i here refrain from a pun on 'Czech'

My dad flew to Prague last week and I went on the layover with him. The only other time I've been on one of his layovers was to Venice, two years ago (I'm still in love with that place). We had 24 hours in the beautiful city and it was a wonderful time with him as I get ready to go back to the states.

This is going to make me sound like a spoiled brat (which I am when it comes to traveling! That's what comes of having a pilot father and living overseas. We've been so blessed!), but really, once you've been to the major European cities....they all start to look the same.

This was no exception, but the unique thing about Prague is the cause of its well-earned title, City of Spires. Along the skyline and everywhere you look are the delicate, high-flying steeples and peaks of town halls, cathedrals, castles, and clock towers. Hauntingly fog-covered in photographs (how I wish I'd had a polaroid!), and starkly rising in streetside watercolor print shops, the Charles Bridge had the best few and was crowded with artists.
Photos to come soon, I hope! There is much to do in the THREE days before I leave, and tonight I'm cooking a big dinner for my dad and Joel and some others (but that's fun and relaxing :).

much love,
Cait

P.S. What says 'processional music' (think 'entrance of the bride or bridesmaids') to you? I'm stuck on music!

I am officially on a blog break.
This means if I comment on your blog, scold me.
This does not mean that if there are a bunch of things to share and a bunch of free time (not happening) then I won't write something, but I do want to seize the time.
I spend much more time browsing than writing (evident by my irregular posting!), so that is where I need the declared break. This is because I enjoy your blogs, not because I want to absent myself from them! ;)

There is so much to do in the next two weeks before I leave for the states, and just a little more before our marriage, and using time well is something I struggle with constantly. Enjoying blogs isn't wrong, but maybe sometimes some people can do things that I cannot, if I want to be trained better in diligence and faithfulness for the future.
Especially now, and probably increasingly as I get older, I want to look back with no regrets of wasting days.

I'd really like to keep a blog after Joel and I are married, as long as I can use computer time really well. We've talked about the benefits of that; all the ways that I've been encouraged by other blogs, especially of those a step ahead of me in life.

So, maybe it's a blog reading break, but don't expect me around too much.
Maybe I'll post a lot through the summer
Maybe the next thing you'll see is wedding pictures (!!!)
Maybe the next thing will be a new Kady blog address. (!!!!!!!!)

You ladies are just too inspiring. So much so that I need to hide for a couple weeks ;)

with love,
Cait

p.s. we looked at an apartment yesterday!! :)

he's twelve

Joel and I promised Nate and Candace awhile ago that we'd take them each out with us sometime, because they (Candace) would be sad when we weren't home in the evenings. It was Nate's turn this week, and like Candace, he only had one word - burger! (Candace's was 'Starbucks!') All he wanted was a giant burger somewhere. We found an empty table in a World-Cup-crazed Dubai Mall diner, and Nate happily ate and tried to catch glimpses of Germany winning. He is a bottomless pit right now (and would tell you that he has one dinner stomach, one spaghetti stomach, and two dessert stomachs), a growing boy. I love my little brother and I've always looked forward to being the watchful big sister when he's tall and handsome (it's getting close!).
I still remember his chubby toddler cheeks and the sour faces he made when he tried yogurt for the first time.

Joel had heard about the 'best milkshakes in Dubai' and we got those after exclaiming with glee over the new Hershey's store in the mall. It was very sweet, because Joel knows my constant irrational cravings for milkshakes. These were so good.

Nate was so wound up, and I look forward to many more times of making him feel extra special (preferably with quality time daily until our wedding). My dad and I are the only ones left of our family now; all have departed for music camp or Grandma's house in Washington. I follow on July 19th, and he in August - it's the yearly Dubai exodus. Time is so precious and short. I'm happy that it's short because oh my GOODNESS in eighty-four days we'll be married, but at the same time I want to freeze the months and invest in people and plan details. Enjoy those siblings while you're in the same house.

much love,
Cait

p.s. thank you for all of your lovely, sweet comments. :)

Engagement Pictures [Nicky Rivett]

Our friend Nicky did a lovely job with these, and was creative and professional and relaxed. I love looking at these photos. It was a special day together and such a fun time with Nicky and her fiance (they're getting married two months later!).
I hope you enjoyed them! (I've saved just a few for later!)

