One Year Married:

A few weeks ago, Cole and I celebrated our first anniversary!! It was so nice to spend the day together.  We were able to eat the cake we saved from the wedding day.  It was still pretty good.  We also went to church together, had lunch at a Mexican restaurant, played some pickleball, and made a steak dinner.

This has been such a year.  We have traveled to Houston for a Pokemon tournament, took kids to Atlanta for a school trip, moved back to Cedar Falls, celebrated at friends and families weddings, and learned a lot about each other. We have learned a lot about how to be good partners to each other. I especially have learned a lot throughout this year. I have personally never been a very patient person, but with this relationship and living with someone else, I have had to learn to be more patient.  

Another thing I have been learning is how to not be an individual person or alone all the time.  I have to remember I am a part of a team.  I am now joined with my husband, and we make decisions and do things together.  We talk about finances, exercise, and time schedules.  It can be hard sometimes to not just do the things you want to do automatically without talking about things first, but just because we aren’t doing things the way I would usually do on my own, doesn’t mean it is wrong or not the right way to do something.  

There are a few times throughout the Bible when the Lord reminds his people to become one flesh as opposed to being two individuals.  This is stated in Mark 10:6-9 which says, “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  When a married couple really truly trusts God and gets to know each other so well, they will not be separated.  This is because they will be one team and one group who will stay together through thick and thin. 

Cole and I have also done something to celebrate our anniversary in a really exciting way.  We decided to get our girl Coco!! She is our new Cavapoo puppy, only 9 weeks old.  She is very small and very sweet, (for the most part) 🙂 She does enjoy biting everything. She also can’t be alone for a second, otherwise the whines will start.  However, besides these few hiccups, she is a very good girl and she has our heart.  

Puppies are a lot of work.  They seem to want to chew everything, even when it is dangerous to them.  They also, of course, need food and water to survive.  They need to be taken outside, so they don’t use the restroom inside the house. Because of this work, Cole and I have been learning new ways to be good partners with this puppy in our lives.  

Cole and I have learned more responsibility in the last few weeks.  We have had to rearrange our schedules a bit so we could plan when to take her out, make sure she eats and drinks, and that she has time to be out and about and play as well as get exercise.  We have to make sure we are taking care of another being who is dependent on us.  I have loved how this has brought up a new partnership in Cole and I.  We have been good about taking turns on who takes Coco out.  We take turns on cleaning up after her if there is a mistake made.  We also are good about communicating on who took her out and when she was fed, etc.  We can definitely continue to grow through this partnership and responsibility, but it has been very pleasant so far. 

The challenge of this week is a few different things.  If you are married, I hope you can find a way to make your spouse happy.  Let him or her know they are appreciated for things they do.  Maybe make their favorite meal or find a different way to serve them.  Maybe buy them a gift to let them know you were thinking of them.  Find any way you can to make sure they feel appreciated.  If you are not married, my challenge for you this week is to find a different person in your life to show appreciation to.  This could be your friend or your coworker.  This could even be a person who you struggle to love on a regular basis. We were called to love all, even those who make it difficult to.