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oh_mr_bojangles
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Name: Vivian
Country: United States
State: California
Metro: San Jose
Birthday: 8/2/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: I LOVE GOD, my everlasting prince of peace and love! I LOVE MISSIONS! I LOVE OUTREACH! I love longboarding, biking, !!LOVE!! surfing, skydiving, snowboarding's rad, my next stop is motocross! photography, love singing>>shower opera, hairbrush tunes, the best of air guitaring (this is all sounding a little too familiar to you huh?), dancing, and READING!, animals--caring for and petting =)
Expertise: I make music, listen to it, live it, breathe it, eat it? I am a good listener, and love to offer advice.
also, having a fun time and looking for experiences that will rock my world.
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music in my head, all day long..........
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Occupation: Student
Industry: Aramark, YSI, Americuts
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
8/12/2005
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| Hello all! You can now view my pictures online! This link here is for my wedding photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11804&l=ad36b&id=513526789 This link is for my honeymoon pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11697&l=fe68b&id=513526789 (you don't have to be a member of facebook to view these pictures...just clicky on the linky!) ENJOY!!! | | |
| my wedding was on July 21st, 2007 at Peachwood's Steakhouse in Santa Cruz. it went well. keep on the lookout for pictures in the next week or so... | | |
| Indeed, I am in love  .
Staying single until now has been totally worth it. In high school, I
thought having a boyfriend was totally essential. I only had one
boyfriend in all my life, and it didn't work out the first time. I
wasn't serious about it, and I didn't really care about it. It was
highschool. And as the years came to pass, I came into a close
relationship with Jesus. I began learning to be content with my season
of singleness. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, "God, but it would
be nice to be married by the age of 23. But whatever you want Lord."
I was not looking for a boyfriend and I was not looking to date around
though. I came to a conclusion that I wouldn't date ANYONE unless I
knew for certain I was going to marry him. One guy asked me, "Well if
you don't date, how would you know who's the one? You don't believe in
giving people a chance? What if you miss out?" I wasn't totally sure
how to answer him, but what I said was, "I have faith that God will
bring me together with the one man he wants me to be with." I didn't
believe and still don't believe that God wants us to try
out different people. Cuz each time we go out with someone different,
we'd give away pieces of ourselves, our hearts, our time, our effort
and our focus. And not just ourselves, but the other person too. What
I was still learning was that I needed to give all of that to Jesus.
And once we've gotten Jesus as our foundation and God sees the time as
right, he sends your life partner to you. He prepares our hearts
making sure we're able to be more selfless because that's what a
relationship is all about. Dying to ourselves and sacrificing for
others.
So when I was in high school, my mom came up with what I still think
was a genius idea even though it didn't work out according to my
will...so she told me to make a list of everything that I wanted in my
future husband. So the list came to about 70 somethings and I
unabashedly posted it up in my room. All my friends thought I was
crazy. They thought I was being totally picky, had too high of a
standard and told me it was impossible. Thanks guys, thanks  .
So over time, I actually did meet a guy who filled all the things on
the list. REALLY! I was truly excited because I was thinking back to
all my friends and wanted to say, "IN YOUR FACE! DON'T EVER SAY MY
DREAMS ARE TOO BIG!!! "  But
no, I never did that. I thought, then this is the guy I'm going to
marry? Cool. You may be wondering if the current guy is the one that
made the list. Um honey, if you're reading this...it wasn't you. 
BUT IT'S OK! I've learned that God can show you many things. He
showed me that there ARE guys that make up the list I made, but also
what you want isn't exactly what you need. I found that while all the
stuff was great and grand, it described a person that was practically
me, but a guy instead. I learned that a person who was like me would
be a great friend, but I needed more than that. Well God knows best.
The man God put in my life is opposite of me. And that to me makes a
greater picture. Opposites fit like a jigsaw puzzle. It fits, it
completes. I have weaknesses that he complements and vice versa. If
he was like me, it'd be kind of boring. Someone different from you
can be exciting!
So what's my story? It's a long but sweet story. I believe God is the
greatest match maker, and I laid my love life to God and trusted and
prayed to God that he would write a cute story for me. And that he
did. I'm usually one to not be surprised and see things as totally
predictable, but know this. NEVER ever
underestimate God. He amazes me constantly. He's the only one that
continues to surprise me sweetly. So summer of 2006, I spent it on a
missions trip in South Africa. When I came back home, I started going
back to my college Bible study group. There I met him on my first day
back at the group. James. James what? I never got his last name til
a little while later. Heh. We were introduced and the rest was
history. Ha, well honestly, the sparks didn't fly and the chemistry
wasn't set ablaze and I wasn't attracted. He just wasn't my type! But
funnily enough, we got along really well from the start. It was fate,
that same first night we met, after the prayer we all went out as a
group to eat. I ordered, went to use the restroom, came back to pick
up my food and found that the group had taken up the booths and there
was only the 2 of us left and we had to take a table somewhere else. I
was thinking, awkward! Oh
well. But the instant we sat, we chatted like we were old friends. He
was really interested to hear about my missions trip, and I was
pleasantly surprised by his own missions stories. A friend came later
and was telling me more about James and slyly added, "and he's looking for a wife." And he winked at me. Ha-Ha...not...
James didn't look at me when our friend said that, he just simply
nodded in agreement. And honestly, I remember thinking, "Dude, but
that would be so weird if God did decide for us to be together and I'd actually be marrying this dude in front of me. Haha, it would be really
weird." I thought nothing more of it. Until the next time we met, we
all went out as a group again window-shopping. And it seemed like he
was around me most of the night. I even tested it sometimes to see if
he really was following me. I tried not to think anything of it. I
told my friend about it, but I tried convincing her and myself that he
was probably just being friendly. Yeah, friendly. That's it.
