Looking Back on 2023: A Year of Transitions and Trusting God

I had originally hoped to start this blog around our first wedding anniversary but the past few months have been so busy. Our first year of marriage really has been quite an adventure. From job and apartment changes to an amazing trip to France and the expectation of our first child.

Starting a new life together in Nashville, TN has been such a great experience for us. Most couples that we have met have said that it would be such an intimidating thing, to move away from family immediately. I'm not saying it hasn't been intimidating but we had to learn to rely solely on each other and God through this past almost year and a half. We've also had some amazing family that has supported us even from afar. We moved into an apartment having only had a FaceTime meeting prior and both started some exciting new jobs. I started working at a designer bridal shop which was exactly the field I was studying in college. Jonny started working as a security officer at the Mall at Green Hills. Both jobs were very close to each other and our first apartment. Within a month of working at our jobs, Jonny and I were promoted to department managers.

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Then one of the coolest opportunities presented itself in October. One of Jonny's friends from basic training reached out and asked if we wanted to go to Paris, France with him and his girlfriend. My exact response was, "Ummm duh". I had always been obsessed with Paris and it was pretty much my whole bucket list as a kid. Jonny's friend and his girlfriend work for Delta Airlines and we were able to get free flights over, which made for a much cheaper trip. We took the trip in January of 2023 and we all had so much fun.

The whole trip is a blog for another time but my favorite part was definitely the food.

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We each turned 21 within the past almost year and a half (Jonny is now 22) and right after my 21st birthday, we got some exciting news. We found out we were expecting! It's crazy to think that was over 8 months ago. We were so excited for the addition to our family but we didn't realize how much change God would have in store for us through the next 9 months. We were able to visit family and had our family visit us throughout the summer. We attended two weddings and celebrated Jonny's grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary.

During the summer though, things at my job started to turn for the worse. I slowly started to realize that I was overworking myself for a job that I wasn't happy doing. I wanted to make sure that what I was doing was bringing glory to God and more specifically serving those around me. I unfortunately discovered that this work environment was pushing me to serve myself and the company, sometimes at the expense of others. I decided that by the end of July, I needed to be done working there. God was able to present a new job for me at a flower shop at the mall. (The same mall that Jonny works at) I was working there from September to December when I decided to take my maternity leave. Throughout the whole process, I didn't understand how God was working, and I was impatient with His timing. Later I learned, as I'm still learning, that His plan is better than anything I could ever attempt for myself.

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September was probably one of the busiest months for us and we haven't stopped since. Part of moving to a different state right after our wedding means that if you want to move when your lease is up, that's your wedding anniversary. The other challenging element of moving was that I was 20 weeks pregnant and couldn't move any of our very heavy furniture. Thankfully, Jonny's family was able to help us move most of our stuff in one weekend. The moving process wasn't done. The new apartment needed to have the carpets replaced before we could move our furniture in. Thankfully we were able to stay in our old apartment for longer so we had a two-week overlap of apartments (only God's timing). Once the carpets were finally replaced, we had more family come to move the last of our stuff and repaint the old apartment. We did celebrate our wedding anniversary in September and we had such a fun day celebrating. We were able to go back to the same riverboat cruise that we went on our honeymoon, which could turn into a fun new tradition for us.

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On top of moving and me starting a new job in September, we also have had some fun adventures with vehicles since May of this year. It started with Jonny's Jeep suddenly stopping and we had to have it towed to a shop for a battery replacement. We then sold that vehicle to Jonny's sister and bought a new vehicle while we were in Michigan. The car came with minor accident damage that we were able to replace and it came with a rusted-out muffler which we learned later was worse than we thought. On the drive down from that trip, something in the vehicle suddenly ceases up, and the power steering quits. Jonny was able to come up with a temporary fix and we somehow made it to Louisville, KY before the car was officially dead. After a very long trip of several Ubers, a tow truck, and a Greyhound bus, we finally made it home. Then in late August, a little over a month later, while driving up to Ohio for the 50th anniversary, the back brakes suddenly ceased up. By God's provision, we had only made it about 30 minutes from our house and the brakes only partially ceased up so we were able to make it back home. Then the week of Thanksgiving, my family came down to visit. My dad and grandpa were able to fix the brakes for us and for a day we had two working vehicles. The very next day though, the day we are supposed to drop everyone off at the airport, our other vehicle's battery dies. Being unable to start with a jump, we were back down to one car. One tow truck and a couple hundred bucks later, we were able to get the battery replaced and thankfully there was nothing else wrong with the car. We now have two working vehicles and we thank God they run each day.

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That brings us right up to mid-December (today). I am currently on maternity leave and am loving being a homemaker. I never seem to run out of things to do and my house is finally kept clean. Jonny is still working at the mall as security, but things are always changing. We are learning to hold life with an open hand and trust God in his timing and plans for our lives. I am currently 36 weeks pregnant which means that our little baby Bazzle could come any day. I am so excited for the plans that we have in store and I am excited to see what God has in store for us in the New Year!