...Rabbit Trails...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MAN!

2010-11-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

HEY SEAN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

.i love you.

so as you can tell it is sean's birthday today. WOO HOO...(oh look how fitting - 12:00am).
On this day (November 12, 1988) Baby Sean entered the world and 22 years later my heart (commence with the oohs and aahs).

We are celebrating by going to Big Bob's Pizza with a bunch of friends and then to my apartment to play games and whatnot, it's going to be a blast.

So. In honor of Sean I will now give a list of the things I love about him.

(sorry this is totally mushy....oh well, you know you like it)

The man is loyal, not to a fault, because, well, I don't think it's a bad thing! He is incredibly wonderful and thoughtful of me.
Sean is an INCREDIBLE teacher. I can't wait til he gets in his own class and can really do his thing!
He is suuuper creative, i think that goes without saying....after all, he painted me a picture of the Philippines when we thought I wouldn't be able to go last year! Thoughtful + Creative = Sean.
He really really cares about his family and people in general. He doesn't like to hurt feelings, he doesn't like to disappoint, he really values everyone!
Sean is such an awesome spiritual leader. He realllly loves the Lord, loves to learn more about Him, and lead us in prayer.
He is so perceptive. He can tell when there's something wrong and when I'm sad or excited or you name it.
He is soo soo soo incredibly loving.

Well, now that's done, last thing to say is:

I am a very, very blessed woman.

.memory lane.

2010-10-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

A trip down memory lane today...ok so not too far down memory lane, but still.

SNEAK PEEK: my loot for the day.

For the past four years I've gone to the Philippines with Moody Bible Institute's PCM Dept, but more like Papi Nathan and the crew (Ilene, BR Butler, Nora, Eric, and many other friends).

SOOO now, I've moved to Grand Rapids, away from all of these people (I know i'm being a bit nostalgic) with a common shared experience: Living and hanging out in the Philippines *2 weeks at a time*.

...............bottom line....................

I MISS THE PHILIPPINES, but more importantly the people there and friends I go with, and thinking I might not be able to go this year is a bit crushing. I wish Sean and I could find a way to go, but alas, if it doesn't work out, I have a feeling we'll make it there at some point...soon. Can't wait too long.

ANYHOW. So I was searching online for Asian stores to buy a rice cooker - when I have money. SO I found one called Asian Delight Market. They have Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Thai foods/flavors.

So naturally I went to the Filipino section ;) ha. I found these treasures:

Palabok is a Filipino dish that we see @ Jollibee (phils mcdonald's)

Banana Sauce = Filipino Ketchup!! - shoulda bought some

MILO! Chocolatey goodness anyone?

Pancit Canton - one of my first intros to Filipino food! YUuummmYYY.

Overall, it was insane, I walked up and down the aisles looking longingly at all of this awesome food, wishing I were back in the PI. I miss the friends, the warmth, the faith, the love, and the simplicity of life there.

Let's go back please?

Engagement Pics Galore!

2010-09-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

So. Here i am. Getting married. TO SEAN.
venue: Check.
reception hall: Check.
bridal party: Check.
dress: Check.
photographer: Check.

ENGAGEMENT PICS: CHECK.
Here are my favorite pictures of the shoot. Sandy is an INCREDIBLE photographer. So fun to work with and just such an awesome lady. We're definitely friends. :)

So here we go (some of you have probably seen some of these on facebook and Sandy's blog, but maybe there are some new ones too that I definitely liked that didn't make it yet)!!!

.Our Bikes.

.We love <3 each other.

.happy.

.hold my hand.

.riding our bikes down Cherry.

.the little storefronts.

.shadows.

.content.

.<3.

.kiss me.

.loving glance.

.under the willow tree.

.walking back.

.stylin shoes.

.sigh.

.a short kiss.

.the bling.

.recordheads.

.peekaboo.

.enjoy.

.record player picnic.

.beautiful day.

.we are silly.

.our feet.

.the norm.

.picture kiss.

.framed kiss.

.american gothic.

.all smiles.

.Sean's hug.

