Monday, February 23, 2015

This Is Your Year To SPARKLE!

This past weekend I had the honor of directing the Miss Greater Jonesboro and Miss Greater Jonesboro’s Outstanding Teen Pageant. I will be honest and say I was nervous about embarking on this endeavor because I already direct Miss Arkansas Delta and Miss Arkansas Delta’s Outstanding Teen, but God has blessed me greatly with four wonderful young ladies! I look forward to getting to know these young ladies and being able to witness their growth throughout this year.

I could write a lot about these incredible young women instead I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Oh, and be sure to check out our websites (here and here) and join in on cheering on these ladies at Miss Arkansas’ Outstanding Teen in Russellville, AR on June 11-13th (find more information here) and at Miss Arkansas in Hot Springs, AR on July 8-11th (find more information here)! They are sure to SPARKLE! 


Enjoy!

Miss Greater Jonesboro 2015 Kasey Welsh & Miss Greater Jonesboro's Outstanding Teen 2015 Raegan Snell

Miss AR Delta Elli Fowler, Miss Greater Jonesboro Kasey Welsh,
 Miss Greater Jonesboro OT Raegan Snell, & Miss AR Delta OT Lacey Moore


My girls!! 






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Monday, February 16, 2015

{Our Engagement}

Nathan & I had been dating for three and half years by the time he proposed. IT WAS TIME! HAHA In his defense I had said our entire relationship that I did not want to be engaged much less married until I was finished with school, and he heard every word of that statement. As time went on my feelings for waiting to be engaged changed but Nathan new me and honored my initial desire of waiting. Such a sweetheart! So, with all of that being said here is our engagement story.

It all started during the month of November. If you know me you know my Christmas tree goes up the week before Thanksgiving and I go all out on decorating. Mesh, big elaborate ornaments, ribbon, the whole nine yards! I also do the same with Nathan’s tree. The first year I did his tree I went to my favorite Christmas décor store, Trim The Tree, and bought all the trimmings (spent too much money according to Nathan) and have assembled his tree every year since. Well, this year I will be honest, I was bitter. I was graduating in December, was having a hard time finding a job in northeast Arkansas and new I could move south and have the job of my desire. But, I did not want to move because that would put distance in our relationship and quite frankly I new without a doubt Nathan was the love of my life and that I wanted to spend forever with him...I just needed him to ask me because I knew my answer was yes! So, I decorated my tree per usual BUT I did not put up Nathan’s tree much less decorate it. Cue bitterness.

Thanksgiving came and went. My tree was lit every evening while Nathan’s house remained treeless (and he could careless)! December began with me still stressing over finding a job, then I graduated, and then came the week of the engagement. On Tuesday of that week while on the phone with Nathan I informed him that since we had planned to take Adalynn to the Little Rock game for the Razorback Men’s Basketball team on Saturday I had every intention of going to stay with my parents in White Hall on Friday and he was welcomed to join me. He simply said ok. Wednesday nothing odd occurs and no more conversation about the weekend takes place (little did I know Nathan was in White Hall asking for my dad and moms blessing. I thought he was duck hunting). Thursday he calls and says. “Instead of going to White Hall Friday how about we stay in Jonesboro and go see The Lights of The Delta display in Blytheville then come back and have dinner at my house and we can put up my Christmas tree? And we can do like normal except I know we aren’t exchanging gifts this year (Nathan & I bought for foster children this year instead of each other) but you can still wrap all my Christmas presents for me. Plus, if we stay Friday in Jonesboro I can coach the basketball game Saturday morning.” All seemed normal to me so I agreed to stay in Jonesboro Friday night but I refused to put his Christmas tree up (I was still bitter). Plus, I had been telling him how badly I wanted him to see the lights display and I thought it was thoughtful of him to remember that and make plans to make it happen.

