My Singing' Sweetie

Taylor loves to sing. He, his brothers, and his best friend began a quartet 2 1/2 years ago that he dearly loved. Recently, the quartet has had to disband due to the many different directions often takes people. A couple weeks ago, Taylor was contacted by a group out of Tyler, TX who is searching for a tenor. After many discussions with the group, we decided that this will be a great opportunity for him right now. So, we are headed to Tyler today to meet the group and give Taylor a chance to sing with them. We are hopeful for this opportunity, and I am excited to my sweetheart to have a chance to be singing again-he misses it!!

Shock

This weekend has been hard. A friend of my sister's, a girl that I went to Harding with was killed by her husband on Thursday night. I know few details and they don't matter anyway. It's heart-wrenching. The Harding and Searcy communities are aching. Friends and family of the girl are shocked and mourning. It's left me feeling very out of it all weekend. I don't understand how something like this happens. I'm quickly figuring out there's no way to understand it, and therefore I'm gonna quit trying. But, it's scary and it hurts.

Dear Lord, cover all of us affected by this tragedy with compassion, comfort, and extra measures of love...especially the family!

Update on the Belts

I was recently informed that I have become bad at blogging. I confess-it is true. :) In all my euphoria of being a newly wed, I seem to consistently forget my readers who wish to catch up with me. So, what has been going on with us?

-Taylor had a very successful percussion concert in mid-March. It was his first concert to completely plan, organize, and run on his own. It was wonderful. The pieces he chose for the kids to play were fantastic. It was very entertaining, and I was so proud to watch him up there showing off his kids knowing that he is the reason they were so successful!

-We spent spring break in Albuquerque with my parents. It was a relaxing, peaceful week. We played Wii, watched old movies, cooked out, did a little site seeing, and a whole lot of talking and laughing. Taylor and I enjoyed the 11 hour (one way) road trip while we listened to Da Vinci Code on CD. Neither one of us had read the book. We loved it. What a well crafted story!

-April at school for each of us has become very busy. Taylor and the other directors took the band kids to Winter Park a couple weeks ago where they played in a contest and spent 2 1/2 days skiing. Taylor came back uninjured (yea!), and the band came back with a first place plaque!! Now that UIL is over for the bands, they are prepping for spring concerts and getting ready for fall marching season. I am in the process of spring testing and identification for kids starting the dyslexia program next year. It is a very busy time of year balancing paperwork, testing, and 09-10 prep at three campuses; but I'm discovering it's one of my favorite times. I really love this job. I'm really looking forward to heading into my 2nd and final year of training.

-On a more serious but still fun note, Taylor and I have been blessed to have many conversations recently about what our future together looks like as servants of our Lord. We are realizing how many possibilities are out there for us as a couple. Now that we are settling into this marriage thing, we are really getting excited about new and different possibilities as Christ's servants! Stay tuned for updates on our spiritual journey as a couple as time goes on.

So, that is a quick and probably not complete update of the still-new Belts! I will do my best to stay more on top of this blogging thing! In the near future look for: a new post of what's been on my bookshelf and summer plans for the Belts!!!

My Amazing Husband

I have been appreciative today of the sweet, simply ways Taylor shows his love and support for me, and I thought I’d share them with you:

-He gets the hot water going for my tea in the mornings, and if time allows he fixes it just right and brings it to me in the bathroom.
-He runs the water for my bath when I’m ready to relax and unwind at the end of the day.
-He scratches my back and plays with my hair.
-If I am laying in bed reading at night and he's not ready for bed, he sometimes comes in and gives me a kiss on the forehead just so I know he's thinking about me.
-Sometimes after a long day, Taylor will tell me to sit on the couch and read a book, catch up on email, or have my quiet time with my Bible while he makes dinner.
-If I put a clean load of laundry on the bed, and then go back to the laundry room to start more laundry, I sometimes come back to the bedroom to find him already folding the clean clothes.
-He helped me hang the curtains in our apartment yesterday at the end of a long day just because he knew I was ready to get them up.
-He brags to other people about how amazing he thinks I am at my job.
-He takes the dog out when its dark outside so I don't have to.

I have an amazing and wonderful husband, and I just had to share him with my readers. There are many, many more ways that Taylor shows me his love; but these are the ones I have been thinking of and appreciating today.

Lessons Learned in Sharing a Bed

Due to being a little on the tired side this week and nursing a little bit of a hurting heart, I needed some smiles. I thought passing them on to you might be fun for you too. The following are my lessons learned in sharing a bed:

1) I hog the covers. I don't know how it happens, but in the morning the sheets are always farther on my side of the bed than Taylor's. There has even been a time or two where the poor man woke up shivering because of the lack of covers. I promise I don't do it on purpose.

2) Taylor snores (okay, so do I-says he...but I don't like to admit it, and I don't think it's very often). Last night Taylor's loud snoring came into my dream as a rythmic noise I was trying to stop. Upon awaking (at 1:15am, mind you) I discover that the love of my life is laying on his back VERY noisily sawing logs. I gently woke him up (unfortunately, with a start) and asked him to roll over. He complied and quickly fell back to sleep with no snores. No sooner had I gone to the bathroom, rejoined him in bed, and found a comfortable position-he rolls back onto his back and promptly starts snoring again!

3) I sink lower in the bed as the night goes on. Another thing I don't know why or how it happens, but there are many mornings where I wake up with my head level with Taylor's shoulder or chest instead of his head. This is funny because you'd think my feet would hang off the bed. They don't because I end up putting them diagonally onto his side of the bed. :) The problem with scrunching lower in the bed, however, is that when Taylor wants to cover up his shoulders in the middle of the night he has accidentally covered up my head. Apparently, in a dozing stupor, I groan as I toss the offending covers off my head and go on with my dreams.

