Blessings upon Blessings

It has been a while since our last update, for which I sincerely apologize. Much has transpired in our hearts, though. There have been a few new (and pleasant) changes in our relationship both externally and internally.

Our wedding plans are moving along quite nicely. We have done a good portion of the invitations so far, planned out the schedule for the rehearsal and the wedding day. We have booked and planned our honeymoon, and figured out many details.

It has been such a blessing to see God provide for each step along the way. An uncle to make the cake, a cousin photographer, a friend from work who will print our stationery, and so much more. Credit card rewards are paying for about 1/2 of our honeymoon travel costs, an aunt for our suite, a sister who is very good at coordinating large events, a brother-in-law who is advanced at piano and so much more. God has truly been providing more than we could ask or think!

Last Friday, I (Jeremiah) had my wisdom teeth pulled. God worked out the details so that Verity's parents were coming down Friday and Saturday anyways, so Verity could take care of me all day Friday and again on Saturday. We had such a blessed time together. One of the neatest parts was that we got to have her parents over for lunch on Saturday and I got to make fettuccine Alfredo (although I couldn't really eat much of it after my wisdom teeth coming out and all). It was so fun to have them over. Everyone was in good spirits and we all got along famously. It seems very much like God has been healing the relationship between me and her folks. Then we discussed who is paying for various parts of the wedding and that put everyone at ease.

A week or two ago, I was talking with a lady from one of my FedEx stops who is a loan officer and she was asking why we wanted to rent. I told her that we hadn't really considered buying to be an option, but then she started sharing some things we didn't know, like how to get a down payment from a special program, and a tax refund for buying a foreclosure. So we decided it wouldn't hurt to look into buying and if the price were right, we could get monthly payments on a house lower than the cost of rent. So we had a realtor send us a listing of houses in the area for sale and we found 3-4 that we liked. Thursday (the night before my surgery) I looked at one about 2 miles from where I now live, and Friday morning, her folks and her went to look at that one also. then on Friday after my surgery, she drove us down to the seminary to pass out invitations to our wedding reception (on August 23rd) and then to look at the other houses. We had a fabulous time looking at the various houses and because we took one wrong turn, ended up finding some leftover free items (picture frames, vases, etc.) from a garage sale. There were two houses in Crystal that we looked at, but they weren't very nice and the neighborhoods looked a little dark. We expected Crystal to be a nicer neighborhood than Brooklyn Park. However, then when we went together to look at the house in Brooklyn Park, the neighborhood was really nice. We walked around the outside of the house for a while and then two neighbors started walking our way. I thought for sure they were going to ask us to leave, but then they asked us if we were interested in buying. They were really friendly men and had seen how the house was taken care of. (In fact, they took the initiative to mow the lawn, even though the realtor was supposed to take care of that!) They told us about some of the problems in the house over the years and said that we should offer the seller $20,000 less than the list price!

We are not sure if the Lord will work out this housing situation for us or not. We will likely move into an apartment first for a little while, but if the Lord provides a house for the remainder of seminary (and probably doctoral work afterwards) we would certainly consider that to be a blessing. Thank you for your prayers up until this point and we would continue to covet them as the time progresses.

Housing Testimony

On Saturday, March 2nd, Verity and I had a wonderful time.



We met in the morning and finished our Bible study on the Gospel, prayed, and began planning for our honeymoon. Verity's aunt has given us (as a wedding present) a week's timeshare wherever we want to go. Through FedEx, I get heavily discounted rates for flights and car rentals, so we are able to go anywhere in the US. We both enjoy hiking and nature and were not particularly fond of honeymooning in places where many people reside, so we had hoped for some mountains. We were deciding between Maine/New Hampshire, Colorado, and Washington/Oregon. After looking at the surrounding areas, the one in Colorado seemed especially appealing, because there were waterfalls, the continental divide, mountains, and trees right next to the resort.



So after figuring out that this particular resort (which will remain nameless for privacy's sake) would suit our desires the best, we decided we'd like that one the best. Our day was then interrupted to look at an apartment.

This is the master bedroom. In the left corner, you will see my fiancee!

This is the guest bedroom. If you visit us, you will share this room with my library.

And finally the living room. It is quite spacious and has a really nicely sized window with a small balcony.

This is Verity with her Arby's meal. She was nearly as happy as I have ever seen her after looking at the apartment.

The apartment seems to be in a beautiful neighborhood and seems pretty quiet and clean. The housing is government subsidized and reasonably priced. We both enjoyed picturing where our furniture would fit in and the guests we'd be able to have visit.




After we ate lunch and returned. Verity tried calling the timeshare company and found out that they only had one timeshare left in all of Colorado and it was not nearly as nice in any regard. We were then thinking about it and wondering if that was the one we should take. She called them back again to see if they had any other timeshares in other states, such as Washington, Vermont, or Oregon. At that time, she found out that there were zero timeshares in all of Colorado! Furthermore, they would not give her any information, however, because there was already a reservation in place. Apparently, her aunt had reserved it for us. So we ended up getting the one timeshare we wanted. It is high up in the mountains with at least 3 waterfalls nearby, a hot mineral springs, hiking trails, and the continental divide! Furthermore, it has a jacuzzi in the suite.

We were thrilled to see God open up a path for the perfect honeymoon for us. We are also thrilled at being able to find a good place to make our home.

Thank you for your prayers on our behalf! May God bless you

Engagement Pictures

On Saturday the weather turned out perfect for our engagement pictures. The sun was shining on fresh snow and the weather was warm enough for us to go outside without looking like great balls of cloth. Katie Sandahl took our pictures for us and we had a marvellous time!


This is probably the only picture where you can actually see her engagement ring. She's not much of a flaunter...


Believe it or not, this laying on the ice was her idea. We were both freezing afterwards, but it turned out to be one of our favorite poses.


Can you believe that she would even think of throwing a snowball at me? Of course...I am hiding one behind my back!


This reminds me of the bullet-dodging in the Matrix, but I did avoid the snowball.


Then she started chasing me around the tree! Can you believe it?!


And finally, she turned around the other way and caught me!


This was the only picture out of the bunch where I was serious. It is Verity's favorite because of how romantic it is.