.Juuump!.

.old school lovely poster.

these are some of my FAVORITE engagement pictures.

again. THANK YOU SANDY.

CAN'T WAIT for the WEDDING!!!

4 MILES...GT Pie people...and a Mac!

2010-09-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

.an update in categories. lots of words, no pics, WORTH READING...i hope.

4 Miles.
Elizabeth Joo Ann Bierlein (soon to be Thelen) has run four miles straight. by straight i'm sort of lying. I did walk in there for like...three minutes, but not bad eh? I'm only just beginning.

so as you can tell, my workout routine is becoming just that. A routine. haven't lost my goal of 30lbs, BUT feeling more toned and more energized. This counts for something.

maybe someday i'll run a 5k or a 10k or do a sprint tri. that'd be fun. this habit is really opening up some possibilities here...

GT Pie.
If you work in a customer service type job, you'll know what I'm talking about for this next update.

SOMETIMES there are customers who you could basically live without and other times there are customers who are just the best people and really BRIGHTEN your day.

...I had customers in BOTH of those categories today...
I will not divulge about the former, but the latter, I will explain.

A lady named, well I'll call her K, came in today and she was just so so so happy. I think she was a little bit older, not super old, but maybe 25 or so. She comes up to the register where I am holding post and she just starts having the nicest conversation with me. She attends a nearby college and she is just SO excited about the chance to go to college. She is telling me how proud of her her family is and how her boyfriend bought her a cute little netbook for doing work on and well, it was SO REFRESHING. Later I went into the dining room to clean and she was there studying. She said to me, "wow this sandwich smells so good, i can't wait to eat it. Thank you so much!" All in all, it was awesome to see her so excited about learning and about life and about people. She's going somewhere with that attitude. A great boost to a relatively boring day.

to complain for a sec about the former...we only accept punches on the punch card for pie. not cake. we are the pie company. the end.

but not quite yet:
MAC.
I am the proud owner of a little macbook. i love it dearly. it has already helped me complete a newsletter and numerous other, at one time, time consuming - overwhelming, tasks. Thank you Apple for your undying devotion to awesome products.

.the. .end.

Liz and Sean Gettin' Hitched + UPDATES

2010-09-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

Here's the wedding countdown for our wedding. I'm so glad this works.

In other news. I got a new computer, hopefully this means I will be updating much much more and hopefully it also means I will be more productive in general since this will move faster than my previous desktop. I will say that that computer has been going strong since 2004 so THANK YOU to my Compaq for really stickin with me through the years.

UPDATES of the WEEK

Cousin Paul got "married" this past weekend, pics to come I'm sure. He and his wife got married, went into the military (or the other way around), shipped out, and came back to have a party with family and friends. It was wonderful!
I am now 2 weeks into my workout routine. I have been running 2.5+ miles everyday! Today I ran 3.3, I'm getting the hang of this running thing! Yay!
I am unsure of what percentage I am at for Beechpoint, but will soon find out so I can keep everyone more informed!
ArtPrize starts very very soon...maybe even today...I need to pre-register!

and most awesome of them all....

Sean and I got our engagement pictures done a few Sundays ago and Sandy our AWESOME PHOTOGRAPHER has them done and is going to send me the disc so I can put them up here...and show them off, they are AWESOME, I'm trying not to overuse this word, but really...incredible. Here's a BLOG PREVIEW of the pics!! Check them out and tell me what you think!

Blessings for now. More pics to come when i get my computer all sync-ed up to my external.

Day 3...

2010-09-10T22:18:00.000-07:00

...of Get Liz Fit for Her Wedding!

So far so good, welll, so good might be a stretch...

Occurance 1: Decided I would go FULL OUT on Day 1 and run for like an hour, which turned out to be only 50 and really only ran for maybe 30 minutes with speedwalking in between. Because I decided to go FULL OUT on DAY 1: Soreness. In places and muscles I care not to be sore. Yikes.

