An Ode to my Husband

Once upon a time, in a Midwestern liberal arts university, a farm girl met a boy who would change her life forever. They met in band. He a double reed, and she a brass player. Two different families. You would think it would be like Montague's and Caplets with the instrumentation, but true love it was and always will be.

The two completed each other. After dating a mere four months they knew they were meant to be. The double reed proposed the FIRST time to the beautiful brass player, she was thrilled. Of course it wasn't "official." They just knew they wanted to get married. The double reed player proposed probably a 100 times after that. Eventually in the following September, he actually used a ring. :P

It may be hard to believe, but this is a true story. Ha! This is an ode to my wonderful, adoring, hard working, compassionate husband, Marcus. Three years ago, we got ourselves hitched. Yep. I fell in love with this guy.

He is my everything. He completes me. His commitment to me, his patience with me (which requires a lot), his faith in the Lord, everything. I need him. He works so hard to support us as a family and he is such a wonderful father to our daughter Lydia. 

December 20, 2008 was one of the most wonderful days of my life! Probably number one of course. :P That day at 2:00 p.m. we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Winter Quarters temple in Omaha. I love knowing the fact that it isn't death do us part for us. It's a Forever thing. :) It was cold. Bitter cold. 

-10 degrees with wind chill. The roads were frozen over and our cheeks were pink. My feet froze and I had to change my shoes. It was a beautiful white winter wonderland. It was cold. It was perfect. 

We fit each other. His level headedness and the capability to think things through FIRST compliments my impulses to do things. He is more timid with things while I push him to get out there and have fun. Not that he isn't a fun guy... HE IS BLAST! But we compliment each other well. We are a team. We always tend to work on all issues together. Whether it is finances, his teaching job at school (I swear I am basically his assistant to the band. I don't mind :P), dishes, cooking, cleaning, our child, we do it all together. We get through thick and thin with each other. We always support each other in our endeavours. If we have a hard time, we always try to work those things out. 

I don't know what I would do without him. I can't even imagine my life without him. I think about my past relationships and the heartbreak I felt with them. It makes me excited that those relationships didn't workout and I was able to learn from them. Those relationships prepared me for the most perfect man I could dream of. I love him so much. It isn't even just love... it's even deeper than that! It goes so much deeper within the inner depths of my soul. He completes me. 

I don't think I could ever fully explain how much I love him. I love how he gets addicted to pointless computer games (like a killer bunny or something), how he has to show me every YouTube video that he finds humorous, how devoted he is to his music and that he needs my input on what he does with his bands, how he is like a little kid at times and doesn't clean up all the flour after making bread :P, the list goes on. How he "tolerates" my animals (even though you would find him cuddling with them...) that's a fun one. I especially love how loving he is towards our daughter. How he plays with her, speaks Spanish to her, I think I love that the most about him. Being a father. 

I can't believe how much has happened these past three years. We have lived in FOUR homes (two apartments and two houses), we have gotten a kitty, we graduated with three degrees from Nebraska Wesleyan total, we have worked a combined of 15 different part time and full time jobs, he has travelled to other countries for his Spanish degree, we got a dog, we went through 4 cars,  we lost babies, we had a beautiful baby girl, the list goes on. We have had many trials and many wonderful blessings. It is crazy and that isn't even all of it! We have been on such a wonderful adventure and I cannot wait for what eternity holds. I can't believe what we have gained from it all!

Marcus, mi cielo, mi vida, mi corazon, you are my everything and I don't think I could ever be without you. Good thing we are in this together for the long haul. I can't wait to see what eternity holds for us. I love you Marcus, and I always will.

Happy 3rd Year Anniversary!!

With love from your adoring wife,

Karin Marie

"Live Life with... Gratitude"

Why is that so hard for people to do? Live Life with Gratitude? Sister Isernhagen from church gave me a, I guess, wood thingy? That says that statement on it. I have been thinking about it a lot. It sits on the table that our TV sits on, so I see it just as much as I watch TV. So... often. :)
I have notice I have complained a lot.

I hate this house
I hate living so far away from my family
I hate being far away from my friends
I hate being poor, like really poor.
I hate how far I have to drive to church.
I hate my body.
I hate, I hate, I hate.

I really need to turn my attitude around. And it has been a struggle. I notice how much I complain to my mom, my husband, and even just people around here. Not gonna lie, I still have a hard time with some of those things, but this shouldn't be the attitude I should be having. God has blessed me with so much. Even though I don't particularly care for the house, a family went out of their way, took their house off of the market so we could rent it when we needed a house and fast. And with when it comes too living so far away from my family, it is not even a day's drive. I could go in the morning and still spend most of the day with them. I guess the draw back is the gas to get there and back, yet they help a lot with that. I miss my friends. I have made some friends here, but not like what I had in Lincoln. I haven't made a lot of friends my age, and if I did, they live at least an hour away, which is too far of a drive to go to just "hang out." It does seem to me that we are really struggling financially. We are super poor. Yet I look around, we have TV, we each have a cell phone, we have furniture, I guess I have a bad attitude. Yet, this attitude keeps coming back. I am so down in the dumps about it. I swear I am just running around in circles about this. I mean, I find these blessings, but I see what a toll they are on us. We want to get rid of TV because of the outrageous bill, but we can't get out of it without paying hundreds of dollars in termination fees. We have looked at changing our cell phones, but we are stuck in a stupid contract. Yes, we have these so called "blessings" but they are also weighing us down. We are trying to make better financial decisions, but we are just stuck.

I started writing this blog to try to change my perspective. To make my self see blessings and such. It is just not working this time I guess. So, sorry for the negative post. I usually try to stay positive.

Live Life with Gratitude.

You know, there will always things I will be grateful for. I am grateful for my amazing, hardworking husband, my beautiful little girl, my pets, my family, the friends I do have, and for the church.

I am not sure where to go from there. I guess I will just leave with this.

I am trying to Live Life with Gratitude. I guess some days are just harder than others.

Karin Marie