An Introduction to my New Life

Hello, all!
Ah, where to begin?? This post may be rather long and rambling, we'll see...it's quite hard to condense some of the biggest life changes I've ever experienced into a coherent and put together blog post. ;)

I suppose the first order of business is to announce what some of you may not be aware of yet...and that is that Luke and I are expecting our first little one in April of 2020! We are beyond blessed and excited for this gift God has given us.

Our one year anniversary is coming up super fast...it is hard to believe we've been married for nearly a year! In some ways, it feels like much shorter than that, but in many ways, it seems like we've always been married. It's hard to remember what life was like before I knew my sweetheart. :) While I won't go on too long about this (so as not to tire my readers who don't enjoy sappiness ;), marriage has truly been such an incredible, overwhelmingly beautiful journey thus far. I thank The Lord every day for giving me a husband who is so loving, kind, and good to me. He treats me like a queen, and I could not be more grateful for the blessing that he is to me. We have SO much fun together, it's rather ridiculous. ;D 

A few of our summer adventures have included various travels. In April, we went up to Washington to visit my family. We were able to take a vacation with them down to Sunriver, Oregon, where we used to take trips during my childhood--very nostalgic place for us! My grandparents on my mom's side actually joined us there for a couple days, which was so awesome. :) Luke and I have been to Branson, MO twice this summer, and just a few weeks ago, we drove with Luke's sister and her husband out to Pennsylvania to visit my other brother and sister-in-law! That was super fun, as I've never been farther east than Kentucky or so. It was great seeing a new area of the country, and getting my feet wet in the Atlantic, since I've seen the Pacific from many angles! :) Here are a few random pictures from these trips...

As you can probably tell, we had a very good time. ;) I know I don't usually include so many pictures in a typical post, but I suppose this isn't really a typical post, either. If you're bored, you're free to leave. ;P

I had one sweet comment asking me to describe a typical day in my new life as a stay at home wife (soon to be mama!) and homemaker. A quick rundown of a typical week for me would look similar to this...
Monday: I usually go in to work with my husband on Mondays. He works in Moberly, which is about 35 minutes away, so one or two days a week I'll ride in with him and spend the day there, so as to be able to share his lunch break with him. I also usually get all my grocery shopping for the week done on this day. Since he works right across the road from where his parents and younger sister live, I hang out with them quite a bit on Mondays as well...I have truly wonderful in-laws who have accepted me as part of the family so quickly! Monday evenings I help Luke study for Bible Institute (his training for being in full time ministry someday soon), which is on Tuesday nights.

Tuesday-Thursday: On these days I typically get up with Luke to pack his lunch for him and see him out the door, at around 6:15 a.m. After he leaves, I usually sleep for a while longer. ;) On my days at home, I'll do housework or online work with Amazon, or teach violin, as well as have dinner ready for when he comes home. (Bestest part of the day! :D) I will say, it's pretty crazy how fast dishes and laundry pile up, even with just two people in the house! Not that I'm complaining, though, it's not a burden for me to take care of these things while he's off working hard to provide for me! :) In the evenings he has institute on Tuesdays, we go to church on Wednesdays, and during the summer there is door knocking on Thursdays, so our evenings are usually pretty full.

Friday: I usually either go to work with Luke again on Fridays, or I'll stay home and get the lawn mowed or other random house tasks finished up before the weekend. On Friday nights, Luke and I like to stay up late talking or watching a movie or playing games together...whatever sounds good at the time. :) Especially if we have a quiet Saturday, it's fun to spend time together without worrying about how tired he will be at work the next day. :P

Saturday: These vary quite a bit. Lots of times we try to do something fun, like biking, walking, or exploring some of the many trails around Columbia. Sometimes there are other things happening, like helping a church member out, or going over to friends' places...it all depends. I LOVE it when we have free Saturdays and we can just hang out together! :D

Sunday: Church! :) My new church family here has been SO sweet and made it so easy for me to join in!

Well, maybe that was more information than necessary, but that's a pretty typical week for us. In one other pretty big piece of news, my dad just accepted a new pastorate...in Wildwood, Missouri, where we used to live when I was a little girl!! As a result, my family is going to be moving to Missouri at some point in early November, and living less than two hours away from us!! I am beyond excited about this development, especially with my pregnancy...it will be nice to have my mom and sister nearby to help out when the time gets closer for the baby to come. God's ways are higher than ours!

Speaking of the pregnancy, so far it hasn't been too bad! I am 9 weeks along today, and the morning sickness has definitely been present, but certainly not unbearable. It's mainly been manifesting itself in some nausea throughout the day, and food just sounding gross in general. Only very specific things sound appetizing at all. Garbanzo beans, cereal, meat loaf, and smoothies have been high on the list. ;P A week from today, Luke and I get to hear our little one's heartbeat for the first time! We are planning to find out the gender, so I will let you know what that is when the time comes...still have a little while to wait for that yet. :) We already love this tiny baby so much, and can't wait to meet him or her.

Well, long and rambling indeed, but there is a sort of brief outline of my new life as a married woman. ;) I am so blessed!! If you've made it this far, thank you so much for sharing in all this news! :) Have a blessed week!
Mykaela