Coopers Wedding

This past weekend James, Jenni, Robin, Ash and I loaded up in a rental car and headed up north to stockton for Coopers wedding... or should I say "Lulla's" wedding. Although it was quiet a long ways to spend in a car, it was fun with the group that I traveled with. It was nice to finally see James. He came around midnight the night before from AZ and the girls are always fun!
Here are some pics I took from the wedding. For some reason Ash was MIA when taking them.

James and I waiting for Cooper and Raj to arrive at the reception

I love these girls so much!

















Laura and the girls having fun at the reception

Emily and Sarah are the flower girls for our wedding. I can't wait to see how cute they are going to be in their little dresses!

Toni was so kind to allow our car to crash at her house in Stockton. Her mom made pancakes the next morning. She has a great family.

Nothing beats wedding cake!!!!!

Our New Home

So, I finally downloaded all my pictures from... well, February, and I found pictures that I took of the new apartment James and I will be living in once we get married in Arizona. They school has been so gracious to us that they have renovated almost the entire apartment and put in new cabinets, carpet, and countertops. I think a new fridge too.
Here are some pics of the place I will call "home"

The entrance to our home


The living room. Luckily James collected furniture and what not this past year that will soon go in there


Here is a view of the living room from the entrance. It connects to the kitchen


Our lovely kitchen where I will be microwaving chicken fingers and corn dogs for my amazing husband-to-be


My favorite part: James and I both get our own bathrooms and each one comes with two sinks and a walk-in closet! A girls dream


Here is the guest bedroom. Grand Canyon University took out the desks for us to make the rooms a little bigger. It will be nice thought to have this spare room for all you California people to come visit and for a study room since I will be in nursing school at GCU

6 weeks from today I will officially be Mrs. James Rogers. So, to prepare my dad for the wedding we are currently watching Father of the Bride. Best movie ever!

I love Franck. He’s so funny.
I’m definitely going to miss my dad and the good times that we shared together but the excitement of sharing the rest of my life with the man of my dreams surpasses all those feelings.

Thanks Robin

4 jobs I have had in my life:

Gymnastics Coach (Baldy View Gymnastics and Mission Hills)
Bath and Body Works
CBU Bookstore
Resident Assistant / Graduate Assistant

4 Movies I have watched more than once:

The Devil Wears Prada
Legally Blonde
Monster Inc.
Oceans Eleven

4 Places I have lived:

Chino, CA
Riverside, CA
Istanbul, Turkey (almost 2 months)
Big Bear, CA (for the summer)


4 TV Shows I watch/watched:

The Biggest Loser
American Idol
24
Survivor

4 Place I have been:

Istanbul, Turkey
The Amazon in Brazil
Rwanda, Africa
Honolulu, Hawaii

4 People who email me regularly:

Christie (Pacs)
Katrina Blank
… that’s about it for the regulars

4 of my favorite foods:

Frozen Yogurt!!!!
Broccoli
Cereal
Turkey Sandwiches

4 places I would like to visit:

Romania
Afghanistan
New York
Greece

Things I am looking forward to in the coming year:

Getting married to greatest man EVER!
Moving out to AZ and starting my new life with Big Game
Starting up the nursing program at GCU
Getting to know the GCU crew

I am tagging: My fiancé James Rogers, Pacs, Katrina, and Becca L.

They are just shoes

With Christ comes sacrifice.
There are going to be numerous times in our lives where God is going to ask us to sacrifice something for the sake of HIS glory. Today in church we reflected on the story of Abraham and Isaac.

I stand in awe at Abraham and how God called him to sacrifice his son Isaac and without question he got up the next day and built an alter before the Lord. I only pray that I would have as much faith and obedience as Abraham did.

Here we were at the end of the sermon and I’m questioning if I would truly give up everything I have in sacrifice to the Lord and the pastor asks us to start with one sacrifice, our shoes.

What do you mean, my shoes? I love these shoes!
And as the music played, a lady behind me whispered to her husband, “They are just shoes!”



It’s so true. They are just shoes. As human beings we grasp so tightly to the things of this world that mean nothing in eternity. It was so hard for me to leave behind my favorite pair of shoes… I just wonder what else am I holding onto?

So, there I was driving home barefoot, blessing the feet of an African girl that probably has never even own her own pair.

It was all worth the wait

Growing up I was always the “go-to” friend. You know, the girl that all the guys made friends with to get info on her best friend, the one whose friend never went a day without a boyfriend yet I couldn’t get one for the life of me.

It definitely played a toll on my Jr. high school through college years yet I stayed strong and never settled for less. With 22 years of never being pursued, I never dreamed about getting married.

For all the heartache of never thinking I would find “the one,” for all the frustration of being the “go-to” girl, for all the times of sitting in my room during a winter formal or prom dreaming of what it would be like, for all the hopeless nights of sulking alone in Romanic movies … I find it all worth the wait to finally be in the arms of my one and only love, James David Rogers.



I would have never thought that 23 years down the road I would be announcing that I will soon be Mrs. Ruth Rogers!

Thanksgiving

Well, I will try and fill you in on my life from the past month. November has flown by so fast. It scares me how fast life flies by the older I get. I remember when I use to make the Christmas ring chain and stare at it each day, just counting the number of rings left till Christmas day. It seemed like that chain kept growing and not shortening. Now I’m just begging for the holidays to grant me just one more day to get shopping and everything done before the big day.
Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was a great time of being thankful with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. My family and I flew out to Arizona, where we had a layover and picked up the greatest guy in my life, James, to then proceed to a little town called Canton, TX. The pressure was on for James to meet the family, and of course he passed with flying colors. I think it was hard for me in the since that my grandfather was not there to meet him. He would always joke with me about guys and meeting my boyfriend one day. But I know that he would have approved and loved James… not only because they have the same exact name (James Rogers).
It was nice to not only see my relatives and be in Texas, but to also spend an entire week with James without the phone being involved. Just sitting on the couch watching TV was such a blessing.
The night of Thanksgiving we made a huge bon fire out in my grandmother’s yard while it was sleeting. We also made our daily trips out to Wal-Mart to waste time away and of course to the Dairy Palace. It’s a tradition that we go out each night and get Blue Bell Ice Cream. It just sucked this time, since I can’t have ice cream anymore… yay for being lactose intolerant!
Saying good-bye at the airport wasn’t all that fun, but knowing that he would be back out the next weekend made it a bit easier. He is out for the weekend right now and I’m loving every minute of it.
With Thanksgiving over and December here, I’m diving straight into the holiday season. I love this time of year!!! The Christmas lights, the busy parking lots, the holiday music, decorating the tree, Christmas parties, and buying gifts for those I love. The song is so right… It’s the most wonderful time of the year.