Our First Year of Marriage - In Review

Tom and I just celebrated our first anniversary! Can I get a woohoo?

Being a lover of all things crafty, I wanted to make something special to celebrate our first year of marriage. 

I had been researching "Year In Review" cards for a potential client and fell in love with the idea. These types of templates are typically used for families to send out as a New Years card. It gives enough text space for families to give an update on the parents, children, pets, and important moments. This style is perfect for sharing just enough - its not only a picture and its not a novel.

The more of these cards I looked at, I realized they don't just apply to New Years. Why not an anniversary? And then my mind, almost involuntarily, started filling all of the categories with information about Tom and I.

I am a lover of info-graphics, so I wanted to create our review with a lot of graphic organizers (charts, graphics, icons, etc).  This layout also gives you the opportunity to infuse humor and personality, which I definitely took advantage of.

You may have to click on the image, or open the image in a new tab to read it best.

My original intention with this info-graphic was to keep it just for me and Tom, and hopefully the template would be cute enough to sell on my Etsy shop (coming soon).  It would be a fun activity to sit and brainstorm together discussing all of our favorite moments, and a good keepsake. However, as I got designing, the information was coming together so nicely, I thought why not send it out.  It would be a small enough mailing list I could do all the printing at home, so it wouldn't be a big expense.  We sent it out to our grandparents (grandparents love this kind of stuff), our parents, and our siblings. I added a little message and picture on the back. Full disclosure: I made a typo on the back, so I needed to print them all out again. But, the picture had printed out so nicely and the front was fine... so I just reprinted the back and cut a hole to let the picture show through. Hee hee.

I jazzed up the envelopes because I'm fun like that.

Our first year of marriage really was great. It is obvious God has had a hand in our relationship since the beginning. He continues to send blessing after blessing. Many times Tom and I will sit in the wonder of how great He is and fortunate we've been.  I can't imagine how difficult our move to the west coast would have been without the comfort of knowing He would provide for us. We are thankful and we are joyful.

Two things I heard a lot over the past year: 

1. "The first year of marriage is the hardest." We heard a lot of comments about how hard marriage is. Almost to the point that we thought we were not "in the know" about something. Are we just marriage noobs and don't know what's really coming? The concept was lost on us. Now, don't get me wrong, our first year wasn't perfect, but I definitely wouldn't describe our marriage as hard. I think life is hard and your spouse is the person God gave you to go through it with. The scripture Genesis 2:18 comes to mind, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." Of course marriage is going to be hard, we live in a fallen world. But, now I have a husband who is my helper. He loves me and continually points me toward God. Does that mean life will get easier? No. But, my faith and trust in God has grown stronger, and my heart is filled with hope for an eternal life after this earth that will be so far away from "hard."

2. "What's married life like or how is it different from when you were dating?" 

Its better. Its more awesome. << Those were pretty much my typical responses when I was asked this question. And for a while I couldn't really figure out a solid answer. Over the past few months, God has been revealing to me a repsonse. I think so often we rely on our personality traits... For example you've probably heard, I act this way because: "I'm an introvert" "I have a short temper" "I don't forgive easily" "That's just the way I am." Sometimes we get so caught up in how we are, that we don't realize that we can change and changing who you are isn't always a bad thing. Throughout dating I learned so much about who I am and who Tom is. This was helpful, but we also ran the risk of using our personalities as crutches. Since marriage, I feel like God has given me awesome opportunities to grow and be molded by Him. Instead of resisting, I allow the Holy Spirit to change and shape my heart. I believe that is reason for my response "its more awesome." Because God is awesome. And His hands continue to shape and change Tom and I, sanctifying our marriage.

We chose psalm 9 to send out with our info-graphic, because we felt a song of praise seemed appropriate to celebrate this first year. I especially love this commentary on the psalm "Our joy must not be in the gift, so much as in the Giver."

Tom and I celebrated our anniversary with a weekend staycation. We had a blast. We went to an arcade, saw a movie, took the water taxi to West Seattle, drank margs, played A LOT of super mario bros, and then ended with special dinner at a restaurant we've been dying to try.

For dinner we got dressed up in "wedding attire." We both wore our wedding shoes. Tom wore his wedding shirt/tie, and I wore a white dress. It was all the adorbs.

Thanks for stopping by!

Laterbug, Caiterbug.