I don’t know about y’all but this year has been quite crazy for my husband Derek and I.
After getting married in the beginning of the year, we packed our things into my little Toyota Corolla and moved to Austin, Texas for Derek’s job.
Leaving behind our families, church family, jobs, friends and small town has been quite the transition.
But we like to keep things interesting here in the DuPrez household so we threw in a pregnancy and a car accident just for funsies!
(I’m being sarcastic about the accident.)
We are so thankful for how the Lord has blessed us this year and also how He’s provided us with trials that have helped mold us into His image. D and I had a conversation a few weeks ago and we both came to the conclusion that this has been the best year of our lives, but also the hardest and most uncomfortable.
There were some challenging moments that tested our faith like never before and time after time the Lord remained faithful to us and we praise Him for that.
We are excited to see what He has in store for 2016 but really, we share Paul’s heart when he said,
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
If I am to live in the flesh,
that means fruitful labor for me.
Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two.
My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”
Philippians 1:21-23
We are longing to be at home with Jesus but seek to make the most of the time He has given us here.
Here are a few of the highlights of our year, good and not so good, because we like to keep it real.
– FIRST MARRIAGE –
(March 21, 2015)
(no really, it was)
– FIRST MOVE OUT OF STATE –
(Lolo)
– FIRST PREGNANCY –
(it’s a girl – her name is Adalyne Rose!)
– FIRST MAJOR CAR ACCIDENT –
(major bummer)
– BOUGHT OUR FIRST CAR TOGETHER –
(it’s used but it’s the nicest car we’ve ever owned)
– SECOND MARRIAGE –
(October 23, 2015 – It’s a long story*)
– READ THE ENTIRE BIBLE IN A YEAR –
(here’s the plan we used if you’re interested – I highly recommend it)
*Technically we were legally married in California on March 21st but the clerk recorder’s office never received our notarized application for a certified copy of our marriage license. We needed the marriage license in order to change my last name so I could fly home for Thanksgiving since the flight was booked under my married last name.
So, the same day we had a doctor appointment to learn the gender of our baby, we made a quick little pit stop to our current county clerk’s office and applied for a Common Law Marriage.
SO. LAME.
But we are in Texas after all so I guess a shotgun wedding makes sense.
At least the clerk was kind and was able to back date our marriage license to March 21st.
And I can laugh about it now. . .
