I've recently shared how we met, how we started dating, and how we got engaged.
But now you know why. I found this in my inbox this afternoon.
I love this guy more than these little keys will let me type.
Happy 7th Anniversary, Jude! Forever my friend, forever my love.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Playing Catch Up
It took a while, but here are the photos of when Jude's family visited Starkville last month. We got to meet our new(ish) nephew, Henry, and he got to meet his 3 cousins.
Thank you guys for making the trip over to MS and for bringing the cool weather. Please tell me you're planning to come again next week because it's supposed to be rainy & in the 90s.
Oh, and we finally got him to smile.
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| Cousin Henry. This accurately depicts their general dispositions for the week. Grumpy & Smiley |
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| Nanny Chloe actually made these initial shirts for them. So adorable! |
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| Simon's first pool experience |
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| It went swimmingly. Har, har. |
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| spitting image (minus the specs) |
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| Nanny Chloe & Uncle Art with their godchild, Charlotte |
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| All the she-folk |
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| Aunt Sara with all the nieces & nephews |
Thank you guys for making the trip over to MS and for bringing the cool weather. Please tell me you're planning to come again next week because it's supposed to be rainy & in the 90s.
Oh, and we finally got him to smile.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Verbatim
Charlotte: That monkey has bad toots. Let's not talk about it again.
Joan: And she's 18.
Alisha: 18?
Joan: Yeah, and she's professional.
Alisha: Ha! What does professional mean?
Joan: It means you're in the newspapers and stuff.
Alisha: Aw, look at Simon smiling at you. I think he likes you.
Joan: That's because I look like you.
Joan: Mark, you look lazy.
Uncle Mark: You mean tired?
Joan: No, lazy.
Alisha: Charlotte, go throw this diaper in the trash, please.
Charlotte: Uh well, I'm picking my nose. So... no thank you.
Alisha: Charlotte, you don't have to do the top button.
Charlotte: But I don't want Joan to see my breasts.
Friday, July 12, 2013
The Courtship & Proposal (Part 3)
If you haven't already, check out the The First Day I met him and The Conflict beforehand. I hope Grace doesn't mind, but I'm linking up for the third time...
The Courtship
If you were keeping tabs, Jude and I had been great, totally platonic friends for 2 years (ok, a little less platonic toward the end of that 2nd year) and in that time we casually ironed out all that really serious stuff wrinkling up relationships - religion, family life, career goals, you get the gist. Thankfully, we were able to do that as friends, without the pressure of If I'm honest he might not want to marry me. So by the time this courtship rolled around (a very slow roll, mind you) we both knew we weren't interested in dating just to date. For us, dating was supposed to be serious and probably a little short if we felt called to the big I DO.
That was how we answered my parents question, "Ok... what does that mean?" when Jude was over for Thanksgiving break in 2004, and shared with them our plans to start courting soon. We basically said, "we're going to start dating/courting and don't be surprised if we get married next month," or something like that.
Now that we were back at school, and he had my parents' permission/blessing/confusion, he invited me to his dorm apartment for dinner (i.e. Chicken Helper and crescent rolls - but the named-brand kind) and OFFICIALLY asked to court me to which I almost replied, "duh," and we shared our first kiss (ok technically, he'd kissed my cheek at his grandmother's house the week before, but who's counting? We are.). That was November 29, 2004.
The Happy Couple in black & white (nostalgic).
I apparently prefer to be on the right. Except in Paris.
The Proposal
Jude & I were planning to drive from Ruston down to Sulphur on October 15, 2005 so that I could sing in a wedding. We had lunch on campus and then stopped by the Catholic student center to make some copies of music before we headed off, or so I thought.
We got out of the car and started walking to the office until Jude said he'd already made the copies and then brought me over to the steps of the chapel. He reminded me that this spot was where we first met, that this church and student center formed the foundation of our friendship and courtship, and so, would be the perfect place to kneel down and say, "Alisha, I want to serve Christ with you for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?"
And so I did, and still do.
Yes - a high-five. We were always friends first.
Forever my friend, forever my love.
The end. (mostly)
The Courtship
If you were keeping tabs, Jude and I had been great, totally platonic friends for 2 years (ok, a little less platonic toward the end of that 2nd year) and in that time we casually ironed out all that really serious stuff wrinkling up relationships - religion, family life, career goals, you get the gist. Thankfully, we were able to do that as friends, without the pressure of If I'm honest he might not want to marry me. So by the time this courtship rolled around (a very slow roll, mind you) we both knew we weren't interested in dating just to date. For us, dating was supposed to be serious and probably a little short if we felt called to the big I DO.
