365 days

One year ago today I was anxious, nervous and excited to become your wife. I was sure that when those big barn doors opened up I was probably going to be sick. But as the doors opened and I saw you standing there my nerves disappeared, an extreme calm washed through me, and there was no one but you and me.

You and me. There's no one else in this world that I'd want to do life with. This past year has been the best year of my life. Each day I love you more. It's even become common for me to tell you, "I'm not sure why but I totally love you more today. It's like my love grew."

As life tends to be, this past year has put choices and challenges in our lives but I'd say that cliche phrase, "The first year's the hardest" didn't apply to us. And if it was hard, I didn't notice.

I realize how much I truly love you when I find myself over the top bragging about how wonderful you are to complete strangers. I know you totally hate when I brag on you but I'm so incredibly proud of the man that you are that I have a very hard time not letting the world know.

I STILL get butterflies calling you my husband. I hope that never becomes something I don't get excited about.

I'm truly enjoying every minute of this time in our lives. I wish I could slow it down sometimes. The nights and weekends go by too fast and work just gets in the way. There's no one else in this world I'd want to spend each day with. I feel like my life was nothing special until I met you and this 1st year of marriage is just the beginning.

Thank you for being loving. caring. strong. determined. grateful. and completely perfect for me.

It's been nothing short of happily ever after...

I love you Daniel Chase. 

Packin' Up.

Well, over the holiday's Daniel and I had a lot of firsts. Our first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's with each other and our families. We really enjoyed every second of it. I wish I would have captured more pictures of our first holiday season together, but I was too busy loving every minute of it.

In the midst of the crazy holiday's Daniel and I packed up all of his things from Austin and moved him to Dallas.

Before I met Daniel I had been pondering my next move to be Austin once my lease was up in June. So naturally when we met it seemed perfect that he already lived there.

But as more time passed and we talked more about the things that were important to us, like our families and more time together, the plan changed.

Since we are both from Athens (although we didn't really know each other until September) and both of our families still live there, it just didn't make sense for us to be far away from our families. Austin would be almost 4 hours away and Dallas in less than 2.

Daniel began to really look into whether or not it would be possible for him to transfer to his company's office in Dallas or not in October sometime. After much anticipation his job said that they could transfer him by the first of the year.

He put his apartment on Craigslist and it was sublet in just a few short days.

So we packed up his things and moved him north last weekend. :)

We are very happy with our decision to get him up here sooner rather than later. Another 6 months of long distance could have been done but if we could help it why not do something about it.

So last night we cooked dinner...ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT! And couldn't have felt more excited, blessed and ready for more weekday dinners :)

The Baker Wedding

Well, they finally did it! Jenny & Claude got hitched! ;)

Introducing the Bakers!

 The wedding was beautiful and I know that everyone enjoyed themselves.

Especially this guy and myself. ;)

And the mamacita. She got her dance on and showed 'em how to get your grove on. ;)

Erin and I right before we headed down the aisle. 

Me, Daniel, Steven and Erin enjoying ourselves at the reception. I love them!

And of course it wouldn't be a wedding if we didn't do a little (a lot) of dancing on the dance floor.

Erin and The Candyman ;)

Gees, we were really gettin' down.

 

Right as we were seeing the Bakers off to their hotel suite.

I think Daniel enjoyed the bubble blowing a little too much. ;)

We really did have a great time and are very happy for the Bakers and the future that lies ahead for the happy couple.

We were so glad to be able to be apart of your day and wish you all the best!

I promised Daniel no more weddings for a while... We met at a wedding, went to a wedding last month and one this month. But it was nice to go out of this wedding season with a bang. We had a great time!



Off The Market

Not long ago, January to be exact I wrote something pretty silly on here about the kinda man I was looking for. Nine months later my wish came true when I was least expecting it.

I met Daniel at our friend Blair's wedding and I haven't been able to get enough of him since. ;)

He's an amazing man that I've very quickly become thankful for. I'm not sure how I got along without him.

He knows how to be silly with me and make me laugh.

He's sweet to me and is always trying to take care of me.

He doesn't mind my ridiculous faces.

And I definitely don't mind that sweet smile of his.

He knows how to spin me around on the dance floor.


And he knows how to make my heart melt. ;) I'm very excited about what's to come!

Flippin' Flashback #3

I posted this next flashback post because it reminded me that I must remember that God is always in control and that everything is in his hands.

And then even when I don't want to listen, I can't deny him.

The following was originally posted on September of 2007


Why is it so many relationships fail?

Why is it that statistically 50% of all marriages end in divorce?

