engaged encounter

joseph and i have been engaged for almost six months now. during those six months, we have been meeting fairly regularly with our parish priest to discuss our impending married life.

more than anything, we've covered logistics. for example, who will pay the bills? separate checking or joint? how do you plan to balance work and parenting? who will assume what household chores? over the past several months, some of our sessions have been pretty intense. nevertheless, we finished the program with our priest a few weeks ago still committed to getting married!

the last requirement for us to complete before receiving the priest's blessing was to participate in an engaged encounter retreat.

joseph and i didn't really know what to expect of the retreat. we'd already covered so much, what more could they possibly throw at us? we were in for a surprise when we attended the retreat this past weekend.

the retreat was much more concerned with our married spiritual life. in the catholic church, marriage is a sacrament, after all. so the leaders of the retreat (two couples at different stages of marriage) talked to us about issues around communication, family, and the sanctity of marriage. After each "lesson" or topic, we separated to reflect and write our thoughts/responses. Each couple would then come together to discuss what they had written. in that way, we couldn't just let the lesson go in one ear and out the other. we were forced to really think about it and discuss it with each other.

in the end, the retreat really got me and joseph to think more about the sanctity of marriage, especially as we consider the difficulties that we will likely face in our life together. i think that both of us came out of the weekend better understanding the spiritual significance of our marriage, which makes it seem much more... serious (for lack of a better word). however, rather than being more nervous now, i feel more ready than i had previously been feeling.

i'd be lying if i said i wasn't scared about the "for as long as [we] both shall live," but i am certain that i've chosen the right man with whom to take this journey.

38 more days!!!

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wedding humor

i don't think that this is the best picture of me, but i thought this bride and groom was hilarious. my friend, imelda, and i spotted it in this cute store in san diego, and i thought i would share. :)

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showered

i have been to many bridal showers in my 33 years. i know the silly games, the prizes, the finger foods, the cake, etc. it's all been fun. but this past weekend i was on the other side of all of the festivity. my sister, with the help of my mom and one of my good friends from home, put together a lovely little party for me.

one of the highlights was "failing" a game that asked me to answer various questions about joseph. for example, what is joseph's favorite band? favorite pizza topping? i got those right. the name of his first pet and his biggest pet peeve, i got wrong. all in all, i missed 8 out of 20 questions. for each question i missed, i had to chew a piece of gum. so, as you can imagine, by the end of the game, i had a mouth full of tropical berry flavored gum (not appetizing at all).

i received some very thoughtful gifts, many of which were from our registry. so, there were a lot of kitchen/household items. i was thrilled to have been given a molcajete!!! i joked that i felt like i was being "domesticated." after 33 years, i suppose it was about time. :)

in any event, it was a really nice gathering of family and a few close friends. i appreciated how excited everyone was for me, the bride to be!

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