Married Life

Well, it's official, I am a married woman!


The first week of married life proved to be rather hectic! We left Sunday for Charleston (in two different cars!) and didn't get there until the evening. We unpacked, ate dinner and Russ started on his school work. That continued all week. He was gone from 7:30am until about 3:30 everyday. I slept until at least 10 everyday which was fantastic! Then I hit the job and apartment hunting trails. What fun that proved to be. Apparently the new trend in apartments is to not have a washer and dryer in the unit. Not cool. I lived through dragging my clothes across the world in college and I really don't care to do so again. And the new trend in hiring people... is to not do so. haha. So unfortunately, I didn't prove successful in either one of those. I did take a day to go to Boone Hall plantation which was gorgeous. It's the place that has the "Avenue of Oaks" in the Notebook:



I loved it! I can't wait to get a house and start framing pictures. My goal is to be able to decorate our house with pictures that we've taken from various places.

Anyway... we got to spend the day together on Saturday and went downtown Charleston. We ate breakfast at a little place called Toast which is apparently a hangout for college kids who went out and had a little too much fun the night before. It proved for some interesting entertainment. The best two quotes of my entire trip were heard there...
"Corned Beef Hash?! Wow, does that have corn in it?"
"Kentucky......... isn't that where the Kentucky Derby is?"

haha. I love it. Glad that God blessed me with some common sense!

We left there and went to the downtown market... pretty cool place where all these artists and vendors come out and sell their stuff. We decided to try to start collecting Christmas tree ornaments for anywhere that we travel to... so we bought a Charleston ornament... and a Palmetto tree pitcher for all that sweet tea Russ drinks :)

On the way to the bathroom, we spotted what appears to be a Charleston fad... gum posts. This post had so much gum on it... it was disgusting up close, but it looked pretty cool from afar :) There were a bunch of others like it, but this one had the most gum on it.


We then got suckered into attending a timeshare presentation... for all these free attraction tickets. The place looked great... cool idea..... but they presented it to the wrong couple because we certainly didn't have the money they were looking for. haha. So we got some free tickets... and vowed to never attend one of those things again.

We headed back towards the car where we spotted a Moonpie General Store.....





Moonpies and RC Cola...Its a Southern thing :)

Which... we then spotted the Gamecock paraphenalia... and since I did vow to be a Carolina Gamecock, I had to get the "Fear the Spur" picture. haha. I promise, I'll show some more excitement about this as the years go on :)



And then we headed to dinner... where we watched a wedding in the Courtyard and reminisced about a week beforehand when we were doing the same thing. It was quite the week... and then I had to leave :( The drive home was long and boring and I sure do miss him being around! However, I don't miss having to check to make sure the toilet seat is down! That was definitely the first lesson of marriage... make sure to check before you sit. haha. Even if he does leave the toilet seat up all the time, I love him :)

Well, it's dinner time... until next time...

Another life lesson

Do you know how God works? I do... after 16 years, I've figured Him out. Just kidding :) He's always keeping me on my toes with new lessons.

Russ was offered a new job in the South and has been waiting on the contract for over a week now. Meanwhile, I'm still at my job in the North waiting to give notice. My boss wanted notice so he can replace me.... understandable. I didn't want to give notice in case something fell through with Russ' offer... okay, so I worry a little too much.. Anyway, yesterday, I decided it was time to let them know that I was going to be leaving in July. Even though it wasn't 100% certain. My stomach turned handing him the letter and I thought for a moment that I might throw up... but I swallowed hard and made it through. It's hard to just step out, give up my amazing job and have nothing. I haven't not had a job or some kind of income guarantee since I turned 16. So I spent yesterday worrying about how we are going to make it through.

I walk out of work and my phone beeps telling me that there is a message... I listen to it and anyone want to guess what it was???????????




A message from an agency that I applied to last week........ I just grinned and apologized to God for worrying so much. I know he has this under control... it's just hard to step out there.

Coincidentally, this is the devotion I read yesterday... it was pretty convicting of how we act sometimes....


Have you ever heard of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism? I’m guessing most of us have not. Yet, according to research most American adults and teenagers live by this new cultural religion. It is a religion that piggybacks upon existing Christian beliefs and then tweaks them just enough to rob the power from a thriving Christian life. So, what exactly does MTD look like?


Moralistic refers to the concept that most Americans believe in right and wrong. In MTD, people decide for themselves what those things are. As long as people live consistently according to their own list of rights and wrongs, they can call themselves moral people.


Therapeutic refers to the concept that most Americans believe God exists for our happiness, satisfaction and fulfillment. God’s job, according to MTD, is to solve people’s problems and to help them get what they want out of life.


Deism refers to the idea that most Americans believe in a God who cannot really be known. In MTD, God watches people play the game of life and doesn’t get involved much, unless of course, when people need Him to fix a problem or help them get what they want.

There’s probably a bit of the MTD “infection” at work in all of our lives. Sometimes, we play fast and loose with moral definitions, creating wiggle room to hold to “morals” even when we know the Scriptures draw a different line in the sand. Sometimes, we expect God to be the “genie” in our hip pocket; when we want or need something, we rub the lamp (pray) and expect God to give us our three wishes. And sometimes, we too tend to view God as distant, unknowable, detached and unreachable.


So here is to trusting God more, sticking to the morals that Scriptures teach, drawing close to God and letting Him be involved in ALL parts of my life... good or bad!!!