Is it that people don't try?

Is it that they give up on love?

Do they forget to even care?

Yes. Sometimes they don't try. Sometimes they don't care. And sometimes things just go in a direction that can't be saved.

BUT! I will say that again. BUT! More often than not I believe that relationships fail because it's two people not knowing who they truly are. It's two people being so unaware of their inner self and so afraid to find it that they have nothing of worth to offer the other. They don't stand for anything.

What do I mean, not knowing who they are?

I mean that people walk into a relationship looking for something to fill a void in their life, something that's permanent. They are looking for someone to be a witness to their life, a witness to everything that they do. But, don't you already have a witness to your life?

Isn't Jesus Christ your witness?

I can NOT get away from this topic, it has been staring me in the face for such a long time that I can no longer ignore it.

God, decided to be real pushy this weekend and He MADE me see that my relationship with Him is not where it needs to be. I constantly wish for someone to love, someone to love me and He never truly brings that into my life. I have continued to think that it's something that I deserve. I always say to Him, why not me? why can't I be in love? I try God. I really do.

This weekend he answered back. His answer? "Don't you see? I have brought you someone, I have brought you my son."

I didn't understand. Doesn't He understand that's not the kind of love I'm looking for? I would argue and argue that this is not what I was talking about.

I guess He decided that maybe someone else could make me listen if He couldn't. So in the last week He was sent people into my life to relay the message. In fact, He sent three amazing people to tell me His word. The funny thing is, these were not close people in my life. None of them were friends of mine that I had known for ages. None of them were acquaintances. In fact, I didn't know a one of them. God sent absolute strangers into my life to make me hear what He needed to say.

The first person that He sent was a fellow blogger, I read her blog everyday and have for a while now. Mostly, she's hilarious and I love that she's just a typical mom trying to raise her children in a house full of the love of Jesus. This past week I noticed that there was a link on her blog that I had never really payed any attention to. I clicked on it. It was a book that she had written that was posted online. The book immediately sparked my interest, so I began to read.

The first chapter of the book began with the struggles she had in her marriage. It then quickly turned to why she was having the struggles that she was having. She and her husband both knew God and attended church religiously. So what was the problem? She realized that even though God was in her life she had never learned how to be a woman of God. She had no clue what they meant.

I then realized, I have no clue what they means. I know that I want that. I want to be a godly woman. I just really don't know where you start on that path.

That was the first person that impacted my life this week.

On Sunday, I went with my bestie to church. A new church. A church I was skeptical about. I loved my old church so much and decided that I wasn't going to find one that I adored like that one. So that was that. Central Baptist of Bryan wins, forever and ever amen. Now thinking about it, God probably just laughed at me when those thoughts were going through my mind. Because I had no clue what kind of wisdom that church was about to offer me.

A woman named Kendall Payne was there on Sunday morning to sing during worship. Her voice was so amazing she made me cry. This is her myspace site http://www.myspace.com/kendallpayne, but let me just tell you that it does her no justice. Listening to her live, her voice will move you.

Kendall sang a song on Sunday morning that she wrote to her husband. She described it as her perfect love song to him. The song did not talk about anything that you expect a love song to. Instead this song talked about "loving each other in spite of failure" it talked about someone "bringing out the worst in you, but it's the part you needed to see". As I listened to her sing I began to think about how this song had so much truth. Nothing in a relationship with someone else is going to be perfect. People fail. You fail. I fail. But when you have someone greater in your life, someone to guide you, these failures can be overcome. And God does that. He guides you, He loves you, He's there for you. With Him there and with his support these failures will seem trivial.

Once again, God had made me realize the need for my relationship with Him to strengthen.

After worship, the preacher began his sermon. And it quickly jumped into relationships. (In fact, that is all they are going to be talking about for the next six weeks; it's a series. ) This first week the topic was singleness. "Singleness is not a disease to be cured." That is exactly what he said. That really stuck with me. Because so many people think that it is. They think that you have to find someone, and you have to find them as soon as possible. Well, you don't. Singleness can be such a great opportunity he said. A great opportunity to find out who you are. What a great concept I thought. Finding out who you are. I really thought I knew who I was, I thought I knew me. But I have so far to go. I know that I am not even close to knowing my inner self. I am not close to becoming the woman of God that I long to be. But I'm excited about that. I know what I need to work on. I have a goal. God has a goal for me. And He cared enough to be so persistent and repeat His message over and over and over until it was received. That's love. That's the kind of love I want. That's the kind of love I want to give. I want to love like God.