That was how we answered my parents question, "Ok... what does that mean?" when Jude was over for Thanksgiving break in 2004, and shared with them our plans to start courting soon. We basically said, "we're going to start dating/courting and don't be surprised if we get married next month," or something like that.
Now that we were back at school, and he had my parents' permission/blessing/confusion, he invited me to his dorm apartment for dinner (i.e. Chicken Helper and crescent rolls - but the named-brand kind) and OFFICIALLY asked to court me to which I almost replied, "duh," and we shared our first kiss (ok technically, he'd kissed my cheek at his grandmother's house the week before, but who's counting? We are.). That was November 29, 2004.
The Happy Couple in black & white (nostalgic).
I apparently prefer to be on the right. Except in Paris.
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| On our World Youth Day Pilgrimage Summer 2005 (pre-engagement), Paris, France. Obvi. |
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| Same WYD Pilgrimage, throwing 2 coins with our right hands over our left shoulders into the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome ensures both love and marriage. check & check & a nice segway into: |
We got out of the car and started walking to the office until Jude said he'd already made the copies and then brought me over to the steps of the chapel. He reminded me that this spot was where we first met, that this church and student center formed the foundation of our friendship and courtship, and so, would be the perfect place to kneel down and say, "Alisha, I want to serve Christ with you for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?"
And so I did, and still do.
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| July 29, 2006 |
Yes - a high-five. We were always friends first.
Forever my friend, forever my love.
The end. (mostly)
Thursday, July 11, 2013
The Conflict (Part 2)
You can read about Part 1, The First Day, before this if you want. Might make more sense. And I'm adding it to Grace's link-up.
The Conflict
Not only was Jude the President of A.C.T.S., but he also sang and played guitar in their praise band. Maybe some of you don't know, but I have been known to carry a tune or two and so naturally, I joined the band with Jude. This gave me plenty of opportunity to move into the friend zone. Great. Right where I wanted to be.
I was not at this particular concert. But gosh, he even looks good in a beard.
After hanging out with him a while, I might have flirtily (not a word) asked/teased him about whether or not he had any interests. A lady friend, if you will. And to my surprise he answered yes. My heart skipped a tiny beat because I was about 67% sure he might say me. bahahahahahaha. wrong. He meant Drea, the cute graphic design freshman he'd just met, (did I mention this was his senior year in graphic design, also? No. Ok - that's important.) which confirmed he definitely saw me as the girl-that's-only-a-friend-so-she-can-safely-give-girlfriend-advice. If you've seen 1 out of the batrillion chick flicks in the last 3 decades, you know what I'm talking about and I assure you, that girl is real. And she's me.
Here's what that was like:
Context: We were on a mission trip the Summer of 2003. He was still dating Drea and we were great friends. Right before the video starts, I let out the biggest burp he'd ever heard, apparently, and racked up tons of points in desirability. I'm a keeper.
And so, stranded on Friend Island (but with lots of points), I did what I had to do and became the best non-girlfriend I could. They dated for a year and a half (i know!) - but this ends up being good for me, too, because he stayed in grad school at Tech pretty much because of her (ok, and they have a great design program). In between times of super crushing on him (couldn't quite bring myself to actually sabotage them), I crushed on other dudes. What - I was trying to find my husband, remember?
But then - just like in the movies - their relationship starts getting a little rocky, they try taking a break, which didn't help (does it ever?), yada yada yada, they break up, he leans on non-girlfriend for sympathy and company. Perfect timing because I'm no longer into him. saga drama.
I was smack dab in the middle of a crush* for someone out of town when he tells me he's started having feelings for me. He followed this news up with gifts, letters, special surprise visits, songs written about me - the typical wooing kinda stuff. But too late now, buddy, because I was busy feeling something for someone not feeling something for me. You follow? Classic love triangle. To be fair, the out-of-towner was giving lots of mixed singles and so I held on to the string a little too long. Until finally FINALLY, I realized he was just the star in the song "Looking for the Moon" (you can find it on Spotify by Jolly Napier, introduced to me by dear friend Jill) and Jude was the moon. (We all know the moon is what you're really after!)
