My Weekend

Mike came home for the weekend!! 25 days apart, and finally he came home.

We had the most wonderful weekend together, spent with family, friends, and with each other. I cannot wait for him to be home for good. We hardly have any time to wedding plan when he's just home for the weekend. He has no idea what's going on with wedding plans because when he's home for 2 days, neither of us wants to talk wedding plans, and make DIY wedding crafts. So I do all that by myself, and wait for him to come home for good so we can plan together.

We did do engagement photos yesterday though, which was a lot of fun. We went skating at the forks, which is exactly what we did a year ago on that day for our first date. I wish I had photos of that date too, although they would have turned out really awkward, because I am awkward...

Here's a little preview of the pictures we took. Ben did an AMAZING job with our photos.

Needless to say, the time I spend with this boy is precious, and I love every minute of it. He is my everything, and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

what to do...

Part of me wants to travel the world and learn about other cultures and people, and part of me wants to stay in a little bubble and be comfortable. 

What does Jesus want for me? What does Jesus want for both mike and I together? I don't know if we should start house shopping, or apartment shopping, or looking for a basement suite... No idea. 

Jesus help us decide what you want for us. Guide us in the direction you know we should go. 

There's so many pros of not yet settling down, getting an apartment for now, and seeing where God leads us. We could travel the world and help others, or teach english, or learn a foreign language. But theres also pros of settling down. Mike could start an apprenticeship at work and work towards a career in construction - something he loves to do. We could be near to our families and watch our nieces and nephews grow up.

So many questions, and only one person to answer them. 

Time to pray for our future.

Lovely Advice.

going through my old blog posts, i saw one i didnt end up posting... not sure why, its really sweet :)

i found this one someone else's blog, and thought i should share it.

it really is lovely advice, and i think i might post it up somewhere in my room.

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water. More than you think can fit in your body.
2. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

3. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.
4. Live with the 3 E’s - Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Play more games.
6. Read more books than you did last year.
7. Have a nice little chat with God, listening and talking for at least 20 minutes each day.
8. Sleep for at least 7 hours.

           Personality:
9. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
10. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
11. Don’t have negative thoughts about things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
12. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
13. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
14. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
15. Dream more while you are awake.
16. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
17. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind people of their mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
18. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
19. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
20. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
21. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
22. Smile and laugh more.

          Society:

23. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
24. Talk to your family often.
25. Each day give something good to others, whether it’s a smile, a gift, or just your presence.
26. Forgive everyone for everything.
27. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
28. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
29. What other people think of you should not matter to you.

          Life:

30. The best is yet to come.
31. Do the right thing!
32. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
33. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
35. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

2/30 Things!

To see what this post is all about and where it begins... Click Here!

2. Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears

...

1. I am scared that I wont live up to my potential/God's plan for my life. 

I've always known He had a plan for me... and right now I do believe I am on track with what God wants. I'm marrying the man of my dreams, who is also a christian, and I couldn't be happier. But with marriage comes more decisions, and more questions of where we should be. Should we buy a house? Should we rent an apartment? Should we stay in Canada and save money for our future family? Should we go travel the world and teach english to people in different countries? 

I have no idea... and I'm scared we might choose the wrong path.

2. I am so scared that something will happen to Mike. 

I've waited my whole life to find him... and I can't imagine anything happening to him!! I am a huge worry wart... so that doesn't help. If he doesn't text me back, or I don't hear from him for a long time... I start to think he died. And I couldn't handle losing him! 

Maybe I need to relax and trust God... :)

3. I'm scared that I wont be able to have kids. 

My plan right now is to get married... work for a few years (or travel, we'll see) and then have kids! And that will be my full time job! (I really don't like working...) So I'm scared that for some reason my plan will be messed up, and I wont have any kids, and I'll have to work my whole life at some crappy job I dont like...

this post is depressing.

here's a funny picture of Mike to make it better :)

I'm also scared of:

1. children hitting me in the face with their pretend guns

2. cancer

3. my cat clawing at my face

4. getting fat

The End! next time... Describe your relationship with your parents.

2012 in a nutshell.

I've had a crazy year. crazy crazy crazy. I can't emphasize that enough! Remembering back to January 2012, I was single and not looking too hard. I had enough of stupid boys, and just wanted to wait until the right one came along... which is when Mike came around. I still remember the day I got up the courage to message him on Facebook and we started talking. 

This was the night I decided to change my life. Although it was a fun night, it wasn't for me anymore. No more bars, No more getting drunk... I needed Jesus, and I wasn't going to find Him in a bar.

