a happy thought

As I was getting ready for the day this morning, I listened to a General Conference talk. This one was from April 2006 by Jeffrey R. Holland. It was entitled Broken Things to Mend. I love this talk. The entire thing is so great.

One part of it struck me. Elder Holland said, "In short we must repent, perhaps the most hopeful and encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary." The most hopeful and encouraging word. How cool! And it is so true.

Repentance is amazing. I don't know where any of us would be without it. So many times I try and try, but I continuously fall short. Thankfully, our loving Heavenly Father understood that this would be the case.

Elder Holland continued by saying, "We thank our Father in Heaven we are allowed to change, we thank Jesus we can change, and ultimately we do so only with Their divine assistance. . . . In this way our access to the Savior’s Atonement becomes as unimpeded as we, with our imperfections, can make it. He will take it from there."

What a comforting promise!

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." (Moroni 10:32)



If you want to read the talk, here is the link:
Broken Things to Mend

There's No Place Like Home

Well, I'm finally getting back to this blog business. I am so bad at updating! It's not like anyone actually reads it, though. Anyway, I finished off the semester (finals went quite well, considering I was so horribly sick!). I'm half-way done with college. Weird!!

Mom came up to Utah for a couple of weeks. It was great to spend time with her, although I was kinda in a bad mood for a lot of it. I'm pretty sure the reason was because J.J. left for Oregon. Prior to him leaving for the summer, the longest we had ever been apart was a week. It was so hard to drop him off at the airport. I was quite tempted to kidnap him and not let him leave!! Even though I miss him so much, it's good that he went home. J.J. has a great job and is raking in the dough. He is working as a human resources assistant for OCDC (Oregon Child Development Coalition). One of the great things about the job is that he gets to utilize his Spanish speaking abilities quite often. It's so great to hear how excited he is whenever he gets to translate or just speak to someone in Spanish.

After we had been apart for an entire month, J.J. came for a visit. On Memorial Day, my dad took our engagement pictures. Not to be biased or anything, but I think they turned out great! Dad did a fantastic job, and of course any picture of J.J. and I looks fantastic (haha!).

For the last few years, I've gotten strep throat and other sore throat viruses quite often. My mom finally decided to was time for me to get my tonsils taken out. In the middle of May, I had surgery for the first time. Let me tell you, that anesthesia is pretty cool stuff. I just remember giggling randomly as they wheeled me away to the operating room. I had my tonsils and adenoids taken out. Recovery took about 2 weeks and was quite painful, but I'm all better now!

It's been great to be back in the Tomball Ward. I've definitely missed it the past couple of years. The first Sunday back, I was extended a calling. I am a Primary teacher. I co-teach one of the 9-10 yr old classes. They needed another teacher because one of the girls needs some extra help because she is autistic. I really like my class. I've taught a couple of times and just absolutely loved it. Maybe it is a good thing I'm majoring in Elementary Education.

I told you about J.J.'s job...maybe I should mention mine. It's definitely not as cool as his, but it works. I'm babysitting a 9 yr old boy named Ben pretty much everyday of the summer. Some weeks I work more hours than others because he does a lot of day camps or church activities. I get a lot of time off as well, which has its pros and cons. It's nice to have a chance to rest and get other stuff done, but I also need to work as much as I can. That's pretty much the point of this summer...save money before we get married!

I guess that's about it. I tried posting some pictures, but for some reason it wasn't working. Here are a couple of links so you can see some pictures.

J.J.'s blog post w/ engagement pictures


Facebook album of engagement pictures

Facebook photo album of pictures from the summer

ugh

Finals are never fun. Finals plus being sick is ever so much worse.

That's right. I'm sick. And it's finals week.

I started getting sick on Friday and it's gotten worse since. I took an exam on Saturday which did not go too well because I was concentrating on not passing out. I ended up going to the doctor's office on Sunday (after the first hour of church during which J.J. gave an amazing talk on prayer). They did the fast strep test which came back negative. However, the doctor took pity on me because my throat looked so bad (and I'm sure I didn't look too much better myself), and he gave me the antibiotics anyway. They're doing another strep test that takes longer, but is more accurate. I should hear back sometime soon.

