I married the greatest man I’ve ever known.

Everyday I realize it a little more and more.  I’m extremely blessed.  One lucky girl.

Our Story – It wasn’t love at first sight, or some “I know I’m going to marry this man” kind of meeting.  We met at church in college, and immediately clicked.  We dated for a couple months that summer.  With it being summer, we spent a lot of time together and got to know each other well (or so we thought).  But it just wasn’t our time.  We both knew it.  It wasn’t life shaking, it was a simple summer fling that came to an end.

It wasn’t until a year later, that I ended up accepting a job working for the same campus at LifeChurch.tv that he was the Worship Pastor.  We were the only single people on our small staff, and we quickly became friends again.  We spent every waking moment together.  Over the course of 8 months, he became my best friend.  It was during that time, that I gave my heart to my first love.  A heart that had been broken, tattered and bruised.  I turned to Jesus, the only one who could really make it whole.  When I allowed Him to make me whole, I realized that my 2nd love had been right there beside me the whole time.

It happened fast.  We dated for 2 months.  Got engaged.  Got married 7 months later.  February 29, 2008.

I am who I am because of this man.  I have learned more about myself in the past 3 years than in my entire life.  I opened up.  I became the REAL ME that God created me to be.  I am so grateful to him for that.  He encourages me to be the best I can be, and will support me in anything and everything I desire to do and be.

So if marriage has taught me anything, it’s that I married the greatest person I’ve ever known.

As we celebrate that wonderful day we became one, I fall more and more in love with him.  The past two years have been incredible, and I am so excited about a life ahead with my best friend.

Any day now…any day now.  I just keep telling myself that

38 Weeks

Boys will be boys.

I know it may come as a shock to some of you….but boys are gross.  They are.  They like to play in the dirt. They don’t always take showers on a regular basis.  And little boys turn into men.  And sometimes they don’t grow out of their little boy ways.

The boy I married is ALL boy.  110% boy.  He leaves the house most days without combing his hair.  He shaves once a week only because he has to be on stage.  He leaves his socks on the floor.  He doesn’t understand that you clean the house when you don’t see visible piles of dirt.  He’s not one of those “metro” boys who wears girl jeans and spends an hour fixing his hair.  It’s just not him.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love my “all boy” man.  Because I feel protected. I feel safe.  And I get to take care of him.  We are very different in so many ways.  I’m all girl, and he’s all boy.  But we compliment each other perfectly.  He likes me best in his sweatpants and no make up on.  And I’m glad he doesn’t wear my jeans.

Being married to a boy has taught me a lot.  I’ve learned that he is the protector.  It kills him when he can’t fix my problems or provide everything I could ever want.  But he teaches me how to put him first because he does it so easily.  He never thinks about himself. It’s just what boys do.  And boys will always be boys.

This weekend, hubby and I will celebrate our 2 year anniversary.  I can’t believe how fast the past two years have FLOWN by. They have been absolutely amazing and I really expect them to get even better.  I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned from being married.

How deeply our God loves us.

If marriage has taught me anything…It has taught me about love.  True love. Agape love.  The love that is so deep that only God can give.  I always thought I had a bit of a grasp on how God loves us.  I had John 3:16 memorized.  I knew despite all we do, that He loves us. I’ve been told all that my entire life.

It was until saying I do, and beginning a life with this man that God had created for me, did I realize I didn’t understand His love at all.  It is unconditional.  Unbelievable.  Something we as humans can’t wrap our minds around.  But God created marriage between a man and a woman to to perfect, pure and intimate.  Just like He wants our relationships with Him to be.

My husband has taught me how to love fully.  For that, I am forever grateful.  I have a deeper love for our Father who created us with each other in mind. I have a deeper love for my husband each and everyday.  It’s truly a beautiful and perfect thing.

I’ve had some people asking to see pictures of Baby Girl’s Nursery, so I thought I would post some.  We aren’t completely done with it yet, but close.  On the pink & black striped wall behind her crib, we’re going to do her name but since it’s a secret that can’t go up yet!! I’m also planning to hang an electric guitar on the wall between the crib and changing table but haven’t found the perfect one yet.

Living in SoCal, we have a pretty small home and the nursery is really tiny. So we had to make do with the space we had.  I think we did a pretty good job of making things fit, and hopefully someday we’ll have a much bigger room for her to grow with!