Love,
Cait
P.S. I love the ones with the guitar because I guarantee you have never heard anybody in person play like Joel can.
P.P.S. This very encouraging post articulated much of what I'm thinking and experiencing and trying to live out, re. several posts down. Thank you Jasmine!
Listen --I'm so excited right now, because I'm thinking of the next generation of Christian young people, marrying and raising their children with a view towards multigenerational faithfulness and a biblical purpose -I'm thinking of houses brimming with God-fearing families, burgeoning with cultural impact -and I'm thinking of revival, of the gospel of Christ dispersing through the means of these godly families. I'm thinking it starts here -with you choosing to invest in your family; it starts here, with me doing the same. It starts with us loving every second of it.

ninety days

in case you were curious, here's where we're at :)

. (almost) everything planned, organized, and designed
. found a caterer
. decided on silk flowers and found where to order them from
. picked a song to be performed during the signing
. favors half finished
. dress designed and underway
. supplies for bridesmaid headpieces bought
. discovered that the seamstress will make my veil for free
. was given a lovely shower with the older ladies who have impacted and influenced me
. registry finished (here, if you have recommendations or see any gaping holes!)
. bought COUCHES (okay, not directly wedding related but it's super exciting!)
. was offered the bridal package as a wedding gift from friends starting a salon (hello saving 2000dhs)
. stored a couple hundred jars and emailed ladies to save their used ones
. bought 244 yards of ribbon
. have no idea where Joel is taking me afterward :)
. invitations printed and assembled (so pretty!)
. had our first premarital counseling session

Before leaving to the US for a month on July 19th, I need to find shoes, order flowers, organize teams of helpers, locate a little arbor somewhere to buy or rent, finish invitations, and work on favors, garlands, and other little handwork things. It's not too overwhelming and much can be finished in September, when planning is done and my sweet friend Arielle is here. These are all little things to be progressed in, and I'm so happy we get to do so many creative things ourselves, it's so much fun and when it's all mapped out I can be at peace about having time.

What are you up to these June days?
love,
Cait

P.S. I really need a new header. It's shameful.

young we are

this picture has nothing to do with this post; I'm just happy the three of us are in the same country for a few weeks.


Have you ever been lectured?
I know we all have, but a few weeks ago I got a good taste of what I could expect from a lot of people but which has been gratefully restrained.
[You should expect things like this when you do anything atypical.]
We were at a church where my father was guest-preaching, and I'd arrived late because of a Requiem dress rehearsal (it was a lovely experience, by the way). A man whom my family knows and respects, but whom I myself had never met, interrupted my conversation with my sister with a blank stare.
When we noticed he was standing near us, we paused and looked over, and he asked if I was the one getting married. I answered and he exclaimed "Too young! Too young! Too young!"
followed by another disbelieving stare.

What I want to say is that in the course of the following ten minute lecture from someone I didn't know, many things ran through my mind. True, it wasn't his business, and true, it was a false cultural presumption, and true, I wasn't at all interested in chasing other ambitions - I need none higher.
But I couldn't argue, because he was as convinced as I was, and I didn't want to disrespect him. Thus I could do nothing more than smile and try to express my joy and conviction (while next to me, my dear sister broiled inside) and thank him for his concern. My business is to, hopefully, represent myself and Joel and God's word as best as possible, and leave it at that. I can't argue, even if I wanted to, and the desire was gone.

I can laugh about it because it didn't upset me and was so bizarre an event. I'm grateful that it hasn't occurred more frequently - we've been blessed with the rejoicing of our friends at church. I do wish, for his sake, that he knew that there are more far-reaching things than independence and individualism and 'experience' before you settle down.


When relating the story to friends later, one father said "Why is it that today people can stare and accuse and ask you to your face why your wife didn't have a career first, or why you would ever consider homeschooling, or why you were so irresponsible as to have that many kids, and it would be seen as completely appalling for us to ask 'How were you so selfish to wait so long to have children?' and the myriad of other questions that would be biblically grounded?"

It is frustrating to be minorities sometimes, but what I want far more is for people to see truth and to obey, and to experience the same blessings that they miss out on - not for them to be just like us.

love,
Cait

p.s. expect an indefinite but finite hiatus sometime soon, announced or unannounced. I need a blog-free timezone in order to be super productive! (not that I'm the world's most regular or engaging poster anyway)

Father's week

Because this week was Father's Day, and my last in my father's house, and because my father deserves it, I wanted to write about him, however incomprehensive.

Let me start by saying two things:

Because of Daddy, I was blessed by staying home after graduating.
Because of Daddy, I am getting married.

