Sweet Danica,

I hope, in the midst of all your engagements, you find a little time to read His good Word, and to wait at His mercy seat. It is good for us to draw nigh to Him. It is an honour that He permits us to pray; and we shall surely find He is a God hearing prayer. Endeavour to be diligent in the means; yet watch and strive against a legal spirit, which is always aiming to represent Him as a hard master, watching as it were to take advantage of us. But it is far otherwise. His name is Love! He looks upon us with compassion; He knows our frame, and remembers that we are but dust; and when our infirmities prevail, He does not bid us despond, but reminds us that we have an Advocate with the Father, who is able to pity, to pardon, and to save to the uttermost. Think of the names and relations He bears. Does He not call Himself a Saviour, a Shepherd, a Friend, and a Husband? Has He not made known unto us His love, His blood, His righteousness, His promises, His power, and His grace, and all for our encouragement? Away, then, with all doubting, unbelieving thoughts; they will not only distress your heart, but weaken your hands. Take it for granted upon the warrant of His word, that you are His, and He is yours; that He has loved you with an everlasting love, and therefore in loving-kindness has drawn you to Himself; that He will surely accomplish that which He has begun, and that nothing which can be named or thought of shall ever be able to separate you from Him. This persuasion will give you strength for the battle; this is the shield which will quench the fiery darts of Satan; this is the helmet which the enemy cannot pierce. Whereas, if we go forth doubting and fearing, and are afraid to trust any farther than we can feel, we are weak as water, and easily overcome. Be strong, therefore, not in yourself, but in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Pray for me, and believe me to be,

Yours,
John Newton
May 31, 1769

Woo hoo!!!!

Yippee for Charissa and Robert!

Yup.

We finally faced the challenge and registered.

And I gotta say, after roughly 10 hours, we feel triumphant.

See Pottery Barn, Target and Bed Bath & Beyond for details.



(I'm getting married!!! =) Wow! Yay!)

Yay, yay my Joel is back!!!

Pics of the lakehouse fun...

Joel rescues the life jackets...


Kristin!!


Awww.


Danica and Joel jump off a very large cliff... yes, from the very top.


Hmmm.


Fuzzy Dock Shot


Sleepy


Joel Skiing



(I've got some pics of Josh, but he's sleeping in several of them, so I wasn't sure if he'd appreciate seeing them here or not! =) And I have several shots of people on the tube, but it's hard to determine who everyone is...)

Yes. It's been boring here.

I know the blog has been a bit "blah" lately. I apologize. I keep meaning to post on lots of different things, but alas, I never do.

So here's my attempt at something "meaningful."

The blog may have been boring as of late, but life has been quite the opposite.

I'm reminded again of my abilty to cope with disappointments more successfully than blessings. Which is sad, really. I don't know what it is, but I think it's true of most people. This could explain why so many people are willing to wallow and stay in the "depths of despair." It's strange, but I guess there's something familiar about pain, something routine. Or maybe it's just that we have a callousness reserved for life's pain and dissappointments, whereas joy really gets you where it hurts, and there's no hiding from it.

Tonight at City Church Kevin mentioned how life with God is sometimes a little out of control. I'd have to say amen to that one.

At the moment I'm listening through a few playlists from last fall and they're making me feel a plethora of things. I wish I could tell you, but I just can't find the words. (currently I can only steal them...) Lately, when I take the time to think back over this past year it isn't long before I find myself overwhelmed. So many events, so many changes. I often wonder if Danica from a year ago would even recognize me now. It's funny, a year ago I didn't even know my fiance existed. I don't know if that makes me insane or lucky... probably both, but I'd say that that event alone constitutes as "a little out of control" not to mention the G8 summit, graduation and everything else inbetween. I for one am happy that God knows what He's doing, cause I never would have expected any of this (with the exception of graduation) last summer.

So I'm learning how to live life in a constant state of awe. With so much going on, there isn't much else I can do. It's an amazing feeling to know you will soon be married to your best friend, and yet, at the same time it's fightening to feel at times as though you hardly know them at all. It's exciting to see yourself going through the process of something that you were never really sure would happen or not, but it is slightly intimidating to see everything in your life changing completely in such a short time.

But wow. It's worth it.

And I really don't know how else to end this post, so that will have to do for tonight.

Yay for unexpected good things. Yay for being out of control.

Goodnight all.

More Proposal Pics!

So.. it turns out that we were not alone in the wilderness! Joel had a friend of his hide up in the brush with a camera by the falls where he planned to propose. he stayed hidden the entire time and took pictures of the entire thing! Joel just surprised me with them today!! Some are a little blurry due to the stealth nature of the endeavor.. I will do my best to narrate:

Joel and I switch places so that he can "take my picture."


He's proposing!! No way!


Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!


Are you sure?


WOW!



PDA.


Mmm.

Engagements Everywhere!

