Long Overdue

alright
so.. i should have blogged about recent happenings long before now. i just haven't found the opportunity, lol.

so let's see. when last you heard from me, i was single, still in finals, stressed about school and work (i didn't talk about that much), planning a roadtrip for january, and not nearly close to being finished with my Christmas shopping. let me set you straight.
first of all, i'm not single anymore ^_^. The most wonderful man in the world, who by God's grace has somehow fallen in love with me, my best friend, Collin Bragdon, is no longer just my best friend. Call him what you want, my boyfriend, my honey, my beau, my beloved, my man ^_^ ... the key word there is my. as some of you may or may not know,we've known eachother for about 2 and a half years, give or take alittle. and we've been "talking"... getting to know eachother, spending time together, and most importantly praying about eachother for about a year and a half. about a year ago, i knew for sure that i was his girl and that only God could possibly make this relationship happen. lol. and about six months ago we talked about it, confirmed that we were both on the same page and had heard the same things from God, but it wasn't the right time yet for us to move forward with the relationship. and THEN, sunday night... change of story.

so it's Collin's first week back in town for the holidays, right. naturally, sunday night we went to The Deep 20's ministries. after the deep, it's generally the practice to go out to eat somewhere all together. Collin very early suggested ihop, which i thought nothing of. it didnt matter because in the end he was overruled in favor of going to buffalo wild wings to watch the cowboys game. we ate... and by we i mean eveyone but collin and joel. everytime i offered collin food he declined. said he felt like he might throw up. this i also thought nothing of, other than concern. a few times while we were there he got up to go talk to someone from the staff... this i found EXTREMELY suspiscious. especially since he gestured toward our table while talking. so i knew he was scheming. i thought he was going to tell them it was my birthday and have them do their make-a-really-big-deal-about-it thing. i was mistaken.
so the game ended, people started leaving, things quieted a little. i didnt notice joel slipping outside to retrieve something from his car :/
next thing i know, collin's asking for everyone's attention to say, "Excuse me everyone. as some of you may or may not know, this lady and myself have been in a relationship for some time now. But now the time has come to take our relationship to the next level. Rebekah Michaele Melillo, will you enter into a courtship with me that will last until our marriage?" and he hands me a rose.
At this point i'm not sure whether i was laughing or crying from embarrassment. i am very sure that my face was the same color as the rose, and all i could say was "yes." followed by applause and "awww"s from around the table. turns out he had had breakfast with my dad that morning, my dad gladly gave his consent (and why wouldnt he?) and they had a nice long chat about everything but the weather. (i dont actually know if they tlaked about the weather.)

and so begin's Collin and mine's courtship. we get to learn to share our lives with eachother, to do life together. I'm so excited!!!
we also had our first date last night, but i don't have the stamina to tell about that today... another time.

in other news, i survived my finals, and my lighting project, and got my grades back for the semester. turns out i made 2 B's. one in govt and one in Lighting. the govt i can understand. i only gave about 90% in that class, and i missed some online work. totally my fault. but Lighting?? i'm very upset about that. i worked my tail off in that class to learn what mt prof was supposed to be teaching me. and i got a B. VERY uncool.
so i was disappointed. i mean, this is the first time i've gotten a B since at least middle school. but i'll get over it. my life is far from ruined :D

i was also stressed about work, because i was getting miniscule hours. i'm full time now though, and making happy money :)

finished my Christmas shopping yesterday... but i have to go back because the last thing that i bought (incidentally, collin's present ^_^ i'd tell you what it is because i'm so excited but he tends to read this blog often, so i wont. you'll find out after Christmas.. Eve.) i brought home only to find that it has a broken part. argh. so i have to take it back to whence it came from and have it fixed asap.

and yes, I was planning a roadtrip in january, to alabama to visit some old friends and check out Legacy Church (potential career-starting job op). Collin and I have been wanting to go, and the details worked out so nicely in January, except that no one else could go, and Collin and I can't go by ourselves, for accountability and appearance purposes. yarr. so it's been postponed. i feel bad for flaking on Pastor Chris, but there's not really anything i can do. *shrug*

*sigh*
God is so stinkin awesome. everytime i turn around He's blessing my socks off and i'm just totally overwhelmed (in a good way.) Thank You, Lord!
What has He done for you today?

<3