Some of you may be wondering what our plan is for after the wedding. Well, we'll be testing out my cozy 1,000 square foot one bedroom place in Colorado Springs. Our best hope is that Parker will be able to transfer to a different position within his company that would allow him to work from home and travel a few days a month, instead of his current 75% plus travel position. Don't get us wrong, Parker has loved his traveling job putting up wind farms and energizing sub stations all across North America. It's been a grand adventure; he's lived in some beautiful places (near the American and Canadian Rockies), and he's met some very cool people and life-long friends. It's great for a season in bachelor life, but we're definitely ready to be together in the same place! I'm really enjoying my current job at the district level, and would like to stay there as long as possible. The goal will be to live reasonably and save money for our future house and pay off some school loans.
So, even though consider myself to be a pretty simple person, I have accumulated a few too many things in the almost 4 years that I've lived in my little place. It's definitely time to spring clean and purge. Somehow, even after 7 bags for Goodwill, I still am not quite able to fit completely into just one (instead of both) of the master closets. It's a start, though. Good thing I have a few more months to get it all figured out.
A theme made very clear in our lives these past few weeks was the reminder that we are not in control...not of our circumstances, our checklists, wedding planning, or even of our own bodies. Things sort of started on a downward spiral about two weeks ago. Every day, it was like something else went wrong: a broken vacuum, serious international tax complications, two chipped teeth, dry red skin, a broken back door latch on my car (nothing that a little twine and then a few hundred dollars wouldn't fix) and then the grand finale...on Parker's work trip both his passport and work visa were lost/stolen. Sheesh! We typically are both upbeat and optimistic people, but we were started to feel very defeated.
Parker spent the next week on the phone with both the Canadian and US governments. Despite the emergency 1-800 number to report the lost/stolen passport, no one seemed to be too concerned about replacing it. It felt like Parker and I were the only ones who were considering it an emergency. It was the week before his next scheduled rotation, and we're pretty sure that he wouldn't be allowed to leave Canada, or if he did by some miracle, he definitely wouldn't be allowed to return. After much prayer, stress, and frustration, my amazing fiance works a 12 hour day, takes an extra day off, and then proceeds to drive 10 hours back to the US Consulate in Calgary. He takes a short nap in his truck, gets a new photo taken, and is in line first thing the next morning for a new passport. Just a few hours later he walks out victoriously with a 3 month temporary passport. Then he had another 7.5 hour drive to catch his flight to Colorado by noon the next day. Pretty crazy, but it worked.
So, neither of us were getting our hopes up about seeing each other this rotation. We didn't have any major plans. No climbing a mountain or house projects. (Somehow the whole time went by and we didn't even get a picture.) We were both just content to be in each others presence. We rested a lot. We also watched some movies, especially after Parker's dentist appointment. It ended up that he needed 3 shots, one of which hit a nerve and sent him in to shock...literally. He was shivering so badly they had to cover him with blankets and his feet were shaking so much they couldn't continue to work on his mouth! All this while I'm working, but he did say I'm his new emergency contact person. So after he emerges 2.5 hours later with a temporary filling, 3 new cavities, and a possible future tooth extraction, he had already missed the dermatology appointment. It actually ended up in our favor though because Parker walked right in, saw the doctor (instead of the scheduled appointment with a PA), was diagnosed within 5 minutes, and within 20 had picked up his prescription. The best part of the ordeal...totally free, no co pay and not even a penny for the prescription. Maybe there is a benefit to having Canadian Health Insurance which will pay for US Doctors and pharmacies.
Even though I had high hopes of getting the wedding invitations out (and about a zillion other wedding plans), we ended up getting milkshakes and watching more movies. Yes, Lord, you are in control of every detail in our lives. I was tested to live out my personal motto this weekend that, "people are more important than things," even when I had other plans.
"A man’s steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?" - Proverbs 20:24
