Holiday Post

As I woke up the morning of Christmas I realized this would be the last Christmas before I was a married woman. We have EXACTLY 5 months and 1 day until we tie the knot. I am getting so anxious. I am not sure if it has all hit me yet or not. I have been so busy with school, graduating, holidays, job searching, there has not been time to get into full blown wedding mind set. By the end of this week we will have to get into that mode though. There is still TONS to do for the big day. We are getting excited..none the less.

We had a great CHRISTmas!! It was wonderful to spend time with family and friends. They mean the world to Nathaniel and I. Although Nathaniel had to work both on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas :( we still got to spend SOME time together, it never seems like enough though. We are so blessed to have each other and we are looking forward to many more Christmas' together!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! :)

Funny Little Post

This ADORABLE little man here to the left is Charlie. A close family friend adopted him from the Ukraine about 4 or so years ago. He is just the funniest child I have literally ever met. My sister, Adrienne, is always coming home from work telling us funny things that his mom has told her.

Never mind the fact that he was going over spelling words and he was to use the word "did" in a sentence and his answer was, and I quote, "I got run over by a truck and I was did." If this does not make you LAUGH out loud I do not know what will.

But this next one takes the cake of all stories. A couple of weeks ago Lori and Charlie were at the mall and were about to walk by Santa. Lori asked Charlie if he wanted to go and see Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. In all SERIOUSNESS, Charlie stops and looks up at his mom and says, "psshhh..ARE YOU KIDDING ME, THE WAY I HAVE BEEN BEHAVIN'??" I laugh out loud every time I hear or repeat the story, I almost have tears in my eyes right now.

It is truly amazing what kids come up with for answers to things. I have so many stories from Charlie, but never enough time to write them all down. He is definitely the life of the party when he is around, and sometimes when he is not. It is always a great remedy to laugh and with Charlie, you are sure to get a show!!

CHRISTmas :)

First of all I want to say Happy Birthday to Mallory. She and (Nathaniel's brother Montana) live in FL. She has so much ahead of her and she is doing PHENOMENAL in her career. Montana as well. He is in Law School at Barry University in Orlando. They are such sweet, happy, outgoing, all around great people. We just adore them. So there is a SHOUT OUT to Mal on her Birthday! :) We Miss You Guys so much!!

Second of all. As I am sitting here at my parents house, I see how little present giving means. What really means most is that my family is alive, happy and healthy. We have a VERY challenging year, but we are moving on and we are so happy to have eachother. We know what it is like to need your family more than anything else. That is what we are here for. We have our morals, values and love to keep us strong TOGETHER!! :) My parents have made so many sacrifices for us kids, I just LOVE them so much. They are such great, generous, loving people. Giving back to others give them so much joy and this time of year you can really see that. They have always given us more than we need or could ever ask for. I am so grateful for what they do for me still to this day.

So this second part of my little post is to my parents. I cannot wait for them to see me grow and see me get married and then have children of my own. :) I cannot wait to see what GOD has in store for our family...it can only get better from here on out.

Peace. Love. Happiness. (lots of each!)

First of all.."Sweet Baby Ray" is growing so much!!! He/She is really putting on the pounds ;) Bridgit (my sister in law) goes back for her 5 month check up next month and we are looking forward to finding out what she is having. We all think it is a girl, but secretly my dad, Nathaniel and I are really hoping it a boy! We need a boy in this family, too many women :) We can not wait to meet this little one, Bridgit is due exactly a month after Nathaniel and I get married, itis one big event after another with this family. So much love to go around, we are so looking forward to it all!!


On another note, we had our First Annual Gingerbread House Competition at my parents house on Sunday. It was so much fun, We bought the pre made kits, where you just put the houses together. Each "couple" decorated a house with the supplies provided. We had a blast! Nathaniel and I started ours at around 12:30 and finished up about 4. I know, I know..way to much time to spend on a gingerbread house, but what can we say, we wanted to make it the best. Believe me, it was ;) It was great to just sit around and not do anything but work together. It definitley tested my paitence. I put tiny dotted sprinkles, Nathaniel's idea around all the windows. I had to do this because of my "tiny" fingers. lol. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I was done. :)
Here are pictures below of our masterpiece of a gingerbread house!

It is always so much fun to get together with the people that you love most and spend time together, even if it is competing! haha..

Merry Christmas to everyone..Hope you all made it to Santa's Nice List!

The Boss..

The Finished Product..


