In August, Chris and I celebrated one year — we were so worn out, we took time off work and did much the same thing we did the 36 hours or so after we married: We slept. Seriously! After getting up late, doing lunch and then relaxing a bit, we fell asleep before we figured out what to do for dinner.

We did get to celebrate over the weekend, and I couldn’t be happier to be married to Chris. It doesn’t at all feel like it’s been a year, yet I can’t sleep when he’s not here. An older couple wrote in our wedding card that the correct answer to “how long have you been married?” is always “not long enough.” :)

It’s been quite the year, and I have the double wish of hoping that the day-to-day stuff slows down while we cram more living in. There’s no one I’d have rather shared it with, though.

So on top of all the Astara antics and daily life, here’s the past year in brief.

We married and moved into this place,

and I started unpacking everything only to realize about 1,649 book boxes later that I should probably start packing again :)

My best friend got married. We met at 15 and 16 at FSU’s piano camp, lived between three and eight hours apart, lost touch, ran into each other at a Subway, went through some crazy life situations, and now live 20 minutes apart.

And my husband’s co-workers welcome back another co-worker by foiling the guy’s cube

… right down to last piece of candy.

I can’t remember if this was when the guy was out for the birth of his newborn, but he was indeed out at some point to welcome the long, long awaited arrival.

It’s amazing how God gives hope in the middle of sadness. We went to a couple of weddings and a couple of truly heartbreaking memorials. Just five years out of high school, too many of the boys from Chris’ soccer team are gone.

Two women in my life lost babies, one at two months along and the other at nine months. We’re praying one of them, a dear friend to me though we’ve been far apart and in and out of touch, through her current pregnancy. Chris’ sister delivered this little one hours before he was rushed to another hospital for heart surgery.

When I first got to hold him several weeks, two heart surgeries later and a lot of prayers later, I got a real, albeit shortlived, smile out of Jayson, a rarity as he was coming off the morphine and dealing with post-op stomach upsets.

I was relieved when another friend of mine, another God-friendship, this time with someone I once tutored in college, delivered beautiful baby girl, Amena, whom I got to meet the same day.

Somewhere in there, Chris and I started our new jobs, after which I helped my old company with a major project and through which Chris has been working to finish the last bit of his degree — he’s got just a couple of weeks left, and I’ll be throwing him quite the party!

We looked at houses nearer to my job (which I absolutely love and worry only about if I’ve adjusted to it well with all of the craziness) just to rule the possibility out before apartment hunting … and God completely blew us away with this.

We’d have never made it to that point if it weren’t for our incredible — and fun! — Realtor, Beth, who found much more than we’d expected in our price range, all narrowed down to exactly what we’d described to her, then walked us through every snag we encountered … and I think we found them all. As ecstatic as we were over the possibility of a house, we got to the point where we honestly didn’t care if we got the house or had to check in to an extended-stay hotel: We were just tired of dealing with it all.

Now that we’re in, it’s worth it — I’m just dying to paint so that we can unpack so that we can settle in … but I’m waiting so I don’t distract Chris from his school :) Poor guy’s already got washer/dryer shopping on the mind, as well as replacing the car that died the week we were moving (oh, that’s another story for sure), as well as trimming the lawn that looks not exactly as in the picture above, as well as … :)

But as with everything this year, it came down to: We have God, and we have each other; we’ve got everything that matters, and we’ll make through everything else one way or another.

Chris was actually downsized the Christmas before we got engaged (turned out to be a blessing with the whole getting-married thing), and I’ve been half expecting to be for the last year or so.

He was able to take a full-time job since he had switched to an online degree program a couple of months before, and got a job within a couple of months with a company that often takes forever to hire. The flexibility and low stress of the help desk job, especially with the fun, supportive team he’s worked with, was perfect for planning a marriage, keeping a stressed-out fiancee sane, working on school, working with other NFPs on the side, and being newly wed :)

(Some thought Chis was crazy for ditching a scholarship at a state school to pay for tuition, but it’s been perfect for more than just the job — it also helped him understand my experience with homeschooling, was less stressful for him, has him graduating with a bunch of the certifications he wanted anyway, and has just been a far better education. Don’t get me wrong: He is crazy, just not for that reason.)

Last month, and I’ll brag on him a bit here, he interviewed and was hired for a network engineer job (at the same company), which he was able to apply for because of his incredible work ethic (can you tell I’m proud of him?) — he’d already been the liaison with the network and server teams on several projects.

The new position is right up his alley, will land him a couple more certifications, and is allowing him experience with new implementations and technologies from the ground up.

