Miscellaneous Items on Blogging

1. Yes, I finally took down my book lists. I haven't accurately been updating them since April or May, ever since I started wedding planning, and I'll be merging my blog with Adrian's soon anyway. I've been reading in the past few months, but not updating!

2. I've had several people mention to me that they're unable to comment to my blog because of the way I have comments restricted. I wish I didn't have to restrict comments! But I've had blog troll problems in the past, lifted restrictions after a few months (without announcing the lift), and had the same problems again. Rinse, and repeat. It's irritating, to say the least.

To comment to my blog, all you have to do is establish a Blogger account, though. You don't have to give out personal information, or pay a dime. And you don't even have to register a blog, just an account. Visit blogger.com and sign up. It's pretty straightforward, I assure you!

3. I think my sister Hannah is bribe-able, and with payment of dark chocolate, she will probably post some wedding details and preliminary pictures next week, on Monday or Wednesday. So stay tuned for that.

4. I think this will probably be my last post before the wedding. I'm going to lie around and sip tea and eat bon-bons for the next 5 days. . . or frantically get ready for everything. One of the two ;-). So, adieu until early-to-mid October. Adrian and I will be back from our honeymoon trip on October 5th.

Last-minute advice, anyone? :-)

I'm feeling mischievous. . .

Go here. . .

Engagement Pictures

Per request, here are some pictures. Mother Dear took our engagement pictures in July on Virginia Tech's campus. She did a lovely job, I thought :-).

Okay, okay, this is not an engagement picture. This is a picture of Adrian and me sorting through books. We were lining up L.M. Montgomery books to put on the shelf. This is the 3rd and smallest bedroom in our apartment, and we're using it for a library/office.

I love this picture, with my hair squished between me and Adrian :-).

We took this picture for Hannah, and other obsessed Narnians :-D.

This is on a bridge on the duckpond, near where Adrian proposed.

This is our "official" engagement picture. I love Adrian's smile in this one :-). And actually, our coordinating clothes weren't planned on our part.

4!

No, the title of this post does not mean I'm excited about the number 4; I'm actually more excited about the number "four factorial," or 4 times 3 times 2 times 1 - written 4! in mathematical shorthand. 4! is 24, and there are only 24 more days left until September 22nd :-). In some ways that seems still a loooonnnngggg way away, but mostly now it is seeming really close! That's only a little more than 3 weeks. Wow!

So, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, contrary to popular opinion. And actually, my wedding planning workload severely decreased about 2 weeks ago (finally!), so I'm finally not living and breathing wedding details (until week after next, when last minute details will consume my time until the wedding). But I've also been babysitting a good deal, some days up to 10 hours, so I've still not found a whole lot of blogging time.

I actually think that I will be able to blog more once the wedding is past. Not having a long-distance relationship with Adrian (partly through e-mail and chat) will help me focus my online time more. We'll see, but I'm hopeful! Adrian and I will probably merge our blogs after we're married, but I'll make sure to announce that if/when it happens. We'll probably just use his blog, for ease of transfer, rather than establish a whole new blog. I may have to make his blog a bit more feminine, when he's away at work ;-). Do you think he'd notice if I changed the background to pink?

Update on books: I now only have about 5 books in my possession! *cries* All the other ones I kept out in July went up to Blacksburg a few weeks ago. I couldn't part with Jane Austen, so she stayed, as did my Bible and a few other books I hope to read in the coming weeks.

My dress is done!!! Wow, it's been a while since I updated on wedding plans, because my dress has been done for a while. Jessie came for 2 days in early July, and we had a fantastic time sewing and getting almost everything done in that time! Jessie is a wonderfully fast sewer, which helps :-). And she's great company! Oh, and we figured out that blood smears come out of my dress fabric better than. . . other things. (inside joke) I also made my veil a few weeks later. And my garter. And Jessie made the ringbearer's pillow and flower girl basket while she was here! Very cute. I'd post pictures, but the pillow uses my dress fabric ;-).

