I Finally Graduated!

Well Folks,
You may now call me a college graduate. I did it...with the help of many others. But I did indeed walked up a set of stairs, heard my named read over the speakers, walked across stage, took my "diploma"(real one is coming in the mail I think...I hope!), shook some hands and walked down a set of stairs...and sat down in my respectable assigned seat, watched my fellow classmates go through the same process, and turned my tassel to the victory side. I was number 25...AKA...Emma Colleen Miner. It felt wonderful to know that my whole family was there backing me and cheering me on. It was an amazing experience to look at all my professors sitting on the stage...some that I loved, and some that I didn't love as much. It was kinda like an out of body experience. Strange to say the least. I am done with college. I do not have to write paper upon paper anymore, or study for 20 exams a semester. It's done. I must say that this is a miracle, because I in myself could not have done this on my lonesome. It was by the hand of my creator and sustainer. College was no breeze, there were times where I didn't long to return to the books after a fun weekend, or after a good exam grade. There were times where I would have chosen to wake up early the day of an exam to catch my last couple of facts before filling my name in on the scantron. Yet, there is something to be proud of in all this. I did yearn to continue my education and to face a wall of classes that I had to fight to climb and overcome. Many obstacles were placed in my way, but the glory of it all is...that the Lord doesn't give us trials to hard to overcome. He gives us his mercy to help us get through them. That is just what he did for me. Of course there were times of hurt and sorrow and a want to not continue, but how could I not! He brought me this far! I know He will allow me to finish the race! He did it! Not me or all the studying I did. It was all God. I owe my glories to Him. Because without Him, I wouldn't even have had the brilliant idea to go to college! Now I am now as Emma Colleen Miner...Bachelor's of Arts in Psychology. And who knows...maybe Emma Colleen Heim...Master's of Arts in Psychology.  Only God knows the answer to that question.  My mind is blown.

Up next.......

THE WEDDING OF THE CENTURY!!
FEATURING: NEWCOMERS...EMMA MINER AND TRAVIS HEIM!
THIS ONE IS SURE TO EXCITE YOU AND MAKE YOU SAW AWWWWW!! ;)
YOU WILL WISH YOU HAD RECORDED IT. HA.

No but for real. The wedding is literally in 40 days...insane. I shall soon be the Mrs. Travis C. Heim. Which is just so amazing! We have waited so long for this day to come to us, and it is almost here. God is continually blessing us!

AND..the best buddy is coming in a matter of days....I can't believe it is already time to pick her up from the airport again! I love her!! We have a weekend of fun times! Bachelorette party and a Bridal shower! So many fun times!

Oh, and Little Travis is in Florida with the rest of the Tyler RUF group. So badly wish I could be there with them, but I have things here to attend to. But I must say I am a bit jealous. It is my prayer for them that they will hear something that they had never heard before, and that God will give them some topics that will stir their hearts and draw them closer to God.  Have fun guys!

Until then,
-E

The Rest

check out our wedding website!
 www.theknot.com/ourwedding/emmaminer&travisheim

 Until then,
   -E

Blessings

This weekend was full of so much exciting and enjoyment. Travis and I felt very loved at our first bridal shower. This was our Tyler families doing. It was hosted by 5th Street Presbyterian ( our wonderful church here in Tyler. ) and a lot of our friends from RUF were about to attend too! It was held at the ever so kind Dominique Jordan's home. She did a beautiful job of setting up everything, getting people to help out and of course making us all feel at home. There was so much love that filled that one that night. Travis and I were encouraged to see the love of God shown in such an amazing way. Mike, the associate pastor, said a couple words before we began to open presents, he stated that we couldn't start a home on our own, but that these wonderful people came together to help get the things that we need to start it. That really struck me. This is such truth. I am honored that people would feel lead to purchase us presents which will continue to benefit my family for our whole lives. These are the objects that I will cook with and serve with. I will feed my children on these plates and cook all our family meals with these pots and pans. Such a beautiful realization. God blessed me through even the smallest gift. All were picked out for a special purpose. All so wonderful.  Our families got to come to Tyler for the shower. I know that it encouraged them to see that we truly are cherished by our 5th Street family here. I am glad they were able to make it.

