THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 12

My sweet, sweet husband, how has it already been one whole year of marriage? At times it feels like we've been married for years and years and at other times it seems like we just promised our lives to each other, cut the cake, threw the bouquet and garter and had a ribbon wand exit in front of all our family and friends. One of the many things I've learned in the past 12 months, is that I'm 100% uninterested in a life without you.

365 days of a husband and wife walking together in a covenant that has bound their hearts together as one in The Lord.

365 days of choosing and learning what it looks like to choose the other's interest above their own.

365 I love yous

365 goodnights

365 good mornings 

I'm so lucky to be the one to love, honor, and cherish Matthew.

I honestly could not have imagined becoming Matthew's wife in any other dress. From the lace to the cap sleeves...my dress was an absolute dream come true.

365 days of wearing these precious rings.

365 days of laughing together

365 days of love

365 days of I'm sorrys

365 days of I forgive you

About this time last year, Matthew and I were getting ready with all of our best friends for our big day. The church was decorated and our family and friends were making the drive to one of our favorite places, Cookeville, to celebrate our sweet day with us.The pies were good. The party was fun. The pictures were made. And we were surrounded by tons of people who love us. It had been the best day (& hottest!) But July 18th is my favorite day ever because it's the day I became a wife to a truly great man. Being married to that man has been rich and abundant and beautiful and filled with joy. There have also been times that have challenged and refined us, humbled us and uncovered our deepest fears and hurts. I delight in the many ways we have grown in our first year, and yet I know that we have much more to learn about this profound and glorious covenant we walk in together. And I can't wait. You’ve blessed my life in more ways than you’ll ever know and your presence brings such joy to my heart. I love you, Matthew. Proud and thankful to be the one you chose. Happy FIRST Anniversary, my love! 

I forgot to hit "publish" on this post two days ago... ;)

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THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 12

THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 11

I am really bad at keeping up with these, considering our 1 year is just days away. Oh well, playing catch up today!

Here we are getting so close to celebrating our one year anniversary. Our time hop and Facebook memories are constantly showing us memories from a year ago, and I can't help but look back and tear up. This time last year we were running around getting the last minute details finished up. And I mean last minute details....Matthew had our wedding programs printed off the day before our wedding :) We had decided we didn't want them but then at the last minute decided we did. So with some quick designing on my end and quick thinking on Matthew's end we had our programs printed and ready to be handed out. It's little details like that I don't want to forget about our sweet day, and the days leading up to it.

We are getting settled into our home even more now than ever. The end of this month will mark 6 months in our home. We have furniture in almost every room, and we have gotten quotes on the paint and built-ins that we are eager about. Once the paint is finished we will start hanging stuff on the walls, and I know once we get into all of that it will feel even more like ours. We have established great relationships with both of our neighbors and love our little neighborhood. We have hosted family and friends many times and look forward to many more events in our home. 

We are in the middle of summer and I am loving every second of it! I know Matthew is more than ready for some cooler weather, but I am loving this summer. Last summer was SO fast paced and in all actuality revolved around wedding planning. It's so nice this summer to just come home to each other and watch a movie, do stuff around the house, run errands, or just go for a summer drive. Wedding planning was an extremely exciting time and I enjoyed every second of it, but I love the slower pace of life where we are in now. And savoring every moment, because I know life won't always be at the slow of a pace! 

Sharing life and a last name with this guy is simply the best.

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THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 11

THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 10

10 whole months we have been husband and wife. 10 whole months of living together and being #foreverroommates. 10 whole months, and it just keeps getting better.

Matthew is the kind of husband I only dreamed of having. I am so grateful for a husband who can lead me and love me so well. I am overwhelmed daily at how The Lord has worked in our lives, and I pray that this is only the beginning. I know I always say this, but it's so true, time is flying by. I mean we are TWO months away from our one year anniversary. How crazy is that?!?! I want to make the most of our days together, just the two of us. Because one day, there will be babies and lots of responsibilities that move in and it won't be just the two of us. I want to pursue my husband not only today, but everyday, because I'll never get these days back. Time is fleeting!

Lord willing, we have a lot of fun things planned for this summer that we'll get to do, a lot of projects, and a lot of excitement to look forward to. This is a fun season of life for us, and we are enjoying each new day as they come, together. We are dreaming about house projects, binge watching our favorite shows, exploring back roads, listening to our favorite songs in the morning as we get ready for our day, and just enjoying each other's company. I hope I never forget these sweet memories we are making together.

May the way I look at you, the way I speak with you, and the way I treat you reflect the truth that I have loved you since forever.

Here's to 10 months of the sweetest devotion and to Lord willing, forever. 

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THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 10

THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 8 & 9

Time is flying by and I have gotten behind on my Marriage Diaries posts. I feel like so much has happened since my last Marriage Diaries post, and well, that's because so much HAS happened.

