Music To My Ears

Well, here we are... Year 2009! So far so good! Things are looking good! Aaron and I have started going to a new church, I love my new job and Aaron and I have now been married for a whole year! It is crazy how time flies!

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary on January 5. It honestly doesn't feel like it's been a whole year. I feel like just yesterday I was planning the thing! The anniversary was on a Monday so since we both had to work we decided we would just go out to eat. We went to eat at Benihana's, a Japanese Steakhouse. The food is soo good, and you feel so stuffed when you leave! After dinner we came back to the house and ate the top of our wedding cake. It tasted SOOO good! I have heard so many stories from brides of how awful it tasted. Ours was amazing! My mother in law did a good job wrapping that sucker in saran-wrap! I am such a lucky girl. I definitely have the best husband in the world! I know it sounds cheesy... but loving him makes me a better person. I am so blessed to have him in my life to love me, encourage me and to hold me accountable. He knows, understands and just gets me better than anyone. (sometimes it's even a little scary how well he knows me!) I thank God everyday that he made such an incredible man for me!

Enough of the mushy stuff... I am loving my job! Right now I am working on designing a website for a jewelry company! I get to edit and write the text and code that is "behind the scenes" of the website! It's so fun! I'm learning how to write in 'marketing style.' I'm used to writing news releases and news stories, and they always teach you in school to 'cut out the fluff.' Well, in marketing, sometimes it's all about the fluff! So that's new for me, and I like that I am still learning stuff and am able to challenge myself!

Another great new beginning for Aaron and I is our new church! I am so pumped about it! Here's the deal about church for Aaron and I. I was raised Baptist, and he was raised Church of Christ. Well, I believe that the man should be the spiritual leader of the family. So I had really prayed about it and this is the conclusion I came to... I asked Aaron a long time ago why he felt that he needed to stay at a COC church. (In my heart I knew that if he could give me a spiritual reason with scripture to back it up, I couldn't contest that. I couldn't contest that because if I wanted him to be the spiritual leader I couldn't put down what he felt in his heart. If I did that, it would belittle him and I wouldn't be giving him the privilege and honor of being the leader.) Aaron gave me his answer, and he definitely had scripture to back it up. That was that. From then on, we have gone to a Church of Christ. My problem, however, wasn't the theology that COC's believe... it was the no instruments. Here I am... this girl raised with a passion for music. Music with instruments. I played an instrument for 10 years of my life. Before I met Aaron I had been singing in the church since I was 5. I had been apart of a praise band since I was a freshman in high school. You can see where I am going with this. Praise and Worship is my passion. You can imagine what was the hardest part for me being in an a capella church. But, I followed my husband with all of my heart, and knew that God would work out the details.

In November Aaron and I started going to a new church called First Colony Church of Christ. I just wasn't happy at the church we were going to at the time, and during this time was when gas was at its peak and we had a solid 45 minute drive to Spring, TX. We decided it was time for a change and something a little closer to home. Our first day at the new church I just fell in love with it. It was still a capella, but the music was more contemporary and there weren't as many older songs that I have never heard of. I loved everything about it... the music, the people and the sermon! I still missed the instruments, but I loved this church. During Christmas break the church made an announcement that was 'music to my ears' so to speak... "Starting February 1st we will have two different services. The 8:30 service will be a capella and the 11:00 service will be instrumental." OH MY GOSH! It was the answer to my prayer that I have been praying for the past 3 years!!! I truly feel that God has listened to my prayers and has blessed my obedience to Him and my husband. It just goes to show that He really does mean... pray without ceasing. He does give us the desires of our hearts!

That's all of my awesome news for now! I hope you are all enjoying 2009 so far!
I promise to post pictures AS SOON as I can! :)

Lauren