English Literature with Horner is playing in my ears as I write this.  Yes, classes have begun.  I’m taking four classes long-distance from Master’s and already feel like I’m behind.  I have so much to do.  Anyway, let’s move on or my post might stay there and I’ll lose every bit of little readership I still might have.

I’ve had a lot on my mind the last few days (and a few before that and few before that….).  The subject of this thought has been Christ.  It is so easy to allow Him to slip from the center of everything that I am and everything I desire.   I started and never finished a post a little bit ago called “A New Year and the Same-old Resolutions?”  I started out the post with the following thought:

I have an interesting question for you today, for you and myself.  It’s a new year.  We are all planning for the events of the year, transferring birthdays and anniversaries from one calendar to another, and writing our own lists of resolutions for this upcoming year of 2010. (and wow… that feels weird to type)

That same thought has been resounding in my head since that time when I so desired to sit down and write to you but got swept away by my ridiculously crazy schedule to go do something that definitely seemed more important and if not that, then atleast more pressing.

How many of your resolutions are the same ones from last year?  How many of those are spiritual disciplines that you somehow thought if you purposed in your mind to grow in, you would – not by hard work but by osmosis?  I’m at that place again myself.

For years I have sought to be a prayer warrior and yearly, it is my thought – not on January 1st, because I’ve never been a traditional person to have New Year’s resolutions – to change and grow in that area.  I openly recognize that my lack of prayer is a lack of dependence on the Lord and faith.  So why do I find myself continually feeling like I’m not where I should be in that area and desiring two grow?

Two things come to mind and that is that, first, I am so glad I am desiring to grow and change and love Him more!  I’m thankful for the conviction of the Holy Spirit that calls and woos my ever-wandering heart back to Himself!  This constant desire is cause for rejoicing!  Secondly, I come back to that desire and do really want to grow.  I want to grow in Him!  I want to know Him more!  How can I think I can do that without talking to Him, sharing with Him, and listening to Him?

I am thankful for the faithfulness and truth of the Word.  Adam and I are reading through Judges right now with the Word of Life school devotional that he is going through with his youth group.  I’m also starting to read Romans for my New Testament class with Dr. Wong (long-distance).  I’m excited to see how God will use the variety of Old Testament and New Testament passages in my life at this particular time.  I’m also taking Introduction to Biblical Counseling, and WOW… I’ve watched/listened to two lectures so far and already I’m feeling convicted in the areas that I’ve already been feeling convicted about – my self-dependence and lack of faith in God’s power to fulfill His promises and work miracles.  Coincidence?  I think not.

God is definitely at work in my heart.  I am thankful.

P.S.  Because I got distracted talking to a bridesmaid and my maid-of-honor about wedding stuff, I am actually not even listening to English Lit anymore.  Intro to Biblical Counseling is playing now, and yes, I’m still hungry.

So….

here we go!

here is my first online article on relationships.  Check it out!

The more comments and subscriptions I get the better I do.  =)

Clarity Removes Awkwardness from Relationships

Adulthood is everything I imagined it to be and way more than I anticipated.  There is so much responsibility and an unavoidable necessity for focus, time management, determination, hard work, and patience.  Most-importantly, there is an overwhelming necessity to have your relationships in order, first with God and secondly with others.  If these two things are out-of-whack, it is amazing how much stress is added to your life as well as how your witness will be damaged and the joy taken out of your life.  Anyway…

My schedule for the upcoming 6 months is insane (What else is new?)  My big tasks seem endless.  My daytimer for 2010 is filling up like there’s no tomorrow!  For the next 6 months, I will be buried in a variety of tasks including wedding planning, 2 directed study courses from Master’s (Rhetorical Criticism and New Testament Survey II), 2(Distance Education) Courses from Master’s (Intro to Biblical Counseling and American Literature), working for A.D. Bowman & Son Lumber, Co, Inc. (Adam’s family’s mill), and writing 3-4 articles a week for Examiner.com as a relationship advice examiner. (I get paid to write on relationships!  How cool is that?!)  [Deep breathes...lol]

I am feeling pretty stoked (there’s a California word for you.. ) about it all, and at the same time trying to be realistic and not bury myself.  Too late? I half think so.  lol…oh, well.  What else is new?

