Sunday, September 25, 2011

Ya'll Can Stalk My Blog Every Day....

... but today, pluck your courage, step forward and say hi!

*Who are you? 
*Where are you from?

That is the foremost, basic question. ;-)

However, if you have time and feel so inclined:



*How long have you been reading my blog? 
*Why do you read?
*Where did you find my blog?
*Of all the subjects I have written about or could write about in the future, what is your pick? 
*Do you have a blog?

I know you're out there because I am getting a lot of hits on my blog, all around the world. I am so curious about you readers. Can you share with me today? :-)

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Beauty ... Life ...

There are moments in the days when one of us will have a moment. We will stop all movement and our faces will take on a curious blank expression, as though the entire world has ceased to exist. Then a sudden squeal erupts: "We're married!"

Yes indeed. :-)

Life since September 10th has been all we expected and more. Being with my best friend in the world all the time has been awesome. I love growing together -- mentally, spiritually, physically. It is the best feeling in the world. How much of this joy comes from the knowledge that God has brought us together? That He shaped us, guided us, worked through our lives until we were ready for each other? That our union was His good will? That each step of the path we felt His love and assurance?

When I prayed for a husband I prayed that when the right man came along, I would know. No doubts. No wonderings. I had had crushes on guys before. I had even thought I was in love. But I had never had assurance that these other potential men were God's will. When I met Jesse, it was so much different than I thought the real romance would be like. It is like a fairy tale with high emotion, trembling knees and  that assurance but it was also harder and more emotionally exhausting than I thought anything could be. But among everything else, there was one thing I knew for sure: Jesse was the one. He was handpicked for me by God.  My good friend Gisele, married 15 years, 3 kids and still madly in love with her husband, told me something last year. She said, "When you meet the right one, life is so easy." I have found this sentiment to be very true. Somehow, life's difficulties seemed halved when you are sharing them with that someone.

I just want to encourage you girls to pray. Don't decide to get married just for the sake of getting married. Pray that you will know. Pray for someone you can help and for someone who can help you. Relationships are funny things. They're not worth it if they are with the wrong person but they are more than worth it when they are with the right person.

So, part of getting to know your new spouse is going shopping together. There were certain things I really needed before the teaching season started next month... and we wanted to have a little bit of a special honeymoon. So, we went to Regina and spent a couple days there. One of the bigger purchases we made included cellphones for each of us. Jesse had had one for a couple years but I had never had one. It never appealed to me to have one and I put it off as long as I could. However, we don't have a land line so it became a necessity. Especially for the teaching. Anyways, I am enjoying having one. I have been able to contact people efficiently and get the information needed.



God provided some much needed funds and we are in the process of getting the house renovated before the winter hits. Yesterday morning at about 8:30, the buzzing of Jesse's cellphone woke us. My father-in-law called saying that he had tried to get the backhoe for Saturday (today) but he hadn't been able to. In fact, he had gotten one that was going to arrive in an hour (yesterday!). Needless to say Jesse and I got outside in a hurry. There was quite a bit of stuff to get out of the way so the backhoe operator could do his job and a small window of time to do it in. We didn't quite finish (ripping up the last section of deck was the killer) but everyone understood. Thankfully. :-) Anyways, he was here for 8 hours and we have a really deep hole right in front of our front door. Jesse and his Dad went into town this morning to pick up supplies for pouring the concrete slab and to build the walls of the new basement. It will be sooo nice to have the porch on the house. ::happy sigh::



The sooner they can get it done, the better. We have no drainage right now. That means no indoor plumbing. But all is not lost! We live right next to a gorge of sorts and my mother-in-law discovered that if you walk down past our shed, there is an outhouse that is functioning. There are bird droppings on the seat but it's actually not bad. :-) My biggest gripe about it is having to use it in the dark. Blah. But, as Jesse pointed out, I am a farm girl and we do not live in a country, like Australia (where he is from) in which there dwells deadly poisonous snakes, bugs and other delightful creatures who like to hide in the outdoor toilets... So buck up, Mrs. Twietmeyer! ;-)

I failed my driver's test on the 13th (marked me a lot for hesitancy) so am going for another one on the 27th. I am hoping that all the driving in the city will do me good. :-) Praying... praying.


Anyways. I think that is everything for now. I am trying to write thank you notes for all of the gifts we received so I should get on it. :-) Also, I should decide what I am going to make for lunch.

P.S. Hannah posted a picture of her and Daniel. :-) Click here to view it.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Love

I am in love with my husband. :-) God is so good to us.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

New Things

Before I go clean up our house, I wanted to let you know: I made a page for music lessons and I also updated Jesse and Naomi There are quite a few wedding pictures on there now. 