          Saturday I drove home to Fort Worth with my mom, who got to stay Friday night with me in Tyler. We headed home for a slight moment so that I could see my little (not so little) puppy Franklin. He is getting bigger!! But is just as sweet as ever. After making that much needed stop we headed to the tailors for my second dress fitting! That was very exciting! The dress is looking great! Saturday night was an exciting night for the little brother! It was his Junior Senior Banquet. Being a Miner son it was a necessity for him to wear a KILT! Ian followed in our older brother's footsteps who also wore a kilt to his senior banquet. I truly think only a Miner son could pull that off. He looked great and said that he had a fun night. Hard to believe that Ian is graduating high school. Couldn't be more proud of the kid. His high school play is coming up in a couple of weekends. I am looking forward to going home to watch him in his last high school play! 

          Sunday the parents and I went to the Main Street Arts Festival in downtown Fort Worth. It was awesome to see all the different artists from all over the country selling and displaying their heart. I love learning about different kinds of art and the meaning behind why the artists did what they did. So interesting to learn what their brain's were thinking when they were creating. What is really cool is that each artists reason for what they created is so different.  Love it!

Until then,
E

Your Left Bicep Looks Bigger than the Right.

Last week was spring break. This week was filled with much joy and much sadness. I will start with the sadness. A beautiful life was lost on Wednesday, March 9th. Matthew Josue Reyes was taken home to be with our Savior at an early hour in the morning in a terrible car accident. Matthew graduated from Temple Christian School with me and many other amazing people. We spent 7 years together for 8 hours a day, all of us so close. We not only were together through the academic aspect of school, but we were even more importantly,we were all connected through our Spiritual lives. We learned and grew through the teachings that were taught.  This created a bond that could never be broken. This was evident to me at the funeral. The funeral was held at Temple Baptist Church. This sad event brought many of the graduates/classmates together for that short time. We all were there to support the family and each other. God was present at the funeral to comfort, and I could feel Him there. I pray that He continues to comfort the family and friends.

Spring break also brought about happy times. My Maid of Honor flew all the way from LOS ANGELES,CA to help with the planning of my wedding. She was a huge help! We got much accomplished. It was great just getting to hang out with her and talk. Such a sweet, caring, and loving person. I look up to her in many ways.  She also takes great notes, and is pretty. :)

Speaking of wedding planning, I have more of a grasp of how the wedding will really look. Which is super exciting! I am having a very talented person design my invitations. More of that later though. ;) A funny joke that was told to me this week by my boss no less...."Emma, your left bicep looks a lot bigger than your right." Me- "Oh man, does it really? I have really been trying to work on my arms...I didn't think you could tell that much!" Boss-"It must be that rock on your left hand." I must say..as corny as it is...it made my day.....btw..my left bicep is not much different than my right. That kinda made me sound like one arm was huge and the other not. ha.

MARCH MADNESSSSSS! I have a killer bracket. No help from T.Heim either.

8 weeks of my undergrad career left. Insane. I am so excited! I will have a B.A. Wow! 

We got the rest of our engagement photos. I shall share some of my favorites soon. :)

Until then.

ENGAGEMENT PICTURES! (preview)

My Friends,
We got the preview of our engagement pictures. :) Couldn't be happier. It's really coming together!
 

       4 Months from today we will be getting married.

Enjoy.

Stormy Sky

      It's currently bad weather out.  That's Texas for you. Two days ago it's bright and shinny out, now it's a thunder storm warning. Sooo....in these times I like to put on comfy pants and sip on some hot tea. I have a busy week ahead of me next week, so I am also about to crack my books open.  But before I do that I thought I would share about my last couple of days.

"Crown and Robe"

     Today my vase forms were due. I think they turned out well. The smaller white one only has a slip covering. Nothing formal with color has been done yet. The "greenware" stage was due today. My white form will stay white, but it has yet to be glazed. A slip covering is just an underlying color which can be the only color that is used or can be covered up with a stain and glaze. In my case I will cover the slip with a glaze (A thicker milky white). Slip can also be used as a strengthening binder. I think of my white vase form as a king's crown and his robe, or in my case...a artistic description of my King and the promises that he gives me as my Savior. I also found a verse to go along with it.
           Isaiah 61:10 "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."  This also goes perfectly with the thoughts of marriage.
            You can see in the vase form the crown and the robe. Pretty cool! I feel like I am starting to get a hang of this ceramics thing. I love thinking deeper about my pieces and others pieces around me. You can really get into someone's mind just by looking at what their hands created. Love it!