So, as I just mentioned above, I did just get hired to write about relationships online.  I am officially a sub-contractor to Examiner.com and I have my own site to write as many articles as I want on whatever aspect of relationships and advice that desire to.  I’m super excited.  This opportunity will help get my name out there into the writing market as well as open other doors of influence internationally with whatever counsel I offer.  I really pray that this can be a neat witnessing/sharing tool for God’s glory. =)  Pray, pray, pray!

So… I will let you know when my first article is up and officially published.  Then check out my page, comment, and support me in this new career possibility!!  =)

Well, here is the moment you have all been waiting for: my engagement story. =)

This year I knew I was spending Thanksgiving with Adam and his family.  On Thanksgiving Eve (is that really a day?) we went out to the Texas Roadhouse with his parents and Chad, a close friend/adopted brother.  I knew we were getting close to the moment of engagement for numerous reasons.  I know Adam extremely well, and I began to notice a few comments he made to people about things happening in a few days and he was thinking too much about things he wouldn’t normally have talked about.  Anyway, I was holding my breath, hoping the time was coming soon, but at the same time, trying to keep my expectations low.  (Psssh…. is that possible when it comes to engagement???)

Like every home, there are certain traditions in the Bowman home.  One of those includes hunting on Thanksgiving morning.  Up to the point of Wednesday evening, Adam hadn’t decided if he was going (Gasp!)  I asked him that night as we drove home from the Roadhouse, and he responded by asking me what time I was coming over.  I really want him to be able to do the things he enjoys, so I encouraged him that I’d just come over whenever and help his mom cook until he came back.  He in turn asked if I’d like to go horseback riding instead. 

I love horses. I have ridden them since I was 11, and I used to train racehorses fresh off the track.  Adam and I have talked about going horseback riding for months now, but time and circumstances have never allowed it.  When he asked me if I wanted to go horseback riding, I was super excited.  Adam pawned off the opportunity as taking advantage of an offer by a local family whom he had worked for this past summer.  They had tried to pay him, and he, knowing I loved to ride, told them he’d refuse the money but take them up on a horseback ride later some time.  Apparently, he had called the Wards and they were game for us coming over on Thanksgiving morning to cash in that offer.

So, at this point, I’m really curious.  He’d been unconsciously leading me on to think engagement was coming soon by a variety of things, and now he was giving up hunting to go horseback riding with me….????? HMMMMMMM……  I fought my own imagination and just chose to focus on the horseback ride.

Thanksgiving morning I got to Adam’s around 9:40. ( I was 10 min late)  We  headed right out to the Wards and after a nice talk with Mrs. Ward and Lajoie her daughter, we took the horses around their nice pond and up the hill.  Unfortunately Adam’s horse was not cooperative at all, and he took off cantering and bucking.  A little frustrated, we decided to walk them for a while.  I cinched up Adam’s horse’s stirrups and tried to take his horse for a ride, but he started bucking big time.  Since we didn’t have helmets on, we just decided to walk for the rest of the time and avoid any accidents.

At the top of the hill, we paused in the middle of a corn field.  Adam made a few comments about the scenery and what we could see, and we just stood talking as our horses grazed. 

It was the perfect set-up.  We were standing between our horses and talking and enjoying a beautiful morning.  I turned to my horse to fix something on his bridle, when out of the corner of my eye, I caught Adam going down on one knee.  There, on November 26, 2009, Adam Garrett Bowman asked me to marry him!!!!!!

I would write out exactly what he said, but hey… it was for my ears only. [Another long sigh.....] =)

We were standing there caught up in the moment when suddenly, Adam got a text-message.  It was from Punkface (if you’ve read my blog before, you know who that is), and it was a picture of us WHERE WE WERE STANDING RIGHT THEN!!!  My response: “What the heck?!  Where is he?!”

Adam, my wonderful fiance, had the whole event perfectly planned, and Aaron was awesome enough to help the whole morning go so smoothly!  Adam had dropped Aaron off on the hill at 8 that morning, and Aaron had camouflaged himself in a bale of hay at the end of the woods nearby to take pictures of our special moment.  After a few more minutes of talking and laughing, we headed down to the Ward’s pond, where Aaron took more pictures of us.  [Long sigh.....Big smile] =D

What an amazing morning!!!  How awesome!  I am now engaged to the man of my dreams and the love of my life!!!

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