The Beginning of Blogging

Starting a blog. Honestly not something I ever thought I would do. For starters, I am nowhere near being anything of a writer. I am not eloquent with words nor do I tell stories on paper (internet) well. Adding facial animations and hand gestures as I speak has always been my way of telling a good story. This, my friends, is why I am a teacher of Math and Science and not of Language Arts. :)

 However, I am starting a blog. Why? What is so great about telling stories of our lives through the internet? The conclusion I have come to is that this is a great way for us to be able to keep family and friends up to date with out lives without having to use facebook where 1/4 of the friends you really don't know all that well. I hesitate in this because I feel as though it has the potential be superficial.  I feel as though it justifies the decreasing amount of time we spend making the effort to speak with friends and family via phone or in person because, of course, since we read their facebook, twitter, or blog we already know everything that is happening in their lives. Interestingly enough though, something I have come to realize is that LIFE IS BUSY. It just is. As much as I want to sit and have hour long phone conversations with sweet friends and family on a weekly basis just isn't a reality. The reality is that sometimes those phone conversations don't happen for months and you can go weeks without seeing close friends that live IN YOUR CITY. This is the reason for starting this blog - not to replace the intimacy I have with friends and family, but to allow those friends and family who are far away to get a glimpse into our lives - to see the stories we have about teaching, marriage, Jesus, Piper, adventures, and just life in general before we get our next chance to have a phone conversation or visit. 

So to begin:

February: 

This past February, Casey surprised me with getting the sweetest golden doodle puppy! We had no intentions in getting a puppy before we were married, but we just couldn't pass up this opportunity. Her name is Piper "Bear" Schaefer. She has been such a huge blessing during this time of life and has given Casey and I more joy and anxiety that we had ever dreamed. ;) She was born on 12/12/12 which makes her an extremely "Redass" dog. Gig'em. She is coming up on her first birthday which will be so exciting for us as we now have a semi-grown up dog. 

May:

This past May we got married!!! One of the most glorious days of my life. I am now a wife to the most genuine, sincere, sweet, determined, goofy, God-fearing, loving man. How faithful is the Lord! It was the most joyous days to have all of our closest friends and family with us and we were joined together as one before Christ. I couldn't have even dreamed of the blessings the Lord gave us this day. 

Summer: 

This summer I got to spend time relaxing, getting our new home together, training the Bear (Piper), learning how to cook, and figuring out what life looked like in the Schaefer household. How did we want to spend our evenings together, what does keeping a house look like to both of us? While we got the place together we had the help of my dear mother who helped bring furniture, gifts, and many boxes of belongings from Dallas to Houston. On her last trip we got to spend Fourth of July together and celebrate with my wonderfully sweet in-laws. 

Fall:

The fall has consisted of a BILLION things. This has been the start of my second year teaching 7th grade Math/Science, the second year of seeing Johnny Football take the field, and the 4th year of fall consisting of several weddings. It has been crazy to say the least, but has been such an adventure with a sweet man by my side. 

Sorry this has been a long post, but I hope you have enjoyed the update!