Life is a funny thing

Ya know, just when you start to think you're in the right place with your plans, God gives a little smack in the behind to remind you that you're supposed to be following HIS plans. Well, I have been the recipient of a little smack in these past couple of months.

Remember that job at Menards that I was so excited to start? Yeah, that lasted a good 2 months. It was causing a lot of issues that were making my life at my other job, and at home, a nightmare. What I did leading up the job was bad. I ignored God. What pretty much went down was me saying, "God, I'm going to reject your plans and substitute my own." Dumbest thing EVER. I don't suggest doing that. So, to make a long story short, I suffered through the job and ended up quitting. Lesson learned. From now on there will be no "I want" and it will all be "God wants." Through this little fiasco, I learned to trust God a lot more with my, er His, plans for my life. By His grace, He has granted me with a peace that I've been waiting for for about 2 years now. It feels great! God is so good.

Aside from this fun little adventure, my life has been pretty good. I am now the proud owner of a car, whose name is Appa of course. My job at the golf course is going pretty good, including a raise. Yay! Next to that, I'm helping my dad and brother, Bill, coach the high school girls soccer team that Rianne is on. That keeps us pretty busy, but we have a great bunch of girls which makes it very enjoyable. When I'm not working or coaching, I'm either spending my time with my amazing family or hanging out at my second family's (Kausaliks) house.

One thing that I have really gotten into recently is getting into shape. I am working on changing my eating habits (lost 16 pounds already!), plus working out every day. So on top of losing fat I'm gaining muscle. It feels so good to be getting into shape! It has also been nice doing all of this with my friend Rami. As much as we want to die after doing our workout, Insanity, we keep pushing through. I have never been this determined to get into shape. I love it!

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, we had a guy, Duchene, from Haiti living with us. This morning we dropped him off at the airport to fly back home to his family in Haiti. I can't believe that he's gone! He was at our house for 5 months, becoming part of our family. We got to share so much with Duchene: Christmas, the birth of my niece, Liesl, a couple birthdays, Easter, and family. He was truly part of our family and he will be dearly missed. Please pray that he is able to settle back into life in Haiti and that he is able to stay healthy.


 ~Katie~

Success

I just finished playing the piano at the Majestic...success! The day was spent with butterflies in my stomach, and worrying about what I was going to wear. As I said before, I couldn't wear jeans, t-shirt, or tennis shoes. Anyone who knows me know that this pretty much makes up my wardrobe! Fortunately I have the best "little" sister in the world. She pulled a dress out of our closet that I totally forgot about. Go figure. Because it was black, I got to wear my awesome purple heels with it. Yay!

The best part of the night was making $10 in tips (I'll up it next time!) and four movie passes. And I guess it was nice to see Abby, my best friend whom I NEVER SEE ANY MORE! But whatever. I'm not upset. I'm just angry. ;-) No really, it was really sweet that she took the time to come and see me play. While I was playing the piano, the rest of the family and Duchene went to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Anna and Emma really liked Caspian! True Hardin girls.

Anna, Emma, Rianne, Venera, dad, me, Duchene, mom, Bill

Needless to say, I am going to play there again. I kind of got a feel for what songs will get people's attention and what songs are kind of duds. Just a couple adjustments to my set list and I should be able to up my tippage!

Showing hope -
 ~Katie~

Where do we go from here?

This is going to be a long post, but that's because there's been a lot going on in the past couple of weeks or so. My brother, Alex, just got married to his 4 1/2 year sweetheart Venera on Saturday. What a day! Everything went so beautifully and it seems as if there wasn't one thing that went wrong. God truly blessed us on that day. The week before the wedding was filled with excitement and lots of little things to do to make sure everything would be perfect.

The first thing exciting that happened was Venera's biological brother, Mars, coming here from Belgium. Along with him came his brother Peter. These two were so much fun to be with and I'm going to miss them very much! We took Mars to a cheeseburger place call Fuddruckers and boy did he like it. We always learned something new about his life in Belgium when we were around him. Then there's Peter. Let me tell you, he is quite the dancer! He was always smiling when I saw him and he was always making a joke. I feel very blessed to have met these two guys and I hope they come and visit again soon.

On Sunday, the 21st, the whole Watkins/Hardin family went out to eat at Marty's. There, I met Alec, Venera's other biological brother. He is one of the funniest, craziest, weirdest kids I have ever met. haha He was also quite the dancer, but in a different way. ;) I had a blast dancing with him at the reception. I hope to see him again soon, seeing as how he lives really close to us.

Then of course, there was Christmas. It was hard to get into the Christmas spirit with the wedding being two days later, but I think we managed pretty well. We still did our usual stuff, which helped. On Christmas Eve, we brought Venera and Mars to church and then to my aunt's house for our usual gathering. There was a lot of people, a lot of food and a lot of fun. I'm glad that we were able to share it with Venera and Mars. Then on Christmas, we went to my moms' parent's house at night with Venera. That night is always a highlight of my Christmas.

The Friday after Christmas, it was time for the wedding rehearsal. Everything went very smoothly there and it was a really good time. After that, we went to Wells Street Tavern for dinner. The food there was excellent and everyone had a great time. Mike and Pat Wieloch did leave pretty quickly though, because they were really sick and looked like corpses. Rianne was also sick, so she stayed in the car to sleep, then came and joined us after everyone ate. I'm happy to say that those three got better on time for the wedding and they all had their color back in their faces.

Saturday was wedding day! The first thing on the agenda was hair. My mom, sisters and I went to a salon with the rest of the bridesmaids and the bride. We had it all to ourselves, so it was a really fun morning. Hectic, but fun. Then, we went to the church to get ready. One thing that I had trouble with was make-up. I never wear make-up, but I had to do it all by myself! I think I did a pretty good job though...so I was told. After everyone was dressed, there was a lot of sitting around, waiting for the big moment. I was getting so excited and nervous! It was finally time for us to walk down that isle. We all got down without a hitch. When Venera came down, she was absolutely gorgeous! Alex's face was glowing as she was walking towards him. When she got up there, everything was smooth sailing from there. It was the perfect wedding.

After it was over, we had to go through about two hours of pictures (fun and not fun at the same time). When that was done, we headed out to the hotel for the reception. So much fun! I finally got to sit at the head table, something I've wanted to do all my life. Dinner was good, then dancing. I've never had so much fun dancing before. The band was amazing and it seemed like I always had someone to dance with. I got to dance with Alex, Alec and Peter. I never got a chance to dance with Mars, which I'm pretty bummed about, but it was still a great time! I also got to see Mark, my neighbor, who I haven't seen in quite a few years. We talked for a long time, which was really nice. If I could pick one night to live over again, it would be that night.

The next day was the gift opening. After that, good-byes. I hate those. It was really sad seeing everyone leave and seeing everything come to an end. I never got to say good-bye to Mars and Peter, but that's why we have the wonderful Internet machine. After the wedding weekend, it's time to get back into the normal, daily, routine. I'm already finding it hard to do. There's nothing to do now but wait for the next adventure that God brings into my life and live the life He has given me.

Showing hope -
~Katie~

Pic 1: Venera and Alex Hardin. Pic 2: Venera, Alec, Mars. Pic 3: Me and Peter. Pic 4: Me and Mars. Pic 5: Rianne and me.