Life is good. :-) And I will try to update one of these days!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

...because you asked


Here are some of the pictures our photographer took. I hope you enjoy them as much as we are!

Oldest and youngest. :)

The Holter clan and 2 very happy Twietmeyers. Well, technically at that point I was still a Holter but who cares about technicalities anyway?


Me and my two Mums. Aren't they beautiful, lovely women?


love... love... love... this picture!


Best friends. :hugs:

Monday, September 12, 2011

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Wedding Day

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of the birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 
The fig putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. 


"I wasn't afraid," said Pooh, said he,
"I'm never afraid with you." 

So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me. 
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said: "True,
Isn't is much fun for One, but Two,
Can stick together, says Pooh, says he. "That's how it is," says Pooh.
(A.A. Milne)

Odds and Ends... Wedding preparation! Day ... End! :D







Thursday, September 8, 2011

2 Days... Wedding Prep

I am glad that you all enjoyed the last couple of posts. One of things I have always longed for was to be involved with wedding preparation.. and we always lived too far away for me to participate. But this time... YES! :-D So, assuming that there are other females who feel the same about this as I do: 


Wedding make-up trial. Lindsey, Lydia and I went to see a friend in Carlyle to get some tips for applying makeup. ...


....Connie was quite helpful and very knowledgeable. She is also generous with her talents so Lindsey and Lydia are counting on her help on the big day. 


Gretel, one of Todd and Connie's cats, who usually is pretty shy around visitors, is obviously a girly girl at heart. She came and watched, fascinated. 


For the oreo cupcake cheesecake.... these are going to be so good!


The batter...


Filling the pans... I am really looking forward to these!!! :-D


Lasagna for the rehearsal dinner... Mmmm!


Grandpa and Grandma Holter arrived yesterday evening.


Smiling. Happy. Excited. And just a little stressed. But just an eensy, weensy bit. ;-)

Thanks to Lydia for taking the cake pictures... 

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

::is content::


Lindsey sewing the bustle into my dress. :-)


Having fun putting the favors together!


The first 80 favors. They're turning out so beautifully. They have specialty chocolates in them from all over Europe. Costco, we love you!


I handmade each favor tag; each one is has our initials in calligraphy, the date of our wedding, rubber stamped dragonfly, and edges darkened with stamp pad. Then, each of the 237 favor tags have a different quote on the back. It's so rewarding when you put so much effort into something and it turns out the way you wanted it to! Lydia and I spent most of the morning working on these.

3 More Days!

Lindsey's here so we're going to be keeping busy all day. :-) Today: get wedding stuff to the Hall, go over a to do list that Samantha made for me, contact Laurette about potted flowers, try on my dress so Lindsey can bustle it, start making favors, getting spaghetti recipe from Shelly S., talk to the photographer, clean up around our house, get the trailer set up, wash beddings, and the list goes on and on... it's going to be a busy day!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Post #401: Dinner is Delayed By An Explosion

Can you believe it? 401 posts. So much in my life has changed since October 20th, 2008. I have grown so much spiritually and mentally; my health is so much better. And, there are only 5 more days until I become Mrs. Jesse Twietmeyer.

Yes, I am beyond this world excited. I have to talk myself through the day because I am a bit jittery and ridiculously emotional. :-) But underneath that shouting, wild joy is a quiet contentment. I am not frightened to be married to Jesse. I am marrying my best friend. Someone who knows me better than I know myself and someone I know better than he knows himself. To think that God orchestrated our lives, gave us decisions, watched as we grew and became better people, more ready for serving him and each other. It nearly blows my mind, to quote Fr. Banga. :-)

I was just chatting with my Aunt Edi. She lives down in Washington state and is a busy wife and mother. We don't get to talk often so this was a real treat. We were discussing weddings (no duh) and I suddenly had a memory from her wedding (I believe I was about 9 years old?)...  I remember the scene very clearly: about 10 minutes before the ceremony was to start, she was all dressed, hair done, etc., etc., so she came out and looked at the church and all of us dressed in our finest. Her dress was rather bulky and she wanted to sit down where it wouldn't get squished. The best option, as it turned out, was the piano stool. It seemed like a good idea. Getting up and onto it was not part of that good idea. Haha! But what I remember from her nearly falling off that stool was a laughing, dazzling shriek of gladness. I think what she needed was an excuse to make some noise. She was glowing... amazing... beautiful. She made me feel so glad to be alive and enjoying life.

