True Light Photography: May 2012

Lee,

This has been the most incredible year of my life. Words cannot even express how thankful I am that God chose me to be your wife. Out of all the women in the world, He chose me for you. Probably because you were the only man with enough patience to handle my crazy ideas, to-do lists and lack of culinary skills. ;)

You are an amazing man of God and I couldn't be more proud to call you my husband. Please bear with me, because I have ALOT of pictures for you ;) These are some of my favorite memories from the last year:

Obviously, this was our wedding day. The whole day was so completely surreal. All of the waiting and hoping and dreaming and I FINALLY got to see you waiting at the end of the aisle. The picture below was RIGHT before the ceremony.

Fast forward to the honeymoon: This was our "snazzy" dinner night! (2nd day wedding hair makes for a great up-do ;D)

Also on the honeymoon: Orange Beach! It was so strange being allowed to GO somewhere with you! I remember that we played in the waves for so long that we both had motion sickness when we got back!

For the first 8 months, we lived in this beauty ;) On this day, we were laying a tarp over the top because of a leak. I remember another day when it was POURING rain and we had another leak. We bought an enormous tarp, put on our swimsuits and set to work! (Can you say LP??)

First day of school!

There were many many many nights that we ate grilled chicken and frozen vegetables. Then we discovered BURGERS ;)

Our first puppy: Skippy Dude

This day, we were sitting outside of the music building at school and listening to the students practice.

You just HAD to have your Christmas gift early ;)

My birthday: Pecan pie and Taco Soup!

Driving to Norwood with your brothers! I think this was Thanksgiving.

Getting that Graduation ring!

I don't remember WHEN this was, but I remember that I came home to a clean house and no dishes. You rock ;)

This was after The Church Christmas Party. We all went to Sonic to grab something cold. Because its not too cold for slushies in DECEMBER in South Louisiana.

Our extremely SAD attempt at making cake-balls for Christmas gifts. We ended up making peppermint bark for everyone instead!

Movie date for your birthday!

Christmas breakfast at Chris and LeeAnn's house!

Our first (and last) Christmas in the camper! (For everyone else, I'm sorry you had to see this ;D)

Christmas morning at The Church :)

February 4th: WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOME!! We were so happy!

February 15th : We welcomed baby Eli into the world! What an awesome day :D

We couldn't wait to move into our new home, so we PACKED my car full of stuff and drove over. Yeah...you were driving with that fan in your lap! haha Good thing it was just down the driveway ;)

When we got ClearPlay!

Raking our giant new yard!

We spent our entire Spring Break working on our house! You worked so hard for us. Every morning you got up and worked ALL DAY. I was so proud of you!

The night we found out that you were accepted to grad school! I wanted to surprise you with a party, but only my family and the girls could come...so it was more like a slumber party! haha!

When I made a paper puppet of you in my art class! You just LOVED it ;D

Your last day of school. And your last ride in the library elevator. Sorry for cutting off your head ;)

GRADUATION! I was SO proud of you, babe!

With the summer starting, we both started new jobs. We weren't able to spend any time together, so you came to work with me! And painted flowers on the pool deck for me ;)

The night we had to say goodbye to Brianna and Charissa. I remember how Charissa would always run straight to "Uncle Gee" and latch onto your leg.

And last, this was our anniversary dinner on Saturday (in case you don't remember). We were excited to have a "nice" dinner out. All year, we saved up change and recycled cans to pay for our date.

So that's it!

I love you so much babe, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us this year!

Yours forever,

Julie

Sometimes life gets so crazy that you literally have to stop. And breathe. And be still.

That has been my heart for the last few days. I started a new job (same place, different position) and to say that I've had to learn patience is a vast understatement. Before you make assumptions, it's not the people (most of them are under 4 feet tall!). It's the pool. I was hired as Swim Department Leader,which means that I am over swim lessons, managing WOWS (Watchers of Water), and pool maintenance. The lessons and managing part aren't bad at all. In fact, I've learned SO much and I am grateful for the life experience it has given me, but it's the pool maintenance that has had me crazy.

I have never dealt with pool maintenance before in my life. Before taking this job, I had a vague idea of what "shock" mean and knew the smell of chlorine, but that's where my knowledge ended! So for the last two weeks, I have poured everything into getting the pools ready for swimmers. The first one was a breeze, but the second: Oh my LAWD!

I have tried everything. I've brought in water samples, poured every chemical I've been told to, filtered, brushed, and waited. And waited. And waited. And while there have been improvements, the water is still too cloudy to see the bottom.

While I am still frustrated by this situation situation and trying not to complain, and while I want instant results, God has used this to teach me how to be still. It makes me think: wasn't God MUCH more patient with me? He took me, cleaned up the mess I had made of my life, and patiently waited for me to do His will.

So here's to patience, being still, and a CLEAN POOL!

And while we are being random....

This is my idea of a corner office!