3 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21 Days and I will be married!!!!!!!!!

Mrs. Scott Appleton! That is who I'll be!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited! I can't wait. Everything is coming together so nicely. The last BM dress is being finished today and then my Grandmother and Mother will be all done with their wonderful, faithful work! This wouldn't have been possible without them.

My Dad took me out for my Birthday last night and we had a lovely time enjoying dinner and then I showed him the apartment with some furniture in it since he hadn't seen it since before I painted. It was a great night with my Dad. :)

I would write more, but today is a very busy day. Pick up Mana, book signing, and then a PartyLite show tonight. Busy, busy, busy. :)

Can you say. . .

36 Days!!!!!!

That's right, only 36 days left. That is, 35 days, 10 hours, and 25 minutes until I will be Scott's wife! :) Everything is moving right along. I just finished tagging all the boutonnieres for the Groomsmen. I'm working on the Seating chart (which is close to half-way done) and my Sister-in-law-to-be has started taking care of part of the favors for me (she is such a great sister and friend).

The book is doing great, and we finally have the Hardcover Edition It looks so great, and it is so rewarding for my Man to have the Hardcover. :)

Scott's parents bought us a Glider/Rocking chair last week and we moved it into the apartment on Wednesday. Scott really likes it, and I know he will do lots of writing in it. :) On Thursday we went and found the perfect couch (well, loveseat, that is) for our little place. We can't wait to get it moved in.

I am also starting out on a new venture as a PartyLite Consultant. I am so excited. My starter show is next Friday. I'm going to try to do 6 shows by the end of this month, before the wedding. :)

So yes, I am very busy. I am most excited this coming week because I get to watch my little nephew for a few hours. He is getting so big already. and is absolutely adorable! :) It is so amazing to me how God's design is so intricate and how a little baby can be so small, and yet grow so quickly. How anyone can believe that we "evolved from monkeys (or something else)" is far beyond me. There are miracles everywhere, that everyone sees, that if they just took a moment, they would realize just how AMAZING God is. I can't help but just stand in awe of my Awesome God.

Things

46 days!

It is less than 7 weeks to the wedding now (the days seem to be going by so much faster now). I'm so happy (and I have many reasons to be). God is working out everything just beautifully. The Bridesmaids dresses are at a standstill for approximately 10 more days as we wait for two of my girls to return home from college (Praise the Lord, they both go to colleges that let out early rather than some that don't get out till closer to the end of May!). In the meantime my family is working on repainting several of the rooms in our house and I am working on slowly packing away things that I know I won't need for a couple years.

I had my pre-bridal portrait shoot done today, and it is going to drive me crazy not being able to show the proofs to My Man once they come in. But at least I'll only have to wait a few weeks instead of months. :) (I'm working on looking at the positive side of things. :) )

God is so good. I am so thankful for all the work that He is doing in my life and for how He continues to amaze me with working out little details that I never would have thought of regarding a number of different things. Without God, we are nothing, I am nothing. I can't imagine what it is like to not know God, to not be in a relationship with God. As we get closer to the wedding, I'm still not stressed or worried about anything although I know there are lots of things to do in the next 6 weeks. I'm sure that I will have moments of being stressed out in the weeks to come, but I know that God is in control, everything is in His hands, He knows what will happen, and I know I can rest in Him.

Happenings

It is now only 53 days to The Wedding. Much is happening. Scott has cleaned the carpets in the apartment (the pic's are still on my camera) and I have painted the living rm, kitchen and bathroom (with help from my lovely Aunt).

A week and a half ago my church surprised me with a shower, and as a result I have started moving little stuff over to the apartment. We were very blessed. We received lots of helpful, useful things. I can't wait to get everything set up.

My Grandparents were parked in our driveway the last 3 weeks and so my Mom and my Grandmother were able to get the bulk of the sewing done for the Bridesmaids dresses and the Flower Girl dress as well as alter my Dress. Now we're waiting on the rest of the trim to come in and for 2 of my girls to return home from College so we can finish all the dresses. They look beautiful.

I had a terrible cold/sinus infection over the past week, but the Lord helped me carry on and Scott and I were able to get lots of promotion done for the book as well as book several more events.

