day!

5. This evening I got to watch Little Miss while her mom and dad went out for a much needed date night. She is 1 month today and loving life! Her smiles also brighten days and she cracks me up with all her crazy baby talk. :) So glad I get to be this little girls aunt!

6. This shoudl have come at the beginning of my blog post. I started off my day at the gym.This is exciting today because it is my first day back in a week and a half since I was fighting yet another bout of bronchitis!

So there ya go, a bunch of silly exciting Tuesday happeneings.

Silly Monday

Mondays and I do not really get along well.

Stormy mornings and I get along very well.

So I was in a dilemma this morning when Monday morning met Stormy morning. I did NOT want to get out of bed. However, I got the call at 7:30 this morning that they needed a teacher for Mother's Day Out at 9:00, so, despite my want to just snuggle and listen to the thunder roll , I drug myself out of bed to get ready. I did get a few pretty pics of the storm clouds rolling by on the way to work.

I love the ladies at Mothers Day Out that I work with. I mainly work in the baby room, but on some days I get moved around to wherever they are short a teacher that day. I love all ages.

Today was extra special because I got to work with a precious lady, Mrs. Joyce.

Mrs. Joyce is special to me because when I was 4 I was in her class at Mother's Day Out, and today I got to help her with the 4 year olds she has now :) I was so excited to wear a decently cute shirt today instead of a t-shirt (which i normally wear..because lets face it...the babies don't care and I would rather let the tshirt get dirty.) so Today I got to dress up a little and it felt awesome.

I learned upon getting there that it was Mother's Day/Open House for Mrs. Joyce's room so I was super excited to see wht the kids had been doing the whole year ( in comparison to what I remembered.) There was a cowboy theme so all the kids were dressed up in cute little outfits. I had some kids today that I took care of when they were in the infant room a few years ago.

The kids sang some songs for their moms and then we all ate lunch together. My big job was helping to prepare lunch today. We had white beans, cornbread, and green onions, with brownies for dessert.

I am not normally a white bean person, but man oh man were these great! I am a southern girl at heart with my eating habits so I guess I can add another southern thing to my list. The meal was complete with sweet tea in Mason jars. (Mrs. Joyce thinks of everything.) All in all it was a wonderful day!

Excited about tomorrow because I get to start back at the gym since I finally finished my steroids and am almost finished with my steroids!!!

During the day my big sis was sending me pics of her baby Little Miss, which really made my day. My original plan had been to go out to Somerville and spend the day with them at their house, but work called. So the pics she sent me really made me smile and feel good. Here is just one that she sent that I just about fell on the floor when I saw. I can just picture the sound that was coming out with this precious little face. :)

Hope everyone has had a great Monday!

Little Miss A is 4 weeks.

Today I got to visit with my great big sis and see her precious little bundle of joy! She is 4 weeks today. i have loved being able to watch her grow these past 4 weeks. She is precious and a joy to her mother and father, and a joy in my life too! So HAPPY 4 WEEKS, Little Miss A!

Proud Momma!

Proud Aunt Ally

And of course Little Miss celebrated her 4 weeks of life by doing what 4 week olds do best :) napping!

I can't believe it has already been a month since my amazing big sis gave birth to her beautiful little girl. I have seen so much love already in this precious little family and can't wait to see how their little family unfolds in this new journey they are one. Love you guys!

Poll time

Today's blog post involves a simple poll. I am trying to figure out the pros and cons to using real flowers or artificial flowers for mine and Eric's wedding. I was wondering what y'all have used and why you preferred that way versus the opposite.

Paving Paths and Exciting New Futures.

I have been learning over the past few months that I am going to have to let things go and move on soon. From examples as silly as, I should probably move on and put my teddy bear away (after all I am 22) to serious stuff such as I am going to have to start saving more money and having to get more responsible about certain things as Eric and I are planning a wedding. I feel like yesterday I graduated from high school and now my man is going to graduate college and hopefully we are going to move to Orlando. WOAH WAIT?!?!? Moving? I always thought I would be a boring person who stayed in Bartlett my whole life (not that ppl who stay around are boring), now it seems I am about to depart on this amazing journey involving Orlando, Disney, beaches close by, and a whole new place to explore. I am so excited. I can't wait to see what God has Eric and I embark on in this journey He is paving for us.

