My Week In Review May 15

This week has certainly had its highs and lows for me... in fact, just the weekend itself have had highs and lows for me.

LOW

Last weekend, I did not get to see Chris at all. Its official, if I don't get to see Chris on the weekends, for me, it might as well be another work day.

My roommates and I had some pretty serious prayer requests this week (we pray together every night) and this week was just such a reminds of the EVIL that we fight and how helpless humans are without the Lord.

Lastly, my wedding dress was a low of this week. My mom brought it out to Colorado for what we thought was going to be the FINAL try-on... and found... the dress still needs work. MAJOR WORK. The trouble has been the seamstress is in Michigan and I live in Colorado so fittings have been limited. Mom and I realized in no uncertain terms that we needed to find a different seamstress in Denver to help us with the dress IMMEDIATELY.

The whole thing was incredibly stressful and we won't be able to meet with her until today. As of late, I am exhausted and emotional and easily overwhelmed and so the situation has been a big low of the week.

HIGHS

My highs this week have been numerous as well (Praise God!). It has been wonderful to pray with my roommates every night about these HUGE and life threatening situations and trust that these requests are best kept in our Father's hands.

Friday evening, my roommates and I were blessed to host a Mary Kay pampering party that I won at a bridal show. We had friends over and sampled products and had a lot of fun!

All our beautiful faces after the pampering

Not only did I get to see Chris this weekend, but I got to see my mom this weekend too!

There was a bridal shower for me in Eagle on Saturday and it was a BLAST. It was so much fun, but I think it was made even MORE fun given that Mom and I spent Saturday morning rushing too and from Denver (4 hours round trip) to deal with dress drama... by 2:00, a relaxing, fun celebration with friends and family was EXACTLY what I needed. A huge thank you to Chelsea from Adventures In Colorado for hosting this beautiful and enjoyable event.

Here is the beautiful Chelsea and me
She went on to facebook and printed all sorts of pictures of Chris and me and created this beautiful bouquet of "Chris and Brooke"

We are now the proud owners of an Iron Skillet!

Jon and Chris drove around in the mountains during the shower and Chelsea specifically had a gift for Chris -- a baseball serving tray!
This was the gift bow from my colleague in the vision department -- a bow made of protective safety glasses!
My roommate, Maggie, even found this awesome University of Michigan tumbler glasses for us (in Colorado, no less). Chris and I were REALLY excited to get these! Thanks, Maggie!

LESSON of the Week

I think my lesson of the week was the reminder that God is the keeper of my emotions, keeper of my time, keeper of my sleep... and faithful in all of these things. He is trustworthy in all things large and small and He is keeper of all the tears of an exhausted and emotional bride. There were as many tears of joy as tears of frustration.

For more weeks in review, visit Amy.

Week In Review: May 6

This week has been a great one! For others' updates on their weeks, visit Filled With Praise.

LOW

This week, I'd have to say my Low was getting food poisoning last night. It was a really fun time (I finished my first mini tour at Old Chicago - which is so not a big deal except that it took me about a year to accumulate 10 beers, and so finishing a mini tour in the time limit of the mini tour is a fun accomplishment). The nearest Old Chicago is 60 miles away and so a friend and I drove the trek over the pass to have dinner and so I could get my last drink on the tour and come away with a tee-shirt.

Chris actually drove up and surprised us while at dinner (much more than 60 miles!!!) and I felt like the most loved girl in the world... until my dinner started to settle and I've been pretty sick ever since. This is my first experience with food poisoning and I've got to say, I'm not a fan.

HIGH

Chris and I went to St. Louis last weekend for a Bridal Shower with Chris' family and my mom flew down from Michigan to enjoy the fun as well. We had a BLAST! Below are some pictures form the weekend:

Mom and Chris at Ted Drew's Frozen Custard Stand -- If ever you're in St. Louis, Ted Drew's is a must!

The theme of the bridal shower was THE HONEYMOON (which no one told me until we got there) so all of the food had a tag from either Italy, Greece or Turkey... Have I mentioned that we are taking a Mediterranean Cruise for our honeymoon? We are SOOO excited!

Chris' siblings organized a hilarious TO-BE-WED Game (a spoof of the Newly Wed Game) where each of them asked Chris and me 10 questions separately and then they asked the other of us the questions in front of the group. Of the 20 questions, we answered 17 correctly (as in, when asked in public, I gave the same answer Chris had answered in private... does that make sense?)

It was a LOT of fun and his siblings agreed that we knew each other well enough to get married.

There was a beautiful cake there...
So Chris and I practiced cutting the cake together and feeding each other...

We received some wonderful presents...

For this gift, his aunt specifically told Chris to open it... she said she saw some tools on our registry, so this was a gift for Chris to open...
There were NOT tools in the gift bag, rather female lingerie!
It was really funny, and a tad embarrassing.

Chris' parents gave us BEAUTIFUL luggage for our trip

A fun sun hat from Chris' sister and brother-in-law for lounging on the cruise deck!

... and some more lingerie.
I will say, it does make us pretty excited for the honeymoon!

Here is my mom with the favor she got to take home from the shower:
"Love Grows Here"

Only 50 days until we get married... we are SOOOO excited!

LESSON
This week's lesson for me came from a sentence in my book-on-tape about staying grateful:
"One step at a time, and be grateful."

I am remembering these wise words in all areas of my life -- wedding preparations, teaching, end-of-the-year issues, packing my apartment to move everything into a storage unit, encouraging Chris in his last week of grad school, personal changes I'm feeling led to make...

One Step at a Time, and Be Grateful.

