Engagement Shoot #1

In light of the fact that my wedding pictures are on their way (EEK!), I thought it was time to share with ya'll the pictures my talented uncle, Rob Flora of Rob Flora Photography, secretly took when Jon proposed back in June!

It was a complete surprise, and I had no idea what was going on... even less of an idea that my uncle and three of my brothers were hiding behind the bushes, and my cousin was in the tree above me!

(When I spotted the camo-ed camera-men in the bushes)

Jon's secret photo team

It was the biggest surprise of my life, and I still cannot believe how flawlessly Jon and my family pulled off such an ordeal. He planned everything so perfectly... and look at that rock!!!

So excited to share wedding pictures with ya'll soon!

Love, C

Hello, Again

So, it's been a while! But for good reason. Life as Mrs. Capra has taken off at a relentlessly fast pace.

A Quick Update:
The wedding, August 7, was flawless (in my eyes) and was absolutely everything Jon and I wanted. We left for our AMAZING honeymoon in Hilton Head, SC, and moved in to our new apartment exactly a week after the wedding, and exactly 10 days before the new school year started. Both still being students, that didn't give  us much time to get used to married life first! But we jumped right in.

Life is a crazy-busy-hectic with both of us working, both of us juggling homework, and both of us trying to be fully-invested Young Life leaders. All the while both trying to adjust to thinking for a family and not just for our single selves. (And I have the additional adjustment of learning how to cook dinner while all of this is happening!)

(Side Note: Single Ladies, LEARN TO COOK. Be ready. I was counting on time to learn, but I didn't realize that, for me, marriage meant that that time was up!)

Anyways.
Between work, school, and endless Young Life meetings, we're loving married life. It is more wonderful than I thought it could be, and difficult in different ways than I expected. I am always been stretched and challenged, but I fall more in love with Jon every day. I am constantly amazed at how the Lord speaks to me through Jon, both with conviction and encouragement.

A Few Thoughts:
If you want a good picture at how selfish and sinful you are, get married. It sort of came as a surprise to me how much laundry two people could create, and how difficult it is to be creative for 7 dinner meals a week, and how much time is required to think ahead and make grocery lists and meal plans on a budget.  I was looking forward to everything about married life except the cooking and the cleaning, so these did not come as "good surprises."
But the Lord is even changing my heart in those small ways, as silly as it sounds. What better way to serve my husband? How else would I prefer to spend my time? If this makes his life easier and makes coming home more relaxing, why wouldn't I jump at the opportunity to do this for him?  But there is no hiding my "selfish ambitions and vain pursuits" when I have the accountability of living with a man of God, and often I choose selfishly.

I knew marriage would make me lean on Jesus a whole lot more and know Him a whole lot deeper, but I thought that would be primarily with the "big" things. I did not realize how much I would need Him in the simple day-to-day.

What I'm learning was perfectly summed up in an Oswald Chambers Devotional I read this morning from My Utmost for His Highest (my favorite devo, for the record, definitely an awesome read)

"September 11 - Ministering as Opportunity Surrounds Us. This does not mean selecting our surroundings, it means being very selectly God's in any haphazad surroundings which He engineers for us. The characteristics we manifest in our immediate surroundings [or, as I read this, "home surroundings"] are indications of what we will be like in other [outside] surroundings. 

The things that Jesus did [ Chambers is referring to John 13:14, after Jesus had washed His disciples' feet ] were of the most menial and commonplace order, and this is an indication that it takes all God's power in me to do the most commonplace things in His way. Can I use a towel as He did?...

It takes God Almighty Incarnate in us to do the meanest duty as it ought to be done."

I am definitely finding how I need the God Almighty Incarnate every day. Yes, I spend more time at home than I used to, and I feel like I'm always doing laundry, and I have to be home by 3:00 at the latest if I want to make sure the house is straight and dinner is ready before my husband gets home, and I still need to make sure I am lovely and pleasant when he walks through the door even though I know the freshly-cleaned kitchen is about to be covered in dinner dishes and I can't forget to switch that last load of laundry..!

But this is not drudgery to me. When Jesus truly is involved in these daily chores and discouragements, they are a delight. God does not call us to be weighed down with these sort of responsibilities, but rather bring His joy into moments that could be seen as drudgery. He transforms everything. Even chores;)

SO.
In closing: married life is great, I'm so thankful for both Jon's and Jesus' grace as I struggle with my selfishness, and I can't wait to get a little more consistent on this blog and share WEDDING PICTURES! =O

Welcome to the Capra life.
Love,
     Case

Ready or Not, Marriage Here I Come

(Written July 17, 2015)

How does one become prepared for marriage?

Like, is there a book on getting ready? That warns you about all the new things you will need to do, or the things you won’t be able to do anymore, or the things you need to be prepared to live without (i.c., your own bathroom counter, or girly throw pillows on the bed)? Can you even be adequately prepared? Are there even those who know what they’re getting into before they get into it? Or do you just have to trust that life has prepared you enough and just go for it?

It’s so strange that I can feel so sure and so ready for something, yet I don’t even know what I’m ready for. I am about to embark on something I have absolutely no experience in, something I have never come close to in a relationship before.

I’ve always trusted that the Lord places us in seasons for very specific purposes. If you’re still in a season, it means you have more to learn. If you’re leaving a season, it means He wants you to learn something new in the next one. But guaranteed, the next season will be harder, will stretch you further, and grow you deeper than the one before.

