Update Timeline

Wow how the months fly by!  I (Carissa) am obviously not a committed blogger, and have a hard time regularly updating this world about our lives as we journey together.  Stephen and I have been whisked through quite the season of change since my last post in November.  Here is a mini timeline update of our journey:

--December 2012, I graduated with a B.S. in Psychology.  I also stayed in South Carolina for Christmas with Stephen's family to share in some of their traditions.  For New Years my family took a polar plunge in our backyard pool at the stroke of midnight.

My parents are the best in the world!

Our Christmas card for 2012 (The Almost-Crowleys).

Our Christmas Morning.

1st (and last) Annual New Years Polar Plunge!

--January-February, extreme crunch time for wedding planning!  Every weekend was filled with some meeting or celebration from showers to catering plans.  I also served as a semester missionary at our BCM (until May).  It was so great to pour into a ministry that poured into me.

--March, wedding month!  We celebrated the start of our marriage with a beautiful ceremony and reception.  I'm pretty sure we were the happiest people in the world at that very moment.  It was the hottest day of the month (upper 80s), but we still had a blast.  We followed our wedding with a relaxing honeymoon to Key West, FL where we ate great food, kayaked while watching the Blue Angels practice, got sunburned, saw Ernest Hemingway's home (and the 6-toed cats), and overall had a wonderful vacation.

See those smiles?

The start of our journey!

In the garden at our B+B in Key West.

The Southernmost Point.

--April-July, I got accepted to attend New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS)!!  Also, that summer Stephen felt called by God to apply to attend NOBTS.  Right before we moved he got his acceptance letter as well to study Worship Ministries.  These months were spent celebrating and saying goodbye.  We packed, we cleaned, we cried, we laughed, we doubted, and we praised the Lord.  So many emotions packed into such a short time, but we knew that New Orleans is what God had for us during this season of our new life together.

--July-September (now), we made the journey.  We packed our little home with the help of my mom, then loaded up what few things we have on this earth in the u-haul with the much appreciated help of Stephen's brother, and continually trusted God.  We arrived safely to the great big city of New Orleans.  The humidity can be sliced like butter, but the people here are nice.  Within a week we both had jobs because of God's great provision, and are now getting settled in.  I am working toward my M.A. in Family and Marriage Counseling, and Stephen is working toward his M.Div. in Worship Ministry.  We have also met some wonderful people, including three great couples that we have become very close to and who are like family now.

We have also started attending a phenomenal church (First Baptist Church in Kenner) where we really see God moving and using the people there for ministry.  We are planning to join in a few weeks and begin serving the body of Christ in ways God has equipped us to.

Our truck must have known our destination!

I wore this for most of the journey.

The door to our new home!

Our first meal: shrimp alfredo, yum!

In the French Quarter by the Mississippi.

That time I exploded a casserole dish. :[

Our splurge, a smart TV!

Corey and Stephanie

James and Rachel

Anne Marie and Brandon

So that is a very condensed view of how busy we have been.  However, it is no excuse not to blog and keep y'all updated about God's provision and his calling on our lives.  If I state it here I may stick to it, but my plan is to update the blog at least every other week.  We want to share our lives with you, so you know how to pray for us and encourage us.

--Carissa

Engagement Photos

Well hello all!

Obviously from the lack of postings, we have been busy.  Stephen is part of the Christmas musical at Hoffmeyer Road Baptist Church, and I am trying to wrap up my bachelor's degree.  Despite all of the busy-ness in our lives, we have been growing closer together these past few months.  God has brought us through conflicts and disagreements, busy weeks where we hardly saw each other, and moments of complete happiness.  Through it all though we have been joyful and are allowing the Gospel to be the root of all we do.

I think it's about time though, for you to see our fantastic engagement photos.  We had these pictures taken back in June in the 95+ degree F heat.  However, we are both super happy with the way they turned out.  Our wonderful photographer was John Pezzimenti, a photo capturing master.  See for yourself!

Lady and the Tramp :] 

Giggles.

"Hand Check!"

This was his great-grandmother's ring.  It's beautiful!

A family photo with Lukei.

The Beatles.

"We both wear the pants."

The king and queen of hearts.

Well there you have it folks!  Our love, showcased in a few snapshots of happiness.  A huge thank you again to John Pezzimenti for documenting this huge milestone in our lives!

In other news, I completed my application to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary a few weeks ago.  I just need to get some of my reference forms out to people, and graduate so I have an official transcript.  But it's another huge step!  Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers as we start this journey.

--Carissa

Love.

Tonight I looked at Stephen after we planned our little weekend trip to Pennsylvania, and suddenly I was aware that I could spend every day of my life with him and never tire.  I have always known I could (hence planning a wedding) but for the first time I was consciously aware of that feeling.  I got excited and did a little dance.  I almost cried.  It was probably one of the most reassuring moments in the world.  You're doing the right thing.

Faces.

