Atlas is One!

How is Atlas a year old already?? Life with him is a joy. His personality is really starting to shine and it makes my heart soar! And yes, he really is a little Sam. I love it.

Here are some stats from his first year.

A couple of hours old

Weight

Born: 8 lbs 7 oz

1 Year Old: 22 lbs

He seems like such a deep thinker

I love watching him grow and to see how different he is from his sister. We are all such individuals from birth! It's been eye opening to experience love for two children and to feel love grow as there becomes more for me to love. It's so cool to see how my love for Atlas and Jane is different and unique to each of them but somehow I also love them equally! It's hard to explain but it gives me a glimpse into how God loves each of us equally for who we are and how He created us.

He was never very small. ;)

Height

Born: 21 1/2"

One Year Old: 29"

He loves the lawnmower!

He has stayed near the middle of all the percentiles most of his check ups. He is a chunk though! I call him my little Tank!

He still hasn't had any teeth pop through yet! It seems to match his personality. He's not in a big hurry to do much. Except when the fridge opens! (Definitely Sam's child ;)

Firsts

Smile - 3 1/2 weeks

Laugh - 3 Months

First time in the Pool - 3 Months

Rolling Over - 4 Months

Sitting Up - 4 1/2 Months

First time in a swing! - 5 Months

Solids! - 6 Months

Standing -7 1/2 Months

Kisses! - 8 Months 

Crawling - 9 Months

Climbing - 10 Months

Throwing - 11 MonthsPointing - 11 Months

Walking - To be Continued!

Favorites

Atlas loves exploring outside, listening to music, almost anything involving water, crawling EVERWHERE, climbing EVERYTHING, playing with and watching sister, the refrigerator, buttons/remotes/keyboards, throwing balls, cuddling with mom(YES!), and getting dirty!! He is all boy.

He eats pretty well for not having any teeth! He doesn't turn down much. He seems to really enjoy eating. Some of his favorites are fruit and veggie pouches, yogurt, fried rice, salami, sausage, strawberries, jello and fajita beef.

Such a happy boy

He likes and focuses on toys more than Jane ever has. His favorites are the popping dinosaur, Jane's toy house, blue flashing ball and the activity cube. Newest favorites are the Cozy Coup and tent and tunnels.

He says Rawr Rawr when he sees this page

He didn't really care for books at all until just a couple of months ago. Now his favorite books are 5 Little Ladybugs, 10 Crunching Caterpillars, Slide and See Zoo, That's not my Fox and Animal Hide and Seek.

His favorite activities are climbing at the playground, swinging, trying to do everything Jane does, being pushed in the Cozy Coup and going for walks.

It's interesting to see the similarities and differences between Atlas and Jane. If you'd like to see how they are different and yet the same, check out Jane's First Year.

A for Atlas! or Captain America ;)

I just LOVE watching Atlas's personality develop! He has always been an easy going guy. He can entertain himself really well. He'll crawl around the whole house on his own exploring and finding things that interest him. Nothing upsets him for long, sure, he'll be really mad for a minute when you take the remote away or something, but he gets over it fast! He is very determined, when he decides to do something he will keep trying until he accomplishes his goal. He is very sweet but at the same time very tough. Not only did he inherit his dad's looks, he also inherited some of his personality too. He is still so very unique. I look forward watching him grow up and to seeing the man Atlas Gabriel Daniels turns out to be.

Cake Beard!

Happy Birthday buddy! We love you so much.

1 Timothy 6:6-12

Now godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. But having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017!

Wow... I can't believe it's 2017 already! When I became an Usborne consultant I started struggling to keep up and time was racing by faster than ever. I didn't like it. So I decided to step back from the book business and slow down. I still adore the books and always want more even though we have books coming out of our ears and I need another bookshelf!! Not a bad problem to have really, but too much time was being taken away from my family because of it. If I didn't already have a part time accounting job it probably would have been perfect. :)

My family is my God given priority! Titus 2:4

It's been a month since I stepped back and I feel much better. Time still went by stunningly fast because of the holiday season, but now that 2017 has begun, things have started to feel normal again. I feel like I can breathe! Because of that I'm able to enjoy my kids more and spend time with my hubby. Even spoil myself with some me time, like blogging right now! I will still happily do a Usborne party for a friend and if anyone wants a book recommendation I am willing and ready with a suggestion, but that's all for me for now. Maybe one day I'll try again when my kiddos are older. :)

They are growing up so fast!!

