My Baby Sister is Gettin' Married!

Y'all, I am SO excited to announce that my baby sister is getting married! I am incredibly excited for her and my future bro-in-law, Kirby...they are so perfect for each other (and bless him for putting up with her lol). We had been secretly plotting behind her back for a couple of months--talk about biting your tongue to keep a secret--and everything went absolutely perfect and without a hitch!

Ok, story time!

Kirby called me back in January to discuss rings and what Hannah liked and what cut of diamond she wanted, etc, etc, etc. Right in the middle of all that, the Lord decided to up and move Daniel and I back to Arkansas and it was a really crazy time, so the plans kind of got put on hold for a couple of weeks. We picked right back up in February, going to a couple different jewelry stores and just seeing what we could find. One of the ones we went to was Brooks Jewelry in Conway and they specialize in custom-made rings. DING DING DING! We had a winner! Kirby really loved the idea of creating Hannah a one of a kind ring that no one else would have, so we went to work deciding what kind of setting he wanted, where to get loose diamonds, and all that jazz. It just so happens that his grandmother had a ring that she told him he use for Hannah's ring (how special is that?!). The ring was yellow gold with a .35 carat solitaire. Now, Hannah absolutely loves rose gold, so Kirby decided he wanted to incorporate that into her ring somehow. He also decided he wanted to do a three stone ring, because it would signify that their marriage relationship would consist of God at the top and then the two of them. Kirby was able to use the solitaire diamond from his grandmother and then the other two stones we found from some close family friends. Brooks Jewelry went to work drawing up a design and it was absolutely STUNNING! 

Now that the ring was taken care of, we had to decide when and where he would propose. The weekend of April 13-14, UCA had a Spring football game and Kirby's parents and sister were driving up from Austin, TX to watch him play. We decided this would be the perfect opportunity cause then all the families could be involved! He called my grandmother to see if she could do lunch on Sunday before his family had to leave--our grandmother's house is very special to us because we have so many fun and loving memories there and this would be absolutely nothing out of the ordinary to Hannah. Again, it was perfect! Knowing that she really wanted me at the proposal, I had to let her think I wasn't coming to lunch since Sunday was a work day for Daniel. Secretly, Daniel and I drove down after church so we could be there and watch the whole thing!

The Proposal:

Sunday, April 14, 2013, was a bright sunny day with a high of 75 degrees---absolutely perfect weather! (notice a trend here). They all get up and go to church, and then head to my grandmother's house for lunch as planned. Meanwhile, Daniel and I are driving down from Fort Smith and my Aunt Linda and Uncle Jim are driving back from our cabin to be there to take pictures. Once we arrive, we sit and hide at the end of the driveway so she won't see our cars. Kirby takes Hannah down to the lake that my grandparents live on, and at that moment we RUSHED into the house to watch the whole proposal transpire. It was so fun and beautiful to watch--especially to see the look of shock of Hannah's face since she had no idea it was coming that day! We got some great pictures and came back up to the house to celebrate and eat cake! 

I mean, honestly, how gorgeous is that ring?! 

The rest of the afternoon, we ate cake and took pictures and sighed with relief that we didn't have to keep a secret anymore! Since then, she and Kirby have already set a date---May 9, 2014 in an intimate beach ceremony in Florida! The countdown has begun so let the wedding festivities begin!

PattiCakes Bakery made this beautiful cake

Yay for being engaged!

The happy couple

Mike and Jan O'Meara, Kirby, Hannah, Mom and Dad

The couple with our grandparents :)

The Henderson women and our bling. I'd say our guys did well.

Dreams Do Come True

Now that things have settled down a bit, I finally have time to dish some details on our move back to Arkansas. First of all, let me say, GOD IS GOOD.

This process started about 4 months ago. Around Thanksgiving, we started having contact with FBC in Fort Smith. We actually met face-to-face with Daniel's boss that weekend since we were in town. It was an informal meeting and we knew they had other people they were interviewing and considering for the position, but I think we both walked away from that meeting feeling hopeful and trying not to get too excited. Thinking our timeline to move was after graduation in May, we didn't really anticipate a fast interview process. Suddenly, in mid-January, the Doctor I worked for in Louisville got deathly ill and had to be hospitalized. They honestly didn't think he was going to live through that week. He had a bowel perforation, underwent surgery, went into cardiac arrest as well as sustaining liver and kidney failure. (Thankfully he is on the mend now) Absolutely crazy and scary! Well, being an assistant to him, if he is not working in the office, then they don't have a need for me and therefore I wasn't working either. Daniel and I started freaking out a little bit because we knew that we would not be able to survive and pay bills if I lost my job. We prayed and consulted our families and decided to turn in our 30-day move out notice to our apartment complex. Biggest leap of faith ever! Either God was going to lead us to where He wanted us to serve in ministry within those 30 days, or we were going to move in with family until we figured it out.   

