My neck

The last couple of weeks my neck has been really bothering me. So much so that holding my head up for longer than fifteen minutes becomes a workout. I finally went to the chiropractor this past week and he took x-rays that were scary.

God created our bodies to have a 45 degree curve in the neck. Doctors call this curve the "arc of life" because the spinal chord's most important nerves are in this area and when the arc is lost the nerves are being pinched which causes your immune system to not work properly which causes disease.

My neck x-ray looks nothing like this one on the right. The curve in my neck is actually at 5 degrees--so virtually not there. Also on the top that 5 degree curve is there but then it flips and starts to curve the wrong direction toward the bottom. Dr.Tim, my chiropractor, said this is one of the most unique cases he's seen. Also, one of the worst.

He said he can help me and he put me on a 60 sessions in 6 months plan. So for the next 12 weeks I will be going to the chiropractor 3 times a week and then for the 12 weeks after that I will be going 2 times a week. With periodic x-rays to check the progress.

No wonder my neck has been bothering me for so long. In fact, it has been bothering me since that car accident I got into. Good to know my neck has been straight for a year and a half now!

By request - the ring

Ari's sister, Brienne, took this picture while we were in Minnesota last weekend. It's the best we could do--everything was coming out blurry. Once we get our engagement photos taken we will have a good picture for all you out of towners to see the ring.

the engagement

This is a little overdue but better late than never, right?

Last Thursday Ari called me up. Here is a replay of the conversation (Ari's in blue, I'm in purple)
I dont really feel like cooking dinner tonight. It's been a long day and I am tired. Wanna just go out to eat?
Yeah that's fine. Where?
I don't care, where do you want to go?
Meh, we can just go to Outback.
Sounds good.
So we head over to Outback (our favorite "cheaper" restaurant) and have a nice laidback dinner and then as we are getting the check another important conversation arises.
I'm glad it didn't rain. We should do something outside.
Wanna go for a bike ride?
No I'm too tired.
Okay. Ooh, we should go to the waterfall.
Want to? Yeah, let's go.
So we head over to that waterfall in Warrenville (our favorite place to relax) and talk for a while. As the sun is setting and we could see the beautiful reflection on the water Ari announced that we should get going. I declared that I wasn't ready to go yet but he persisted. So I stood up to walk away and he grabed my hand and turned me toward him and huged me. Then he got down on one knee and I exclaimed "GET OUT" and he asked me to marry him.

So, Ari and I are getting married on Friday, December 28, 2007!

Hymn for the day:

God is mys trong salvation
What foe have I to fear?
In darkness and temptation
My light, my help is near:
Though hosts encamp around me,
Firm to the fight I stand;
What terror can confound me,
With God at my right hand?

Place on the Lord reliance,
My soul with courage wait;
His truth be thine affiance,
When faint and desolate.
His might they heart shall strengthen,
His love thy joy increase;
Mercy thy days shall lengthen,
They Lord will give thee peace.

Coming together

Life feels like it is coming together.

That sentence feels funny for me to say because I am not one of those people that generally have things figured out but I always want people to think that I have my head on straight. I don't. I've never had things all figured out, but I was never meant to.

My journey continues and it is a glorious one. I hit rough waters, I walk through flames and my GOD continues to sustain me.

At the end of the Return of the King Frodo while the last ship is boarding to leave for middle earth Frodo wonders "How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on when in your heart you know--there is no going back?" Over the past couple weeks I have come to realize that you can't. You simply can't pick up the threads of an old life when everything around you has changed. That's what makes our journeys so unique, so adventurous. That's what makes it a journey. We learn from our mistakes, change from our past, prepare for our future. We live. We continue forward without regrets.

My life is coming together because I am finally figuring this one thing out -- I do not have to know everything. I do not have to know where I'll be six months from now or when I am moving to spain or where I'll be eating dinner next Thursday. I do not have to know who I am going to marry (although I already do know that) or how to get past trials in a relationship or how to be a better friend. All I need to do is follow Jesus and the rest will play itself out.

Sir Winston Churchill said "Every day you make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey but this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."