wedding pics!

Hello all! I know it's been a while since a post. Sorry this one won't be that long or interesting. But the wedding pics are online!! I am really pleased w/ them. If you would like to see them make sure you have a few minutes (there is 600 pics!) and make sure your internet connection is very good. The website can be a little finicky. anyways do this:

www.onlocationportraiture.com
-->weddings and portraits
-->proofs
-->password: byrd
ENJOY!

On the Waco front, we've been enjoying unusually beautiful weather...around 56 in the morning and 88 during the day. fabulous. especially for a morning runner! On the job front, I think I'm getting into the swing of things. last friday we had a staff appreciation day complete w/ volleyball tourney, ping pong tourney, awards ceremony and a special skit/dance (which I was a part of!). Let me tell you...these people are INTENSE about the annual volleyball tournament. the 2nd place team was like calling the other team cheaters and talking about getting back at them next year and stuff. Crazy! I'm getting attached to some of my clients...I just am really for their recovery. On the life front, Tommy and I are 1.5 months old...and its still fun! We are still leading lifegroup which has turned out to be one of the most refreshing things in our week. the group is pretty young this year, young, excited, committed. We are still learning each other but it has been a real joy for us to be a part of.

That's all for now I guess. I love you all...

men are from mars...

so after a fabulous 3 weeks of marriage, and 2 weeks of actual living together, I have learned a few things about the way boys live...I don't have any brothers so this is the first time in my entire life I have ever lived with a male that wasn't my father.

1. they eat all the food. when we went grocery shopping the first time we got a pound of peppercorn turkey for him and 1/2 pound of honey smoked turkey for me. one day i come home for lunch and i reach for my honey turkey...it's gone! then one morning i reached for the box of cereal...gone! and he eats. all the time. we now have to buy 2 loaves of bread, 2 cartons of milk (organic milk, so it's not cheap!), 1 1/2 pounds of deli meat (it is an enormous amount of meat!), and about a million apples. yikes!

2. for some reason, he thinks that the shower curtain bar is a towel rack. now, if we didn't have a towel rack, i could understand. but we have a rack...and an over the door thing with a billion hooks...most of which are empty...but over the shower curtain it goes...making big wet spots on the curtain.

3. also, after a workout, did you know that boys have to hang up their dirty clothes to prevent them from molding...i always just throw mine in the hamper...but theirs are so sweaty that they could MOLD. sick.

4. the WIRES. ok, i can't stand seeing wires...my mom is like that so i think she has rubbed off on me. in the living room at any given time the following are visible: computer cord, ipod charger, ipod cable, playstation controller on the floor, rockband equipment with connecting wires, ipod speaker...we are working on the concealment of such things.

5. dirty clothes. it piles up SO QUICKLY. first of all, his clothes are just bigger...so they take up more space. second of all, he can't rewear his clothes minus shorts and pants. third of all, he changes at LEAST twice a day b/c of the exercising...so i feel like i constantly have laundry to do.

ok ok ok, so i'm being dramatic. living with tommy has really been wonderful. and we have some living differences, but i think if we are conflicting over where he hangs his towel, we're doing pretty good. he really is so caring and really really tries to make me feel comfortable and in turn, I want him to feel comfortable too. and maybe sometimes things might look a little funny, but he LOVES me well. so i hope this was funny, but know that he makes me happy. wet spots on the curtain and all. :)

OSMA.

0h
So
Many
Acronyms.

Well, here I am 12 days married and 3 days on the job. This is what has happened in the last couple of weeks:

Wed, Aug. 13--Celina got offered a job at Heart of Texas Region Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center(MHMR)...woohoo!
Fri, Aug. 15--Celina had a bridal luncheon, went to MHMR to sign paperwork, went to have her urine tested, and then had a rehearsal dinner.
Sat, Aug. 16--MARRIAGE...and my dad's mom went to the hospital
Sun, Aug. 17--left for PUERTO VALLARTA...it was fabuloso!
Wed, Aug. 20--Grandma Felipa Trevino died when Tommy and I were in Puerto Vallarta
Fri, Aug. 22--returned to Dallas
Sat, Aug. 23--flew to Brownsville
Sun/Mon--funeral services
Mon, Aug 25--got back into waco at midnight.
Tues, Aug. 26--I started work at 8 am!

So it's been a whirlwind, but marriage is so fun and I think I am really going to like this job. That brings me to the title of this post...

So I am a caseworker for a load of about 23 level-3 mentally ill clients...level-3 means a variety of things but simply put i have to see each client 3.5 hours a month. as their caseworker I work on psychosocial skills like socialization, accompany them to doctor's visits, work on short and long term life skills goals moving towards stabilization. basically i hang out with crazy people all day long. perfect job for me! haha. but they use SO MANY ACRONYMS HERE. i think i ask what something stands for like 15 times a day. PIRS, SMART, TRAG, CABS, SP1-SP4, HX, SUBHX, POC, MAC. are just a few. it's kind of nuts.

well...it's five...i'm out!

chickity china the chinese chicken...

you know that old song by the Barenaked Ladies, "One Week"? I never understood the meaning of that song...just a bunch of nonsense all strung together...well, now that I am officially "one week" away from the wedding, I might have a deeper appreciation for the drama behind that song...this whirlwind of thoughts, feelings, tasks, etc...I imagine if you tape-recorded my mind it might sound similar to that song. HA!


