the Lord provides...

Well, i think it's about time that I update you all on what's going on with us.

As you know, we have sold our house and have been very busy packing. It seems like I just packed up at my parents house and unpacked at our house, now 9 months later, I'm packing it all up again! But it will all be worth it! I am super excited!

So what has been happening on our home front? Well, if you asked us a week ago, we probably would have told you that we were going to be homeless as of Aug. 5, but were still hopeful that something would come about. For a couple of weeks, we really didn't know what we were going to do for a place to live while we are building our house. We had options.... family and friends all offered their home, but we really needed a place of our own, especially if it's going to be 9 months, give or take a little bit. We were always hoping and holding out that one of Matt's dad's apartments would open, but that kinda looked like it wasn't going to happen. So when Matt was out of town 2 weeks ago, I checked out a duplex in town and an apartment in town. Both weren't ideal places to live, but with a little work in the duplex, that could work for us. So, the next week, Matt and I went back to check out the duplex together and talk about a lease with the people. Well, they wanted us to sign a 12-month lease. Now, if our house gets done in 9 months like we are hoping, we were NOT going to pay an extra $1800 in rent for nothing when we could put that towards a new appliance or something. So while we were waiting to hear back from the duplex owners if they would do a 9-month lease, the Lord made His plan for us known! SOMEONE WAS MOVING OUT OF MATT'S DAD'S APARTMENTS at the end of JULY! HALLELUJAH! The Lord is always providing for us.

So, this weekend we will be moving a LOT of stuff out of the house! Our friend Nathan has been so kind to let us borrow his car haul trailer to put most of our stuff that we don't need and can put in storage! It's amazing how much stuff we can actually fit in there. Sunday Matt and a friend or two will be moving all the heavy stuff I am not able to help him move and our last day sleeping in the house will probably be Monday night!

As this weekend comes, I'm looking forward to the exciting things that will be happening in the coming months, but it's hard not to get emotional and remember all the memories we have had in/with that house. I know it's only been 9 months since I've lived there with Matt, but it's been a year and a half since I first went over there. A lot of memories I will take away from that house (Matt I'm sure has a lot more, from before when was there):

- 1st time I went over to his house, Matt made me an awesome steak meal! Snuggling on his couch and I'm pretty sure we watched a movie!

- Our 1st Christmas season together (almost engaged/engaged) - setting the tree up together, me making a big dutch dinner with candlelight and exchanging gifts

- Being snowed in & rained in - being "forced" to stay at his house overnight when we were dating!

- Well, you know.... the "thing" that married couples do...... the memories of all that good stuff, coming back from the honeymoon to our HOME!

- Remodeling the bathroom together

- The toilet gurgling and tree almost falling on the house when Matt was out of town

- The utensil drawer that you were always forced to close twice, because after the first time you realize it never actually closed and it would hang out of the opening a little bit!

- ALL THE LADYBUGS and DEAD LADYBUGS everywhere!

- Painting with my momma!

- Decorating my very 1st & own home! Making it a home and not just a place with all off-white walls with NOTHING ON THE WALLS!! haha.... (love ya babe! - thanks for knowing that a woman would come into your life and want to have a blank slate! i am very thankful for that!)

- and MANY MANY MORE that i just can't think of right now!!

Aside from all the house stuff, work has been very busy for Matt. There have been a LOT of changes for his company. Letting people go, restructuring the way things work, and having more responsibility! We thank the Lord that Matt still has his job, but also we are praying that everything goes okay with things changing slowly and drastically in the next year and a half.

HOLY CRAP!

Holy Crap!

WOW!

In a WEEK & 2 days! Wow, not something that we planned on at all!

New Bed, Dresser & a new house????????? WHAT?

Well.... I know it's been a little bit since I updated you all on the adventures of Matt and I's lives! Matt is out of town this week, working the 12 hr night shift on a hydrotesting project... so I thought I'd have a little bit of time to update you all on what has been happening with us! Nothing really fun has been happening until NOW!!!! (i'm going to work backwards.... starting from the most recent thing that has been going on, to some other little things!)

Exciting news!

This past Thursday night, we put a FOR SALE sign up in our front yard. We have decided to sell our house and BUILD a new one. We have been talking/thinking/deciding for awhile now that we would just like to have a bigger place and something that is right for us. It is nice, and it could work, but it is quite small (we aren't able to have my whole family over without it being VERY VERY crowded!) So..... we put the sign out there to just see what happens! We know that not many people are buying houses and houses really aren't selling that fast, so we're not sure what is going to happen. But since we have had the for sale sign up (4 days so far!)... we have had
at least 5-7 people call/ask about it and yesterday, we actually had a family walk through it. They seemed very interested... they rent a duplex right now in GP and would like to own a home, just waiting to see about the money situation (he went into more detail, but it's not relevant!, no money, no sale!) So we'll see what happens! As for building the new house. We are planning on staying in Grant Park and building in the new subdivision called Prairie Estates. There are a couple of lots available to buy right now and we really don't see them moving very fast. But there is one that really caught my eye (and I think matt likes it too!), but it is 1.25 acre on a cul-de-sac. The sun sets in the back of the house and has an open field behind us! (same kind of scenic view we have now!!!!!). I called the owner of that lot about a month ago and I sure hope that no one has bought it yet!

