When we arrived back from the honeymoon, everyone I saw asked quickly how it went; sometimes for details of where we went and what we ate, but as an end to the question, I noticed most seemed to leave with, "So, now back to life, huh?" I would chuckle and agree, then be on my way.
It's hard, however, to "return" to a life you've never actually had. Everything was going to be different!
We had a lot of plans for when we returned home. The wedding week and 2 weeks of honeymoon to follow were as a dream--an abstract time in our lives; yet of vital importance and the building of memorandum that we'll cherish forever. When we touched ground back in Milwaukee, we both knew the inevitable was at hand of things to be done, my name and our addresses to be changed, things to be moved, and all too much more.
I had one day before work would resume, and Grayson had a week to move things into our new home before he would begin school to finish his bachelors in Biblical Studies through Lancaster Bible, online.
God had some other things in mind, however, and some lessons to be learned right off-the-bat for our new marriage. Lessons in dependance--upon each other, but mostly in God as our Head.
About a week into our new life at home, Gray sat down to process and write about what's been happening, and our plans being changed. It's a little long, but please take the time to read and see what God has been doing these past few weeks in our live:
"Well we have been married now for 3 whole weeks!!!!
the honeymoon in Seattle and San Fran were GREAT, we ate lots of seafood and rested our minds and readied ourselves for our return to Waukesha, which would be a VERY different place.
Before our Honeymoon, we both had full time jobs and Eryn even had a part time job working at our church. And as soon as we got back to Waukesha our world was going to change Drastically, Eryn was going to continue working her full time and part time jobs, I was going to go part time and then return to Bible school full time! And on top of that and the obvious change of being married, we were going to be moving into a new place as soon as we got back from our honeymoon!
Oh, and i totaled our car 2 weeks before our wedding, so we needed a car too. So, we'd need one of those, or we could just buy Eryn's parents car since it seems we have it more then they do sometimes! (THANKS A TON!!)
The day after we got back from our honeymoon, Eryn started work again at both places, and I was preparing for us to move.
And that's when the rug was swept out from under our dependent feet.
Eryn was hired by her company in anticipation of them gaining a big contract in Chicago, and having her take them over, along with all of the contracts in Wisconsin. We didn't know about this until this past week. And to you who don't know, her job consists of her making sure cleaners who have been contracted to clean child care facilities, in Wisconsin, do their jobs. So, ALOT of driving and visiting centers and TONS of phone calls and emails every day.
Things were going well until her company was not awarded the contract for the Chicago area.
Her company then saw no need to be paying her her salary.
She was offered a part time position instead, about 30 hours a month, and it did not include insurance.
After prayer we realized this would end up being more of a pain than a help, so she declined their offer, and as of this Friday, no longer has a full time job. As well as we no longer have the insurance that we had waited for 6 months to receive. We would have to return her cell phone and computer, as well as they would not be paying for our internet.
We quickly realized this meant I would not be able to be going to school full time, as iIwould have to return to work full time!
So the college was called and classes canceled until further notice. I called my boss (Ryan Ketcham) and he said he could take me back full time. (thanks!!)
And we are yet again looking for a health insurance that we will not have to trade our firstborn for!
But we are excited.
We have gotten to see how God is orchestrating this, and that our original plans, while good and ambitious, would have caused ALOT of stress individually and in our budding marriage relationship.
We are able to praise God that instead of Eryn and I being thrust into a very busy and demanding life, that we will be able instead to concentrate on our relationship, and the relationships with people around us; like at the church we love so much!
This opens doors for us to get involved at church more!
To be able to save up, and of course to buy a car! (still borrowing Eryn's parents!)
We are also excited to be freed up to pursue a sending missionary organization, as it has always been our goal to get overseas in the next 4 years or so.
We wanted to plan a trip to Southeast Asia for next summer, and now we may be able to!
So we praise God for His lovingkindness in interceding and disrupting our plans, and we feel, saving us from a very stressful and straining first year of marriage! We understand it will be stressful and straining anyway, but not as much as it could have been!
This last week has been very hard on us, with so much going on, but so many of you have been helpful and supportive with your prayers, time and resources.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and Praise God for His provision of you all!!
We are hoping to come out with a newsletter soon and/or maybe a blog to keep people up to date on on in what Direction God id moving us!
Thanks Again!!"
We are more than excited for the things God is doing, and the new opportunities being opened up to us. We've begun coaching a 2nd and 3rd grade girls soccer team in our childrens' soccer ministry at our church. Eryn is able to help with childcare at church for the womens' ministries. We are finally able to begin attending a bible study on positional truth, taught by Rick Barth with his Wife, Jonell; the couple who did our pre-marital counseling; and Rick was our officiant at the wedding. We're excited about new ministry and learning opportunities that we'll now have, and the chance to begin our marriage in a less-stressful atmosphere; to enjoy each other and learn how to love each other through God's strength, love, and grace.
Now that we've finally tied the know and made this official, we're beginning to focus more on overseas missions, and our goal of serving the Lord cross-cultural in another country. We're excited to attend Urbana missions conference this December, and begin looking at different missions organizations, in hoped of deciding one to team with. Also, this is allowing us more time to focus on putting together a newsletter, this blog, and ultimately building a Spiritual support group to come along side of us as we go through this process!