My parents and I had a good time in Blacksburg in July, carting up most of my belongings in a U-haul. We arrived to an apartment that was still in need of unpacking and organization, so we spent our 5-day visit mostly sorting through stuff and organizing. The apartment still needs a lot of help (tons of stuff not unpacked!), but at least one can navigate through the rooms now. I'll roll up my sleeves and dive in after the wedding :-). I can't wait to get the apartment organized and sew some curtains and such!

Hannah and I just visited Adrian again a few weekends ago and had a good time. Adrian's church gave us an engagement party, which was fun. Then Hannah gave me a bridal shower last weekend with women from our church. Fun, fun!

Things are coming together. I do feel like my life is sort of in limbo right now, though! A good kind of limbo, though. Hopefully when we're married and more settled, I'll be able to write more posts of substance. Until then, life updates are going to have to be the main event ;-).

Our Story

One of my pet peeves is wedding websites that have "coming soon. . . " permanently published as the couple's story of how they met. I'm a female, so I like details! I love hearing how a couple met :-). So I vowed quite a while ago that I would definitely publish a story of how I met my future husband, when the time came. Of course, now I also realize why that story so often doesn't materialize. Time just gets away from you! So finally, 7 months after we began our courtship and 3 1/2 months after our engagement, here you go. I think some of you definitely pieced most of this together, but I still occasionally get questions from people who have read my blog, and still aren't quite sure how Adrian and I met. No, this doesn't contain every single detail (that's known as "privacy" ;-D), but I hope it satisfies some curious brains:

I dabbled in internet forums and blogs throughout college, finally signing up for my own blog in fall of 2005, soon after graduating college. My purpose in doing so was two-fold: (1) to have an outlet for my love for writing, and (2) to meet like-minded young women. I actually vowed to my mom that my purpose was not to find a husband online. *laughs nervously* Ah, irony.

I had briefly interacted with Adrian before I started blogging myself, both on his blog (which he had recently started) and a few other blogs. He seemed well-informed, but that was about the extent of my impression. Oh, and he liked math and was reformed in theology; I thought that was neat. Through the next year+, Adrian and I blogged quite a bit back and forth, going in spurts of greater and lesser blogging activity. At first we started out very casual, before later moving to deeper and more involved conversations.

Adrian intrigued me. He was very knowledgeable on a variety of subjects, very interesting to converse with, and his awareness of God's grace permeated his posts and his comments. I thought of him merely as a friend for quite a while, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized just what a dear brother in Christ he was, and how well-suited he seemed for me. He made me laugh, think, debate; sometimes he made me furious! He challenged me to think. He competed with me in math and constructively critiqued my poems. We discussed literature and debated every topic under the sun. I even challenged him to a debate on whether his blog background should be changed to something more exciting and easy-on-the-eyes than black (bleck!); I won that debate handily, for the record :-). Actually, I've remarked to Adrian that it's rather infuriating that I seem to win the inconsequential debates, and he always seems to win the more weighty ones. Ah well.

As we got to know one another, I found it quite amazing - and amusing - just how much we had in common. I mean, c'mon! The guy was a bigger math geek than me! He loved classical literature :-). He had a great taste in music. We had similar views on marriage, children, family life. We had almost identical views on Biblical doctrines and practical outworkings of those doctrines. And the man oozed the grace of God. So I watched, and waited, and typed, and prayed. Meanwhile my family had kept abreast of our internet activities, and I think my mom had read just about every word Adrian and I had ever typed to each other, since all our blogging interactions were public :-). Adrian's brother Lane had also interacted a bit with me, on his blogs and mine.

