Today was a Good Day

Most of us don't remember our baptisms. We were too young, maybe only a few weeks old (I was about 3 weeks old). But, never the less, they leave an everlasting mark on our souls that we are now part of God's family. He has officially adopted us and we have accepted Him into our hearts. We now are part of a family that accepts us as brothers and sisters and we no longer wander aimlessly for meaning.

Today, June 23rd, Cassie was baptized into the family of Christ. Our friend Shauna, my parents and her sponsors, Mark and Linda Giesecke were there to bless her as she joins God's family. It was an incredible day to witness and I am so glad that I have been able to share in this journey with her so far. I am excited to see where God's plan guides us and I know that I have a strong and loving woman by my side.

Engagement Story (pt. 2)

Cassie and I are in the midst of wedding planning. We are beginning to get an idea of what your eventual wedding will look like. During this whole process and beyond, we will be sharing with anyone interested, our story through our new blog Koinonia. We have just posted a pretty cool link up for couples. We have each answered a few questions about the engagement and are hoping to hear back from other couples who are either engaged or married. Take a glance over at Koinonia and tell us what you think.

Our Engagement Story

First off, apologies for not posting the first "My Story Mondays" story yesterday. I have a few calls out to influential people in my life and who can blame them for being a bit too busy to write something up in a week. So, I am shooting for next week for the first story to be up. 

Also, the big news going around is that my girlfriend, Cassie, and I got engaged!! 

I had been planning the engagement for about 5 or 6 weeks. It wasn't anything huge or cheesy, but it was special for us.

We both work a bunch at our jobs and we don't normally have a day off together. So when we finally had a day off coming up, I jumped on the opportunity to make that the day.

The day started off by never actually being able to go to sleep. Did I mention we work a lot? We were both driving shuttles for a member at our golf club who was throwing a party for his employees. Cassie got lucky and was able to get home at 11 when she was done driving. However, I got stuck on a second shuttle driving for a different party. Long story short, they never called me to come pick them up from the bars, so I was waiting for them until 2:30am when I decided they were no longer downtown. They ended up taking cabs home around 11:30pm. 

We had planned on leaving for sunrise at the Grand Canyon at 3:15am. I only had time to run home, change, grab my camera and head out the door. 

The Grand Canyon is special in our relationship because it was where we went for our first real date outside of work (where we met) and where we took our first real trip together as well. We have been to the Canyon probably 6 or 7 times during our dating relationship. It was an obvious choice as a backdrop to our special day.

I chose the east side of the Canyon because I knew that the popular Mather Point and any point along the south rim drive was going to be packed with people and I didn't want to make this any more nerve racking than it already was going to be. Plus, I knew that Cassie didn't necessarily want to make a big scene either. Luckily, we found Navajo Point completely empty. 

I pulled out my camera and set it up while Cassie stayed in the car for a couple extra minutes. I used the ploy of coming up to take sunrise photos, which is quite believable. We also like to take couples photos where ever we go because, I am competitive and want to have the coolest couples photos ever. Again, pretty believable. After a few landscape shots, I move my camera to a new spot and we take a couple pictures. I then tell her, "Oh! I just remembered that I bought a remote for my camera. We don't have to set the timer anymore." So, I grab that, we take one more photo and I tell her, " You know what else I realized, that was our last photo as girlfriend and boyfriend." And I pulled out the ring. 

She said "Yes" and we now have the opportunity to start the rest of our lives together!

We will be posting our story, written together, on our Couples blog named Koinonia shortly! Follow that blog for a more couples focused perspective on our wedding planning, and our future move to Missouri together.

Can't have a much better backdrop than this!!

An Unveiling

It is time to officially unveil The Koinonia Blog.

This blog is written by Cassie from Sage, and myself about our relationship. How we met, what's happening now, our upcoming move to Missouri, and life ahead.

It's meant for those going through similar situations to find an ally and a voice to listen to, to ask advice of and grow in a Christian community. 

Koinonia itself means: Christian fellowship or communion with God or with fellow Christians; said in particular of the early Christian community.

We want this to be a communing place for other Christians and Christian couples specifically. But, we also want anyone who has questions of us or questions in general to feel comfortable sharing, Christian or not.

 

The Reality of it All

The reality is, I am moving from Flagstaff. After 24 years in Arizona, 20 of them in Flagstaff, I am moving. Does it scare me? You betcha!

