A little bit of catch up with us

Today I'd like to take a break from the Perspectives series and just do a little catch up on what Jeremy and I are up to.

We are almost at 8 months of marriage and it just keeps getting better and better!! Although it may get easier over time to be lazy in our relationship with each other, I continue to find our ability to commuinicate and express ourselves with each other growing. I find our unity growing increasingly as well. I find my desire to serve Jeremy and put him before myself growing as well... for me that was like a bell curve. In the initial excitement of a relationship I was all excited to serve him. Then as our newness wore off, so did this desire. Now, as we truly become one, I am being purified from some of my selfish ways and filled with a desire to serve him. I find our ability to fairly handle conflict increasing more as time goes on also. It feels like we are cultivating the foundational skills that we will need to persevere through the trials of life together. I know that we by no means have this marriage thing figured out, and at each stage of life we will go through different seasons causing us to adapt and adjust in various ways. I know that our marriage has not endured any true hardship or trial yet, and that is where real character building can take place. I'm just so grateful for the chance that we've had to build a foundation before undergoing those trials, for us to let the young sappling of our marriage establish it's roots before being attacked by the weather of life's storms. I'm grateful for my amazing husband,his heart for the Lord, and his desire to keep our marriage centered on Christ.

Jeremy is currently in the process of studying for a personal trainer certification. He is thinking about doing that on the side of real estate. For all of you who know Jeremy well, you will understand his passion for fitness and nutrition (as well as working for himself), and understand how that is an exciting endeavor for him.

This Saturday we are starting to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity on a monthly basis, and will be helping with the construction of new homes one Saturday a month. This will be quite interesting as neither of us is very handy when it comes to things of this nature. But Habitat is willing to take us, train us, and use us, and I'm sure that we will learn a lot along the way and have a few laughs while we are at it.

With some of our tax refund we were able to make a much needed repair to Jeremy's car... he now has working windshield wippers!! :-) We were also able to put some money towards paying off debt and working at our goal to be financially free from debt and unsecured loans. This has all been a huge blessing and we praise God for His provision! We continue to pray for provision to be freed from the remainder of our debts, so that we can avoid the enslavement and entrapment that debt entangles. Proverbs 22:7 The The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's slave.

Spiritually we have felt that we have been in, and are in a season of preparation. We set out for the first year of our marriage to be intentional about building a solid foundation in our marraige and not investing or getting involved in too many other commitments that would distract us, or take away from that critical "sappling" period of the first year. God has given us the opportunity to increase our knowledge and understanding of scripture and Himself vastly through our relationships in our church, and our read through the Bible in a year plan. He has also provided us with the opportunity to take the Perspectives class, and really opened our eyes and hearts to so much more than we formerly knew. He has given us both a heart to serve Him together, and we are in a season of growing in Him and waiting on His call. In the meantime we try to be faithful with each task, provision and opportunity that He entrusts to us.

In a nut shell I think that's it for now. Sorry, nothing too exciting, we lead fairly simple lives. We exercise regularly, eat turkey burgers for dinner at least 3 or 4 nights a week, and spend about an hour a day doing some sort of reading. Every week we throw in something like a Barnes and Noble date, a board game, a movie, or a walk on the beach, but we really don't get too much out of our routine... but's it's our life together and we love it.

Shannon