These past couple of months have been a little rough for us. I hate even saying that because things could be SO much worse, but it hasn't been all rainbows and butterflies over here. We're getting back to that point, fingers crossed, but it's been a little rocky. 5 different hospitals (Hermitage, Murfreesboro, Nashville (x2), and Chattanooga) resulting in 3 nights in the hospital, multiple (and I mean multiple) test and scans, meetings with 3+ different neurologists, so many restless/sleepless nights and we still don't have a a definite answer. When I stop and think of everything that has gone on I still find myself stopping and thinking, lucky us. Lucky us, the tests and scans came back completely clear. Lucky us, we were notified of Matthew's high blood pressure before something awful happened. Lucky us, Matthew was seen by some of the top neurologists in the state of Tennessee. Lucky us, we were taken back minutes after arriving at the ER, both times. Lucky us, the support we have been shown from family and friends was overwhelming. Lucky us, we both have jobs that not only encouraged us to take our time about coming back, but checked in on us to see how we were holding up.  Lucky us, we are working to get past this health scare, together.

Marry your best friend, you won't ever,ever regret it.

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THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 8 & 9

THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 7

It's fun to look back on what we were doing this time last year. I was knee deep in wedding planning and Matthew was starting to get in his groove at work. He had started back in January so he spent a good part of "busy season" learning and growing at his firm. I was coming home every weekend from Cookeville to wedding plan, see him, and my family. I think I spent almost every weekend last spring (and summer before the wedding) wedding planning/crafting. It was an exciting time and I am so thankful I was able to experience the rush and excitement that wedding planning brings, but my goodness, I am thankful it is over! And I mean that in the most positive way possible. I don't know how some of you ladies handle being engaged a year or longer. It was fun, but being married is 1000 times better.

It's crazy looking back at last year, planning for our wedding and lives to start together, and looking at where we are now, newlyweds and just purchased our first home together. I get so excited thinking about what, Lord Willing, all will be going on next year at this time.

Spring is one of my FAVORITE times of the year. Partly because everything is warming up and looking alive again and partly because spring time is when Matthew and I started talking and hanging out. It all started at his birthday in March of 2010 and we've been together every since. I love seeing posts on Timehop of my statuses or pictures I posted on Facebook (Instagram wasn't around back then!) From March of 2010 to May when we "officially" started dating all the love song lyrics were directed towards my sweet man. Cheesy as it was, that was "the thing" to do. ;) I get so tickled because 2010 me had no idea the guy I was crushing on and posting cheesy Facebook statuses about would my HUSBAND by 2015. God has just proven to me, over and over, that everything that happens in our lives is apart of His plan. Things might not happen exactly when we want it or how we want it to, but whatever does happen has been and is apart of His plan all along. Whenever I think of all this one of my favorite verses comes to mind.

I may or may not have gotten really emotional the other night driving through our neighborhood to our house. I still can't believe this is real life- we're married and we own our very first home together! The Lord has been SO good to us and we are so thankful. I hope and pray we always have this mindset. 7+ months of marriage has been so sweet, and my husband is the sweetest. I love being your wife, Matthew!

The Marriage Diaries Vol. 6

The Marriage Diaries Vol. 5 & 4

The Marriage Vol. 3

The Marriage Diaries Vol. 2

The Marriage Diaries Vol. 1

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THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 7

THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 6

Six months (+23 days...ooops!) has passed since I woke up beside my three best friends and danced around as we got ready to head to the church so I could marry my dream guy. Six whole months has passed since I nervously walked through the double doors and down the aisle to my groom. Six months have passed since I entered into a covenant relationship with the man I'm blessed to call "husband". I had no idea what all was in store for our first six months of marriage, but I am so thankful for every single moment that The Lord used to teach  and grow us. I have been continually blown away by how God has molded Matthew into the most precious husband for me. Six months ago we started this journey called marriage and my cup overflows daily. What a blessing the Lord poured out. He is good, so so good. No matter what, He is continually good. Nothing can or ever will change that. And what a joy it is to know that!

I've always heard the saying, "marry your best friend" and each day I am seeing just how true that statement is. Marriage is the biggest blessing and greatest gift, I've ever know so far and I could not imagine not marrying someone who wasn't my best friend. Matthew and I tell each other everything and we do a lot of things together once we are off of work. From just watching TV together to running errands and just the day-to-day activities. Since the last time I wrote one of these, we bought our house and moved in. We still can't believe that we own a house and are old enough to have a mortgage, but here we are, and we are overwhelmed with so much thankfulness. Each step of life is exciting and I could not imagine doing any of it without my very best friend. 

Life lately is most days we just look at each other and can't help but laugh, saying "you're my WIFE!" and "you're my HUSBAND!" because real life still doesn't feel like real life. Each day is filled with so much goodness because this one is by my side. 