I am seeing this even as I leave my single years and enter married life. 

I LOVED being single. I was beginning to think I was made to be single for forever I loved it so much. I wasn’t the type to eagerly await the next romantic relationship. So I shouldn’t have been surprised when the next thing I hear is, “Ok, Case; you’re done here.”

Don’t get me wrong, I am beyond excited to be married. I am three weeks out exactly as I write this, but I would marry him this afternoon if I could. Sometimes I feel like I couldn’t wait another hour I’m so excited. But at the same time, I know that I’m about to be thrown into the most dangerous, exhilarating, unexpected whirlwind of an adventure that I have ever experienced. And that brings along a sort of terrifying sensation that comes with something you know you’re meant to do but aren’t sure if you’re ready for yet.

So these words don’t have much of a purpose except for welcome you into my mental process as I get ready to jump into an entirely new stage of life. 

I'm thrilled, but my soul sort of trembles at the grandness of the adventure I am about to set out on. I had no idea how much my trust would need to grow in the Lord when I said "yes" to Jon. While I can trust that the Lord never leads me somewhere He hasn't prepared me for, He also never prepares me beyond needing Him. Every new stage in life is a greater opportunity to trust Him more, but trusting Him completely is the safest place to be.

All you single girls: Never hear from me that you should cling to your singleness as long as possible because marriage and relationships are hard and they aren’t as great as singleness. BUT. You are where you are because it’s where you’re supposed to be. I know that sounds kind of fruity, but don’t throw away the gift of your present situation. You’ll never have a time like this again, and live it out until there’s nothing left to live in it! Be wild and adventurous and laugh a lot and spend tons of time with your family and your college/high school friends. One day you’ll be out of this season, and you’ll be thankful you can look back on it and be ready to leave it because you lived it out with gratitude and full experiences. Learn a lot, and love where you are. The Lord knows; He knows where you’re going and He has bigger dreams for you than you do. 

Meet My Future Husband

I don’t know how to start writing this, so I’ll just start with where I want to end up:

I’m engaged.

In 15 days, I will be a married woman.

And it’s strange because it feels like the most natural and sensical thing to do, but also feels like the craziest thing I’ve ever done and could never be ready for because I don’t know how to be ready for it. 

But instead of rambling on about that, how abouts I just jump into the story and introduce you to the greatest guy on the face of the planet, hm?

His name is Jon Capra. I met him through Young Life; he’s a leader at the high school in the county next to the high school I lead at. That’s pretty much the only thing I knew about him for a year, besides hearing his rare contributions to our weekly leader meetings or seeing him hanging out with his high schoolers at camp. He was quieter, and didn’t seem to feel the need to prove himself among the rest of us Chesapeake leaders, but everything I saw him do had an appearance of intentionality to it, a maturity that I didn’t see in some of the younger guys. What I heard from his close friends confirmed that, and nobody seemed to have a bad thing to say about him. Even before I was ever interested in him I respected him as someone with character. (Oh, but did I mention I thought he was the best-looking guy among all the others, and that he made me super nervous every time he talked to me? Even during the first "significant" conversation I can remember, last July on the way home from camp, when he oh-so-smoothly asked at the vending machine, “Uh, are you gonna get something? or can I…?”)

As far as I was concerned, though, he was “off the market.” I didn’t really pay him that much attention. Even when he did become "available," my contentment level with being a single lady was at an all-time high and I was not at all interested in another relationship (this was after I had written “Yet Without a Wedding Dress,” and about the same time I wrote “I’m Single… You’re Not.”).

Things started to subtly change right before New Years. Seemingly out of nowhere, he had gotten my number and kept me company my family’s drive down to Florida by texting me almost the entire time.

As soon as I got back from my trip and started school again in January, I would see him “randomly” studying in the library at my school, or get snapchats from him in places I could meet him nearby. A few short weeks later, we’re in the hall outside my dorm room door and he’s telling me that he wants to be more intentional about getting to know each other better.

While I had been thinking he was just an awesome guy who wanted someone to do homework with, he had been telling his guy friends for a month that he was going to date me… and telling himself he was going to marry me.

Three weeks later, February 27 we started dating. 

11 days later, this ball-cap-clad handsome man steals my heart when he tells me he loves me in a Food Lion parking lot. 

A month later, he buys a ring. 

May 29 he asks my dad if he can ask for my hand in August. 

He consents; 

Jon instead asks me June 7. 

I, of course, said yes. 

August 7, I’ll be Mrs. Capra.

I couldn’t begin to tell you all of the ways I’ve seen the Lord at work in these few months. Some of them are big things, like the vision he has for a future family; some of them are small things, like the way he makes me laugh, or how good he is at guessing the flavors of sour patch kids. But he is everything I asked the Lord for, and more than I dared to dream of. It really is true that God has more in store for us than we could ever ask or imagine...
He is so supportive of me, incredibly passionate about ministry, and the most selfless man I've met. (And have you seen his smile??)

So why have you not heard from me a lot on Cattails, Rabbittrails, and Thistlefish? Well, lately, I’ve been wedding planning… and before then I was too busy getting swept off my feet;) But I'm sorry for keeping secrets.

I have not stopped writing, and won’t stop writing, and hopefully I’ll keep ya’ll more included in my life from here on out. But for now, that’s my quick update;) I have more - and more detailed - writings to come, but give me some grace... I get married in two weeks;)

Much Love,

Casey

P.S., follow our wedding adventures on Instagram at #countdowntoCapra