First Comes Love, Second Comes Marriage.

I started this blog to chronicle our (husband and I) walk through love, engagement, and ultimately marriage.  Three whole years have already flown by since this beautiful day...and it's CRAZY!  Truly crazy, and I feel so blessed and so very thankful.  And as we round off another year of marriage and begin another, I can't help but reflect on the previous year.  I can honestly say I have fallen even more in love with my husband.  How is that even possible??  Still trying to figure that one out...

Our first year was a year of discovering...discovering how the other one really functioned and operated alongside the other.  We had our moments...who am I kidding we STILL have our moments...but those moments look different now. Our first year was full of standing our ground and attempting to communicate effectively, which meant no yelling and no manipulating on my part - that's just WRONG, but it was hard for me!  I discovered so many lovely things about myself (please note sarcasm) - so very lovely that I couldn't wait to rid myself of them, and truly prayed weekly if not daily that Christ would have His way in my life and rid me of all those lovely things that didn't draw me closer to Him.

And over the past few years, Christ has truly been transforming my heart and pruning bits of me that just aren't lovely. My husband has learned how to speak truth into my life in such a loving way...and sometimes, if I'm honest, I hate him for it...just for a moment, and eventually I thank him for it in the end.  We have learned to be completely and utterly vulnerable together and we have created such a safe place to truly speak our minds and share our hearts, fully knowing that our love for each other is deeply rooted in Christ, and for that I am thankful.

If someone were to ask me what I appreciate most about our marriage I would simply state ...the way we communicate and the humility that permeates through it all.  Everything is out there...we know when the other is happy and when the other is mad.  We know when the other is disappointed and when the other is sad.  And like I said everything is out there, everything is discussed, and we truly hold nothing back and that's scary, and slightly overwhelming at times, but it's real and truly beautiful and I wouldn't want it any other way.

"We can survive without each other, but we may not thrive"...husband's final words as he boarded a plane to the Dominican Republic   I couldn't have said it better Peter - the Lord knew what He was doing when He brought us together.  We are different people from different countries with different cultures and different giftings, but somehow, by the true grace of God, it just works.  And I hope and pray God grants us many more years together!!

Xoxo,

Malia

Wedding.

Instead of having a post that is just FULL of ALL sorts of pictures I figured I would put alicias amazing wedding photos into their own post...because i have SO many! So we took pictures at Greenlake beforehand and then the ceremony was at Bethany Community Church and then the reception was at Shilshole Bay Beach Club which was AMAZING!! I should add that Alicia's mom Dawn made the amazing cake..and alicia and her family did soo many of the projects themselves...soo many wonderful touches and the pictures don't do it justice, but the professional ones by JKOE nearly do!

Rehearsal.

Sarah and Nick got married this past weekend!!!! What a beautiful wedding it was, but before I get to that and show off pictures of the most beautiful bride I have ever laid eyes on, I wanted to share some photos from the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner at IVARS.

I must say i absolutely LOVE weddings and all the beautiful celebrations that go along with it. Now i don't remember loving weddings as much as I do now until I got engaged myself. My engagement changed my view of things and altered the way I looked at weddings. I was now attending weddings as a future bride to be, and by future, I mean the date was SET. It wasn't something I was just dreaming would happen someday. It was actually a reality. Plus, I love brides...all of them, well at least the ones I have known.

I was a bride once and I fully understand the tension, the stress, the excitement. I know what it feels like to have thousands, or what seems like thousands, of people ask you countless questions that you more than likely do not know the answer to. I also know what it feels like to have your favorite people in one room, celebrating you and your husband and sharing wonderful things about you! It is simply wonderful, humbling and truly overwhelming. SO Sarah and Nick had their rehearsal dinner Thursday, April 1, at Ivars and we were blessed by their love and laughter. I feel soo honored to have been a part of their celebration. Marriage is a gift from God, and that is something I never ever want to forget.