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THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 6

THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 4 & 5

I completely skipped right over Marriage Diaries Vol. 4 last month, so I decided to combine them into one post. So here we are...Month 4 and 5! Y'all, I still can't believe our wedding has already come and gone, let alone almost 6 months of marriage under our belt! Tomorrow marks a year ago that Matthew got down on one knee and asked me to take his last name. So much has happened since that perfect night, and I just love this journey we're on together.

Marriage is so fun. And as always, I am so grateful for this beautiful gift, even through the disagreements, happy times, miscommunication, and compromises- I'm thankful. I didn't think our relationship would change when we got married, we had been together over 5 years so what really could change? I was wrong. So much has changed (all in positive ways) and I am still learning SO much. I must be intentional. I must be intentional even when it's hard. I must respect my husband. I must respect my husband even when we have a disagreement. I must choose communication. I must choose communication even when it's hard. What a joy it is knowing we are working on these things together every single day, and sometimes we don't even realize it.

Lately, especially these past couple of weeks before Christmas, I've felt that I need to be more intentional with my husband. I need to be more intentional with our time together. Less time watching T.V, less time on social media and more time in conversation, more time just doing what we love, more time talking about our future and what all it holds. I just want to soak up every second of our first married Christmas season together.

These past two months we've done a lot, and I feel as if everything is happening so quickly yet so slowly. There were a couple of nights where we just sat there and talked about everything- finances, where we're going to live, plans for the holidays, planning events for 2016 and it hit me one night as Matthew was talking. I completely zoned out of our serious conversation (sorry, babe!) and realized how much I trusted him. When you sit back and think about just how much you trust your spouse it's the best feeling. Knowing that no matter what happens in the future you completely and wholeheartedly trust your husband. It's a huge weight off your chest! I'm not saying that I didn't trust Matthew before, because I completely trusted him pretty much from day one of our friendship, but you get so busy and life happens and don't really think of these things. It's nice to sit back and take it all in.

We've made some pretty big adult decisions in the past few weeks (more on that later!) and I know without a doubt that Matthew has done plenty of research and put in so much prayer, thought, and time into it all. We've prayed together, been disappointed, celebrated, researched stuff together, and have been just beyond excited. And I honest to goodness can't think of anyone else I would rather experience life's ups and downs with. 

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THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 4 & 5

THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 3

This is a few days late, but I thought it would be fun to share Vol. 3 today...we've been married 100 days today. For the past 100 days I haven't woken up without him beside me. It's funny how we've fallen into routines and the new normal. I remember our first week back from our honeymoon and waking up each morning beside him before work. It was strange and so different, but I loved it (and still loving it!), and now I can't imagine waking up and Matthew not being there.

100 days of morning talks together while he gets ready for work, one of my favorite moments each day.

I've been describing each month in one or two words, I don't know if I'll do that every month, but I will continue that for this month. So if I had to describe our third month of marriage it would be: Thankful. There have been so many moments where I have just stopped and became so overwhelmed with thankfulness. Thankful for Matthew, thankful for his friendship, thankful for his forgiveness, thankful for his selflessness, thankful for our jobs, thankful for our apartment, thankful for two families becoming one through our marriage, and thankful for this sweet life we are building together.

We've shared meals together, lazy nights watching our favorite shows, driving around looking at houses for "someday" (one of our favorite things to do!), uncontrollable laughter, prayers, tag teaming the dishes, furniture projects, silly moments, and sweet moments. We've also shared disagreements, compromises and long talks. We've failed to communicate, and annoyed each other. We've loved so deeply and failed to love at some moments. Just like month two, we are still adjusting and learning to compromise, and I plan on doing that, Lord willing, for the rest of our lives together. 

I have a lump in my throat as I type this because my husband is falling asleep beside me. We've been married for over three months now and I still can't get over the fact that this is my reality. Thankful, so incredibly thankful. 

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THE MARRIAGE DIARIES VOL. 3

The Marriage Diaries Vol. 2

Two months. Two months we have been married. It's funny because I remember just a little bit ago when we were two months away from our sweet day and time literally seemed to be dragging by, and now these past two months have flown by. I'm usually really excited and ready for fall. Ready for the cooler days and fun activities fall brings, but this year I'm just not ready to see summer go.

If I had to describe our second month it would be: Adjustment and compromise.
Month one was really busy with all the moving and we hadn't really fallen into a routine but this month we've been able to settle in and get a routine going. And that's where the adjusting comes in. Matthew and I both lived alone in our own places before we got married. We had our own way of doing things and our own habits. I lived in my apartment by myself for over a year. I never once questioned anything about throwing up a new piece of decor if I liked it. It was my place so if I liked it I used it. He was the same way, not really on decor, but if he wanted something in a certain place he left it there and that was the objects place. You combine two different people with two different opinions on some things and then you have COMPROMISES!

I talked briefly about this in a post I wrote a little bit ago, What I love about marriage, and how it's all just a learning process. I'm not in anyway complaining about these topics, because I really do see how lucky I am to have someone like Matthew to learn all this with AND together, and what a blessing that is! I remember hearing people say how marriage is hard and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what they meant, but now I can see how it's not always easy. And if this is the "hard" part in our marriage then I am one grateful wife.
Is our marriage perfect? Absolutely not. Arguments still happen and sometimes we still annoy each other. Our marriage will never be perfect and we will always be learning, and I am so thankful for that. Lord willing, we will have a life full of compromises and adjustments. I know there will be new seasons of life to adjust to, but I wouldn't want to adjust to them with anyone else other than my Matthew.

Two months ago we made vows to one another in front of God, our family and friends. We promised to follow each other through all of life's experiences with each other all while following God. I pray that this is always our hearts desire, even when we've been married for 60 years.

There are many choices to make in life, but choosing to marry and love Matthew is the easiest choice I've ever made.

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The Marriage Diaries Vol. 2

The Marriage Diaries Vol. 1

July 18th was exactly one month ago today. I've been a wife for 31 days.  Sometimes it is still hard to wrap my head around the fact that we are married but then again I am loving every second of it. I though I would do these "Marriage Diaries" as little updates each month throughout our first year. I want to always remember the little things and always be able to come back and read about our first year together. I know once kids get thrown into the mix of already busy lives (in the future) then it will be so nice to remember when it was just us and starting out as newlyweds! So if this makes you want to puke then just skip over these each month ;)
If I had to describe our first month it would be: The busiest month with a lot of hard work and fun times mixed in, all while doing it all together.  Hard work: Moving the rest of my stuff out of my Cookeville apartment and unpacking it all. Also unpacking all of our wedding gifts and organizing where everything goes. We ended up getting a lot of presents at our wedding and still mailed to us after the wedding. We are SO blessed by all of our sweet family and friends who have shown so much love for us through this season of life.  Fun times: Just being able to do everything with Matthew and knowing that I get to come home to him after a long day made all that moving and unpacking okay. Dancing in the kitchen, taking a break from the unpacking to watch a movie, making little Target trips at the last minute to grab something, just riding around with the windows down and talking about our future and where we want to be in a year, encouraging each other, those sweet goodbye kisses each morning as he walks out the door. I'm telling you, it is all fun, even the not so fun moving, is fun when we are together and working as a team. 

I love the silly moments where Matthew has me doubled over in tears from laughing so hard that remind me marriage is a GOOD thing. I love the serious moments that remind me that Jesus and His will always come first. I love the sweet moments that make me tear up and fill me with so much thankfulness and remind me that this marriage is the sweetest gift.
We have been attending a new church, one that is closer to where we live now. So far we are loving it. They have a young married class that we have been going to and I am SO excited about it. Our first Sunday back from our honeymoon was the start of a new quarter so we haven't missed any lessons. I loved coming in on the very beginning so we weren't clueless as to what we would be studying. Our teacher is great and is very knowledgeable. We joined their Facebook group and I about died, I was so excited lol. They have girl's and guy's night and then have group outings that we are looking forward to attending. Also, they are having a marriage retreat this October. Y'all, I am so excited about this I can't even stand it. I have already been praying over the retreat and whoever our speakers are going to be. I love retreats and I love marriage! 

I have absolutely loved watching Matthew transition into his role as a husband. He has done it with grace and the best attitude. He leads, he serves, he protects, and he comforts all while being the sweetest man on the face of this planet. Now I'm not too naive to think it's going to be rainbows and butterflies the rest of our lives, but it's nice knowing that when the going gets tough I'm going to have Matthew by my side. This whole being on the same team thing is kinda the best thing...ever. 
Marriage is fun, being newlyweds is fun, making our apartment a home is fun, cooking together is fun. Life in general right now is just fun. I keep thinking to myself THIS is finally happening and THIS is real life. I remember during the end of our dating years I was getting pretty impatient thinking we were never going to get engaged and then married, and that time was moving so slow, but now looking back, I wouldn't change that time for the world. Our timeline leading up to us getting married was perfect and perfectly laid out by God. Everything happened at the right time and place and it's becoming more and more evident to me that it was all apart of God's plan. 

I promise these won't be as long each month, this first month has just been so, so sweet. Can we just be newlyweds forever?!  Matthew, thank you for being the best husband, for working so hard for us, for making me laugh all the time, and for choosing me. I'm honored everyday that the title of "Matthew Coats' wife" is mine.

I was going to post this yesterday on our actual "one month", but there were more important things to post about. I checked their Facebook's a little bit ago and there weren't any new updates. Still in constant prayer for the Waldron family and hope that you are, too. 

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The Marriage Diaries Vol. 1