Occurance 2: Decided I would NOT GO full out on Day 2. Instead I went to Daniel's house and used his ab lounge. Little did I know, you can get MOTION SICK from an Ab Lounge....no lie. So after 10 straight minutes of a quick pace crunch/sit up on this ab "lounge" I thought I my dinner would reappear on Daniel's floor.

Which brings us up to Day 3 of the 90, did I mention 90!!, day workout plan. (hopefully it'll be everyday til my wedding which is in 246 days).

Today went just fine.

Just the average, run of the mill, I'm-so-tired-but-need-to-work-out-to-look-like-a-babe-for-my-wedding workout routine.

You know, just like that. Ran 2.5 miles while Sean lifted weights and also while watching Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. Not a great quality flick, to me, but hey entertaining enough.

So here I am, about to embark on the day 4. Sean says it only takes 28 days to get into the habit of doing something, I'm hoping that is the truth, but really, I doubt I'm ever going to feel like sweating like a crazy person, running til my legs feel like they might fall off, and the second day soreness, which might be eternal at this rate. Alas, I will press on. I will continue in this quest for fitness.

in other news: big weekend ahead.

Engagement Pictures on Sunday. Sister's Birthday on Sunday. Everything on Sunday really.

in other other news:

I am on Twitter. You can follow me at LizJoo5 or you can search for me by name: Elizabeth Bierlein. Either way. I have not yet learned the intricacies of such a micro-social network, but I'm working on it. Pointers? Give 'em over.

Thanks friends, I hope you have thoroughly enjoyed.

Date Night!

2010-09-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

Sean and I went on a date. momentous.

generally we have no money and can't fit it in our schedules, but really no money, but today...today we splurged. At a little place called Olives!

*located in swanky East GR*

(we felt like posers and fakes, but we had a coupon, what were we to do?)

Main Entree:

Liz - Chicken Capellini: lemony deliciousness

Sean - Skirt Steak: bacony meaty goodness

Beverage:

Liz - Piesporter

Sean - Founder's Pale Ale

Rating 1-10 scale 1 being the worst 10 being the best ever:

(drumroll please)

8. for sure an 8. It was quite expensive even with our coupon, but it was a good date night.

for sure ;)

We've got to go on these things more often.

in my effort to do so, rewards/eclubs galore! Just signed up for Logan's and TGIFridays. Cheap? Yes

Deals? Yes please

More dates? Most definitely

we chatted about art (my fiancee is definitely an artist.lovely.)

beechpoint full time

life together

love. <3

And for the past 3 hours since returning from our date: Wedding planning, this is the life.

trying harder + NEWS

2010-09-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

*sigh...deep breath* - really it's not this dramatic...I know.

I believe it's time to try harder. so this is my attempt.

start. blogging. no matter. what. maybe everyday I will try, though I believe my life events are not always entertaining. I guess we'll see.

In present news (since last I've begun):

1) I am currently at about 20% of my support raised for Camp Beechpoint. Exciting, working on more churches and contacts, neeeed to send out another newsletter. Asap.

2) I am still at the Pie Co...though, my sister now works there which is a major plus, also, though, we never work together.

3) I have attended 4 weddings the past 4 weekends and soon to be 5, a break weekend and then the 6th...only to be followed by December's madness of being "in" 2 more. It is an awful good thing that I like weddings...

and speaking of

4) I GOT ENGAGED THIS SUMMER!!!!!! WOOO HOOOOOOOOO. I am engaged to the greatest man ever, loving, sweet, wonderful, SEAN! YAY here's a picture. Yay this is the night we got engaged!

HIGHLIGHTS:
Su casa.
20 fuchsia roses.
Prov.18:22.
PERFECT evening.
30+ friends.
mariachi band.
crazy baby.
GORGEOUS heart shaped solitaire ring.

all in all...pretty spectacular. a night to remember. I'm getting married...

wait...

I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!! AH! It's so exciting. :D planning in the works without a doubt.

We have our photographer for engagement and wedding...she's wonderful! Like a friend already! So excited to work with Sandra, check her out! She's excellent.

i'm getting married to Sean Avery Thelen. yay.

