Iowa....Freezage....!

Just the beginning....

Numbers6:25 "the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you"

This was a very fun trip. The people of Pleasantville truly blessed us. Thank you to Rhonda Stubbs for taking pictures and capturing this moment in life. Thank you Geenie Gilderbloom for the cake mints that no one in Texas has heard of or have been able to taste the greatness of. Thank you to my parents who had the heart and thoughtfulness to throw this engagement party for us.

The Family!

Cheek to Cheek!

I don't know if I have ever seen my dad so happy! His friend Lyle is next to him. Lyle got teary eyed when telling Justin to take care of me.....

I have been waiting a year to meet this precious little girl, Blayke. She is the daughter of one my good friends from high school (Mitch). Justin and Mitch hit it off, I knew they would. They both have the commonality of photography. Justin seemed to find great comfort with Mitch and his family!

The girls of the family. From left to right: My cousin, Charlynne (charlie), My mom, My aunt Dee. They were all such a big part of making this party happen. Thank you ladies. Love you!

This is Anna-mae and Merle. They are my dad's mom's cousins. They came in and I just started to cry. She just kept telling me how proud grandma was of me and how she would have loved to have been here. They were backyard neighbors to my grandparents who I spent a lot of time at their house. She smelled (good) just the same and it brought so many good memories! It was the best surprise of the engagement party.

The new In-Laws for Justin. I am not sure if you can tell by this picture but my dad is a large man, and half way through the trip Justin told me how terrified he was of him. He really is just a huge teddy bear. For those of you who know Steve Chandler, he is a replica of him, Justin agreed.

It was a great time in Iowa, Thank you for your prayers. The Lord really did miracles on our trip up there and we were able to reflect and praise Him more!

Am I blogger yet.....?

Am I a blogger yet is the question? I think I look at the page and wish how I was better at this. Then when I have a lot on my mind and heart, I am never around a pen or paper or a computer to write down my thoughts. Once I get in front of this computer my mind goes blank (even though, everything I just said, I thought of in the shower...so I am getting there :) ) Please be gracious with our efforts to be a faithful blogger. God remains faithful in sanctifying us and showing so much about His love and grace, even though we do not publish it to the world.

Recently, I have been walking around with this ongoing tape that repeats over and over saying "Kels, you are a redeemed child of the King, the almighty God, who has been faithful to you, you must walk, talk and act like it." The past few weeks have been very trying for me by getting sick and having all of the realities in life hit me at once. They are all good, and I praise God for giving me joy for once through my sickness and knowing He is allowing it all to happen for a reason. I find peace and rest in the fact that everything that happens must past through His hands first to get to me. Thank you Jesus! In these days of reflecting on what God has done in my heart with the topics of repentance and forgiveness, my desire for the Lord has increased. I appreciate His discipline and his kindness that leads me to His throne of grace.

Psalm 67 that is on our picture above has been such a picture of my desire for Justin and I. I pray this for us as He prepares us to go to the nations Lord willing but even for the times He has left to bring us to here in Denton. This weekend we will be going to Missouri and Iowa to meet my family. This Psalm has been heavy on my mind and heart the last few days and my desire for everyone we encounter to see His face, His love, His glory and that we will not hide what He has done for us. Our story is truly from Him, He is the perfect author and is in control of everything. Verses 1 and 2 say "My God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, (so) that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations" When I first read this, it increased my desire to go to the nations and have His name be known. Recently it has mentored my heart for this nation, for my own family, for the people I see every day. He is so good to be gracious to me to allow this realization. I see it as a sign of maturity and forgiveness. I see it as a representation of His heart for all people to come to know Him, to love and adore Him the way that my heart has been moved to do so.

When you think of being cold, please remember Justin and I as we trek up to Missouri to see friends and then onto Iowa to meet family. We will be attending an engagement party that my parents are throwing for us with 70 people. My momma has been generous to do this for us, I am thankful. We will also need prayer on the anxiety level, of Justin meeting 70 new people. He is going to do great and God will be faithful, we definitely covet your prayers!

