The First Two Months...

This weekend marks our 2 month anniversary...we've been married 2 months already...I know to some of you who read this blog and have been married for years or even decades, that seems so miniscule and almost insignificant.

Well it isn't to me! And since this is my blog, I'm going to revel in the fact that I've been marrierd to my best friend in the world for 2 whole months...that being said...

It hasn't been an easy 2 months - Aaron still isn't getting anywhere near full time hours at work and I'm not getting full time hours either, so its a struggle to patch together the hours and balance out the bills each month. We are still living with my faboulous in-laws, we have the entire upstairs 'apartment' area to ourselves (minus only a kitchen), so it is definitely do-able, but not what we imagined our life together would be like when he proposed this past January...

I'm finding it a struggle to reconcile what I want with what is and not only that, but to be okay with the fact that life isn't matching up with the picture in my head. Focusing on the positive has been harder for us this particular Christmas season than it has in the past, and so I am constantly trying to remind myself of what we are thankful for:

• A place to live, even though it isn't our own


• Family who cares enough about us to help and make sure we have that aforementioned place to live!


• We are both employed, even if it is part-time and are amazingly doing what we love in our professions


• We're learning to delight in the small things, the simple things like weekly coffee dates and classic movie dates at home - spending time together and finding ways to laugh and enjoy the season despite the worry and stress over jobs and bills


• Our church family who is so encouraging and has opened their arms to us allowing us to minister in ways we love (Aaron leading worship and me teaching pre-schoolers)


• Creativity...we both have it in spades and it has helped us out so many times these past few months as we worked with a Christmas budget, weekly food budgets (thanks Mom for teaching me how to shop for groceries on a tight budget!) and other unexpected expenses (like 4 new tires for the car).

Most of all I am thankful for those daily reminders God puts in front of me, constantly telling me that this is temporary, He knows that we're struggling and we do have so much to be thankful for even during those times I just want to give up.

Today I was reminded of exactly what Christmas is all about and how simple family traiditons can mean so much by reading one of my favorite blogger's recent updates. You can find her blog at: http://suburbanturmoil.blogspot.com/. Her blog today was all about a new tradition she started with her family: The Jesse Tree. It was a beautiful reminder of what our view of Christmas should be.