10 years in 12 months

Yes, the past 12 months have been filled with events that most would have 10 years to spread out these major moments!

This is Ben and my story begins with a fork in the road last March.

As I thought at work, promotion papers in hand, about where this could lead me, I couldn't face being tossed around any more in the "big box" retail world. "Do I want to work 6 days a week, 55 hrs min., and be asked at anytime to move 4 states away!?" "How will I full fill my dreams?" How could I have time to meet a girl, and then begin a relationship,...?" "Getting to work at 5am some days and not leaving until 11 pm others!" "Not going to happen if I want to raise a family!" Finally standing up for the things in life that were important to me, I decided to begin the process of setting my eye on what mattered outside of work. Later that week I spoke to my GM at work and told him it was time for me to move a new direction.

I began the process of moving back to Indy!

I called my former GM and oddly enough he had an opening in my department just that morning. <Go God>

Now I have a house to sell! (Fort Branch) I packed up and moved back to Brownsburg. I placed a sign in the yard, an ad on Craigslist, and the phone calls started! It took a little bit of time weeding through who could really afford and who just wanted to rent the place. But after 4 months and prayers with family, a buyer with cash responded and the deal was done in just a week!
<Go God>


 I was now back "home", near my Life group. This group of friends has given me so much encouragement and strength over the last three years. They have lead me to where I am today! In fact, one of them, Tom, kept encouraging me to post on dating websites. I was thinking it may be too early, since I just moved back and could be looking for new employment and selling a house! But he kept insisting, so I took the chance.
I joined Christianmingle.com. As I waited for my profile to be approved, I was able to browse the girls profiles. I was finding that many were the same from other sites. But then only two or three pages in this girl stood out to me and I got a great feeling! The first few things I thought were, Beautiful Eyes, Beautiful Smile, Beautiful Hair, She loves God, and as I read about her the "check marks" kept checking! As soon as I could write her I did! And the next day she wrote back! Just over 5 months later we're married! What a wonderful summer getting to know the love of my life!
<Go God>

Knowing that we are going to live in Sarah's house, we put mine up for sale in Sept. I put a sign in the yard and listed on the sign's web page. Not sure were else I would list, turned out not to matter. I received three calls in the first week! Within days I had two offers! Both very near asking price. After all the processes of selling, getting around the holidays, and a few hoops along the way, the closing was finished this last week!
<Go God>

In this transition between westside and northside, I was fortunate to transfer to the Carmel Menard's. This was great because we live only 4 miles from this store. Knowing that I wanted to find employment in a more focused environment, I waited until the wave of holidays, house sale, and honeymoon had passed to begin my search. I began to check out local cabinet shops in mid January. After selecting the one that fit the way I would operate myself, I prepared to interview. The first week in Feb. I walked into Kitchen Master to inquire on employment. I was able to interview "on the spot", tested for ability, and was extended an offer for a position as Lead Designer! Turns out they had a opening just two weeks before I walked in the door. I start my new position this week. GoKitchenMaster.com
<Go God>


Back to the wedding! This would also turn out to be another one of God's timing. We searched for weeks trying to find a location. From Nappanne to Story, IN. We finally found that right place in our "backyard", the place we spent all summer enjoying concerts on the prairie was the place for us. Conner Prairie, Nov 9th, became our wedding home. The day could not have turned out better! The weather was warm and the sun was shinning! We had so much fun having our pictures taken around the grounds. The ceremony was beautiful in front of the fireplace. Our closest friends and family joined us. The food, music, dancing, DJ, cakes, and photo booth topped the night! It will never be forgotten!
<Go God>

We spent the wedding weekend in a cabin in New Albany, IN. The cabin was gorgeous, as it sat at the top of a hill overlooking Louisville, KY.  We spent a relaxing weekend together as we knew we were going back to work the next week. One night we had dinner at a River City Winery, were we both had the best fillet minon of our life! ... Moving on the the full honeymoon. Starting 2013 off right, we began by arriving in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! We checked into our "all inclusive" hotel and were pleased at the amenities we were given. Our room included a great view of the bay, a sunken hot tub in the balcony, and full room service 24 hours a day! We had a great adventure zip lining in the mountains, but the rest of the week Sarah and I just relaxed and enjoyed the beach, pools, and the time alone. It was very nice to leave the freezing Indiana weather for the 70's and sun of Mexico.
<Go God>

Now I've saved the most exciting for last!

As you all should know, we are pregnant!!!  The news came just a couple of weeks after the honeymoon. Sarah and I wanted to start our family as soon as possible. We are so excited to have our honeymoon baby coming in October! Next week we will have the first ultra sound and we will be able to see "Bean" for the first time!

So a lot has happened in the last 12 months.
- 4 job moves
- 2 homes sold
- met and married my "forever love"!
- baby on the way!


There is also so much more in between all of this too. Gaining a great new family, church home, and hundreds of friends! This year has been the best I've known so far!

I thank God for all the blessings and for leading me down the right path. I will continue to follow were He leads and know He has an abundant life ahead of us!

Surviving the 1st Holiday Season

I think it's fair to say that things have been just a little busy around here since our last post. The Holiday Season hit with a bang just a few short weeks after our wedding, and so life was off and running. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with Ben's family on Thanksgiving Day and then met up with my parents, brother Ryan and sis-in-law Lauren, and adopted sis Jess for the Church Thanksgiving on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Ben had to work a lot during this time and his schedule was frustrating during an already really busy month of December. He worked a lot of odd hours and a lot of late hours which does not translate well for a teacher who gets up at 5:30 every morning. We made it through though! December is a busy singing season for me. I once again was blessed to participate in Northview's Christmas concert the 1st wknd in December and helped lead worship a couple of other weekends that month. We somehow squeezed in birthday parties and other holiday parties in that month too... have I mentioned it was busy yet? ;)

 

Christmas Eve is the time that my family has chosen to celebrate Christmas. This started probably 8 years ago and has worked as our families have expanded. I treasure going to church with everyone that evening, enjoying dinner together, and then celebrating with a few gifts. This year was no exception and I enjoyed the different exchanges we decided to do this year. We did 3 different exchanges; the first one was an individual gift where we didn't spend more than $20 on that person, the second gift was a family gift that was a DIY gift that we had to create ourselves, the third gift was an ornament exchange for one family that would represent their year. It was fun to see our already creative family be creative & crafty...they did not disappoint. :)

  

Ben's family didn't have any specific drawings or exchanges, but they also did a DIY Christmas. We loaded up on tons of yummy treats and we also got my new favorite blanket to snuggle with. It's so fuzzy and warm and has dog bones on it. It's like they know we like dogs! ;)

 

Jackson caught snuggling in my new blanket

 

Just a few short days after Christmas was over, Ben and I hopped on a couple of planes and headed south for our long-over Honeymoon! We went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and stayed at the Dreams Villamagna All-Inclusive Resort. We had such a great time! The resort was a lot of fun (I highly recommend the upgrade for the Preferred Club...worth the money!). The food was excellent, the pools were relaxing, the service was unreal, and we very much enjoyed all of the hotel's amenities. We walked the beach, read poolside, jumped waves in the ocean while the sun set, and listened to the waves crash while we enjoyed our private balcony jacuzzi.

Our view from the top floor suite!

 

                                               

 

Quick sunset pic before heading to dinner!

In the middle of our trip, we took an excursion into town and went ziplining up in the mountains. Ben had never been ziplining before, and honestly I can't say that my experiences with ziplining in Indiana can really count after this experience. In Indiana, you zipline from tree top to tree top. While that's exciting for the flat lands of Indiana, it definitely was not comparable to our experience in Mexico going over 30 mph from mountain top to mountain top. There were 9 ziplines on our excursion and on the longest one (1/2 mile long), Ben and I both got to ride with a guide and hang upside down the whole time! It was awesome!

 

After ziplining!

Returning home to cold Indiana was a rude awakening after the warm 80 degrees we enjoyed in Mexico, but we were looking forward to a little normalcy returning to our lives. Ben got to work right away on updating our kitchen, and while I may be biased, I'm telling you- he did an amazing job. For whatever reason when the builders of this house put in my kitchen they left a 5 ft gap between the end of the counter top/cabinets and the wall. It was a total waste of space, so Ben added cabinets (I have more than 2 pull-out drawers now!!!) and installed a beautiful new counter top in the whole kitchen. The change was small compared to most kitchen remodels, but it's been such a nice improvement to the space. Later, he's going to add crown molding to the top of the cabinets and dress it up a little more too! :) He's so good.

 

What the kitchen looked like when I bought it in 2009.

One picture of what it looked like after I painted the cabinets and added new hardware. You can see the random gap that I was referring to earlier.

The new cabinets and counter top! Complete with built in dog bowls (thanks, Pinterest!).

 

And that gets you caught up to about the 2nd week in January. I think it's safe to say we survived our first holiday season with a bang! :) Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!