And I Said, "Yes!"

As most of you have already heard, Corey and I are officially engaged! :) I have had the full story request a lot of times, and not enough time to tell every single person, so I promised a blog post with all the details. :) And here we go...

On Tuesday, March 20, it was an ordinary day at work. Well, not super ordinary, because let's face it every day at my job is just slightly different. However, relatively normal all the same.

After the kids had lunch, we let them outside to play before we put them down for naptime. I was manning my post at the girls' bathroom, when one of co-directors (and my pastor's wife) approached me. She said, "Hannah, can you have some spot you? Pastor Gary needs to talk to you."

"Oh, OK," I said. I didn't find this weird at all, since a friend from church and I have been working with Pastor Gary to start a young adult group, so we've been in contact with him a lot recently. I asked one of my co-workers to spot me, and headed upstairs.

"He's in the sanctuary," Lori Barber said.

"OK," I said and headed up the stairs. I thought it was weird that he was in the sanctuary instead of his office, but again not unheard of. For a split second, I found myself wondering, "Maybe Corey's here...No! He's not. That's ridiculous."

Corey had convinced me weeks ago, and in the weeks building up to this day, that he had to work all spring break. He even told me that his staff interview was on Friday. I wholeheartedly believed him.

I walked into the sanctuary to find it empty. Thinking Pastor Gary was up in the sound booth, out of sight, I called out, "Hello? Pastor Gary?"

And a familiar voice responded. "Hey, stranger!"

I looked up and Corey was sitting on the stage, tucked in a back corner, so I wouldn't see him when I first walked in.

I think my heart stopped. Corey said my face looked like I'd seen a ghost. I was seriously so shocked, I was shaking. I kept saying things like, "What? Are you seriously here right now?" I headed up to the stage, very aware of the fact that I looked like I work at a Pre-School. Grimy and exhausted.

Corey had a very nice speech prepared, which I wish I remembered more of. I was in so much shock, that my brain kind of blanked out. I know he said that I encourage him to be a more Christ-like man. And then he asked me to marry him, down on one knee, of course.

I was still so stunned, that I didn't even cry. I just said, "Yes!" Corey was so surprised that I didn't get emotional that he asked again. Haha! The answer was the same. :)

The craziest thing? He had the ring and the plane tickets for a month. He and my parents have been planning his surprise proposal for a MONTH! My mom even called my boss to ask for some days off work without my knowledge. I was so excited. :)

He was actually supposed to arrive the night before he did, but his flight out of Kansas City got delayed due to storming. But I thought "Plan B" was perfect. :)

 He spent the whole week here, and we had a great time. I'm so happy that he and my family get along so well. We took some pictures (just holding the camera ourselves, though I thought they came out pretty well).

We're planning our wedding for August, and he is moving out here after graduation. Hallelujah! We are planning on attending New Staff Training for Keynote in January of 2013.

I drove him to the airport early this morning, and while it was a bummer as always, it was such a huge relief to know that this is the last time we will ever have to do this. :) Please be praying for us over the next two months as we work to start planning our wedding over long distance, that God would use this time to grow us closer together and closer to Himself, and that we would be able to locate Corey a place to live this summer as well as a job. There are a lot of details, but I am so grateful that God provided for us, and that He will continue to provide for us. We are infinitely blessed. :)

I hope this post was satisfactory for those of you who wanted to hear the story. :) Until next time!

--Hannah

Disappointment is a Failed Recipe

Seven weeks ago, I started a new "diet" where I have switched over to whole wheat and cut out sugar, including sugar in other things. I have been feeling a lot better, and have seen some nice weight loss results. It's all been rather exciting. :)

However, I am a baker at heart. I genuinely love the craft. In fact, I think I enjoy the baking process more than the actual eating of baked goods. I love that it has specific rules, but if you know enough about baking science, you can adapt those rules to create and improve new recipes. Thanks to the internet and Food Network, this has been made possible. It's truly a stress release for me. It's my happy place. Being in the kitchen, some music playing, measuring ingredients, and coming out with a product that makes everyone in the house go, "Mmmm...that smell's amazing."

