TTYL!

We're off to the land of Kiwis and Lord of the Rings fame! Pray for us as we navigate a 14 hour flight, time change, figure out a new culture/customs and just get used to traveling together. We're excited and we can't wait to conquer New Zealand, rain or shine :).

See ya'll when we get back!

Aim

Some Special Moments from the Wedding Day

 Quid helping me go over my vows one last time before we headed for the church...

 Jdawg picking the bridal party up to chauffeur us to the church-he spent all night cleaning out his car and taking out car seats so that it would be "wedding worthy" for us...

 My amazing wedding coordinator Lori, showing off the necklace Blane and I made for her. The day would not have gone as smoothly as it did without her. And my bouquet...our florist, the Little Branch, surprised me with peonies in October! Peonies are my favorite flower but incredibly difficult to find this time of year. Apparently not so for the awesome Meg and Annie over at Little Branch. <3!!!

 Blane's brother and Best Man, Blake, simultaneously watching a "bow-tie tutorial" and tying Blane's bowtie, minutes before the ceremony.

 Our church reception food preparers extraordinaire-Christine and Joanne. They weren't even invited to the wedding yet they came to help anyway. Gotta love that heart. And my dear 90-year-old Grandpa who defied his own self-consciousness at walking in front of people to stand at the front of the church so that Dad and I could walk down to him. He told me the week before the wedding that he'd "do anything for me." Brings tears to my eyes at the love this man has shown me.

 On the left, Blake giving my sister a "how-to-hold-Aimee's-train-better" lesson...something he did all afternoon when we were trampling along at the beach after the reception for some photos. He was on the look out all day. Thanks to him my dress stayed pristine! Haha. And my beloved old friend Jamie on the right who was the lucky and of course random (!!!) recipient of my bouquet toss!

And finally, the ushers+Pat and their magnificent send-off for the two of us. Blane's favorite NBA player of all time is Lebron James, as you know, and if you know anything about Lebron, then I don't have to explain this picture any further. :) Blane died he was so loving this moment!

There's more to come-this is just a snapshot into the first half of the day.

Stay tuned!

Mrs. S

"So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day."

2 Timothy 1:8-12

Harry Margono.

Rest in Peace with joy in the presence of Your God!

God be with Maria, Tim and Ashley.

Aim

Some stills from our Wedding Video...

XOXO,

Mrs. S

Meet Regan.

Welcome to the world little one! You're a week and four days late girlie :)

Thank you for staying inside so your parents could come to my wedding on Saturday.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my Mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

Psalm 139:13-14

Can't wait to meet you!

Auntie Aim

We're MARRIED! :D

Just a little snippet from the best day ever. :D Our wedding was everything that I could have ever imagined and more. It was amazing to see a vision come to life, to receive all of the love and support from family and friends, to just celebrate the love that God has given us and hopefully, in it all, we glorified Him.

 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." Psalm 51:10-12

Here's to a new Chapter!

The new Mrs. S ;)

Countdown to I Do

8 more days!!!

<3,

Aim

Laugh Out Loud

I saw this post on Cup of Jo the other day and literally laughed out loud. How creative and hilarious is this?

Check out the original post here to see what all the shock and expressions are about! 

:D,

Aim

A Note from Mom

Last night I came home to find a Kaiser Permanente "Appointment Reminder" card on my bed. My Mom had written a note to me on it that said:

"Aimee~'Commit to the Lord whatever u do, + your plans will succeed! The Lord works out everything for His own ends'~Prov. 16:3, 4

I love you, Mom"

My Mom may be crazy at times, but she is also incredible and loving and faithful too. I am thankful that God has given me her as one of my armor-bearers in this life. 

To God be the Glory!

Aim

Amidst the Madness

Today a delightful afternoon surprise lunch with my dear Quid. I didn't know it at the time, but I think God must have planned that she wouldn't have class this afternoon and that we'd end up grabbing lunch. She was a much-needed breather for me and it was nice to catch up and just have girl talk over some yummy eats at our local 

Metro Cafe. Don't be deceived by its presence in a Travelodge on Washington Place. It's actually quite good! We found out today that the chef Roberto makes all his own sauces by hand-even the mayo! Quite impressive indeed. 