"Little Fatty"- on the left

          My other form is a very curvy piece. I like to call it my "little fatty". Cause seriously...it's a fatty. When my professor saw it she said..."That's sexy!" I don't think I have ever had a professor say that to me about anything. It was funny. This was my first vase form that I have ever made. Quite proud. My little fatty will also have horizontal lines that will run through the largest part of the body. I am thinking a more natural color scheme for the fatty as well. Both of these vase forms were made by a coiling technique. I had to put coil after coil on top of each other to get the exact form I wanted. Obviously I went back through and smoothed down the coils so that they are no longer visible. I had such a wonderful time creating these two pieces. I cannot believe we are starting on the wheel next week! yay! I am so sad I started this wonderful craft my last semester of undergrad. I think I may have to continue.
          I am still waiting the preview of our engagement pictures. I am just soo excited to see them. They should be up later tonight or tomorrow. I will surely post some of them on here.
          Well, I think that is all for this current time. I will keep updated pictures of the vases on here too!

So Much Excitment

Where the creativity happens!

       Oh my word! I have been a busy little bee. I haven't been able to make another post since Christmas break. School is running my life! 21 hours might have been a mistake. Although I am enjoying all my classes thus far. Ceramics has been my most favorite so far! My first project is due this coming Thursday. My task was to make 2 vase forms. My first one I went with a greekish theme. It's rather large. But I am proud! On my second one I decided to go a bit more simple. A more slender look. That one is still very much in progress. Yikes! I better jump on that. It is very interesting going into the studio all by myself. Just working away. There is an ipod hook up in the room, but I can never remember to bring my ipod. So that doesn't help much. :/ Today was also my first time to ever glaze some of my work. Soo interesting. I love the firing process. After the work goes into the kiln to "cook" it comes out a completely different color. Yay for chemicals! Everyone in the class is so fun and easy to work around. My professor is a straight boss by the way. She has got some killer good skills. She likes to make animal forms. The animals are placed in industrial areas. This symbolizes how animals are loosing their homes because of humans taking over. Poor little guys. At least there are ceramics ones to take the real animals places.
     Speaking of animals. I got a puppy! His name is Franklin. Since he is an immigrant to my apartment complex, he had to go and live with my parents. :( He is a Lab Rot mix, and could not be more adorable. He has little eyebrows, and a goT! haa. I know I have left him in good hands with the parents and little brother. I just hope he doesn't get too massive. That would not be fun for anyone to take care of.
     Yesterday I had the privilege of taking engagement pictures with my future beloved. We love our photographer for the wedding. She is awesome. So sweet and kind. I had no idea Tyler had so many cool places around downtown. Geez. I'm in a bubble. Our thought about the engagement pictures was to do them in downtown Tyler because this was our college town. So the engagement pictures were done here, and then of course the actual wedding will be Fort Worth. Both our homes.  I am so looking forward to seeing the pictures. I will post some on my blog when I get to see them! I think they are a taste of uniqueness and a lot sweetness all combined into one photo shoot.
       Wedding planning is moving right along! Even though school gets in the way sometimes. (sorry Mom..but it does!) This past weekend Travis and I went to Fort Worth to get our gift registration taken care of. We are now registered at 3 places. Target, William Sonoma, and Pottery Barn. I thought that this task would be a hard one, but it turned out that it was a lot of fun! I loved picking out the things that would help Travis and I have a little life together. Crazy to think about how a veggie peeler could really mean so much! Every little thing was chosen by us. Many special memories were made that day just by picking plates, towels, cookware, etc...and many more memories will be made with those treasures in them. Very cool.  I have also picked the bridesmaid dress. I think that's been like a month now since I picked the dress. All my girls have said they really like it. So that's a good sign!
      Another exciting detail!!! My Maid of Honor is coming to Texas a week from tomorrow. She is coming to help with the little details of the wedding that have yet to be done. Cannot wait to see that girl. Love her to death.