I just got a job offer yesterday — from a company I submitted a resume to two or three years ago. I didn’t expect to hear back by just submitting a resume, but the copy chief contacted me, had me take copy editing tests by e-mail, then come in for proofing tests and an interview, and I finished runner-up, although with an encouraging e-mail from the copy chief saying she’d be happy to recommend me in the future.

Soon afterwards, I was dating Chris (and dealing with the drama that came with his ex), my brother was getting married, and it was becoming obvious that my parents weren’t happy with a marriage I’d hate. When the copy chief contacted me a year ago, half of our small team at work had quit (making me the longest-employed), my parents divorce was imminent, I had just moved out cause of drama with my dad,  I had a nine-week-old puppy with antibiotic-resistant (really too kind a word) giardia, and things with Chris were getting to the break-up-or-marry point. I had no idea how I’d make the job work and was relieved when someone with a ton of experience displaced her interest.

The timing now is perfect: Chris and I have settled (happily) into the marriage thing a bit, Astara is over a year old and will have a handsome jogging buddy to (hopefully) wear her out, and smaller publications are feeling the squeeze. So many things could have prevented this in the last couple of weeks that it’s all the more obvious how much God has been behind everything going well. (For one, the bi-annual project at my current job was cancelled two days before the copy chief called me.)

As for the job itself — I could not be more excited :) Chris said it’s fun to see me this gleeful again, and it was a liiiiitle awkward giving my first two-week notice while beaming :) Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray for us as we take on new jobs, adjust (along with Astara) to new schedules, and look for a home closer to work before our lease is up.

1) I met Dr. Ruth — yes, that one.

2) I admit, I did throw away Dad B’s shoes in retaliation. Just kidding. I’m waiting until he doesn’t suspect a thing.

3) When I went camping for the first time, right after Chris and I started dating, I took two top sheets (for the hammock) from the two guest-bed sheet sets, my towel and washcloth, and the only two pairs of pants I owned — which included a 4-year-old, perfectly broken in yet totally hot pair of jeans that would not come close to fitting me today. Dad B threw it all away. He claims that, despite being walled in by the pile of everyone’s stuff, he thought the white bag meant trash. There are no excuses when it comes to jeans.

4) Chocolate and coffee are required to soothe the ills of jeans shopping. Lots of chocolate and coffee — which doesn’t help the next jeans-shopping trip… 

5) Don’t tell Dad B (he’ll think I’ve gone soft), but I adore him and his teddy-bear heart :)

6) I hate hate hate plastic. Have since I was old enough to drink out of glass and complain that water out of plastic tastes funny.

7) I have an itsy bitsy Pyrex addiction.

8) My brother can files nails better than I can. WAY better than I can. And in 1/10th of the time.

9) I have an excuse: I trimmed my nails twice a week for piano while he learned to file his nails just so to get the best sound for playing classical guitar.

10) My biggest pet peeve is guests not closing the toilet lid before flushing. Hey, my *toothbrush* is in there!

11) I’ve got to be the only English major who loves to manage finances. Things either balance or they don’t; they’re right or they’re wrong — it’s great! And, as I was telling Chris the other night, MoneyWell makes the budgeting part feel like a fun kids game or something :)

12) The way Astara’s ears half stick out to the sides and half flap up and down as she walks makes me smile. Always.

13) I’ve never broken broken anything, but I’ve fractured my nose, sprained my neck twice, and have bad knees, hips that pop out of place, and a bad ankle and wrist. And that’s just what’s wrong with my bones…

14) As a college student, working out with the old ladies at the Y who didn’t have to modify squats, lunges, etc., made me feel pathetic :)

15) I wish I spent more time with and was closer to my sister-in-law. And Chris’ siblings and my cousins.

16) I can’t use a blow dryer for my life.

17) I’m fine in 4″ stilettos, but I’m an absolute klutz in tennis shoes and a moderate klutz in any type of flat.

18) You see, I was going to be taller, but then God saw I was going to marry Chris and knew I wouldn’t date him unless he were at least 4″ taller, so God stopped my height right there even though my feet were already long enough for a 6′ frame.

19) I slept in a Bolivian hammock for over a year, and it’s the best bed I ever had (not that that’s saying much). If we didn’t rent, I’d have at least one for the yard, one for a couch, and one for napping.

20) When I think about Chris and Astara, I think God’s love is ridiculous. And amazing.

21) I work as a writer and editor, but I didn’t use paragraphs until I was at least 12.

22) I used to imagine that people in pictures could see me even though I knew it wasn’t true. Still creeps me out sometimes.

23) Waxing doesn’t phase me, but the dentist makes me really, really nervous.

