Score one for the home team

I found my dress. It was the first one I tried on. My mom and my aunt were in love with it, but I wasn't convinced that the best dress could possibly be the first one. After a hot day of getting lost in Charleston/Kanawha City/St. Albans and only shopping at one other store, we returned to the English Rose, where I tried on the dress again (after eating at a Chinese buffett--big mistake). So it's now my dress. It looks great and it was half off too! You just can't beat that.

In other news, I accepted the I-Teams leader position and I'm really excited for the coming semester. Unfortunately, that's about all I'm looking forward to because everything else is completely overwhelming. I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it. This is my last year of school, so I'll be planning a wedding, making sure I have all of my credits to graduate, and applying to graduate, not to mention all the stress I feel with everyone moving back into Morgantown. I have told Andy over and over that I am locking myself in the house this weekend, and he can come and see me if he wants, but I am not going anywhere. Somehow, though, he has convinced me to go antique shopping and see a movie. We'll just see how that goes.

Morgantown is so crazy when everyone comes back in the fall. Luckily most of the upperclassmen trickle in through the last few weeks before school starts, but all the freshmen make a mad rush for campus starting on Friday morning. It's complete and utter chaos. Parents don't know how to navigate Morgantown, pedestrians jaywalk, parties pop up all over the place, little 18-year-olds think they are going to get hammered every night, and there is nothing left on the shelves at Wal-Mart. Like I said--chaos. I can't wait to move away.

I also get a little nervous and uncomfortable at BCM because there are so many people and often a significant portion are new. I try to make friends and make the newbies/freshmen feel welcome but I always end up feeling shy and intimidated, and I just go talk to people I know. I guess it's something I'm going to have to pray about because I get nervous just thinking about it.

327 days til we're married!

Exciting things.

I have been asked to lead an I-Team for BCM this year, and I couldn't be more excited! I felt like God has placed a desire in my heart to minister to other young women and this would give me a wonderful opportunity to humbly lead a group of them in a bible study. I am, of course, taking a few days to pray about it to make sure this is what God wants me to do.

I have had some tough experiences in my life and while the memories of these things often tormented me, I knew God allowed everything to happen for a reason. He loves us enough to let us do as we please, waiting for us to turn back to Him when we see that this world cannot satisfy us. I now know with certainty that I went through these trials so that I could related to other young women who are facing the same situations or problems, and provide God-centered wisdom and help to those who need it. :)

In other news, I have stress ulcers in my mouth and I hate them. Hopefully they will go away within the next few days.

We also have made some progress with the wedding planning (especially since my last blog post!). The date is July 16, 2011 and it will be at the CMA church in Morgantown. We have done some work on the guest list, but it is definitely not done yet. We also have a potential caterer (who I need to talk to) and a couple photographer candidates. Once we get our engagement pictures taken, I am going to design the save-the-dates, and start on the invitations. I am going to go dress shopping in Charleston this weekend. So much to do, but it seems to be falling into place quite well!