Yes Kelsey, I'm wearing a freakin' rock!


Wow this is crazy....

So, as of May 17th, 2006 Joel and I became officially engaged!

Here is the story:

Monday morning we flew out here to Redding, CA to spend some time with Joel's family. We spent the first few days hiking around to different scenic spots and meeting various fmaily members. So far so good. =)

Yesterday I woke up to the sound of Joel coming into my room carrying breakfast on a tray (eggs, bacon, toast, oj, vitamins, oh my!) along with roses. Yay for breakfast in bed! We had planned to spend the day out at McCloud Falls, an area in the mountains with 3 different waterfalls: lower, middle, and upper. We got ready to go for the day, and before we left Joel said he had something else for me, so he pulled out a huge Hershey's "Special Dark" chocolate bar along with another rose. Awww. So Joel had the car packed up with lunch, parked in the garage with the air conditioner running so we got in and started on our way.

We drove for about an hour up through the mountians, passing Mt. Shasta and other scenic points. Along the way we got a bit turned around, and Joel seemed to be getting a little frustrated that he didn't remember exactly where it was, so we turned around once, and when we arrived we took a wrong trail but eventually we found our way. (all the while I kept telling him that we were in no hurry, so there was no need to worry about getting turned around... etc etc). So when we got on the right track we stopped by the lower falls first, took some pictures, stuck our hands in the the freezing cold water, saw some deer, and then decided to head up toward the middle falls.

At the middle falls we took some pictures and then walked out to a rock on the water in front of the waterfall where we decided to unpack lunch. So we sat onn the rock and ate a bit, but we weren't very hungry, so I we packed up and I went to take a picture of Joel in front of the waterfall, then he asked to get a picture of me in front of the waterfall too. To which I protested asking why he wanted one too, but I finally gave in and we switched spots and I let him take a picture. Once he finished he said "Oh, remember how I told you that I had a graduation present for you and that I wanted to give it to you later? Well I want to give it to you now." So he went to his bag and pullled something out and held it behind his back as he walked back to me. Then he told me to stand up, and he got down on one knee pulled a box out behind his back, opened it up and said "Danica Faith Mercer, I love you so much. Will you marry me?"

To which I replied by covering my face saying "oh my god! oh my god!" And he said "at least look at the ring!" And I looked at the ring, and at him and said "Are you sure?" and he said "Yes, I'm sure." And I said "I might be bad at being married!" and he said, "It'll be fine." and I said "Yes. yes I will."

And then there was a lot of hugging and kissing. But no crying!!

So there it is, the story that I've told a million times and look forward to telling a million times more.

Some pics for the curious:

The Spot!


Joel before the question...


Me before the question...


Us after the question!


One more shot of the most beautiful ring ever!

Happiness is:

-a cold Dr. Pepper
-Lazy afternoons
-A cool breeze on a 102 degree day
-Friendship
-A trampoline
-Swimming pools
-Family
-Fresh bacon
-Inside jokes
-Naivity
-Church
-Peace
-Cats
-Remembering the name of something when you've been thinking about it for hours
-Cookie dough
-Krispy Kreme (at 11 at night!)
-Pity parties
-Roadtrips
-Independent films
-Soundtracks
-A song that has finally downloaded after you've been waiting 3 hours for it to finish
-Target
-Pad thai
-Sales
-Good books
-Large old trees that you can climb into and fall asleep in
-Anne of green gables
-Midnight movie premiers
-Art camp
-Dancing
_Paperback harry potter books
-A good audition
-Shakespeare done well
-Musicals
-Rain
-Cd's with the song lyrics included
-Chocolate
-Good quotes
-New books
-Ditching school to go out to lunch
-Tax refunds
-Days off
-Driving for hours with no destination
-Lists
-Journals
-Breakfast
-Free stuff
-A good workout
-Ice skating
-Sleeping in
-Tuition deferments
-Magazines
-Christmas
-Emo!
-Hand-written notes and letters
-Guitars!
-Snow
-Fresh bread
-Pets
-Candles
-Stationary
-Pictures
-Picture frames
-Scrapbooks!
-Memories
-Taste of china 5.95 super buffet
-Laptops
-Cheesiness!
-Realizing that your gas tank can go well below "E"
-Discovering that things aren't as bad as you expecte them to be
-Suprise friendships
-Concerts
-Compliments
-Tj Maxx
-Tubing
-Laying out on the grass under the stars at night
-Star Wars
-That new toothpaste and toothbrush you get when you go to the dentist
-Winning a free dr. pepper from that stupid under the cap game
-Blogging
-Kazaa
-E-mail
-A good movie
-Hearing a live orchestra for the first time
-Learning that there are others like you and that you aren't alone
-Fitting in
-Being an individual
-Believing
-Answered prayers
-Love.

But above all... happiness is relative.
So tell me: What is happiness to you?