So.....

Almost three months have passed since my last posting! Things got busy in April with the house and final wedding preparations. I also moved into our house in the middle of April and had no internet making it hard to post.  So here we are.....

1 month into marriage and it has been amazing!!  Obviously!!!  Here we are! I'll post more in the coming weeks!

Home Owners

Well tomorrow we officially close on our house! I am so excited! I am taking the next few days off of wedding planning (with the exception of receiving RSVPs). This should help me to get less frustrated with the planning and to be able to enjoy setting up our house.  We might start painting ceilings tomorrow!!  Next week I am going to  be cleaning everything and getting the place ready to be moved into. It's nice that we have this time so that we can slowly move in and aren't rushed to get possession and clean and unpack.

Today I bought us our paint supplies! Rollers, trays, drop cloths, brushes and paint! We have to paint all the ceilings at least on the top floors because there were smokers before us so the ceilings are stained. We are also hoping to paint our bedroom. Right now the colour we both seem to like is Evening Eclipse by Valspar. So we'll see if that's what we go with or not!!

I look forward to starting to decorate and make our house into our home! 

Colours!

So as we get closer to get the house (8 sleeps) I get more and more excited about how we will decorate it.
I have already convinced Tom that we needed blue hand towels in our bathroom. So we registered for those to go with other ivory and chocolate brown towels that we registered for. It's hard to tell here but the tiles are dark brown. Above the tile there is currently and off white textured wall paper...that will come down! We will likely paint it. We also hope to update the vanity and put in double sinks!!  There is so much room between the toilet and vanity at present that it excites me for the possibility to have double sinks!! The first house we put an offer in on had double sinks!!  I think the blue towels will be a nice accent in here!!

So our first project we want to do (besides repainting the ceiling to get rid of smoke stains - darn smokers!!) is paint our bedroom. For awhile we wanted grey to go with this bedding we hope to get. But after going and looking at colours I am not sure.  I think finding a grey that matches and is in the right family might be hard. There are so many greys out there! Dear me!! So then I was liking the blue-greys and then I thought why not blue! Tom is not sold on blue but I like it. It's his favourite colour so why doesnt he like it!

So here are my new inspiration colours!!

This second one is Tom's favourite and I think I like it best. So today I will be picking up paint chips! What fun!!!

9 sleeps!

Till we are home owners! I cannot wait! Owning a home seems a lot more frightening then getting married.  When I think about getting married, I know I am making the right choice and that Tom is the man I am supposed to be with for the rest of my life. I am certain of that and find peace in knowing that we will grow old together.

Owning a house however, makes me NERVOUS!!  We have seen the house 2 times and can we really know everything about it from those times? NO? I have recently become addicted to HGTV and therefore have watched a lot of Holmes on Homes. This show makes me nervous. In the show he goes into homes where home inspectors have failed to see things that are major and cost major MOOLA to fix.  I likely need to STOP watching this show so that I stop worrying about it! Whatever happens we will roll with it! We can handle it....hopefully!!

This weekend we are also going home and we are meeting with our DJ, my hair trial and first fitting! So its a busy day on Saturday. But exciting to get to see my family again! We wont be home in April but parts of my family will be coming here about 3 times in April so that will be nice!!

Less than 2 months till I am a wife!

Time is a flying!

So 2 months, 1 week and 5 days to go....got some things more or less done lately...or at least brought up:
- Decide songs for dances (parents, BP) and what not to play list       
-Wedding party gifts boys done - got about 2/5 figured out
-Mailed Invitation to our international guests and my sister here just for fun!!
-put stamps on all invites and will mail them Monday


My mom is coming to visit this weekend so we will be looking for what she will wear or  a wrap/top to go with the dress she wore for my sister's wedding 4 years ago.  Also plan to get her to help me with wedding party presents!
I am also technically on holidays tomorrow and Friday! Yeah!!  I have some work I need to do but it will be nice to be off and sleep in! 

New Month - New List...