Everyday is a day to reflect on my life and savor everything I have enjoyed about growing up in this wonderful place. The people I have met, the sunrises and sets that I have witnessed, the mountains I have climbed, the deserts, forests, canyons, monsoons and on and on. There is so much about this state that I have never done or seen or experienced and it's a tough proposition to know that you will be moving away from it.

However, it is also a time to be optimistic about the future and the love affair I might have for a new state. I am already excited about all the cycling races and sports communities. A potential job that is right up my alley. Experiencing things that I don't even know exist yet. It's all exciting!

The most exciting part is being confident in the person I am moving with. Starting a life together and taking a step toward family that I have always dreamed about.

I can see positive in any place. And that's what I have to keep focused on. I will certainly miss Arizona, my home. But, I can always come back and enjoy it even more.

For now, enjoy some photos that I have taken over the years of this wonderful state. And as always, more photos can be seen at my website.

The Sunset glows red on the San Francisco Peaks. Bismarck Lake.

The Windmill Winery at night. Florence, AZ

Bismarck Lake sunset.

Forest Service Cabin. Kendrick Peak.

Grand Falls.

Superstition Mountain Wilderness.

Fiery Sunset after the snow.

My Story Mondays

Starting next week, I will be featuring influential people in my life in posts titled "My Story Mondays."

They will guest post on their story. Could be an abridged life story, stories of influential people in their life, what has shaped them or whatever they feel interested in writing about.

I am gathering stories as we speak and will have a new post just about every Monday. Stay tuned!

What God Has Taught Me

I am linking up with Cassie today. She and I work through "101 Questions to Ask Before you get Engaged." We see eye to eye on a good majority of things, but it isn't always easy to talk through some of the questions with your significant other. She has posed this particular question to her readers and I am following up with my answers. 

What has God taught you in the following situations in your life: failure, pain, waiting, not having enough money, facing disappointment, and facing criticism? 

Link up with her on her blog and share your answers as well!


Failure.
Who hasn't failed and learned from it? God knows we will fail and lets us fail. He gave us the choice to decide our path and knows that failure is waiting around that wrong turn. Look at Adam and Eve and tell me people don't fail. Adam and Eve were set up for success more than anyone else in history and they sinned. I have learned that from failure comes new horizons. Success all the time does not a successful person make. We need failure to learn our limits and learn from our mistakes.

Pain.
This is an interesting one because pain can be taken in so many directions. I have learned that physical and emotional pain stand as a siren song for healing. If you were in no pain, life might be perfect and you may be fully healed. We all hit instances of that in life where nothing could be better. Mentally and physically, you feel great about your current state of life. But stress, fear, anxiety, scraped knees, broken bones, etc. will all heal naturally or with the help of medicine. Pain is the first step to healing and God is pretty good at that part.

Waiting.
I am laughing at this one thinking about how to answer. God has made me into the least patient person you've met at times and others, I can sit still for hours on end. I think waiting boils down to mental state. If you are in a mood to just enjoy life and count your blessings, waiting is easy. But if you are anxious and forget about the simplicity of life, you are going to struggle to wait for what God has planned just around the corner.

Not having enough money.
God always finds a way to supply you with just the right amount of money. I think about the verse in Matthew that states that God even takes care of the birds of the air, so why are we worrying about the necessities in our life. Are we not more important than the birds? Money is an earthly creation. God can and will supply His faithful with everything they need. I stress about money all the time. Probably more than anything in my life. But, I know that when it really comes down to it, God will be there to support me through all of my trials.

Facing disappointment.
I struggle with this too. I am a goal oriented person. I like to set goals and shoot for them. Usually I know my limits and can set realistic goals that have a small reach. Normally, I can hit those goals by stretching just a bit. Sometimes I miss out on them and am so deflated it may take months for me to try again depending on the goal. God pulls me out of it each and every time and teaches me how to make it work the next time so instead of feeling deflated, I feel fulfilled.

Facing criticism.
I have a high standard of myself and to some extent I am comfortable enough to let things roll of my back when I am criticized. However, I do tend to be disappointed when criticized because I set such a high standard that I am not always appreciated for the work or time I have devoted to a certain issue. But, I have realized that despite any criticism, God is really the only one that matters and as long as I am doing everything in life to glorify Him, he approves.