Long Time No Talk

Oh so much has happened in the past month or so! Grady and I have adopted a puppy! He is a little Beagle/Basset mix. We adopted him from a shelter last Saturday night after my amazing mother-in-law said that he would be Grady's Christmas present. I am so excited, he is so sweet and is really training well for him only being 9 weeks old.

Sunday night the kids that I teach on Wednesday put on a play. It was so sweet! They didn't do what they were supposed to do but they sure looked cute up there. I believe tonight we are just throwing the sweet babies a congratulations party. Should be a blast.

Grady and I had the opportunity to spend time with two of our friends Sunday night after the play. Sierra and Bill are getting married rather soon so it was really nice to have a conversation about married life with another couple! Not that Grady and I don't love our single friends, its just that they don't always understand what we go through as husband and wife. Life changes and your priorities change we you become one on the amazing wedding day. We hope to be able to spend more time with them soon because we really did enjoy ourselves!

There are a million other things going on in my life but this is all the time I could spare before church. I love you all and thank you for taking the time to check up on me and my life. God Bless!

My Amazing Husband

So this past week or so, Grady has really been amazing. He has been very patient and kind with me and my family. He has sacrificed for others, he has shown me the best kind of love by doing dishes. I believe that God is slowly turning Grady into an adult. A God fearing, spiritual leader, financial leader and everything in between. I'm not saying that he isn't still the fun loving, kid at heart I married, because Lord knows he is. Grady is just acting more mature with everyday that passes. We both are still learning to allow God to control every part of our lives but it is much easier when God is working on both of our hearts. That is all for now, I had to share how awesome Grady is. Thanks for listening!

Update

There has been so much going on lately! Grady and I are enrolled in school for next semester. We are going to go to Pellissippi together. Grady is going to school to be a radiology tech and I am not sure what I want to do yet. Im allowing God to direct my path.

My Mom has told me that she is having a hysterectomy next month. This is kind of big news because just a few weeks ago she wanted to have another baby because she thought it would fix her failing marriage. Thank you Jesus for waking her up out of that! She has had health issues for quite sometime so I am glad to see her doing something that could improve her quality of life.

Two of my very best friends broke up a month or so ago. It has not been awkward for Grady and I because the both of them have been doing their own things to heal . I had the opportunity to spend time with one of them last night and now have so much peace about the situation. It is not my decision to choose who to be friends with. Grady and I should'nt have to take sides. We are friends with both and thats how it will stay. The two in the relationship can decide when they have healed if they want to spend time with all of us together. If that time never comes then we will see the both of them separtley. Our whole conversation went really well and I am so happy to have my best friends back in my life. Neither of them is bitter nor are they bashing one another. They both are taking steps in the right direction to move on. Thank goodness they both have had Jesus to run to. He heals and comforts always. I am so proud at how mature we all have become in such a short period of time. God sure has been working on us!

Also yesterday I went walking for the first time in ages. Two of the woman I work with walk three times a week so I have decided to start walking with them. I should probably start watching what I eat so I might loose some weight but that is not my goal! My goal is to fellowship and be a little more healthy!

Grady is doing something to better himself as well. He is cutting out almost 90% of his tv watching! He is trying so hard to be a better man and it makes me so proud to call him my husband.

I found out that one of my old friends has joined the army. I am not sure how I feel about this yet because not only is he an old friend we dated for a short period of time. I'm so sad to see him go but I dont want to stir up the pot by talking to him. (Grady and him did not get along very well in the past.) This friend is not saved and it breaks my heart that he could potentially loose his life and never have a relationship with The Savior! I am praying about how to deal with this with Grady and I know that he will give us a blatant answer of what our Christian duties are and not what Grady or I want to do.

Im sure there is more going on in my crazy life but I cant think of it at the moment. I love and miss you all!

Friday Eve!

Hello! It is finally Friday eve! One of my favorite days of the week! Yesterday was one of the sweetest moments I have had with my husband. Grady joined me at church for wee worship! It is so nice to see him get on the floor and play with children that he has no knowledge of! Grady is wonderful with kids anyway but he seems to gravitate towards the ones that he is familiar with. (IE. Raelynn and Reece) Last night I did not have Rae or Reece so I figured he would be there as moral support for me, I was so wrong. He was on the floor, playing with trains, trucks and talking about cars. He made teaching so much easier for me!
After we left church, my head was thumping so Grady drove us home. About halfway there, when the roads became super curvy, I felt very nauseous. When we got to the house I went straight to the bathroom and he was even more amazing. Grady brought me his huge sweatpants, a bottle of water and pulled the sheets back on the bed so I could just crawl into it. I couldn't have married a better man. He is so kind! Today I feel much better and trying to think of things to do for Grady that are selfless. (Since he gave up his night with his friends for me and ended up taking care of me!)He has been Mr. Wonderful and I want to repay him for that. Anyone have any ideas??? Let me know! I love you all and thank you!

Thank You's

Last night Grady and I sat down to write the final thank you notes from our wedding. At first I was very frustrated because nothing I said was getting Grady motivated. He just wanted to lay in the big comfy chair with his blanket and watch tv. After about 30 minutes of me trying to be nice, I sort of snapped. I told him that I had a million other things that I could be doing while we were at home rather than waiting on him to write thank yous and be his spell check. Almost immediately after I said that, I felt terrible. How could I be so unloving to my husband!
He got up right after that, gathered all his thank you notes, sat next to me and began writing. I told him that I was sorry that I spoke to him like that. His response was, " I didn't look at this from your perspective. I'm sorry." . . . . Oh my goodness! I couldn't believe it! If I just spoke up and gave him my side of the story before I allowed myself to get angry things could be so much easier! I cant tell you how many times people have told me that communication is so important. I really need to take the info to heart and work on it. What's even more interesting is that we spoke about communication and talking to our spouses about our feelings in our Fireproof class. Grady can't read my mind...as I cant read his. How easily I forget that and expect him to read my emotions. Anyways, I learned a great lesson from last night. God is working on me daily to change me as a wife and as his daughter. Thank goodness he has not given up on me when I fail.

WEE WORSHIP!

I have been volunteering at my church as a "Wee Worship" teacher for the last month or so and the last two Wednesday's God has pulled me out of my comfort zone to have me leading the 1-2 year olds! Normally I watch the little babies that dont move very fast and require diaper changes and bottles. Thats my comfort zone! Last week I happened to be the only person there that could watch the 1-2 year old group, therefore I stepped up and took on that responsibilty. Well, right before class was over I had two of the children run face first into one another. The wailing began. I felt so bad and so inadequate that I was going to request to return to the small childrens room. God had another plan for me.
Last night was spent in the 1-2 year olds room, by myself. The two children that collided were not there, which makes me feel terrible (hope they are ok), but I had a whole new crew that seemed so much easier! They all listened to the lesson and attempted to play along to the music and try and learn the beats. It was so precious! I am so thakful that it went well!

Talk to you all soon! Love you!

Welcome Sha K K! I am so glad that we can stay connected to our innermost feelings and things that happen in our lives through blogs! How exciting!
Last night was spent printing pictures and spending time with the family. I love how comfortable I feel at Grady's Parents house. Doesn't matter what time of day it is or what day of the week, we are always welcome! It so different from what I am used to with my dysfunctional family life. (where I have to call to see if my step dad is there before I can even think about coming over!)
When Grady and I arrived home last night there was a note for him on our front door. Unfortunately it was a letter letting him know how behind he is on our rent! Yikes! There seems to be no end to the financial surprises he has for me! Thankfully God has been (and is) in control of everything! I keep praying for patience and peace about all the newness of sharing everything with someone else. Today's love dare is patience so it went so well with the overload of info.
Anywho! Thank God for being the light unto my path! Even if the light is just bright enough to get through today, it is still such a blessing to know that he knows my words before I say them and steps I take before I even think about taking them! Hallelujah!

Oh and Grady got a job at the hospital I work at! It is a part time position in Radiology! Praise God!

Fireproof

Hello! Thank you Mama Duck for welcoming me into the world of blogging! I'm starting to get used to this!

Last night my husband and I went to a Fireproof class that was presented by our church. Grady signed us up a month back and I was not wanting to go at first but man I'm glad that I did! It was so awesome to see God working through other marriages. Everyone is in different stages of their lives so it makes conversation time interesting. One thing that happened last night that was so sweet was when I had the opportunity to share something that I loved about my spouse. Grady had tears in his eyes as I was speaking and it made me start to cry like a stinking baby! It was the first time that I have ever even seen him almost cry! It was a sweet moment for us in our short marriage! Of course there were no tears that fell from his eyes, but just to see him get emotional about how I feel our differences make us work was so nice. We have 5 more weeks of this study and we are participating in the "Love Dare" book so it should be neat to see how much we can grow together as a couple! Ill keep you posted!
I got all my wedding pictures back on Friday and will be posting them as soon as possible!

Another Day

I spent the afternoon at Kendra's house last night, just laying on the couch, doing absulutly nothing! It was so fantastic. Had I been home I'm sure that I would have been doing a million things. The clothes continue to pile up in the hamper and the dishes scream my name so it was such a blessing to be in a quite place! I love my new married life but boy can it be trying sometimes! Thankfully Grady and I always put God at the center of our marriage. (or else I think that we would have killed one another already!)
On another note, Today I get my pictures back from the wedding! I am so excited! Everything went by so quickly that I dont remember much. Im sure that I will have several pictures to post by monday.

My Very First Blog!

Hello! My name is Essie! I have started this blog in hopes to stay connected to three of the most amazing women in my life. I just recently married my middle school sweetheart on September 6th. And as much as I love my husband, I love Jesus ten times more. He is my everything! I married into a beautiful family that has accepted me knowing my past and all. How thankful I am for them!

I'm not sure what else I am to supposed to write on here...hopefully I will get the hang of this! I will be watching Greys Anatomy tonight and have at least that to write about tomorrow!