Here it is…the nursery for our little Rockstar!!

I can’t wait to have our little girl here in just a couple weeks!!!

We made it!!!!! FULL TERM!!! I would be more than happy to kick this kid out of Hotel KK any day now.  I’m exhausted. I’m tired.  I’m done. So come on baby girl…come see us soon!

37 Weeks

I went to the doctor yesterday to check up on the little alien in my belly and the doctor told me it could literally be any day now…or a couple weeks.  Real helpful there doc. I’ve been having some really intense contractions, which makes me think more on the any day now side of things but who knows! So, I decided that it was about time to start getting packed up for the hospital and get things ready for our baby girl to arrive.

Since getting pregnant I think I’ve actually cleaned the house maybe 3 or 4 times. Yeah, in 9 months.  That’s awesome.  And gross.  Thanks to my amazing hubby, he’s really pitched in and helped out around the house a ton.  I figured since I’m on maternity leave now, and our house is a disaster zone I better do my part to clean up.  So the house cleaning is underway.

Thanks to so many of you, I have some great ideas of what I need to pack for the hospital.  I’ve gotten started and plan to finish up in the next couple of days. So if she does decide to make her appearance a little early, hopefully I’ll at least have our bags packed!

The biggest thing…I am officially starting laundry for the baby today.  It begins.  Motherhood.  The caring for another life. The LAUNDRY. As I put my first load of tiny baby clothes in the washer today, I can’t help but wonder how many years it will be until I am back to washing for just me and the hubs.  Kind of a crazy thought.  It is very fun to see piles of  little people clothes around. Although, I seriously think she has more clothes than both of us put together.

Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for our little munchkin.  We are so excited to introduce her to you!!

Yesterday the hubby had his wisdom cut out of his mouth.  With the hubby on pain meds, we thought it was best that he didn’t blog so he asked me to guest blog over at brookjames.com!

Click here to read my recap of the fun day we had!

I am VERY pregnant.  I want nothing more than to be un-pregnant. However, this could possibly be the worst week for Baby Girl to make her entrance.

Today the hubby is getting his wisdom teeth yanked out.

My doctor is on vacation all week. Ouch.

It’s the first week of my maternity leave, and I selfishly want some more time to myself.

Still don’t know how to put the car seat in. Yikes.

And that’s just a few of the major things.  So baby girl, get cozy. None of this coming a week or two late, but none of this coming 3 weeks early either.  Give mommy two more weeks and then you can come a week early! She has started to drop quite a bit and the contractions continue to prepare my body.  All is very exciting, but we don’t need a baby this week.

To my Valentine…

You are my best friend. The love of my life.  I love you for a million reasons, but here are just a few.

There is no one else in the world I can be completely vulnerable with, but still completely comfortable with. I can laugh, cry, wear no make up, be afraid, be confident….be the REAL me.  You know the real me, and you love every bit of me.  That is something I will never understand, but will be happy to continue to try to understand for the rest of my life.

You have been there for me for the past 9 months through the ups and the downs. Thank you for taking me to Babies R Us just to play on the days that I thought I couldn’t take it anymore.  Thank you for constantly telling me I’m going to be a great mother when I doubted myself.  Thank you for taking care of me. It hasn’t been an easy ride, but you’ve been there every step of the way to help make me as comfortable as possible and be my constant encouragement. Only 26 days until we meet our daughter!

In 5 years. In 20 years. In 50 years. YOU are the one I want by my side. You are the one that makes me laugh. You are the one that holds my hand through the hard times, and rejoices with me through the good times.  You are the father of my children.  You bring more joy to me than I could have ever known. You are the one I want by my side until our time here is done.

You’re sexy. And we’ll leave it at that, because after all our parents are probably going to read this

You will always be my #2 love. You encourage me to walk daily with our Savior, and you help me understand how much God loves me through the love you show me.  I never knew a love so deep until I knew you, and could even get a glimpse at how much our Father loves us.  You are the leader of our relationship, and I know you will be an incredible leader for our children. What an amazing earthly daddy our baby girl has.

I love you baby, more than I can ever tell you. Thank you for being the love of my life, and teaching me how to love.  The past two years being married to you have been more than I could have ever hoped for.  Happy Valentines Day!