We’re engaged!!!

Last Wednesday evening after he got off of work, Matt drove all the way from Santa Rosa to Visalia, to pick me up. We left on Thursday morning to go back to Santa Rosa, where his best friend, Nick was getting married on Saturday. On Thursday evening, Matt took me to this awesome Puerto Rican restaurant, and then we went out for ice cream afterwards. He suggested that we take a drive out to the beach, so we could watch the sunset. It was a gorgeous evening and a beautiful drive out to the coast. When we arrived, the sun had already set, and it was getting dark. When we got out of Matt’s truck, we walked along one of the trails that led out to the beach. The wind had picked up a little, and it had become quite chilly outside. All bundled up in my pea coat, and Matt in his hooded sweatshirt, we went for a stroll along the sandy dunes for a bit, before finding a place to sit and talk. It was a clear nights sky as we talked about our future, and laughed at how quickly we met and fell in love. It was perfect; we were gazing at the stars, trying to make out the constellations in the sky for quite some time before we just sat silent, taking in all of our beautiful surroundings.

I broke the silence by asking if he wanted to leave, because at this point we were both shivering, and he slyly replied, “Okay . . . . (he paused for a moment) right after I ask you to marry me.” My eyes grew large, and I looked at him confused and said, “What do you mean?!” He then handed me a big, beautiful, shiny ring and said, “Nicole, will you marry me?” I excitedly replied, “YES!! Yes, yes, yes! A million times over, YES!” My heart was beating out of my chest at this point, as I quickly took the promise ring that he had given me just one month earlier, and placed it from my left ring finger, to my right.  He then took the new engagement ring, gazed lovingly into my eyes, and as he proudly slipped it on my finger, we shared a long, passionate kiss.

It was one of the most beautiful moments I have ever experienced!! To be with someone that you connect on so many levels with, and to share the same love for the Lord, is simply divine. I am so excited about our new life together, and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my days here on earth with Matthew Kirby!

To continue my story, Matt and I giggled and got up from where we were sitting and practically ran back to his truck. We spent the whole rest of the evening talking about our future together, and drinking in the reality that we were now more than just “boyfriend and girlfriend"; we were engaged!!

We had a glorious weekend at Nick and Amy’s wedding, and before we knew it, Sunday had come. We spent the whole morning on Sunday attending church with Matt’s grandma and dad. It was nice meeting them for the first time, and Matt’s grandma really liked me!

We quickly went home after church to change into more appropriate “travel attire”, loaded the rig and headed for our first destination to Roseville. We had to go get all of my stuff that was still at Doug’s house, and bring it home to Visalia. It took us an hour n’ a half to load all of mine and the kids things, but it was a relief to just be out of there, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore. When we stopped at a gas station to fill up his tank, I washed his windshield for him. He couldn’t get enough of that, so he started taking a bunch of pics!

We arrived in Visalia at about 9pm on Sunday evening, just in time to celebrate the Fourth of July with my children, parents, grandpa Tom, Michael and Launa. We had a blast doing fireworks with the kids, and Matt and I were so happy to come home and share the news of our new engagement! It was so nice to have everyone welcome Matt into our family, and most of all, to gain the blessing and approval of my parents and my grandpa!

Monday morning, Matt woke up and put a new part on my car that had worn out. (He takes care of me sooooo well!!) I made him a nice breakfast when he came in from working on my car.

We just relaxed and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon enjoying each other’s company. At about 2pm, he had to start heading home. We said our goodbye’s, and held and kissed each other until we finally had to part. We were both sad as he drove away, but hopeful about our wonderful and glorious future that lies ahead . . .

Daughters of Jerusalem by David Brymer w/ Lyrics

Verse 1: 

A         F#m 

Yes, My Beloved            

Bm               E 

He's the fairest of ten thousand     

A         F#m 

Yes, he is Holy          

Bm                 E 

He is humble, meek and lowly   

Chorus:          

D 

Daughters of Jerusalem                

F#m 

Tell me if you find him   

C#m         D       E 

I am lovesick,  I am lovesick                  

D 

Daughters of Jerusalem                   

F#m 

Tell me if you find him   

C#m        D        E 

I am lovesick,  I am lovesick  

Verse 2: 

A/C#  E                D 

All   I want is to be near you, with you     

Bm        A 

Where you are 

A/C#  E                D 

All   I want is to be near you, with you     

Bm        A 

Where you are  

Artist: International House Of Prayer 

Copyright Credits: Album: Immersed 

Written By: David Brymer

Daughters of Jerusalem by David Brymer w/ Lyrics

I am lovesick for my first love, Jesus. Stir and awaken my love for You; I am Your bride and I long for You. My heart grieves for the time lost while living in sin; I forgot how to rightfully love and honor You completely . . . Take me as I am, as I hide myself in Your love, and walk in obedience to Your word. Lord, please pour out overflowing measures of Your grace so I can live my life without sin. Take me away to where You are, my friend, my lover . . .