My three younger siblings and I have been homeschooled our whole lives, by parents intent on training us in the home and with a Biblical worldview. My dad would tell people that he'd never have given the privilege of teaching us away. He was the 'principal' of the Fox Home Academy, and when it came to high school, he directed, compiled, and even wrote much of our curriculum, in order to give us an informed, Scriptural understanding of culture and history, and teach us that 'ideas have consequences,' as Dr. Grant says.
He took me to a Vision Forum Father-Daughter retreat the summer before I turned twelve, and then I told him that I was going to stay with him until I got married, and that he had my heart, and left behind the mental journey to professional ballet.
We moved to Dubai and I was the foolish teenager guinea pig, but they figured things out, even if it was the long way. God has transformed our family over the past two years, using friends and convictions to turn us to obedience and reform. Daddy teaches us. He always has, but now he is a visible beacon to other fathers of discipling their families. He is an elder, and I couldn't be happier because he is qualified.
Because the Lord gave my father vision, I was blessed to remain in his home to prepare for my own family, was encouraged to be obedient to Scripture uniquely as a woman.


When I was little I always told him I wanted to marry someone exactly like him. As I grew up, I understood his qualities better and grew more thankful, and he taught me things that I would need in a husband that I might not realize. When we were very young we were prepared for what to expect leading up to marriage, under Daddy's guidance and protection. He guarded me from harm and waste (even though I have my own mistakes) and he helped me with a 'list.'
Then he excitedly spent months talking to Joel, as he saw all of these things, and more, in him. I didn't know, of course =) but he was doing exactly what he had always told us he would, and what it was his job to do. My father's time with Joel gave me complete peace that the man I respected most loved and approved of Joel. Daddy is thrilled (even though it's harder for my family to think about than me) and my parents are as thankful as I am (well, almost ;) for God's generosity in bringing us together. I love Joel because he is Joel, but, like I thought of when I was a little girl, there are many similarities. They are both noble, purposeful men who fear the Lord, and courageously follow Scripture.
Daddy took seriously his biblical responsibility for the transfer of his authority to my future husband, which will take place in 94 days. God willing, generations will thank him for it.


He is a man who stands, often alone with little likeminded fellowship or encouragement from other men, and who is unashamedly counter-cultural. He fears God rather than man, and I am grateful, privileged, praising God that I am his daughter and was raised and loved in his house.


love,
Cait

(I write this because I love him, and if it makes you discontent with the father God has placed you under, that was not my intent! We've been blessed by the grace of God, and don't deserve it. You have been planted there purposefully, and all of our dads are imperfect. We will be far happier if we serve joyfully rather than wishing we had a model man for a father, or despairing that he is not all that he could be. Obey and pray hard for contentment, and try to bless him as he is.)

we are super excited about the engagement pictures Nicky took for us, but this is just a peek for today :)

some things I've been working on

But mostly wedding favors, with a sweet bunch of girls helping us.

Aaaaand, my dress is in the works! We knew I would be getting it made, since it's impossible to find a modest one in a style I like. I'd decided on a tailor in Satwa, and almost refused to meet with another seamstress because 'I already knew I wanted that guy to do it.' I am so thankful we met with her! Three hours later and we'd decided to go fabric hunting the next day. A week later, and fabric is bought and we've given her the initial payment, and a mock-up is being made! She is a fun, young, Indian designer who studied fashion in London, and herself got married a year ago. We both love vintage styles and classic gowns, and she is wonderful to work with, confident and honest. And most importantly (and amazingly) she'll work with my budget.
Because I know you'll be curious, here are some clues (which Joel knows about, but more than this you won't be hearing because he reads this blog!).

. it's white :)
. it has sleeves (shock horror!)
. it is exactly what I had in mind (you should have seen her sketch out my ideas in her fancy designer freehand)
. it is very classic, with my own twist.

But just as much as wedding details, we've been thinking and talking about our family and our home. I am so excited to see how and where God leads Joel, now and throughout our lives. He is purposeful in all things and is thinking hard and learning about our direction, and filled with God's Spirit. I'm so thankful to be marrying a man like him - especially because it's him!

love,
Cait

my little sister Kyleigh graduated this spring. we had a party for her last weekend.

sister

sixteen
faithful
diligent
motivated
lover of excellence
composer
multigenerationally minded
thinker
reader
quilter
politically incorrect
obedient & firm
feminine

I'm very proud of her. She has and will accomplish much more than me, by nature. I love you :)
Mr. Lumberjack, please hurry up, you're missing out. (don't ask)

love,
Cait

P.S. Look at sweet Hope between her daddy and mine. (You can't distract two visionary men when they get together!)


P.S.S. Think of my dear bloggy friend Leanna. Her family is suffering a lot right now, but she is continuing to praise and glorify our great God through the trials! It is such an encouragement to me to see, but they need strength.