Now Usborne and the busy holidays aren't the only reasons I haven't blogged recently. My laptop has been having major internet connectivity issues. I haven't been able to keep a steady enough connection to be able to blog. I'm on my work computer now and I only have a few pictures on this computer. And to me, what's a mom blog without pictures?? And because I've mostly been using this has been a digital family scrapbook, pictures are a must!! I fully intend to go back and do a few posts about our fun adventures in the second half of 2016 and hopefully that will actually happen. Before I can do that I have to get my laptop fixed. Until then, this short post with a few pictures will have to do!

My happy boy!

We had a wonderful holiday season. We hope you did too!

My family asked each other a few questions about the year behind and the year ahead and I wanted to share them with you.

1. What are you grateful for in 2016
2. What was your favorite moment in 2016
3. What are you looking forward to in 2017

Here are my top answers:
1. I am grateful that as soon as my job with Argent ended God gave me another wonderful job with a great boss that I love.
2. This one isn't really fair... the day Atlas was born is in the top 3 moments of my life not just in 2016. So second place goes to Scott and Anna telling us they were pregnant. :D
3. I am looking forward to meeting my first niece!!
I'm also hoping Atlas and Jane learn to play together this year instead of having to say, "Get off your brother!!" 50 times a day. Haha!

Tell me your answers!

Looking forward to the adventures we'll have this year!

Titus 2:1-8

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things- that they would admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God my not be blasphemed.

Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

A day in the life of the Daniels

Their personalities in a picture. Jane=excited and silly, Atlas=focused and serious.

I thought it would be fun to go through what a normal day is like at this point with our family. I did this when Jane was around a year old and since we've added a kid and Jane is a 2 year old now, things have changed a bit. So I'd say it's time for an update.

Everyone that has a child and especially more than one child can probably agree that kids don't follow a routine perfectly day in and day out. So obviously this post will not reflect how every day of our week goes. But if things go relatively smoothly that day and we don't have plans to go anywhere then this is how our day progresses.

Jane gave us all headbands to wear. :D

On a normal weekday I start to wake up around 6:30am. I hit the snooze button a couple of times while I nurse Atlas before I get out of bed. (He always ends up in my bed sometime in the night before 6am, but he starts out in his rock & play) I try to get up and out of bed around 6:40-7am. I grab a breakfast snack and head straight to my desk to work. Sam also gets up sometime between 6:30 and 7am and heads to work. We give each other a head nod or a grunt goodbye. We're not morning people...

I work as much as I can before Jane wakes up.  Jane will wake up on a normal day anywhere from 6:30-7:30am. Once Jane is awake I change her diaper and get her dressed. She usually asks for some milk and to watch a show or a movie. Right now, The Lego Movie is Jane's favorite movie! I get her settled and go back to work until I get somewhere between 1 to 1 1/2 hours of work in for the morning or until Atlas wakes up, whichever comes first. Atlas will sometimes wake up before 8am, but usually he sleeps until 8:30-9am. He is definitely a night owl. I'll get to that later. Anyway, I either change his diaper and get him dressed or nurse him first depending on how hungry he seems.

Jane just loves to bring Atlas toys! 

Now that both of the kids are awake and dressed and relatively happy, I finally get myself dressed and looking presentable! Mom's know that we put ourselves last on the list. ;) I fix myself and the kids breakfast. Atlas has started solids so he gets to have whatever puree I made the day before. Jane and I have a variety of things. She never eats much for breakfast though. Normally yogurt, cereal, fruit, or toast. Oatmeal with fruit, scrambled eggs or a green smoothie are my go-to's with the occasional pop tart or cereal.

With breakfast behind us we head out on our morning walk. The kids LOVE going for a walk. Both of them could be in a weird mood, but once we get started on our walk they are both serene and start taking in the world around them. It's great exercise for me! I just lost the last of my baby weight from Atlas! Woohoo! It's only about a 20 minute walk, but it's so relaxing for me and I get a few minutes of peace and quiet to pray and think calmly. I'm thinking of stretching it longer since we all love it so much.