My beautiful sister and I always help decorate the my parents house for Christmas...this year is nothing short of perfection. Adrienne definitely takes after my Dad with her eye for decorating and putting things together, that an ordinary person would not see (like myself). I basically stand around and take orders from her and MY MOTHER! Terri, my mom, thinks she is still at work (she manages an Endocrine and Diabetes office) when she gets home and continues to boss Adrienne and I around. HA! As if a does not get enough when she is at work with my mom. For some reason we take it every time! :) Perfect example is this picture below...





She was getting snappy at this point...but I just LOVE this woman so much. She is the rock of our family and no matter how many orders she barks at me..I can't get enough of her sometimes. On top of being bossy, she has this obsession for SHOPPING! She has more STUFF than anyone else I know. She buys new holiday themed things every year and wonders where it comes from, she just flat out wears us out! :) hahahah..But I would not trade her for anything in the world. Decorating around the holidays is just tons of fun and we enjoy spending time with our parents and immediate family. We have been through so much the past year, this Christmas will be tough, but none the less, we will all make the best of it. Those who are missing from the celebration..we hope will find their way back home and see how important family is after all.

I count my blessing everyday that God has placed such wonderful people in my life. I am so undeserving of all that he has given to me and I can only hope that I live my life everyday in the way that makes him joyful! After all..is that not what this time of year is about, HIM? So many people take for granted or get lost in what CHRISTmas is all about..if only they could slow down and see what is truly important this time of year.

Here are a few more photos of decorating, CHRISTIAN style..makes me kinda sad that this will be my last Christmas in my parents house..oh, but don't get me wrong I will still be out decorating every year..fo sho ;)

Christmas Decorations..that half were not used. :)

The Mantle..My Favorite

Another Chapter

The Fam at Dinner after Graduation

Finally I am OUTTA HERE!! :)

I always thought I would be so happy to be done with college. What a huge accomplishment. Little to my surprise, it is all very bittersweet. Over the past 4 years I have become so close to my professors (b/c my school is so small) but more than that, it becomes who you are. Now that I am out of school, I am not sure what to do with my free time. What is FREE TIME anyways?? HECK IF I KNOW! :) It was all great and very prestigious, graduation was. The Archbishop was there, the president with his BIG GOLD CHAIN on. LOL. My dad got a kick outta that! You know, instead of the hood, our president has this gold chain he wears, it was pimpin' to say the least. HA!! Now that I done, I have TONS to do with the wedding and finding and J.O.B, on top of this I am studying for the GRE. Isn't life grand? :) So what was I thinking, me, having free time..what a joke. Life never slows down- but it is definitley a thrill and I LOVE IT!

Bittersweet..

As I walked onto Bellarmine's campus one more time today I realized how bittersweet it all was to be done with college. DO NOT get me wrong, I am relishing int he fact that I am done. It is all just a little overwhelming. Seems like just yesterday I was playing soccer for good ole SCHS and doing student council stuff. lol..nerdy I know. But we were the cool kids, literally :) hahaha..only joking.

On a more serious note. I just do not know what I want to do with my life. Things I want to accomplish are (just to name a few)

-get married (check, done will do that in May)

-have kids. will get on that soon.

-atleast see Italy, Hawaii, Australia, Guatemala (atleast 15 more times), and anywhere else my travel hungry hubster to be wants to take me.

-write a book. don't what on, but write one.

-send my parents on a once in a life time vacation.

Those are just a few. But right now, I am so caught up in the fact that I am broke and do not have anything awaiting me as I step out into the world. I have quickly learned, none of this changes..or atleast not anytime soon. So I think what I need to do us just rely on God's guidance and take it one day at a time.

On another note, I got to thinking back on Nathaniel and I's first Christmas together and came across this picture of him..is he not the cutest!!! A definite "kid in the candy shop" smile right there!!!!

1.7 million things to do..where do I start?

I start this blog out by a a VERY exaggerated title, like there are really that many things to do in a day..but when it comes down to it and your list of things to do NEVER shrinks it gets overwhelming! I love my over exaggeratedness* (is that a word?) and I love people who appreciate it. I only over exxagerate when need be :)

Its been a WILD week!!! Nathaniel started his new, old job back at TMSI and he has been VERY BUSY lately! So busy..we have hardley seen eachother that past couple of weeks, which is weird. But we are doing well- he loves his job and the people that he is working with, so that makes me happy :)

The end of school is approaching and things are super busy my way too. I really have to set my excellent procrastination skills to the side and buckle down to buisness! I have three 10 page papers to write (the joys of being a philosophy makor), two finals to study for, a speech, a project and who knows what else...and on top of al of this I have my wedding coordinator trying to get things moving on the wedding. WHAT IS A GIRL SUPPOSED TO DO! Luckily, Alicia (the wed coord.) is so talented she will do great even without me :) I am VERY lucky to have found her. I am grateful that I dont have to do this on my own!!! But the wedding is quickly approaching and will be here in 6 months! AH!! With everything going on I sometimes forget that I really dont have that much more time before this exciting time in our lives takes place.