**I know I say crush a lot and it's making this all sound silly and pathetic, but trust me, it was.
So great - my old feelings for Jude came back to the surface and now he felt the same and now we could be together forever. Except not, because right before all of this love-triangle-disasterness I was elected as the A.C.T.S. President (do we all remember who was President 2 years before me...?) for the Fall 2004-2005 school year and had decided to randomly stop searching for my husband and just focus on the campus ministry i.e. be SINGLE for the next year (not hard to do because I'd been SINGLE my entire life, but still, I felt the need to make it official).
This meant several months of Jude chasing me - even sharing that he loved me, (to which I said, "thank you.") followed by several months of us both loving the other but not being together together. (I finally said I love you while we danced at my sister's wedding)
Right in the middle of our NO! We're not together even though we're always together! phase at a concert in Houston Summer of 2004.
This thankfully came to a close when in November of 2004, we realized the very official Relationship Status: Single I had made was actually causing more distraction than just being In a Relationship, plus I'm sure all of our friends were tired of hearing about the whole mess (Sorry Jill, Sara, Lauren, & David). We got the go-ahead from God after lots of agonizing, silly should-we-shouldn't-we-let's-call-this-discernment prayers where I'm sure He did lots of eye-rolling and it was decided: boyfriend-girlfriend. But not yet (that would be too easy). First, he must meet my parents and tell them about our courtship plans over Thanksgiving Break. I saw that eye-roll.
The Courtship & Proposal (read about it here)
The Conflict
Not only was Jude the President of A.C.T.S., but he also sang and played guitar in their praise band. Maybe some of you don't know, but I have been known to carry a tune or two and so naturally, I joined the band with Jude. This gave me plenty of opportunity to move into the friend zone. Great. Right where I wanted to be.
After hanging out with him a while, I might have flirtily (not a word) asked/teased him about whether or not he had any interests. A lady friend, if you will. And to my surprise he answered yes. My heart skipped a tiny beat because I was about 67% sure he might say me. bahahahahahaha. wrong. He meant Drea, the cute graphic design freshman he'd just met, (did I mention this was his senior year in graphic design, also? No. Ok - that's important.) which confirmed he definitely saw me as the girl-that's-only-a-friend-so-she-can-safely-give-girlfriend-advice. If you've seen 1 out of the batrillion chick flicks in the last 3 decades, you know what I'm talking about and I assure you, that girl is real. And she's me.
Here's what that was like:
And so, stranded on Friend Island (but with lots of points), I did what I had to do and became the best non-girlfriend I could. They dated for a year and a half (i know!) - but this ends up being good for me, too, because he stayed in grad school at Tech pretty much because of her (ok, and they have a great design program). In between times of super crushing on him (couldn't quite bring myself to actually sabotage them), I crushed on other dudes. What - I was trying to find my husband, remember?
But then - just like in the movies - their relationship starts getting a little rocky, they try taking a break, which didn't help (does it ever?), yada yada yada, they break up, he leans on non-girlfriend for sympathy and company. Perfect timing because I'm no longer into him. saga drama.
I was smack dab in the middle of a crush* for someone out of town when he tells me he's started having feelings for me. He followed this news up with gifts, letters, special surprise visits, songs written about me - the typical wooing kinda stuff. But too late now, buddy, because I was busy feeling something for someone not feeling something for me. You follow? Classic love triangle. To be fair, the out-of-towner was giving lots of mixed singles and so I held on to the string a little too long. Until finally FINALLY, I realized he was just the star in the song "Looking for the Moon" (you can find it on Spotify by Jolly Napier, introduced to me by dear friend Jill) and Jude was the moon. (We all know the moon is what you're really after!)
**I know I say crush a lot and it's making this all sound silly and pathetic, but trust me, it was.
So great - my old feelings for Jude came back to the surface and now he felt the same and now we could be together forever. Except not, because right before all of this love-triangle-disasterness I was elected as the A.C.T.S. President (do we all remember who was President 2 years before me...?) for the Fall 2004-2005 school year and had decided to randomly stop searching for my husband and just focus on the campus ministry i.e. be SINGLE for the next year (not hard to do because I'd been SINGLE my entire life, but still, I felt the need to make it official).
This meant several months of Jude chasing me - even sharing that he loved me, (to which I said, "thank you.") followed by several months of us both loving the other but not being together together. (I finally said I love you while we danced at my sister's wedding)
Right in the middle of our NO! We're not together even though we're always together! phase at a concert in Houston Summer of 2004.