I'm not a failure. I am His.

2010-01-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

This past week I've been struggling a lot with contentedness, my abilities, and my general sanity. There were a couple of days when I felt like I was just an absolute failure. So many little things had accumulated and conversations were had where I really felt as if I were letting down so many people and doing so many things wrong and not being motivated enough to do the things that needed to be done. It was rough. Luckily, things are looking up and I've determined a few things.
1) I am not a failure.
2) God has me go through these things so that I can grow stronger.
3) If I'm in God's will, I am certainly not in any trouble.
4) I do need to be more responsible with work, finances, etc.
5) I have people who love me, who will stay by my side, who will pray for me...and I need to let them in so they can!

Anyways, God is doing big things, but sometimes they get lost in the noise of the World and Satan will use these times to get me down and away from doing what God has called me to do.

In other update-ish news: God has already laid it on some peoples' hearts to give to me financially. It's exciting to hear about these things, it shows progress :)

I'm going to Moody to help recruit for Beechpoint tomorrow (wed), I'm excited to be going back to Chicago, see some friends, and hopefully find some great staff for the summer!

Prayer Requests:
1) my continued efforts to develop support for Beechpoint
2) HAITI - many of my friends are involved in someway with Haiti and its people. Pray for their rebuilding, their communities, their lives, their losses, their economy...everything.
3) my dad and his life situations right now
4) Winter Blast! Coming up this weekend.

Thanks for reading!!

CHRISTMAS

2009-12-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas was incredible this year. honestly, one of the better, not that every Christmas isn't good, but this one was just exceptional.

Got to spend time with my fam, sean's fam, sean...then it was my birthday (just like every year for the past 24).

New Years is coming up as is a bunch of parties to plan (RELEASE and BEECHPOINT REUNION) and more birthdays to celebrate (YAY Stindall!!), so it's a busy busy time of the year. Plus, working.

I have an interview for David's Bridal today at 2:30, pray i get this job, I need another one, I'm just not making enough to pay all the bills on time, so it would be great to get this one.

Also! UPDATE on SUPPORT RAISING: I finally have all my letters and whatnot done, they are going out TODAY I just have to get the stamps on them and stick them in the mailbox, it's going to be good. Pray that God does some big things through the letters and through my continued efforts to raise support and to develop relationships for the purpose of Beechpoint and its ministry as well as friends for support and encouragement for me personally. I'm excited to see how God is really going to use this time for me to rely on Him for every need that I have.

I hope everyone is doing well. Much love from Michigan/the tundra (did I mention I don't really loove winter...i'm makin it though, no worries)

man o man.

2009-11-28T17:17:00.001-08:00

Can I ever catch a break?

Nah, I'm being more dramatic than I think is necessary, but yeah let me just tell you a story (a story...finally!!!)

Last night, while sitting down to thanksgiving #2 - a plethora of leftovers...I get a phone call from my roommate Stindall (Sara Tindall). She goes on to inform me that she is with the police and says that our house got broken into....

heart, dropped.

WHAT?

yeah, so i guess our house got broken into...our laptops stolen (3 in total), some dvds, some other random stuff...CRAZY.

I guess it's just so weird to even think that someone was hanging out in my room, rummaging through my stuff and in my personal space, while i don't mind this from friends, relatives, even people that I somewhat trust...I can't believe a stranger did. It's just so unsettling to me, so unnerving. I know that's just something that comes with the neighborhood we live in, the work that i'm going into, and whatnot, it's just reality, but it's still scary and always will take me by surprise knowing that there are people out there that are corrupt and selfish. It's unfortunate and sad, but it's humanity...I'm going to just pray for them and hope that their hearts are turned...and if not, then it just happens and life will go on. We're all ok, though Stinds did walk in on them...whoa, and God is still good.

Anyways, kind of a distracted post, but there's my story. life.

bad blogger?