Week In Review: April 29

My week has been full of highs and lows:

LOW

Chris had a kidney stone this week. Enough said for those of you who have experienced one, or whose loved one has experienced one... We found ourselves in the Emergency Room at 2:00am Tuesday morning and our next 48 hours were full of water, medicine and Chris fast asleep (finally not writhing in pain). Thankfully, I happened to be at his house when it hit him, which is completely God's grace because I can count on 3 fingers the number of days I've spent at his place this month.

Praise God he is now feeling back to normal, but it was our first real experience with the "In Sickness and Health" part of our upcoming marriage commitment.

HIGHS

I seem to sort of count Friday-Friday as my week, which means my highs occurred last weekend. I went to Michigan to see my parents, celebrate Easter with them and have my first bridal shower.

The highs include the following:

Seeing and visiting with wonderful friends and family I do not often see The wonderful food and beautiful decorations that made it such a special event
The game -- The Ugliest Bridesmaid Contest (I won... and I'm not sure how I feel about it...)Each present was accompanied with a recipe from that woman and a prayer for Chris and my marriage -- I am excited about the recipes and will treasure the words of wisdom and love from these woman for many years

I feel like I should stop there because otherwise I would write about the bridal shower forever. I have to confess, another HIGH of my week was the royal wedding this morning. Or rather, the excitement of my roommates and me last night regarding this morning's royal wedding.


We had heard that the wedding was on St. Catherine's day, which is the day when all single girls pray to St. Catherine for a husband. We learned that there is one prayer for woman under 25 ("Lord, give me a well-situated husband. Let him be gentle, rich, generous, and pleasant!"), another prayer for woman under 35 ("Lord, one who's bearable, or who can at least pass as bearable in the world!"), and finally a prayer for woman 35 and older ("Send whatever you want, Lord, I'll take it"). We were having SO much fun learning about unmarried woman called Catherinettes who even baked special "Catty Cakes" on St. Catherine's Day.


I think it is really cool that my parents were married a few months before Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and Prince William and Princess Kate are getting married a few months before I do. The crown prince only gets married once in each generation and it was really special for me to enjoy the hoopla just two months before my own wedding.


I feel as though I've been living out of a suitcase for a few weeks, and this weekend is no exception as Chris and I are headed to St. Louis for a bridal shower with all the woman in his family tomorrow. My mom is coming to be a part of it, which has me SO excited. She has not met Chris' family yet, and so it will be a great time.

Please keep my Daddy in your prayers as he is manning the fort by himself while mom is in St. Louis.

I hope you had a wonderful week! Check out Amy's blog to read about the weeks of others.

Source for St. Catherine's Day information. Source for pictures of Princess Kate 1, 2&3.

Week In Review: April 16

I feel like my Fridays come more quickly since Amy started this Week In Review thing. I turn around and she does a Week In Review post... I turn around again, and she's doing another one. If she keeps this up until my wedding, it will be here before I know it. :-D Thanks, Amy!

LOW

My low for this week is a hard one because it was a really good week, but I'd have to say it was so many days away from Chris. We've been spoiled the past few weeks in the form of more time together than usual and this week felt WAY too long with Monday-Friday apart.

I'm getting used to the world of kindergarten (one of the students I see more often has a WONDERFUL kindergarten teacher, so I'm in her room quite a bit...). In the world of kindergarten, the teacher gives the bad news with a "Thumbs Down" and then always promises to turn the news into good news with a "Thumbs Up"... My Low becomes my High in that I get to see Chris within the hour and spend the next two days with him (minus the time when I'll be attending a conference tomorrow).

Speaking of lows... I'm a little bummed about having a six-day work week and a conference to attend tomorrow (a day I would usually get to spend with Chris)... but "bad news becomes good news" -- the conference is a high because I'm excited to learn from the experienced and feel grateful that I have the opportunity to attend (I just wish it wasn't on a Saturday...)

HIGH

I have awakened at 4:30am to exercise before work 4/5 days this past week and it has truly been my high! I have been at work earlier, more productive, in a better mood, more excited about my workouts, and I even looked nicer each day I exercised early. All of the exercises are routines I have been doing regularly, but this week, I bit the bullet and set the alarm for EARLY. I can only take it one day at a time, but I really hope and pray this is a new morning routine that will continue for the rest of the school year and beyond.
*For more information on my exercise routine, which I LOVE, please visit my Beachbody Website or contact me for more information brooke{dot}sanden{at}gmail{dot}com

My other high is that I get to see CHRIS today!!!! After not seeing him for four days, I have missed him SOOOO much and I just can't wait to see him and look at him and talk to him and eat with him, and hug him and smile at him and laugh with him... I'm just SO excited!

Oh, another high, I'm sorry, but this was a great week and it had a few distinct high points! This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week at a few schools where I work. I cover five districts and quite a few schools and to be honest, there is no "itinerant appreciation week"... and that is fine. It's something I knew and understood when I took this job. I did not take the job because I would be surrounded by presents at Christmas time, or the end of the year. It's just not expected. I don't even partake in the breakfast that the PTA provides for the teachers because I am not an employee of one school, I am an employee of a number of schools and districts. I don't want to take advantage of a breakfast provided for the employees of that school.

All of this makes the fact that my kindergarten student's mother sent me home with a full dinner tonight as an expression of appreciation for what I teach her son an AMAZING and COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED HIGH! She handed me a grocery bag with salad, bread, carrots, BBQ pulled pork, buns and frozen sweet potato fries and said "I want to give you dinner." She's a member of the PTA, and I guess teachers had expressed that they really wanted a little "more time" for teacher appreciation week... more time in the form of, could a parent take recess duty that week? Could a parent be the Cross Walk Monitor that week? She wanted to give me more time by sending my home with dinner. I am so humbled and blessed by her heartfelt expression of appreciation.

How was your week? Visit Amy's blog to see how the weeks of others were. :-D