On November 1, 2006 Adrian e-mailed me, "casually" asking if he could come for a visit to meet me and my family. He said the reason, of course, was to claim a prize he had won a while back, on one of my geeky math posts in which I had offered cookies to the solver of a ridiculously-hard math problem; Adrian had solved it, naturally, but had never claimed the prize. In all my smart-aleckness, I e-mailed back, telling him that if the reason was for the cookies, we could overnight mail those to him, and save him time and gas money ;-). The man takes teasing very well, you must know; he revels in it, in fact. Good thing, or I'd drive him nuts! Anyway, Adrian came and visited for 3 days in early December, and we had a grand time. We met for the first time in person on December 8th, 2006, at approximately 1:25 p.m. At the end of his visit, he asked my dad for permission to court me, and my dad granted it. I accepted when Adrian asked me as well :-).

So we began a long-distance courtship. We've been very blessed to see each other every month since our first meeting in December, even with 6+ hours of driving time between us the whole time. I flew to Minnesota to meet Adrian's parents in January, and then I drove to Louisville, KY in May, to meet more of his family. Adrian spent 10 days with our family over his spring break in March, and he also drove here in June for my brother's wedding. We spent Valentine's Day together in Blacksburg, VA, where Adrian was finishing up a degree in Mathematical Physics at Virginia Tech. My parents were able to drive with me to Blacksburg in July as well, and Hannah plans on coming with me to visit Adrian in August.

I also drove up to Blacksburg in April, over my spring break from teaching, and Adrian proposed to me at the duck pond on Virginia Tech's campus, at sunset the day I arrived. I recounted the proposal in a separate story, so make sure to read that as well. I hadn't found the man of my dreams, as I've told Adrian several times. My dreams of the man I wanted to marry were far too small. Adrian surpassed those dreams; God has a tendency to bless us far more than we can imagine or ever deserve. So on April 2, 2007, when Adrian C. Keister got down on both knees and proposed to me, I said yes to the man beyond my dreams.

On September 22, 2007 when, Lord willing, we are joined together as man and wife, we will sing a beautiful song of God's grace, love, and sovereignty - a hymn that Adrian first introduced to me almost 2 years ago. Only God knew at the time that we would one day sing it at our wedding. Great and unsearchable are His ways. God also has a sense of humor. Not only did I end up falling for an "internet guy" after all, against my firm insistence to my mom, but the young woman who named her blog "An Old-Fashioned Girl" certainly found her husband in a very new-fangled way :-).

Soli Deo Gloria

Ramblings of a Bride-to-Be

When I registered this blog in late September of 2005 (my first post was actually not until October 2nd), the second post I wrote was a musing on the words "awesome" and "awful." Adrian commented to that post, his first (of many!) comments to my blog, and directed me to a hymn that demonstrates exactly what I was discussing, namely a misunderstanding in our culture of exactly what awe is, and what it means for something to be awesome or awful.

This September, Lord willing, almost 2 years after that blog exchange, we will sing How Sweet and Awful is the Place at our wedding. We wanted a solemn but beautiful hymn to open the service, and this one fit the bill! I love the old Irish melody and the words are simplify lovely and rich in meaning. I think it will be neat to sing this hymn, especially, because of our history with it :-).

Okay, so everyone wants to know more details about the wedding. I'll list some major ones, and feel free to ask for more details on comments. I'll probably oblige, assuming you ask usual questions. Don't ask me to post pictures of my dress, though :-).

So, our wedding is set for September 22nd, around noon or 1:00. My pastor will be officiating, and it will be held at my home church. Lane is the best man and Hannah is the maid-of-honor (those were really easy choices for us to make - hehe). Oh, and Lane's daughter (3 1/2) and son (almost 2) are going to be the flower girl and ringbearer (all the girls say "awwww"). We're Presbyterian geeks, er. . . traditionalists, so we've chosen to use the PCA BCO marriage service as the template for our service. The reception will also be at my church.

My church's sanctuary is in tones of green, so we chose burgundy, ivory, evergreen, and a medium dusty rose pink as our colors. Hannah and Ila will be in burgundy dresses, and Lane and James will have burgundy vests to match. Hannah's bouquet will probably be ivory roses with some really dark red roses mixed in, tied with a pink ribbon, and Ila will carry a flower petal basket with ivory rose petals. I'll explain my bouquet in a different post, as I haven't completely ironed that out yet :-), and it's a whole other explanation. I'll be in ivory for the sole reason that I don't want Adrian to think he's marrying a ghost, and I would definitely look ghostly pale in white!

