Date Night Jar

I was in a rather crafty mood earlier this week, so I clicked over to my I Could Make That Pinterest board for some inspiration.  I decided to make the date jar idea that's been going around lately.

I modified this a bit to fit my needs by using construction paper instead of popsicle sticks (simply because that's what I had around). I also didn't have the right colors so I used white, yellow/orange, and blue.

I wrote at home/free dates on white, costs a bit of money/takes some planning on yellow and orange, and costs the most money/takes a lot of planning on blue.

Although I love the jar I might move the dates into a cute box, just because they'll be easier to pick from when we need them.

This project cost me $0 and it took me about an hour.  I'm really excited to use this in the future.  My husband and I are entering a season of busyness and frugalness, and being intentional about our dates will be a huge blessing.  We've enjoyed a lot of spontaneous dates in the past where money wasn't much of an issue, but there's a certain joy that comes with being the broke young couple. :-)

P.S. Don't forget to enter the giveaway! There's only a few entries so far!

The Story of Us: Part 3

Check out part 1 and part 2!

Our first meeting was awkward, but enjoyable.  We spent 2 weeks together, deepening our relationship, and putting a face to the words we'd exchanged over the previous 8 months.  By mid January, Jeremy was back in Iraq, for what we thought would be another 10 months, and I was left waiting, not sure what would happen next.

We continued to do a lot of talking, calling, and skyping.  I lived at home, attended community college, and volunteered in the diabetes education department of our local hospital.  All the while, our talks deepened, and we started to look more towards the future.  By the end of March, we started talking about marriage.  It was odd to think of marrying someone I'd only physically been around for 2 weeks.  But what we lacked in physical time, we more than made up for in emotional time.

And so the waiting continued.  But I was hopeful.  And by mid July, Jeremy was home, a full 3 months early.

The next month was a mixture of excitement and nervousness.  He had to stay on his base for 4 weeks before he could go on leave, so I had to sit patiently and wait for the time to come.  Jeremy did manage to come and visit me for my sister's wedding on the last weekend of July, and I flew out to visit him the weekend after.  Both times were amazing, and I felt even more sure of what I'd known in my heart for months.

Finally the end of August came, and Jeremy flew out to see me at my parent's home, where I was still living.  We had gone looking at rings together when I had gone to visit him, so I knew what was coming.  The first week he was there was a lot of relaxing and catching up.  And I got more antsy with each passing day.

Stay tuned for the final installment of The Story of Us next week! :)

The Story of Us: Part 2

For part 1, click here.

A few messages flew back and forth that first night.  And a few more that first week.  And so began a correspondence that would last the next 8 months.

By the end of August 2009 the relationship started to turn from "casual pen pal" to "maybe something more serious."  We continued to write, I gave him my phone number, and we skyped occasionally.  Jeremy was set to deploy in October, so it felt like this was 'do or die' time.  I honestly thought that he'd deploy and I'd never hear from him again.  So I was very surprised to find out that he had contacted my dad to find out if he could meet me during his leave from Iraq around Christmas.

And so our relationship continued.  I was finishing up my associate's degree that fall, and was set to move home and attend the local community college to pursue further education when I was finished.  We skyped just about every spare moment we had.  We knew each other's schedules, and planned to talk accordingly.  He called me every chance he got.  Things were great.  I was happy, and everyone that saw me told me they'd never seen me smile so much.

Below the surface, I was a bundle of nerves.  Excited to finally meet him, but scared to death.  What if this was all a joke?  What if I'm holding on to nothing?

December came along.  And a few days after Christmas, we finally met.

Stay tuned for part 3.... :)

The Story of Us: Part 1

I've been meaning to blog about mine and my husband's story for a while.  So for the next few Fridays, I'm gonna do just that. :)

It was April 2009.  Exam week was upon me, and my final semester of nursing school was staring me in the face.  I was 10 weeks away from my LPN pinning ceremony and starting a relationship was just about the last thing on my mind.

I'd joined a few dating sites about a month before.  I didn't expect to meet anyone, but after much teasing from my dad, I joined.  I did a lot of complaining about the general lack of good Christian guys around, so he suggested I try online.  I didn't have much to lose, so I gave it a shot, thinking nothing would ever come of it, and it would be a funny thing to laugh about later.

April 26th was a Sunday night.  I was relaxing after a weekend of studying for finals before exam week was in full force.  I had my computer open in front of me and the TV on when I suddenly got an email notification.  I had a message on one of those sites I joined.  I laughed a little inside.  Probably another weirdo from a foreign country telling me he was "looking for the right woman" and I "seemed to be the one for him".  Yeah.  Right.

I proceeded to log on to the site, not expecting much, when I found a message from an Army soldier.  He told me he was looking for Christian friends.  Hmm.  Sure...I don't have a problem corresponding with a sweet soldier that I'll probably never meet and just needs a friend.  So I wrote him back.

Stay tuned for part 2... :)