The Paper Anniversary

A year ago this past Sunday,  I was blessed enough to marry my best friend. The past year has taught me many things (but that's another post: "What I Learned in Our First Year of Marriage") and has been absolutely wonderful. It's so hard to believe that we're already embarking on the second year of our lifelong journey together! We certainly kicked off the year with a great bang by celebrating our anniversary together, starting early in the morning and ending later that night (not too late . . . we're old people at heart). 

To start the day, I got up before Hubby to start getting ready for church and make banana pancakes. They're super simple, and we already had everything on hand! Thanks to Pinterest, the recipe was easy to find! (Find it here: Three-Ingredient Banana Pancakes). Hubby and I both loved them!

While I finished getting ready, Hubby presented me with an invitation:

So, after taking communion with each other at church (such a cool way to start our second year together), we did some quick grocery shopping to prep for the picnic, then headed home to get ready to go. Before we left, I begged Geoff to let us go ahead and exchange gifts. I had been working on his all week and was really excited to give it to him (plus I have the worst poker face and couldn't keep his gift a secret any longer than I had to). I made him a deck of cards with "52 Reasons I'm Blessed to be Your Wife" written on them, an idea I found via Pinterest (of course): 52 Things I Love About You. I did mine a little differently by handwriting each one (instead of formatting them on the computer and printing) and gluing them to the face of each card instead of the back. I think they turned out pretty well, and he really seemed to love them! 

After exchanging gifts, we headed out for Tallulah Gorge State Park. It only took a little over an hour to get there, and the weather was perfect for all that we had planned! We found a nice patio by the Interpretive Center to lay down our quilt and have our picnic before we headed off to explore! When I say Tallulah Gorge is beautiful . . . y'all, I don't know that I've ever seen something so breathtakingly beautiful in my life. We literally had to stop and perch on a giant rock for a while just to take it all in (okay, and partially because I needed to take a break; there are a million stairs on those trails)! We had such a great time walking around, talking, and taking in the views!

Hanging out on the bridge

Down at the basin

Our favorite perch for the day, a giant rock close to the top

Taking it all in

In front of one of the falls

Going down the stairs wasn't bad; I was okay to smile.

Seriously, stairs for days.

After that, we headed home (taking a quick detour to stop by an outlet mall we discovered on the way home--it's seriously 30 minutes away from where we live; how did we not know about it?), did some prep-work to get ready for the week, and curled up to watch the newest Walking Dead. (I HATED that show the first time he made me watch it; then I went back to the beginning and got hooked. It's a "guilty pleasure.") 



It wouldn't be the first wedding anniversary without cake though . . . BUT we forgot to get our wedding cake from my parents' house last time we visited, so we had to improvise with some little store-bought molten lava cakes. I'm not complaining; those suckers were delicious, so delicious that Hubby threatened to eat mine if I didn't get to it first, and he's NOT a "sweets person" (which Queen Sweet Tooth here is still trying to wrap her mind around). 

Our first anniversary was so wonderful, just like our first year of marriage! I'm so blessed to have spent this time with the love of my life, and I'm looking forward to the many years ahead!

What I Learned in Our First Year of Marriage

Over the past year, and even some before our wedding day, I've been told a couple of different things about the first year of marriage. It's mostly the "honeymoon" phase, full of bliss . . . or it's the hardest year of marriage. I'm not really sure which one was more true for our first year, and I suppose only time will tell for the latter, but while our first year was full of many ups an downs, I learned a lot (and am continuing to learn even more) that I can apply to our upcoming years. All I know is that our first year of marriage has been one of the happiest of my life, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us, especially if this was the "hardest." 

During our first year of marriage, I learned . . . 

-How to be a better friend

-How to be more patient (this is something I'm still working on, heaven help me)

-How to share space

-How to have "me time" in said shared space

-How to truly love our circumstances, ugly bathroom wallpaper and all, and do my best to make our place a home, welcoming enough for peace and rest (thanks to The Nesting Place by Myquillyn Smith)

-How to put the toilet paper on the "right" way

-How to be more domestic--cleaning, baking, helping our household (partially thanks to My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife by Sara Horn)

-How to be more submissive (also thanks to a Sara Horn book, My So-Called Life as a Submissive Wife)

-How to trust more than I ever have before

-How to be kinder

-How to support my husband in all things that he does

-How to pray for my marriage more than I talk about it

-How to pray for my husband

-How to truly appreciate my husband and all that he does for us

-How to seek wise counsel from unbiased counselors

-How to stop comparing our marriage to others' (just because others are buying houses, having babies, or taking trips, doesn't mean we need to right now; that will all come in God's perfect time)

-How to actually plan meals (it's not really a big part of single life, but this man's gotta eat!)

-How to truly put others first

-How to take better care of myself (Hubby is helping me with this big time, even if I'm not always so willing)

-How to budget better and be more spending conscious

-How to make better decisions, especially when they'll affect both of us (thanks to The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst)

-That date night doesn't have to be fancy--sometimes the best date nights involve a homemade dinner and snuggling up on the couch while watching Netflix

-The importance of relying on family and friends

-How to make our marriage reflect what God designed it as, more so than what modern society has tried to make it (thanks to The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller)

-How to do laundry more often (sweaty guys go through clothes a lot quicker than girls do)

-How to fold and organize laundry the "right" way

-How to truly let my guard down and love better (thanks to a book by Sheila Wray Gregoire)

-How to let God's Word flow into our marriage and become the focus of all that we do (as best we can; we're all sinners)

-How to work as a team, serving as each other's helpmeets

-How to schedule with and around each other

-How to be more flexible

-Never to go to bed angry

-Wives must be loved, and husbands must be respected

-That marriage is hard work. It's one of the hardest things I've ever done, but it's worth it. I would fight for my marriage all day every day if need be, because I'm more in love with my husband than I ever have been before, and I can't wait to see where this wonderful journey takes us. 

I've learned these things and so much more, but I know that I'll only continue to learn as we continue to press on through our marriage. I'm looking forward to what year two brings for us: the ups, the downs, the good times, the bad, and all of the lessons that come with everything. To make this wonderful blessing of a marriage work, it'll all be worth it.