They are awesome shoppers too!! First time at our new HEB!

By the time we get back from our walk it's around 11am or so and Atlas is ready for his first nap. I'll nurse him a bit and he'll go right to sleep. If Jane wakes up before 7am she'll take a nap then too, but if she woke up after 7am she isn't sleepy enough yet and waits to nap until Atlas's second nap around 3-4pm. (Update, Jane is transitioning out of naps and if she doesn't nap early, she doesn't nap at all most days)

Whenever Jane and Atlas are napping at the same time I go back to work. Depending on the length of their nap and how much work I have to do I'll work 30 minutes to an hour. If I'm lucky I'll get more than an hour. That gives me somewhere between 2-3 hours of work for the day.

I'm sure this it the first of many bowls of popcorn together!

We have lunch sometime between 12-2pm, whenever the kids are content and not napping. Atlas loves jumping in his doorway jumper while he watches me fix myself a sandwich. Jane loves to help cook or she tries to entertain Atlas which normally ends up with him getting upset, but at least her heart was in the right place. ;)

Between all the meals, naps and work, we play in the backyard once or twice a day. Atlas loves to sit on a beach towel with his toys and watch Jane and I jump on the trampoline, play tag, race or swing on the tire swing. It's the best. I can't wait until Atlas can join in and run around the yard with us. We also spend a good amount of time in Atlas and Jane's rooms playing with toys or reading books together.

We love our backyard!!

It's not all sunshine and rainbows. There is lots of crying and whining. Atlas is teething and needing more cuddles but then Jane feels left out and says, "hold me, hold me, hold me!!" Balancing the attention is always a challenge. But I'm so blessed to have two amazing kids to give me that challenge. I'm a better person because of them.

Our Trampoline is the best!

Around 5pm we are done with naps and work and we have some time to fill before Sam gets home and starting on dinner. A lot of the time we end up watching some Netflix. Jane's current favorite show is the Storybots! There are two different series, Storybots Super Songs and Ask the Storybots. Only eleven 20 minute episodes between the two series makes for a lot of repeat watching, but I really enjoy the storybots too, so that's a plus. I'm waiting intently for more seasons!! The Storybots were actually an App first so she can take them with her and it really helps at a sit down restaurant. If the weather is nice and the mosquitoes aren't insane then we'll go outside again for a little while.

Inside is fun too! :D

Sam gets home from work around 6-6:30pm. If I have a more labor/time intensive meal I'll get started before he gets home, if not I'll wait until he gets home to start. I shoot for about a 7pm dinner time. That way we can be done eating and cleaning up by 8pm. While I'm cooking, Atlas will hang out in the jumper and Jane will play with Sam. It works out really well most nights. If Atlas is extra fussy I'll wear him while I cook or clean up. Some times Jane will wash dishes with me, other times she'll choose to go play with Sam again after dinner. Sam is such a great dad and Jane really looks forward to playing with him every day. If Sam has to work late and we have to eat dinner without him Jane will ask, "My dad??" I'll tell her he had to work extra hard for us today. She'll be disappointed for a minute, but usually perks right back up and goes about the rest of her day as her joyful self.

I know it's hard to see, but Sam is reading to Jane

Finally, around 8pm, we begin our bedtime routine. I help the kids get their jammies and night time diaper on. I would like to say bath time is part of our routine, but it is not a daily occurrence. And most of the time it doesn't happen around bedtime either. I never seem to be able to fit bath time for two kids right before bed with out it getting super past their bedtime. Maybe one day...  A girl can dream. ;) After they're all snuggly in their jammies, I nurse Atlas and Jane gets to play a few educational games on my iPod. Atlas is not super great at his bedtime routine and that's probably my fault... But anyway, sometimes he falls asleep around 8:30pm, other times he waits until after I put Jane to bed.

Happy boy!

