Stronger Than Me

I came across a  blog a few days ago that has struck me at my core.  It's written by a woman named Ashlee who, three years ago, found out her husband was having an affair only after he was murdered by his mistress's husband.  In one night her world, and the world of her five young children, was shattered.  I read about her story on a separate blog and just couldn't believe that could happen to someone.  Especially a young Mormon couple who had been married in the temple only seven years (I believe) earlier.

In January she just started writing down her story on this blog and it has attracted quite a lot of attention.

Here's the thing I love about her writing.  While 99.9999% of the population have no idea of what it's like to go through something like she did, she always relates her posts back to what we can all do to be better people.  She has this way of saying that even though your circumstance isn't hers, you can still learn to forgive for small things, you need to pay more attention to your children, say "I love you", use your spiritual gifts, thank those around you etc.  Every post ends with an uplifting thought of how we can make our own lives better.  On more than one occasion I have read something that I just needed to read.  It's given me much to think about and a starting point for setting goals for myself and my relationship with my own husband.

Another thing that I'm absolutely amazed by is her ability to remember all the good times with her husband.  She has every right to hate his guts for the decisions he was making.  And yet, she acknowledges that that's what they were.  They were decisions and they were bad ones, but he was a good person.  In almost every post she recounts stories from their past...how they met, their wedding day, when children were born.  She doesn't let the end of his life change the way she will remember him.  Now, she talks about the grief and pain and anger she felt about what his actions put their family though, but she still tells her kids about how great their dad was and how much she misses him.  It's beautiful.

I don't know how exactly the next life will work.  I don't know how his actions will have an effect on the eternal covenants they made in the temple.  But I wouldn't be surprised if her love and support of him is enough to carry both of them into eternal happiness.  I just can't describe how inspiring it is to read about someone who is learning to forgive a spouse who has done the unthinkable.  I hope that one day, when I make a mistake, or when Nate does, we will both have the courage to stand up for each other and stick by one another no matter what.  Because that's what we promised each other we would do.  No matter what.

In today's world, people get divorced left and right.  Things don't go smooth so they end.  Well, I can tell you, even six months of marriage hasn't been perfect for us.  I'm not sure if the first week was perfect!  As much as I love my husband we will both make plenty of mistakes and let our weaknesses show.  I just want to be strong enough to say that they don't matter.

I am thankful that I ran across this blog because it has given me so much to think about and will continue to provide insight to me on how to be a better person, wife, and one day mother.

The blog is The Moments We Stand and I would encourage anyone and everyone to take a minute (or a couple of hours...) to read.  It's best, in my opinion, to start from the first posts and read them in order because she is writing her story in chronological order.

And Life Goes On

It's been a solid two months since I've been on here.  I can't say I forgot about it.  I thought about writing every couple of days.  I can't say I didn't have time.  I've had more time on my hands in the last two months than I have since I started school.  Kindergarten, not college.  There isn't really a good reason for my absence.  I'll attribute it to too many things happening and not enough patience to try and write about it all.  I'll work backwards since that seems easiest at the moment.

Currently, I'm in Atlanta, GA visiting Nate's sister's family.  We came for a weekend and are staying for a week.  I think I'm going to be sick of the three shirts I brought fairly quickly.

We are visiting Atlanta from our temporary home in Charlotte, NC.  We got to Charlotte February 2nd and will be there until mid-April.  Nate will be doing an internship at our brother-in-law's private equity firm.  It's a really great opportunity for him to learn about the business and since he's off-track winter semester he's not missing out on any school.  Actually, he's also doing an online class so bonus points for him!

Our move to NC was pretty last minute.  Meaning we changed our flight back to Idaho like two days before we were supposed to leave.  That meant all we had with us were our carry-on bags we brought for Christmas vacation.  Niiiiiiice.  Actually, it gave us both an excuse to take a shopping trip to get some new clothes and shoes. 

Most people probably don't know that I am quite unlike most girls and I hate HATE buying shoes.  For some reason it is just hard for me to spend money on them.  Because of this, I wear my shoes until there is nothing left of them.  They stink, there are holes in them and they all turn the color of mud and rock salt.  It was probably a good thing I was forced to buy a few new pairs.

We found this fabulous Star Wars shirt and legging set....I was tempted to buy it.  But no.

Anyways, NC has been great so far.  Minus the monster snow storm we got that I thought we were going away from.

Before NC we were in Ohio for a month and a half.  While there we bounced between my house, his parent's house and his brother's house.  I am so thankful for our families and their hospitality for us!

New Years at his house.

Eating lunch with Noah at his elementary school.

I made Noah a perfect omlette.  The most perfect one I've ever made.  So it deserved a picture.

 Gosh I take a lot of pictures of Noah...here he is covering up all the pictures of Nate with magnets.  Not the whole picture...just Nate's face.  It was pretty funny.

Christmas was spent in NC at a cabin with most of Nate's siblings and their families.  Only one sister wasn't there but we were with her family for Thanksgiving so we really got to see everyone!  The cabin was great.  Lots of watching movies, playing games, and eating food. 

Before Christmas was school and that's already been written about.  I finally finished my internship and officially graduated from BYUI.  My diploma still hasn't come in the mail though.....