SO. Instead of going to the bar, I spent a lot of time at home. With my kitty! As many of you know, I love this cat almost too much...

I started drinking lots and lots of tea! hot tea, cold tea, tea bags, loose leaf tea... all sorts. so yummy.

This guy told me he loves me, even though I am exactly as this article describes - which apparently wasn't a good thing, but he said he loved that I look and dress like a hipster, even though I'm not at all hipster...

and then Mike replaced my kitty... 

because I realized that we're both super weird. We fell in love. What an amazing feeling!! It was such an amazing change for me to have someone who cared about me, and wanted the same things I did.

The day grandpa died was not a fun day... I was at work, and I couldn't think of anything else... My grandpa was an amazing man who loved everyone more than anyone I've ever met. I miss him grabbing my hand, looking straight into my eyes, and saying "Love Ya", and never wanting to let go. He had a beautiful funeral with beautiful stories, complete with the song "Love Lives On", which describes grandpa perfectly. I know he's dancing and singing with Jesus now... and I can't wait to hold his hand when I join him in heaven :)

 In April, I went to Grand Forks with these crazy girls (and sarah, but i couldn't find a picture of her!) This was an amazing weekend and I'm so happy we got to do it! Maybe we'll find time this year to go again for my bachelorette weekend :)

And then she got married! May 20. What a fun day. My beautiful Linnea married her best friend and started a brand new life with him. And I got to dream about the day I can marry my best friend too :)

 Josh and Lorilee travelled out to Garson to visit Mike's place. We went to the Garson swimming hole on the golf cart. These two are fun to double date with. I hope we continue to double date until we're old fogeys.

 I finally had a date for the Niverville Olde Tyme Country Fair this year!!! Mike Bouwman and I had so much fun. We had a few more weekends before heading out to camp... and this was an AMAZING way to spend one of them. I just love the Niverville fair :)

 And... I went to summer camp. After all that convincing myself that I wouldn't... there I was. And it was beautiful, and an amazing experience. I even started wearing Tie-dye, and thought it was awesome. I wish I could still wear it at home... but I feel silly :P God worked in so many lives at camp, and it was so amazing to see that. He definitely solidified my relationship with Him, there's no turning back now. 

I'm His girl forever. 

 On my birthday, Mike took me to make a build-a-bear, which I had ALWAYS wanted a boyfriend to do for me... and he's my favourite boyfriend I've ever had... so it just made sense that he was the one to do that for me. Definitely one of my favourite birthdays I've ever had.

 

On Mike's birthday, we went to Minneapolis for a Desiring God Conference with a bunch of camp people. Such a good trip. I'm so glad we went to that. It was great to go listen to speakers talk about how to stay in relationship with God even when it's hard. Especially after coming home from camp. At camp you get on this "spiritual high" because you're always around christians, and everything is Christ centred. Coming home isn't like that. So I'm really glad that I got to take this trip to remind me what life is about, and what I should be living for. 

On October 20, Mike Bouwman and I got engaged! It was beautiful. To read that story, click here!

 

and then we set a date!! (which has now been changed to May 31 instead of June 1... JUST so you all know)

 Mike had talked about leaving for Regina to work on a project out there, and finally it came time for him to go. He ended up being gone for 4 weeks, which was FAR too long... but I managed to survive with a little help from my family and wine. :) (not that i need wine to cope... don't get the wrong idea!)

 We had an AWESOME Christmas together! We only left each others sight for 1 day, otherwise we were always together. I wouldn't have had it any other way!

Christmas eve at the Regehr household is always fun. We all get dressed up for the Christmas Eve kids program, and then come back home and take pictures.. open stockings, and eat chocolate fondue!

Those boys are weirdos. here me and karis are, trying to take nice photos.. and they ruin it. Oh well. We love them anyways.

 For me, this turned out to be a christmas where I filled up my hope chest! I got a ton of stuff for the future house, which was awesome because I'm gonna need it!

At our Regehr family gathering, we had a little memorial for Grandpa, which was really sweet. I miss seeing that man at our gatherings...  Dad even wrote mine and Kelsey's nicknames from Grandpa on our envelopes from Grandma. He called us "Tweetie" and "Barbie" since I can remember.

Before Mike left for Regina again, we bought a Mac Mini! (which I am using right now... it's wonderful) and he left it with me for 3 weeks. I'm having so much fun with this thing, its gonna be hard to give it back to him when he comes home! But... I'd rather have my fiancé with me than a computer!

And that was my year! I hope you enjoyed reminiscing along with me :)