At 8:30-9pm Jane and I brush her teeth, tell Atlas and Dad goodnight and head off to read a few books together. Jane will not let anyone else put her to bed other than me if I am home. In fact, if she is being reluctant to go to bed our threat ends up being, "Does Dad need to put you to bed??" She'll say, "No! Mommy do!" and rushes off with me. Jane loves her Usborne books!! Her current favorites are "My Owie book" (AKA All Better) and You Choose. I adore reading books to Jane at bedtime! It's our special mom and Jane time. I also think that's why she won't let anyone else put her to bed. It's just tough when I'm sick. Normally, we tell Jane mom is sick and you have to help. So she does exactly I say right away and I power through it. After a couple of books, I say it's time for bed. We turn off the light, I hold her while we say a prayer. I put her in bed and say goodnight. Only recently she has started to come out of her room at night. She gets right back in bed and I tell her I love her, but she still needs to go to sleep. It only takes a time or two and she goes to sleep. Some nights she won't come out at all. Only on rare occasions will she wake up in the middle of the night.

I know I'm biased, but man, my kids are cute!! ;)

Atlas still wakes up a couple of times a night, but he goes straight back to sleep every time. Plus I co-sleep with him part of the night so I don't become a zombie. So I barely notice that he wakes up. Just this last month Atlas dropped his third nap and has started to go to bed at a decent hour. Before it was 11pm-Midnight!! But now by 9:30pm most nights he's asleep. I'd still like to push it earlier and we're working on it.

Ahhh... It's 10pm and the kids are asleep. What do I do? Well, I need to fit in a shower some nights. Weeknights, I need to make Sam's lunch for the next day. I also have to get myself ready for bed at some point. In between all of that I try to give myself at least 30 min to sit down and do whatever I want. A lot of the time I watch TV and scroll through Facebook. Other times I blog about the kids, back up and look through the pictures of the kids or I work on one of kids baby books. So even when they're asleep I'm usually doing something that pertains to them. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We're still here!

I wanted to write a quick post to let y'all know I haven't given up on my blog! Things have been busy around here. The company that I had been working for for the last 4 years filed for bankruptcy and dissolved last month. God was good and gave me a new job so that I could continue to work from home and I get to work for my old boss that I love! Anyway, that has been keeping me busy, not to mention the kids! Jane is getting old enough now that I'm getting her involved in more events, outings and play dates. She's waking up at 6:30am now... Also, she had her first ear infection this past week and her fever got up to about 105. Scary! Atlas is getting mobile and is taking shorter naps and is still a night owl. So the blog has once again been put on the back burner for a little while.

Oh you know, just Atlas with holding up the world. :D

I can't believe it's already the end of September!! Time is flying by! Seriously though!  I thought having one kid made time go by faster. Goodness, having two makes a month feel like a week! I didn't even realize how long it had been since my last blog post. So I wanted to give you a little update and a little sneak peek of posts to come. (At least posts that I hope I have time to write.) we're all doing good! We are still enjoying our family of 4, the easy and hard days too. Sam is working hard and getting a fair amount of overtime. We are hoping for a promotion for him soon. In addition to my accounting job I am going to become a consultant for Usborne books and More! I absolutely love their books and I want to share them with everyone! So if you are wanting some fun, educational and interactive books for your kids let me know! They make awesome Christmas presents! (I have a few wrapped up for Atlas and Jane already.) ok, that's all for now. Oh and we love fall!!

Dad was grilling some delicious burgers!

Posts to come!

Day in the life of the Daniels

Don't worry, they aren't always this picture perfect. ;)

Summer recap

Babyhoodies!

The Houston Zoo!

Jane had to brush every goat!

Christy and Sam: The Love Story - Part 3

Spoiler Alert! We get married. ;)

If you haven't read Part 1 and Part 2 you might want to click on those and read through them real quick so the rest of this post makes sense. Now, without further ado, here is conclusion of our love story.