So honestly, the thought that I cannot eat anything sweet isn't a huge disappointment to me when it comes to baking. However, it does make it a little more difficult to find a reason to bake. My parents aren't eating sweets very much right now either, neither are my friends, and it's very difficult to mail anything except for cookies or brownies to Corey or Steven.

Nevertheless, I had a desire, no, a need, to bake a cake today. Every once in a while I get this need. It's strange. It comes over me in a giant wave, and I can't rest until I've made it. But cakes are extremely irritating, because who just makes a cake for no reason? It needs to be for a party, right? After, wracking my brain for an excuse, I decided I would just make one, feed it to my parents, and pawn the rest off on their Bible study tomorrow.

I decided on yellow cake with chocolate frosting. That's one of my favorites. However, I have never found a yellow cake recipe that I love. Upon purusing the internet, I found a recipe that had met rave reviews from everyone who had tried it. One woman said it was so good that her husband's coworker had asked how much the baker would charge to buy the recipe! Wow. I was convinced. I printed it out, and went to work.

I was hesistant, because the directions didn't follow the methods I was used to seeing. But the woman who wrote the recipe swore up and down, that she thought her lack of using the "creaming method" was the key to her cake's success. I decided to take her word on it. Now I'm wishing I hadn't.

When I removed the three layers from the oven, they were dense and thin. "Odd," I thought, "But maybe they're supposed to be like that."

After letting them cool, I assembled them with some homemade Chocolate Buttercream. Actually, the frosting came out beautifully. It might be my new go to chocolate frosting. :)

I assembled the cake, and it looked nice. Short, but nice. :)

I cut my parents a slice, and I could feel the denseness as the knife went through. Oh no...

My parents said it tasted good, but it felt like poundcake, and kind of tough. I took a very miniscule bite, and was saddened. All my hard work and the result was tasty, but strangely spongy and dense.

For a recipe that was so wildly raved about, I wonder what went wrong. It's almost like the cake didn't rise. My only thought is that my baking powder was bad. Weird stuff. I was all excited to blog about a triumphant cake, and give credit to the website where I found it, but as it is, I think I'll skip that. I wouldn't want a terrible review of what was clearly supposed to be a wonderful cake. Maybe our oven's on the fritz...

So my quest remains, and my deep need to bake a cake has been quenched until next time. For now, I will search and search until I have found another recipe I can try. Until then, our house shall be cake-less. But that's not so bad for me. I guess I'll just eat my sugar-free ice cream. ;)

--Hannah

One Step Closer

Hey friends! As usual, it's been a pretty long time. However, I figured it was about time I announced some pretty exciting news. :)

What you see above is the front page of my Keynote acceptance packet. Yes, that's right friends. I am officially a new staff member with Cru! Or as it is officially called "New Staff Trainee". :) I won't be an official staff member until after New Staff Training. It's all very exciting.

Now starts the process of writing support letters, making contact lists, and lots and lots of prayer. It's crazy, because I feel like so much prayer has already gone into the process, but looking through the packet is a reminder of how much we have to trust on God for His provision.

As most of you know, it's hard for me to not have a concrete plan, or even not having a basic plan with "wiggle room". God has asked me to step outside of my comfort zone so many times in this area over the past year. I know that He has grown me through it, but that does not mean that it comes easily by any means. I thought I was graduating from school early, so that I could attend New Staff Training (NST) this year in January. Clearly, God did not want that.

Right now, I'm beginning the process of raising the $3,330 for New Staff Training. The Summer 2012 training is from June 15 to July 15, however it's possible that life circumstances could dictate going to Winter 2013. I whole-heartedly believe that God will make that clear within the next couple of months. Please be praying for guidance and clarity in that area. Also, if anyone would like to hear more about Keynote and what I hope to be doing there, and how you could be involved in getting me there, let me know so I can send you a letter. :)

I'm super excited about this process, even if it a little daunting. I hope that you guys are excited too, and will join me on my journey!

Until next time!

--Hannah