Weekend in Pictures

Happy Monday!  We had a great weekend of good times with friends and catching up on sleep :)

Campfire and wine (well beer for the boys) with the our lovely friends the Schuman's!

This couple is a huge blessing in our lives.  And they are pretty cute to top it off ;)

Harvest Festival at SDC!  It was a rainy, wonderful day followed by movie watching and chili eating at the Schuman's! 

Cutie new shoes!

Puppy loves make homework better ;) 

How was your weekend?

Why must marriage be anything but good?

Each day of my job I get to build relationships with the physicians and office staff that I call on, and because I only see them once every two weeks it is a slow process.  One of the easiest topics to talk about is the fact that I am a newlywed :)  Many of my offices remember me, because I got married and left for my honeymoon after only calling on them once!  Each time I go in I get the question of "how is married life?" and I happily reply "WONDERFUL!!!"  The response I get a lot of times is "Wait a bit, that will end" and I joke that I will be looking out for that.

Lately though I have been thinking, why do people place the expectation on marriage that at some time it will stop being wonderful?  I do not mean to say that marriage is not hard work or that there will not be days where arguements take place, but why do some feel that there is a point in every marriage where it stops being an amazing experience and becomes a burden?

I believe that there has to be a commitment to making your marriage be a place of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and growth.  At church on Sunday Pastor Mark shared a story of conjoined twins who were joined at the heart and he stated "Since separation is not an option cooperation becomes an obligation."  This is the mindset that we should enter into marriage with.  Marriage is not a temporary high that goes away, it is a committment to another person that should always be honored.  It is work and dedication, but at the same time it can be a place of great love and beauty.  In order to be at that place, we must work on our marriage diligently and not let separation enter our minds.

Matthew 12:25 states, "...Any kingdom at war with itsef is doomed.  A city or home divided against itself is doomed."  This is what stands to happen to marriage when both parties are not fully committed to cooperation and working to build a strong, loving bond between them that cannot be destroyed.  Marriage does not have to be a union that ends up bad no matter what, but our choices can lead it to that place or they can lead it in a healthy direction.

I apologize for the randomness of this entry, but it has been on my heart for a while and I wanted to share it :)  Happy Wednesday

Marriage Journal

Hello from Little Rock!  I am here for the week training, and I am missing home like crazy!  Tomorrow is our two month anniversary (yay!) and I would much rather be home than here for the occassion.  To up my spirits I thought I would write a post and share an amazing gift with all of you :)  Sound like a plan?

Cameron and I were blessed with amazing pre-marital counselors that not only helped us to talk through important issues that may arise in our marriage, but also want to be our friends and mentors through the years.  For my Springfield shower, Henrietta came and gave me two books; "The Power of Praying Wife" and "The Power of a Praying Husband".  Cameron and I are both currently reading them, and I promise to do a review when we finish.  In addition to the great books, she told me that her and Rick were looking for a marriage journal to give us but hadn't found the perfect one.  This is the point when I looked at her with a puzzled look and asked her to explain.

Her and Rick started a marriage journal later in their marriage, and really wished that they had had one from the beginning.  The journal serves as a way of documenting big events that take place during the course of your marriage.  She recommended making an entry every year on your anniversary and writing about events that took place during the last year, how you're growing closer to your spouse, and what things you are both excited for to take place in the next year.  She said there is nothing better than looking back over their previous entries and seeing just how much their marriage has endured. 

Cameron and I loved the idea, and set out to find the perfect journal to write our love story in :)  And we found the journal at Harry Potter World on our honeymoon (of course!).

A Hogwarts journal to document our marriage memories... it doesn't get much more perfect than that!

Our first entry was to write down our perspectives of our wedding day.  I wanted to get all of the memories down while they were still fresh in our minds :)

I am really excited to have a way to capture the journey that our marriage will take, and be able to look back and reflect on how far we have come as couple.  To anyone that is getting married or already is married I HIGHLY recommend investing in a marriage journal.  You won't regret having the ups and downs of your marriage documented to reflect and learn from :)