I always wonder what life would be like if we werent always rushed to do things? If we could actually enjoy life for what it is? Its been a stressful couple of weeks and I just feel that I have no one to talk to about it, with my mom and sister always busy and my brother doing his own thing now as a married man..and then ontop of that Nathaniel working ridiculous hours at work..here i am!!! :( (drama queen!) It can become overwhelming to have so much to say and no one to say it to. I dont want to resort talking to myself out loud :) hahahaha!!! thank goodness for blogging, right?

I guess I should be proactive and get some work done :)
until next time.

6 WEEKS TIL CHRISTMAS?!!!

HOW DID TIME FLY BY SO FAST? I FEEL LIKE WE JUST HAD CHRISTMAS!!! EEEKKK!

I realized the closeness of Christmas when Nathaniel and I went out to Kohls last weekend. LINES TO THE BACK OF THE STORE! I figured it was just because they were having a killer sale...it was in fact, but also PEOPLE WERE DONE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING WHEN THEY LEFT THERE! So I naturally turned to Nathaniel, because he is totally unaware of why we are standing in line, and ask him.."Babe..people are Christmas shopping, you know this right?" and he answered exactly like I thought he would.."Katie, come on..Christmas Shopping? Yea right that is MONTHS away." and I said.."NO BABY..its like 6 weeks away!!!" and he gave me this look of ignorance (on my part) and then something clicked..it was just 6 weeks away! He then truns to me with his (big beautiful green) eyes and says.."WE NEED TO CHRISTMAS SHOP WHILE WE ARE HERE..WE NEED TO GET THINGS DONE.." IT HIT. :) He was totally unaware, just like I thought he would be. Now he is totally into getting the Christmas tree out, which is a hassle, on my part...

I have not even thought about it yet. I am too busy with school, wedding planning, thinking about Thanksgiving! Does anyone feel me on this one?? I mean we can't even enjoy one Holiday without thinking about the next. At stores, once Halloween is over its right onto Christmas. yes I LOVE Christmas, don't get me wrong, but Thanksgiving totally gets the shaft!!! Right???

There is more to just the presents, THE FOOD, and seeing family..its what it meant by these two special Holidays. I mean Thanksgiving is supposed to represent the becoming of this nation. (well- okay a little history..the early settlers tricked the Indians, go figure, into thinking they were friends..so they made this speical dinner where everyone brought things to eat..to "celebrate" the coming of the new settlers to the land..THEN BAM! out of nowhere, the settelers went behing the Indians backs and well we all know what happened after that.) BUT no seriously..Thanksgiving to meant to give Thanks for what we have!!! We live in a very wealthy nation and we have MANY freedoms that people all over the world don't have. We should be SO THANKFUL for that. :0)

Things We Would NEVER Tell You In Person

1. Nathaniel is a SNUGGLER! :) This makes my heart so happy. Us girls always talk about how we like to snuggle. Doesnt matter if its in the middle of the day, middle of the night, whenever. GIRLS love a snuggler. Although he would probably never admit this to anyone, he is ;)

2. I LOVE DIET COKE. Although not good for you, the acid tearing up your stomach lining and whatever else it does to your body, but I CRAVE it!!! Like someone people carve chocoloate...I crave DIET COKE. To make myself feel better, I can always pull up the "it has no calories" card to make everything doubtful go away. But I always wonder, is it really better than regular coke? Never the less, I cant stand the taste and after taste of regular coke.

3. I, myself, used to have very tough skin until I met Nathaniel. Now everything that seems to come my way, I get upset about. Why is that, I wonder? I used to never mid if people did not like me, if someone would give me a mean snare or stare, if girls are caddy and stupid..but now I care. Nathaniel does not even have to be around and things upset me. I HATE IT! Has he made me a softie?? OH NO!

