ENGAGED!

Yep! On July 4th, the love of my life asked me to marry him... and I said YES! We are so happy! The details of how the Lord brought us together will definitely be posted later, but for now, here are a few pictures from the proposal! :)

My AMAZING, beautiful ring!

My family has a barn right outside of Seward. We were in Seward all day celebrating the 4th, and after the preformance of "Let Freedom Sing" that evening, Andrew said he wanted to take me out to the barn to shoot some fireworks. So naturally, I went along, and honestly didn't suspect a thing.

When we got there, Andrew asked me to go put the fireworks on the black shelf under the window while he got some punks from the car. Our conversation went a little like this."

Andrew: "Go put the fireworks on the black shelf under the window, I'm gonna grab some punks."

Me: "What window?"

Andrew: "The one with the black shelf"

Me: "What? I don't see any shelves under the windows."

Andrew: "....just go put them in the barn."

Me: "I'm going in the barn?!?!?!"

Well since I didn't know what was going on, I put the fireworks on the black shelf and walked right back out, ready to do some fireworks. I didn't see the little black book sitting on the shelf about 2 feet from where I had put the fireworks. Andrew walked back in and grabbed one firework, lit it off, then walked back in to the barn. I followed him, and then eventually saw the little book sitting there. We looked through it together. It was a scrapbook of us, from the time we first met to present day. It was so beautiful!

When I got to the end of the book, I looked at him, and he got down on one knee and opened a box with the most beautiful ring I have ever seen, and asked me to marry him! And I said YES! :)

Afterwards, we went back to my grandparents house where his family and my family were waiting.

We got lots of hugs!

And text messages

and phone calls!

It was so fun! And I am absoultely thrilled to be engaged to the man of my dreams! We appreciate your prayers as we enter this new exciting phase of life and begin to plan our wedding!

"You have made known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with JOY

in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

Psalm 16:11

Crabbing

A high light of my child hood was going crabbing on the beach every night while we were on vacation. Andrew heard me talk about how much fun we used to have and said that he wanted to try it someday! So while he was here this past week, we went to the beach and stayed until it got dark so he could go crabbing.

Here's how it works....

• You wait until it starts to get dark, then you go out on the beach with a flash light, net and bucket.
• You have one person use the flash light as a spot light and the other with the net.
• The person with the flash light scans the beach for the little monsters.
• When one is spotted, the person with the net chases after it and tries to catch it. I should mention that they are extremely quick and change directions often. :)
• The person with the net slams the net down onto the sand, trapping the crab underneath the net.
• Then someone picks it up while it is still in the net and puts it in the bucket.....And then you repeat the process

We did not have a bucket along so we didn't get to keep any of the crabs Andrew caught. (I don't know that many of them made it through the slamming of the net onto the sand haha) But he did a great job at catching them! He even got pinched and we had a lot of fun! :)

Little Crab waiting by it's hole

His First crab

The Mighty Hunter with his first catch!

Andrew

Okay, so I've gotten many comments over the past few months asking for more details about my wonderful, wonderful man-- how we met, how long we've known each other etc... I'm not trying to ignore them... because I LOVE talking about Andrew! *smile* I just haven't found the time to put together a post about it. So I hope this little update informs you of some of the things you've been wondering about and I hope you are able to follow it... :)

My grandparents live in Seward, Nebraska, (the same area the Wissmann's are from) and I have been going there every summer and/or fall since I was 5 years old. The 4th of July in Seward was always a highlight of the year for our family (and still is). I spent weeks in Seward in the summers and would often come up in the fall to see the harvest, but I never knew or heard anything about 'the Wissmann Family'. Surprising right?! To think, he was so close all those years, but I never knew who he was.

But anyways, I shared that little bit of background that so you could understand where the connection of Seward, Nebraska and Orlando, Florida comes in.... In 2002, my grandparents and some family friends heard the Wissmanns sing at the county fair in Seward and invited them down to stay with us in Florida and sing. So in February 2003, the Wissmann's travelled down to Florida for a week and I met the love of my life... I was 14 years old.

His family has continued to come down to Florida in February for the past 7 years and I still travel to Nebraska in the summers. But as you can imagine, there are now quite a few more trips happening. And I have enjoyed every special moment I've gotten to spend with him and his family. :)

Andrew and I have been courting/dating/in a relationship (whatever you chose to call it) for the past year and are treasuring this season of life and praying for what God would have for us next. But being 1200 miles apart 90% of the time is very tough. We look forward to the times we get to spend together and are always counting down the days until we get to see each other next. (29 days!! *smile*)

....That's all I will share for now... details on how God brought us together will have to come in a later post as it is quite a long, yet amazing story! (I guess I am a bit biased!)*smile* And I need my other half to help fill in the details that I miss (because he remembers more than I do...) So you'll have to wait on that one....