Quid and I a couple weeks ago at my bachelorette attempting to tandem ride a beach cruiser :D

Thanks for lunch today Quiddie!

<3 you,

Ate

In Celebration of Beautiful You!

Today my little sister turns 30! She's been saying that she's 30 for the past few years now, but it hasn't been official until today. 

Bub~you are beautiful both inside and out. I know that God has brought you so far in just the last decade of your life. I have seen you grow from a collegiate to a hard-working woman in the secular field to being convicted to give up that life and go back to school to fulfilling your purpose of developing a program for young leaders to getting married to moving away and starting yet another new adventure. 

 I admire and respect you in so many ways. Most importantly for the way that you fiercely live your life in faith and obedience to Christ. I know it's not always perfect or easy, but in your 20s I saw you refine that commitment and today I see you stronger, more graceful and disciplined in who God has created you to be. You stand in all of that so beautifully.

So today, a special shout out to my best friend, armor bearer and sister for life~
HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY BUB!!!
I love you so very much :)

Can't wait to celebrate with you!
Aim

Help Wanted

You know, when you're working on something as big as a wedding, it's easy to get overwhelmed. Many, many people have asked me if they could be of help in anyway. It's hard for me to know what to say sometimes. I know some people really mean it, but there are some tasks that I need to get done that aren't so glamorous and I feel bad about asking others to do them when they aren't the most fun things to do.

Enter these wonderful people. 

 My Mom and B's Mom have been to almost every single appointment with me. They are rockstars. If I need a buddy for a dress fitting, or to taste test cake flavors or to go downtown to pick up a hairpiece...you name it, they're willing to do it with me. For them I am thankful <3

This is Christina. She is one of my oldest friends from our conference. Christina is gifted in many ways, but one of her great talents is putting shindigs together and making everything look cohesive and insanely professional. She is organizing/beautifying/running our entire church reception. I trust her to pull it off without a hitch. She has lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders for our wedding day. We met this week and spent hours going over everything from set up to food to decor...all the nitty gritty details. I appreciate that she's action-oriented and she gets stuff done. So thankful for you NBF!

Kiks volunteered on her own this past week to take care of our slideshow. I was SO thrilled. It has been something that has been stressing me out because I am not good at putting those types of things together. Kiks even offered to scan all our old pictures. She's a doll and a lifesaver. Thank you Kiks!

Excuse the group pic, but I didn't have another pic of Linda (she's smack dab in the middle). Linda gets her name from always trying to set up single people she cares about with potential future spouses. She's notorious for this...skill? Haha. Anywho, Linda used to be my Sunday School teacher when I was growing up and more recently has been serving with me with the youth. She's our Middle High Sunday School teacher and she's also been helping me with other youth stuff too. :) The job she volunteered for is not glamorous by any means, but man, am I grateful that she is going to be doing it! You see, B and his guys are going to be staying at our new house the night before the wedding and I wanted someone to go in and clean it on Saturday before the wedding because B and I will also be going back there after the wedding that night. I didn't want to be coming home to a messy house. Linda didn't even bat an eyelash when she told me to give her the keys because she's on it!

 And this one: you can call her Junior or Marymount or FFB, whichever one floats your boat. Today I'll call her FFB. FFB is one of my past kiddos who is a big time collegiate now. Her and the rest of her posse/my kiddos from her year are serving at our wedding as our receptionists. (you remember them from the post where I was kidnapped? :) Well, FFB is going to make/create/organize all of the props that we need for our photobooths (we're having two). She is actually a master organizer and a people motivator and I have no doubt that whatever she creates will be high quality and totally unique to B and I. I am thankful that she is always so willing to jump in and help me and she's actually one of the only people whom I feel comfortable asking to do something for me. I don't know why-she's easy that way :).

