Surviving Africa

Hi, Bloggers and Bloggetters! Unfortunately this is not a progress report stating the most recent wedding plans that I have made. However, this is a report talking about a slightly different type of progress: surviving Africa.

Seth left on June 23rd to a small little continent you may have heard of… Africa.  He went with a group of people from our church on a mission trip to a baby orphanage in Uganda. First of all, I would like to begin by saying that I am extremely blessed that my future husband has such a passion and pursuit to serve the Lord. I may not be married yet, but I know that a relationship with God is a necessity and more important than a relationship with each other. So, to see my fiancé’s heart and willingness to serve makes me count my blessings and look forward to a lifetime spent with him. Maybe one day I will be half the person that Seth is.

Most would think that the person I was most worried about surviving Africa would be Seth. But that’s not necessarily the case… I was worried about my own sanity and survival. There are only a lucky few who have shared in my struggle with this issue. And if you were one of these “lucky” ones, then you know I was uneasy from the first day that summer started, and I will continue to be until the day Seth lands in Atlanta. I guess I could not help but be hesitant about him going because we are so close to getting married (5 ½ months to be exact), and I cannot imagine not getting the chance to marry my own Captain America after looking forward to it for 6+ years.

You may be saying, “Why be worried? It’s just Africa. You are being a little dramatic.” Well, yes, I am being dramatic, but that is because I have no idea what to expect. Personally, the only “out of the country” experience I have had is when I went on cruises… but we all know that this is cheating because “foreign countries” on cruise routes are just Americanized, sheltering you from the drug cartels, etc. So I admit that I am a little naive about what goes out outside of the United States. Therefore, when I heard that Seth would be island hopping via boat in the middle of Lake Victoria, my mental image was not a good one. I envisioned Seth floating in a rackety canoe in the midst of branches and briars (kinda swamp-like), coming up on different tribes who are all wearing loin cloths holding hand-made spears. This is what was going through my head; hence my concern. However, I have some really comforting people in my life who tried to mentally help me through this. One thing that stood out to me was when someone asked me, “Don’t you think that God loves Seth even more than you do? So, why would He want anything to happen to him?” After hearing this, I would tell myself “Shut up, Elizabeth” on a daily basis.

There is a 7 hour time difference between Georgia and Uganda, Africa. This, along with other factors, (including lack of Wi-Fi, no 3G network, and enormous international phone costs) has caused communication between the two of us to be scarce. That is fine… in fact I was expecting it. However, at 8:30 on Monday morning when I saw a text message from Seth saying, “You there?”, you better believe I threw down my hair dryer and stopped what I was doing to answer!  We didn’t get to text long, but that didn’t matter. At least I knew he was safe, and there had been no sighting of spears, loin cloths, or cannibalism. (I’m telling you… I have a distorted view of the outside world.) On Wednesday, I had an even bigger surprise when I got a call from him. We didn’t get to have a good long talk about life, love, and marriage, but at least I got to hear his voice. He said that the fruit over there was great… even if it was cut with the same knife that the fish was cut with. Also, he felt like safety was not an issue at all… but they got to ride 4 people on a motorcycle. Looks like I have been worried about the wrong things.

Chain countdown for Seth's re-arrival.

Technically, we still haven’t “survived Africa,” but with him coming home in 4 days, I can say that we are well on our way. This summer has been eventful and dangerous already: If it’s not a bat infestation we are worried about, it’s riding illegally on a motorcycle with Africa natives. So, if we make it through this summer, I guess you could say we are doing alright.

Now on to more pressing matters: what good American staple should I cook for Seth when he returns? Something fried or the biggest Reese peanut butter cup you can find? Hum…

Pictures Worth 1000 Words

All of the pictures are in! They are great. Period-The End. And I’m not being vain by saying that either. Ashlee did so good of making both me and Seth look good and in-love… which takes talent. So, all the compliments are due to her. Instead of keeping them all to myself, I thought it would be appreciated if I shared some of my favorites with you all. So throughout this post, please enjoy some pictures that cause me to squeal on the inside.

Before we even took the pictures, I knew that I wanted two different outfits: a more formal one, and a more casual one. Honestly, I was hoping that with the more casual outfit we would be able to go on in Sanford Stadium again to get some pictures there. But dearest Seth felt uneasy about doing that again and asking for permission to do that one more time. He didn’t want to push any more buttons than he had to. After all, it was purely by the grace of God that we got to be on the field for the proposal…. or so he says. That is fine though. I picked my battles, and left that one alone. Although we were not going on the field I did want some sort of “UGA Spirited” outfit/picture combo. We accommodated this request to North Campus and got some shots with our bulldog attire, the arch, and the infamous red and black Coke bottles. Props go out to Seth for having that bright idea!

Although my ring has always been sparkly, and will continue to be sparkly, I knew that for these pictures, I might want to get it shined up just a bit. Since the jewelry store that Seth purchased my ring from was about an hour and a half away, we had to come up with a plan B on getting this thing cleaned. So, the two of us moseyed over to the mall a couple of hours before our pictures were scheduled. We walked in a jewelry store and “were looking at wedding bands.” (Yeah right.) As we were “looking” and I was trying some things on, I casually mentioned that my engagement ring doesn’t look as bright as the wedding band that I was sporting. I further inquired about how I could fix this. The poor, innocent jeweler hastily suggested that she would be glad to clean and shine my ring so it looks as new as the band! (Bingo) Once the mission was accomplished, we gradually made our way out of the store with promises to return and “purchase the wedding band” we were “looking” at. Pure genius.