...or the continuation of the old ones. So up for this month:
-Design Menus (heard from caterer need to finalize)
-Reception Décor (by March 1st) oops!!  unless we find something cheap for backdrop it may just be as is heck with it! 
- Ceremony Décor  I think the church is fine how it is but am going to try to make pew bows
- Decide songs for dances (parents, BP) and what not to play list       
-Wedding Programs designed - just waiting to ask readers and finalize songs
-Wedding party gifts boys done - need ideas for girls
-finalize bar
-finish card box (still need to do)-Dress fitting  (March 26th)
-Katie's rings in for check and cleaning 
-Hair Trial (March 26th) -Marriage License
-Set up of hall - # per table
-Meet with DJ
-Mail Invitations - International - early March - regular - March 14th  

Chastity

As I have said before, one of my FAVOURITE parts of my  job is when I get to write the front of the weekly bulletin. It is a chance for me to reflect personally on the readings from the Sunday but also to write! I love writing (which is why I started this blog). This past Sunday I ended up doing the bulletin front - I wasn't scheduled to but filled in for someone who wasn't able to get it ready.  I chose to talk about the topic of chastity in light of the recent letter to  young people put out by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.   What I thought was just 'ok' was apparently more than ok. I have been blessed to have received great feedback from a number of people. One lady even called and left a message on my voice mail at work. She isn't a parishioner of the parish but comes to play cards on Wednesdays. She said she picked up a bulletin and was so impressed and loved that I took on a challenging topic.  Her message was so sweet and I almost cried (tears for sure welled up)

I wonder, Is God giving me these opportunities to write and speaking to me through these complete strangers?  I pray that I can be open to what God is calling me to with this gift He seems to have blessed me with.

If you are interested here is my reflection.  The Gospel for last Sunday was Matthew 5:38-48.


 In the Gospel today, we are challenged to be perfect, as our Heavenly Father is perfect. I don’t know about you but to me that is a HUGE challenge.  In our daily lives there are standards that we are held to or ones that we strive for and this trumps ALL of those!  As Christians we are on a journey to holiness. This journey will take us through trials and triumphs but we need to always keep at the centre our focus of being holy and perfect as God is perfect.

In January, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops released a pastoral letter to young people on chastity.  In a world that has little respect for sexuality, they are speaking out and calling our young people (and all of us) to a higher standard - to be perfect like our Heavenly Father is perfect.  St. Paul tells us many times in his letters that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (in today’s second reading).  If God dwells in us then people should be able to see God working in our lives through our actions. In their letter the Bishops say, “The body is our doorway to salvation, and so how we treat it matters.”

Chastity is something that we are all called to, young and old, single, married, religious, or ordained. It calls us to purity of body and mind. “The virtue of chastity involves the integration of the powers of love and life placed in us. This integrity ensures the unity of the person and is opposed to any behaviour that would distort it.” When we try to separate our body from our spirit, we live a double life, become self-centred and lose sight of the beauty around us.  

Society tells us to listen to our bodies and to follow our own desires – ‘if it feels good do it.’ But Jesus calls us to a great standard. He says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mk 8:34). Chastity is a struggle and requires that we order our lives with God at the beginning of everything.  By knowing what we believe, surrounding ourselves with friends who are supportive of our faith, and choosing wisely the entertainment we seek, chastity and holiness is possible.

When World Youth Day was held in Toronto in 2002, Pope John Paul II (who will be beatified on May 1st) said, “Just as salt gives flavor to food and light illuminates the darkness, so too holiness gives full meaning to life and makes it reflect God’s glory. How many saints, especially young saints, can we count in the Church’s history.” We have many men and women who have gone before us who are great examples of chastity and holiness. One of my favourites is Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati who went against his family’s lifestyle and what society told him and chose to act on God’s call to follow Him.

As we go about our faith journey’s I pray that as a community we can help our young people and one another to strive for chastity and holiness in our daily lives.

The full letter from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops can be found on their website: www.cccb.ca.