4. WE LOVE KIDDOS! I mean LOVE THEM! Not a fettish or anything, we just want TONS of kids! I hope God blesses us by being very fertile. I would not mind have 10 kids. I thought it would cool to have a knock of John and Kate plus 8. Except it would be "Nate and Kate plus 8" Has a nice ring to it, yes? I have always wanted to adopt kids, but after going to Guatemala twice, that gut feeling just wont go away. I would love to have 3 or 4 kids of my own and adopt and few. To give a child a life is something that is so rewarding. Hell, I would probably be okay with not having any kids of my own, just adopting. Okay, well that might be going a little too far..but you see my love now, right?

those are just 4 things about us. I am sure I could wrestle up some more..but we will save the more embarassing ones for later :)

Take A Little Time

Our family has been very blessed this past year. With wonderful people, great memories, and lots of laughter. My brother just got married a few weeks ago (as seen in the blog below) and they just informed us that they are EXPECTING!!!! Our family could not be more happy and elated to hear this news. My mom has been waiting to become a grandmother and always is talking about her wishes for a grandchild to come along soon. Well her wish is coming true. (Now there is NO pressure on Nathaniel and I to have kids quickly :) ). Baby Christian is due next July (around my birthday). Babies always bring such a joy into people's lives and this new little one will be no exception to that fact.

My brother, Matthew, is such a loving, determined and encouraging individual. He is going to make such a WONDERFUL father. This child is so blessed to be coming into this family that Matt and Bridgit are starting. God has truly blessed Matt by bringing Bridigt into his life to spend his life with, but now he is blessing him with a new child. Matt is so excited and I could not be more excited for him either!!!

Exercise Your Right..to Vote!

Today as we all know is a VERY important day. Not only will another President be elected into office, but we as citizens and as FREE people get to vote. It is soo important that we all go out and take part/exercise our civic duty.

I got to thinking last night that it was not that long ago that WOMEN could not vote. What was it the 30's or 40's? Now we all get to vote..white, black, asian, hispanic, men and women. How awesome is that! It does not matter to me who you vote for, as long as you are educated on that candiate and know what they bring to the table, then go out and vote for him! But if you are not educated on the issues, maybe you should take a look at each canidate and not just go vote whatever your parents believe in. So many people do this. I would have probably been one of those people if I had not educated myself on each canidate over the past two years.

On the other hand..if you do not vote, then you CAN NOT complain about who ever is elected to lead this country. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. So many times I hear people complaining that Bush did this and Bush did that...when in reality, (a) it was not him and (b) that person did not vote either way, so they have no right to complain what so ever. Does anyone agree with me!!?

Never the less..it is so crucial to go out and vote! Exercise the right that you have to do so, that so many other people in the world will never have! We live in a great country..this is just another great thing that we get to do!!

Peace. Love. Happiness :)
Happy Voting!

The Soon-To-Be Dodson's

My dear friend Kelly recently got engaged to her main man Ryan! Kelly and I have been friends since my freshman year in college. We became instant friends and have gotten closer over the past two years. She is so beautiful, funny and contrary to what people think, smart :) (we are both nortorious for not using a lot of common sense sometimes, never intentional though, it just happens!!)

Nathaniel and I were elated when were heard the exciting news. They went to Puerto Vallarta for a MUCH needed vacation at the end of September. While there, he proposed. She had a feeling it would come soon, but had no idea when. I kept telling her, you know you could come back an engaged woman. And she said, I doubt it. I told her to go with an open mind and not to expect anything. By the time it happened, she did not know what to think. She deserves all the happiness in the world and I am SOOO happy she found Ryan. He is such a good preson and he is hilarious!! Which is NOT a bad thing!!

Anyways..I am so happy for them. They are a beautiful couple and have so much love in between them :) Can't wait to be apart of their special day!! Love You Both!

Baby Thompson

One of my dearest friends in the world is expecting her first child in Jan!!! :)

I am so excited for her. I know she will be a great mother and role model for her little boy! Tiffany (AKA: Kurtenbach) Thompson and I have been friends since the beginning of high school and I could not imagine not having her in my life. Motherhood for her seems so natural- I look up to her in so many ways, more ways than she will ever know possible. She is living in Colorado right now with her hubby Chris, but coming back to the KY for the holidays and better be for good :) I have missed out this joyous day in her life, but we have kept in touch over email and not nearly enough phone calls (Mrs. Thompson!) But life is busy for both of us, so totally understandable. I wish her all the best and can't wait to meet my little nephew! You my little boy are going to have the BEST AUNT ever! :)

Engagement Photo's

Back in July, Nathaniel and I took our engagement pictures.

Our photographer, Charles Smith, is so incredibly talented! Not only has God blessed him with this talent of capturing such precious moments, but he also has blessed Charles with his love and passion to share that love with others. Charles is in school and the Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Charles wife, Ashley, is just as sweet and nice as he is. They both have this AWESOME accent, as they are both from Alabama- needless to say we had a blast with him taking our pictures and can't wait for the actual day to get here!!

Charles and Ashley have def. become good friends of our and we can only hope God blesses their business, love and marriage as much as he blessed Charles with this talent!! We are so glad that we have had to chance to work with them!

check out his blog and website at http://csphoto.biz
He comes highly recommended for anything from weddings to family photo sessions!!


Here are just a sneak peak at some of our favorites that Charles took!

Fireproof.

"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means that when the fire comes you will be able to withstand it."

Tonight Nathaniel and I saw the movie "Fireproof." WOW! It was absolutely amazing. Such an inspiring story of a broken marriage made new through God's grace. You know we all loose that fight in us sometimes when we get comfortable in our relationship, but the other person should never be taken for granted.

I bought the book that goes along with this movie a while back at Southeast. I made it through the first 7 days and just stopped because I did not think that I needed to continue going on with it. I thought that I knew how to love greatly. When in reality..I have no clue. I have such an amazing man in my life, that God has truly blessed me with. I get so wrapped up into everyday life that I take that for granted (as many of us do) But..in the more grand scheme of things, Nathaniel has such a harder task ahead of him. Not only will he be judged upon his own actions, but when he leaves this earth and goes in front of Christ, he will also be judged upon how well lead his own family as well. He is the leader in our relationship and called to do so. I need to be more supportive of him and encourage him in his venture to be a great man, a great child of God, wonderful father, provider and husband. He is such an inspiration to me and I don't show that enough to him.

My mom always tells me that having God in the center of a relationship and marriage gives you something that not a lot of people have. It gives you a strong love and support that no matter what happens in life, there is something so much more then what is here on this physical earth. I can't wait to see what this book is going to do in my life, in our preparation for marriage and in the long run. "The scripture says that God designed and created marriage as a good thing. It is a beautiful, priceless gift. He uses marriage to help us eliminate loneliness, multiply our effectiveness, establish family, raise children, enjoy life and bless with with relational intimacy. But beyond this, marriage also shows us our need to grow and deal with our own issues and self-centeredness through the help of a life-long partner." (from THE LOVE DARE,)

To end this post here are the words to a very inspiration song by Warren Barfield that was featured during "Fireproof." Its called "Love Is Not a Fight." I invite you to take a listen to it on You Tube when you get a chance.

Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
And then commit to never leave
So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
If we try to leave may Gos send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word that they can fall into
But then they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do
Love will come to save us, if we'll aonly call
He will ask nothing from us, but demand we give our all
I would fight for you, would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for.

Matthew and Bridgit Christian

This past weekend (October 25th) My brother married his long time girlfriend Bridgit. WHAT A JOYOUS DAY!!! My big brother means so much to me! He has always been there for us. We love him so very much. The day could not have gone better. They got married at Ascension Catholic Church and then their reception followed at Oxmoor Country Club. Bridgit, by the way, was a stunning bride! She even wore boots with her dress that fit her personality! :)

I am so happy for them and it is amazing to see God at work in their lives.
NOW...we cant wait for them to start having kiddos :) ha- is that too soon? WE DON'T THINK SO!! :)

Indescribable

HI all!

We (Nathaniel and I) decided to start blogging our journey to the chapel :) for everyone to share with us. We are truly blessed to have found eachother. For those of you who don't know, we met on myspace. Yes, very funny- but oh so very true. We ofcourse emailed back and forth for weeks and then decided to go out for dinner. After the first week I knew I was in love!! (very sappy, but true.)

After a year and half together we went on vacation with Nathaniel's best friend John and his now wife Michelle. We went on this breath taking cruise through the south carribean islands. IT WAS A BLAST. But what made it even more fun, is that Nathaniel proposed on our first offical day in St. Thomas. IT WAS TOTALLY UNEXPECTED! John and Michelle had decided to take a walk and Nathaniel and I were just laying out. John then comes frantically running down the beach. "he guys hurry, there are some beached sting rays down here. There is a news crew and everything." So as gullible as Katie is, we all run down the beach. When we spot Michelle, we can see that the "sting rays" are gone. Then we just paused, in disappointment,(not really) Then I look down and in the sand I read: "I Love U Katie Will U Marry Me" Putting this all together, I then turn around and there was Nathaniel on one knee. It all happened so fast, I think his words were "I love you so much. Will you marry me? Then I cried and said YES!! We were both crying and I was in shock more than anything. It was such a special day for us and we owe so many thanks to John and Michelle for making it happen!

So this is where it all begins. The days leading up to our BIG DAY! We truly can't wait to share it with everyone who has been apart of our relationship. In some way everyone there has been supportive or shown us something to become better people. We are even more increditably blessed that Jesus Christ has brought us together to share our lives from here on out. He is an AMAZING creator, the center of our relationship and through him anything we do is possible. GOD IS SOO GOOD!! I thank him each and every day for bringing this wonderful man into my life! :)