I met Stephen in college.  I never got to know him until I mentioned having The Beatles on my iPod (Thanks Jordan and John!).  We had classes at the same time and would walk from the BCM building to campus together, listening to The Beatles.

Halfway through the fall semester (2010) our circles of friends kind of became a Venn Diagram and connected.  I had a pretty solid crush on him at this point, but didn't even feel noticed.  However, one day he sat next to me on the couch I was curled up on and rubbed my head (while eating a chicken patty sandwich).  It was the most random gesture, but I felt special.  He also asked for my number so he could hear what my text tone sounded like.  Smooth.  Later that day he called me (my heart skipped) and said he just passed my house because he saw my car in the driveway.  I thought he was a stalker.  Not smooth.  ;]

As the semester dragged on I invited him to various get-togethers in my apartment (G6) but he hardly ever came.  I lost hope in ever being with him.  We'd chat late into the night on Facebook (cute I know) but never really talk in person.  A mutual friend and his girlfriend (my roommate) tried to set us up.  A few times.  I got let down and found myself eating a jar of peanut butter.  Those were some dark times.

However.  We have a mutually favorite band (Relient K) and I found a concert date in November 2010 (I believe it was the 15th).  I invited him and 4 other people to drive out to see them play.  One by one those other people dropped out, but Stephen said he would go with me anyway.  We both went with no expectations.  We sang to all the CDs the whole way.  We were ourselves.  We ended up having a ton of fun.  From then on we talked a whole lot more.

Nov. 2010 - Stephen and Matt Thiessen from Relient K

I was a little excited.  Excuse my eyes.

The first place he took me to lunch was La Bamba.  The second place was Sakura.  He made me try sushi and I was so nervous about being there with him, and then couldn't wrap my mind around the thought that I ate raw fish.  I felt sick and never ate my meal he paid for.  I was mortified.

It had been a few weeks of this now.  Lunch.  Coffee.  Sit in the car till 1am and talk about life.  Coffee.  Talk about life.  Coffee.  Tea.  Tea.  Coffee.  I remember talking to my friend Tia about how slow he was being (haha) and how nervous I was that he only saw me as a friend, etc.  She encouraged me to pray about our feelings for one another, and that he would find the courage and strength to bring up the "determine the relationship," or DTR conversation.

A few nights later while sitting in the Starbucks parking lot (the usual) I was about to comment how the mermaid in the logo has two sets of fins, when he cleared his throat and nervously began to mention his feelings for me.  I silently listened to him.  Inside I was screaming ohmygoshohmygoodnessohman.  But on the outside I was cool and collected.  I think.  We ended up deciding that night that we wanted to "enter an exclusive relationship" or whatever you'd say.  We were going to date.  But I also told him up front (I'm pretty blunt) that I was only going to date him because I could see him as a man I would marry.  We both agreed that if we couldn't be married to one another, we would stop dating.  That's a pretty big commitment.

A week later (December 22, 2010) he asked me in the Chick-fil-a parking lot if I thought I could handle being his girlfriend.  I said yes.

Here is a glimpse of our year, in pictures:

Dec. 2010 - We got snow in Florence!

Feb. 2011 - He sent me on a scavenger hunt for Valentine's Day.

July 2011 - His family took us to see the final shuttle launch and to Disney!

July 2011 - About a week later he met my extend family in PA (shown here with the Liberty Bell).

Dec. 2011 - Stephen graduated from FMU.

Dec. 2011 - He gave me the cutest salt and pepper shakers for Christmas!

Mar. 2012 - We went to New Orleans to look at NOBTS (shown here in Jackson Square).

Mar. 2012 - The following week we were in KY at the Creation Museum with my family.

We are quite the world travelers.  Obviously all of these pictures don't represent the ONLY things we were able to do in the year and 3 quarters that we have been dating.  But it's a pretty good sample.

Onward.

After we visited the campus of the seminary I plan to attend in New Orleans, Stephen and I did a lot of praying about what our future was going to hold.  Would we spend those years apart?  Would he move too?  If so, would we get married or pay for separate apartments?  These are a lot of questions to toss around.  Big, future changing questions.  I knew all of the final decisions were up to Stephen.  I felt God calling me to graduate school and that was looking like New Orleans.  I love Stephen with all of my heart, but I love my God more.  Thankfully we won't have to spend these years apart.

On April 20, 2012, Stephen got down on one knee (after playing/singing a beautiful song that he wrote for me) and cried out "Will you marry me?"and it was everything I had hoped and dreamed.  He gave me his great grandmother's engagement ring (beautiful) and we watched some swans float on the lake on Francis Marion University's campus.  My sister was able to be there and record the whole thing for us.  I was thankful for that.

April 2012 - Right after he proposed, and I said yes!

The ring.  Our faces.  We matched.

I was so shocked and so happy.

Happiness.

Now our lives consist of Stephen's new-ish full-time job, me starting my last semester as an under-grad, planning a wedding, budgeting, finding a place to live, saving money, and making many more memories while we do it all.

--Carissa