One Year

Dan and I have been married for 1 year today! I can't believe how fast this year has gone...we have traveled to  Disney, celebrated Thanksgiving in Michigan and Christmas in Indiana. We visited family and friends in Texas and Arizona and went camping as much as we could this summer. We have been to lots of movies and introduced each other to various TV shows. We have spent Sunday nights playing games and sitting out by our campfire (when we didn't have a burning ban). We have enjoyed time with family and with friends and most importantly each other.

We both love spending time together and experiencing life. There are so many places I want to go and return to so Dan and I can experience them together. I feel so blessed to have him in my life and am honored to be his wife. He is the most amazing, loving, and caring person I know. He surprises me, makes me laugh, and loves me very well. I can't imagine my life without him and thank God for bringing us together.

Mississinewa 1812

Living in Marion for as long as I did I had heard about Mississinewa 1812 and would see the signs up around town but it either never worked out for me to go and to be honest I didn't really have a desire to go either. But this year Dan and I decided to go, we both love museums and history so of course we are going to love a live reenactment. We met up with our friend Jen for lunch before car-pooling over to the event...which was a good idea. There were so many cars and so many people...I had no idea! We had fun wandering around and seeing everyone dressed up, we saw part of a battle reenactment on the river (yes, one party was in canoes), and we were just making our way through the vendors and starting our eating experience(corn on the cob!) when it started to rain.

We had just gotten our fry-bread with cinnomon and sugar and apple butter when we sat under a tent to wait out the rain. As we were finishing eating we heard from a lady that it was going to rain for another 3 hours :( This made us all dissapointed as we were having a great time. I was able to get a few pictures before it started to rain...

Battle on the River

Battle on the River



Fry Bread!

 We hope to go next year again...this time with no rain!

Thanks You Kroger!

An amazing thing happened a couple weeks ago...Dan and I had dinner with his parents to celebrate my birthday (not the amazing thing yet). And on our way home we stopped at the new Kroger by our house (wait for it) and as we were leaving I looked over at a basket of fruit.....and they had....DRAGON FRUIT!!!! I can't really explain how stunned and excited I was as I looked at them in disbelief. They were about $5 for one and 3 times smaller then what I could get in Cambodia...but there they were.

I was so excited to have Dan taste it...and a little scared after the Mangosteen fiasco in Texas this spring (they had them but they tasted terrible!). This little guy wasn't that bad...Dragon Fruit doesn't have a strong taste which is why I loved eating it with yogurt and Muesli in Cambodia for breakfast. It wasn't as sweet as it could be but it wasn't rotten inside either. It was an amazing way to end my second birthday celebration dinner :)

Celebration

For my birthday there were a couple things I got to do and quite a few people I got to spend time with. On Thursday I woke up to find flowers from Dan :) and enjoyed spending my day blogging, making applesauce, and just relaxing at home. In the evening my parents came and the 4 of us went out to dinner at one of my favorite places in Fort Wayne. It is a Japanese Steak House called Koto...and after singing Happy Birthday White Girl to me I got a free desert of fried banana's that was really good! Back at home my parents and Dan sang to me before I ate my birthday cupcake :)

My lovely flowers

Making Apple Sauce

Heading out for dinner

My cupcake with chocolate filling and PB icing!

Dan then gave me my second present, Season 1 of New Girl...which I was really excited about. On Friday night we went down to Marion and met 4 of our friends at Mi Pueblo, where after years of avoiding their birthday "celebration" (whipped creme being shoved in your mouth and smeared on your face, while having a sombrero put on your head) I finally was caught :) We went back to Joel and Sandra's for cake and played a game before heading to Angie's for a fire and watched my third present, season 7 of How I Met Your Mother.

At Mi Pueblo

With our friend Joel

It was a fun weekend of seeing friends, good food, and celebration. A very nice way to welcome in a new year and a new decade :)

Turning 30

I'm not sure what the big deal is, why people dread the "big three zero". I am excited about being 30 and feel that I have a ton to look forward to in this new decade. Sure there are things that aren't going to be fun but isn't that always part of growing up? I accept that in my 20's I have played hard and beat up my body through all the hours of sports, working out, and 2 half marathons...I think my body has a right to start to protest! But as I am now 30 I can look back and see all the great life lessons and truth I have found in my 20's and look forward to finding more freedom from my fears and worries in this new decade! I also get to start thinking about having a family, which in my 20's was something I could only dream about.

I want to share some of my favorite moments from my 20's:

Sophomore year of college (fall 2002)

Dancing in Africa (Spring 2004)

Sri Lanka (March 2005)

Second RA staff  (Fall 2006)

Hawaii (Nov. 2007)

Time with Family (Nov. 2007)

Master's Degree! (April 2008)

Backpack through Europe for 6 weeks (June-July 2008)

Last RA staff (Dec. 2008)

Time with Nephew and Niece (Fall 2009)

First NFL game (Fall 2009)

Lived in Cambodia for a year (July 2010)

China for 28th Birthday (Oct. 4, 2010)

Engaged in July (July 2011)

Roommates from 2011 and 2009 (Oct 2011)

Married! (Oct. 2011)

Hiking in Arizona (May 2012)

Mackinaw Island (Sept. 2012)

I have so much to be thankful for and so many blessings in my life. In the last ten years I gained two more precious children to love, my sister Michelle's kids. I loved living close and getting to spend many nights loving on them and laughing with them. I graduated from college, became an RD (which was another 4 years of laughing and enjoying the college atmosphere). I got my first passport in 2002 and traveled to about 22 different countries and have been on 4 of the 7 continents. I have graduated with my Master's degree, lived overseas for a year and helped to educate people about Human Trafficking. I met and married the most amazing man. I have run in 2 half marathons and been to Disney World 3 times in the last decade. I learned to play the guitar and lived by myself for 4 years.

I have also seen God work in my life in amazing ways through Bible Studies on Faith, a diverse community of Christians who challenged my view and understanding of God. I have had amazing mentor's who have helped me gain a better understanding of who I want to be and how I want to live my life. God has taken my wounded heart and healed my brokenness. He is my Healer, Creator, Lover, and Friend. He is the most important person in my life and the only reason I am who I am today.

Grand Rapids

This past weekend Dan and I headed up to Michigan. We were able to see a couple of my friends from High School and enjoyed some sites in Grand Rapids. We went into the city on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed a couple hours at the Gerald R. Ford Museum (a Presidential Museum). It was interesting to read about Ford and how he really could have been a great President but had to deal with a lot of things during his short term in office.

Bat given to Ford from the Red's (Dan's Baseball team)

 We also got to walk around and see lots of art. Grand Rapids does a huge art competition called Artprize and the art work is set up all around the city. People walk around and vote on their favorite pieces and the winner receives 10,000 dollars. They even had a few pieces set up in the museum.

A huge display in the museum

 In the fountain outside the museum

Penguins

Enjoying the amazing weather!

Tons of people!!

Using a magnifying glass only!

Seahorse

Stained glass carousel

Picture of a girl in Grand Rapids who got caught in Human Trafficking...yes it happens here! (She was from Grand Rapids, MI)

Statue of Einstein

It was cool seeing all the different kinds of art and to see which ones had already made it into the top 25. Plus the weather was amazing and it was fun getting to show Dan around the city.