When God Writes Your Love Story....

When Chris and I got married, I truly felt as if I was marrying my friend. Now, 3 months later I still feel as if I not only married my friend, but more and more he's become my best friend.

Chris and I met when his family started attending our church in Richland. I actually recognized his sister first from softball or basketball. When I saw him though I can remember thinking to myself, "Sweet! A boy our age!"

I don't remember much after that, other than on Saturday when my family went to his family's house to hang out. We played outside in their huge backyard and Chris took his baby sister Emmalee for a ride on the lawn mower so she would go to sleep. I think that's when he really captured my interest. We flirted at church and became friends, eventually deciding to "go out" behind our parent's backs. We didn't do anything other than sit by each other in church and on the church bus during youth trips--every once in awhile we'd hold hands, until someone *ahemHeatherahem* would say, "Are you guys holding hands?" to which we'd immediately let go and say, "No!"
Chris and I used to spend every Saturday together cutting firewood with our fathers. I think it was supposed to be a punishment, but haha Dads--we pulled on over on you! :) We enjoyed that time together, it was just us, no brothers or sisters.

One day in 8th grade, it was announced that they were moving back "home" to Indiana. What? Heather and Chris were two of the bestest friends I had, why take them away?

And then they moved. It was the hardest thing my poor little 8th grade heart had ever had to endure. I remember the intense pain as they pulled away and we walked back to our house. I also remember going to JV that same night (we were going to Westside then) and having to explain over and over again why my eyese were so puffy and why I'd randomly burst into tears. Mom made me go to school on Wednesday and Thursday but let me stay home on Friday because I had had such an emotional week.

Heather and I kept in pretty good touch, writing letters back and forth every so often and talking on the phone when we could. Chris and I kept in so-so touch, talking more between boyfriends/girlfriends.

In 2007, the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college, I interned at Awana in Chicago and had the long Memorial Day weekend off, so I went and visited the Morgan family. Chris and I spent a lot of time together that weekend, staying up late and catching up--and we rekindled the flame. We lost touch a little bit after that but then regained that touch in 2009 after I graduated from college.

In December of 2009, Chris flew me down to visit him and I got stuck in Memphis with a canceled flight. He and his mother hopped into the car and drove 6 1/2 hours in the middle of the night to pick me up and then drove 6 1/2 hours back to their house. That's when I knew that I would marry him.

In July of 2010, after many months of talking on the phone and on skype, Chris came to Missouri to visit me. During this visit, we sat down with my parents and discussed that our relationship needed to go further and one of us needed to move so that we would be in the same city. After a series of fortunate events, Chris moved up to Missouri about a month later.

He proposed in November of 2010 and we were married April 30, 2011.


You know how, when you were younger, you would have your best friend over to spend the night and you'd stay up all night with the giggles or watching movies/playing games? It's like that for us, except better. There are some nights where we just lay in bed laughing about something that happened during the day or we talk about hurts we've experienced in life, or we talk about our dreams and plans for the future.
We talk about the nightmares we have, or our greatest fears. We talk about the most embarrassing moments we had or memories of our years together when both of our families lived in the same neighborhood...
It is so much better than sleepovers with your girlfriends because I trust my husband more than any other person in the world. There are no secrets between us and no lies. I know he won't go to work the next day and spill everything we talked about the night before (like girl friends did in high school). I know he won't use my fears and disappointments against me.

I also trust my husband to hold me when I cry, and to have my back when I need to be defended. I can trust that my husband thinks I'm beautiful even in shorts and a t-shirt or sweats and a hoodie. The words "You're beautiful" always come at just the right time.

I can count on my husband to protect me from danger, drive safely from place to place, and come home to me when he gets of work. I can count on him to be honest when I say, "How does this look?" as I'm trying on clothes in the dressing room at Target or just for church on a Sunday morning. He'll etiher say, "You look cute" or "I like the other one better" or "What about the ____ shirt?"

I knew when I was younger that I wanted to marry a good friend, or even a great friend, possible even my best friend and the Lord provided. He "one-upped" my expectations.

Christopher Aaron is my best friend and the man I will be spending the rest of my life with. I'm looking forward to the sweet kissed when he gets home from work. I'm looking forward to the rough evenings when we're both cranky and tired by have the option to lean on each other. I'm looking forward to the joy that will come when we have our first child (and second, and third...). I'm looking forward to the many sleepless nights when we're laying in bed talking (or he pushes me off the bed with his butt because he likes to cuddle while sleeping). I'm looking forward to furthering our walk with the Lord together. I'm looking forward to serving in ministry with him. I'm looking forward to the future--to a long and happy (but not necessarily perfect) like with my Chris.

I love you Chris. Happy 3 month anniversary!

God is good!

All the time!

I've been unemployed for about 7 weeks and it's been driving me crazy. I can't just sit around all day and do nothing, it drives me insane!

So, in Sunday School on Sunday, Chris mentioned to our class that I had been searching for a job and was having no luck! So, we spent some time in prayer. 

Prayer pays off!
I applied everywhere I could think of....prayed A LOT....and finally it paid off!
I am unofficially unemployed at Wal-Mart of Seymour, Indiana.
I say unofficially employed because they offered the job, but the computer server wouldn't accept it so we had to reschedule the appointment to get the "paperwork" and drug test done. Wal-Mart doesn't skip around on anything.

Also, Chris worked 8 hours of overtime last week and will have 8 hours of overtime this week, bringing in a little bit of extra money for us.

In other news, I finally found the library! Well, I actually finally looked it up last night. I used to read all the time when I was younger and lost that desire when I went to college and didn't have time to read. Now that I've graduated college and have a bit of extra time, the desire to read is back! I am very excited.

Chris's sister Heather and her family are coming over tonight for dinner/games and to spend the night. I LOVE spending time with my sister-in-law (we've been good friends since we were 11!) and her family. It's sure to be a good time.

Ha! I just got a phone call from a hotel here in town. They want to interview me tomorrow afternoon!

SWEET!

Moving + Job Hunting = LOTS OF PRAYER NEEDED!!

I'm not gonna lie. Moving and job hunting is frustrating.
The Lord has provided as far as housing and transportation go. We're living with Chris's grandparents in Columbus and we always have some sort of transportation. Chris has also been provided with a job since almost day one.
I, however, cannot find a job if my life depended on it! I spend my days online (or head buried in a phone book) hunting, my evenings brainstorming with my husband and family, and my nights tossing and turning. The stress of finances is starting to get to me....and I'm just SO READY to be back out there working! It's so frustrating spending day after day on the phone and internet and nothing turning up. *Sigh*

In other news, better news, Chris and I visited a GREAT church yesterday. We've been to a different church every Sunday and this is one that we mutually agreed that we liked. I had looked it up on the Awana website (surprise, surprise) and then cross-referenced it with the Southern Baptist Convention website. We wanted to go somewhere that lined up with our beliefs and that's where we were led. We attended the morning service and then went to the evening service again. After the evening service, we drove around town a little bit and can really see us living and working there in town. So, my job search has expanded to not just Columbus & Edinburgh, but also Seymour.

Last night we poured our hearts out to God. We asked HIM to show us what's next and to show us what to do.  We asked him to provide for our needs and to help us with our decisions.

Until I can find a job though, PLEASE pray extra for me. Pray for our finances, and that we will be able to catch up in a wise way. Pray for my frustration and that I will trust the Lord with what happens next. Pray that I will find a job and that it will be a GOOD job and I will enjoy it and work hard and get our finances caught up. Pray my friends, pray!