24) I’ve never been a bridesmaid or a maid of honor, but I guess all’s fair since I never had any either :) I have been bride, flower girl, pianist, and just plain moral support.

25) I can’t get enough of how Chris’ eyes crinkle up when he’s really, truly happy :)

The process takes so much: the excitement and disappointment, four graduate applications, essays, interviews — and the real problem is a lot of the work falls on others: the teachers I actually liked in college and the program heads I’d want to study under if not annoying them first by begging them to let me apply a year early and mail me crazy documents during postal strikes.

Thank you to all who have done this with me: Dr. Jay, Jeff Truesdell, Dr. Deaver, Ron Jones, Mom D, Chris, Rollins College, and the international advisers and program heads at Bath Spa University, Swansea University, University College Falmouth, and University of Winchester. I’m disappointed you guys didn’t get this win: You deserved it.

I knew we really fought well when even Dr. Jay was disappointed that the Marshall didn’t want an interview this year :) And I know it was a God-thing. Mom B was praying for God’s will even though she didn’t want to see Chris and me go, and this was the only year I didn’t make it to the second round for the Fulbright Scholarship — the letter from my most reliable recommender was mailed early and arrived a month late!

I hoped to spend a year on creative and media writing and a year writing for young people — and was excited to bring my best friend and my baby! But who knows what God has, eh? And, you know, I really would miss my pots and cookbooks :)

Normally, a theme park twice in one weekend would make us feel like very worn out cattle, but we took it easy both times and just saw what we wanted to. And some of my favorite things were the simplest: the tea cups, Tom Sawyer’s Island bridges, hot cocoa and cookies, riverboat, time with Chris, monorail, Christmas lights, ferry, fake snow, story telling, stars, and snuggling rides — hey, I’ve got time to make up for here!

We were sad to hear Nikki wasn’t up to going to Mickey’s Christmas party, but we really enjoyed our first Christmas celebration of the year. (And of married life, come to think!) My favorite shot of the night:

The camera battery about died within half an hour, and, instead of capturing the magic, I managed to capture a completely different side of Disney. I can just imagine some kind of pre-teen horror flick starring Hannah Montana. Which gives me TGIF flashbacks, actually… 

Then I let Chris have the camera.

See? That, my normal camera face, is why it’s so amazing that the Roots’ pictures of us turned out so well!

And this, well, this is me very very very very excited that we got to ride something we missed the first time around! And Chris knowing before I did that I was going to want to keep the Astro Orbiter as high as possible the whoooooole time — I LOVE heights!

Thank you Maggie, Nikki, and Chrissy! :)

Astara’s a lab who hasn’t quite figured it out yet. She’s curious when it comes to baths, but she’s sure not going to sign herself up for one either — although Mom B reports that running through a sprinkler doesn’t phase the pup.

Neither does eating all of Mom B’s azalea flowers in 2 minutes flat — other than the purple poop part, of course, but that’s a different story.

OK, when it comes to the chewing everything, happy when something’s in her mouth, high energy, big appetite, annoyingly cute aspects, Astara’s certain she’s a lab.

But at just barely a year, she was unsure about water, so Chris and I were excited to find that the beach around the corner from the state park allowed dogs — and I love impromptu beach trips.

I also loved the scenery on the way:

She was cool with the beach when we got there.

But we possibly shouldn’t have played the chase-and-run-away-from-the-waves game if we wanted to get her in the water…

She wasn’t quite sure what to think,

so I tried.

And then Chris used treats.

We did finally figure out that she had no problem splashing through the water to get a treat so long as the waves were receding — darn game.

Proof that they jog.

And then…

“Save me!”

I did not make a water-pool for her to wade in,

thereby teaching the lab to dig –

I would never!

And though she was still suspicious of this “water” phenomenon,

she seemed to like the beach OK.

I just wanted to include this picture. It’s hilariously accurate, and it kind of makes my photos look more passable.

Well, maybe not. But doesn’t she look cute? She stayed like this until we got home,

when she commandeered my clean blankets and pillows.

Yup, she’s a lab. Snores like one too.

Serving at a shelter or having over people who need somewhere to celebrate is how Chris and I would like to spend our “ideal Thanksgiving,” but each year is its own. Tradition = things you happen to repeat and enjoy = good; tradition = things you must repeat = stressful. This time, we spent the day at a state park with Chris’ extended family, and Astara had her first experiences with soccer and salt water.

I’m pretty sure Chris taught her this one in our dating days:

Astara being all cute and innocent. Yeah, keep that stick in mind come Christmas…

Pup vs. Pro

This guy was impressed by her machismo and deemed her his new girl:

And a warm fuzzy to close on: