Where To Begin?

Brady & I have now been married for 7 months, 10 days, 4 hours & 41 minutes. Where does the time go? I have sat down several times over the last few months to blog and decided to tackle it later because there is so much to share...I didn't even know where to start...there are so many exciting things I want to write about (wedding, the excitement of our new life together, kids starting school, vacations, new friends, the holidays)!

We have been amazingly busy in those first several months of marriage, to say the least. Speaking for myself personally, I think I WAY UNDERESTIMATED what the transition from my old life to my new life would look like in the way of time. For starters, Zeke, K & I had 4 addresses over a 10 week period. We sold our house in Deer Park and moved into my parents' home for 6 weeks, then after the wedding, we moved into Brady's smaller home on the North side of San Antonio for 4 1/2 weeks, found renters to rent out Brady's home and then moved into our new BIGGER rent home in Schertz and that is where we are residing currently. Moving took quite a bit more time and effort than I imagined. Combining two complete family's worth of household items took some sorting, organizing, and deciding whose Kitchenaid mixer we were going to keep (the dark blue one or the stainless steel?) Sara & I both share a love for kitchen gadgets so our combined kitchens had an overwhelming amount of items to sort through. I think Brady & I counted 17 cookie sheets between us & about 13 spatulas.

The other more obvious adjustments were moving away from my parents, my brother & sister-in-law (fabulous babysitters whenever I needed them), our other extended family, moving away from our incredible sitter, Sheyla, my amazing office assistant Valerie, our beloved neighbors, the LeMaire's (and many others), and my unbelievably supportive church family. The kids and I have really enjoyed the opportunity to create a new community of family and friends in Schertz, but it does take a little bit of time to create that network.

God has blessed us abundantly in our new life by putting amazing people in our path. We have gotten very close to many sweet families within Brady's squadron. Some of the same families who cared for Brady just after Sara's passing, openly welcomed me into the squadron family by inviting me to lunch, setting up playdates we me & the kids, and inviting us over for dinner. We have found a wonderful new church home at Journey Fellowship (a satellite church of Oak Hills, home congregation of Max Lucado) which happens to only be 2 miles from our house!

We have gotten connected with several new babysitters to help with the kids.
By far one of the biggest blessings has been meeting our sweet widow neighbors, Nan & Sue (mother & daughter) who live only 2 doors down from us. These two amazing women have taken in our children as surrogate grandmothers. The girls walk down with me almost every day to "go say Hi to Sue & Nan" (Chloe's words). Sue & Nan very kindly help keep the kids so that Brady & I are able to go out on a date night a couple times each month. Our relationship with the two of them has been a direct answer to prayer and has been such a comfort in our new life.

A tremendous amount of support has come from a very dear couple named Ginger & Jim Ravella. Ginger lost her first husband, Troy in a plane crash in Iraq in the fall of 2006. Jim lost his first wife, Andrea to breast cancer in December 2007. Their friendship has been so easy and so helpful for our family. It is far more than coincidence that the Ravella's moved from their station in Florida back to San Antonio the same week that Brady & I got married. Ginger & I have had the wonderful opportunity this fall to meet almost once a week for a book study. Her thoughts on life as an Air Force wife, her experiences in losing a spouse, and her insight on joining two families has been so helpful and reassuring. Jim & Ginger have been such a gift to us.


I am so grateful for the multitude of ways that God has blessed our family these last seven months. Being married to Brady has been so joyful and so easy. Having him be a sweet, loving father to Zeke & Kaelyn has been such a blessing and being given the incredible opportunity to be a new mother to Chloe has been a tremendous gift. My heart is so full....I feel so grateful and so very content.