As of today, it has been six months since the wedding and that blows me away. Half of a year! Xavier surprised me with a trip to Target to pick out a watch as a 6 month anniversary gift and I thought it was a very timely gift (hahahhaha I couldn’t help myself… thanks a lot Dad!) because time doesn’t slow down. These little second hands are just ticking away. I wanted to write down some things about where we are in life right now so that we can remember later when more tick-tocks have come and gone.

I asked Xavier to write down some answers to a few questions and then I answered them too without knowing his answers.

Q.1  What is your favorite thing that we have done together since coming back from the honeymoon?

X. Camping.

E. Camping and hiking.

Q.2 What is something about marriage that you didn’t expect?

X. How fun it would be.

E. How hard school would be and how my priorities would change.

Q.3 What is something that marriage has shown you about yourself?

X. I am messy.

E. I am selfish.

Q.4 What is something you have learned about the other person since being married?

X. She is good at cleaning up messes.

E. He is an amazing servant leader and is so kindhearted.

Q.5 What is your favorite thing about being married?

X. Spending time with my best friend.

E.  The companionship, inside jokes and doing things as a team.

Q.6 What is your pet peeve?

X. Waking up.

E. When clothes and shoes are just inches away from where they go but are on the floor and not in the hamper or on the shelf.

Q.7 What are you most excited for in the next 6 months?

X. Moving to a new place together.

E. Watching Xav graduate and finding out about grad school, our living situation and the summer.

Reading through these together was hysterical. I told Xavier to just jot down the first thing that came to mind and to not over think the questions and he sure followed those instructions! Some of our answers were so similar and others were totally opposite (see Q.2). Some days are just fun and goofy and we giggle at each other’s lame jokes… and other days we are sitting at our desks pouring over school books and discussing homework at dinner, or praying about things we have no idea how God will use for good. But it has been so impacting to grow together. To learn to laugh and cry together, to see all of each others good, bad and straight up ugly and to learn to love as Christ loved and to trust in God’s plan. Xavier truly is an example to me of someone who leads by serving. His care for me, quickness to help and steady encouragement are things that make me want to serve him more than I do. When he washed my feet on our wedding day and vowed to try to love me as Christ loved the church, I was unaware of how beautiful that would be when displayed in everyday ways.

We are both awaiting the results from Xavier’s grad school applications as it will mean a move for  Brumwell Town. It is exciting and a little scary to think about the next six months and all the change that could happen. But when I think about how much God has been changing each of us over the last six months, it makes me eager to see what will happen and where He will lead us. I’ve felt more vulnerable and yet also more cherished and forgiven than ever before and I love seeing that God isn’t done with us yet.

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P.S. I tried explaining what a pet peeve is to Xavier and he is still convinced that waking up qualifies… even though I think he means to say that his pet peeve is when I close the oven mitt in the drawer and the thumb sticks out.