DUCKS!

So this blog post is about my baby ducks. Let's give some background. Richie can validate my story. There was this mamma duck and she had 8 babies. I would bring food to them. I would have to throw it to them because they wouldn't come close enough. As time went on I started to look forward to their arrival. There are different ponds in Heritage Park and they frequent all of them. But nonetheless, I stated to look forward to seeing them on a regular basis. I loved watching them grow and develop personalities. Yes, ducks do have personalities. Eventually, one of them was brave enough to eat out of my hand. From then on, all the ducks started to do it.

Unfortunately, my kitty Lexi passed away. This is a video of her playing fetch. Yes, I had a cat who played fetch. She was a character to say the least. She was diagnosed with a tumor on her thyroid and she wouldn't eat. Mom had to put her down, but I know it was the right decision. I know it was a rough decision, but now Lex doesn't have to suffer.

All this being said, I firmly believe that God gave me theses ducks as therapy. I was able to watch them grow and develop. They come and go, and I have no obligation to them, but still, they have my heart. Rich has promised that we will get a puppy when we get married (he's allergic to cats). I'm so excited to get a dog. I know they are a lot of responsibility, but I miss the companionship and dependability a  pet offered. Until then, I'll take my ducks and thank God for my blessing. :) Enjoy the photos!

Isn't he cute!?

This is the Momma duck. She always keeps watch.

Pink Eye

Not too much to report today. I think I might have pink eye. My eye started acting up at work. I started to get this filmy stuff on my eye...kinda like when you get up in the morning and rub your eyes. Yea, that's what I had all day. I came home and took off my contacts. But to no avail. My eye got worse as the evening went on. So hopefully things will get better in the morning.

As time passes, the more I miss Rich. Luckily I've been blessed with an amazing roommate and some awesome friends. I'm trying to keep myself busy with hanging out with people and trying to not focus on his absence. Ironic that I get an eye with blurry vision the day I really start to miss Rich. My goal is to say focused on Christ instead of my circumstances. One plus of the day is that I heard from Marsh Creek! It's official. Rich and I will be husband and wife, May 26, 2012. Less than a year and I will be Mrs. Richard Lee Brooks II, or Danielle Elise Brooks.

I can't wait. :)

Craft Night

So today Jess and I had some girls over for a craft night! We all brought those projects we've been working on or have wanted to finish. It was such a good night of fellowship and bonding. I was able to work on pinwheels for the wedding. I'm pretty excited about them and think that it will add such an element of whimsy to the ceremony. Below are some photos of the evening. I did hear from Richie today, which was awesome. I love that I can still talk to him even if he isn't here. It's a good way to transition into no communication. Although the 4th will be when he and the team fly into the jungle and we wont have any communication. Continue keeping them in your prayers as the students arrive Thursday.

Today was a good day. I got an encouraging note, which was so unexpected. I'm so excited about what God is going to do this month. I was in 1 Peter 3 today. And one verse gave me some trouble...its the last half of verse 7. "...so that nothing will hinder your prayers." Peter is addressing husbands and wives and charging them with respecting one another. But I wanted to know why someone's prayers would be hindered. So I did some research and found some good stuff. Peter is not only addressing the prayers of both the husband and wife, but the prayers they engage in together. He is saying when a relationship is broken between two people, it hinders their interaction with Christ. Our strained relationship should be reconciled before we worship. Drawing a parallel, when a husband/wife relationship is strained it hinders our communion with God. When there is conflict between believers, it is often due to their pursuit of self-interest rather than a mutual submission to each other. Thus resulting in misdirected prayers.

This is good stuff to know as I prepare for marriage. But as for now I can apply this to my relationship with Christ. My relationship with Him needs to not be strained. I'm praying for God to point out the areas where I'm straining our relationship. Where I can be working to create a better bond between myself and God.

Big stuff. And Richie has only been gone for 24 hours. So excited to see what else God has in store for me. Enjoy the photos! :)

Nena and Melissa. Melissa was knitting a banana for Aubrey.

