Dear Journal~

Steffi Sandusky writing.  Hope this finds y'all well and reasonably happy.

We are getting an early bedtime tonight: we will probably be in bed by nine at the latest.  We will be leaving in the morning; we are driving up to Tennessee, "we" meaning myself and my fiance', Tank Griswald.  We will be spending Easter/Resurrection Sunday with my family for a week.

I had my finals yesterday (and the day before); happily, I passed!  So did Tank; we are extremely relieved that it's all over until the fall.  We will be taking a break from school for the summer; Tank and I will be getting married in Tennessee on July 11, 2012.  It's really coming up fast; only about three months away and it will be wedding time!!  Nervous?? You bet!!

Nervous, but excited, too.  And scared.  Confused.  Worried.  Joyful.  All sorts of different emotions running around in our heads at once; we want everything to go as planned!  Then Tank and I will be officially married: I will then be known as Mrs. Stephanie Louise Marie Griswald!!

Ronee', my little sister (she's nineteen) will be getting married as well: she will be getting married around Thanksgiving, in November, to her boyfriend, Michael Stinkowitz.  So that is two weddings in our family this year!  Yarg!!

Seems hard to believe, but in October, on the 16th, my little brother, Johnny (also nineteen), and his wife, Rebekka Rachel, will mark their first year wedding anniversary!  I honestly didn't think their marriage would last a year because they are so young (Rebekka is only going on seventeen), but somehow, some way, God has made their marriage work, and both are still crazy in love with each other.  We will see them as well when we get to Tennessee.  In fact, the whole family will be together for Easter; I am really looking forward to seeing everybody again!

The weather here is unseasonably warm, almost to the point of being hot,  In fact, tomorrow may touch 90 degrees, which is well above average.  The average temperature for this time of year here in Texas is in the lower seventies.  The sunshine is nice, though, and today Tank and I spent a good part of the afternoon swimming in our pool in the backyard.  We had a great time and now we are barbecuing on the back porch.  We're having chicken and shrimp kebabs and for side dishes, we are having lettuce-and-tomato salad drizzled with vinegar and oil and scalloped potatoes.

We are expecting some of our friends within the hour; they're friends from school.  We plan on enjoying each other's company and play some outdoor games (tennis, maybe even charades and badnminton), as well as hit the pool to cool off from the heat.  We're going to have a good time; then we will shoo everyone out and hopefully make it to bed by nine.  (We plan on leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning, roughly between six and seven a.m., for Tennessee.)

So far we haven't had any real severe weather; we did have some a few weeks ago (plus some earlier, but nothing too bad), but last year was bad here.  Was bad across a good part of the country.  And this year, some areas got hit pretty good too (Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, etc.), but so far, Texas has escaped major weather events.  I pray and hop that continues.  And I pray that while we are in Tennessee, we don't get hit with any severe weather!  

Whoops!  William, Darnetta, Colby, Shyanne, Cinnamon, and Carter are here; will write in here again soon!  Just keep us in your prayers and pray we have a safe trip to Nashville!  And pray we don't get any bad storms there (or here)!  I would greatly appreciate it!  Thanks in advance!

~Love, your Texas friend, Stephanie Sandusky.  :D