Holidays and Life Changes.

Tis the season to be... beyond busy, stressed out, and gaining weight! Some people call that jolly. The holidays bring back a lot of memories for me, as I'm sure they do for everyone else.  This year, memories involve so much more than Christmas's past.

As of the seventeenth of December, I am no longer a resident of Louisville, Kentucky.  Academically, I have finished college. No more scantrons, no more product IDs, and no more Kentucky.  I'll be brutally honest when I say, "Thank God."  I have been dying to move home since I moved away last fall.  Then again, now that I am gone, it seems a little sad, a little lonely in a way.  I miss my old room, my kittens, my routine, and my freedom.  Instead of that, I gained my dog, my family, my safe home, my best friends, and someone a little more special.

After six months of bad cell reception, grainy Skype quality, poorly timed text messages, and overall not niceties, I got this man back.  It's not been an easy six months, between his overwhelming work load in the Marines, my stress over school and internship, and a three hour time difference, things with us have seemed to fall the wayside.  We spent his birthday, our one year anniversary, and Thanksgiving over two thousand miles apart.

All sadness aside, I now have him back for the remainder of the holiday season and then will regretfully have to hand him back over.  Until then, look at some happy pictures from this break and my happy friends and family.

I was able to go Christmas tree hunting with AJ and his family.  Erika brought along her boyfriend, Keegan, and they are the dictionary definition of a handsome couple.  So obviously there were photos snapped.

This family means so much to me. They have become my Holland family, and my two best friends belong to it.  The Wells have made me feel so welcome, they have given me support, wise words, coffee in the morning, and reason to smile!

To say that I am just excited to be back with this girl, is the understatement of the century.  I am a happy girl, back in my home state, ready to see what God has to throw at me, and I know there will be a lot.

Stay tuned and have a great New Years!


Any photos you see of me here are from my beautiful friend Erika! See past post and her blog here!

Trusting God with My Marine

To anyone who knows me personally, the name AJ will mean something to you.  It sure means something to me.  AJ is my boyfriend of nearly ten months, he is also a U. S. Marine.

On June 13th, AJ graduated at MCRD in San Diego, CA.  I was lucky enough to join him there and celebrate with him, his family, and some close friends.  Since he has been home on boot leave, I have been bombarded with seemingly endless questions about our relationship.  (Though he has been hounded with more questions than I, so I guess I shouldn't complain).  

"How has he changed?"

"What was it like to see him after so long?"

"How is your relationship now that he is back?"

"What are your plans for the future?"

Those were the most popular, and I have several, well-rehearsed answers for all of them.  To most people who have been following AJ though his journey to become a Marine, those are just the answers they expect.  Sometimes they even answer them for me; "Bet it was good to hug him again, huh?" 

They aren't wrong.  Family Day was amazing; hugging someone after so long is probably one of the most fulfilling things I have ever experienced.  Granted I was functioning on about four hours of sleep and hadn't eaten in twenty-eight hours, so it could have been that I just needed the physical support! But as you can see, we were both pretty happy to have that hug.

Photo Credit; Erika Joy

As for the rest of the questions;

AJ has changed, he now stands a little taller and walks a little quicker.  He holds himself like a Marine should.  He is now a proud man, and I am a proud girlfriend.  But he still makes the same jokes, laughs the same way, and is still that same sarcastic person who left three months ago.

As you can tell from the photos, it was pretty great seeing him again.  Words really don't cover it.  I can tell you that the day after graduation I spent about an hour and a half bawling in the bathroom of my hotel room out of exhaustion, frustration, and relief.  He was home, for just a bit, and that was the best feeling. 

As far as our relationship goes, it's personal.  People keep asking which is why I am addressing it, but I will definitely say that God is who we are trusting right now.  We will be apart again until December, so we have to figure out how our lives work with one another and where God is leading us to go.

And that covers what my plans are.  My plans are to trust God with the relationship that he has given me with an amazing man who is doing what the Lord has called him to do.  I can't tell you I am going to be engaged by such and such a date.  I can't even tell you where I am going to be six months from now, let alone where we are going to be.  I am relinquishing control to God and trusting that his will for my life, and my relationship, is better than any plan I could dream up on my own.

AJ goes back for MCT tomorrow, meaning there will be yet another, probably tearful, goodbye that I am not looking forward to.  Trusting God and learning that I have to accept helplessness is not easy for me (or him), but I know, one day, I will look back and be proud of the choices I have made to let God lead and follow Him.

My handsome Marine.