Homeowners

It's our last day in the apartment.  It hasn't sunk in quite yet that this won't be home anymore, even with the majority stuff gone.  I'm glad we found a house, and I'm excited about this new chapter in our lives as we become homeowners.  But there are things I will miss about living here.  The people, the view, gas cooking, heat and hot water included, the walk-in closet, and being so close to church and Whole Foods.  I'm very good at getting comfortable with the way things are.

Still, even though I am scared when it comes to change, there is a lot I am looking forward to.  In fact, I have quite a lot to be excited about.  Adam and I will both be closer to our jobs, a major plus.  I will have my own studio, where I will be able to work on the projects that apartment-living made nearly impossible to do.  We have a yard.  With grass!  I cannot even begin to explain how much I miss just being able to go outside on a warm day and lie in the grass.  No blankets or towels.  Just me and the ground and the sky.

We will also be sharing our new home with one of dear friends.  We have four rooms, and we won't be using all of them right now, so she will be renting one.  I am looking forward to meals together and just helping each other out.  I think it will remind of college in some ways.

Another thing I look forward to is having plenty of space to be by myself.  We'll have the yard, the little sunroom area by the side entrance, the living room, the kitchen, and the spare bedroom upstairs.  It's a pretty nice little cape, even though we are still fixing it up.  It's on a dead end street, too, so we won't be getting much traffic.  The neighborhood is great.  Nice neighbors, places to walk, and right near the high school so our church students can easily visit us.

There is so much potential, and we have so many ideas.  Can't wait to see what's in store!

Time flies when you're having fun!

And fun is exactly what we've been having around here. We are exactly 10 days away from our very first anniversary. I really can't believe it went by so fast. I still feel like our wedding was only weeks ago! There have been so many twists and turns throughout our marriage so far that I don't think I can recall all of them here. Some of those twists and turns have not been pleasant ones (like having bedbugs and getting my tooth pulled), but God has been very good to us in our relationship with each other. We face the challenges together as a team, not as opponents. Or, at least, that is our goal.

One of our greatest hopes as a married couple is to break the cycle of broken marriages and encourage others to love their spouses like Jesus loves us. The idea of marriage these days has become so ruined by our culture. And instead of learning to communicate with each other and work through things, couples are giving up.

I noticed during our engagement that those who had been hurt or angered by marriage in someway only had negative things to say to Adam and I as we prepared for our own marriage. Things like, "You don't know what you're getting yourselves into." Even now I can imagine them saying, "Just you wait. You haven't been married long enough to understand how awful it is." But where's the help in that? Statements like that show no self-reflection or wisdom. Does anyone do that anymore? Do we analyze the situation afterward and ask ourselves why it went down the way it did? Or do we focus so much on how other people wrong us that we forget, or are unwilling to admit, our own faults in the matter? Imagine what it would be like if newly weds received encouragement instead of discouragement and judgement. What if we shared our bad experiences in a way that helped them learn what not to do in a marriage? Like, "This is how we screwed up. Don't do what we did." Or, "Try this. It works every time for us." If we want to make the world a better, more peaceful place, we must stop blaming everything and everyone else. Change starts with me.

That attitude is a long way off for our culture I think, but something Adam and I want to work toward.

Anyway, we've been loving marriage! It's wonderful having someone to do life with. Making difficult decisions, facing health challenges, doing ministry together, lifestyle changes, dealing with family emergencies, planning travel arrangements, learning to budget, encouraging each other through tough stuff, learning to communicate, and doing every aspect of life together. And yes, we also love being able to kiss now, among other things...

Bedbugs

When we first moved into our apartment, we didn't know that much about bedbugs or what the process was for treating them. And frankly, we were not that concerned because we were not being affected by them. We went on our honeymoon for a wonderful week and a half, only to return home to find a notice under our door. While we did not have bedbugs ourselves, we still had to attend a building meeting concerning them. Because other tenants were having issues with them, it meant that we ALL had an issue to face. We learned that they spread easily and can come from anywhere. The whole building, therefore, had to be treated in order to prevent them from moving to any of the other units. The procedure was extensive and time consuming. And, needless to say, very tiring. But we complied with all the requests of the pest control professionals, which included moving everything three feet away from the walls, emptying our closets, and unplugging all electronics from the walls.

