I'm engaged!!!

Hey everybody, guess what? I'm engaged! Really! God is so good. I am amazed at God's faithfulness and kindness in our relationship and in how he has brought us together and lead us.
I know that some of you have heard already but may not have heard the story. I will now tell it to you with the help of a photo montage.
Sunday night, the 21st, Jean, one of my best friends and former roommate, asked me if I would come pray with her after chapel. She told me she had borrowed the key from our Campus Pastor for Heritage hall, the original chapel and a room frequently used for prayer meetings. I agreed. Jean and I have been long time prayer partners and it seemed normal. So I went up to heritage hall at 10:00pm, the time Jean said she would be up there. I arrived and on the front of the door was a note with my name on it. I opened it up and it said "Go to 4th floor". My heart started pounding! I returned to the staircase and as I climbed there were notes on the steps that said things like, "Keep going!", "Almost there," "A little farther". The door at the top of the stairs said "Open me." I went in and there was another sign with an arrow pointing to The Gathering Place (our super cool guest suite and meeting place. It has the most comfortable furniture on campus!). I went in and one of my favorite chairs was facing the t.v. The chair had a sign instructing me to sit there and the dvd player had a note that said "push play". I sat down and pushed play. The song "Praise you" by fatboy slim started playing. Nate had made a slide show of pictures chronicling our whole relationship along with slides narrating the whole thing. At the very end of the video, as the music died out, the words on the screen read, "And now all I'm wondering is what she will say..."
Then he came out from the hallway where he was hiding. He came to my side, got down on one knee, and asked if I wanted to get married...to him! I had already been crying, but now I was weeping! I said "YES!" through my tears and laughter.
I asked him how he did everything and if Jean helped him make all the signs. He said he had a lot of help and then got up and turned on the light. Suddenly, our closest friends burst through the door leading to the fire escape. They all came in with those party blower things. We hugged and laughed and cried. They had made some special brownies (see below), mostly for my amusement. We then had a tiny engagement party!
Ok, so I'll label the pictures a little bit, but I think you can figure it our for the most part.

Cayla, David, and Jean waiting on the fire escape.



zRight after they came in. I'm still crying. Nate is excited!
Our friend Molly coming to congratulate us!

Reading the card our friends wrote for us.


The fun brownies.



Molly and Jean decided to celebrate by wearing the Ugly Sweaters we made together this summer.
Whitney and Melissa!

Thanks friends!

Here is the question to the first question we are typically asked now: May 23rd, 2009. At least within a few days of that date. That is our tentative dates, it depends on our venue(s).

SGA- A look into where I work

Hey everybody,
I wanted to post this video that we made for orientation this year. Our goal was to show new students what SGA is and what we do. I hope you enjoy. Nate helped us tremendously as our head writer and director. Dustin our treasurer (the guy with the long hair) also helped edit our film.

Cast:
Melissa- President
David (lead actor)- VP of Student senate
Adam- Office Consultant (one of the drink-sharers)
Sarah- Director of Campus Activities (another drink sharer)
Megan- Executive secretary (answers the phone)
Dustin- Executive treasurer (long hair)
Sam- Student Chaplain

YES!

Do you ever read something and you feel like your heart leaps up and shouts, "Yes!"? Well, this hit me that way:

God loved you before you were born, and God will love you after you die. In Scripture God says, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." This is a very fundamental truth of your identity. This is who you are whether you feel it or not. You belong to God from eternity to eternity. Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say, "I love you, too."

If you dare to believe that you are beloved before you are born, you may suddenly realize that your life is very, very special. You become conscious that you were sent here just for a short time, for twenty, forty, or eighty years, to discover and believe that you are a beloved child of God. The length of time does not matter. You are sent into this world to believe in yourself as God's chose one and then to help your brothers and sisters know that they also are beloved sons and daughters of God who belong together. You're sent into this world to be a people of reconciliation. You are sent to heal, to break down the walls between you and your neighbors, locally, nationally, and globally. Before all the distinctions, the separations, and the walls built on foundations of fear, there was unity in the mind and heart of God. Out of that unity, you are sent into this world for a little while to claim that you and every other human being belongs to that same God of Love who lives from eternity to eternity.

Henri Nouwen. Finding my Way Home:Pathways to Life and the Spirit. pg 129-130. Crossroad Publishing Company.

New

Classes have resumed. Schedules have picked up. Responsibilities gladly welcome themselves back into my life.
This year is going to be good. I remember before I went back to school last year I had this feeling that it was going to be vastly different than the two previous years. It was. It was by far the hardest, most stressful year I've had ever (dramatic, i know). This year feels much, much better. For the most part it is because of my very intentional scaling back of responsibilities and activities. Goodbye, choir, highland singers, and Greek class. I am only taking 13 hours this semester. That is the smallest amount I've ever taken. At the same time add on 6 office hours a week for SGA, not including meetings, and leading the Student Chaplain group. Now things are a little more balanced.
With all this time on my hands I have had time to do things I love; I have built and strengthened relationships and had a lot of time to be enriched spiritually. I also have time to do my homework excellently. I did not have that time last year. You may recall several posts about staying up all night to finish papers. I have also had time to do something new, which inspired the title of this post.
I joined a gym. I not only joined a gym, I have been going to the gym. I have never belonged to a gym. I did some athletics in high school, but that is it. I decided that I missed being in shape and wanted to be healthier. So I started going. So far it has been good (granted I am only 3 days in), but my abs are burning!
The first day I went to the gym I was pretty anxious. There were guys there who were using free weights that totalled more than my body mass. Everyone there seemed to know what to do. I felt really aimless. I didn't know how I should work out or how to use certain machines. Luckily I had Nate, his roommate, Matt, and Allie, a wonderful girl that I have many classes with. They all showed me the ropes. Now I am just trying to set up a routine and some goals for myself.
Exciting times.
In conclusion, yay for setting priorities, sticking to them, and having time for wonderful things and people.