A Brilliant Weekend

You might be wondering why I labeled this weekend a "brilliant" one since we (and that I mean, the state of Florida) rained, in fact it rained so much, we have had record breaking rain without need of a Hurricane. Terrific! However, I believe it was a brilliant weekend for the following:

1. We got to spend Saturday, first shopping with my sister, which I bought three pairs of shoes, and then I got to share with my wonderful sister one of my favorite stores. I was delighted to find that no only did she like the store, she loved it, so I get to share some shopping love with my sister.

If you could just ignore my facial expression, the outfit my sister is wearing is one she bought, I love it, but much more, I love her and shopping with her!

2. We then went to Lake Eola which I rarely get to do, especially with my husband and others. It was fun, and we saw probably the biggest swan, EVER. I almost wish Savannah would have been here to look at the Quack Quack, but I think she would have freaked. When this swan "honked" it sounded like a fog horn, no lie.

As you can see, it was probably the size of a 3-5yr old? Well, anyway, it was large, and I kind of felt sorry for it, due to there being no other large swan playmates for it.

I was not going to volunteer to be the swan's playmate... just photographer.

3. We did the Great Date Experiment with Jennifer and Joey, they blogged about it very much more in detail, so I will let you read my sister's blog to get the full experience.

4. My final point, but maybe my most "brilliant" point of the weekend, was Sunday school. I have an amazing teacher who loves the Lord, and might be related to us somehow because he cries when he starts to talk about what the Lord has done in his life, and if anyone comes to the Bounds/Turner Christmas Eve party, there is some cryin going on in "share time." But I digress, so we were talking... well, let me rephrase that, here is what I got out of the lesson, because I stopped listening to the teacher at one point, due to God starting to talk to me at another. We read a piece of scripture where the Lord is talking to Moses, and Moses says, "Who shall I say sent me?" And the Lord replied, "I AM that I AM sent you." And I mean, I've grown up in church and for some reason, that phrase stuck with me, this Sunday. And I think it is because I get now how much that really means. God is an exsisting state of EVERYTHING, He is constantly, continually, forever it. I will give some examples (as a disclaimer, these are just some that came to my head, not all of them are exactly for me, they could be examples for you!)

Lord, I'm hurting right now I need a comforter! I AM your Comfort.
Lord, I'm broke and in need of finances, I need provision! I AM your Provider.
Lord, I am sick and I need healing! I AM your Healer.
Lord, I am discouraged, I need encouragement! I AM your Encourager.
Lord, I feel like a failure, I need you! I AM right here Always.

The list goes on, what aspect, what kind of God do you need??? He is perpetually everything you need constantly, He has literatlly never changed. God knew that Moses was going to present himself to a people that had been crying out to the Lord for 500 years or so. God was saying, he was there for them, He IS there for them, and He will always be there for them. When the people were crying out, Lord are You there? His answer through Moses was I AM.

I wish I could convey how deeply touched I was by the Lords message. Mainly because I feel like a failure a lot, and I wonder many times if he sees me struggling, plodding, falling down, wishing, dreaming, and praying my way through my faith (or unfaith at some moments, to be honest) And His answer came Sunday, not in a whisper but in a definate unshakable answer of: I DO see you, I AM Here. Just Brilliant.

Mike and Noelle's Wedding

Wow, what a week! I am so excited for Mike and Noelle, they are now officially happily married and our wonderful group is completely married, which makes me happy to see us all start out and finish together. So, there are truly a million pictures of the wedding, unfortunately since I was in the wedding I forgot to get my camera to George and Mema so there are none of the ceremony. It was a great ceremony. Here are some pic's of before and after with some captions, below:

Here is a picture of where they got married, it is an old southern mansion (plantation??) call the Bragg-Mitchell. They were married on the steps, beautiful southern charm!

That's me and one of my good friends, Abby Zito, I miss her and it was so great to be a bridesmaid with her at the wedding.

The man and woman of honor, practicing their vows, and looking oh so in love!!

My two best friends, I love these girls and miss them like crazy!!

She looked absolutely stunning, and was glowing, one of the most beautiful bride's I've seen!

Here we all are! We did it, we all dated and married, and are now looking forward to more adventures together in the future!!

I just wanted to share with you guys my wonderful week, I know most of you guys don't know Noelle and Jacque, but they are truly some of my closest friends and it was such a blessing to get to be a maid of honor in both of their weddings. And for those of you dying to know, I did not throw up during my speech, it went over well, but my hands did shake!!

This week!

So, this week I will be traveling with Tim and one of Noelle's bridesmaids to Mobile, AL. Bachlorette Party was last weekend, and to those of you who know me well, I actually planned it (being the matron of honor) and it actually turned out amazing, even though in true LA style, I did not have a solid plan for the entire night, but I really had a good time and so the other girls reported they had a good time too, so I feel like I did well on my first "big-girl project." Now, today, we leave for Mobile. I'm so excited for Noelle, her and her fiance have been engaged for over a year and a half! I almost died being engaged for a year and a month.... I'm so excited for them and proud of what an amazing godly example they have been for others around them. Soooo... as the maid (matron) of honor, I will need to give a toast, I think. I had to give one at Jacque's and I didnt know I was supposed to until the day before the wedding. So, in case I have to, because I hate public speech, even if it is just a toast, pray that I don't throw up, and also for a safe trip and "flawless" wedding (we ALL know there is no such thing...)