Likewise, things in my life are beginning to change. I am excited about these changes. i am really having to claim Ecclesiastes right now and remembering that there is a time and season for everything. God puts me where He wants me when He wants me there. While I can't always understand His reasoning I can look back and remember that He has never caused me harm. He has ALWAYS proven Himself faithful to me. He is such a GREAT GOD.

So as I go through this time where friendships change, habits change, and I feel like I am becoming a little more of a grown up, I can look back and remember God has always been faithful. I just have to be willing to follow the path that He is paving for me and follow it trusting Him.

Confessions of a Soon to be Bride/ Sickly Girl

1. The wedding is in less than six months. (162 days to be exact.)

2. I had my first meeting with the wedding coordinator at Bellevue today. it was so helpful and I am so thankful for having such godly ladies to keep us informed about everything church wise for the wedding.

 3. Eric comes home in 12 days! I am so excited!

4. I have almost all of the Save the Dates sent out!

5. I have bronchitis for the 4th time this spring....Really?

6. The steroids they have me on to help with the inflammation in my airway keep me up and wired all night! (Hence the 3 am blog post)

7. Because of the steroids lowering my immune system they put me on an antibiotic (which makes you burn when you are in the sun)....no tanning for me right now.

8.Something has given me hives and this is no bueno (add benedryl to that med list)

9. I DO NOT like being on all this medicine.

10. Our registries are just about done I believe.

11. We have had so many people pour love on us in this journey already. I am so excited!

12. I got to see my long lost friend Miss Madison tonight. We went to the movies.

13. I am addicted to Shutterfly!

14. SUPER ADDICTED TO SHUTTERFLY

15. I have $220 worth in gift cards to shutterfly so my addiction is being fed well :) ( alot of this is being used for engagement stuff and wedding stuff)



Well that about finishes this short post up.   The steroids I am have me wired and I have the attention span of a fly!.

Gym Time

Toward the end of March I decided I am fed up with being out of shape and overweight. I miss who I was health wise. While O can blame about 25 of these pounds on some parasite complications I was totally in charge of the rest of the pounds packing on by pitying myself and not being pro active.
So I have modified my eating habits. ( with one freebie day a week) and have joined Bartlett Rec Center where I am having a wonderful journey in group classes and solo work outs :) I would just run outside like normal people but the allergies are awful right now and I end up puffing on my inhaler Hal the run when I go outside. Plus I love the group class aspect. I have met people who motivate an encourage me. One of my favorite classes is the spin class. It pushes me and when I am done I feel the awesome accomplishment, especially the next day when the legs are burning lol. I am aspiring to do my first half marathon in December with St. Jude so I am also training for that . I was up to 6 miles but when I got a bad 3 case bout of bronchitis and asthma it knocked my lung function down. I'm back up to three and a half so I am enjoying working my way back up. I am so excited about this journey and want to blog it to help keep myself accountable!

God is Faithful!

Over the past few days I have just been dwelling in the fact that God is faithful and HE is!!! I jsut can't quit saying it!
I have struggled with why I am back in Memphis without a job. I know that there is a time and season for everything! God makes that clear to me in His word. Sometimes trusting is a little hard but having to trust Him and lean on Him let's me grow closer to Him. I am so thankful for this time of growing closer to Him.
I know when God is ready for me to have a job that I will get a call or email back from one of the 40 some odd applications I have submitted but until then I am content to wait and wait patiently ( and learn a little patience..)
Just when I wonder how I am going to meet the next bill, God brings up some babysitting job or some temp job for a former employer that gives me pretty much just the right amount of money I need to meet my bills. How can I not trust Him? He is proving Himself faithful just like He has in the past.
Tonight as I fall asleep I am resting in the comfort of His arms and His promises for me!

It's Almost May!