Um, I'm not really sure what else people want to know, so if you're curious about something, feel free to ask :-). I'm sure I'll be posting more in the coming weeks.

Oh, and for those who are interested, we will be initially living in Blacksburg. Adrian has an internship there in a fiber optics lab (same type of stuff that his doctoral thesis covered). We're not sure where we'll end up more permanently, though, until he secures a more permanent job after the internship ends.

We Have a Date

*throws confetti*

Lord willing, we'll be married on. . . Frodo and Bilbo Baggins' birthday. Kudos to anyone who knows what date that is off the top of your head. When we were looking at possible dates, I was the one who knew that. *proud look* Adrian must allow me to look exultant, since overall he clearly bests me in any and all Lord of the Rings trivia. He's read the books oodles of times, and I've only read the complete trilogy through once (some of the books and the Hobbit more than that).

I will post more wedding plans in the days (or weeks) that follow, as I know that female minds like details for these sorts of things ;-).

Oh, and for those who really don't want to utilize Google or Wikipedia, and just aren't LOTR geeks, our wedding date is set for September 22, 2007. Yay!

For those wondering. . .

Praise God, Adrian is fine. We have been fielding numerous e-mails and phone calls today, from concerned people telling us they were praying and hoping Adrian was fine. Please pray for the students and faculty of Virginia Tech, as they deal with this tragedy, and that God will be glorified even in this great sadness.

A Side-by-Side Comparison

The greatest (because it's so awful!) movie proposal in all of cinema, in my opinion, is Darcy's first proposal to Lizzy, a la A&E. That scene is absolutely delightful. Hehe. Here is the approximate text:

In vain I have struggled; it will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. In declaring myself thus, I am fully aware that I will be going expressly against the wishes of my family, my friends, and I hardly need add my own better judgment. The relative situation of our families is such that any alliance between us must be regarded as a highly reprehensible connection. Indeed as a rational man I cannot but regard it as such myself, but it cannot be helped. Almost from the earliest moments of our acquaintance, I have come to feel for you a passionate admiration and regard, which despite all my struggles has overcome every rational objection and I beg you, most fervently, to relieve my suffering and consent to be my wife.

I much prefer this version:

In vain I have struggled; it will not do. My feelings can not be expressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. In declaring myself thus, I am fully aware that I will be going expressly according to the wishes of my family, my friends, and I hardly need add my own better judgment. The relative situation of our familes is such that any alliance between us must be regarded as a highly commendable connection. Indeed as a rational man I cannot but regard it as such myself, but it cannot be helped. Almost from the earliest moments of our meeting, I have come to feel for you a passionate admiration and regard, which despite all my encouragement has only added to all the other rational reasons we should be married; and I beg you, most fervently, to relieve my suffering and consent to be my wife.

What do you think? I rather think the second proposal is a great improvement, and terribly romantic. Especially if delivered on both knees, at sunset, by a duck pond, in a circle of stones under a cluster of trees. Now really, what girl could ask for a sweeter proposal? :-D And of course, really the more important detail is who is doing the asking. To complete the lovely scene, one must assume that the man doing the asking is the woman's man of her dreams. Just imagine in your mind's eye that he's sweet, sensitive, godly, handsome, intelligent, well-read, full of God-given grace, and wonderful in uncountable other ways, perfectly suited for the woman in question. Now that would be a romantic proposal. Why didn't Austen think of that?

Hi there from Sister Dear!

Hello, Blogger World!

