Dress!

Just got a letter today that my Wedding Dress is in! YAY!!  I have an appointment for May 2nd for my first fitting - hope it fits, it's been a rough winter! :)

Wedding Update

Even though I was helping my mom for most of my furlough, I did manage to get some wedding things done as well.

On Monday, Brent took the day off from work so we could head to Mankato to get some things done.

1. We met with the Pastor and went over our PREPARE inventory with him. Although, there weren't any surprises for me, it was pretty interesting and it gives us some things to think about as we count down the days to the wedding.

2. We met with the wedding coordinator at the Holiday Inn. We got a lot things for the reception figured out and need to schedule a taste test sometime, though I'm not sure when since almost every weekend from now until the wedding has something going on! Oh - and the best part - I locked my keys in my car right before our appointment. So, that was $35 down the drain!

3. We went down and applied for our marriage license. Since we had the meeting with the Pastor, that saved us $75 (well, $40 since I spent $35 getting my car open - ha!)

4. We met with the organist and soloist who will be playing/singing at the wedding. We have our songs all picked out. It was so fun to hear them played. I think Brent got a bit nervous hearing the processional song being played in church!

5. We ordered the memorial bouquet for the ceremony.

Whew - Monday was a big day for checking things off of the to-do list!

While at my mom's this week, I worked on the boutonnieres and corsages. I mostly tried to work on them while mom was napping. I was able to finish them today.

Last night, we booked our flight for our Honeymoon. Brent's cousin owns a beach house on the New Jersey shore near Atlantic City, and he is letting us stay there. We are planning on leaving July 5th and coming home July 10th. We are both really looking forward to it!

The Boutonnieres / Corsages

Mens / Womens

Furlough

This past week was my furlough from work - a week off from work - yay! But, without pay - boo!  The original plan for this week was for my mom and I to work on wedding stuff (like the boutonnieres and corsages and addressing the invites). However, God had another plan.

My mom retired at the end of January and was loving it - until the second week. She started having a lot of back pain. None of us really thought much of it because my mom has had back troubles in the past and it always gets better. But, this time was different. After over a month of pain without any improvement, she finally decided to go to the doctor. She had an MRI and on March 18th we found out that she had a tumor in her back. It was very shocking for all of us, not to mention scary. We didn't know what to expect and the worst thoughts go through your head. She had an appointment with a neurosurgeon in Rochester on the 19th. The doctor originally wanted to wait to do surgery until April 7th, but my mom insisted that was too far away and something needed to be done asap as she was in so much pain. They scheduled the surgery for March 26th. 

On March 23rd, mom went to the Owatonna hospital by ambulance because she couldn't handle the pain at home anymore. They kept her there for pain management until the day before her surgery. Then, they took her by ambulance to Rochester to get her ready for surgery.

March 26th was a long day. We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am. Mom was taken into prep at 6:30. Her surgery started at 9:10 and ended at 1:30. We didn't get to see her until about 4:00. It is really tough to see your mom in so much pain. However, the good news was that they were able to completely remove the tumor and it was benign. Mom was also able to wiggle her toes and move her legs! 

The recovery from surgery, wasn't so smooth. Mom was in quite a bit of pain from the surgery and was on a lot of pain medication. However, our family doesn't tolerate pain medication very well and a lot of complications came about. Mom ended up staying in Rochester until April 1st. 

I went to Owatonna the day she came home to help take care of her. My stepdad was there as well, but he has a bad knee, so it was a challenge for him to do everything by himself. I stayed over at my mom's house all week and it was great to see her improving a little bit each day. She's using a walker to get around, but I'm confident that won't last long! 

I'm thankful that I was able to be there to help her out. It's amazing how things work out sometimes. Now, we just need to get her all back to normal - hopefully better than before since this tumor has probably been causing her trouble for a LONG time! We only have 84 days until the wedding!!