Weekend Mom

Steven and I have six darling nieces and nephews and since we are settled into our house, I have been dying to have some of them over to spend the night. In February, we kept my 8 month old niece Marleigh while my sister and her hubby took a much needed weekend trip to Hilton Head. I was a little nervous about having a baby in the house for the whole weekend, but it turned out to be WONDERFUL! She is such a sweet baby and we had the best time! Unfortunately, I was not successful in my attempts to get Steven to change a diaper. He observed, but had no interest in taking one on for himself. He did do a great job of playing with her and feeding her and even made up a little song about her while he was singing her to sleep. It was the most precious thing I've ever seen!

This past weekend, we decided to take the whole crew of Xander (age 6), Bella (age 4), and Gracie (age 3). They stayed with us Friday AND Saturday night, and boy did we have some fun! I planned out things for us to do so we could keep the fun rolling. Saturday, Steven took Xander fishing while me, Bella, and Gracie went to the nail salon and treated ourselves to manicures and pedicures! They did great and loved every minute of it! That night, we made cupcakes, played the Wii, made popcorn, and watched Despicable Me. They were great the whole weekend, except for the occasional emotional breakdowns between the two girls over sharing stuffed animals. It was an interesting weekend for me with waking up at 7am and cooking breakfast for 3 kids and getting them all dressed, with teeth brushed, and out the door. I was exhausted! It was fun having the "mom" experience for the weekend, but right now, it's nice to be able to give them back when the weekend is over. We are currently debating about when to take the tornado, known as Nate, on for a weekend. He's one of those that will come solo. We love them all so much and want them to know that they are always welcome to come visit Uncle Steven and Aunt Candace!

Hi. My name is Candace and I'm a workaholic.

If my life were a plate of food, it would be one of those supposedly "heavy duty" paper plates loaded to the max with fixings from a family reunion. You can't even see where one section of food begins and ends. It all just runs together and the solid foods like bread, ham, or a chicken leg, are just piled on top of the mountains of mashed potatoes and casseroles. Needless to say, my "heavy duty" plate is helplessly bending out of proportion and screaming for relief!! Don't you just love how life can do that to you sometimes? (I prefer to blame it on life rather than my inability to say NO, but we won't go there right now). Don't get me wrong, life is wonderful right now, and with all that I have going on, I would say that I am doing a good job of keeping my head above the water. My grades aren't suffering (yet), and I am keeping up pretty well with everything else...all thanks to my severe case of OCD and a WONDERFUL, AMAZING husband!!! He helps me with laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and cooking dinner whenever I work later in the evening. He does it so that when I come home, I can spend time with him and work on homework. He's so considerate of all that I have going on and that means so much to me. All he does, however, doesn't come without the occasional lecture of how I should really downsize on the things I commit to. I love his honesty and the fact that he wants me home more so that we can have more time together. I just love that he's not afraid to let me know how he feels about things and he always does it in a direct, yet compassionate, way. 

Not comparing my husband to God, but isn't that the way God communicates with us? He is direct, yet compassionate towards His children. When I feel overwhelmed, He's there with open arms to comfort me and hear my cries, but He also stands there with a direct solution. As stubborn human beings, we often take the compassion, but put off the solution because it may be inconvenient. Through my busy schedule, I am ashamed to say that I have allowed my time with God to suffer. That should not be so. This week I have gotten back into God's Word and I just felt pulled to the book of Hosea. I LOVE that story because it is a reflection of our relationship with God. We are sinful creatures, and much like Gomer, we are spiritual harlots. We give ourselves to anything and everything in this world, leaving our leftovers to God. We are continuously unfaithful to Him. Yet, as we stand in chains being sold as slaves to our sin, Christ steps up as the highest bidder, just like Hosea did for Gomer. She had been an unfaithful wife to him, yet when she was at her lowest point, being sold in the marketplace, Hosea bought her and brought her home as his wife. No matter the hurt she had caused him, he still rescued her. Isn't that beautiful?? Christ paid the ultimate price for us, even as we stood there, stained by the world and our sins. I find such great encouragement in that beautiful story. 

