Today is my sweet sister, Kortny's, 40th Birthday. I sure am grateful she is my sister. She's been a wonderful friend and sister, my whole life.
It is Memorial Day. We had a beautiful week end. Breanna and Derek will be here any minute. We bought tickets to go over to Jackson and go to Bar J Wrangler's Chuckwagon Supper. We have our youngest three, us, Derek and Breanna, Grandma Rip, and now Sherry and Clint Argyle. It should be fun. Bar J has the violinists that are so good. They do a show and you get to eat a yummy cowboy dinner.
We are keeping track of Derek's progress. Today is Monday, a week ago Friday, Derek and Breanna had their first "serious" talk. He told us that after talking about their future together that night, he told her he loved her! She said it back! Our hearts burst with happiness when he told us. He said that he told her that he can see himself with her forever. She said the same back. They talked about how they want to continue dating and how happy they are. He told her all the things he loves about her. We have our own list we could have added : ).
Then he told us he talked to her again Friday (3 days ago). They spoke about the future. She had asked him where he was planning on living for fall semester. He admitted he wasn't sure. Todd had asked him, too. He wasn't sure where he and Breanna's relationship would be by then. Breanna talked about how she is off track for fall, so she will need to go back to Ogden with her parents, to work, or she will need to find a job in Rexburg. They continued to talk about how they can see being married to each other!!! They can see it happening this fall or not until December. They don't want to wait until December!! He told us how they discussed their feelings, they want to be together, how hard it is to find housing in Rexburg for married students, how things are progressing so quickly, etc.
Wow, this was good news to us!
Derek has spent a couple of days of Memorial Day weekend with Breanna's parents and extended family. Her parents came to Rexburg to her dad's parents, Breanna's grandparents. The Grandpa Robert Marcum, who book I'm reading - he is a Stake President now and used to be a professor at BYU-I and his uncle, who lives in Rexburg, interviewed Derek. He said they "drilled" him. Later, I guess they said he passed.
Derek went to her cousin's high school graduation in Rexburg, and spent most of Saturday with them all. They had four wheelers.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Nikole Graduates from High School, Derek reserves the Ogden Temple for September 2! - June 7, 2016
June 7, 2016
My heart is so full.
I feel like the Heavens have opened wide and the Lord is pouring out
blessings so big and beautiful, that we hardly are able to hold them.
The first bunch of tender mercies have to do with Derek and
Breanna. They came to Nikole’s
graduation Friday night, June 3. As of
that point, they had fasted about a week before to know whether to get married
in early September or to wait until December.
They started at the temple grounds, to open their fast. They met at the end of the day. Breanna had a sweet, inspired experience
during her fast. She said she was a
little nervous about the whole process, etc.
She said just when she was having those feelings, her Dad called
her! They talked about college and life
things, then they talked about Derek and how things were going. He basicly told Breanna that she didn’t need
to be afraid to move forward, that he could not have picked a better young man,
if he had hand-picked him himself! My heart bursted with love for Breanna’s
Dad, for knowing and saying those kind words.
So, when they got back together, at the end of the day, they
both felt prompted that they should be married this fall. Neither of them wanted to wait until
December! They decided to call the
temples to reserve a date! All this had
progressed, because they had talked about what both their plans were for fall –
Breanna is off track, they both would have to decide where to live, to live in
their same apartments, with the same roommates.
I firmly believe Heavenly Father had a hand in all of these things, kind
of leading them to need to make a decision and decide.
They called the Salt Lake Temple and reserved a sealing room
for September 2! But the biggest room
they had only holds 45. They then called
the Ogden Temple, which is Breanna’s home temple district. They had a sealing room for September 2,
also, but their room holds 65! Breanna’s
mom, Bonnie, comes from a family of 10 children, and her dad comes from a
family of 8 children, so we’ve got some huge, beautiful, big families – they
remind me of my Grandpa Williams’ family.
I remember my Grandma always enjoyed big, huge reunions with the
Williams’ family. That’s the kind of
family I want. Anyway, I’ve got my few
endowed Whites, Blaine has his huge family. He’s the youngest of six, so we have a ton of
Ripplingers. We don’t know how many
seats we will get, but at any rate, they canceled their Salt Lake reservation
and reserved Ogden! We are on the
list. Mind you, they were not engaged
yet : )
When they arrived at our home on Friday, they actually met
us at Teton High School for Nikole’s graduation. I’ll discuss all of that sweet part later. Breanna got to meet my parents and Christian,
Jennifer and Maecie White. My two
nephews had to work, which was disappointing and made me sad.
Derek and Breanna looked soooo happy and full of light. They just remind me of Heavenly Angels. They are so beautiful together. We all
attended Nikole’s graduation together.
Then we took pictures right after.
My parents and Christian, J and M drove home. Derek and Breanna came home with us. It would be the first time Breanna stayed
overnight at our house. We got
home. We were letting them eat – we had
eaten a nice meal for Nikole before the graduation with my parents, but they
hadn’t eaten. So, we helped them eat and
then we were sitting at the table.
Blaine asked if he could tell a story . . . . I can’t remember the story, but he basically
told them congratulations, and how excited he is. Then it was my turn, I cried and told them
both how proud I am of them, how sweet I think they are, how happy we are for
them, how we prayed for her to arrive, how I knew before I even met her that
she was “The One”. Of course, we would
let Derek choose, but we loved her from the beginning. We are just thrilled at how easily things
have happened, at the exquisite joy we feel in our hearts. These are the things we told them.
It’s so good to know that revelation still happens. The Lord does care about every little thing we do. He does let us be tried, and then he blesses
us immensely and with wonders.
Breanna stayed overnight, her downstairs, Derek
upstairs. On Saturday, we had planned on
going to Packsaddle Lake. Blaine had
gotten the boat ready, made sure the license was good, updated the insurance
for the year, and made sure the battery was good. That morning, at home, the boat wouldn’t
start. Blaine ran the battery in to
Driggs. The battery was good. He came home and took the boat back to have
it checked. They though it was the
starter.
Needless to say, we had to go to “Plan B”. We went to Packsaddle Lake, instead. We played games and talked until about 11,
because we were waiting to see if the boat would be ready. Then Derek and Breanna rode our four wheeler,
and Blaine, Carl and I drove our Suburban to the lake.
I swung off the swing and dropped for the first time in my
whole life! I’ve tried before, but
skinned my toe really badly when I was just practicing, so then I was bleeding
and didn’t drop that year.
Blaine, Derek, Breanna and I all went on the swing. We had fun taking pictures of them going off
the swing. There were a lot of people up
there.
We all rode home.
Breanna and Derek stayed with us until about 10 pm that Saturday
night. Some of us took a nap, some of us
played games, sometimes we talked. We
went up and visited Blaine’s mom. She
figured out or coaxed out of Derek and Breanna that they are going to get
married September 2. Derek knows how to
tease his Grandma Rip. She was extremely
pleased and the happiest and most lively that I’ve seen her in a long, long
time. She says she can keep a secret : )
We are all trying to keep it quiet, until Derek
proposes. He is shooting for Saturday,
June 18. He’s going to her parent’s this
week-end to talk to her father, ask for her hand in marriage.
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