2009-11-26T16:56:00.001-08:00

turns out i'm terrrrriibbblee at this blogging thing. I never post when i should and rarely have any great stories to tell, i don't know why i can't really think of any good stories or whatnot, but meh, i'll keep at it and see how it goes.

story 1: I'm in NY...you'd think city, but no, it's just a little northeast of Buffalo, so it's kinda like Michigan. i'm here visiting family with Sarah and it's pretty good, low key...we're going to watch Star Trek really soon and it'll be good. We are going to go shopping tomorrow probably at some point and then just continue hanging out. It's pretty sweet. I'm enjoying Thanksgiving.
int
story 2: I'm getting my support letters written and hopefully getting them out soon. I have to get them all printed off and mailed, but that's the slight update on the support front.

story 3: If this interests you at all, I want to go to the Philippines this March. here's the catch, I'm broke 1 and 2 I am also trying to raise support for working full time at Beechpoint. SOOO, I think i'm going to try and get the money by asking on Facebook, blogspot, and any other social networking means....so again, if you're interested please feel free to send me some money to get myself to the Philippines where I will be helping with a camp and with Vacation Bible schools. Address: 1801 Union Ave Se, GR MI, 49507 . :D Thanks! We'll see what happens and I believe that if the Lord wants me to go, I will. :)

story 4: I have really enjoyed living in Grand Rapids thus far, I'm sure it'll only continue to get better. I really like my new friends, spending time with my boyfriend, my pie company job, living with stinds and tiff (I know i wrote this in the first post, but really...), and getting involved in Calvary as much as possible. MSM, Missio, and just sitting in on the teachings of Samra has been incredible. I'm really blessed.

Artprize and Beechpoint

2009-09-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

PRAY for the people of the Philippines. Their homes and streets are flooded from the typhoon that recently and still may be hitting. Many of the people that we worked with have lost everything!! It breaks my heart to hear the news and the death toll rise. Pray for God's provision and for the ministries that reside there trying to help with relief work. Pray for aid from anywhere they can get it. And pray for those who have lost possessions and more importantly people. Lord, please be with the Philippines and its people. You are Good.

WELL It's about time for my second post.

Things to CHECK OUT!

Now - OCT 10: Artprize is going on in downtown Grand Rapids and it is a great time!! It's really cool because it feels like such a unifying experience or common thing for the city of Grand Rapids and its residents. I know Chicago has all of its festivals and whatnot and maybe it's because GR is a bit smaller, but it's so fun just hanging out downtown and seeing the creativity that so many people possess. There's really something for everyone...even if you aren't a huge art appreciator. There's the "Loch Ness Monster" in the river, peace signs everywhere, and more framed art than you could imagine! You should check it out if you're around here...here's a link....

ARTPRIZE GR

Here's one of the entries - Scott Gundersen's My Wife in Wine Corks. Can be seen at San Chez. Not necessarily my fave, but it gives you a taste of what there could be there! So...check it out to see more!

OCT 10: Beechpoint's 50th Celebration Banquet and Alumni Lunch event!!! I'm working on a slideshow as I write this, well actually, I'm sorta procrastinating on it, but I will be working on it more after this post! Everyone who is affiliated with Beechpoint or affiliated with someone who is affiliated with Beechpoint should come and celebrate with us! It's going to be a great time to reflect on what God has/is/will be doing with Beechpoint's ministry in the lives of so many! COME!!!

OK, I have to get back to it. Life is good. God is better. Happppy trails friends!

...and I'm in.

2009-09-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

So I just got sucked into
this because I want to follow other peoples' blogs.

So I got one for myself, plus, I have stuff to talk about I guess.

Things I am doing with my life right now:

working at Grand Traverse Pie Company
hopefully working at East Hills Athletic Club to offset my work at the Grand Traverse PIE company...
moved from Chicago to Grand Rapids
working on raising full time support for Beechpoint Christian Camp to be the Michigan Follow Up Director
hanging with my boyfriend Sean a lot
loving living with Stindall and Tiffany
loving having my sister nearby again
attending/volunteering at Calvary Church

This is really all I have to say right now. I am going to hopefully use this as a place where my friends and family can follow my life, my journey through support raising, and God's ministry in my life.

The. End.