Times They Are a Changin

This past month may have been the best month of my life so far. At the very least it's been a whirlwind; a blur of happiness, hope, and plans.
September started out with an engagement. Mine, in fact.
Yes, ladies and gents, I am marrying this hunk:

On September 7th, 2013 after church and a lovely dinner with my parents, we stole away to the beach  for a nighttime stroll in the sand. Eventually we sat down with our feet just avoiding the water and he launched into this story about a tv show we both enjoy and how the series finale (which I haven't seen) involved the two main characters being able to spend two lifetimes together. In response I casually told him that I would spend two lifetimes with him (because, come on, how obvious is that?! :P ) so he pulled out this baby 

How beautiful right?! He picked it out all by himself (**swoon**)

and said "Want to start tonight?"

We got celebratory coffee at Mickey Dee's and then headed home where my father snapped this suuuuper attractive picture of us. It was ridiculously hot that day and humid and awful and not at all a good representation of Southern California coastal weather. So this is what we looked like at the end of the day...

My parents have been very excited and supportive about this. Yes, he asked my dad's permission to ask me. Yes, that's required in my family. Yes, he was super scared to ask (my dad, not me... Obviously I was going to say yes. In fact, my exact words were "Well duh!"). 

So there you have it... I am the Future "Mrs. A". Yes, his first AND last name starts with "A" :] We are so excited to start our lives together... But that comes later in the post so stay tuned.

September continued with a birthday, also mine. September 15th was my 22nd birthday. I got to celebrate it with my friends in the house that I used to live in while I was in school. 

It was hipster themed as per my former roommates' instructions and we all had a great time getting to catch up and see one another again.

September ended with A and myself interviewing for respective jobs. It was a lot of fun because A had to be down here for all of his interviews since the job he applied for is in my hometown. The job I was interviewing for is not in my hometown but in a bordering town so I would only be commuting 25 miles a day instead of 140. That's just fine with me!!!

October so far has been incredibly good to us. 

A got his job in my hometown so he is officially moving down here in two weeks.

I got my job so I am officially going to stop commuting in two weeks.

God has just been so incredibly good to us and I don't think I have ever prayed more in my life. I am so thankful that words fail me on how to convey how I truly feel.

A came down again this weekend and on Saturday we did some serious apartment hunting. We have found the apartment that we want to live in. We are just waiting on official letters of hire from our new jobs to come through to us before we apply for it this week. I am praying that the apartments don't get snagged up by other people before I can get there!

Sometimes it is hard for us to believe that this is all actually happening. That we are finally grown-ups and have big-girl and big-boy jobs and that we are applying for our first apartment together. I'm so excited to have our little family together all in one place (you, me, and the kitty). I am also completely stoked that I don't have to move to LA and I can stay here in my amazing hometown. I am even more stoked that this means I can continue attending my church that I absolutely love. God is so good! 

I had literally given up on my job. I thought that I hadn't gotten it. I made up my mind that the next day I was going to start applying again. I wasn't even upset about it, because I became acutely aware of how much God has taken care of me these past couple of months. For a while I was so upset that all of the plans I was making were falling through and that nothing was working out for me. But honestly where would we be if all of them had "worked out"? God has a plan and that was clearly not in His plan. In a way I feel like He was trying to teach me how to trust Him and as soon as I latched onto the concept and gave everything over to Him I was rewarded with seeing what He truly had in store for me and for us. I feel truly lucky to be embarking on this journey with my best friend and the most incredible guy I have ever known. And I feel so lucky that I have a God that is taking care of us and who has a plan for us.