This thankfully came to a close when in November of 2004, we realized the very official Relationship Status: Single I had made was actually causing more distraction than just being In a Relationship, plus I'm sure all of our friends were tired of hearing about the whole mess (Sorry Jill, Sara, Lauren, & David). We got the go-ahead from God after lots of agonizing, silly should-we-shouldn't-we-let's-call-this-discernment prayers where I'm sure He did lots of eye-rolling and it was decided: boyfriend-girlfriend. But not yet (that would be too easy). First, he must meet my parents and tell them about our courtship plans over Thanksgiving Break. I saw that eye-roll.
The Courtship & Proposal (read about it here)
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Love Story Link-Up
One of the most adorable couples ever, Grace & Simon, have their love story up and ready and she's calling for more gush. Since I aim to please...
The First Day (not Date)
August 2002; St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Ruston, LA
It was a few days before starting my freshman year of college at Louisiana Tech University and I was attending daily Mass. I was in the side chapel and the altar was placed just in front of a glass sliding door so you could see your reflection the entire time (very distracting). But I started looking around at the other people's reflection and all of a sudden it hit me. At any moment, I could meet my husband. That's when most people find them, right? College? But not seeing anyone in the reflection that, I don't know - caught my eye, I let the thought fade.
It'd be an awesome story if I had learned later that he was actually in the reflection, huh? Yeah, well, he wasn't.
BUT, he was standing right out side the door.
I walked out of mass with my friend, Erica, from high school onto the steps of the chapel and we introduced ourselves to some of the older college students who were in the campus ministry (A.C.T.S. we called it: Association of Catholic Tech Students).
Enter: Jude
He walked up with a few other guys and introduced himself - get this - as the President of A.C.T.S. He was tall, dark, and handsome. Cliche? Don't care - because I got to marry him.
Told you so. (Side note: I took this portrait of him for one of his photog classes.)
After I shook his hand, I decided I had a crush on him. But it wouldn't be a love story without some conflict, aye? (I pretty much love rhetorical blog questions. Don't you?)
The Conflict (read about it here)
The Courtship & Proposal (read about it here)
The First Day (not Date)
August 2002; St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Ruston, LA
It was a few days before starting my freshman year of college at Louisiana Tech University and I was attending daily Mass. I was in the side chapel and the altar was placed just in front of a glass sliding door so you could see your reflection the entire time (very distracting). But I started looking around at the other people's reflection and all of a sudden it hit me. At any moment, I could meet my husband. That's when most people find them, right? College? But not seeing anyone in the reflection that, I don't know - caught my eye, I let the thought fade.
It'd be an awesome story if I had learned later that he was actually in the reflection, huh? Yeah, well, he wasn't.
BUT, he was standing right out side the door.
I walked out of mass with my friend, Erica, from high school onto the steps of the chapel and we introduced ourselves to some of the older college students who were in the campus ministry (A.C.T.S. we called it: Association of Catholic Tech Students).
Enter: Jude
He walked up with a few other guys and introduced himself - get this - as the President of A.C.T.S. He was tall, dark, and handsome. Cliche? Don't care - because I got to marry him.
Told you so. (Side note: I took this portrait of him for one of his photog classes.)
After I shook his hand, I decided I had a crush on him. But it wouldn't be a love story without some conflict, aye? (I pretty much love rhetorical blog questions. Don't you?)
The Conflict (read about it here)
The Courtship & Proposal (read about it here)
Sunday, July 7, 2013
The Birthday Extravaganza
Joan's birthday is May 5th (and I wasn't planning a party at 39-40 weeks pregnant), so we pushed her party back (and Charlotte's July birthday up) to do one big combined party at a local gymnastics studio. Win, win, win.
They were Thing 1 and Thing 2, obvi, which meant I could re-use party decorations for the 3rd time and I could plan the super simple foodies around Dr. Seuss books. Still winning.
Jude's family was already planning to be in town that week and my parents were able to make the trip, too.
They were Thing 1 and Thing 2, obvi, which meant I could re-use party decorations for the 3rd time and I could plan the super simple foodies around Dr. Seuss books. Still winning.
Jude's family was already planning to be in town that week and my parents were able to make the trip, too.
Unfortunately, a few friends couldn't make it, but we had fun with the ones that could!
Happy Birthday, sweet girls!
(Charlotte's three. Not two.)
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