tender mercies

today at work there was a woman that came in for coffee that works at the salon across the parking lot.  she comes in every so often and usually gets the same thing.  i wasn't the one to actually ring up her order, but i started making her usual.  what i didn't notice was that she had actually ordered a size smaller than what i was making.  i commented that i wasn't paying attention and made her usual size drink and smiled that my error was in her favor.  she quickly thanked me and responded that my mistake was an example of our Lord's tender mercies.  she didn't have enough money to get her usual so she compromised with something smaller and was blessed to receive confirmation that the Lord does in fact know her; enough to answer her tiniest prayers.  her story about how she felt the Lords hand in her life at that moment struck me.  what a beautiful thing to know that we are so loved, loved enough to have our silly, tiny, meaningless wants, wishes and hopes made possible.

today, i also received that confirmation with a phone call where i was offered a full-time position as the Life Skills Coordinator with a refugee program in the area.  after almost 2 longs years of searching,  stressing, and almost giving up i landed a job. a real job that actually uses the degree i earned and feared i was starting to forget.  i think i'm still in shock that it's actually happening- lets just hope i can get over the shock by wednesday at 9am when i report for my first day!  

thank you so much friends and family for your love, support and prayers!  what a beautiful day it has been- full of tender mercies.  

Family Photos

I'll say it again- I can't believe a whole year has already gone by.  I so love this boy and his sentimental side.  He surprised me with another band for other side of my engagement ring and we got Austin to capture the moment.  I can’t wait to show our children these pictures some day- of when their dad managed steal their mom's heart away for a second time!

On another note, tomorrow Jon officially starts school for fall semester.  I have some mixed emotions about what will happen in our home after he begins classes- somehow I end up spending a majority of my time at home in the kitchen preparing meals, my gym buddy now works out with his books, and when we are at home together I don’t exist until maybe an occasional date night and on Sundays when the school books are put away.  2 more years of this and it will be over before we know it.  

Enjoy these gems (some of which are unedited but, I just couldn't help but post)!  

love. 15. 30. 40

in an earlier post i mentioned that jon and i played tennis over our vacation with the fowlers.  i'm usually pretty reluctant when it comes to trying new things that i feel like might make me look foolish...  not sure where that mentality started, but i'm getting better.  that's besides the point, the point is, we played tennis together and loved it.  so much so that its now become our thing.  our thing we do together {and he does not just let me win!}.  not that either of us are really that good- we are pretty equal in skill so it is something we both love doing together.  i'm a quality time gal and this is just the fix.

another thing about the game that my husband loves so much is that playing brings out a side of his wife that he does not see anywhere else... on the court i turn into a sass talkin', fiery competitor {i know right, me and competitor do not go in the same sentence!}.  i sometimes even make the tennis grunt on my returns. who knew how much aggression you can work off by hitting a tiny ball as hard as you can, at with your husband?!

after a sweaty match for date night 

 

a happy belated one year photo shoot

over our weekend in traverse city, jon and i had one year photos taken by my lovely sister inlaw!  at the very end jon surprised me with another band that matches my other wedding band {sweet, sweet boy, totally won my heart over again with this one}.  i couldn't help but post a tiny sneak peak of the photos she took.  thanks austin- we had sooo much fun!

Anniversary Lantern Send Off

Jon's dad sent us these lanterns as a part of our wedding gift, along with the movie Tangled...  the song at the end, "I see the light", reminded him of us- that we had finally found each other.  So we went down to Lake Lansing to send off a celebratory lantern.  

It was the perfect end to an amazing anniversary.

i love you to the moon and back

... and then back again.

one year ago today jon and i were married for time and all eternity in the laie, hawaii temple.  it has been the shortest and longest year of my life (all in a good way of course).
the other night, we went out to dinner with some friends (that have been married just over 6 months) and they asked us (in all our wisdom of being married a whole year) what the secret is....  we both laughed. ha!

i wish i could begin to explain what it's like to be married....  nothing like i really anticipated.  it's so much better than i thought it could ever be; even the bad days are better than the worst days i ever had before.  it's so much more work than i ever thought it would be; but it's the most satisfying thing i have even done.  i have never learned so much about myself in my entire life!  and everyday he makes me want to be better, for him and for myself.

so, all in all, i like this thing we have going on here.  if year one is any indication of how the rest of the years will go - i'm so grateful we have forever.

grAttitude

today at work the ac went out.  ac as in the thing that keeps you cool when its 95 degrees out + 70% humidity.  lucky for me i didn't notice until i'd already been at work for an hour running around, and suddenly i was literally dripping sweat down my forehead and cheeks.  yeah, i don't think i even have to say anymore 'bout that.  people were really nice, i was really uncomfortable and the maintenance guy wouldn't be there until after 9.  which actually meant 10.  so that was 3.5 hours no ac + another hour to cool the place down....  and we all survived.
but you know what i thought about (after my 10 seconds of that's it, i quit...)  how truly lucky we are to live in a place, meaning era and country, where our norm is super awesome.  we have so many blessings, so many things that make our life so easy and so convenient.  and we get a little impatient when we have to wait in traffic, or at the airport, or in line to buy groceries, or when we don't have cellphone service, can't connect to wifi, be in a room without air conditioning, or unlock our car door with a key.  and we wonder how people survived without, but somehow they did and here we are to prove it.

and at noon i got to come home to the things i'm most grateful for - especially the last one... he's my favorite.