This took place in the fall. It was a very frustrating time, since we couldn't get into the pile to get what we needed all the time. I found myself particularly frustrated during my first commission because my work space was limited, and I was frequently searching for things I needed that were lost somewhere in the pile. After a couple treatments, we were all set to put things back.

We were very slow at this, but eventually we started getting things organized again. During the spring, however, after several months of having no building, bedbug issues anymore, we discovered that we had them in our OWN apartment. To make a long story short, we took care of them right away and did what we could until pest control could come take care of them. We went through the whole treatment process. Again. This time we had it down. We went all out against the stupid things, drying everything on high heat, storing everything in plastic bags, and yes, moving everything to the center of the living room. Again.

It was hard work, but we haven't seen a bedbug in weeks. Woo! Go, A-Team! This was definitely a great way to start off our marriage. With a challenge we had to go through together.

Saturday's Track Trek

This past weekend, we picked up where we left off, continuing south into more of Rocky Hill. We had some time constraints, so we couldn't travel as far as we would have liked. Still, it was a new adventure with new discoveries for us.

Feeling Naked

We took this picture on our honeymoon.

Before we got married, I never wore rings. Or any jewelry, really. Not my thing, I guess. It took me quite a while to get used to wearing my wedding band. I used to fidget with it all the time. Sometimes I would even take it off to do dishes because it was so uncomfortable.

Now, I don't really notice anymore. In fact, a couple weeks ago we were playing Red Rover at youth ministry (we are volunteer leaders for the senior high at our church), and I had to take my ring off for it. It was the first time in a while. My hand felt so naked without it! I kept rubbing my fingers together in discomfort. It just didn't feel right. I was relieved to finally put it back on at the end of the game.

Southbound

Last weekend, we continued our railroad expedition, this time heading south on the tracks. We crossed the town line into Rocky Hill, which was exciting for both of us. It meant we were making real progress. We got to see some very cool things! Things that you never see from the road. Things you would never think to look for.

We finally came across on of those old manual track switches. It was old and rusty and marvelous.

There is usually significant walking distance between roads, and so whenever we come to one, it feels like a major checkpoint in the journey. And I am almost sad that all of the "railroad crossing" signs we see along the way don't really have a purpose anymore. They stand alone, obsolete in a modernized society.

We got to pass under a bridge, which was exciting.

The walls underneath were decorated with all kinds of elaborate graffiti. We thought aloud how we could come here for shelter if we were homeless.

We also got to pass over a bridge. We were a little nervous at first, since it was old and hadn't been used in a very long time. And neither of us was in any mood to take a dive into mucky, cold water. Still, we mustered up the courage to cross it and made it to the other side, dry and in one piece.

After the bridge, we crossed another road, which led us to the final section of track for the day's journey. This tree, although it had fallen, was still budding!

We must have walked about a mile on this stretch of track. It was beautiful, with trees on either side and absent of any road noise. It was peaceful and lovely.

We eventually walked parallel to a small river. My favorite part about water is its reflective quality.

This color change in the path, as well as the log on the tracks, marked the end of our weekend walk. We turned around and walked the whole distance again, this time feeling a little braver and a little more satisfied.

A New Road Ahead

We began our journey together on October 3rd, 2009. That was our wedding day. I suppose you could say the journey began when I said yes to Adam asking me out about four years ago, but there's really nothing quite like being married. We are no longer two separate people in a relationship, for now we are one flesh, unified by the covenant of marriage. And so that is why I say our journey began only months ago. That is when we finally knew that this life together was ours to explore fully and without reserve.

We wanted to start this blog some time ago, but, as the title illustrates, we have had several "lemons" to suck on since marriage began. Not because of marriage, no. We've just found ourselves in various situations since then that we've had to deal with, like unpacking only to repack, only to unpack again, all in the first several weeks of marriage. I will not recount all the stories or details here, of course. Instead, I will move ahead to where we are currently.

With the arrival of warmer weather, Adam and I began to walk the train tracks that run behind our apartment building. They are old and unused, and so they are perfect for exploring and walking along. We set a goal to explore as much of the railroad as possible. Not only are the tracks fun to walk, but we also get exercise by doing so. And the best part is that we get to do it together, enjoying each other's company.

These are a couple photos from the second day we walked. We will hopefully be able to document more of our railroad adventure as time goes on.