20% off at Macy's anyone?

So Corrie got these coupons in the mail that give anyone 20% off on gifts on our Macy's registry. If anyone is interested, leave a comment and we'll mail one out to you right away. They are only good from Friday June 26 - Tuesday June 30th, so it'll have to be quick!

scouting report

Just got back from an abbreviated weekend in Augusta. Got a lot of details in the planning done, not as much as I had hoped though. Anyway, we spent a lot of time downtown ironing things out, and decided to throw together a little post about the church. You've got the address, and you may have found the link to their website off of our website. But here are some pictures so you have a better idea of where we'll be at 6 pm on Aug 29th!

Here's what First Christian Church looks like on Greene St:


There's a small parking lot directly behind the church. I very strongly doubt that all of you wonderful guests will fit in the lot, but you can try. There's also street parking, and a parking deck not tooooo far away.

If you park in the lot behind the church, you'll come up to the front door of the church along this sidewalk and the pretty windows :) Come through the front door, not the back! Or you'll ruin the surprise :)

engagement party

This post is way overdue...my parents threw an Engagement Party for us back in March. It was a great time with family & friends and deeeelicious Filipino food. Mmm. My family decorated with pink & green lanterns and a huge arrangement of pink & white flowers for one of the tables. I will always remember the night because it absolutely downpoured all the way up to and through the party! I hope a deluge at the engagement party is good luck. Anyway, enjoy some pictures that Aunt Debbie took...

Holly (maid of honor) and Aunt Debbie

Holly & Shane

Mom, Dad & me

Ashley (bridesmaid) and her husband Chris

Jon (groomsman) & Ashley, also the back of Danny's head (another groomsman)

Meg (bridesmaid) & her husband Kyle, with a good friend of both Ryan & I, Tricia

the buffet - we had chicken adobo, lumpia (eggrolls), chicken pansit (kinda like stirfried angel hair noodles, veggies etc), barbeque pork on a stick, and rice. The catering was done by Ingrid & Myra of I & M Catering. They did an amazing job and were so easy to work with.

The cake! I love the rubber duckies topper - since I'm going to be a Duckworth in just 3 months! In the background is a frame with some of our favorite engagement pictures, and also pans full of the cutest pink & green sugar cookies, iced with all different patterns and cut into C's and R's. Holly is a very great baker!

I also really loved the lumpia. This is me going back after dessert.

I REALLY enjoyed the mango crepes. I think I had about 6 of them.

premarital counseling

Dare I say...premarital counseling was a lot of fun! There were parts that were necessary and not so fun (finances! ugh. very necessary and good info but man, it makes my head spin.) But any time I spend with Ryan is usually fun, and time that brings us closer together & to the Lord is the best kind of fun!

So here's the run down of what we did...

Fri night: Started with dinner, sat with an older couple and a younger couple (I thought we were young! These kids are still in college and not getting married until next yr). First session was our church's Pastor talking about the Biblical foundation. He referenced the first marriage, Adam & Eve, and then looked at Ephesians 5 regarding marriage roles, love & respect. After that we did my favorite part: the flag page! We both took this 5 min test before counseling and it told us a lot about ourselves, how we find success in our lives, what motivates us, etc. Check out our flags & how very different we are!! I guess it's true...opposites attract! The only thing Ryan & I really have in common, personality-wise is that we both call "Fun" our adopted country (my home country is Control and his is Peace) and we both consider optimism as one of our driving character traits. If you want to know more about the whole flag shebang, let me know. I think it's really cool, and the inventor dude is actually coming to our church the weekend before Thanksgiving. I can't wait to hear him speak!


Saturday: Started with breakfast, then moved into "10 things we wish we'd known before we were married" by the Young Marrieds Pastor & his wife. My favorite from their top 10 is "If you win, you lose." For those of you who know me, I love to win. I love to be right. I hate to admit that I'm wrong. It's so easy for me to get in a fight or argument and "win" it. But if I win, that really means our relationship has lost. Why? Because we're going to be a team, it's not me & Ryan any more. The pastor asked a very good question: Do you want to be right or do you want to be one?

After that, we split into girls & guys for coaching time. We got these books:

And what we did after counseling was trade books so that Ryan can read & highlight what really applies to him as a guy, and I can do the same for him. Then we'll trade back books, read them and discuss. Ryan's already finished reading/highlighting...I'm a little behind because I've gotten caught up in the Twilight books. (thanks Lauren!)

We actually have a long reading list now...starting with those books, we also were suggested to read Love Languages by Gary Chapman and Intimate Issues by Linda Dillow. We also have a devotional, Before You Say I Do from my friend Raegan that we've been going through...just hope we can get through all this reading before Aug 29th!

Anyway back to counseling! After lunch, we had the finance session. Like I said, not my favorite but a definite must. A lot of the concepts are from Dave Ramsey/Financial Peace so it was good stuff! The guy who taught it said that b/c we went through the course, we could come to him any time and get financial help for free. yay! Then the last session was back to spiritual matters - how to make God the foundation of our marriage. We looked at marriage as a triangle - the 3 points being God, Ryan, and me. So as we strive to grow closer to God, we equally grow closer to each other, and the triangle gets closer as the points move closer together.

So that was our weekend. Good times :) And we can now get a discount on our marriage license. Yippee! Funny last thought - our pastor told us that several couples have asked to take a picture with him for their wedding scrapbooks & blogs. Nice, but we didn't do that. We're not THAT extreme ;)

Love y'all! keep us in your prayers :)

all the news that's fit to print

We finally got our engagement announcement in The Citizen. Yay! So that takes care of that. Engagement announcement in both hometown newspapers has been eliminated off the to do list!

Just a little update

So it's been a little while since I've written anything. Since getting laid off back in March, I've been looked at for a couple of opportunities here and there. I'm currently in the 2nd round of interviews for a company called Red Ventures that is based out of Charlotte, NC. I traveled up there the other week for the first interview, and really liked Charlotte (though it's no Atlanta). My 2nd interview with them is next Wed.

Also, I have a first interview with a company in Alpharetta, GA tomorrow morning. I'm really excited about this one, because the type of marketing is more my style, and its really a lot closer to home.

On another note, Corrie and I have pre-marital counseling (through our Church, Johnson Ferry Baptist Church) this Friday and Saturday. Keep us in your prayers as we go through the counseling, that we may grow closer.

That's all for now. I'm off to bed for the long journey from Newnan to Alpharetta ( over an hour, without traffic). Adios for now!

funny

Any Grey's watchers out there?

I just saw on E Online that they've made a wedding website on The Knot for Mer & Der's wedding - supposedly airing this Thurs on ABC. Truth be told, I stopped watching Grey's about halfway through this yr. Just wasn't as good any more. But this wedding website is just too cute! I can totally see Izzie writing all of it. Plus, it's for a good cause - instead of a registry, they have charities you can donate to. Anyway, I thought it was cute & funny and wedding related, hehe.