Oh What a Lovely Weekend

friday: wedding dress palooza. we (lacey, jackie, shottie, denise and i) started off the event by eating at buffalo wild wings. i don't know what my fascination with that place is, but i really love it. there's just something about the atmosphere, the food and the drinks... (whoopsie - pre-bridal dress shopping beverages!) so moving on - after dinner it was time for our 7.30 appointment at david's bridal. we had a lovely attendant named Rudi who is great. she picked up early on in our conversation that i wasn't into all the frilly, fluffy, intricate type of dress. so she took me to another rack of dresses where the patterns were a little more simple. then i saw the dress - i knew from the second i laid my eyes on it. at that point, i could've just taken it to the counter - paid for it - and walked out... but my girls wouldn't have that. so we found two other dresses and headed for the fitting room. i tried on the perfect dress first. it fits like a glove - or something like that anyway. after getting zipped up, and modeling it, the girls knew it was on the one too. but they requested that i try on the other two dresses for 'fun'. so after about 30 minutes of dress shopping, we walked out of the store with the one. i love it when things come together like that. that will certainly be the most expensive dress i ever purchase... maybe i can get some money for it on ebay. :-)

it was then time to head over to california dreamin' restaurant for some dessert. the key lime pie over there is killer. and the coffee isn't too shabby either. we had a great waitress named heather. go there and sit in her section - she's great. ask her how her new beagle is. it's great sitting around a table with friends - just enjoying the night. i have the greatest friends - really, i do. and that wrapped up friday night.

saturday: troy and i had our first pre-marital counseling session at Cure Counseling. not sure which i was more concerned about - buying a dress or going for counseling? (not that i was very scared about either...) but steve - our counselor - took away all the fear, kinda like rudi at david's. troy and i have 6 sessions set up - isn't that great that i need more counseling? i know it's a big surprise for some of you. ha haa. just kidding. i'm looking forward to the counseling - to getting more advice on blending troy's boys into my life and me blending into theirs. troy and i have some differing view on money issues, but we'll get there. we both agree that we don't want to live on credit all our lives, so that will keep us from spending our money on frivilous stuff. troy's brother-in-law, adam, told me on saturday night that he's glad i'm involved in troy's life because he is tired of giving troy financial advice. that made me laugh - alot. i'm glad that adam at least has been trying to keep troy on track! gotta love the change that happens when people get their financial lives in order. troy told me last night that he is glad that he bought his big screen tv before he met me because i would not have ever let him buy it. (this is the type of discussion we have!) guess i need to give a little in that area. :-)

after the counseling session troy took me out to eat at pies-on pizza in fayetteville. their pizzas are incredible. because of my lenten sacrifice of giving up red meat, we opted for bbq chicken pizza. it was super good. their calzones look amazing too, and i'll be trying one of them later.

after lunch we headed over to eagle's landing baptist church to watch drew, adam and mandy's son, race his derby car. troy's mom, deanna, was there with michael and alex, who are troy's sons. i'm so blessed to be marrying into a family who cares for one another - it's an amazing blessing which i'm only beginning to understand. after the race, we took a little tour of the church. the youth facility is pretty amazing. there was a girl's basketball game being played in the gym. it's a happening place.

let's see, then what did we do? we drove to the lake for some fishing. on the way there we made a little stop at a & w from some rootbeers. there's just something about a & w rootbeer. at the lake michael caught a little bluegill. he was trying his luck using marshmallows, but the fish were only biting on worms. sitting on the dock was an old strainer. (what's a strainer? it's a string with a ring on the end and a metal sharp shaft on the other - used to hold the fish after you catch them.) the strainer reminded me of a time when my dad i were fishing off the bridge. we had a strainer full of fish - catfish i think. so my dad had just caught a fish and he asked me to go and get the strainer so he could add the fish to it. well, i had some complications with the strainer - and it fell out of my hand and drifted down the river. i remember my dad being a little upset about losing all his fish, but that's just life. now we have the story to tell about that time when the fish all got away.

it was a getting a little chilly so troy started a fire in his firepit which is sitting on the dock. it's great to sit by the fire and enjoy the calmness of the lake. after a hour or so, deanna joined us - then mandy, adam, courtney and drew. again, i'm so grateful to be marrying into a family who wants to spend time together. that's a beautiful adventure in and of itself.

sunday: attended southside church.wen i walked in the door, jessie, a friend of shottie, was standing there. jessie has a way of spying on me. i didn't really know who she was until she introduced herself to me, but then i knew. shottie had mentioned her to me - telling me that she and i are alot alike. i love it that jessie just jumped in and introduced herself to me - so we could meet. it's great to walk into a church where someone talks to you, even when it's some stranger who says, 'hey tanya, i'm shottie's friend.' jessie told me that she's doesn't normally attend that church, but she's goes to hopewell.

the message series is titled 'boulevard of broken dreams'. you can check it out here on July 22. oh the joy of a satellite church who posts their messages online. it's was a great message and something i needed to hear. when i was 16, i was convinved i was going to northwestern college in minneapolis, majoring in missiology and was going to be full time missionary in zimbabwe for the rest of my life. well, finally 14 years later, i made it to africa, spent six months and now i'm challenged if that is where i would ever want live. speaking of africa, a friend of mine - Jessica - is going thru the discipleship training school at the kilimanjaro base right now. the trouble is she had malaria and is not recovering. so please say a prayer or her - not only that she's recover from the sickness, but for her schooling and adjustment to african living. so anyway, broken dreams sometimes need to be let go or re-structured. i think i'm in the re-structuring phase. i think that is where troy is, too.

after church we headed up to troy's dad's house for the race. (this is going to be my life now - nascar) i can't help but remember all those saturday nights i used to spend at the dirt track near my childhood house. it was a family affair. i have an uncle and cousin who used to race. not that i know anything about restricter plates, but at least i know about pole position, suspension and how it becomes people's lives. i remember sitting near my grandma as her son would be out there racin'. she would be a ball of nerves when uncle jan was crashing into norma goth. oh those were days... i don't want to re-live them. oh and troy's favorite racer didn't win yesterday, neither did mine, but newman did.

guess i got a little long winded today.