Once we made that decision, Daniel contacted the church and explained our situation to them. They had already told us they wanted us to come down for a weekend to interview and meet some of the staff. They were so kind in working with us and asked if we could come down and stay for the very next week (keep in mind this was like 9:30 on a Thursday night and we would have to leave the next day). Since I wasn't working anyway, I called my office manager to make sure that was ok and she said yes. So we packed up and headed to Arkansas bright and early the next morning! We got to Fort Smith and had a week of meeting staff and people at the church, lunches, dinners, interviews, etc. We even got a chance to drive around and look for a house to rent. It was wonderful! After meeting and interviewing with the Personnel Committee on Wednesday night they called us Thursday morning and informed us it was a unanimous decision and "unofficially" offered him the job of Associate Pastor of Connections. I say unofficially because once it passes with the personnel committee, it's about 99% sure to pass with the deacons and the rest of the church, but it would not be "for sure" official until that happened on February 10th. Knowing our situation with having to be out of our apartment by February 16th, they went ahead and told us so I could turn in my two weeks notice at my job and we put a deposit down on the house we found to rent.

We came back down the weekend of February 10th to interview with the deacons and be voted on by the church and it was a passing vote with 97% yes! We drove back to Louisville, had the pleasure of having a moving company come and pack up our stuff and move us (if you EVER get that opportunity do not pass it up!) and came back to Arkansas for good on February 17th!!

To say it has been a whirlwind would be an understatement. But let me tell you, God's timing is everything! We never could have dreamed up these circumstances but it has been such a blessing! Daniel is settling into his new role and absolutely loving it (I feel like this job was created just for him--it is so perfect!) and he is also finishing school full-time so he can graduate in May! Please be in prayer for us on a few things:

1. For Daniel to keep up with his schoolwork and finish strong. I cannot tell you how wonderful the church has been-- letting him do some of his work while at the office! I am SO proud of him and I know he will continue to do great!
2. For me to find the perfect job in the perfect timing. Another blessing is I am able to draw unemployment due to us moving states for Daniel's job and the fact that I basically lost my previous job because my doctor got sick. This is helping out and taking some of the intense pressure off of me, but I still need to find a job and work so we can save money for the future.
3.For us to settle in to our new ministry and that the Lord would be glorified.

Words cannot express how excited we are to be back in Arkansas! Being closer to our friends and families is so fun and we absolutely are already in love with the community of Fort Smith!

It's A New Car!

So, QUITE unexpectedly this past weekend, Daniel and I BOUGHT A CAR. Yes, that's right. We passed a new marriage milestone! Scary and exciting all at the same time...

Background Story:

I've had a white 2003 Saturn L300 (basically like their Camry or Accord) since my senior year in high school. Basically about 6 1/2 years. It's been a fantastic car. Our goal was for it to make it through our time at seminary--mostly because it was paid for, which = NO car payment! Woo hoo! We have been blessed to make it 2 1/2 years of marriage without one. Well, wouldn't ya know, the Saturn just had to start acting up. And when I mean acting up, I mean transmission issues. YIKES! Just the word alone sounds expensive! We made it into town for the Holidays and decided once all the festivities were over we would take it in to a transmission specialist. Daniel and my dad took it to Trans Tech in Conway (cannot say enough good things about these guys! ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! If you ever have transmission problems, take your car to them!). Not even 2 hours later, he called Daniel and said we needed to completely replace the transmission. $1500-$2000!! Well, the Saturn is only worth $3000 in top condition, so we were faced with a huge decision. Do we spend that much money to fix it and then something else go wrong soon after? Do we just try to trade it--even $1000 is better than nothing? Can we afford a car payment on a seminary budget? The list goes on and on. What made it more stressful is we HAD to make a decision that day because it would take 3 full days to fix the transmission and we are leaving for Louisville soon! Oy!

My parents have some connections at Smith Ford in Conway, so we decided just to go over and talk to them, explain our situation, and see if they had anything pre-owned that could work for us. Mr. Kenny Ketcheside told us he just had a 2011 Ford Fusion traded in last week and he thought he could give us a good deal for it. We test drove it, and LOVED it! We were fearful that it was out of our price range though--just because it was newer and only had 43,000 miles on it. Needless to say, we were VERY pleasantly surprised! Not only did he give us a great price for the Fusion, he looked at the Saturn and gave us $2000 trade-in!! We could not believe it! With the trade-in credit, we were able to finance it and negotiate affordable monthly payments. WE COULD NOT BELIEVE IT! Saturday morning, we cleaned out the Saturn, drove it down to Ford, signed the papers, and drove away in our new car! It still seems kind of surreal but I'm sure that will all change once we start having to make payments on it. Lol.

Here it is!

Smith Ford took SUCH great care of us, we will do what we can to always do business with them! I absolutely adore this car---it drives so well and is SO roomy! It's weird to think about, but we had to consider if it could fit car seats in the back and baby stuff in the trunk! (NOT that we are pregnant! Or close to it! lol). Thankful the Lord worked out all the details and we now have a dependable car to drive back and forth to Louisville.