His love is full of faith and hope. I feel so blessed. I know Jesus, I know His love. I'm looking forward to being the woman He wants me to be and I believe that when I have all the wisdom that I need, He will just make it happen. He will guide me to the one that He has made for me. And that's beautiful.

Dear Twenty-Ten.....

Dear Twenty-ten,

Your friend 2009 did not bring me a very important request that I had made. So I must ask you. I know it's not your fault that your little friend failed to make all my dreams come true but it seems they are now in your hands. So here goes.....

Please bring me a man.

No, no not just ANY man.

I must be more specific otherwise you'd just drop Kevin Federline, Spencer Pratt or Tiger Woods at my front door.

And Lord knows that ALL women deserve better than the above.

So I'm here to give you a few guidelines so that it's easier for you to bring Mr. Almost Perfect into my life.

I'll try to keep it short, but I make no guarantees.

Please, keep in mind these are JUST guidelines.

I'd much prefer him to be tall, handsome and have dimples for days.

A little rough around the edges, but cleans up nice.

Ambitious. Which doesn't mean he must one day be a big rig on Wall Street but I'd prefer he not be a convenient store clerk or a drug dealer.

Sane.

Have a vehicle.

Have a job.

Be 30 or under.

Truthful.

Loyal.

Must make me laugh.

And I'd really like it if he had a nice last name, for my future children's benefit. lol

I promise to this man that you are bringing me that he will NEVER in a million years have to drive a minivan and I think that's a pretty spectacular promise.

So please 2010, be on the lookout.

That is all.

How Can Love Survive?

I recently came across a singer. Her name is India Arie.

For all of you who don't know, I'm a music junkie. In my spare time I love finding new music.

Anyway, back to India Arie.

She's phenomenal.

There are a few lines in her song "The Heart of the Matter" that has kept me thinking for days now.

Let me sing you a few lines from the song....

These time are so uncertain, there's a yearning undefined

And people filled with rage

We all need a little tenderness, how can love survive

In such a graceless age?

And there it was.

The truth.

And what do you do about it?

We have become so graceless, faithless and hopeless as a whole.

And without all of these things how can you make the greatest thing of all work?

How can you help love to survive?

What do you do to make sure you don't make so many of the same mistakes that are so common in dating, love and marriage these days? Or in any relationship for that matter.

How do you find someone that is equally concerned?

The truth is, I'm not completely sure.

I mean I have a few ideas but nothing concrete.

I believe that in order to have grace, faith and hope in something as big as love you must first have it in yourself.

That seems to make sense to me. That these traits are present in you before you can have them present in your relationships.

So, I'll be thinking about grace and if it's shown by me through good will and my actions.

I'll be thinking about faith in every sense of the word. Having faith in oneself and in others. And being faithful to family and friends.

I'll be thinking about hope and how even though it seems like the least important of the three it's where it all starts.

You have hope for wonderful things. You have faith that they just might happen. And you're given them through grace.

So these are things I will be working hard to exude in myself because I.... want love to survive inspite of this graceless age.

There's Nothing Like A Woman's Love

What is so special about the love of a woman? What isn't? I think that's a better question. A woman's love is pure.. it's deep.. it's unconditional... committed and completely unaware of any faults that her man has.

I began to think today about how a man's love for a woman is so much different than a woman's love for a man. It's not different in a bad way.. it's just different. A woman gives so much of herself to her man and asks for nothing more than his time and commitment to her.

I find it funny when guys say, "Yeah, those women just want all or nothing!" and they say it like it's a bad thing. I just don't think they realize what they will be getting in return when they do give her their all. You are gaining a person in your life that is going to love you no matter what, be there for you no matter what and never want anyone but you.

We've dreamed about loving "this man" the one we are going to marry for as long as we can remember. So once we find him we don't ask for much. (the good girls don't) All we want to do is love you forever, take care of you, and share our lives with you. So... I can't see what is so scary about that to a man...

I've come to find out with men it's more about the way you go about saying and wanting these things though than the things themselves. You can't be pushy.. you can't crowd them.. you can't rush them.. let them me, let them take their time.. which is another reason why I think that the love of a woman is so special.. we are by nature, patient. We will wait. Just don't make us wait too long.

"Lookin' For Love In All The Wrong Places"

Why is it so many relationships fail?

Why is it that statistically 50% of all marriages end in divorce?

Is it that people don't try?

Is it that they give up on love?

Do they forget to even care?

Yes. Sometimes they don't try. Sometimes they don't care. And sometimes things just go in a direction that can't be saved.

BUT! I will say that again. BUT! More often than not I believe that relationships fail because it's two people not knowing who they truly are. It's two people being so unaware of their inner self and so afraid to find it that they have nothing of worth to offer the other. They don't stand for anything.

What do I mean, not knowing who they are?

I mean that people walk into a relationship looking for something to fill a void in their life, something that's permanent. They are looking for someone to be a witness to their life, a witness to everything that they do. But, don't you already have a witness to your life?

Isn't Jesus Christ your witness?

I can NOT get away from this topic, it has been staring me in the face for such a long time that I can no longer ignore it.

God, decided to be real pushy this weekend and He MADE me see that my relationship with Him is not where it needs to be. I constantly wish for someone to love, someone to love me and He never truly brings that into my life. I have continued to think that it's something that I deserve. I always say to Him, why not me? why can't I be in love? I try God. I really do.

This weekend he answered back. His answer? "Don't you see? I have brought you someone, I have brought you my son."

I didn't understand. Doesn't He understand that's not the kind of love I'm looking for? I would argue and argue that this is not what I was talking about.

I guess He decided that maybe someone else could make me listen if He couldn't. So in the last week He was sent people into my life to relay the message. In fact, He sent three amazing people to tell me His word. The funny thing is, these were not close people in my life. None of them were friends of mine that I had known for ages. None of them were acquaintances. In fact, I didn't know a one of them. God sent absolute strangers into my life to make me hear what He needed to say.

The first person that He sent was a fellow blogger, I read her blog everyday and have for a while now. Mostly, she's hilarious and I love that she's just a typical mom trying to raise her children in a house full of the love of Jesus. This past week I noticed that there was a link on her blog that I had never really payed any attention to. I clicked on it. It was a book that she had written that was posted online. The book immediately sparked my interest, so I began to read.

The first chapter of the book began with the struggles she had in her marriage. It then quickly turned to why she was having the struggles that she was having. She and her husband both knew God and attended church religiously. So what was the problem? She realized that even though God was in her life she had never learned how to be a woman of God. She had no clue what they meant.

I then realized, I have no clue what they means. I know that I want that. I want to be a godly woman. I just really don't know where you start on that path.

That was the first person that impacted my life this week.

On Sunday, I went with my bestie to church. A new church. A church I was skeptical about. I loved my old church so much and decided that I wasn't going to find one that I adored like that one. So that was that. Central Baptist of Bryan wins, forever and ever amen. Now thinking about it, God probably just laughed at me when those thoughts were going through my mind. Because I had no clue what kind of wisdom that church was about to offer me.

A woman named Kendall Payne was there on Sunday morning to sing during worship. Her voice was so amazing she made me cry. This is her myspace site http://www.myspace.com/kendallpayne, but let me just tell you that it does her no justice. Listening to her live, her voice will move you.

Kendall sang a song on Sunday morning that she wrote to her husband. She described it as her perfect love song to him. The song did not talk about anything that you expect a love song to. Instead this song talked about "loving each other in spite of failure" it talked about someone "bringing out the worst in you, but it's the part you needed to see". As I listened to her sing I began to think about how this song had so much truth. Nothing in a relationship with someone else is going to be perfect. People fail. You fail. I fail. But when you have someone greater in your life, someone to guide you, these failures can be overcome. And God does that. He guides you, He loves you, He's there for you. With Him there and with his support these failures will seem trivial.

Once again, God had made me realize the need for my relationship with Him to strengthen.

After worship, the preacher began his sermon. And it quickly jumped into relationships. (In fact, that is all they are going to be talking about for the next six weeks; it's a series. ) This first week the topic was singleness. "Singleness is not a disease to be cured." That is exactly what he said. That really stuck with me. Because so many people think that it is. They think that you have to find someone, and you have to find them as soon as possible. Well, you don't. Singleness can be such a great opportunity he said. A great opportunity to find out who you are. What a great concept I thought. Finding out who you are. I really thought I knew who I was, I thought I knew me. But I have so far to go. I know that I am not even close to knowing my inner self. I am not close to becoming the woman of God that I long to be. But I'm excited about that. I know what I need to work on. I have a goal. God has a goal for me. And He cared enough to be so persistent and repeat His message over and over and over until it was received. That's love. That's the kind of love I want. That's the kind of love I want to give. I want to love like God.

His love is full of faith and hope. I feel so blessed. I know Jesus, I know His love. I'm looking forward to being the woman He wants me to be and I believe that when I have all the wisdom that I need, He will just make it happen. He will guide me to the one that He has made for me. And that's beautiful.