So FOCCUS'd

Last night Will and I went over to the Church to take our Foccus test (double C intentional) and attend an orientation.  The test was pretty silly, over 200 scantron questions which Will and I both agree showed us there are people out there will problems a lot larger then ours.  We laughed a lot about explaining why our answers wouldn't match up in certain places.

We both Disagreed that our future spouse watched too much TV, but had different answers on my future spouse always has to win.  Will said he Disagreed with that, because I always lose, and I put agree because anyone that knows Will, knows he's a viciously competitive opponent.  Just ask his Grandma about Nickels.  =)

I think we're going to be just fine when we get our results, with very few surprises (I hope!)

We also attended an orientation, which essentially was everything that we had already gone over with Fr. Marc three months ago.  Deacon Rick (or Rich?) I can't keep them straight, anyway, he was in charge of this round.  Unfortunately when I asked the lady if it started at 7, she said no, 7:30... so we ended up walking in after it had already started.  On the bright side, we were still "early" so it wasn't too bad, and the section we walked in on was the same packet we had already reviewed.

I ran into a familiar face from my school days, Julia Munoz, who is also getting married (but in August of this year).  She joked that they were running a little behind.  After a short break, in which no one moved because we all wanted out, the Deacon asked some more questions, so we all had to talk about how we met, and then discussed the differences between a Civil marriage (decision) and a Sacramental marriage (vocation -> calling from God).  Essentially a Civil marriage can be dissolved, and a Sacramental one cannot, due to the covenant with God.  Because even though the two people in the marriage can break it, God does not.

The one thing that really stuck out was this:  Love is a decision.  We have to make it everyday.  It is not a feeling, you do not "fall into" love, because then you can "fall out" of love, just as easily.  Deciding to love someone even in the hard times, is how to weather the storm, so to speak.  Or as the Deacon said, "Think of it as a freeway, you can see the exits and can leave the freeway at anytime in a Civil marriage, but in a Sacramental marriage, there's only on ramps."  He also said, that sometimes knowing that you can leave, makes it hard to stick it out, but if you had only lasted those extra two exits (still speaking metaphorically) then you would have made it to that awe-inspiring destination you didn't know was coming.

All good things to hear, and I'm glad there was something I could take away from what was otherwise a bit of a waste of time.  On a humorous note, I did hear Bruce and my mom through the walls (or ceiling?) I guess they had a meeting at the church too.  Best part was all the kids in the class kept looking around, and Will and I were trying not to laugh because we recognized Bruce's voice instantly.  =)

One last thing I wanted to share was the prayer we said at the end.  Both Will and I agree that it left an impression on us:

Loving God,

You created us and know us so well

You created us, one for the other

and it was you who brought us together

Now, united in love,

as we prepare to begin our life's journey together,

we turn to you

Help us to be for one another, a gentle lover,

a generous listener, a firm supporter,

and a best friend

Never let us take each other for granted.

Help us to remember, even in times of anger,

that love brought us together

and we freely and consciously

make a decision to love

Through good times and bad,

in our joys and in our sorrows

be with us, guide us, 

and hold us in Your gentle embrace

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord

Amen

And the winner is THAILAND!!!

So after much back and forth, and a serious preconceived notion against it, I finally sat down and started looking at the possibilities available to us in Thailand.  It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be to say goodbye to my dream of a Honeymoon in Italy (I think it was about .3 seconds into my investigation).  The good thing about marrying a man with the travel bug, is that there's a pretty good chance I'll end up there eventually... Maybe an anniversary or something =)

Thailand is incredible for a bunch of reasons, most important (and I wish that it didn't have to be such an important factor, but it is what it is) is the currency exchange.  We don't have to give up the breathtaking beauty and experiences because it will cost too much (eckem... Bora Bora) or cut down our trip.  We can take 14 days and really experience the country.

Also it's rich in history and culture, so there's tons to do.  We could fly into Bangkok and spend a few days in the city, see the temples and the floating market, then we can spend the rest of the time flitting from beach to island as we see fit.  I see snorkeling and picnics on the beach in my future.  I think I might be most excited about riding an elephant.  Yes. You read correctly.  One thing we are absolutely going to do is ride elephants!!!

No details set yet (although i can pretty much guarantee there will not be any prostitutes involved... Justine, lol!), we're not sure how the trip is going to be broken down or where in Thailand we'll end up, but I am excited to explore all my options while we chose.  I'm just glad we were able to agree on (and quite painlessly) our venue.  Now we get to do the fun part. 

Here's some pictures for you to drool over:

Jealous yet???

Are We There Yet?

I am in the midsts of wedding madness.  I feel like there are thousands of things I should be doing, but in actuality I am so far ahead of the game that no I need to wait a bit. Total bummer!

In the meantime I have been working on my shoes, drum roll please:

Wedding shoes 4.0 =) Sadly, mom's shoe looks the same as last time. lol. In her defense, I've been hogging the stones.  The plan is, since there's not much else to do, to finish the shoes before October (aka 6 months before the wedding, and when everything starts again).

In other news, Will and I take our FOCUS test for the Church on Thursday.  Its a test that shows where we stand on our values and how we communicate about them aka: how well you know your spouse. Should be interesting.  The following Tuesday is our orientation.  Hope its fun and/or educational, I'll take either!

Shoes!

Here's are my shoes thus far. I'd say they are version 3.0 at this point (meaning at least 3 afternoons of work have gone into them).