We were faced with a dilemma 

Once we arrived back at Tejas after our heartfelt highway chat, one of us said, "What now?" "How about we go somewhere and figure it out?" We headed to the dining hall because no one was there and it was a public place. I explained to Sam that the reason I was hesitant to admit my feelings to him was because I hadn't let myself consider him as more than a friend. Mostly because I was trying not to focus on guys at that point and also because I was afraid of another failed relationship. I really valued his friendship and didn't want to lose it. He understood, but he felt it was worth the risk to figure it out. We also both believed in dating with the intention of it leading marriage. We weren't doing it just for fun. I remember calling and asking my dad for advise, because I think it's important for dads to protect their daughter's from bad relationships if they can. My dad asked me, "Do you really like him?" I said, "Yes, I do." He said, "Then you owe it to yourself and to him to see where it goes." 

Intern buddies! This was at a Camp wedding we went to together.

Here was the issue. Camp Tejas didn't allow relationships between interns or summer staff and since I was going to be a full time employee soon and Sam was planning to work the summer and probably the next internship, we were in quite the pickle. We both saw ourselves working at Tejas for the foreseeable future, but we both wanted a relationship with each other to be in that future too. We went to our boss the next day to ask for permission to date. He asked us to put our relationship on hold until after the summer. Ok... So it's the beginning of March and the summer isn't over until the middle of August. That's almost half a year! But we agreed to wait because the only options given to us were waiting until August or one of us had to stop working at Tejas right then. Our boss did say he didn't want to get in the way of us still getting to know each other. I don't really like to talk about all the dissension and disagreements that happened because of this. Just know there was a lot of it between us and the leadership at Tejas. 

Sam found this sticky note and put in on my door for me to find.
He definitely lifted my spirits on a difficult day.

In our defense I don't think "put it on hold" was ever really explained. (I guess we should have asked for clarification.) What were we supposed to do? Stop liking each other? Impossible. Stop talking to each other? That could never work.  We tried not to talk or even be around to each other very much in public through the summer(note how there aren't any pictures of us together in this segment of the post) and of course we didn't go on dates or anything. We did know we were supposed to keep the fact that we liked each other a secret. The problem with that was we had already told a few of our close friends who were planning on working the summer before we knew we weren't supposed to tell anyone. So it couldn't be a complete secret already. Also, a couple of people who knew us both from previous summers asked us straight out about it and I wasn't going to lie to them.

Basically it was doomed before it even began. It all happened for a reason because I had recently said to a co-worker, "As long as God doesn't do something crazy, I plan to be here for the next 5 years." God obviously had other plans for us and if everything hadn't happened in the bond breaking way it did I wasn't going to leave Tejas anytime soon. We were not innocent, we held hands and gave a hugs a couple times in secret, but we were never alone together more than a couple of minutes. We could have handled it better, but I feel like there was a much better way for the Tejas leadership to have handled it too. All has since been forgiven and, although obviously not forgotten, is behind us and doesn't harbor any ill feelings. I mean our old boss did the inspection of the first home Sam and I bought together.)

I'm grateful for flowers and forgiveness.
(a walk I took through the appropriately named Tejas Meadows)

At the very end of June, the Tejas leadership brought us into the office and told us it wasn't working out. Too many people were finding out and they couldn't allow us both to continue to work there if we saw a future with our relationship. They gave us a day to decide what we wanted to do. I remember going back to my apartment(located on the camp) and screaming, falling on the groud and crying the hardest I can ever remember crying. I kept asking God, "why?!". Sure, call me dramatic, but it felt like such a failure, like my little world was falling apart. I either had to give up Sam or Tejas. The choice was clear to both of us. Our relationship was more important than being at Tejas. It doesn't mean it wasn't hard for me to give it up. I loved working at Tejas with all my heart.

We both agreed that Sam should be the one to leave Tejas at that point, in the middle of the summer camp season, and I would finish out my full time duties for the summer and take my leave as soon as the summer was over. The next question was, "Where do we go?" I called my parents and asked if Sam could live with them until we figured things out. They said yes! (Thank you sooo much Mom and Dad!)

The next day the summer camp staff had a schedule meeting like we would always do before the new set of campers come in. At the end of the meeting Sam and I stood at the front and Sam told everyone he was leaving because, "Me and this little lady have been become pretty close and it has become too difficult for us to keep our relationship on hold any longer. So we think it's best for us and the camp that I leave now." I remember someone shouting, "Where's the camera??" because the staff would sometimes do "acts" during summer camp for our end of the year slideshow and he thought it was for that. We said, "Nope this is real." Pretty much the people we had already told were the only ones that had suspected us at all. We were/are a very unlikely couple. Most people have a hard time understanding why we are together. (maybe this story has shed some light on that point!) Well, like I've already said, opposites attract right? I'd like to add that opposites that have the same goals and values in life don't only attract, but also stay attached and can't be pulled apart. That's what we are.