Mother Dear and I just thought an update would be nice. :-) So, Susan is very nice to let me take over her blog and post a short update, pictures, and a poem from yours truly. We had a lovely visit with Adrian. For part of his visit, we had to take him to Stone Mountain. We spent a lot of time there growing up, so it's a memory-filled place for us, plus anyone visiting down here has got to see Stone Mountain if you ask me. It's just cool! We hiked up and showed him around a bit and had a picnic. And, can you believe it, he hadn't ever eaten at Chick-fil-A! Down here, that's a real oddity, like not having e-mail or something. So, we stopped by there on our way back from Stone Mountain. It worked out quite nicely.

I was so struck with the wonderfulness and beauty of friction while we were walking up Stone Mountain (with some rather steep parts) that I just had to write an Ode to Friction. Here you have it! And then pictures below that. :-)

An Ode to Friction

Away we look up the great big rock
Our destination is the very top!
We march away with firm determination
To get to our great destination

Though the first part up is rather un-steep
Still Friction must assist and guide our feet
As we travel further and the going gets rougher
Keeping a sure foot-hold gets even tougher

Friction, my friend, my ever-present helper!
What a blessing you get the further upper
That we trod upon this great big rock
For you keep me from many falls and unpleasant shock

I place my foot with confidence and trust
I know you won’t let me fall to the dust
My feet are set on an incline so great
And your God-given powers keep me standing straight

Friction, friction, what wonders you bear!
What this world would be without you there
We’d have slipping and sliding and all things colliding
Thank God for you, our companion, ever-abiding

1. Playing Apples to Apples. Ashley, Paul, and Amy (Ashley's sister) came over for a fun evening of food, chess, comic books, and sewing!

2. Resting while hiking up. (Friction is even hard at work here, while we're sitting!!)

3. At the top, holding hands (everyone say, "aw!"), looking at the amazing view, and pointing out certain landmarks to Adrian.

4. I think they're kind of happy.

5. In front of the carving! Sadly the carving isn't all that clear in this picture.

6. In front of my dream house. ;-)

7. I think Adrian likes Susan's hair a little too much. He took this picture.

That's all for now, folks!

--Hannah, aka Sister Dear

To keep him or not to keep him?

Sooooo . . . I haven't visited the Garrisons' home in years. It's not that I don't love them, I've just been busy, I suppose. However, this strange guy decided to come into Susan's life and since he's here on a visit, well, someone had to make sure he's okay. With guys these days, you just never know.

He's a friendly sort of fellow. His beard is passable, I suppose. At least Susan likes it. Or at least that's what she claims. Not much she could do about it unless she decided to shave it off when he falls asleep sometime - now that would be a grand idea!

He talks about math as if he was in love with it - that kind of scares me. You'd think it was his life or something. I've always said that anyone who loves math is crazy, so...he's officially CRAZY! Once I get home, I'll see if there's a medical description for this symptom, and if so, I guess he'll be admitted to a hospital for crazies. Then poor Susan will be without a man. Or she could go along with him because she just might be crazy herself for liking him.

Which brings me to something else. Who needs a man anyway?! Come on, all they do is require attention, time, food...and all sorts of work. If a girl wants flowers, she only need move into a cottage covered with roses and then she can have roses anytime she wants...without the hassle of a man.

But to each her own. If she likes him, I suppose he'll do. I've always thought they were perfect for each other, so there's really no way for me to stand in the way of PREDESTINED love. Since there's no way she can resist it, how can I fault her? Or him for that matter. Of course, he's obviously the blessed one here. Any guy who gets a girl is beyond lucky - well, actually he's just out of his element because he does not in any way deserve such a wonderful, amazing, intelligent, beautiful, better-than-him lady! (Adrian just received a bonus point for saying AMEN to the last comment!) I mean, I don't mean to sound cocky, but after God created Adam, he, I assume, realized he could do better. It's well known that before every masterpiece you always produce a rough draft!