Then later on we had a beach bonfire/bible study where I suddenly had
new eyes for him. It had to be God. James led the Bible study and I
knew he was for real--legit with God. Passionate. Hey, that was
attractive...very. 
A few weeks later, we had a college retreat at a very beautiful place.
We stayed at a house that was surrounded by trees and a big lake. It
was such a peaceful setting. When we got there, everyone else went
into the house, but I decided to check out the lake. I was walking
along by myself on the grassy banks alongside the lake, crunching the
leaves underneath my feet (my favorite thing to do besides popping
bubblewrap!  ) admiring the apple trees around me, and I was thinking...and this is where James should be coming along shortly to talk to me...and
just as if the world fell rightly into place and right on cue, an apple
flew by me and I turned around to see, of course, James. Jauntily he
came jogging casually to catch up with me all smiling. And so we
walked along admiring the pretty scenery. Then we came to a set of
swings that overlooked the lake. We sat down and swung gently in the
swings as we talked and got to know each other better. He seemed
genuinely interested in really getting to know me. To make the story
short, it was a wonderful weekend spent having him by my side most of
the time (followed me like a puppy dog! hehehe), swimming in the lake,
basking in the warm sun, getting to know the Lord better and was where
my life would change. God spoke to me in my heart. Softly but very
certainly he said, "This is it. This is the man you're going to marry." Really? No, I mean, really?  That sounds pretty dang certain to me. I never quite fully understood the saying, "When you know, you know."
And I always nodded in agreement at such a simple statement but always
wondered, but how? How would you know? Can you really be sure you
know that you know? What if you just think you know, but you really
don't? But no, it was not the case when God spoke to me. I knew,
and I knew for certain. There was no one else, NO ONE. I needed not
to look any further. And I thought, wow, that was simple. God did the
work on bringing us together. Now lookie here, I did no manner of
flirting or trying to grab his attention. I just ain't that kinda
gal. Ok, I just wanted you to be sure of that so you don't think I'm
some kind of floozy. I figured the guy for me would like me for me and
he would do the pursuing. I never spoke of my feelings for him that
weekend. After learning God's secret for me, I just rested in knowing
it and happily enjoyed James' company. Of course, since neither one of us
spoke of our feelings, one, me being too shy, I would never say
anything, and two, James was putting it off, God had to intervene and
step in and put a complication in so it would help us speak up. I look
back on it and see how it was a total setup brought to us by God
himself. The beautiful weekend ended with a misunderstanding. Right
before we left, there was a quick rumor that I liked this other guy in
the group. It was totally contrived, and yet James believed it. It
definitely set James off. After seeing this gentle side of him all
weekend, I saw something dark creeping into him. It was a sense of
bitterness and he shut everyone out. I wasn't sure if he heard the
rumor, so I wasn't definite on the reason for the sudden change in
behavior. I don't think he meant to reveal so much, but maybe I was
the only one most sensitive to it. I asked him what was wrong, but he
admitted to nothing. And right when we departed, I saw such a sadness
in his eyes. It broke my heart to see it. I never saw such
vulnerability in a guy's eyes. That's when I believed that you can
really see right to someone's soul through their eyes. After much
provoking a few days later (from my part), he finally confessed that he
had feelings for me. Of course I had to confess too. And so he asked
me out on a date a week later. So we found ourselves having a
wonderful picnic in a beautiful rose garden on a hot and sunny late
summer's day--we had the red and white checkered blanket, pb&j
sandwiches and juice pouches, etc., music, the whole nine yards, and
that's where he asked to court me. He told me there that God showed
him during the retreat that I was the one for him. I was astounded!!!
I thought in my head, "Oh my gosh! That's so crazy that God spoke the same message to both of us the same weekend??? I don't know what to think!!!" I
didn't tell him that God shared the same thing with me. Not yet. For
all that don't know what courting is, it's a serious thing. The
dictionary says: a man's courting of a woman; seeking the affections of
a woman (usually with the hope of marriage). We've totally been
tested, maybe I was testing it somewhat to see if the relationship was
really of God's doing, and every single time, God never failed. I had
doubts sometimes but God always reassured me. Which is another great
opportunity here to stress the importance of really having a firm
foundational relationship with Jesus first. You can trust him!
Anyway, James and I knew right from the start that we were going to
marry each other. Something about that at the beginning was really
terrifying to me at first. I know it may sound foolish, but I think it
was the whole idea of it being so real, so final, so adult...I
almost wanted to run away. I guess that's what's called cold-feet.
I've never been in a serious relationship before. But I'm so glad I
didn't run. We have such a wonderful relationship. It's only been 2
months today! since that day in the rose garden...and God's totally
blessed us. We get counsel from godly people and I just love it. I
fell in love with his family and I can't speak for James, but he enjoys
being at my house all the time. My mom constantly tries to invite him
over for dinner. It's funny. I love our relationship because we are
open to each other. We've emphasized the importance of communication
and honesty. We also emphasize that our relationship should be
God-centered. And we talk of our lives together all the time. We know
we're going to be poor our first years of marriage, hahaha, but I'm
actually looking forward to it. Run with open arms to my first huge
struggle! Yeah, I really have no idea how hard it will be. I'm just
being open to it. I know I'm not going to face it alone. Most
important, I have God to lean on, I'll be dealing with it with James,
and we've got the support of our loving families. What I'm really
excited about is that today, James said next weekend we'll go look for
my ring!
This was a long blog, there won't be another for a while. Who reads
these things? =) But if you did, I hope you enjoyed! Take care, be
blessed and Happy Thanksgiving! Oh, and his last name is Johnston. 
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| Farewell, and adieu to all.
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