Flooding in the Atlanta Areas

This is what my part of town is going through.....















I never thought we'd have a flood... It's crazy when it actually hits home, how devastating it is to watch people lose their things to the powerful strength of water!!! We've had 7 fatalities and there are many families that are trapped in and out of their neighborhoods because of large sink wholes due to some much of water! Many people are staying in our civic centers and churches because they've been displaced! We've prayed for rain for so long and we finally got some!

I luckily only have some wet carpet due to some water that came in from my back door! I'm hoping it will dry up in the next few days so that it can dry and get fixed! It's not easy to show your house when you have wet carpet ripped up in your living room :(

Thank you Lord for the much needed rain, please keep everyone safe as the waters recede in the next several days...

Blogging is on the bottom of my 'to-do' list!

So....

Why I have not blogged in about two months:

1. I have no camera, therefore I never write about what happens because I feel it's boring without visuals.

2. I work really weird hours (2nd shift) and so by the time I have a chance to sit down and relax it's time for bed or I just want to 'veg-out'!

3. I do not have internet because I cancelled it so that I could save some money!

4. And.... I'm always on the go trying to do things for the wedding, or get things for other people's showers or spending time with Danial!

needless to say.... I have been a huge blogger slacker, but do believe that things will change soon! Danial and I will be married in 66 days (wow, can't believe it) and we plan on getting a camera before we head for the honeymoon so we'll have tons of things to blog about once that all occurs and we'll have fun pictures to share!

AN UPDATE ON THE WEDDING PLANNING AND MY LIFE....

Danial and I (and my mom and all the wonderful people who are playing a huge role in making that day so special) have just about everything finished for the wedding! We were able to get all the big things finished early, now we're just trying to finish up all the small details, such as...

-getting our marriage license (we've completed our counseling)
-deciding what style of cake I like
-getting shoes for the girls
-finishing the girls jewelry
-getting my dress taken in (just a tiny bit, it actually fits perfect)
-trying to find a vail that I like so that my aunt can make me one that doesn't cost more then my dress!!!!
-finding a place to stay for our wedding night (our flight is Sunday morning, VERY EARLY)
-starting my thank you notes for the showers I'm starting to have
-and we are now in the process of addressing and sending out all the invites!

It's been a crazy season for Danial and I! It's been so neat to see how and why the Lord has allowed us to have a year engagement, because I would not recommend it to many, it's just too long and hard, but the Lord had a greater plan for us and we've been so grateful for the things he has allowed us to go through before we tie the knot!!!

Danial and I have both changed so much since we've met for the better and the Lord is molding us into the man and woman that he's called us to be for our mission and for each other in our marriage and I'm so excited about the MAN that I'm going to be blessed with on November 7th!!!!

I'm still working at Bahama Breeze and am still looking for another job. So many people ask me what I'm looking for, but unfortunately I'm really not too picky other than I need it to provide for Danial and I! I was thinking of getting into some type of sales position for a little while until I am able to go back to school (which will be when Danial is finished next summer). I've been very patient and am just waiting for the Lord to take me out of the restaurant industry!!!!!

Danial is taking 18 hours of school this semester, working for the church that we attend (which is not a paid position at this time) and is refereeing soccer games on the weekends at the church, on our fields. Our church has been blessed with two soccer fields that are being used for the county soccer games, which couldn't be more exciting and perfect for Danial! He loves soccer and is very excited about being able to help the kids with soccer, while sharing about the Lord to all the families who come out for the games!

Our church has been a huge blessing to us and we couldn't be in a more perfect place right now! We love our youth kids and are always faced with different and new situations every week.... We are currently planning a fall retreat with two other churches.

On a different note.....

I LOVE THIS WEATHER THAT WE'VE BEEN HAVING LATELY! It excites me to know that the season is coming up for cool weather, colored leaves, hot chocolate, Thanksgiving, FOOTBALL GAMES, pumkins, the wedding (yay), my birthday and Jesus' birthday!!!!! I love fall weather and everything about the fall and know that it's all just around the corner!!!!!

I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL AT THE WEDDING!!!!

Take me out to the Ball game....

Last Thursday my sister came down for a few nights because we planned a braves game event with her college group from church a few months back!  We had really been looking forward to it for awhile and it was such a great treat to have her come and spend a few nights down here and hang out!!!



We drove all the way down to the stadium, in the rain, hoping that it would clear up! When we got there, this is what we saw:








We ended up watching some of the Florida Marlins game on the big screen and then left after about two hours and went to the Varsity!



It was a fun trip, although the braves game was rained out! It was nice to have the quality time with two of my favorite people together :)

You Can Call Me Ms. Graduate :)

I know most of you know, but I thought I would share with you all that I graduated two fridays ago!!! I graduated from Kennesaw State University with a Bachelors of Science in Biology (not an associates, which is what my mom put on the graduation announcements, ha)!

I have done nothing but work, work, work since then.... It's nice not having to go home early to study for things, I will not miss that for a long while!

My plans now:

- work at Bahama Breeze (until I find a better paying job)
- study for the GRE
- apply to Physician Assistant programs
- look into getting some patient care hours (volunteer or payed)
- keep my house clean since it's on the market
- help Danial get our apartment ready for us to live in
- compile all the addresses for wedding guest list
- ENJOY BEING STUDY FREE!!!!!!!!!! (for now that is)

Life as we know it.....

Is about to change....

Last Thursday Danial and I signed a lease to our first 'home' together!!! We are starting out in an apartment in Canton, Ga, about 10 minutes down the street from our church. (I thought waiting six more months to be married was going to be hard until we got our first place together and now realize it's going to TORTURE).

Last week we decided to let Paul (Danial's younger brother) live with Danial in our new apartment for the summer to allow him to get out of his parent's house! Paul has gone through a lot in his life and I think he's finally come to realize that it's time to grow up. Danial's hoping that this is going to allow him to have some responsibilities and at the same time, help us with the payments until we get married (he will no longer live there once I move in)!

I'm really excited about our new place, getting to start decorating and getting the place ready for when it officially becomes our place!

I sit here typing this because I'm trying to find everything I can do NOT to study, ha! I have my last final of my undergraduate career on Thursday and I can't bring myself to study this evening!!! Probably because I know in the back of my mind that I have two more days to study... I do better under pressure!

I'm really looking forward to graduating! I can't believe it's here...I don't think it's really set in with me yet!

I'll keep you posted on the graduation and the 'home improvements' to the new home :)

Lindsay

Engagement Slideshow!

Hi friends :)  

Meghan has finished our engagement slideshow!  I wanted to share it with you all.... If you go on her website http://soliphotography.com and click on weddings.  Then go to the clients tab and the password is danial&lindsay.

ENJOY!!!

The Life of a Biologist...

Tuesday, instead of having lecture, my plant morphology class went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens! It was really nice, although it snowed on us almost the whole time we were there!!!! It's not every day you get to walk around and look at beautiful flowers for a college course :) Here are a few pictures of some interesting plants that we're studying!
























My Froggy Friend



















Heliconia





















Orchids
















Pitcher Plant




















Gingko Tree















Birds Nest Fern- the brown stripes are Sporangia

D-L time

Danial and I kicked off our marriage counseling last Thursday with our new pastor, Pastor Fred Goodwin, at The Church of Messiah! We have quickly fallen in love with him and the new church and are really excited to get some great, Godly advice from him on how to make our relationship stronger in Christ and equipped for Marriage!

The first session was kind of a casual get together, sort of to kick things off! During this talk, Danial and I quickly realized how busy we both had become and had started to neglect our 'quality time'! Him and I have always set Thursdays aside for him and I time, but lately we have filled those days with 'things we need to get done together'! while talking with Pastor Fred, we realized that we had not been spending quality Danial and Lindsay time and it had really started putting a damper in our relationship. It was kind of humerus because he pointed out that for the first time, since he had met us, we were sitting with a little distance between us. so...... I say all of that to say, Pastor Fred put a calendar in our faces and asked us when we were going to set some DL (Danial and Lindsay )time up. Meaning.... we weren't going to do any wedding planning, run any errands, BUT to spend time with each other alone!

Today when Danial got off work, which he had to be done by 2, b/c that was when our "appointment" started, we went to the top of Kennesaw Mountain and had a picnic and then went and walked at the park! We had such a great time and it was such a beautiful day! We realized how much we had been missing DL time!!! It was really crazy b/c I had a really easy week of school this week and Danial didn't have much work, so we actually got to have several nights this week to relax together.

It was nice to see how God got us back on track and made us realize how important it is to slow down and not only take some time for Him, but also for the two that he put together!!!!

Engagement Session!

Yesterday Danial and I drove into Chattanooga to meet with our photographer! We had our engagement session with her and it was a blast :) She was so great and we're so excited about her shooting our wedding in November! She has a sneak peak available on her blog and hopefully will have the rest of the pictures available very soon. I thought I would share her blog with you so that you could see our sneak peak :)

**The pictures were taken at Renaissance Park!

www.soliphotography.com/blog

Moms of 'little ones'...

My friend Christie has a website. She has a lot of different things she offers, but a few of her new things are baby announcements and baby clothes and gear! It's very cute... If you're interested, here is her blog. Her website is on her blog post, I'll also paste it under her blog link. ENJOY!

HER BLOG:
http://lifeofawerner.wordpress.com/

HER WEBSITE:
www.thetrendybaby.etsy.com

New posts to come...

so... I have several blogs to write and pictures on the digital camera that I need to upload! I will be doing all of that soon!

Our Photographer

My mom sat down with Meghan Campbell Friday to talk about booking her as our photographer for the wedding! I unfortunately wasn't able to be there b/c I had to work, but my mom is so great and met with her anyways. They sat down and two hours later they had come up with a package that suited us perfectly :) We met Meghan at the bridal show last month and my mom actually scanned her when she was pregnant with her daughter. It's funny how God puts people in your life at different times and works things to the good :) We won a free engagement session with her and that's how we ended up setting up an appointment with her to see if she could do the whole wedding!

Long story short..... I am soooooo excited about working with Meghan and couldn't be more happy with everything!!!

Here is her website:
http://soliphotography.com/

Annual Family Ski Trip

A few weeks ago, my family went on our ski strip that we take every winter season! We started going on Super Bowl weekend so that the mountain wouldn't be so busy! This year was special because we were up there on the anniversary of my Uncle Paul passing away 7 years ago! The ski trip was his idea and we've been doing it for about 14 years, I believe! Every year a different group of people go, we've had as many as 50 and as few as 15. This year we had a good group, although I always feel, the more the merrier! Here are a few pictures of the group... I love my family and we always have so much fun with a lot of yummy food and games!

**I don't have a picture of my Aunt Chris with her two girls, Kelly and Heidi,not sure why. When I get a copy, I will post it!





My cousin Karen, Jordan and Olivia...




My cousin Alan...




Danial's first ski adventure (he did great)....




My Aunt Joyce's family...




My Uncle Billy's family...



My family :)...




Brothers and Sister(3 of the 11)...




Some of the Cousins....




I look forward to next years trip :)

Going to the Chapel and we're....planning a wedding!

Several of you have asked me to blog about my wedding planning and so I thought that I would give you all an insight into how my planning is going, or should I say, how 'our' wedding planning is going!

It's been 2 months, 2 days and roughly thirty-three minutes since Danial asked me to marry him :)

After the new year we finally decided to start planning some things since we started to realize that vendors were going to start getting full!

The few things that I have finished are:

Ceremony: Abba's House

Reception: Abba's House

Videographer: Shane -life productions ( www.lifeproductions.net )

Dress: Ever After (sorry... can't give you this link..if you REALLY want to see it, let me know, i'll email it to you

Photographer: I have it narrowed down to two people, but I'm pretty sure my mom and I have decided on who we want!

Bridesmaid dresses: color-truffle, style-several styles, not real sure yet!

Danial and I are having 9 bridesmaids and 9 groomsmen....i know, crazy, ha! It was really hard cutting it down too!

My girls I chose (the girls I wouldn't do my wedding without):

Ashley-sis

Megan Kornas-friend from school

Tabatha Eubanks-friend from school

Katie Speiser-friend from school

Meredith Mosgrove-friend from church

Amanda Shaver-friend from church

Tiffany Miller-friend from church

Kelly Therber-cousin

Heidi Therber-cousin

*These girls all mean soooooo much to me in so many different ways! I'm really excited about sharing this exciting time with them!!!

That's about all we have set...oh... and Paula 'Dean' Oscai is doing my food!!!

I'll keep you posted on the other things that Danial and I decide on! We're so excited about everything and are really soaking in this fun time of planning our wedding :) It's been amazing to watch how God has had his hands in the whole thing and is just blessing us beyond out imagination!

We're probably not going to be doing much more until after April so that I can focus on my last semester of school!!!!

Lindsay

6 Random Facts About Myself

I was tagged by Abbie...


Rules: Write 6 random things about yourself, link the person who tagged you & post the rules. Tag six people and link them. Let them know they have been tagged.

1. I am a huge snacker! I love eating every two hours and always want something in my mouth. I'm really bad at snacking just to have something to do :) It doesn't even have to be unhealthy, I love fruit, crackers, veggies (especially cucumbers), chips, ice cream, V8 juice, pretzels, ANYTHING....

2. I love clothes, but hate doing laundry or putting away my clothes!!! I'm really bad at procrastinating when it comes to laundry. I will let my laundry basket pile up way too high and when I do get laundry finished, it takes everything in me to put it away and hang things up! I'm hoping when I get married that will change :)

3. I knew Danial was the one after being with him for one week (CRAZY, I KNOW). I went to Belize this past summer and Danial took me to the airport. When he dropped me off, he surprised me with a gift and told me to open it when I got settled in at the airport. When I opened it, it was a new bible that was small (so I could take it with me places) and had my name engraved on it! He also wrote me a long letter full of encouragement, scriptures and really sweet words! My first thought after I soaked it all in was, uh oh......

4. I love taking pictures, BUT AM THE WORST at remembering my camera. I actually don't have a nice camera. Danial's camera is nice, although the screen is broke, so it's hard to see what you're taking a picture of! Hopefully I'll take more pictures when I can get a nice new camera!

5. I love feet (not so much when they're stinky, but I love feet :) ) I think they're all so unique and I rarely don't have pampered, manicured feet!!! I love foot massages and playing 'footsie' with my fiance :)

6. I am very outgoing and warm up to people very easily, ALTHOUGH... I really don't like being the center of attention! I can get embarrassed pretty easily, but can usually hide it well. I'm a little nervous about being the center of attention at my wedding, even though I can't wait for that day!!!

I tag.....Lydia, Staci, Tiffany, christie, Veryll, and Heather W.

Dinner and a Movie

For Christmas, Danial and I recieved a few gift cards. Danial also got a hold of several movie tickets from some guest that came into his restaurant one night! Last night, we were able to go out and enjoy our gifts. It's not everyday that a poor college couple is able to enjoy a "dinner and a movie" night!

I always love having a reason to spend an extra thirty minutes to get ready for a fun night! Danial actually went out a bought a new shirt for the occasion, which was a really cute surprise for me :) We went to Red Lobster for dinner (they're part of the Darden Co. and we had not been there together yet). We went all out of course with the salads, appetizer and entree...plus a few too many biscuits...we were too full for dessert. Danial is a huge fan of scary movies, as am I and so we went to the new movie, "My Bloody Valentine". It was shown in 3D at the theatre we went to... It was REALLY good aside from the one scene that we could have done without.

I say all this to say.... I had such a great time with Danial last night and we have so much fun together no matter what we do! We laughed the whole night and just enjoyed each other's company!!!! I couldn't be more blessed with a better fiance!!!! Hopefully we'll get to go out again soon (we still have some money left on our gift card and we have some movie tickets left) YAY!

My goals, hopes and dreams for 2009!

It's a new season, it's a new day!!!

I love when New years hit! I feel like it's a time for people to have a reason to start things in the right direction even if the previous year wasn't so bad!

I have enjoyed 2008 in a few ways and in others, not so much....

I'm really excited about the new year ahead and have several things that I am praying for and expecting to happen in 2009! A few of those things are as follows, in no particular order:

• graduate
• marry the man of my dreams (yay)
• lose 15 pounds
• get my credit cards paid off
• see my family as a whole draw closer to God
• experience my dad as the man he once was with God in his life
• see my future father in law walk on his own
• help God grow the youth group that Danial and I are going to be pastoring
• read the whole bible in one year(2 chapters of new test. and 1 of the old everyday!!!)

The Lord has been so faithful in my life and has shown me so much more mercy than I ever deserve!!! A lot has happened in 2008 and a lot has changed. I want to use the things that I've learned in this last year to grow and be a better person in this new year!

I'm so excited about planning my wedding, graduating from college, paying off some debt and watching the Lord move in my family and in my life more than ever!

I can't wait to start the fast that my home church does every year and really dig deep into what God wants change in my life and how he's going to use Danial and I to grow his kingdom this year! Bring it on world.....

I hope that everyone had a great New Year and that everyone takes advantage of what God has for you! Be blessed!