NO MORE CHANGING DIAPERS!!

Hallelujah! I have put in my two weeks at my school and will start my new job June 14th!! I will be working at Buckner (an amazing non-profit in Dallas) in their foundation department! I bet you can feel my sigh of relief! God is so faithful and has provided exactly what we needed! I love that every sentence has ended in an exclamation point! That is the big news from the Garrett household.

In other news, John and I are coming up on our one year anniversary. Crazy! It feels like we just said our vows yesterday. When we first got married, I had been told that your first year of marriage would be one of the hardest. I might have to disagree because this first year has been a blast! The highlight of my day is coming home to my best friend and enjoying his company.

Sorry I have been a lousy blogger recently. I will do my best to keep it a little more current!

Love from us to you!

Ladies Retreat

This past weekend I was blessed to attend the ladies retreat for our church. The lovely Crystal Spencer and myself made up the young married's group and were blessed to spend the weekend with some ladies that had been through life a little longer than we had. The speaker was Pat Scott, a woman who has gone through unimaginable grief and has turned that grief into encouragement to others. She spoke about the issue of grief and how we can conquer the storms that we least expect. Here are the top 5 "ah ha" moments that came from this weekend:

1. We are all in one of these 3 phases in life: preparing for a storm, in the middle of one, or just leaving a storm to calmer seas.

2. You may be the only Bible that some people might ever read.

3. Grief does NOT mean that we are weak or have no faith.

4. Life is TOO short to get caught up on dwelling and worrying about situations that probably will never happen. (I am SO guilty of this)

5. God never wastes our pain. He will use it to bring Himself glory and to bring His children back to Him.

Grief is a toughy. It was a weekend of facing the reality that bad things happen to good people but the same reality speaks of God using those horrific storms to bless many. God is good, all the time.

I am thankful for the friendships made and the lessons learned during this weekend. I pray that whatever stage you are in, that you will keep your eyes on Him and give Him all the glory.

Peace.

Opportunity, Alabama

We just got back from the charming little town of Opp, Alabama. We went there for Dan's (John's daddy) family reunion and for a ceremony honoring his great, great, great grandfather who was a confederate veteran. There is not a whole lot that makes up Opp but there sure are some sweet people. I got to meet Mawmaw and Papa Earl along with John's cousins and the rest of the family. Here are some pictures of good ol' Opp:

Spring is finally here! (Good thing we returned to snow in Dallas)

John boy decides to go fishing and wanted to document his big catch!

Big catch=Tree

Of course, after taking those pictures my camera died. But it was a great trip and loved seeing more of my new family. Our booties are a little sore from sitting in the car for 1o hours but it was worth it! Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Peace.

I have been looking for that. By that I mean peace. I have been searching for many months for a career that I could feel like a big girl in. And here I am still searching for jobs and sending my resume to anyone who has a half way decent job description. It was not until last week when I found out that I did not receive a job that I had worked so hard for that I found some of that peace. I am not going to say that I found ultimate peace because I am still searching for what I am suppose to do in this life but I have a new understanding of where I am currently. I was reading about the story that we all know from VBS, the one about the loaves and fishes that fed thousands of Jesus' followers. Jesus took the most common thing, blessed it, and it brought great peace to the crowds. I am looking at myself longing to be like those loaves of bread and pieces of fish. Something so ordinary doing the extraordinary. I am ready to take the leap of faith and see the amazing journey that God has in store for us. I am now viewing my current job as women's ministry. I no longer work at a school just teaching the abc's and changing diapers but instead ministering to women and families. Well, that is where my heart and mind is currently. I am physically on my way to Opportunity, Alabama to go to Dan's (John's daddy) family reunion! Can't wait to meet more of my new family! I'll make sure to document the experience! Love from us to you!

Winter Wonderland

Pure bliss. Just picture this moment. Beautiful, fat snowflakes falling down from a grey sky, heading home from work early, and they are playing "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" on the radio. It does not get any better! I was as giddy as giddy can be! We woke up to this beautiful view on Wednesday and I threw open the blinds and gasped at sight. When I promptly alerted my sleeping husband of my discovery, his response was "I can't see it! I don't have my contacts in!" My timing was a little off. A sleeping husband does not care too much about the snow. I am learning all sorts of lessons as a newlywed! Ha! And too bad the roads are just too icy today that I cannot go into work. That is just a shame! Pshhh. Here are some pictures of our lovely view.

This is for you mom!

Hello Frosty

God, you are gooood!

So, so pretty! John and I are heading to Abilene tonight to celebrate Valentine's Day and his sweet mother's birthday! It was going to be a surprise but a little bird accidently spilled the beans. Do not worry, that little birdie was me! Ooppsss, it was even my idea to surprise her! Hate it when that happens! We are going to celebrate our first married Valentine's Day at Perinis! Go ahead, be jealous! It will be wonderful to spend some time with my sweet husband. I do not know what I did to deserve such a wonderful man, but God has spoiled me with the most precious soul for my husband. I am so excited to see where God leads us in the journey called life and I wait in giddy anticipation to see our adventure unfold.

I hope that everyone enjoys their Valentine's Day, the Olympics, and a wonderful weekend! Love from us to you! Peace.

You knew it was coming.

For all of you that know my sweet husband, you are fully aware of his great love for his red pumas. So, I know that you are not the least surprised that I have received my own pair of red pumas. It was just a matter of time. Mine are a little more girly and oh so comfy. I am officially John's wife now that I have red pumas!

True Love

Thanks Annika!

When we were up in Boston, Annika graciously shared some treasured family recipes with me and one of them was muesli. If you have never tried it, you are truly missing out. It is just a mix of oats, dried fruit, honey, and really whatever you feel like putting in it. It is great with milk, yogurt, or just by itself. I have always enjoyed to cook but I have started to realize what a ministry it can become. There is nothing more personal or intimate than sitting around a table with great friends, great conversation, and of course yummy food. There has been maybe one or two dinners that John and I put down the disposal but so far so good! So if you are ever in need of a hot meal, come on by!

Hope you week is truly blessed. Love from the Garrett's.

Lovely Boston.

New favorite place to go visit=Boston! We had such an amazing time hanging out in Boston with John's cousin Brian, his sweet wife Annika, and their precious bundle of joy Joseph. They took us on a great tour of Boston, went up to Maine to visit John's Uncle and his family, and spoiled us the whole time we were up there.

Joseph!

All of us! Notice Joseph's huge doughnut!

I love Boston houses. Right out of Anthropologie.

I think this picture captures how freezing it was up there. In the background is suppose to be downtown Boston. Makes me cold just looking at it!

Well that was Boston, if you ever are thinking of going there...do it! We will probably go in the summertime next but winter is wonderful too! Have a blessed day!

K & J