Life flows much better when we hand the reigns over Christ. This week has been wonderful, and my plate, although still heavy with food, is in the hands of someone who can carry and endless amount of plates in just one hand. He's my Savior and burden bearer. Without Him, I would be a disaster.

Clean laundry, grilled cheese, and shrimp salad!

I can't believe I have neglected my blog for so long!! Oh how I have missed having time to share funny experiences in life! Since my last blog, Steven and I got married and are enjoying every single moment of our new life together. I know...newlyweds are gross, but marriage really is a beautiful thing. Don't get me wrong, the man can drive me bananas, but I wouldn't trade him for anything! We have had a blast together so far and to quote my best friend Martha's take on marriage, "It's like a sleep over that never ends!" What's better than coming home and snuggling up to your hubby at the end of a long day? I'll tell you what's better....coming home and finding all of the laundry clean and folded and him standing in the kitchen cooking dinner!! And it's happened TWICE!! It may be just because we're still in the "honeymoon" phase of our marriage, but honeymoon phase or not, I'LL TAKE IT! Last night I walked in and there he was making grilled cheese and garlic shrimp salad! He's so great. Another precious thing he does is make sure he kisses me goodnight before we fall asleep. Once night I he fell asleep before me because I was up late working on some homework and when I finally crawled into bed and passed out, he woke up from a dead sleep and gave me a kiss. It's those little things that just make marriage wonderful. Gross...I know.

We may be only a month into this thing, but i know that we will last many many years to come because we have a solid foundation in the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes first in our marriage and nothing will ever change that. Our dedication to God and His Word keep us grounded in our faith and in our marriage. As a wife, I have to constantly uplift my husband in prayer and show him the respect he deserves as both my husband and a called man of God. Those things aren't always easy to do when frustrations arise, but it's through those frustrations that the true test comes in my dedication to him as his wife. We've already learned so much and I love to see the shock on people's faces when they ask if we have had our first fight yet and we tell them no. We get along so well and we are learning how to communicate and talk through the things that bother us. I love marriage. It's so wonderful. But then again, why wouldn't it be wonderful? God Almighty created it.

Mr. & Mrs. Steven Day

Our massive wedding party

At least I don't eat cold ravioli!!

Thirty-seven days away from the wedding and life couldn't be more INSANE! The good thing about being busy is that the time seems to fly by faster. These past few weeks have been a blur. After celebrating my 21st birthday Monday, I am starting to realize that I am no longer a teenager. I have to start figuring out how this whole responsible adult thing works. I have a feeling the reality of that will really set in after the honeymoon and bills start coming in the mail. What will probably make me want to curl in the fetal position and cry for mommy is shopping for groceries. I've never had to really grocery shop, and when I have, I'm really bad at it and I end up staying in the store for hours and making phone calls to mom saying, "What's the difference between chuck steak and sirloin?" and "How the heck do you marinate something?" Boy have I been spoiled! I'm excited to experience grocery shopping and cooking, but be prepared for horror blogs about mishaps in the Day kitchen. But I know that once I get the hang of it all, I will be the best coupon clipping, bargain shopping, steak marinating, cupcake baking, southern version of Martha Stewart you've ever seen!! I feel bad for Steven, however, who will have to suffer until I reach that point. 

Last Saturday, after a WONDERFUL day of driving through the mountains and taking Steven's boat out, I decided to test our stove out for the first time. We went back to our house to work in it for what was left of the evening before going our separate ways and since Steven had splurged Friday night for an AMAZING birthday dinner at Miyabi's (words can't describe how much we LOVE hibachi steak and shrimp) we decided to grab some Ramen noodles and ravioli. While Steven ate his ravioli straight out of the can (YUCK) I turned on our stove top and prepared a gourmet meal of noodles and ranch dressing without burning the house down! It was a very exciting experience to use my brand new pots and pans!! I also washed dishes for the first time in our house! Steven made fun of me for being so giddy about it, but at least I don't eat cold ravioli out of a can like a cave man!

