An Advent Pause

Oops ... I missed a day! But I'm okay with that - I spent yesterday doing some serious catching up errands, and then [then!] got to spend the evening with my boys getting our very first Christmas tree! Now that, unfortunately, I don't have photos of [yet] but I have seriously been enjoying our home at Christmas. And that I have a few little photos of.

Be back later with an Advent verse!

Mantle - made mostly from wedding leftovers and odds and ends. The glitter trees are made from cereal boxes!

My sweet sunshiney kitchen window

Christmas books on the coffee table

Sweet boys from this weekend

Tags for our stockings. Our stockings! So fun

Advent, Part Four

Advent, part four. Today's is much cheerier than yesterday's was! Do you ever have an impossible day?  I think every day since we've been home from our honeymoon has been an impossible day for Brandon and I. Today was another impossible day, actually, but sometimes you just gotta buck up and believe that, I don't know, the fact that the sun is shining in the sky means that everything is gonna be okay.

Yeah, I just rolled my eyes at me, too.

But you know what? Yes, everything sucks right now. Yes, I just said sucks, it's my blog, I make the rules here. And yes, things seem to only be getting harder, and the tide seems like it will never, ever turn. And yes, it's Christmas and that only seems to magnify every tiny [or massive] problem. But. But! We both woke up alive this morning. I drank coffee in bed - one of my favorite luxuries on slow mornings. I just talked to my husband on the phone [he's at the office 'till at least ten tonight. so gross, right?] and got to tell him that I love him, and hear him say the same thing. Thanks to the sheer amount of completely awful things that have made their way onto our plate this season, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I married the absolute right man, and that marriage is the best thing to ever happen to me. So those are all things that bring joy, right? Right. I'm hanging onto those things today.

And this verse. This verse brings me joy.

And may He pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God.

See the rest of the series here: 1 | 2 | 3

Everything's Amazing

This week [or month? or series of months?] has been really, really hard. And I can't really explain it, but this is a season where I feel like we should have Midas' Golden Touch, everything happily falling into place, but instead it seems like everything we touch is breaking. Getting into the house we already own has been tricky. Finalizing wedding details has been tricky. Boys are having meltdowns, we're both sick, work has been a nightmare for both of us. We've fought this month like we've never fought before.

And yet ... everything is amazing. Nothing is going the way we want it to, but it's somehow forging us; creating Us. We've fought and realized that we can't do this life without the other being our biggest advocate. Our house will mean a whole heck of a lot to us once we get in it, since we've had to fight for it. Our wedding ... who cares! We're getting MARRIED. It won't be exactly what I've dreamed up but it will be beautiful, and people we love will be there, and at the end of the day we'll be married.

Everything is terrible and we're happy. Or crazy, who knows.

a new name

I've been dating this guy for eleven months, had a crush on him for over a year, and am marrying him in about ten weeks, but today marks one of the first times I've filled a page with doodles of my first name and his last name. I'm trying to put together a design for a custom address stamp and a monogram stamp for wedding invitations. So much to do, but this season is so so SO fun. Can't wait to be married to my love!