It's been a while!

Lots of new stuff since my last blog. I am engaged and we are getting married on June 7, 2007 in Estes Park, Colorado. We are getting married on a dock at Sprague Lake at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park. We rented a small cabin for our weeklong honeymoon. BTW, that is not me on the dock but it is the dock where we are getting married.

We also plan on staying at the Stanley Hotel for one night. The Stanley hotel is the hotel that Stephen King wrote about in The Shining. Pretty cool huh? I told Rick that I do not want to stay in the haunted room though!! I like scary stuff, but I am not about to stay the night in a haunted room. The Ghost Hunter's episode filmed at the Stanley was enough for me.

We will be having an Evansville Reception on the 21st of June for all those that cannot make it to the wedding. It will be held at New Bethel Church on Broadway at 2:00pm.

We're Engaged!!

I am a very happy girl today. Rick asked me to marry him last night. Obviously I said yes. He was very inventive as usual. He asked me to come over and help him decorate for Christmas and I agreed. We had Christmas music on and we had dinner cooking in the oven. I commented on an ornament that had his name on it and then about half way through decorating the tree he said "hey look I found a Shelley ornament." I turned around to see what he was talking about and he was holding a large clear glass ornament with fake snow in it. I inspected it thinking he had an ornament made with my name on it (he is always thoughtful like that.) I noticed that there was a red glittery ribbon extending down inside the ornament in the snow. He said, "I wonder what is on the other end of that ribbon?" I was catching on and got a smle on my face. I pulled out the most beautiful engagement ring ever and he asked me to marry him.

I'm going to Hong Kong!

It's official, I bought my plane ticket last Friday. I will be traveling to Hong Kong December 19-28th to visit my friend Katie. She moved there in August and will live there for two years teaching english as a second language. I am off work for two weeks over Christmas, so I planned the trip for then. I leave from Louisville and fly to Chicago, then Los Angeles, then to Hong Kong. The trip will take a total of 24 hours. The flight from L.A. to Hong Kong is 15 hours. They are 12 hours ahead of us so I will lose a day on the way there and gain a day on the way back.

I'm pretty excited and a little nervous too. I don't like to fly more than I have to, but I took a 12 hour plane ride to London in 1994 so I know what to expect.

If .you want to read more about my friend Katie in Hong Kong, she has a blog at http://katielivinginhongkong.blogspot.com/. She has a video of her new apartment on there. It looks really cool!

I'm back!

I've really been neglecting this blog. I'm going to try and keep up a little more. I'm not even sure if anyone reads this but I like having a collection of my thoughts to refer back to occasionally.

Last night was the first night that we have had Bible Study for quite a while. It was good to see everyone again. We are studying a new book called "The Power of a Praying Woman." I think it is going to be really good.

Things have slowed down for me somewhat lately. A big reason for that is that I have quit the half-marathon training. I'm a little upset with myself because I really wanted to do it, but I am trying to just let it go for now. I have been pushing myself too hard and that is one area that could free up a lot of time. I'm so close to being done with my master's, but this next month is going to be stressful as I finish my thesis. Plus I am teaching two classes and still working my regular 40 hour web design job. It's just not the time for me to be training for a half. I kept exhausting myself to the point that I couldn't recover. The good thing is that there is always next year! I finish my degree in December, so I plan on starting to train for next year's half at that point.

Alright, back to work. I'm in the middle of reprogramming all the menus within our site. Right now the navigation is all messed up. I think that I am going to have a sore neck from staring intently at the computer screen after today. Gotta love Javascript!

Rest and resume

I was a little overwhelmed last week. I took a couple of nights off to relax and now I feel much better. Sometimes we just need that time off to reset ourselves.

I get a daily inspirational email from an organization called "God Calling". It is supposedly inspired from the Word of God delivered via two elderly women living in England. I hesitate to accept it as that, but I know that the message is very true in many ways. I especially liked one that I recieved the other day. It is as follows:

I AM your Shield. No buffets of the world can harm you. Feel that between you and all scorn and indignity is a strong shield. Practice feeling this until nothing has the power to spoil the in­ward peace. Then indeed a marvellous victory shall be won.

You wonder sometimes why you are permitted to make mistakes in your choice when you sought so truly to do My Will in the matter.

To that l say it was no mistake.... All your lessons cannot be learned without difficulty, and this was needed to teach you a lesson. Not to him who walks on, with no obstacles in his way, but to him that overcometh is the promise given.

So to attain peace quickly in your surround­ings, as well as in your hearts, learn your lesson quickly. And the overcoming is never the over­coming of the one who troubled you, but the overcoming of the weaknesses and wrong in your own nature, aroused by such a one.

No lower standard than My Standard shall be yours. “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”

I love what this says. It is so hard to do the right thing when we feel that we have been wronged. We want to lash out at that person or group or establishment. Instead we are supposed to look at the situation as a learning experience that maybe was intended to happen to teach us something about ourselves. When we are wronged something negative usually comes out of our own personality. The negative reaction evoked is what we are learn from. We grow when we learn our own weaknesses. How are we to see our own weaknesses if life is a walk in the park? Through adversity we find our true selves. Once we know our true selves we can begin to work on what is broken and become more like Christ.

Busy

This is the busiest time I have ever had in my life! I have something every night. Tonight it's working out and class. Fun fun.

This is my name in Mandarin Chinese. I think I am going to try and learn some Cantonese before my trip this winter. I ordered some CD's so we'll see how that goes. I expect it to be really difficult. (Katie, you'll have to keep me some pointers.) For instance....is it Cantonese that I want to learn?? lol. I read on the Hong Kong tourism site that Cantonese is the primary language spoken in Hong Kong as opposed to Mandarin.


I have a busy weekend coming up again, but it's fun stuff. Friday night the girls from my small group are going to the drive-in and Saturday night the Young Singles are going to the Demolition Derby.....cause nothing says fellowship like a good ol' Demolition Derby. =) I just think that is so funny..

Our Monday night small group is all about service work so I have been trying to find something to do for other people or the community. I found the perfect opportunity. There is a local horseback riding barn that has a program for special needs children. They have it every Monday night. Since I used to ride this is the perfect service work for me. I am really excited to help out and to just spend time at a barn again. I really really miss it...even the dirty work like cleaning stalls. I just love being around horses!

Hump day

I was late to arrive for training last night so I jumped in at the end of the walker's group. I tried the speed walking thing and it was kind of fun. I can walk really fast because I am tall and have a long stride. It felt really good and I got that competitive spirit. I raced ahead and finished at the head of the group. That was a good feeling. When I am in the runner's group I could care less about whether I pass people...I'm an just trying to survive without dying..lol. The walk was really too easy though...I guess I need to run. For the first time I experienced that endorphine high after the workout. I finished and stood there talking to on of my running friends and I felt great...energized..hyper almost. The whole place was buzzing with conversation so I guess I was not the only one. I really liked that feeling. That alone could keep me motivated I think.

Well it's hump day and that means that I have class tonight. My class is in Oakland City so I will work until 4 then finish my homework and go to class at 6. I won't be home until 9:30 or 10:00 tonight. Wednesdays are my least favorite day of the week. I am so close to graduation though. Just one more semester and my college career is finally over!! Gotta push on through.