One Year Down

29 to go.

One year ago today it was the beginning of ‘winter storm Nemo’. It was the final walk through of our house. It was the day we went to closing. The day the furnace decided to ‘be unreparable’. The day my in-laws drove five hours through bad weather and traffic to help us do some projects around the house and move. The weekend we painted two pink rooms and all the trim, ripped out a bathroom, ripped out Grover blue shag carpeting, painted the subfloor ing, steamcleaned five rooms of carpeting two times each, scrubbed the bathrooms. The day we got three feet of snow and were snowed in for three days. The day our tree decided to lose half of its fork and fall on a neighbor’s fence who then threatened to sue if we didn’t get a tree company out right that minute.

That unrepeatable furnace? My father-in-law fixed it for 2 dollars and change in parts. He hasn’t given us that bill.
Those freshly painted rooms? We are so glad they are no longer pink. That shag carpeting? Nice hardwood flooring. The planned move? Didn’t happen due to the snow. The steam cleaning? Saved us buying new carpets. That three feet of snow? Kept my inlaws around an extra day and that gave us time to rip out fuzzy wallpaper plus two other layers of wallpaper, and spackle and paint the bathroom off of the kitchen.
The tree that fell? Was a healthy tree so our insurance sent a nice ‘it’s not our problem letter’.

One year ago today it really didn’t feel like our house. Around midnight when the storm was blowing full force and I was the only one awake it felt like we had made a huge mistake and dove in way over our heads. But that was in the emotional heat of the moment.

I have learned how to spackle and paint without taping off my edges. I can rip up carpeting and install new lights. I can scrub bathrooms like you wouldn’t believe and can assist Bryan with replacing windows. Bryan can add outlets where there weren’t any before. He can build a dinning room table with a drill and a hand saw. He can fix clogged plumbing, replace the flushing valves on the toilets , he can stop the roof from leaking.
I can’t believe how much we have learned in the past year and how much we have grown. I wish the me who was wide awake in the middle of the night listened to the wind howling and the tree branches crashing down knew without any doubt that it was going to be ok. But if we hadn’t learned new skills, if we hadn’t learned to trust we never would be where we are today.

What a blessing this year has been. Where has this past year taken you?

Wedding Review: First Anniversary

The night we got engaged ❤

my vintage ring

Just typing that title was a bit bizarre. Bryan and I are rapidly approaching the end of our Newlywed days. Tonight in fact is the last night as newlyweds. Tomorrow is our one year anniversary.

It’s so hard to believe this time a year ago we were anxiously waiting for May 19th, and that we haven’t been married for longer than a year. I guess when you marry the guy you dated for 4.5 years (to the day of the wedding) the amount of time in the first year seems pretty insignificant.

It was definitely not a hard year, even though we moved far away from family and friends, and bought a house. if this was the ‘hardest year’ (which I never really believed was possible) then we are off to a great start.

photo by our wonderful photographer Mike Landis

Last year as we were living through the engagement I talked about the proposal, choosing a honeymoon destination and a few other things.

In the next couple days I’ll write about other wedding things as they seem important. How the honeymoon went, best and worst wedding vendors, how I had the best bridesmaids and cousins ever, and how blessed we have been in our first year as a married couple.

I know we couldn’t have gotten where we are without a strong relationship with each other, and more importantly God. And I know without a shadow of a doubt that most of you who read this prayed for us as we began this next chapter in our lives and continue too. Thanks to you all too! Your prayers mean so much.

While in Epcot’s Japan

Our biggest Adventure: the house