Blessing & Joy

So, hear me out on this post.  I really intended to have this blog as more of a shallow journal.  But here's something on my heart I would love to share.  SO many of my friends are in very similar places in life as me and I feel like this post could be an encouragement to others.

Will and I have been married almost 5 months.  I can't even believe it! It has seriously been the best 5 months, but on a non superficial level, it's also been a roller coaster.  We are both stubborn as mules and we butt heads.  People say that your first year of marriage is either your easiest or your hardest.  I honestly think that it will probably be one of our harder years.  Luckily, when you are in love with your absolute best friend, the hard days aren't even that hard.  We get in little arguments but then it's usually over with and we go on to be all lovey-dovey.

The reason I feel as though the first year will be hardest for us is because most of the little arguments we get in pertain to something we're having to adjust to by living together. We're both having to adjust to living with someone we know we will be living with for the rest of our lives.  Most of the time they're silly things like picking stuff up that is laying around the apartment, or not leaving stuff all over the bathroom counter, or putting dishes in the dishwasher.  Unfortunately, on days when I am exhausted after work or frustrated about something, Will is the easiest person to take it out on.  But I am always left feeling horrible afterwards.

I have been reading a book called Lies Women Believe by Nancy DeMoss.  As I read on into the chapter about lies women believe in marriage, I couldn't help but examine myself and my heart.  I found myself guilty of expecting fairytale things from Will.  I wanted to come home some days to him cleaning and making dinner as a surprise.  Don't get me wrong, he does sweet things for me all the time.  But they do not include cooking and cleaning.  My frustration took a heavy toll on my heart and I just found myself to be bitter every time we were in our tiny Atlanta apartment and he had something laying around.

I came to a subsection of this chapter on marriage where it was talking about a lie we believe as women that our husbands are supposed to save us.  If you believe the Bible and believe what it says about the roles for men and women, then you would know that God made the woman to be the helper for the man.  BUT she goes on to say

"…this does not mean that men are not to serve their wives and children.  If men are to love their wives as Christ loves the church, there must be the willingness to lay down their lives and become servants, even as Christ did for His bride.  But if we as women focus on what we "deserve", or our "rights," or on what men "ought" to do for us, we will become vulnerable to hurt and resentment when our expectations are not fulfilled."

THEN came the kick to the stomach:

"Blessing and joy are the fruit of seeking to be a giver rather than a taker and of looking for ways to bless, serve, and minister to the needs of our families."

That was what I needed to hear.  I need to be a giver.  I was/am selfish, and I wanted everything my way.  I wanted my husband who goes to work for 10 hours a day to come home and clean and cook while I watched T.V. and surprise me with all of these perfect dates and little gifts and cute ideas that are a dream.  I take for granted and look past everything he does for me and enter my own little world of self-pity and imagining everyone's "perfect" marriages and ALL the sweet things their husbands do for them.

I have found myself in a much more joyful place since reading that and since studying scripture on what God has called me to as a wife.  If there is anyone that reads this silly blog and is struggling with something similar to this, just know that you're not alone.  And there are plenty of other women that probably secretly agree with this blog but would never admit it about themselves or their marriages.  Marriage is work.  There is no lie in that.  But it is also the biggest blessing!! I wouldn't trade it for anything!

 

Long Overdue...

This blog post is EXTREMELY overdue.  I wrote pretty much the whole thing last weekend and included all of the pictures when I pressed remove to remove a picture and instead it decided to remove my entirely too long blog post.  So now that I have cooled down about it, I'm going to start all over!

First big and exciting news around this Welch household is that I got my first brand new car!  Here is it: a 2013 Nissan Rogue!

I've always wanted an SUV, and a I researched quite a few before we discovered this one.  It's a smaller SUV but it's great for nannying since I am constantly putting two small kids in car seats in the back.  I am SO in love with it.  It truly is a great car from all of the research I have done and from 3 weeks worth of driving it.  If you're looking around for a new car, I would check this one out!

But buying this car meant I had to trade in the old Jetta.  I was so excited, until I saw it sitting there and realized it was no longer going to be mine and I would never know where it ended up.  That was the car I drove to high school in and drove all of my friends around in.  I went off to college in that car.  I made many homesick trips home in that car.  While I had that car, I met a boy who I never knew I would someday marry.  I got married while I had that car.  Will and I took a leap of faith and we packed down that little Jetta and moved to Atlanta.  It went with me through many HUGE milestones in life.  I never knew how much I would miss it!  Ok, I may be a little dramatic.  Will- I know you are laughing at my exaggeration and drama in this post. haha


Saying Goodbye


Moving on...my job has been going SO well!! I love every single day of it.  Last Thursday,  the mom stayed home to work from home so we ended up taking the kids swimming in their pool in the backyard and she made me lunch!  They spoil be unbelievable amounts.  I am so thankful for them and their family.  I feel like nannying is a real hit or miss job.  I know people that have been miserable working for the families they work for.  But I guess I got extremely lucky!  Here are some cute pictures of the kids!

A cute video I sent to his mom one day!

 

 



Luca goes to camp for most of the time that I am there so that's really why I only have pictures of Layla.  Luca doesn't stop moving long enough to take any cute pictures :)

A few weeks ago at church, a children's choir from Uganda was there performing. It was seriously one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.  Before they performed, they showed a video from one of the little girls in the choir.  She gave us a tour of her home and introduced us to her little brother.  He is 3 years old and walks 40 minutes each way to school by himself every single day.  Their lives are so encouraging with the way that they love and praise God everyday for what they have, even though it is not much. You can check out their website here if you are interested.

 

I've been really impressed with how much I have improved at cooking.  The following pictures are pretty simple meals I've made lately, but I have made some more time consuming meals that have actually turned out really well.  To let you know how far I have come, I have to let you know what I made Will the first time I cooked for him while we were date.  It was a box of boiled bowtie noodles with a jar of alfredo sauce on top.  That was it. No meat, no bread, no salad,  nothing. Just noodles and sauce.  We have also been trying to eat a little bit lighter and we try to eat around 6, if possible, so we have time do go outside and do some sort of activity.  Our favorite after dinner activities include throwing the frisbee at Piedmont Park, going on walks, and our new favorite is geocaching.

 

 

 

A few weekends ago, we tried going to Summerfest in Virginia Highlands because one of my favorite bands, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, were going to be there for FREE!  So our friends Trey and Katie and Clint and Catherine met at our apartment to go.  Naturally, a huge storm blew through Atlanta but was over in about 15 minutes.  When we got to Virginia Highlands and finally parked, we walked to where the concert was supposed to be.  It was hot as all get out by then but the sun was shining and the sky was blue.....and the band was packing up all of their crap to leave. Go figure.  So we decided to head back over near our apartment to a local coffee shop.  Catherine and I were sitting under this extremely classy painting, so where better to get a pic?

 

 

One of our favorite things to do at night is to drive around and house hunt. No, we're not buying a house ANYTIME soon.  We just LOVE looking at all of the different kinds of houses around Atlanta.  ESPECIALLY, the houses, or shall we call them castles, right over where I nanny.  Here's a preview of one...and crazy enough, that's not the biggest one we saw.

 

When we got home, we encountered this crazy beautiful sunset!  I like to drive to the top of our parking deck at our apartment to get pictures.  Sunsets and sunrises are my favorite things...but I usually only catch the sunsets :)

 

 

Oh, and for your viewing pleasure, here is Father's Day videos gone wrong:

*Disclaimer: Events from this video were during my reckless High School days. And I do not have a criminal record.  And my dad is not a creep.*