First picture as a couple

We fell in love

Through all of the discord Sam and I grew closer. We found that through the rough patches we could rely on each other and when everything was changing around us we were solid ground for each other. While Sam and I were still working at the camp we exchanged text messages during our off time and talked only when necessary during work. Once Sam left we got to talk almost every night on the phone. It was so wonderful to have it all in the open! I could talk about him and to him! I've heard some people in secret relationships feel the attraction of the relationship wears off once it's in the open. Definitely the opposite for us. It finally felt right. 

I went home to visit him a few times before the summer was over and each time I was more convinced I wanted to marry him. I had told him that I didn't want him to tell me he loved me until he could back it up with a commitment because I felt like saying I love you was a very serious thing and I didn't want it to lose its meaning. I also told him I didn't want him to kiss me until we were engaged. On August 7th 2010, I was home because I was a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's wedding. That night we watched some Lost (we had made a deal back when we were interns that if I watched Lost he would watch the 5 hour Pride and Prejudice with me. :D) and before I headed back Sam was being all jittery and nervous again. He said something like, "I feel like I need to tell you something, but I'm not sure you want to hear it yet." I said, "Go ahead." He said, "I love you." And of course, I said, "I love you too!" Because saying I love you was such a big deal to us, it was like a pre-engagement for us.

The night he said "I love you."

I went back to camp and finished out my last week and a half of working at Camp Tejas. I moved back to my parent's house(Sam and I were in different rooms!). Finally getting to be in the same place and free to be in a relationship was so nice! We kept getting to know each other. We talked about just about everything, our thoughts about the world, where we wanted to live, if/when we wanted kids and if we would want to home school, our dream jobs, what was most important in our lives and so on and so forth. We found that the most important thing to both of us was to put God first and to do His will.

Everything was lining up. It was becoming evident to both of us where this relationship was heading. 

We got engaged

Fun engagement shoot picture. Not our actual engagement.
Not even close to a reenactment either. ;)

There wasn't a big conversation or declaration of love, but sometime in September of 2010 we started talking about getting married and if there was anything holding us back. Of course we both still needed jobs and we wouldn't get married while we were living in my parent's house. But we thought there wasn't any reason why we couldn't get engaged now. I told Sam he had to ask my dad for permission to marry me. I know, very old fashioned, but I love it. 

We were upstairs in my room while we were talking about this. So Sam said, "Ok." Then he walked down stairs and asked my dad if he could marry me and my dad said, "If she's ok with it then I'm ok with it, but you have to get a job before you get engaged." We felt like that was a reasonable request. I mean every good father wants his daughter to be taken care of and provided for.

So Sam kept looking for a job for the next couple of weeks. On September 25, 2010, a day before my 22nd birthday, Sam got a job at Best Buy. (It wasn't the ideal job, but it was a start!) As soon as Sam found out he took me upstairs, got a little box out of his drawer and came over to me and said, "So are we getting married or what?" I laughed and said, "YES!" Then he kissed me to seal the deal. It was our first kiss not only with each other but with anyone. It was special. Our engagement wasn't a big production, it was simple and real and I think that represents us as a couple pretty well. It was perfect.

So us.

3 months later Sam moved in to our apartment and a month after that, on January 22, 2011 we got married, I moved in and we began our life together.

YAY We're Married!!

5 years later, even with all of life's challenges, we're still happily married and have added 2 kids to our family so far. Now, our love story isn't really finished yet since we are falling more in love with each other with each passing year. I would say every passing day, but that's not the truth. The truth is, I can't tell that I love him more day to day, but each year I look back and realize I love, appreciate and respect him more than I did the year before. God is so good. I am so grateful that he lead us to each other. Honestly, I couldn't imagine my life without Sam in it.

It's amazing how love grows!

Ephesians 5:22-33

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.