Tuesday, August 19, 2008

I Love You, Taylor!

My fiance is amazing! There are so many things I love and appreciate about him. Because of this, I wanted to share some of these things with you, my readers.

-I love the way that Taylor talks to me. He is so respectful and so sweet. Even during frustrating or tense conversations, he speaks to me in a loving manner.
-He is incredibly sensitive to how I am feeling in any given situation-emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally. He knows when my introverted side kicks in and I need a "people-break." He knows when I just want to be quiet and not talk. He knows that sometimes when I get quiet I am either tired or upset, and he always checks to see what he can do, if anything, to help.
-He knows when to listen and not "fix-it"
-I love the way Taylor will reach over to touch me or squeeze my hand to reiterate to me that he is still right there next to me-not going anywhere, ever!
-Taylor spends a lot of time thinking and praying about ways he can better lead our relationship spiritually. We continually have conversations about ways to keep areas of our relationship strong, and he will go away from our conversations contemplative. He will bring it up in a day or two telling me what revelations he has had.
-I love that Taylor is so involved in making our wedding day special. We are striving to make it more than just a pretty day, but to design it to represent the life commitment we are making to each other. It is going to be a wonderful day!
-We laugh all the time. I am so blessed to be marrying a man I can play with. We can be silly. We find things we enjoy doing together, and we can laugh until both of us are crying. Life will hold ups and downs for us along the way, but laughing together will be one of the most healing things we can do. I love laughing with Taylor!
-I love watching Taylor become my husband. As we progress closer to the wedding date, we find ourselves making more and more decisions as a couple. Taylor takes to his role as the man of the "house" so well! He spends time thinking about things, putting pencil to paper, looking at issues involved, and coming up with plans. We talk through all of it, and in every conversation his tone of voice just drips with the enthusiasm of providing for and protecting us.
-Taylor is wonderful with kids. We have done a little babysitting together and had an absolute blast! I am so excited that one day I will get to watch him be a daddy to our babies! I cannot wait to be parents together!
-I love Taylor's heart! It is so genuine, caring, and authentic. He wants what is best for people. He strives to be a better man of God every day-longing just to touch people's lives with Christ through him.
-When Taylor sings, I melt! God has blessed this man with a voice that glorifies Him each time his mouth.
-Taylor spoils me. I would love him even if he didn't, but I appreciate the way he showers me in all kinds of displays of love and affection from quick jotted love notes on a scrap of paper to flowers to tickets to a musical I am dying to see and everything in between. He is SO thoughtful!

There are so many other things. I could go on and on for the rest of the night! I am so in love with this man! God has so richly blessed me, and I am thrilled to be spending the rest of my life with him. He is my best friend and sweetheart, and I love him with all my heart!

Thank you for loving me Taylor!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Catching Up

Man, it's been a long time since I've posted. Life has changed so much for me in the last few months I guess I've just been to focused on other things to keep this up and going. Here's an update on the exciting things going on in my life:

-Taylor and I went on our first vacation together!!! We spent a day in Amarillo, TX visiting some friends, then 9 days with my parents in Abq, NM, and 1 more day in Deming, NM with one of Taylor's old roommate's and his family. We loved NM!!! Albuquerque was beautiful, and we could have stayed another week! We are going to love vacationing together in years to come!

-We bought a washer and dryer together a couple weeks ago. It was delivered today, and laundry is running as I type! It's really exciting to me to own a washer and drying. Not sure why, but I'm feeling very domestic!

-We are having our first official date night tonight!!!! Batman at a drive-in theatre! I cannot wait!!!!!!

-The wedding is 4 months and 19 days away! Sometimes that amount of time seems just perfect to get everything done. Other times it can't get here fast enough. The planning is going extremely well. All the big stuff (besides recording music and sending out invites) is done, and now we are just handling little things as they come along. Planning a wedding is super fun, and I am so thankful that I have a fiance who is excited about the wedding and is very involved in making our day just perfect! Taylor and I are having a blast being engaged. This summer has been a dream of being able to have limitless amounts of time together after spending 10 weeks apart. Of course, as school gets closer, that time is drawing to a close; but we are thrilled to be living in the same town just the same. We have grown closer together as a couple during the summer spending the majority of our time laughing, talking, and just being together. Yes, we have officially had our first little differences of opinion, but we came out of it better appreciating the love that we've been given! :) We are very ready to be living in the same house and starting our lives together as the Belts!

-I have officially started my training to become a dyslexia therapist. This week was my first week of class. I have two more weeks of training before school starts. We'll meet regularly during the school year for training seminars, and then I'll have more next summer and school year. In the summer of 2010, I will be able to take my ALTA exam which we certify me as an Academic Language Therapist. I am so excited about this new journey in my life. I am exhausted and on brain overload at the moment. The learning curve is huge, but I've been told by October all the craziness of getting started will start settling down. Despite the current overwhelming task, I am loving it. I can't wait to get in there and start meeting with my students!!! I am thrilled that after I complete the exam in '10 I will be able to do private therapy. What a blessing for the future I have been given. I will be able to stay home with my family and do therapy on the side so that I can continue to make a difference in the lives of struggling readers. Once again, I am so blessed to have Taylor as my fiance. He is just as excited as me about this opportunity. He's even told me he'd build a room onto our house if that's what it took for me to be able to do therapy from home!! I love the fact that he dreams right along with me!!!

-Along with the learning curve for becoming a dyslexia therapist, I am learning how to become the best future wife for Taylor that God can create me to be. We have had some difficult times this summer as Taylor has searched and searched for a job, but so far it has evaded him. We are both wondering why he keeps being told, "You've blown us away, your resume is fantastic, but we gave the job to someone else." He's in the process of pursuing plan B as a private lessons teacher, and we are praying so fervently for a good number of students to make themselves available to him. We have prayed and prayed since March (actually, Taylor's been praying since before that) that God would bless him with a position at a school that would be the best fit for him. Obviously, God's plan has not involved any of the dozens of school's he's applied to. But, what is the plan? And, what does being a supportive future wife for Taylor look like for me right now as he strives to be the provider for us? Needless to say, it's been a little bit of a roller coaster this summer. But, we are holding on to God so tightly knowing that despite all of our confusion and questions He will not let us down. He knows the plan, and He will take care of us.

So, that is my catch up in a nutshell. There is much going on. I will try to making blogging a more regular thing, but we'll see where life takes me in the next few weeks!! I pray blessings on all of my readers! My God bless your life journeys with new and exciting (even if difficult) chapters!

"You will keep in perfect peace
him whose mind is steadfast,
because he trusts in you."
Isaiah 26:3