Megaroni was making garland for Aubrey's 1st birthday party!

JamieLee was making quilt squares for her little boy.

Jess was making a yarn wreath that is turning out to be awesome

Jillian was painting mason jars that she can put tea lights in for her new apartment.

The View From Here

Forgot to post this when it happened. But one day I decided to make chicken n’ dumplings…Nana style! My grandmother used to make chicken n’ dumplings all the time for me growing up. When she got cancer and lost her eyesight, she couldn’t make things like she used to. I realized that we didn’t even have some of her recipes written down. She just made them from memory and whenever she would pass away, so would her recipes.  So one weekend I had her sit in the kitchen with me so she could tell me how to make chicken n’ dumplings. God was gracious enough to allow her to remember how to make them with out actually making them. I had such a blast just cooking in my kitchen. I love that I have an island to roll out the dumplings on. I was able to drink out of her old mason jars. Everyone always raved about her chicken n' dumplings. I hope one day someone might rave about my chicken n' dumplings.

 The more time that passes after Nana’s death, the more I wish she were around. There have been several occasions where I wish I could call her up and tell her about my life. Leaving Channel 4 for Flagler. Buying a house. Sewing my first skirt. Getting engaged. And now making chicken n’ dumplings. I didn’t realize that this is what loss is. Never being able to call her, never being able to hear her voice or get one of her letters in the mail. All I’m left with are memories. But praise be to God who paid my debt so I could see her again. My family doesn’t really know where we came from. Seriously. We’ve researched it and all we have is Georgia. No lie. We’ve gone back at least 10 generations and all roads lead to Georgia. But even though my physical heritage is clouded, my spiritual heritage is well documented. Nana was the first person in our family tree to become a Christian. She gave her life to Christ when she was married to Papa, and through her example she was able to lead him to Christ when my mom was born. As they raised my mom and Uncle Robert they were able to share the Gospel with them. Then, when I was born, they were faithful to pass that on to me, and Rich and I will insure our children know about the saving grace of Christ. As 1 Peter 1:24-25 says, “For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." Even though recipes like chicken n’ dumplings will fade away, I’m comforted by the fact that I serve a God who doesn’t change and will never fade away. 

Bon Voyage

Didn’t get a chance to blog about this when it happened so I’m doing it now. This past month Richie and I had to say good-bye to two of our closest friends, Laurie and Adam. Please keep them in your prayers as they are in the Peace Corps! They are headed out to Chengdu, China for orientation and then they will get their specific location for the next 2 years! Be praying that they have peace as they leave their home and families, that they plug into a great Christian community, and that their transition goes as smoothly as possible.

Just a little background Laurie and I met our first day in college. She lived in the dorm across the hall from mine and we were instant best friends. Ironically, thanks to my awkward introduction, she and Adam met on the bus on the way back from our freshman trip to Disney World. Even though Richie and I didn’t know each other at the time, him and Adam were roomies. 

Richie and I were both in their wedding and we have asked them to be in ours. So as you can tell, we are a very close group of friends. I’m so blessed to have them in my life. We have been through ups and downs and have supported each other along the way. It has been such fun to run this segment of life with them. I know that despite the distance we will remain close. Richie and I hope to offer support in anyway we can and will be praying for their safe return. Here are some photos from over the years, enjoy!

MOH and the Bride!

Us celebrating our engagement!

Laurie's famous Yodel dress. My fave.

Us being silly :)

Richie and Adam enjoying the fire.

Mad Men Party

This past weekend Richie and I went to a Mad Men party at Josh and Carrie's house. It was super fun. We got dressed up and pretended to live in the 60s. We had burgers and hot dogs and just hung out. I even wore red lipstick for the first time ever. I thought it looked really good and might make it a semi-regular thing. Although Richie wants me to get the long lasting lipstick. Every time I kissed him it rubbed off on him. Here are some photos from the party. Enjoy!