Well, I've been taking the antibiotics, gargling salt water, drinking lots of water and other fluids, eating soup, trying to sleep, and everything else they tell you to do when you're sick. But it's not working!! I'm pretty sure I don't have strep due to the fact that the prescription isn't helping much. I guess I have some nasty virus that will just have to run it's course. Ew.

Tomorrow is the last day of finals. I'm just going to have to suck it up and take my last two. Hopefully I'll do okay..

I am so grateful for my absolutely amazing fiance. He has been taking such good care of me the past few days. He refills my water bottle, makes me soup, gives me foot massages, buys me apple juice, and so many more things. I am so tremendously lucky. Even though he probably feels like he's not "curing" me, he is helping so much. It means so much to just have someone around that cares. The moral of this story is, I am marrying the greatest guy in the world (and we're getting married in exactly 4 months today, to be precise). So, sorry everybody... I beat you to him!!

Stuffsez

So last time I posted, it was sometime in February. Since then, I have been engaged for almost 2 months (tomorrow will be 2 months!), almost made it through my 4th semester at BYU, had a Bridal Shower, and well...just life.

Oh, and I guess I promised pictures from the proposal in one of my last posts. Oops! Since it'll take too long to post individually, I'll link facebook album to this.

He Proposed!!


The weekend J.J. proposed, we went to Oregon to visit his family. It was my first time to visit and I had so much fun!! Here are a few pictures from that weekend.

A view of his house
J.J. in front of his old high school
pretty!!
a beautiful sunset at his house
milkshakes at Burgerville...so yummy!!

J.J. and I babysat some of my little cousins and to repay us (which they didn't have to do-those kids are so well-behaved and so much fun!), my aunt and uncle gave us a gift card to Macaroni Grill. We decided to make a fancy date out of it...complete with dressing up!

J.J. drew this on the table at the restaurant...it's us if you can't tell

Since last June, J.J. has been working at the BYU Multicultural Student Services office. Part of his responsibilities there have been to organize the BYU Fiesta. It's program they do every year to celebrate Latin American cultures. Volunteers spend hours and hours learning dances from the different Latin American countries. It was a lot of hard work and could be very frustrating, but it ended up being a great success!! (See J.J.'s blog for more about the Fiesta.) One great thing about Fiesta was that some of his family came to visit. His mom (Robin), his sister (and one of my bridesmaids-Kandis), and his Grandma Till. It was the first time I met his grandma. It was so great to see everyone. His cousin Stacia (and ironically one of my Physical Science TAs) also came to see Fiesta with us.

me, Kandis, Robin
me and Kandis

Grandma Till and Stacia
Stacia and Kandis
J.J. He was working during Fiesta-sound and lighting, etc.

I have a WEDDING DRESS!!! Wow! It's so crazy! Last month, I went shopping with a couple of my aunts. It was so much fun. And I found the PERFECT dress! It's beautiful and I actually look good in it too! ;) Basically, I couldn't be happier with it. Obviously I'm not posting pictures of it on here because a certain person is NOT allowed to see it before August 21 (I'm talking about my fiance if you couldn't figure that out). But if you really want to see it, I can email pictures to you (on the condition that you will not let J.J. see them).

another point of view

J.J. posted his version of the proposal story on his blog:
http://jtothe2ndpower.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-get-engaged-to-erin.html

Don't worry...I'll post pictures soon!

I'm getting married!!!

My Proposal Story:

On Friday February 13, 2009, Joshua Joseph Despain proposed to me! For the three-day weekend, we were going to fly out to Oregon to visit his family. The flight supposedly left at 7:30pm and we were going to meet my aunt and uncle in Salt Lake City at 5:30pm so they could drop us off at the airport. When I picked J.J. up from campus at 4:00pm, he informed me that he "forgot" some stuff at his apartment and we need to go there first. While I was waiting for him to get everything put together (and he was taking his dear, sweet time doing it), my roommate/best friend Jamie called. She also "forgot" something at our apartment. According to her, she was at Thanksgiving Point with her brother and forgot to bring a book that she needed to read this weekend. Since Thanksgiving Point is on the way to Salt Lake City, she was wondering if we could drop it off on our way. I, being the nice, caring roommate, of course said that we would.