These guys have been faithfully plugging away at our house for the past three weeks in hopes that we can move in soon. (cross your fingers!) I am thankful for B's Dad (in the middle) and his two hard workers for everything that they are doing to make our house liveable and beautiful for us. They work from 7am-5pm every day and it is looking so wonderful!

 And of course this guy. Because he works hard every day and then comes home to his "this-wedding-is-crazy-and-there's-still-so-much-to-do-in-just-16-days" wee bit stressed out fiancee. Thank you for just being by my side through it all. <3

So that's what's on my heart today. These great people and the way that they are tangibly loving me (and B!) right now. I am so grateful!

Cup runneth over,

Aim

Just a House

Something I heard this week made me stop and pause for a second. There is someone I know who has been feeling called into full-time ministry with the church. They do not presently work in the church, although they do volunteer many hours there. Because of budget constraints they have not been able to be hired by the church. This person and their family then decided that they would sell their house in order that they might work for the church still! They have decided to downgrade their living situation in order to upgrade their servant situation. 

I was (and still am) in awe! This bit of information grounded me. This is how we are called to live as Christians-to give all that we have to all that He is. There is no greater calling in this life than the calling of Christ. This person reminded me of that in being so selfless about their own materialistic stuff because their calling to serve Christ was that real to them.

"If any man come after Me, let him deny himself. Pick up his cross and follow Me."

Matthew 16:24

How have you denied yourself lately for the cause of Christ? 

Something to think about. For you and for me.

Have a "pick up your cross" kind of day,

Aim

Tricks of the Trade

I saw this over at Apartment Therapy's Kitchen blog the other day and thought it was genius. Who hasn't struggled with peeling garlic while cooking? I can't wait to try this technique!

I may have to add two of these humongous bowls to my registry just to try this. OR Pap will probably see this and try it with smaller bowls that she has in her kitchen so maybe I'll wait on that until I get her conclusion :). 

Hurry and try Pap!

Garlic <3er out,

Aim

Nom Nom

Amongst the plethora of wedding related tasks that B and I had to get done this past weekend was our final food tasting for our reception. (I know-poor us right? Haha) We knew better this time around and we came hungry-last time they gave us so much food that we could barely take a bite of each thing because we were so full.

We started with appetizers. I forgot to take a photo (my bad) but they were good. I was happy because the first appetizers we tried way back when weren't impressive. Today's were. Mission #1=accomplished. We tasted Fried Artichoke Balls, Mushroom Canapes, something phyllo dough w/spinach inside and some sort of chicken on a stick. All were good but the artichoke balls and mushroom canapes were goooood. :)

 From there we headed straight into the big ticket items=entrees! We tried two of each type of main dish-chicken, fish and beef. B and I are chicken lovers and, like our last tasting, the chicken was our favorite dish. B liked both but I liked the peppercorn flavored one a bit more so we're going to go with that as our chicken selection, complete with the chard and candied sweet potato pieces, just as it was served. It was yummy and all our fellow chicken-lovers will be happy! (btw, the other chicken dish was a lemon butter chicken that was still tasty, just not quite as tasty as the peppercorn one)

Next up are our fishies. Normally B and I eat salmon as our fish of choice, but this one was a bit dry and fishy-tasting for us. We also were not a fan of the rice pilaf that it was served with. Trying to serve rice to a group of Asians is never a good idea unless the people cooking the rice are Asian themselves. Can I get an amen please? Anywho, the other fish we tried was a Sea Bass and it was good-flaky and moist, with the most delicious balsamic reduction glaze on top. Again, the sides were mediocre at best so we decided on the Sea Bass but we're serving ours with purple fingerling potatoes and haricot verts. Fancy!

 Lastly, for all you cow lovers, are our beef dishes. We tried a filet and a flank steak and B said that the filet won, hands down. Apparently it was tender and well seasoned and all that good stuff. Plus it looked better on the plate than the flank steak did and of course, that's important! :D The grilled asparagus were yummy and we're going to pair it with garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmmmm.

So that's it. The final menu tasting has been completed! Yippppeeeeeee! What did you order? Hopefully you won't change your mind after you read this post! ;)

Gochisosama,

Aim