Happy memories. :-)

Now for a funny tale:
Yesterday was spent over at Jesse's and my place. I was getting favor tags done (all of my craft stuff is over there), Jesse was completing his film project (it turned out so well... he's so pleased with it!) (I think it's great too) and Lydia went through our refrigerator. (It was pretty bad.) Anyhow, Jesse makes the best spaghetti. And I'm not just saying that because he's my fiance. He really does make the best spaghetti. :-) He was quite busy with this; had the hamburger browning in the frying pan and the sauce mixed and he had just put a pot of water on the stove for boiling the spaghetti... when suddenly, this horrible explosion.... or noise.... or something rocked the kitchen. Jesse yelled louder than I've ever heard him yell; Lydia and I both hollered too. It scared us half to death. After we were quiet again, Jesse asks, "What just happened?!" He was standing amongst a shards of glass plate. It had shot clear past the table and all the way over to the other wall. There were also shards on the counter, on the other side of him. It was underneath all of the stove burners and all around his feet. There was, literally, glass everywhere.

As it turned out, he had accidentally turned on the wrong burner. Instead of the back burner for the spaghetti water, he had turned on the front burner which had the plate he had set the defrosting hamburger on. Therefore, exploding plate/cold spaghetti water. As Lydia says, "The first broken dish in your house, Naomi. It couldn't have been more dramatic."

We were all so rattled. I helped with the cleanup and when I accidentally touched Jesse's foot with the broom, he yelped. Hehe! It's one of those things that you wish you knew was going to happen so you could watch it happen. It was all over in a second; we hardly realized what had happened until afterwards.

The best thing was that no one got hurt.

And boy, is it ever going to be exciting to marry this man. :-) 

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

You were made perfectly to be loved - and surely I have loved you, in the idea of you, my whole life long.

What is genius but the power of expressing a new individuality?


God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers, And thrusts the thing we have prayed for in our face, A gauntlet with a gift in it.

And each man stands with his face in the light. Of his own drawn sword, ready to do what a hero can. 

Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes. 

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Wedding Odds... and Ends

Random: on my blog feedjit (sidebar) it says that I am logging in from North Battleford, SK. North Battleford is around 8 hours from Carlyle. I guess the feedjit people think that only a few places exist in Saskatchewan. The rest of the province is a cold, barren wasteland where the native people inhabit igloos and drive dogsleds while defrosting their noses all year around.  

Yesterday, I wrapped the rest of the gifts that I have for peoples and cleaned upstairs, preparing for my family to come and stay on Friday. It looks really nice up there now. :-) It's so comfy. I love our house. Can't wait to live in it! All of us older girls will be staying over at my inlaws. Right now, Lydia and I have Jesse's old room. Lydia gets the bottom bunk and I get the top bunk. I haven't fallen out yet!

Lindsey will be coming on Wednesday or Thursday and we'll be doing cheesecake and cheesecake cupcakes and a couple kinds of homemade candy. She has done so much and still has so much to do before she can come down. (Like make her dress.) (She's been busy shipping out chickens, making my wedding dress, making a wedding scrapbook, making place cards for the wedding reception, helping her neighbors clean their barns, helping a friend set up a restaurant...) I am always amazed and blessed by her.

My grandparents will be coming in a few days as well. I am really looking forward to seeing all four of them!

Today I am going to try to contact people about flowers and other things. It seems like everything is coming together. We have marriage license and a semi-plan of the schedule. ;-) Most of our bills paid off and Jesse is working really hard on his film project. Lydia and I walked from my inlaws place over to our place. We kept a good pace going but I was still pleasantly surprised that it only took us 45 minutes to get from point A to point B. I shall have to do it more often and get back into shape.

I am happy to be getting married. Especially getting married to Jesse. God has given me the desires of my heart and so much more.  Before it, I knew love was beyond my comprehension. After it, it's still way out there. Jesse, I love you.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Enough

The butterfly counts not the months but the moments, and has time enough. -- Rabindranath Tagore

Thursday, September 1, 2011

A Mad Tea Party

 The Mad Tea Party was a success. I haven't much time to blog about it but here are some photos. :-) Enjoy!


The Red Queen ("off with her head!") and the Mad Hatter ("who invited you to tea?")


The Mad Hatter and Alice. :-)


One poor card trying to fix a problem...


...he had a partner in crime.


The cards being sentenced to decapitation. How dreadful!


The Mad Hatter and Alice dancing... with the Duchess looking on.


The Queen requested live music and got it! Emily Klatt and a couple of cards provided...


Alice and The Mad Hatter opening their gifts. Such fun!!!


The checker board floor that The Duchess created. Look at all of the costumes!


Alice and The White Queen. Aren't we lovely?