As we close, it looks like Adrian just might get to stay because he agreed that women were better! What a somewhat good guy! ;-)

So rest assured, everyone, Adrian is allowed to *drumroll please* stay. He's not being kicked out of the Garrisons' home...and he's not being told that he doesn't make the cut. I've always wanted to tell some guy that he wasn't good enough for my friend, but...what can we say except he gets to stay. And yes, he's paying me good money for this endorsement - or maybe that's just me wishing. To require money, I'd need good blackmail on him. If anyone has some (Lane??), please submit ASAP.

With all the love of a happily single, concerned friend,

Esther, Inc.
Helping Boys Mature Into Men since 1984

Sabbatical

In need of some R&R. I've really been unable to thoroughly read or cogently comment to blog posts of late. I've been busy. . . and distracted ;-). I'll have a very pleasant distraction for the next week and a half, with an additional person in the house. Then only a week after Adrian leaves, my friend Emily comes for a few days. Then I go on two weeks of Spring Break and hope to be traveling some during that time. All in all, I think it would best for my time, sanity, and productivity if I disappear until early April, perhaps the second week.

I'll still be on e-mail, undoubtedly, so I welcome links to blog posts that you think would particularly interest me; I just don't plan on keeping up with blogs in general, though I will probably be making guest appearances on Cucumberland Island, as the opportunity presents itself :-). And I'd love to hear from anyone by e-mail, unrelated to blogs :-). My e-mail is in my profile.

Ta-ta for now :-).

Picture from my VA visit

I admit that I didn't have my camera readily available for snapping pictures when Jessie and I posed in NC (it may or may not have been locked in my car. . . ), so to see a picture from my visit with Jessie, you'll have to go to her blog :-).

Meanwhile, here is one from my visit with Adrian:



I've given up on getting Blogger to load a picture to my profile, by the way. I'm not trying to be visually elusive; I'm just at my wit's end with Blogger picture profiles!

Abundance

Just over a year ago, on Valentine's Day, I posted a Valentine's Day Prayer from a Maiden-in-Waiting. I meant every word of it. I felt so incredibly blessed with love last year on Valentine's Day, and the Lord truly did allow me to count abundance, not drought. I was more content in my singleness probably than I ever had been. God had just recently opened my eyes to the vastness of His grace, and I was overwhelmed with His love. There was not lack in my life, but abundance. And Adrian agreed with my sentiment by commenting with a simple "Amen." Hehe. Little did we know. . . :-)

Why does God give good gifts to His children? And why does He not stop after a few token gifts, instead of continuing to pour them upon me? Or a better question, why did He not stop after giving me the greatest gift possible? No words nor sentiments can ever truly express my thankfulness for Christ's sacrifice for me on the cross. He paid the debt I could not pay and gifted me the righteousness I could not earn. That is love. God owes me nothing, yet He offers me righteousness, eternal life, a place at His table, co-inheritance with Christ. Why? Then I remember: He loves me, and more importantly, He does it for His glory. The only being in the universe who deserves to be given glory chooses to use me, a broken sinner, to bring Him glory. Wow.

But God doesn't stop with salvation, though such a gift would alone be enough to leave my cup overflowing. He gives me family, friends, food, shelter, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. And He even chooses to fulfill so many of my little girl dreams by sending me a man I do not deserve. Adrian's love for me astonishes me, and it gives me a human picture of Christ's love for me. Adrian accepts me for who I am. He loved me first, when I did not love him. He loves me in spite of the fact that he knows I'm not perfect. He overlooks the imperfections I have of which he is aware, and he genuinely does not remember them. He stands not only willing, but eager, to forgive my sins - past, present, future, and to help me turn from them, to Christ. His assurance of his readiness to forgive makes me even more secure in his love and therefore more able to love him in return. It's a picture of the Gospel, a beautiful weaving of law and grace.

Why has God chosen to bless me beyond measure? I'll never quite be able to answer that. God delights to give good gifts to His children, though they don't deserve them. He uses them to show His children a visible representation of the Gospel. And He does it for His glory. Sometimes, rather than trying to figure out the "why" of God's actions, all I can do is whisper "thank you," and then fall on my face in front of His throne.

