Hey all

Sorry I have not blogged in a while.
I have simply had issues organizing my thoughts on everything going on, not to mention being unsure as to what I should share with the public and what not.

Hopefully you received an email from me (if you are family or a close friend), or seen on my facebook that Andres and I are now officially engaged.
If you are family and did not receive the  email I am so sorry. I had some issues tracking down addresses and many people were unable to open the announcement because of the document format.

I truly hope this is not the way you are finding out, but if so I am happy that you now know. :]

I know a lot of people are curious as to what happens now and what our plans are.
We are still working out plans, but I think we have it all mostly sorted.
This is why it took almost a month for me to write this. 

The plan as of now is this, Andres and I will jump through whatever hoops it takes to be "legally married" here in Dubai.
In Dubai this means we, as Christians, must have a church wedding ad then visit 4 different public official offices here in Dubai to make it official.
God totally blessed us and we started attending a church just weeks ago, and last weekend found out that the Pastor is one of the few Pastors in Dubai that can perform weddings.

We are going to go through some pre-marriage counseling with these pastors before setting the date for the "wedding" here. We will have the smallest ceremony that we possibly can. It will be my parents, Andy's family, maybe Julia and Kyle and probably some random people here in Dubai.


We are legally doing this in Dubai because we are seriously considering living in the States for a few years and going to school. In order to do that I have a ridiculous amount of paperwork I have to file to get Andres into the States.
From the research I have done it seems that it will all go much more smoothly and ultimately be cheaper and faster if he and I are legally married.
We have run into one snag, if you feel like praying for us in this, in order for Andres to get a green-card a person needs to fill out a form saying that they will be financially responsible for him. I was planning on doing this, but on researching it further I did not make enough money last year to qualify for this.
It is just something to pray about.
Also, if you know anything about filling out these papers, or know a person who has done this that I can talk to, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!



Now the fun part.
Andres and I are planning on having our actual ceremony, you know the one with the princess dress and the dancing and all that, in Ecuador.
We are hoping to do it in February or March of 2013.
I know that this will be hard for a lot of my family and friends to make it to this wedding, but I am really hoping that they will keep it in mind and see if it is an option.
Andres and I are trying to put together a budget, and to me it is looking like it will be a lot cheaper for my guests than I had originally thought.
I will be sending out this proposed budget to friends and family in the next few weeks.
If you do not get it and would like to, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!!!!!
You can  comment on here and let me know, or email me, or facebook me, or even get ahold of someone in my family.





Let me think, what else is going on.
As of right now I am not working. The gym I coach at is closed for the summer months. Even though it is frustrating not working, I am not complaining because it is HOT here.
The last few days have been in the 100s, but the heat index says that it feels like 120 or more. I am glad I do not have to walk and public transport in this heat.
So in the meantime I am house-sitting for a neighbor.

I start online University in August.
The school seems really good.
I just got my class schedule and it seems pretty simple.
They put me in Conversational Spanish 1 and I am going to see if I can test out of it. 
Other than that, it should be fun.

SO there is an update.
I am going to get back to work on some wedding stuff.