Everything is coming together beautifully and the pics will show how much we have really gotten done. Steven is an AMAZING handyman and I am so happy to have a man who can repair things and take care of his own household without having to call somebody else. Through this experience, he has proved to be an electrician, a plumber, a painter, a landscaper, a mover of heavy furniture that I struggle with, a VERY professional curtain rod hanger, and the list could go on!! He's also a great mess-maker, but we won't go there. Now I've just got to do my part and keep our house spic and span (which won't be hard with my OCD) and prepare edible meals. If you can't tell...I'M CRAZY EXCITED! What we are both looking forward to the most is the honeymoon! Not just for "you know what" but because we will have a week to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Thinking about a vacation is what gets me through the day sometimes. 

At the end of the day, I am blessed with so much more than I deserve. There are many days that I am a lame excuse for a Christian and why God continues to bless me, I'll never know. In the midst of the madness, I do my very best to stop and thank God for everything He has done and He has continued to sustain me by helping me to stay calm and stress-free through it all. All the praise and glory goes to HIM! He is my rock and my strength!! 

The beautiful view from Caesar's Head

Enjoying the COLD morning!

Steven driving his new boat

I love that he includes me in his hobbies :)

My birthday present from Steven - Duck waders so I can go hunting with him this winter!!

Our new bathroom sink!!!

My FAVORITE addition to our house!

The bathroom is officially completed!

Our new towel rack

Our bedroom with new paint and curtains!

New doorknobs!! :)

New faucet in the kitchen

Living Room

Counting down the days...

So we are 53 days away from holy matrimony and I am praying the time continues to fly by!! Life has been CRAZY the past few weeks. I hate how professors pile on the work when students get back from fall break. I feel like I can finally breathe after two weeks of endless tests and projects. My brain is mush and it's not even November yet!!!

Speaking of November....this girl has a birthday coming up! On November 8th, I will be the big 2-1! Since I don't drink, it won't be different from any other birthday, but I'm still excited. Although, after this birthday, there's no other age to really look forward to. Last year, my mom threw me an AMAZING surprise party (well a halfway surprise party). I accidentally found out about it, but I didn't have the heart to tell her so she still doesn't know that I knew about it. It was amazing though! Needless to say, with the wedding coming up, this year's birthday will be recognized by a small family dinner and maybe a few gifts, which is just fine with me. I'm partied out from the billions of showers for me and for other people. I'm just excited to see what Steven is going to get me. It's a surprise and I had to make a promise not to be nosey, which is REALLY hard for me! November will definitely be an exciting month, filled with showers and last minute preparations for the wedding and for our house.

Steven is continuing to do a wonderful job painting our walls and putting up lights. I'm so proud that he's such a great handy man. Our sweet little house is coming together great and I am happy to say that all of the gifts I received from my first shower, which was A LOT, are all tucked away nice and neatly throughout the house. This past weekend, we bought table lamps and walked around Hobby Lobby (heaven on earth), picking out decor for our walls. Steven was so sweet walking through the store and showing me what he wanted for our walls, and I gotta say, he has pretty good taste. He picked up a sign that said "All because two people fell in love" and wanted it for our bedroom. It was precious. He's the sweetest :)

As time is winding down, and my tongue continues to have the taste of envelope glue, I am trying to enjoy all of the planning and anticipation. I don't want to get so caught up in rushing the wedding along that I forget about the here and now. Steven and I are continuing to grow in our relationship and we are working hard on communicating positively with one another. During this last stressful month, we are trying to make the best of everything and just laugh. He knows how to make me laugh, and boy does that ease the tension of planning a wedding and going to school. We make a pretty good team if I should say so myself :)

Showers of Blessings and dish towels!!

My fall break was very eventful to say the least. Friday, After hours spent searching for the perfect dress for my shower, I finally found a winner at the ever so wonderful Ross. From there, it was home to prepare for my meeting with our wedding pianist to plan out every musical note for the ceremony. Call it cheesy, but I teared up with excitement when she played the bridal march! It just made everything seem so real! After that, it was time for dinner and a trip to Lowes with Steven and his dad. With a full stomach of hibachi shrimp from Atami's (my favorite) up and down the endless aisles of home improvement bliss I went. Never in my life have I been so excited about curtains, curtain rods, light switch covers, and blinds!! Oh and don't forget glade plug-ins!! Apple cinnamon scent of course! We arrived back at our house where I insisted on screwing in every single outlet and light switch cover! It was an amazing feeling to step back and look at how much work has been put into our adorable little home. 