4) Three nights ago, I was having a strange dream that I don't really remember. What I do remember is Taylor suddenly swinging his fist at me from his side of the bed and whacking me on the arm. As this happens in my dream I am awakened by a horrible pain in my realistic arm. Due to the delirium of the middle of the night dream, my feelings are immediately hurt and I declare, "What was that for?" Taylor starts profusely apologizing for hitting me with his elbow as he rolled over (apparently with much gusto). I realized that the "on purpose punch" was only in my dream, but because of the early hour and the sleepies I had trouble shaking off the hurt feelings and going back to sleep.

5) The night after incident #4 mentioned above, I wake up to go to the bathroom. As I return to bed, I sit on the edge of the bed while I apply chap stick to my dry lips. While sitting on the side of the bed, Taylor moans in his sleep, jerks really big, and sends his arm wholloping extremely violently onto my pillow. Even though it is early and I am sleepy, I am aware of how awful that situation could have been if I had been laying there. Talk about a rude awakening! Thankfully I was already awake. It turned out Taylor was having a nightmare and was fighting off some attacker trying to take me hostage.

6) One Sunday afternoon, we laid down for a much needed Sunday afternoon nap. I had just gotten completely comfortable and relaxed when out of nowhere Taylor sits straight up, leans forward and starts messing around with his feet and the sheets at the foot of the bed. By doing this, he has completely uncovered me (which I guess I deserved, see #1) and the fan is now blowing directly on me making me cold. I am laying there trying to figure out if Taylor is awake or asleep because something about it struck me suspiciously like sleep "walking." Apparently the questions of "What is he doing?", "Is he awake?", "Do I wake him up?" were written all over my face because he turns around, sees my face, and says, "I'm awake!" He then dies laughing realizing how silly he suddenly looked and explains that he thought something had bitten his toe (we had been having an ant problem in our apartment). We had quite a laugh before we finally took that nap.

Needless to say it has been an adventure learning to share a bed with my wonderful husband. I wouldn't have it any other way, though, because I love knowing he is there and having his companionship even when catching z's.

Becoming a Wife

Tomorrow will be six weeks since I married Taylor. It has been a fabulous six weeks. I love him dearly, and every day I love him more. I'm am learning, however, that I have a lot to learn about being a wife. I am finding myself spending more time praying for wisdom as I mature as Taylor's wife. I also find myself praying for Taylor, for his wisdom as he leads our marriage. Last night I sat down and starting looking up verses one by one that are located under the term "wife" in the concordance. I've decided to read a few a day and let myself meditate and pray on them as I internalize each verse in a new, very applicable way. Becoming a Godly wife is a study in becoming more like Christ. It's intense and deep, but oh so wonderful. I love the depth my relationship with Christ is achieving simply because He has brought me into this marriage relationship. I love Taylor with all of my being, and I am excited to see what is in store for us in the days/weeks/months/years to come.

"She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future.
When she speaks, her words are wise,
and she gives instructions with kindness.
She carefully watches everything in her household
and suffers nothing from laziness."
Proverbs 31:25-27

Are We Really Married?

This is the question that Taylor and I randomly throw out at each other from time to time. Every so often it hits us that we really are married and living together, and we just have to stop and take it all in. After just a few seconds of processing, we both end up with goofy grins on our faces relishing the idea that yes...we are definitely married!

I haven't posted since 9 days before our wedding. My how time flies! It sure didn't feel like it those last few weeks when I was just dying to get to the wedding day...but looking by it sure went fast! We had an absolutely amazing honeymoon. The Gaylord Opryland in Nashville treated us like a king and queen. We had a beautiful room overlooking the garden atrium where we could look out at the Christmas lights and go to sleep in the evening with the windows open listening the waterfalls downstairs. It was incredibly relaxing and romantic. We even took in a 3 foot Christmas tree and set it up with wedding gifts underneath to help set the Christmas mood! It was fantastic. After a wonderful week we returned to our home together--which wasn't exactly a home yet.

We spent the next week running errands changing my name every place we could before school started again, going to my old apartment to pack and clean, and moving all of my stuff into our apartment. Once it was all in I felt like I had to stand somewhere and yell for Taylor so he could follow the sound of my voice to find me. No-it wasn't quite that bad, but it was VERY crowded. The next several days were spent trying to get our most used rooms liveable before school started. We managed to do that pretty well. There is still a lot of cleaning out and unpacking that needs to be done, but we can function just fine.

Married life is absolutely wonderful! It is so calming and comfortable to come home every night to Taylor knowing that he doesn't have to leave at the end of the evening. We are having fun learning how to be married. It definitely takes work and lots of patience and communication, but we are really enjoying learning how to make a strong marriage. It has only been 3 1/2 weeks...do we have it all down? Oh no! But, God has set us out with such support and strength we are off on a terrific start.

It is amazing how much depth comes to a relationship once marriage happens. All areas of our relationship have deepen ten-fold...I cannot possibly imagine how that will increase as the years go by. The one thing I do know is that I wouldn't take this journey with anyone else. The Lord has blessed me so much by giving me Taylor as my husband, and I look forward to what the years bring.

Thank you, dear Lord, for the blessing of marriage. Thank you for blessing me and Taylor on this journey together. Lead us to glorify you all the days of our life together for we have built our marriage and our lives on You.