It's almost May and I am so incredibly excited!!! May is the month when Eric comes home from Florida (he has been there since August) I am so proud of him for all he has accomplished down there and the great work he has done and new friendship and business networking he has done. However, I am ready for him to be back home. Really, just in the same city I am. I know in the future we may be calling another city home and that is fine with me as long as he is in it. I know I sound like that teenage girl who has a picture perfect ideal. Rest assured I'm not, I know being married doesn't mean you get to see each other 24/7 and i know that being married means making sacrifices and even though I am not married yet I know these things to be true. We've already had practice for this with Eric being gone for 9 months. You know what else I have learned over this time. That the only thing I need in our relationship is his love. Eric has shown me in more than one way that he loves me while he has been in Florida. Whether it has been the sweet, silly voicemails, the precious cards, or the using of flyer miles for me to come see him for my birthday he has reminded me he knows I am still up here.
Eric has such a passion for Disney and when he got this opportunity for an internship at Disney last year I knew he had to take it. Even though, in the beginning I was not fond of this idea at all, I knew this was his passion and I knew I could not keep him from that. God has been so faithful to us and giving us time to talk and skype. God has proven himself faithful to Eric by placing Eric in places in Disney that College Programmers aren't always placed and allowing him to network with some people at Disney who can give him recognition and great recommendations. Do I think the Disney company is in our future...YES! Does that always get me excited? MOstly, although some people have to work bizarre hours. Do I know God will be faithful to us whether we stay in Memphis or move? YES.
I always tell Eric I could not be an army wife, and that I have SOOO much respect for these ladies because I have no idea how they do it.
To sum up all of this rambling, God is AMAZING and FAITHFUL and Eric is almost home. I am so looking forward to spending the last half of our engagement together in the same city and just having the comfort of him in the same city!

Time and Season

So i have been awful at blogging while disney. thats an understatement. I will have to catch up on Disney posts sometimes soon.
To catch you up, due to some sickness I had to self term and come home. It was a sad day but I have had a peace about it. (though I do miss Eric)
I was reminded by a great friend that sometimes we can't understand why things happen that they just do and we have to trust God. Since being back home the past two weeks, I have already had a plethura of things that have confirmed God indeed just wanted me here in Memphis. I have been able to drive a friend to the hospital during an uncertain time of her pregnancy, and I am currently night sitting a friends precious grandma as she is healing from some injuries.
The family has already told me several times how they realized i was looking for a job and they jsut felt God answer their prayer by seeing i was looking for one and me accepting.
Please understand i am not saying any of this to toot my own horn but to give God glory.
For the first week i was home I didn't understand why God would have me be sick enough at Disney to come home. After all, I loved it there. However, when God has plans for you, no matter how small, he will get your attentino to put you where He wants you.
So if chronic bronchitis with terrible breathing issues was what I needed to get home, then I am glad I went through it. i told my grandma that it was weird that I had a total peace about coming home. Was I thrilled to be leaving Disney (and my fiance? ) That is a definite NO. However, I just had such an amazing peace about coming home like God was telling me this is what i want for you right now.
It feels so good to be sitting in His will no matter how big or how small.

Lord You are amazing and You deserve the glory!

The Big Move! A Big Change!`

Most of my friends would laugh in your face if you ever made the comment that I like change. It is furthest from the truth. DOn't get me wrong I think change is good and can be beneficial, I enjoy the challenge of change and seeing what God has in store for me next but, the initial days and week or so into the change I am an emotional wreck inside. It's definitely something God has been working with me on. I made a big change this fall. I went a whole 5 months with Eric almost 1000 miles away (the 3 visits helped alot.) God showed me His faithfulness and His comfort through these past few months. Due to the change, I made a great new friend Miss Madison and I grew closer with my little sister. God is so faithful not to give us what we want but what we need and I realized a little of that this fall. He showed me that I can survive without  Eric by my side (but that its okay to want him there too.) 

So tomorrow, I leave headed to my own semester in Orlando at Walt Disney World and I couldn't be more excited. I am going to be making a separate blog to blog about Disney and all of its fun stuff , journeys, and lessons. I can't wait to meet my 3 roommates in person. We have been corresponding  via fb, text, and skype but I can't wait to meet them. For this first week, I am traveling down with Miss Madison as she prepares to run the Half marathon with Eric and Kadye. I am going to cheer them on!!! So excited. I doubt i will be able to sleep tonight, but I will try!