On Friday I went to lunch with Nathan and that is when my weird feeling began. He seemed different but still not too odd. Before we left lunch I made the comment that we needed to have a plan for that evening. I offered to have dinner cooked when he got off work before we left for Blytheville. He said no thanks that we needed to get to Blytheville so that we wouldn’t have to wait to see the light display, but that we would do dinner after and then put up his Christmas tree. Then he started grinning and laughing. I of course began laughing and asked him what in the world was so funny and reminded him that I was not putting up his Christmas tree. While staring over my shoulder he says, “Nothing. I’m just looking at the tree.” So I turn around to see a tree in the restaurant that has one little ornament on it. Weird. We leave lunch and go about our days except I call my parents and ask, “Is something going on because Nathan is acting SO weird!” Of course they act as if they know nothing and I of course believe them. 5:15 roles around, which is the time Nathan is suppose to pick me up and he has still not arrived. This is unusual because he is always ten minutes early. I call him and he sounds panicked! Duh, I begin thinking he is for sure proposing and something with his plans have gone wrong. So, I call my parents, again! (I am currently laughing at myself as I type this thinking that I truly thought my parents would tell me “Hey, yeah, Nathan is going to ask you to marry him tonight!”) Once again, my parents act calm and say they know nothing. Nathan shows up around 5:30 and we head for Blytheville. We ended up having to wait for 40 minutes or so to get to the lights display and once we started driving through the display it dawns on me that he may propose in the lights. Within seconds I have concocted this idea that he had a display made in lights that said, “Will you marry me” or something. And I genuinely thought this was a possibility because we know people affiliated with the lights display who could possibly make this happen.

As we are going through the lights I’m thinking any minute he is going to propose, so I text my friend Ashley and tell her my thoughts. She responds with something like “you never know”. As we are coming to the end of the lights display there is a huge “Happy Holidays” in lights and I made the comment that I cannot stand that phrase & want to get rid of that display (no worries, I did not touch that display and the “Merry Christmas” display came right after it). As we approach these two displays Nathan pulls over on the driving path and my heart stopped! This. Was. It. I slowly turn my head to look at him and he nods his head back towards my direction, so I slowly turn my head to look out the window thinking in lights I will read “Will you marry me?” and to my surprise I see “Happy Holidays”. Ugh! I quickly turn to him and say, “Really!” to which he responds, “Here is your opportunity to get rid of it.” I made no response and we leave the display. I text my friend Ashley the sad text of “no proposal in lights.” Womp, Womp.

Staying true to myself I proclaim on our ride back to Jonesboro that I am starving and that it’s past 8:00 p.m. Trying to not act unusual Nathan responds with “I bought stuff to make spaghetti when we get back but we can stop at Sonic if you want to.” I quickly ask him when he bought stuff to make spaghetti and he says after work, which then makes since why he was late picking me up. Thus, bringing disappointment to the thought that he was proposing (yes, I was still hoping he would propose that night). Oh, and let me not forget to mention that he brought up putting his tree up AGAIN! I thought by now he had realized I was not putting that tree up! Anyway, like a true Sonic lover I say yes to Sonic. As we are pulling back into Jonesboro he turns to get on the interstate instead of going through town where Sonic is. I immediately announce “Food!” and he laughs. He says, “Let me take you to your house and while you gather all of the things to wrap my present with I will head home and start dinner, and while I’m cooking you can put the tree up.” To which I respond in a rather smarty pants tone of voice, “How can I put your tree up if it is in your attic and you are cooking? I am not going in that attic.” Cue Nathan laughing. He responds with “The tree is not in the attic, I took it down at lunch.” At lunch? Yeah, he went home after our lunch date that day and took it down. I then realized that despite my reluctance to put that tree up I felt like I had to since he went out of his way to get it down. Plus, he must have really wanted the tree up because normally he could careless if it was up.

He drops me off at my house and if I am being honest I was in a terrible mood. I just knew he was going to propose in the lights AND I didn’t get Sonic...I was beyond hungry at this point! What’s a girl to do...call her mom (again)! By this time it’s after 9:00 p.m. so when I call my mom she thinks I am about to tell her I am engaged! Instead she got a grumpy daughter whining about how weird her boyfriend was acting and how hungry she was. I talked to my mom all the way to Nathan’s house and as I was ending the conversation Nathan opens his front door to hear me say, “I love you, Bye.” He has wide eyes and says, “Who were you talking to?” I tell him my mom and he then wants to know what she was doing, etc. Poor guy thought my mom had ruined the surprise. Once he realizes my mom played it off well (except we learn later that my parents became concerned after that phone call that Nathan had gotten cold feet) he shows me the Christmas tree box and says dinner will be ready soon. He helps me assemble the tree then goes back to cooking while I fluff the tree. Christmas music is playing in the background, the fireplace is on, and I feel my bad mood trying to turn to a pleasant mood but then I remind myself of the disappointment of no proposal in the lights. We eat dinner and then Nathan says we should decorate the tree together. So we do just that except thanks to my bitterness (it’s become embarrassing at this point) I refuse to put any mesh or elaborate decorations on the tree. We simply put small Christmas ornaments on the tree. It took a total of five minutes compared to my normal hour to hour and half decorating.

Once we finish decorating the tree I take a seat on his couch and he comes to sit beside me. He plays on his computer for a minute and then asks me if I wanted to watch a video he made earlier that week. I asked if it was a duck hunting video (remember I thought he was duck hunting on Wednesday not asking for my parents blessing) and he responds no while laughing. This video starts playing with a song that is significant to us and all these pictures start appearing on the screen--pictures of us from our 3½ years of dating, our families, our friends; our memories. Half way through the video I realize this is how he is going to propose and I start panicking because I do not do surprises well and I start talking about EVERY picture that pops up on the screen! The video ends and he simply looks at me and says, “Merry Christmas!” and gives me a kiss. SERIOUSLY!! At this point I have no words to describe my frustration with the events of that night. I reply with “Merry Christmas” and he gets up and goes to another room. I start telling myself to get over myself that he probably made that video as a homemade Christmas gift since we didn’t exchange gifts, etc. As I am telling myself these factors here comes Nathan into the living room with a 5x5 white box. Immediately, I get mad! I start telling him that I knew he would still buy me a Christmas gift when we had agreed not too blah, blah, blah. The whole time he has the cutest grin on his face while laughing at me. He interrupts my rant to inform me that it was not a gift for me that it was an ornament for the tree. Oh! Ok! I thought this said ornament was going to be a razorback ornament because for 3 years I have been telling him I wanted to do his tree in all razorbacks but for 3 years he has refused letting me do so because he says it could cost to much (and if I am being honest he is right about that).

I open the ornament to find a big green ornament with the words “Will You Marry Me?” on it (Nathan had this made at my favorite Christmas décor store, Trim The Tree, which is owned by some dear friends). Let the Maegan cannot breathe and waterfall of tears commence! I look over at him to see him getting down on one knee to which he shared some words (I’m not sure of everything he said because I was to busy crying) and then I heard him ask me THE question to which I did say YES and began hugging him. Poor guy eventually had to push me back and say, “Do you want this ring?” HAHA Of course I said yes!

The ornament! 


After I had time to think about what all had just taken place everything became so clear. Nathan wanted US to put the tree up together, cook dinner, and have Christmas carols and the fireplace going just like we will do in the future in our home as husband and wife. (Yes, I am crying again reliving this moment)

We spent the next hour calling our parents and siblings and sharing the exciting news! Our siblings had no clue and it was so fun to see their reactions via FaceTime. My parents were relieved to learn Nathan had in fact not gotten cold feet and his parents were just as excited!


We are so excited about this season of life and feel very blessed by Gods grace in crossing our two paths so that we can become one! Here’s to #happilyeverwaldrip starting July 18, 2015!


Our first picture as an engaged couple!



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Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Oops...it’s been a year!

I told myself when I started this blog I would not neglect it. Well, a year later I neglected it. Lets be honest, I was in grad school and every semester I took on more with my clinical caseload than normal so there was no time to blog. Oh, and it could have been because I also chose to do a thesis and was writing enough there to make me never want to write again. (Seriously!) So to play catch up here is a rundown of the year I forgot to blog.