We have less than 8 weeks left to go, and we have much to do, but as we've seen up to this point, God has everything in His hands, and He will work everything out to the last detail, including work, the book, the Wedding, and after the Wedding as well. We know He is in control, and it is a blessing to be able to trust everything to His trusting, faithful hands.

Our Story

Part 2: The Proposal

Well, I'm finally back to write about how we got engaged. So, as I was saying, it didn't appear that Scott would propose until Christmas '08 or Spring '09. So I certainly was not on the watch for a proposal. But I was to be surprised. On September 10, 2008, Scott and I were going to Harkness Memorial Park and then out to lunch for the first time, by ourselves. Up to this point we had never gone out to eat just the two of us so this was a special (although I was unaware of just how special it would be). When Scott came to pick me up, he brought me a lovely bouquet of Roses. Then, as we were leaving, Scott grabbed a package from his car (we were taking my car). I said, "the roses weren't enough?" He said, "no, and you can't open the package until later." After we'd been driving for a bit, I asked him what was in the package? He said that he would give me a hint: "some stories have yet to be written." He thought for sure that I had figured it out, but I was totally clueless. I thought, "a journal? Does he want me to start writing out our story?" I was completely lost, which made it all the better for him. When we got to the park, we took a blanket and the package with us, and started walking. it was a beautiful, sun-shinny day and comfortably warm. I don't think there was a cloud in site. I figured that eventually we would sit down somewhere looking out over the ocean, and that that would be when I would open the package. We walked through the rock garden at Harkness, and when we reached the top of some steps, all of a sudden Scott said, "why don't you open the package now?" I said, "right now?" I thought this was an awkward place to open the package, standing up and all, but he was in charge of this day, so I would do whatever he wanted me to. So I opened up the package and found a book that's actually a box. So I opened the box, and it was full of peices of pink tissue paper. I was thinking "I don't get it, what is with all the tissue paper?" Finally Scott reached over and moved some of the paper, and uncovered a small black, velvet box. It still didn't dawn on me what was going on. I thought, "a necklace? No, the box is too small, it must be earrings." Scott took out the box, and was on his knee, by this time and yet I was still clueless. He opened the box and started talking, and finally it dawned on me that he was actually proposing, right now, that was a ring! I didn't say anything at first, and he kept talking and finally I realized that I hadn't responded so I all of a sudden said "yes" right in the middle of a sentence. It was wonderful. The ring is beautiful, and the inside is engraved with "My Angel Forever 4-08 (when it all started)," and on June 6, 2009 I am going to be the happiest and most blessed woman alive. God is so good.

Congratulations!!!!

Congratulations Neil & Laura on your precious little gift from above!

That's right, my first little nephew (to be) was born yesterday, March 12, 2009 at 4:59am. He weighed 5 lbs and 14 ounces, and was 18 3/4 inches long. He is adorable!!!!! He has the tiniest little mouth, hands and feet. He is so cute!

Shoes

I love shoes. Ask anyone, I have several pairs of shoes (not as many as some, as I do get rid of the shoes I don't wear or that don't fit me) and I never have enough. But shoes for me have to be pretty and comfortable. So naturally, for my Wedding day I have to have just the right pair of shoes. Now, just one year ago I discovered my absolute favorite pair of shoes. They are "American Eagle Millie Bow Ballet" from Payless. At the time there were 3 colors. Black, Pink and White. I bought the Black ones and told my Mom that "I really should buy these white ones too because they would make the PERFECT wedding shoes." Of course my Mom did not go for that as "it could be 5 years before you wore them." Well, then I got engaged, and there was a "slight" problem (as far as attire/shoes go). The shoes now only came in Black, Brown, and Shimmery Gold. And, I knew that the White shoes would be perfect. They're flats, they're comfortable, and they would go perfectly with my dress. Buuuuutttttt, they weren't available. So, I didn't stress too much over it. I just kept praying and hoping that come spring they would have the White shoes again. So, now that it's March, I went online yesterday to see what I could find because I had decided that these would be the perfect shoes for the Bridesmaids as well. Low and behold, Praise the Lord, the white shoes were there! I am so happy. We ordered all 9 pairs that were needed and they're coming next week. So, here are the shoes: