The Stories God Has Been Writing

Wow, it's been so long since I last updated my blog that I almost don't even know where to begin.  Okay, I don't at all know where to begin.  But that's the thing with writing (and I guess life, too), you don't always have to know where you're going to get going.  You just have to get started and see what happens.

On March 12, 2016, I got to marry the man God made for me.  We were married in the church where I grew up by the pastor who once served as my youth pastor and currently serves as our contemporary service's pastor.  Like every other girl in the history of girls, I had a wedding planned out in my mind from the time I heard my first fairy tale.  But let me tell you, my wedding far surpassed anything I could have ever dreamed up.  You see, in my imagination, my wedding was going to be all about me (and a little bit about my husband, too, if I was feeling selfless enough - kidding, of course), but in reality, it was all about God.  Joel and I put a lot of thought into the scripture that was to be read in our wedding ceremony.  So often, weddings use the traditional 1 Corinthians 13 verses, and don't get me wrong, those verses are absolutely beautiful and more than suitable for a wedding, but we didn't feel like those verses fit with what we wanted our wedding to portray.  Because while it is important to know that love is patient and kind, not self-seeking, and so on, love cannot happen without humility and sacrifice, and salvation cannot happen apart from Christ, the most humble and sacrificial of all.  Therefore, we chose Philippians 2 as our wedding verses.  Those verses not only describe what a relationship centered in Christ should look like, they also tell the gospel story.  And what's more important than sharing the gospel story?

  First dance as Mr. and Mrs.

Then there was the fact that I got to wear my aunt's wedding dress.  I can remember thinking my aunt looked like a princess on her wedding day.  I was just a junior bridesmaid back then, and I adored her dress.  In the back of my mind, I always hoped I could wear her wedding dress one day.  We arranged for me to wear her wedding dress, and a couple weeks later, I found out that my aunt was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer.  Wearing her dress in my wedding became so much more special to me because it gained a whole new level of significance.

I cannot help but praise God when I think about my wedding day and my life thus far with my husband because it's all God's doing.  God is the One who took a girl who swore she'd never come back to her hometown and brought her home.  God is the One who took a boy who lived in Oregon and led him to Alabama.  God is the One who set up the first encounter of that girl and boy, and were it not for Him all throughout their lives, the girl and boy would have never met.  God is the One who began orchestrating their love story long before it was ever conceived in the minds of the girl and boy.  I think that's pretty clearly shown in this slideshow:

Joel and I spent our honeymoon in Kauai, HI.  We went hiking, kayaking, ATVing, coffee tasting, and more.  We even saw a chicken cross the street using a crosswalk.  Unfortunately, that chicken was headed to KFC.  Not a good plan!  Amongst all these great adventures and experiences, it was amazing to me to be married to someone who was willing to read the bible with me and pray with me every morning, even on a vacation to Hawaii.  We came back from our honeymoon super sick.  Joel had a terrible sinus infection, and I was so severely dehydrated that I got to spend a few hours in the hospital getting an IV of fluids.  I don't think we got off the couch the next day for anything other than to get another Gatorade or water.  Welcome to married life, right?

One of the many waterfalls to which we ventured.

Softball season was going strong by this point, and I had my first ever student teacher.  At first, I was a little frustrated having to sit behind my desk every day and watch someone else teach my class and interact with my students.  Having nothing to do may sound like a dream come true, but not for me.  Interacting with my students and building relationships with them is the whole reason I teach.  So to see someone else taking over my classroom was hard for me.  But, in the end, I realized how blessed I was to have my student teacher in my classroom, especially in the middle of softball season mixed with wedding planning (she really kept me from drowning).  Looking back, I see how God refined my heart through that time.  I learned to step back, let go of control, and give someone else a chance to do her thing.  In doing so, my students lost nothing.  Instead, they gained a role model, and I gained a new friend.

Throughout the school year, my students and I had been working hard to come up with some kind of community service idea to be the focus for our organization, #ProjectRippleEffect.  We made banners and collected toys for kids in the community with cancer.  We collected and distributed water bottles to the homeless.  We wrote encouraging quotes and distributed them to every single child in the school.  But, soon, it became too much.  There were too many ideas.  Good ideas.  But still, too many.   Our focus was all over the place, and with too much momentum and not enough direction, the students' passion for #ProjectRippleEffect fizzled.

Then came socos.  The word "socos" comes from the combination of the words "socks" and "Chacos," but we expanded the term to encompass any sock and sandal combination so that the kids who don't own Chacos can still be a part of soco day.  Originally, we wore socos to be goofy.  Instead of the whole Mean Girls "On Wednesdays we wear pink," we decided we'd go with "On Fridays we wear socos."  From there, we decided to make socos an anti-bullying campaign.  We wore socos every Friday to "soc[out]" bullying.  But, for some reason, it just didn't seem like an anti-bullying campaign was our organization's purpose.  We continued to wear socos anyways, brainstorming all the while for what our real purpose could be.  Then, a few weeks before school ended, it came to us.  Socos would be our way to raise awareness for cancer.  On Fridays, we would wear socos to "soc[out]" cancer.  Instead of simply leaving it as a sock and sandal combination, we decided that the color sock you wear should be representative of the type of cancer that has affected you or a loved one.  The idea was that we would be held together by the straps of our sandals and fight together as one against cancer.  Socos grew rapidly from there, and we were able to start a few videos, write a soco rap, and sell soco shirts to raise money for local cancer organizations.  It's been an incredible journey, and I can't wait to see how soco day continues to grow in the future.  

 The first unofficial soco day last year.

 Representing the many types of cancer with #PRE drops.

On Fridays we wear socos to "soc[out]" cancer.

Recently, I had a second ankle surgery.  I've been on crutches for about two weeks now, and I have 6 days to go.  It's been interesting to start out married life and end such a passion-filled school year on crutches, but God has blessed me beyond measure.  As frustrated as I get not being able to run or get my own cup of coffee or play efficiently with mine and Joel's new husky puppy, I know that God is continuing to refine my heart as He teaches me that I was never meant to rely on myself.  We were not created to be self-sufficient.  We were created to be God-sufficient.  Sometimes it just takes a few weeks on crutches to remember that and to truly appreciate the help that is offered by others.  After all, this life really isn't about us.

Still wearing socos because cancer is worse than ankle surgery.

Introducing Baby Moses to his big brother, Bryant.  Our little family. :)