Believe it or not, I got off to an early start Saturday morning with a McDonald's breakfast with my sweetheart and ANOTHER trip to Lowes for MORE curtains!! YAY! As soon as we arrived back at the house to start putting up blinds, I realized we forgot to get a valance for the living room, so off to Lowes AGAIN! Since I was alone this time, and not being rushed by Steven who seems to think I wonder off whenever we go shopping, I decided to go ahead and grab a shower rod. It's so funny when you start working in your own house, how small things like a shower rod are so exciting! I am happy to say that after Saturday's work, most of our blinds and curtains are up and all the light fixtures have been replaced! 

Then comes the MOST EXCITING part of Saturday - MY FIRST BRIDAL SHOWER! After picking up my precious nieces, Bella and Marleigh, I was able to see what my sister and her husband have been up to the past few weeks. Whenever they decorate for a party, they DECORATE. They are super creative and I couldn't wait to see what was on the other side of our church fellowship hall door! When I walked in, it didn't even look like the same room! I don't even know how to really describe it! I will put pics up soon of their fabulous creation. I went home to get ready and I arrived back, a few minutes late of course, to a group of beautiful familiar faces of people who have been a part of my twenty years on this earth. It was wonderful seeing everyone, eating delicious food, and opening what seemed like an endless amount of household goodies!! Let's just say I have severe writer's cramp from writing about fifty thank-you cards! They showered me with TONS of beautiful gifts, with dish towels being a popular item, and ornaments for our first Christmas tree. The gifts that excited me the most were my bath rug and chocolate brown trash can!! I left feeling so loved and extremely blessed by those that I love. My sister did an amazing job and I feel so lucky to have her and the rest of my family who go above and beyond for me in so many ways!! One shower down, three more to go! Although I gotta say, my other showers have some pretty fierce competition with this one. 

My shower cake
The theme was "Carved out for one another"

Sunday, Steven preached a wonderful sermon on being a light in this world at Holly Springs. I am just so proud of him and how he has grown in the Lord. I love him so very very much and I know he will be a wonderful husband and father to our future children and not to mention a wonderful minister of the Gospel. Sunday afternoon consisted of lunch at Mamo's and a much needed nap before heading back to our home church for a prayer service. After service, we spent time with our wonderful pastors at their house for pancakes :)

Monday and Tuesday of fall break has been an endless case of writer's cramp with shower thank-you's, wedding invitations, and my dreaded homework. I am dreading 6:45AM because it's back to reality. I'm so ready for my reality to be 66 days from now!! :)

Self-Diagnosis

For those of you that know me well, I LOVE my sleep. Up until Monday, I've always thought my busy lifestyle was the reason I often doze off in class, chapel, church, while driving, and at any other time where I am required to sit still. In my human biology lab, while discussing the respiratory system, my professor asked if anyone breaths through their mouth while they sleep. My hand shot up because, if you have ever seen me sleep, my mouth stays wide open catching flies and Lord knows what else. I was so glad Steven didn't dump me after seeing me fall asleep for the first time because I am one ugly sleeper. He's gonna have to wake up to my wide open, drooling mouth every morning. Poor fella. But anyway, my professor went on to say that if you breath through your mouth when you sleep and you find yourself dozing off throughout the day, you may have sleep apnea. For those of you who don't know what sleep apnea is; It's when you stop breathing in your sleep and before it wakes you up, you start breathing again. Unknowingly, you don't get a good night's rest, causing drowsiness throughout the day. Suddenly it all made sense!! I have been waking up every morning feeling like I don't sleep a wink, when I've actually slept a good 7 to 8 hours. After thoroughly examining the symptoms, I am making a self-diagnosis for sleep apnea. I'm really not sure how you treat it, but I think some duct tape over my mouth will do the trick. Maybe one day I will find out if my self-diagnosis is accurate. It might be that I just have a severe case of the lazies. Only time will tell. Until then, caffeine and I will fight to beat this drowsy demon!