Richie loves his pipe. I, however, look awkward with my fake cigarette.

Josh and Carrie rocking the man drink!

He really fit the part with his pipe.

The Mad Men

My delicious fruity drink! We drank everything out of martini glasses.

We're Engaged!

After 2.5 years of dating, Richie and I are finally engaged. It has been a long, but God guided road. I guess the only place to start is the beginning….

It all started when I wanted to learn how to play the guitar. I don’t know what the motivation was. It was just something I wanted to do for myself. I had borrowed a guitar from the church and was going to teach myself. Richie heard about my new endeavor and offered to teach me how to play. For several months I would go to his apartment and he would teach me various cords and rhythm methods. At the time it was strictly platonic. Then one day I wanted to thank Rich for all the time he spent teaching me, so I took him to the amphitheater where we saw Spiderman and ate hot dogs. This was the first time we had truly hung out with out the common denominator of guitars. We talked about our families, friends and ourselves. This was the first time that I thought of Rich as possibly more than a friend.

Halloween rolled around which meant carving pumpkins. So after our lesson, Richie and I carved one. We were pulling out the guts when I held up a pumpkin seed and dared him to eat it. And amazingly he just ate it! This, for me, was when I knew I had feelings for Rich.

A couple more months passed and we continued to hang out on a regular basis and we continued to have our Wednesday guitar lessons. It was such a great time to just enjoy each other's friendship. From a girl's point of view, it was terribly romantic to be serenaded every week as I tried to learn "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. Then one day we were watching the Steelers/Ravens game and I asked Rich if he wanted a Moose Kiss. He was reluctant but finally gave in. I licked the side of his face and said, it’s a Moose Kiss! He was kind of grossed out at first, but then his demeanor changed. He got fidgety and kept saying “So….” And wouldn’t finish his sentence. So I just asked, “Do you want another Moose Kiss? Is that why you keep saying so?” And he said, “No, but now that you mention kissing….” He explained that I had once said I wouldn’t kiss anyone who I wasn’t in a relationship with and he wanted to know if instead of Moose Kissing I wanted to be his girlfriend and kiss him for real. And I guess you could say the rest is history…..So if you hear us mention mooses or Moose Kisses, you know what it's about.

Now, to the good stuff, right? What you all wanted to read about. The Proposal. I guess, I’ll let Rich tell this part of story…..

(Rich)

Well, to be quite honest I hadn't planned things out to the N'th degree. I had tried over and over again to think of something that was super creative, but at the end of it all I decided that it would be best to just be spontaneous and wait for the "right" moment. I had purchased the ring over a month ago so it was ready whenever I was. The day that I popped the question I wasn't 100% sure I was going to do it until it happened. I knew we were going to hang out that evening and we would be downtown. I kept the ring in my pocket just in case. There were so many places that it could have happened since we have memories spanning almost all of the city, but at the end of the night as we were walking to the car we decided to take a pit stop in the Flagler West Lawn to enjoy the great weather. 

I started to think about all of the memories we had at Flagler. Spending lunch time soaking up some rays on the West Lawn, graduation for the both of us, and countless others. The weather was perfect, the lights were low, and it was one of the most peaceful moments I've ever witnessed downtown. It was then that I knew that now was the time. I said "I've got a surprise for you." I listed off the number of things that made Danielle special to me. Her unwavering support, her way of making sure I never took myself too seriously, making me laugh, and her steadfast godliness that always encourages me. I got down on one knee as asked her to marry me. The rest is history... After all of that, we met for a drink with Laurie and Adam Pierce (who would be soon leaving for the Peace Corps) and an impromptu photo shoot where the action happened. It was at Scarlet O'Hara's that we all witnessed the most entertaining rendition of "I Feel Good" done during karaoke (we got a picture with the performer).  And that is how this stage of the fairy tale ends... Now we plan!

Danielle & Laurie at Scarlets

The Excellent "I Feel Good" performer