11 Days

Wow, Steven and I got back tonight after 11 days and traveling through 4 states.  A lot has happened since I last updated!

Friday the 17, my parents met Steven and I at our apartment and took us to lunch at Nona's Italian Cafe in downtown Springfield.  It was really good!  I brought my graduation gown and they dropped me off at JQH Arena to meet up with the other graduates, while they found seats in the arena.  Graduation started at 4, and now it's official I'm a college graduate!  After graduation, my family left to go to my brother's fiance' Lisa's graduation, and Steven's family took me out to dinner.

Saturday, I had my "graduation brunch" at the Tower Club where I have worked since March and did my internship over the summer.  After the brunch, Steven and I packed up the SUV, ate Nona's leftovers for lunch, and headed to St. Louis!  We had a great weekend visiting a prospective church for Steven to work at in Maryville, Illinois.  We are very excited as they say they want to move forward with us after the holiday season.  Nothing is official and we know everything is in God's hands!  If we do for sure get the job, I will be sure to post about how God worked everything out!!!

The rest of our time has been spent celebrating Christmas with family.  We spent three days with Steven's family in Kansas City, and four in Oklahoma with my family.

We have been very busy and very excited for what God has in store for us!  Earlier this year, I discovered that Steven's "life verse" is Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding", and mine is Proverbs 3:6 "in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He'll make your path straight".  How cool is that!!!  What an appropriate two verses for our first year and a half of marriage, and it is definitely a God-thing that the two of our verses (which we got from two cards with our first names on them, with a randomly selected verse) were back-to-back.  I sleep easy at night because I know that God has everything planned out and has a purpose for our lives!

My amazing presents!

Last night, Steven and I did "our" Christmas gift exchange and he also gave me my graduation present.  I know it's really early, but it was our last night just the two of us before Christmas (where we didn't have to pack and do a bunch of chores).  Steven went a little crazy this summer getting golf supplies, and we had agreed that these would count for his birthday, anniversary, and Christmas present this year.  But of course I wanted him to have something to open, so he got an electric screwdriver and a thing that helps you find your keys if you lose them.   (he has problems losing things!)

When we got to my turn, I opened my card and there was a piece of paper in it that said "I feel like a tennis star when I am playing this".  This was the beginning of my scavenger hunt to find my presents!  It was so sweet... he had me going all over our little tiny apartment looking for clues.  I went to the Wii, air conditioner, bathroom mirror, my pillow, the freezer, and finally my car!  On the drivers seat was a heated seat cover!  I just got my new car last month, after the BBC security guard totaled my car in August, and I kept telling everyone that the only thing that could make my car better was heated seats.  He TOTALLY surprised me.
The scavenger hunt wasn't over, though, because there was a clue on my seat that said to go to the mailroom.  We drove to the mailroom (and tested out the heat) and inside of our mailbox was a beautiful ring he got me for graduation!  I told him that I wanted something that people would ask about, and I would be able to say "Steven got me that when I graduated college".  Two of my favorite things are pink and hearts, and the ring has a pink sapphire in the shape of a heart, with a little diamond heart on both sides of it.  Really beautiful and totally me!  He did a great job and made me feel soooooooooo special with all of the time and effort he put into making everything perfect.. God has blessed me so much with a hubby that loves me with all of his heart!

My debut

Last night while creeping on someone else's blog, it occured to me that I may as well make my own. I used to be great about writing in a journal a few times a week, but that has escaped me the last couple of years.  It just takes so long to write everything I want to, and my hand hurts after one page.  But I always love looking back on those pages and remembering friends, events, relationships, trips... everything that has made me the person I am today.  Well, luckily for me I am a faster typer than I am writer, so here I am!

For right now, I'm not anticipating anyone will even read this blog.  This is really just going to be for me...

I want to remember all of the excitement Steven and I are feeling right now.  I'm graduating college in two days, and we are looking into youth ministry opportunities.  Soon, we will *hopefully* have a house, jobs, and puppy.  And while I know that our "life together" obviously started 16 months ago when we got married, it seems that now we are going to be able to make a home instead of just getting through college.  And I want to remember all of the details that went into discovering the church God has for us, moving into our first house and making it a home, picking our that adorable puppy, and then all of the fun and exciting things that God is going to do in and through us after that.
I want to be able to look back on this time in our lives- as newlyweds with the early stages of a family- and reflect on how God answers prayer and has been abundantly faithful.

I'm excited.