I meant to have this post uploaded at the beginning of last week, but the days got away from me and I am just now finding a quiet second to sit down and make this one live!
SO much has changed since I published the last blog and I am so excited to share some of that with you today! One of my goals for this new year is to not be as absent from the blog as I have been in the past.
So here goes...
Year one...
I cannot believe that one year of marriage has passed. Some days it feels like we've been married forever and other days it seems like it was just yesterday. However, this has been one of the greatest years we have ever experienced and we are fully trusting that each year will only get better from here on out. We hit some really high points in our lives this past year that we cannot go without sharing.
Closer to the beginning of last year I was offered a day-shift job on the Mother-Baby unit here in Lynchburg. I had done clinicals on this unit prior to being offered the job so I knew that this was where I wanted to be. I started my job in August and it has been absolutely wonderful. The joy that I feel to be able to wake up each day and go to a job that I love makes it not even seem like work. I have had a few of those, "do I really want to be a nurse?!" days, but even on those days I still love my job. Not only do I love the patients that I am able to care for, I love the people that I work with. I have created such wonderful friendships, even if they do joke about being my mother! They have taken me in as one of their own, taught me so much, loved me, and made me a better nurse in the short six months that I have been with them.
Shortly after I was offered my dream job, I graduated nursing school, scheduled a date to take the NCLEX, passed the NCLEX and received my nursing license! It was a whirlwind of a few months but once the hustle and bustle ended we were able to sneak away on our first family vacation with my family to Marco Island, FL. It was a wonderful way to end our summer and I am so thankful for the time we were able to spend unplugged from every day life to recharge and prepare for the start of a new job.
Before I started my job in the hospital, I was not working and we were living solely off of Joe's income. Once I started my job and we had more money to work with we sat down and created a family budget. With Joe studying to be a financial planner, this is something that he is extremely passionate about and although living on a tight budget is hard (for me) it has taught me SO much about being a steward of our money and living without my 'wants' in life. Before we started this budget Joe read a book written by Dave Ramsey that teaches families step by step how to get out of debt, budget, and prepare for the future. Joe became so invested in this book and his passion for this field was (and still is) so evident through this plan that was put in action for our family. The only debt that we have is our student loans so we have a plan in place to hopefully be debt free in two years!! Once we have our student loans paid off our plan is to start saving to buy our very first home!!
B I G things in the Parsons 1, 5, and 10 year future plans and we are SO excited!
Another big thing we did this year was pay cash for two new cars for both of us! This was no easy task and we had to save, save, save to make this happen but we did it and it feels so good to own both of our cars.
Closer to the end of the year Joe graduated from Liberty with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a focus in Financial Planning. While Joe has been in college he has also worked full time, been active in campus activities, and still found time to be home and invest in our marriage. He has made many sacrifices and I could not be more proud of him. I love seeing his intelligence and hard work and I am so excited for what's to come in his future in the business world.
As the months passed we only got into a handful of disagreements (which mostly had to do with why there are clothes scattered all over the floor) :), we packed up and made another big move, only threw away one pan in the kitchen, laughed every single day, and so much more.
Marriage has proven to be one of the hardest things we've ever done, but it is SO worth it. Sacrificing ourselves for each other has taught us so much and it has given us a more clear vision of the sacrifice that our Savior made for us.
Marriage takes selflessness, prayer, faithfulness, forgiveness, diligence, love, respect, and many other things, but when you find the one who God has created for you those things come so easy. My greatest desire is to take each of those things and portray them to my husband each day.
We are still learning about each other and how to better serve each other, but we are having so much fun.
I love that our anniversary is at the beginning of the new year. A fresh start to the new year and a time for us to reflect on the previous year and make changes where necessary.
So, as we go into this new year our prayer is that we will continue to grow closer to each other and closer to Christ. We have so many goals and plans for this year and we cannot wait to embrace them when the time comes.
We even have a few surprises up our sleeves and can't wait to share some exciting news when the appropriate time comes ;)
Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us, reached out to us, and invested in our marriage. You will never know how much you mean to us. We are so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends who love and support us.
So here's to year T W O
If it's anything like year one then it's going to be a great year!
And if not, it will still be a great year : )
