you can take the dog out of the city...

what a weekend.

to finish the title of this blog, you can take the dog out of the city, but apparently, cannot take the city out of the dog.

an impromptu trip to Arkansas happened this weekend, after a call from the jeweler that said he needed to see my ring ONE more time to finish my wedding band. it was either take the trip or send my ring over UPS which neither tommy nor I were very keen on. (we are getting my band custom-made because my ring is quite difficult to match) so off we go to the ranch (tommy's house) with a car full of Judge (the puppy), Dez (who I was so grateful to spend time with), and Leslie (my current roommate). let me just say, 3 girls and a dog for 5+ hours in a car is alot for a man to handle. in retrospect, i feel bad for the guy. i mean, he had to keep us from listening to camp rock soundtrack at least 5 times.

anyways, so we THOUGHT judge would love the ranch...rolling in grass and mud, running through the field, chasing bunnies, scaring cows...

not a chance. oh for the first couple of hours, he had a grand old time, he rolled all in the straw, splashed in the creek, ate some algae...but then the family went inside. Judge spent the whole rest of the trip jumping the porch gate (getting spanked and shooed back out afterwards), jumping the porch gate again, smashing the flowerbeds trying to jump the porch gate. then it started raining, actually storming. so they have a fenced in area where they kennel the dogs and it has a little dog house in it. we put him there during the storm figuring he would be smart enough to go inside the dog house. apparently, his idea is to get on TOP of the dog house. eventually, he escaped somehow. we were all in the dining room playing dominos and we see some big ears peeking at us through the kitchen window. he ended up spending the night on the porch, where he destroyed some flowers and left a nice pile of poopy. he wanted NOTHING to do with the other dogs or the ranch. we were one hour from leaving when he decided he would try to steal the yellow lab's food...let me just say he LOST that fight, and he now has a nice gash under his eye that will probably need a stitch or two.

to make up for his traumatic weekend, we took him to the vet today to get neutered.

oh judgie...

planning...

Hello again!

So our wedding invitations are coming VERY close to completion. This has been quite an involved process. Let me run down a list of steps, somewhat vaguely so as not to ruin the surprise of opening up your bulky envelope from Moi.

1. cut x 2 different aspects
2. tape
3. label
4. stamp
5. punch x 2
6. measure and cut
7. tie
8. stuff x 3
9. print
10. stamp
11. stuff-final

and multiply it all by 300

thank you to the following: Jenn (sister), Mom, Dad (and his pocketbook), Greg (bro-in-law), Leslie, Dez, A-whit, Elizabeth, and Judge (our puppy who affectionately found a few parts to chew on)

Here is a preview of coming attractions.

In other news...dress fitting tomorrow!! my first one! i will NOT be posting pictures of it. ha.

now i'm just a wacoan...

Wacoan. Correctly pronounced wuh-co-uhn. with slight Texas drawl. I'm one now. Yesterday Ashley W. and I were talking about how now since we graduated we are just people who live in Waco. I am a local Wacoan. I live in Waco. My existence here is now by choice because I am not forced by my school's location. I'm not ashamed, but it's a little weird.

I have been back in Waco, post-graduation and post-moving for a week. The biggest excitement so far was on Thursday during my run. 3 minutes into it, I must have been really into the song on my IPod or something because all of a sudden, I was running and then I was sinking. I ran into a sidewalk of WET CEMENT. not even joking. I'm talking like ankle deep. So I kinda stood there, mainly because what else do you do when you are ankle-deep in wet cement, but then the nice worker-men helped me get out and washed off my feet and shoes. Don't you worry, the shoes are fine, I know you were worried, because that was my chief concern at the time as well. Then we laughed it on and I squished away in my wet shoes. I continued the run because it was either walk home in wet shoes or at least get a decent run in wet shoes. It was pretty miserable and I think I took half of the orange dust from the bear trail with me. So I ended up throwing my beloved Aasics in the washer afterwards. So watch where you step. Ha!

I've been thinking about the word relentless. Without relenting. A circumstance that does not relent, take it easy, let go, stop, or ease up. The other day something happened that made me feel it..."man, this thing is just relentless...it never ends!" It is so easy to feel it...to feel overwhelmed by the things that just don't stop. The circumstances that hit you again and again and again...without relenting. This made me think about the character of God...relenting in mercy...but unrelenting in love. [Jonah 4:2] "He prayed to the Lord, 'O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who RELENTS from sending calamity." [Psalm 106:45] "for their sake He remembered his covenant and out of his great love He RELENTED." For out of great love for us, He keeps us from true destruction and calamity. He never ceases in love, never ends in mercy. This made me think that as overwhelmed and burdened as I am by things that seem relentless in my life, the TRUE unrelenting thing is how He carries us. His love, mercy, grace, comfort, kindess--are relentless. And that heavy feeling of "man, these bad circumstances to me are relentless!" should birth in us an equal response towards feeling the heaviness of the kindness in which He loves us as His children, relentlessly. Would it be that our response to it be "man, the way He loves and cares for me, it's relentless!" Hope that encourages and speaks to someone...

love,

your faithful Wacoan :)