Much love!

Kels

God's goodness on our lives....

Sundays are always special to me. I get to sit next to the man that the Lord has graciously gifted me with. I consider to be blessed to have a man that while he prays he is humbled by the God of our salvation that tears fall from his face.

His mercy on our lives becomes more apparent the more we get to recall all that He has done already. The thoughts that keep me humbled to think this is the fact that we are not entitled to tomorrow, to good health, to a long life with the one I am committing to serve and love until the Lord departs us from this world. At church today praying for our lead pastor and feeling the hurt that his wife and kids must be feeling. The confusing tension that God is good and joy but yet there is still pain in this life. It is such a great tension and to me it magnifies His goodness and grace.

Psalm 86:5,6

"For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace."

My hope and desire for this blog is that we will always meditate on His goodness and share with others of His faithfulness and mercy.

"Called Beauty" are lyrics by this couple from Memphis called Jenny & Tyler. These lyrics have recently overwhelmed my spirit for more of the Lord.

"do not spare the rod how i long for faithfulness

tell me once again of Your grace and woo me in

let not these lovers be more attractive than You God"

As I listen to this song I picture myself walking down the isle to my groom and to remember God's faithfulness in allowing me to do so. I love you Lord and we desire more of you!

The blog, the ring and the proposal.

[The blog.]

Here's the idea: Kelsey and I post bits and pieces of what God's doing, bits and pieces of our story so far and occasionally photographs, since I'm a photographer (supposedly.)

Begin entry number one.

[The ring.]

Kelsey wanted to look at rings, which is great. Phenomenal. Men should be held to high (biblical?) standards when it comes to many decisions, big and small, all of their lives. I am pretty sure very few of them are actually qualified to decide on an engagement ring, however.

We went to a pretty fancy store, looked at pretty fancy rings and got talked down to by a pretty fancy saleswoman. I think we were both fairly discouraged. We were talking later and Kelsey said, somewhat out of the blue,

"All those rings were ugly."

We decided that something super simple would be smart for a lot of reasons, including our plans to be overseas.

The next morning I got an email from Mrs. Vicki Haley (Kelsey's mentor and friend) that said she and Wayne had store credit at a jewelry store they'd like us to put towards a ring. Vicki inherited Wayne's mother's ring, traded it in, had rings made for the ladies in their family and still had some left over.

The very first ring Kelsey tried on at this jeweler was the style she was interested in, fit her without being sized, and was $45 LESS than our store credit. I think we smiled for about the next hour straight on our way home.

[The proposal.]

I packed pretty light: the ring, a bible, a camera and a quilt my great grandmother made.

We ate at our favorite Thai place for lunch and began the journey down I-35W. We stopped for coffee, sat for a bit, talked for a bit and drove for a bit. Our destination was the Botanic Gardens in Fort Worth, but I seriously had no idea if there would be a chance for solitude. I hadn't been since I was a kid.

We explored for a while. We saw a lot of people (like, 30 or so) dressed in blue jeans and white dress shirts attempting to be a happy family while being photographed. Oh man, whose idea was that?

So we wandered. And occasionally stopped and looked around.

Me: "Have we found it yet?"

Kelsey: "I don't know. What are we looking for?"

Me: "I don't know. I think we'll know when we find it."

So we kept wandering.

We found a somewhat secluded spot and I'm pretty sure we were both thinking,

"OMG let's do this, already."

We spread the quilt and we sat. I read Kelsey Proverbs 31 and she wept. (I'm surprised I made it all the way through it.) I closed the bible, I got on my knee and I said,

"I've intentionally waited until now to say this: I love you. Will you please marry me?"

I'm pretty sure she said yes. Neither of us can really remember...

And we took a self portrait with my camera on a rock on a timer. It was a really, really long timer for some reason, so the laughter in that one was not faked. We held our pose for about 30 seconds, started laughing and then the shutter clicked.

You can click to scroll through all the photos.

JT