The True Jesus — Unknown! (3 of 3)

I hope this series has stirred your heart to understand the reality of what it means to TRULY be saved . . . .

The True Jesus — Unknown! (2 of 3)

PLEASE WATCH THIS SERIES!!! It could change your life . . .

The True Jesus — Unknown! (1 of 3)

Oh Lord, forgive us of not following Your commands!!! I realize now for the first time in my life, that I have never TRULY been a follower of Jesus, and therefore not TRULY saved! My heart is extremely sad that I have not loved or obeyed Him as I should, yet so very glad that He has revealed this to my heart by His Holy Spirit to allow repentance and true change to occur . . .

Trust

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean (trust not) on your own understanding . . .

Don’t believe what your carnal mind is telling you. Trust God and believe in His word, even if your circumstances are telling you different. If there is no evidence of what He has told you, don’t worry, just trust . . . .

The things we try to desperately hold on to in our life, are often the things that get us into the most trouble, and hold us back from reaching our goals!

Sometimes we need to give the things up that we want, to reach our goals.

If you aim for nothing, you’ll reach it every time.

In order for there to be LIFE, there must be DEATH.

Keep open hands before the Lord. Forgetting the good things and the bad things; leaving them behind - let the past go!

Let the past be the past . . . .

I am a new woman

(Me n’ my bestie, Tracey!)

I am so happy to step out into a new adventure with just my children and I. I am finally able to support them on my own, and make a great life and living for the four of us!! I am proud, strong and happy to be on my own for the first time in my life, and to have a fulfilling and rewarding career! I am actually happy too, believe it or not just being single, and focusing on my beautiful and amazing children, my relationship with the Lord and my career. I have amazing friends that live where I am moving to, and I am so grateful and honored to call them my friends; they are my new family! I am destined for success and I know that God has BIG plans for my family . . .

(My three beautiful children, Christopher, Joshie and Allie with their friends,

Justin and Jordan)

Good times, good friends . . .

This weekend was fabulous!! I headed off to Roseville, which is soon to be my new place to call home. I currently go every weekend to work and spend time with my very best friends, Doug, Tracey, their son Justin, Matt n’ Lisa and their two kids Grace and Jordan, and my good friend Matt, and his four year old son, Mattie. I arrived on Friday evening as usual, and met up with the gang at our good buddy Jeremy’s restaurant, A Taste of Tuscany. After dinner, I hung out with Matt and Mattie for a while and then headed to Doug n’ Tracey’s house for the evening.

Waaay too early on Saturday morning, I awoke to Doug tapping my forehead, informing me that he was hijacking my presence for the next 2 hours, to go shopping for Tracey n’ little Mattie’s birthday party, which was that evening. So I had to quickly get dressed and did some grocery shopping and a Starbucks run. (Cause Doug loves coffee soooo much ;) ) I got my usual Soy, Caramel Macchiatto and Doug picked up a Hot Chocolate to bring home to the Trace-ster!!

We headed off to open up the shop at 9:30am and my very first appt. was a 90 minute massage; ugh!! From there I had back to back appointments (no pun intended) until my last one at 5:30pm. I had a very hard-working, yet extremely rewarding day. We closed up the shop early and headed home for Tracey n’ Mattie’s party.

Matt n’ Lisa were already there along with Doug’s mom, brother Anthony and his wife and kids, Dylan and Melissa and of course Matt n’ little Mattie! We had a fab-U-lous time enjoying good

company, food and laughter! At about 10pm we all got hungry though, so Matt and I hopped in his super cool truck, and escaped for a bit to bring back In-n-out burger for everyone! Despite Matt’s GPS, affectionately named “Lola”, we still got a little turned around on our way home!! Getting to know the Sacramento area IS tough!! Anyways we made it home before Melissa’s chocolate shake totally melted, and all was good!

On Sunday morning, we were all going to get up and go to Tracey’s dad’s church, but we found out that he wasn’t going to be preaching that day, so we decided to stay home and do breakfast.

Well, except for the fact that Doug hired two new employees to come and work for him at the shop, and so he wanted to go get them settled in there before taking us all out to breakfast. I called it as he left, telling him that we would be waiting until LUNCH! He promised he would quickly return. Sooooo, Tracey, Justin, Matt, Mattie and I all hung out at the house all morning, and yep, you guessed it, he came home at about 11:45am!! Just in time for lunch.

Oh well, he made up for it and took us all to our favorite “Benihana’s” type Japanese restaurant called Kokyo, where they cook the food on a grill in the middle of your table, and do fancy, funny tricks with the food! We all had a good time eating and watching little Mattie’s face as the chef did circus acts with eggs, utensils and lit things on fire. After lunch, we went back to Doug’s house and hung out till I had to leave. Upon my departure, I sadly hugged my lovely friends goodbye, and kissed their beautiful faces, until we see one another again next weekend . . .