Home is where love is.

Pfff, this has been such a crazy week. So much to do, not so many time to do it! Also the good and nice stuff that keeps us busy can exhaust us. I have such a problem with sitting still. I just wanna spend every second of my life just DOING something. Feeling like I'm using every minute. Sometimes my Jesus calls me back from it, we tend to forget that rest is very useful.

With the season me and Aaron are in right now, we are having trouble seeing the big picture. We know God put us together, we know he has a goal...we pray and we see blessings. But just that one direction...that one word we are still waiting for: "GO!". We are sitting on the edge of our seats looking at God's closed hands as He has them right in front of us...in His hands is this plan...we know it's there....but we can't see it until He opens His hands up. I can see His face...how He's smiling, looking like He's up to something. I can see how He looks at us while our eyes are focussed on his hands for Him to open it. He can't wait...we can't wait...but He will open it when the time is right.

And we as little children have to trust our Daddy. That He knows best, He loves us, He has His plan for us. My dear Daddy, He is so caring and so patient with us. We do count our blessings.

And than sometimes I just have to keep up the dreaming so I won't drown in my own plans, or thoughts on what things are NOT working (and trust me a lot isn't working for us right now). Someday I hope to have that life with Aaron, to start a family. So here is my inspiration for our  future home! Aaron and I agreed that I'm in hand of the styling..he get's one room to do with it what he wants (good deal if you ask me). I have a very diverse taste and I know our home won't look like anything I've put in here...haha! There only three things I am hoping for in a home; big windows, hardwood floors, paintable walls.

"It is well with my soul, my dear Jesus is in control."

Beautiful Wedding (yes please!)

Aaron and I have been together for over a year now. We got engaged fairly quickly to most standards. But we knew getting engaged was the right commitment and we feel like God has blessed it. We have to go to a lot of trouble to get together. The immigration plans are a lot of paperwork and it's just not romantic at all. But we knew what we where getting into and a promise is a commitment. Several people said; "You can still get out of this and choose another road if it's so much trouble". Luckily non of my close friends said this to me, because I would take it to heart if they where saying this. But instead I can state: "no I can't get out of this." First of all because I don't want to because I love Aaron so much and second of all because I've already made a commitment. A promise! Promises are to keep. Big and small. And ofcourse we sometimes made promises to quick and can't keep them, but this one I thought over quite much and  I am able to keep it.

But with all the paperwork being so incredibly unromantic I have to lift the romance up by googeling and pinning a lot (i repeat a looooot) of wedding inspiration. So here I've put together three themes. Enjoy with me!

Blue Wedding

 Soft Las Vegas Wedding

Vintage Forest Wedding

Sources; Pinterest, Wedding Chicks, 100 Layer Cake. 

How God is writing our Love story

Alright...wedding...and take the bells of because we ain't got the money for those! I told you in earlier posts I would tell you something about me and my love. So just to give you a brief idea how Aaron and I got together I thought I should share some stuff about us.

Aaron and I met online on a Christian Chat about 4 years ago (i thought it was longer, I might be mistaken). Yes I was bored those days. I had some holidays and just needed a break of all the schoolwork (was in art acadamy back than). I was not (I repeat NOT) looking for a date online. I always thought internet dating was sketchy (and most of the time I still think it is).  So I chatted with a lot of people all over the globe. And Aaron was one of those people. Goofy guy with a guitar always singing online, which actually annoyed me at times. And I just thought he was fun, but nothing more. And he just liked to talk to me but he did think I was weird (which by the way he was correct about). He was extremely interrested in the Netherlands and was always looking up Dutchies. He was already learning dutch and said he wanted to come to Holland because he felt the Lord was calling him to do so.



One summer I was talking a lot to a guy in church. We started to see eathother a lot and I liked him a lot. I'm a planner...seriously I plan out my life all the time (God is dealing with this while I'm typing...) and I thought I had a plan. I was looking at his character and was so convinced that we would fit perfectly (my self-made puzzle). But something just didn't feel right and I couldn't get peace. So one day I just asked God: "is this the man for me?". And I did not expect God to answer so quick and specific, but He did: "no and the man who is, you already know but he is having difficulty to ask you because you're a special woman" And than..I thought of Aaron...and I was like? " NOOOOOO! Not Aaron! No way! Waaaaaay to specific answer, my brain is weird this is my mind.." So I dropped it instantly and continued to see the guy from church. But after a while I knew this guy was not the man I was supposed to be with and it was for the best to let our friendship cool down. I learned a lot about myself in that period.



Than after a few months Aaron was planning a trip to Holland. So I asked my dad and we invited Aaron to stay with us. I would take him around Holland on my holidays and he would meet some Christian Chat friends. By this time I totally had forgotten about the prayer about a year back when God told me about my future hubby. I did not think about it at all! And than after the trip was planned..Aaron and I where talking one night and he just blurred it out and told me he had been liking me for over a year but that he found it too difficult to tell me. And instantly I remembered my prayer and I was like: NOOOOOOOOOOO! NO WAY! I DO NOT WANT TO MARRY AN AMERICAN! So I freaked out a bit because I thought: "Oh no! He's coming here...Oh no! What if he is only coming for me!? I don't want that". (By the way he was not I found out through a message to one of his friends, but he was interested in me.)

I told myself in the coming 2 months that Aaron was not the man for me and it was a too difficult of a story to get in such a relationship as this. And by the way...Aaron was not the guy I would have pictured as husband material (although I always prayed for a guy with a beard, a guitar and a huge humble heart for Jesus). So on the day he was arriving I was convinced I had turned myself around. I would be nice but I would make clear that we would never be...how hard could it be for a guy I've never met!? So he arrived at Schiphol and me and some of our Chatfriends picked him up. I saw him coming out of the doors and I just knew instantly that this was going to be the man I was to marry. And it is still so weird to me.

We had a blast the week he was here...yes he was here only one week (seriously not funny!). And we decided to get into a relationship. I knew if I wasn't getting into a relationship I would not feel committed to him and I knew it was going to be hard to have a relationship over the internet. So we got steady on the 4th of July. The same year he came back in December and on Christmas day he asked me to marry him. With a lovely song...it's so pretty! I might update it later :) Now there is a whole other story to this...but I cannot tell you yet. The upcoming months for us are as exciting as they can be, but God is answering step by step. We are saving money and know we want to marry in Holland for the church.



To be continued...

P.S. For the people who read this...congratiulations! You have patience! Hear, hear!

Pictures by Laura van der Vlist