New Things!
Last week Sunday, Leiser's Furniture had one of their furniture AUCTIONS! Well, we were planning on going there to see what kind of kitchen tables they had because let's face it... our could fall apart any day (ok, maybe not any day... but it's kinda fragile!). So we thought goign to the auction would be the perfect opportunity to see if we could find something that we liked for CHEAP! Well, we got there and didn't really see any tables that we liked, so we almost just turned around and went home, but actually ended up staying to just check the auction out since neither of us had been to it. Well, walking around and check different stuff out we actually saw a bed (headboard & footboard) that we really liked, so we bidded on that and actually ended up getting it. Then just down a little ways from the bed was a dresser that went really well with the bed, so we bid on that too and won! And the BEST PART, what made it worth the day (well, besides getting great furniture!) was that when we got home and checked about how much these 2 pieces cost orginially, I was so excited! Each piece was about $1000 or more and we ended up getting the bed for $275 and the dresser for $200! So for about $500 we got 2 things that were originally over $2000! WOW! =) Here are photos of the 2 pieces:


And also, just a week before that, I bought this baker's rack from my sister-in-law's friend!
I absolutely adore it! I wish it went better with my kitchen (ok, let's face it, the carpet thing in the kitchen just really throws me off and i don't think really anything goes with it! haha), but I'm glad I got this very sturdy, handmade, by a guy a Vans Iron Works... for only $75 =) !!! YEAH!

Family Fun!
Besides that fun news... a couple of weeks ago we had a DERKS family "Father/Mother's Day" Party at my parents house. We took the opportunity to take family photos b/c everyone but one family was there.

Grandma & Grandpa Derks

The Colvin Family

The Craig Derks Family

The Jerry Derks Family

The Dan Derks Family (minus Katie + Tim + kids)

The Whole Clan (minus Katie + Tim + the kids!)

Snowy Busy Couple of Days!

Painting the Living Room & the Hallway!

Snowy Days in Grant Park..... View from my back window!

i kinda feel productive!!!

Well, it has been a VERY PRODUCTIVE past 36 hours or so!
(THANK YOU TO MY MOMMA WHO HELPED ME A LOT!!!)
Here are some major highlights:

- we painted matt's room... a.k.a. OUR FUTURE BEDROOM "where the magic will happen" - hahah... get it... from MTV's CRIBS? (crappy pic at bottom, sorry, i'll show you one later with it all done, but this is just what i had so far) One wall is a SAGE-ish GREEN and that is where our bed will go up against, and then the other 3 walls are just a cream.... it all matches the colors that are going to be in our bedspread! I can't wait for it all to come together!
** SIDE NOTE: my mom is an awesome painter! And a trooper.... we went over to matt's while he was out of town, painted last night and then SLEPT OVER at his house and she painted again in the morning!!!!THANK YOU MOM!


- i organized shower gifts....... opened a couple things!!! But one thing I did realize is that.... it's going to take a LOOOOOOOONG time to wash all that new stuff.... dishes, pots, pans, tupperware, baking dishes, etc...... ALL BY HAND...... haha... THAT SHOULD BE FUN!!!!


- cleaned out a closet in the kitchen, mom ripped some hooks off the wall, threw some old crap away and painted the bottom of it to make it look a little brighter and neater. I'm hoping to get some shelves in there before I get to re-organize the whole entire kitchen!!! =)

- went shopping today.... got wedding shoes, a bathing suit, candles the wedding, unity candle holders, fabric for pillows, stuff to decorate our house !!!!!! AAAAAAAAHHH!! SO EXCITING!



Other than that, not much more is new.... we are meeting with the cake lady on Sunday.... mmmm... CAKE!!!!!!!

Only 3.5 months! WOW!

Hello all.... Well, I'm going to attempt to start posting things that are going on in our SOON-TO-BE MARRIED lives as of right now and hopefully continue it when we are married too!

We are in the midst of wedding planning right now... at 3.5 months to go, I'm feeling a little 'overwhelmed' and Matt still thinks that everything is planned and ready to go, haha... but he is being a good sport about it all. We have had one shower already and have 4 more. The first one was with The Stouwie side of my family (my mom's side!). It was a small, intimate shower and we had a lot of fun with it being our first one. Matt was a very good sport, making the women laugh, and helping me move along with the presents! We got some WONDERFUL and very thoughtful gifts that we appreciate very much! Here are some photos:

-- Me & My Girls --

(Amanda, Amy, Ashley, me, Sara, Patti, Becca

Mikayla, Cassidy, Madison, Lydia)

Some say we are a perfect match... i have NO IDEA WHY! haha!

"Do you think this is big enough for your cereal honey?"

See... Matt was a VERY GOOD SPORT!

Even though I photograph weddings, I still am amazed at how much there is to do. I anticipated that it would be a lot of planning and I thought I would be pretty organized, but it seems like that is all just slipping away. But I'm trying to stay on top of it

as best as I can without driving myself, matt, my mom or anyone else crazy!! Haha! At least we have a lot of the major things done.... =) Invitations are starting to get addressed and ready to be mailed out in the next month, wedding bands have been bought, dresses are ordered, honeymoon booked... just to name a few!

I know some of you have asked, "well, who is the photographer getting to photograph her wedding?" Well, I have these AMAZING photographers, Rob & Lisa Walcott, they are a married couple from Michigan that I know from Trinity! Lisa was in a couple of my art classes! Check 'em out.... their website is www.walcottimaging.com! They offer a photobooth, so we will have a headshot photobooth at the wedding too! =)

Also, other than wedding plans, we have also painted the office and gutted the bathroom. Matt put a lot of time, sweat and work into re-doing the bathroom over the course of about 2 weeks! And here is what the before and after pictures looked like....

Before

After #1

After #2