It is hard to believe that we will be celebrating 6 years of marriage on Sunday. I started blogging consistently during our 3rd year of marriage. I was talking with Matt about what sticks out about each year. We both agreed that years 2 and 3 were a blur and the thing that we both remember about them is....GRAD SCHOOL. Sad huh? Well, and a few other meaningful things.
We became an aunt and uncle for the first time in July of 2007!!
My world was turned upside down for a little while, when I got moved to a different school to teach 2nd grade the week before school was supposed to start. After my entire K classroom was set up and ready to go because of being the last hired and enrollment being low. Oh my! But I ended up being so thankful for the move. In the end, I became a better teacher, met so many new teaching friends, fell in love with "older" students and would've been content to stay there. However, the Lord provided an opportunity for me to go back to the school where I started. (Believe me it wasn't an easy decision. I remember asking everyone I knew to pray for me.) So, we moved my classroom yet again!!
We went house hunting all the time. We drew up plans to build our own and were approved for a construction loan.
But the biggest thing was Grad School. It consumed my life. I started in August 07 and graduated in August 09. Our program was very structured and a whole lot of work. I would work all day and leave right at 3:30 twice a week to drive an hour to Valdosta and find parking. Class started at 5 and lasted until a little bit after 8 most nights. After class I would spend time in the lab printing and working on assignments, then drive home. I usually arrived home around 10. On days that I didn't have class I was working on assignments, projects, and lit reveiews. Summers were spent in Valdosta tutoring children in our reading clinic and observing gifted students. It was tough but I LOVED it. I met some lifetime friends....THE FOUR SEASONS and the GRAD GIRLS and I learned so much. Not to mention I had several amazing teachers. I'm thankful and some days I really do miss it. My Daddy was so proud!
I was blogging almost every day around this time, so thankfully everything else should be documented in our archives! Family vacations to the beach and to Missouri, our best friends getting married, VSU football games with friends, Christmas traditions with the four seasons and things that God has been teaching us. My favorite thing about having a blog is going back and reading about the last few years.
Ok...
Right before I finished grad school Matt surprised me with my Tahoe. It was our first "family car" and our first car payment in our marriage. Yikes! :)
So, by then we had been married 3 years. We took our first long vacation to Destin for a week...just us. We were still very ambitious house hunters and decided that we wanted to buy our first home, not build.
Our third year of marriage was a great year. I had a lot more free time to pamper Matt and have some time to myself. I re-joined the womens bible study group at our church (I had to give it up during grad school because they met on the nights that I had class). I became a member of Junior Service League and mets lots of sweet friends through that. WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOME in the fall! We fell in love with our house the moment that we walked inside. There were two others that we liked a lot around that time too, but really knew that ours was the one that we could see ourselves starting a family in and staying awhile. I also had the sweetest group of students that year and I think I will always remember it as my favorite year of teaching.
Our fourth year of marriage was trying. Matt did not like his job at all and he was constantly stressed out. I stayed very, very busy doing things in our community and was at a place in my life where I just felt like I couldn't say "no" to anything. I was stretched too thin. Although we had so many fun times throughout the year, the thing that we remember most is that Matt lost his job. Which was hard but a blessing at the same time. We knew that even when there was no new job in the picture. It was really a beautiful time and we spent every free second seeking the Lord and growing even closer to Him. We learned so much during that time. In just 2 short months the Lord provided Matt with his dream job. We are so grateful. He loves it still a year later! I also want to add that the Lord brought my amazing OBGYN into my life at this time. He picked her just for me, because she is what I needed. :)
As we are ending our fifth year of marriage I have mixed emotions. I think that we are the happiest that we've ever been. It has been a GREAT year, at times filled with so much JOY! But, we've also encountered some heartbreaking things...death of a family member and a pet and our latest struggle...miscarriage. I think that we are both stronger because of the struggles that we've faced. The trials have brought us closer together. I didn't think that was possible, but it's true. We see what truly matters in life. We have much more to give to others because of what we've gone through. I know that I am clearly a different person than I was 6 months ago. Again, we are closer to the Lord than ever before and we just want to know Him more and more and be a light for Him...I think that is how it should be. I think that we are in the perfect place right now. It might not be where I want to be, or where I thought we would be after 5 years of marriage, but it is where we are supposed to be. Waiting, being still before the Lord and resting in Him, and soaking up lots of time and fun things together. Dedicating our time to working hard, and serving people.
I am so excited to see what the Lord has planned for year 6!!!!!!