March 2014: I continued my clinical rotation at Belle Meade in Paragould, AR and made the decision I would do a thesis for graduate school (WHY?!). This month I also started my annual calling and planning for Miss Arkansas t-shirts...these are always fun phone calls (and no I’m not being sarcastic) because we have the BEST sponsors who are so friendly!

April 2014: More clinical rotations with more tests and a lot of stress over getting the IRB approval for my thesis. That process is just silly!

May 2014: I finished the semester and had a three week break before the next semester started (yes, we had class/clinicals during the summer). During this break I spent a week and a half collecting data for my thesis back home in the White Hall School District. It was fun to be home and to see many familiar faces as I was in and out of the schools, but it also made me feel super old as I saw students faces who were still suppose to be infants and toddlers! I also surprised Nathan by flying to the beach with Allison & Aaron! That story pretty much goes like this...the Waldrip’s had invited me to go on vacation with them and I was not going to be able to because of my thesis data collection, but it worked out that I finished earlier than expected and flew down to surprise Nathan (after driving to Jonesboro from White Hall to pack my bag all while talking to my mom so she could keep me up to date on Dancing With The Stars Finale so Nathan wouldn’t be suspicious since we watch that show religiously). Seeing his face was priceless! Fun times! Oh, and preparing my Miss AR Delta and Miss AR Delt OT for the state pageants also took place in May!


June 2014: More class, more thesis writing, more crying, more stress, more clinicals, more clinical paperwork....sounds like a fun summer, huh? Miss AR and Miss AR OT were also in June. Miss AR Delta Jacey Winn and Miss AR Delta OT Mercedes Bell both placed in the Top 10 and Jacey received the overall interview award! It was a fun first year for AR Delta!

July 2014: Classes, clinicals, and thesis work continued. Are you beginning to realize why I never blogged for a whole year (minus 2 months)??

August 2014: I finally finished my last semester of grad school that had classes! WHOO HOO! To celebrate, Daddy and Mom took me to Washington D.C. and let me tell you we had THE. BEST. TIME! If you ever have the opportunity to go and be a total tourist like we did, DO IT! I also went to Orange Beach, AL to celebrate Katie! We had the best time relaxing on the beach and going out for #katiesbeachlorette! We also made a fun video (check it out here) Oh, and no worries, I was still writing my thesis.

September 2014: Football season is in full swing meaning I am a happy camper (Nathan too, duh!). This month was full of me packing my luggage for game weekends and packing my bag full of thesis work to go along! I also started my last clinical rotation at The Learning Center in Jonesboro, AR and I absolutely loved it! I had the best supervisor and loved the caseload I saw. My last day was super sad (Jenni, if you are reading this I am wearing my t-shirt as I type this...thank you! It’s my fav!)

October 2014: Thesis=COMPLETE! Hallelujah! I defended my thesis on October 17th and PASSED! What a relief. I also continued my clinicals five days a week at TLC!

November 2014: The start of a busy and eventful end of the year! I started November out with Katie & Ethan’s wedding! People, this wedding was to die for! See Dale Benfield’s blog here and here and here for a glimpse of how gorgeous it was. Next, was the Battle of the Boot! Ahh, I still smile big when I think of this game! ARKANSAS WON and that’s all that matters! Moving on...I went home for Thanksgiving and enjoyed my time home with family. However, it wasn’t long enough. I ended November back in northeast AR to audit (yes, audit as in numbers...please laugh because I still do) for Miss Lights of the Delta. I would like to say the auditing gig was not as bad as I had anticipated BUT I am not looking to do it anytime soon. Pageant people, take note.

December 2014: This has become MY FAVORITE MONTH/YEAR! First, I saw Garth Brooks in concert and it was AMAZING! What an entertainer! Then I GRADUATED! Bye grad school, hello masters degree! Ok, then my favorite part...Nathan proposed and we’re ENGAGED! AHHHHH!!!! Poor guy, I told him I didn’t want to be engaged until I was finished with school and he took that to heart but the engagement story is for another post.


So there is year 2014 for me. Hope you enjoyed because reminiscing on this past year to type this post made me realize even more how blessed I am by God for all the people, adventures, and love He has given me. Count your blessings, friends! 



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