This is my first wedding. And as a result, my first engagement shoot too. So I was not entirely sure how this would all go down. I was hoping and praying that Seth and I would get some sort of direction with how to pose, act, etc. And praise the Lord we did! Otherwise, they would have turned out 10x worse. Seth and I probably wouldn’t have even touched each other if not instructed. (Well, maybe not really, but you never can tell.) I know I have mentioned this in a previous post, so I won’t run it in the ground, but we aren’t the most mushy-gushy-touchy-feely couple you will meet. So any kind of instruction is good instruction! Another prayer request of mine was that the awkwardness would be at a minimum. No matter how much in-love you may be, imagine how strange it is to be looking at each other for a minute straight while being no more than an inch and a half away from the other person’s face. (And breath). But I am glad I did it because it made for some great pictures! Oh and about the awkwardness… it was not that bad. We do love each other, you know.

Lastly, the weather couldn’t have been better. I just knew without a shadow of a doubt, that it was going to be raining. Why? Well, it has rained on every important event in my life thus far, so why not then? (Rain visited: both proms, graduation, moving in/out of dorms, birthday, etc.) Because of my attraction to rain, I knew it was a good idea to stay away from the outside wedding idea. It’s a great thing that December weddings don’t lend themselves too well for that anyway. But for engagement pictures, the weather was great. Not only did it not rain, but the ground wasn’t wet and the sun was shining! Of course we couldn’t get away from 0% humidity—Note the frizzy hair. But I will take what I can get!

I hope you have enjoyed these pictures as much as I have. Feel free to check more out under the “Pictures” page on my blog. Since I am so thrilled with the pictures, I will have a hard time picking just ONE to go on Save the Dates, and ONE to go in the newspaper. So, don’t be surprised if you see a photo collage of us in the paper. Just joking, of course. But they are all too good to pass up! Thanks to the wonderful and talented Ashlee!! (And Seth for his cooperation!)

Note: Seth did have permission to wear his cowboy boots in our photo shoot. It was one of those "battles" I chose not to fight. Plus, he looks kinda cute in them anyway. 

The Story of Coke

Want to know a little bit more about Seth and me? Well, it’s your lucky day! Rumor has it that some of my readers want to know the story behind Coke in a glass bottle. So, because I am in-love with writing this blog, I will be glad to tell you the story.

So, grab a Coke, and enjoy.

You know how some couples have “a song” that “describes their relationship so much”? Well, this is not Seth and me. At all. In fact, I have joked before and said that “our song” is “Not Meant to Be” by Theory of a Deadman. (“It’s like one step forward, and two steps back… no matter what I do you’re always mad...”) Before you start gasping and wondering how I can be so mean, I am only joking.Obviously. But instead of a song, Seth and I consider Coke in a glass bottle to be our “thing” (whatever a “thing” may be). Why? I wish I knew exactly. It just kind of evolved after a series of events.

Oh… and it was due to a song. Go figure.

If you know and love Seth like we all do, then you know that he is a country music fan. Like the knee slappin’, teeth pickin’, yee-hawin’ kind of music. Am I a fan? Not so much. To be honest, I cringe when I hear it. However, being Seth’s girlfriend (fiancé… I guess),I hear this kind of music by default. A couple of years ago, Seth’s favorite songs was “Welcome to the Farm”by Luke Bryan. One of the lines in that song includes: “How’d like that Coke from a green glass bottle?... It’s colder than that plastic stuff.” 

Well, Seth and I would always playfully argue about thisline. I would say that Coke in a glass bottle is NOT a country thing; instead it’s more of a 1950s thing. I mean, how often do you see country people walking around with a glass bottle? They use the plastic Coke bottles to spit their dip in—duh. Well, Seth and I would go back and forth on this one particular line in the song. Because of the controversy, Coke in a glass bottle because some sort of an inside joke between the two of us.

Then the joke proceeded from a thought to a reality.

Seth was the first to initiate the Cokes into our relationship. He sees a six pack of those glass bottles at the store and buys them for me as a “joke”. From that moment on, we have glass bottle Cokes often. Like I said, it’s our “thing”. We went from having a coke as a “treat” to spending summers drinking them on the back of a tailgate. We would even ride the 4-wheeler down to Perry’s Store (may it R.I.P.) to get a drink. When we came to Athens for school, we discovered the joys of a Sam’s Club card. With this, we would buy glass bottle Cokes by the bulk. We would even expand our Coke repertoire to include the Mexican Cokes, which their bottle was a little cooler than ours.

However, there are certain “rules” you must follow if youdrink a Coke with Seth and Elizabeth:

First, you MUST save the bottle top. We have a collection going of all the Coke tops we have had

together. He has a (huge) Mason jar containing these bottle tops that we will keep adding to. You may be asking, “what do you plan on doing with these tops?” I don’t know. It just looks cool.

Second, you MUST NOT open your own Coke. If you are drinking with a partner, you should always have him open it for you, and you open his. There is no reason behind this. It’s just a rule.

Third, you MUST get the special addition Cokes that they have out during the different seasons. For instance, this past Christmas, they had a really cool glass bottle design. And did we buy a 6-pack? Why yes, we did.

Well, that’s the story of Coke. And we owe it all to Luke Bryan.