Actually, I am feeling relatively calm. I know it is the result of my loved ones sowing in prayer...because it is probably ABNORMAL how chill I am right now. I came home this weekend to kind of spend a few "last" days with my family. Tommy went home to Arkansas as well. I highly recommend this for you guys in the future:

1) it makes your family feel SO valued and special in a time when they are preparing to give you over to your husband
2) it seems to mark the transition very significantly...I don't think the wedding is going to get here and I'm going to be taken off guard...it really provides a time to get away and process everything and prepare yourself for the change.
3) i would recommend taking specific time not wedding-related...ie, my family and I are going to see Jersey Boys tomorrow. Going to musicals together is something we have enjoyed doing for years. It will be just the four of us.
4) i think it is kind of good to be away from your fiance...for me, I've really had a chance to think about him and pray for him...something about being away has sweetened this for me. it kind of builds the romance too...i mean i'm ready to see the man i'm going to marry! it is good to miss him right before i marry him...does that make any sense?

in closing...some pics of the wedding site that we'll be at in 6 days!!



*the gazebo we'll be married under*

*the house itself...refreshments will be served on the porch during bridal party pics

things are heating up...

so i have this weird obsession with being first on your lists...i think i'm like 8th or so on Amy's list right now and that will just not stand.

we are officially on the wedding countdown...in 45 minutes it will be August...which means that 16 days from now...i will be wed.

its starting to hit me how different things will be in 16 days. i mean my life will change and never be how it was. this isn't just seasonal...meaning this time of my life won't come around again...it's just big CHANGE. it's will revolutionize, uproot, and rearrange my world. i'm pumped for it, but man, this is an undertaking. it is really easy to prioritize very insignificant things at this point. the other day i had to kick myself as i spent 2.5 hours looking for honeymoon attire. I mean, really? it's not like i'm going to be naked (and everyone laugh at the innuendo i'm NOT making)...meaning i have clothes to wear. but with realizing the intensity of this life transition, i think i will be more inclined to the more significant things. like understanding the complexity of the marriage covenant. being aware of how now, my sin and flesh affect another, since we are one. learning to encourage more than criticize. learning that as much as this man knows me, he can never really know me like the Father. learning that Tommy only knows as much as I tell him. digging into the Word and discovering that God's divine romance models perfectly how we are to treat one another. learning to extol and respect my man like the Shulamite maiden respects and honors Solomon in Song of Songs. relinquishing my rights again and again.

it's been such a revelation of grace though. on two points specifically:
1. We know each other well...past yucky stuff, present struggles, future dreams. Though he has seen my flesh for what it is...gross and raw and sinful...he loves me...and he is enabled to love me because of the Father's love. if he can love in spite of and through that stuff, HOW MUCH MORE does my ABBA love me?
2. I don't think I will ever feel "ready" to be a wife...I look back to the summer, or even past 7 months and say "man I wish I had prayed more on this...or read more on this...or studied more of this...or listened to God more on this..." And yes, maybe my performance could have been better in some places, but I will never be ready and perfect and perfectly well-read and well-prayed. But oh His grace, will help me through the places of weakness and imperfection. so I don't have to fear.

in other news, it is HOT. and i have an outside wedding. I have held out hope all summer, because it has been relatively mild. last week, it got HOT. nasty, mucky, texas HOT. I am now scared.

God...85 degrees...and a breeze. and maybe rainfall say 4 days previous?

goodnight!

new layout

what do you think? like the design update?

that's all really from this front...23 days till wedding...

feelings:

readiness, anticipation, zeal, peace, nervousness, excitement, givenness, oneness, thankfulness, closeness with the father, solemnity, self-awareness, busyness...

i'm sure there are more...that's all for now.

love!

a smattering in seven minutes

i only have 7 minutes to make this post but as i am doing blog update catch-up i notice my name falling lower and lower on your list of recently updated friends and i'm just not ok with that.

so this weekend, shower in dallas, and my bridal portraits!

the shower was fun, it was themed "the times of our lives" and the guests were instructed to bring gifts that corresponded with a certain time on their invitation. this worked out all right until my lovely lovely mother made one of her friends who had a middle of the night time get me a pretty little nightie...

now most you know that i'm not modest...around YOU. but put me in a room around a whole gaggle of adults most of which are more friends of my parents or family, and INCLUDING the mother of my ex-boyfriend (who we are family friends with, so it isn't really that weird that she was there) and the mother of my FIANCE...well.........MODESTY! I was slighly embarrassed and flustered by that and wanted to quickly move on to the next gift but my lovely sister made me lift the thing up and shake it around. GAG.

Bridals were fun though, we were out in a park in Rockwall, very rustic looking. at one point i had 2 grasshoppers going for a ride in my skirts. and i had to stand perfectly posed and still as my feet were being attacked by ants. but it was worth it for the shots we got i think.

last note, as i only have 2 minutes....i think i'm going to call my wedding the wedding of contradictions. that's the best way i think i'm starting to think of it. modern, yet vintage inspired. simple, yet structured. organic, yet constructed. traditional, yet unique. young, yet mature. think on that....

later!