Welcome, again, to {Love} Week. This will be my third post about Joshua and I.
For other {Love} Week posts about us, check them out on our He + She page.
This week has already been an emotional filled one. Who can't help but be a little mushy with their spouse their anniversary week? And by writing about our dating life, Josh's proposal, and now our year engaged, it has really been the sweetest feeling. I cherish these memories with Joshua!
{Love} Week: J&E's Engagement Year
So June 8, 2012 started our engagement. Joshua and I picked a date quite quickly.
Like my previous post stated, we started dating May 29th. I knew I wanted a wedding date around that time. Plus, it was close to our proposal anniversary (you can have an anniversary for that one too, right??). So we looked at the calendar, and May 25th jumped out at us.
It was the perfect time. We would graduate May 11 and get married two weeks later.
Why wait the entire summer to get married when we could share that summer together as husband and wife? So BAM. May 25th became our day!
Looking back on that year, it was filled with hope, excitement, and stress.
I have no idea how a girl plans a wedding without their mom. You are going to hear that a lot on these posts. That summer, my mother did a lot to help us decide and make everything for the wedding. Every spare moment my mother had, I would see her on Pinterest getting ideas or I would call her and she would be at shops getting items for the wedding. That lady could plan a wedding in her sleep. Trust me, she can. I guarantee her dreams that year were all about the wedding. That summer was filled with craft making and decision making.
Then school started, and Joshua and I had to go back and focus on our last year of school. I say that year was stressful because well, it was. On top of planning a wedding, Joshua and I had to figure out what would happen after the "I do's". We knew we were to graduate and get married as soon as school ended. We had to have a plan at least before the wedding, right? Like I've said before, Joshua and I always had the dream to move to Alaska. We weren't sure how we were going to get up there, so we decided that we would both apply to jobs and whoever got one first, that's where we would go. Definitely left it up to the Lord's hands. And just like anything you give up to the Lord, it becomes perfect in his time. It all fell into place at just the right moment. In February, Joshua and I drove to Eastern Illinois University for a teacher's fair. They were the only one's in the area to have a district from Alaska come. I interviewed, and by April, it was official. A month before the wedding we finally knew exactly where we would be going!
If you want to read about the full story of how we made it to Newtok, read it here.
Our year engaged was one full of sweet dreams and a rushing reality that soon we would become husband and wife and would make the journey up to Alaska.
A little flashback of our year engaged.
^^ Our matching 4th of July shirts... engaged! // Family Winery Trip with my future in-laws ^^
^^ Family Vacation down to Gulf Shores. Who knew I'd be engaged for over a month at this time! ^^
^^ Joshua's last season playing football. // Our first Thanksgiving spent together. Welcome to the Williams side, Joshua ^^
^^ Our New Years' Celebration. Couldn't wait for 2013 to begin... wedding year! // One of our camping trips of the 2013 spring season ^^
^^ Joshua singing and playing guitar. // Fun time at a concert with my fiancé ^^
^^ The first picture after we talked to our future school district in Alaska. It became a reality then! // At the Graham's wedding... one month away from ours! ^^
^^ At the Senior Farewell Dinner the night before graduation. // Graduates! 2 weeks until the wedding!^^
Now, everyone who is close to me knows this story. Unfortunately, I had to learn a lesson that getting engaged and getting married is NOT about the bling on your finger. It pains me to say that I lost my engagement ring that Joshua proposed with within 3 months of getting engaged. I didn't exactly lose it. I know where it went. I flushed it down the toilet. And no, not on purpose. People love to ask me that question. You think it can't happen, but I am telling you now, it can. I thought I would add this little blurb here, because you all love to remind me of it. I still get teary just thinking about it. But like I said, and especially after everything I've learned this first year being married, a ring does not make you married. Although, I would give anything to get that ring back. Now that that's out of the way...
One of the things every engaged girl looks forward to is her engagement pictures with her future husband. Alisha Sims took our engagement photos. Engagement photos are great because 1) they are a snapshot of just how happy you are together during this precious time and 2) It gets your future husband ready for when the big day actually happens.
Loved our photos!
Thanks for letting me share all about Joshua and I, you guys! I can't wait to remember and write about our wedding day - that will come next! Two more days until the big one year!
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