We finally got on our way…quite late, I might add. We weren’t even to Thanksgiving Point and it was already 5:00pm. I called my aunt to let her know we wouldn’t make it in time and that we’d just park at the airport. Luckily she didn’t answer the phone; she probably would’ve given something away. I called Jamie when we were close to Thanksgiving Point to find out where she is. I was hoping she could just meet us in the parking lot because we were running so late. But, Jamie said something about it being too complicated for her to meet us in the parking lot and that we would have to meet her where she was. As we were wandering around outside looking for her (trying to follow her directions which were confusing to me), I was feeling so frustrated at her. After all, we were already being so nice and going out of our way to give her that book. The least she could do was meet us in the dang parking lot!!

We came around this trail and saw this really cute gazebo. J.J. said that maybe Jamie was over there. I noticed that someone had set up a table in the gazebo and said, “No, she can’t be over there. Someone’s stuff is in there. Let’s go look somewhere else.” J.J. kept trying to tell me that, “No, we need to go over there.” After the second or third time, I started catching on. We walked over to the gazebo and in it was a table with a beautiful table cloth, gorgeous flowers, sparkling cider, a candle, a box of chocolates, a frame that Jamie made with pictures of J.J. and I, and…a ring box!

Jamie came out from behind a tree with a video camera. J.J. said, “Erin, you are perfect for me and I’m going to try to be perfect for you.” He knelt down on one knee and said, “Erin Leila Wake, will you marry me?” I, of course, immediately said yes! Then he put the ring on my finger. It is absolutely perfect! I love it!! (And him, of course!!)

Right after that, Ilarene and Aimee (two of my other roommates) and Beth (another really good friend) came out of hiding. They had also helped set everything up. I’m so glad they were there too. Beth took a lot of pictures of before and after the proposal. (There aren’t any of the actual proposal…Beth was hiding and Jamie has it on video.)

And that’s basically it. We each called our families and sent out mass texts to everyone to let them know the terrific news. Then J.J. and I went to my grandparents’ house so they could take us to the airport. It turns out that the flight didn’t actually leave until 9:00pm. We made it to the airport in plenty of time and had an absolutely fantastic time with his family in Oregon. I have definitely hit the jackpot with my future in-laws. They are great!

I am so excited! We have set a date for our wedding. J.J. and I are getting married in the Houston, Texas temple on August 21, 2009 at 12:00pm. We’ll have a reception in Tomball that night and then one in Oregon (where he is from) a week or two later. I could not be happier. He is the perfect man for me and I love him so much. I am so glad I get to spend my life with him.

(I don't have time to post pictures right now, but I'll get them posted soon!)

I love three-day weekends!

Especially this one. This weekend is President's Day and we get Monday off of school. Hip hip hooray! (It's also Valentine's day :) )

And I have some very fun plans. I'm going to Oregon!! The Dalles, Oregon to be exact. Why, you ask? To visit J.J.'s family, of course! We are leaving tomorrow after classes to fly out there. His dad works for Delta, so if we fly standby, J.J. can fly for free and I can use a buddy pass, which is much much much cheaper than an actual ticket. We'll get there tomorrow night. Then we'll leave Monday morning to come back to Provo.


I'm not sure exactly what we're doing...I'm leaving that up to J.J. I'm really excited though. His family is great (I've met them once before). I'm not sure if I've ever talked about them before (probably not, since I hardly every update). J.J. is the oldest of 7 children. He has a brother on a mission in Brazil, 4 sisters, and another little brother.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll let everyone know how my weekend goes...and I have a feeling it'll be very wonderful...hopefully with some really exciting news when I get back. ;)