Delight yourself in the Lord

and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37:4

Best Valentine's Day...

Andrew and I were apart for our first valentine's day. But he was here about a week after valentine's day. While I was at work one day, he (with the help of his amazing sisters) put together this beautiful candlelight supper on the lake and completely surprised me! It was so wonderful!

We had Chicken Cordon Bleu, Corn, potatoes, salad and sparkling grape juice. And for desert, Chocolate brownie pudding!! It was delicious!

So romantic and so beautiful!

He is the sweetest and I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such an amazing man!

I love you, Andrew!!! ♥

I love him...

.....more than anything in the world. ♥

Katie and Andrew

My cousin asked me to take a few picture of her and her fiancé before she left to go back to college. We had a lot of fun trying to get the pictures taken before we lost day light! By the time we got out to take picture we only had about 20 minutes left. Luckily, we were able to catch a few good ones! :)

Congratulations, Katie and Andrew!

Love you, both! :)

Brrr It's COLD!!...

...And I thought I lived in FLORIDA!

We've had record cold temperatures here this past week and there has been lots of ice and even snow/sleet! Saturday morning it was 19 degrees and raining which turned into snow in some places and sleet in others! I got up extra early just to see it! :) I don't ever remember it being this cold in Florida for such a long period of time! I love it! But our poor orange trees are suffering for it, as it's been below 32 every night and barely reaching the 40s during the day.

As I went to leave for class yesterday morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my car was covered in ice!

This week a friend said to me, "You know you live in Florida, when you use a frisbee as an ice scraper in the morning to get the ice off your window."

....or in my case, draw in the ice! :)

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year... here are a few pictures from Christmas eve and Christmas day with our family! :)

How adorable is my dog!?! I love her!

My family

Cousins!

We were so excited to have Katie's fiance, Andrew with us this year for Christmas!

This picture makes me laugh-- never a dull moment in my family! hahaha

We did something a little different this year, and had a fun little game before our real gift exchange. It was a white elephant gift exchange. And the hot item was the snuggie!! It got stolen numerous times!

Katie ended up with the snuggie, only because her Andrew stole it from someone for her!

Kelley's singing flower pot!

Grandpa and Grandma

Each year we all sit in the same spots-- No body has ever noticed it until this year when we had an extra person that we had to find a seat for!

Christmas morning-- of course we had to stop at starbucks on the way to Grandma and PopPop's! You know your dad goes to Starbucks too much, when he walks in, gets free coffee and is given multiple Christmas gifts from the people working there!

These are my Christmas socks. Given to me by the one and only-- Andrew Wissmann! During the Wissmann family Christmas, we played bingo and there were lots of fun prizes. And my man won me these socks! He's the BEST! :)

Christmas with the Fulmer side on Christmas Day

Cousin Shelby and her skateboard. And Dad with his Starbucks.

Mom's side of the family.

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

which is Christ the Lord."

Luke 2:11

Winter Wonderland Wedding

This year I got to expirence REAL winter-- Never in my life have I been in such cold temperatures. Going from the upper 80s to single digit temperatures was pretty shocking, but I loved it! I loved waking up every morning and looking out the window and seeing everything covered in white and I loved playing in the snow! And I was so glad that I was able to be at Dan and Bethany's wedding. It was so beautiful, and Bethany was the most beautiful Bride I have ever seen!! :)We hooked up a sled behind Andrew's jeep and pulled it around. I didn't try it, but it looked fun and I enjoyed watching everyone go!
The Wissmann's put on their Branson show at the Seward high school one night.

My Hillbilly! :)

It was bitter-sweet, as it was Bethany's last show as a Wissmann!

Friday and Saturday were full of wedding festivities! Decorating, and last minute errands, picking up cakes, taking cakes back, decorating more wedding rehearsal, rehearsal supper. Wake up early to get hair done, wedding picture, then finally the WEDDING and reception. Andrew and I got to serve punch at the reception. It was alot of fun, and I enjoyed getting to meet lots of friends and family-- and the company wasn't half bad either! ;)

Bethany was an absolutely gorgeous bride!!