April 24, 2008

  • I am Loved.

    I have felt so loved in the past few weeks.  Now, I know that I am loved.  My parents love me, Jake loves me, my friends love me.  But I've had it demonstrated in so many clear-cut ways that it blows my mind.  The past two weekends have been full of bridal showers for me.  They've been tons of fun and I've really enjoyed getting to see my family and friends more than I normally would!  My Louisville shower was first and it was tons of fun!  My mom and dad drove down so my mom could go with me.  Greta made a super yummy carrot cake, my Sunday school class got together and gave us our pots and pans set plus another pan, my friend Martha Stewart (really--that's her name!) made a beautiful afghan, and we got lots of other beautiful gifts.  This last weekend, my maid of honor and I headed up to Indy for my family shower and my friends' shower there.  My family one was highlighted by the fact that I got to hold my new 3 week old cousin Becca.  Jake's Mom and Grandma came in for these and his Grandma made us a beautiful quilt.  I have a quilt from my grandma already, and the one from his Grandma is gorgeous.  I love it!  We got towels, pyrex, Corningware, baking accessories, sheets, flatware, and my great aunt Nellie's lemon cake recipe--a family prize!--plus tons of things that I'm forgetting.  My friends' shower was a recipe shower.  Guests were instructed to bring a recipe and the dry ingredients to make it.  It was a great idea and I now have tons of yummy recipes to make.  I'm super excited to cook my way through all of that.  And, Jake's grandma embroidered these adorable tea towels with patterns from the 20s and 30s.  I love them!

    One of the coolest things we did was at each shower, the guests got a little journalling box and were asked to write down a piece of advice or encouragement for our marriage.  We took pictures of each person there and my bridesmaid Amanda decorated a beautiful scrapbook for me to put them all in.  I love learning from people who have been there and done that, so I really appreciate it all.  The funny part--my favorite piece of advice came from my cousin Hannah who is 17: "In your later years, do something to remind yourselves of why you fell in love to begin with."  What good advice! 

    So now, I'm wading through the Thank You notes and trying to get all of those done soon.  Life is good.  In 44 days, I'll be a married woman.  Whoa.  6 weeks from Saturday.  I can't wait!