I'm going to be a bit too busy to blog in the next several days :-)

Tomorrow , Lord willing, I'm driving up to Jessie's house in NC, to spend a night on my way to Blacksburg, VA. Yes, that's right: I get to spend the weekend before Valentine's Day with my sweetheart :-). I'm planning on driving back early Tuesday morning, in time to return for tutoring later that day. I'm afraid I may be a bit too blissfully preoccupied in the next several days, just to explain my blogosphere absence in advance :-). Although, if you check here on Sunday, you may be able to read a joint post by Adrian and me :-). For now I'm off to pack, do laundry, and grade math papers. . . so I'll be ready to leave tomorrow.

Two Great Posts on Courtship

Adrian has written two excellent posts on courtship, one from a grace perspective and one from a law perspective. Both very good. And yes I'm prejudiced :-D.

A bit more, for those dying of curiosity. . .

EDIT: I finally tricked Blogger into loading pictures. Yay!

Adrian and I are having a great deal of fun reading all the responses to my post and his :-). You all are too funny, though I rather expected just such a response. I think Grace *ahem* and Jessie *ahem* created quite an atmosphere of mystery with their recent "cryptic" (or not so cryptic!) comments, resulting in a rather evident restlessness on our blogs :). The riddle I posted was shamelessly stolen from Emma, for anyone still in the dark on that score, and the answer is "courtship."

As many of you know, Adrian and I both started blogging in fall of 2005, and we began commenting to each other via Blogger after meeting through Crystal's blog (oh yes, she sure has a lot to answer for!) though solely thinking of each other as friends for several months, at least. Over the next year+, we communicated off and on as our schedules permitted, sometimes logging some rather extensive comments (my record for a single blog comment was 41 paragraphs).

The more Adrian and I "talked," the more I grew to admire him, and the more I became amazed at just how much we had in common, both in practice and belief. But, as I told Adrian later, I appreciated our disagreements almost as much as our agreements, for it was often through our times of disagreement that I really learned to respect him. A person's character comes out in times of difference more than in times of harmony, I've decided, and Adrian's shone :). My mom and sister interacted with him some online as well, as did I with his twin brother Lane.

In early November (2006), Adrian e-mailed about a possible visit to Atlanta to meet me and my family. In the next several weeks we exchanged many e-mails of impressive length. He spent December 8th-11th visiting us, and we had a wonderful time! I think my family likes him :-). Oh. . . and I do too ;-). After Adrian's visit, my dad gave him permission to court me. And just yesterday I returned from Minnesota, where I spent 4 days visiting with Adrian and his parents, who are absolutely delightful. Here's a picture I took over my visit last weekend:



We would now appreciate your prayers as we seek God's will in our relationship!

A Riddle

My first displays the wealth and pomp of kings,
  Lords of the earth! their luxury and ease.
Another view of man, my second brings,
  Behold him there, the monarch of the seas!

But ah! united, what reverse we have!
  Man's boasted power and freedom, all are flown;
Lord of the earth and sea, he bends a slave,
  And woman, lovely woman, reigns alone.

  Thy ready wit the word will soon supply,
  May its approval beam in that soft eye!

For the answer, go here.

The Importance of Beauty for Protestants

Adrian has written an excellent post on The Importance of Beauty for Protestants. Here are a few excerpts:

Part of why Presbyterians are becoming Catholics is because the Presbyterians have abandoned beauty in their worship service. The Catholics, while perpetuating the abomination of the Mass (and thus re-sacrificing Christ in contradiction to Hebrews), have a stunning worship service. It is lovely. And we human beings are made to respond to beauty like that. When it's missing, we think something's wrong, and rightly so.

Beauty is important because God is beautiful, the Ultimate Embodiment of Beauty. God wants us to experience that beauty. God lures, rather than coerces, us to Himself. He shows us the incomparable riches of Christ, and desires that we should desire those riches.

Make sure to read the whole post!