Pictures from my brother’s October 25th wedding weekend, the last time Patrick was up in Oregon (read ‘too long ago’).

Just a quick update:  Though the original plan was to get married in Canby, we have–due to a long, drawn-out explanation involving a whole lot of polysyllabic words & complex mathematical formulas–recently changed the venue for our happy day to Grand View Baptist Church in Beavercreek, OR.

Fortunately, the change was made before the invitations were sent out, so those of you receiving invitations will find the correct address & directions included.

Speaking of invitations–holy cow!–this is a more complicated process than I anticipated, and I am still working my way down the guest list.  So please don’t be offended if you are expecting one & haven’t gotten yours yet :).  It’s coming.  Eventually.

46 DAYS ‘TIL I AM MRS. PATRICK ODEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(sorry, little splatter of  bridal excited disbelief there)

Love to you all!

The plan was to live in Pasadena. I started school there this last month.

But I don’t live there.

In fact, I live an hour and a half away.

Amy lives quite a bit farther away.

The plan was to get married and move together to our new place. Only we didn’t have a place lined up.

That has changed.

We now have a new address, a school owned apartment a block north of Fuller Seminary.

Our back window faces the 210 freeway across the street. Our front window faces the apartment complex pool. We officially can move in on January 3rd.

That date might sound familiar. We’re getting married on January 3rd.

We’re starting a drive down to California on the 4th. We should get to Pasadena on the afternoon of the 7th, just in time for us to begin moving in, and for me to start classes on the 8th.

Our new address, to which all mail after January 7 should be addressed, is:

296 N. Oakland Ave #3
Pasadena, CA 91101

Hooray!

Now that this is settled, prayers for a new job for Amy are now even more appreciated.

Though we might have to widen the center aisle…hmmmmm…

We finished it all with quite the flurry yesterday.

On Friday, it seems we may have nailed down where the wedding will take place.

Canby Grove Conference Center. The papework and details have to be signed still, but Amy and I went there and we felt a lot of peace, had a lot of ideas, and very much enjoyed the tour Shelly gave us, and her enthusiasm.

If you go to their website have a look at the Mt. Hood Pavilion. That’s where we’re getting married… and maybe/possibly/hopefully/likely also having the reception. It’s going to be a bit of a creative setup, but we got excited about the possibilities. Plus, in an Oregon winter who wants to go outside, walk around to a different location, and thus leave the cozy fireplace?

Saturday was just about us. I insisted we don’t do anything wedding, and don’t do anything that involved other people. We went to an art festival in Portland, after which we did a little, tiny bit of wedding shopping at Kathleen’s of Dublin. Looking for wedding bands, don’t you know.

Then, a relaxing afternoon and an amazing dinner at Salvadore Mollys. My favorite restaurant.

And a relaxing evening capped it off. I can’t remember the last whole day we were able to spend just about us, and so we needed this.

Sunday had a different focus. Morning was church. Amy led worship. There was communion. It was a great time–even if all the distractions before hand didn’t exactly enhance our eagerness beforehand. God still works in bringing nice surprises. Plus, I was able to catch up with the fine folks at Two Rivers, which has been so supportive of Amy, and oddly enough the church most supportive of my efforts as well. Curious that. Check it out if you’re in the Milwaukie, Oregon area.

That afternoon, I went to Starbucks. Amy went to her producers to record more Christmas CD goodness. Went very well. I’ll post some of the videos I took.

For a total change of pace, we then went and saw The Dark Knight. It was dark. And quite good. And dark (did I mention that?).

Monday brought all manner of busyness. In the morning we went to the Dahlia festival in Canby (pictures posted soon). Amazingly beautiful. Amy has a bunch of Black Satin dahlias to remind her of the morning.

Then over to the Gustafson family picnic, where I met again aunts and uncles and grandmother, and for the first time met cousins. Quite fun!

Then, it was off to business for us. First Macys. We walked through Macys and picked out all manner of new home goodness.

Then coffee and icee.

Rejuvenated, we made our Target walkthrough.

So, have a look at target and macys websites for updated registry fun.

A long day, a late evening. Definitely, a weekend well spent.

I still mean to post on how we met. But, I hope you’ll excuse my tardiness, as I’ve had other writing to work on. I finished the first draft of my next book a couple weeks ago. It’s on Christian spiritual maturity and how God goes about teaching it.

Amy has been in the studio during her few free moments, recording a Christmas CD.

And earlier this week, I joined her in Portland. After 6+ weeks of not seeing each other, blogging isn’t too high on our list of tasks. But my being here means we’re going to be getting some wedding stuff done, and look to September for more active posts hereabouts.

Thanks for checking in!

Not just any dress, the dress. My wedding dress. My once-in-a-lifetime huge white sparkly princess wedding dress. (I’d post a photo but I have to keep it secret from you-know-who ;). )

Through the years, I have been wedding dress shopping with many of my friends; I have watched them try on these uniquely large white gowns; I have witnessed each find the one that eventually and finally made them gush and say, “WOW! This is it.” READ MORE

Welcome!!

The first words I said to Amy. On January 12, 2007.

The story of how we met… coming soon…

Oftentimes when this verse is read, it is followed by the question, “Why don’t we see this kind of giving & sharing among believers today?”

Well, for anyone who has ever asked that, I’m here to share the happy news that we, in fact, do.

The three weeks of our engagement thus far has proven to Patrick & I that we have amazing, amazing people in our lives. Repeatedly over this time, friends & family have risen up to offer us things that have absolutely astounded us and made our planning so much easier and so blessed.

Someone gave us a generous cash gift to help out with wedding expenses! Someone offered to make our wedding cake for no cost to us! Someone offered us a horse-drawn carriage to ride off into the sunset in! Sunday, someone offered us china & crystal because they’ve inherited way too many sets themselves! Yesterday, someone wrote and asked if she could make me some special jewelry to wear with my dress!

(Not to mention–or rather, not to forget!–the hours, money, & resources our other family & friends are investing in us as part of this journey.)

It’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful facet of the endeavor.

It’s so beautiful to both of us, mostly because even here in this, we see the Holy Spirit working through His Body. This is how life is supposed to work, this is the way He designed it. He gave each part of the Body gifts and talents and possessions to use for the benefit of the whole Body. And when we’re giving from our giftedness, we do so with joy, free of obligation. We see an occasion & we happily rise to it. We work all together, in every part of life. In births, in deaths, in joys, in failures, in crises…in weddings. That way the yoke is lighter for the one carrying the burden…and we all know, for as much joy as it is, planning a wedding is at times a burdensome task.

So, even at three weeks into this, thank you all, more than we can even begin to say. We are so thankful for your generosity, for your obedience to what GOD has moved you to do.

<3 <3 <3

But even though nothing is settled with plans we’re moving nicely forward. The location of the wedding and the reception is just about decided. Well, I’d say it is decided, but you know how these sorts of things have to go through a process.

We’ve got a cake. In fact, there’s a good story there. Very nice story. Amy’s story.

The wedding itself is mostly planned, it seems. And the reception is getting there. Put a seminary graduate and a worship leader together and services tend to be quickly planned. We thought about doing our usual habit of just throwing something together at the last moment, but then thought since we’d be all dressed up and have to print programs and such, it’d be good to come up with something more beforehand.