Day 3383 – Sneak Peek At Our Weekend!

Posted on October 15, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

We just got back from a weekend away in Canada and what an amazing time it was! The drive was utterly breathtaking since most of it was through peaking leaves. I’ll blog more in-depth later, but for now, here’s us at Parliament in Canada! It was one of the places I really wanted to see while we were there and I’m so glad we were able to fit it in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget.
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3382 – Why You Shouldn’t Ask “When Are You Having Kids?” – or – Things I’ve Learned From Not Having Kids – repost

Posted on October 14, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

Originally posted 3/30/17

If you’ve read this blog any amount of time, you know Bret and I are not normal in a lot of ways. From sleeping on the floor, to having no real furniture, we are just weirdos. People don’t understand us sometimes, but that’s fine, we’re happy with our life.

Here’s another “not normal” thing to add to the long list of “Jen and Bret are weird” – We aren’t planning on having kids.

It’s something we didn’t expect. Both of us came from big families and figured we’d have a big family too. As we grew in our marriage, God made it clear kids probably weren’t in our future. When we meditate on our life, kids just aren’t in the picture. It is something we have prayed about, thought a lot about, and talked a lot about. Most of the time, when people ask or comment about us having kids, we laugh it off. “Ha ha, oh we’ll see!” It’s a minor thing to us when people bring it up. Something we shrug off like reactions to us sleeping on the floor. Even if we tell them we aren’t planning on having kids, and they follow up with, “Oh you’ll change your mind.” It isn’t a big deal to us.

But then we thought about things in a different light – what if we DID want kids and we couldn’t or were having a hard time getting pregnant? What if we had lost children?

This is when the desire to share this became about others.

We have a lot of people in our world that have struggled to have kids and desperately want kids.

I am writing this for them.

Please take a few minutes to look at someone’s situation from another angle before you ask “When are you having kids?!” Pause and ask yourself if it’s an appropriate question and time to ask. It may have been easy for you and your spouse to get pregnant. You may have several kids. You may not know that the person you’re asking has been trying, desperately, for years to get pregnant. You may not know of the tears, the heartache, the miscarriages.

Think about asking instead “Do you want kids?” or maybe, just maybe, don’t ask about their plans on having kids or not. If you don’t know if they can have kids or not, it’s for a reason. I understand, it’s a natural question. But it’s a really personal one. Trust me, I understand where the questions come from. In our society, there’s a “natural” timeline of steps.

Out of my deep love for those in my life that struggle with this – please stop asking them when they’re going to have kids. Please stop joking that you’re pregnant on April 1st. Please take a minute to think before you speak. And if you still want to ask someone questions like this, go ahead and just ask me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 3379 – What Would You Grab If You Had To Leave In Minutes Because Of Fire – or – Yesterday Did Not Go As Planned – repost

Posted on October 11, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

Originally posted 3/17/18

Yesterday progressed like most days around here. Bret worked at school. I worked here. I had pretty much finished up my work list, prepared my weekend and Monday to do lists. Bret arrived home and we chatted about our days. It was a little windy, but it’s been windy the past week or so. Then the lights started to flicker. At first we thought the power was going out, so we turned off a few lights, and checked the breaker box. We were able to switch the popped breakers back when our landlord said to hit the main breaker. A minute later he was at the door to say there was a fire and we had to get out. In a few minutes, we grabbed things that were close (computers, contracts, work folders, wallets, keys, phones, my current book manuscript). There wasn’t a raging fire or any smoke, this wasn’t a “get out now” situation, so we had a few minutes to look around and ask – is there anything we have to have? Anything we wouldn’t want to lose? Because we have minimal stuff and work out of our backpacks pretty regularly, most of what we needed was ready to go. But it as a little surreal to walk around the apartment and not find much we HAD to have. In a last minute remembrance, there was a sweatshirt I had been gifted recently that I did not want to lose, so I tossed that on top.

We made our way to the sidewalk where we found out there were several houses affected. Each owner described the same experience – flickering electronics and the smell of burning. The fire departments were here really fast. Several stations showed up too.

Standing on the street, I almost started to cry. I think it was the weight of what could have been, the potential seriousness of what happened, and that sense of community when something happens. Ha ha, we were formally introduced to one of the neighbors, even though we’ve been here almost a year.

After checking all the houses, the fire department counted them as safe. They had called BGE to look at what had happened. At this point, we decided to take off. Either to get a hotel or just kill some time while things were being looked at and fixed. Turns out there was a surge and the transformer for roughly 10 houses had to be replaced.

We ended up celebrating a recent signed contract for another house with dinner and coffee. We try to celebrate in small ways for a signed contract and then big ways for a closing. Ha ha, so much can happen to extend a closing or not work out all together. So we don’t count that money until the check is in hand.

We grabbed dinner at Taco Bell (which is a big real estate investing celebration spot for us, apparently!) We had talked about going to see Black Panther, but we haven’t seen a few of the Marvel movies before that (Thor and Spiderman) so we decided to just grab coffee and then head back. We chatted for about an hour or so at Starbucks.

When we arrived home, we set up candles and read by their light for a little while, then bundled up for the night without power.

Thankfully, the power is back on and very few things were damaged by the surge (just microwaves, I think). The lesson learned is to turn off EVERYTHING if you think there’s a surge. Also, have a housewide surge protector (I didn’t know this was a thing!)

It was also a great reminder to actually have a “bug out bag” ready to go. While we got everything that we needed, we were very haphazard about it. So we plan on thinking through the things we’d HAVE to grab and have a clothes/toiletries bag all ready to go.

Here’s hoping today is a little more chill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 3375 – Photos From Our Thrice Concert

Posted on October 7, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

Whooooo, what a great concert! Bret and I are both feeling our age after being in the mosh pit, to be sure. It was the longest set we’ve seen them play and they were amazing as always.

The mosh pit was a good one and the guys weren’t jerks and looked out for me.

We didn’t know/weren’t that interested in the first two bands, so we found our way to the upstairs. We got a great view to the side of the stage. I got to chatting with the security guard, and she actually let me get even close for this epic shot. After this, I headed down to the pit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 3374 – Our Sixth Thrice Concert Tonight!!!!

Posted on October 6, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

I’ve have absolutely loved Thrice for years. I can’t remember who introduced me to them, or the exact year/album I started listening. But they have become the soundtrack of my life. Their songs are so deep and have so many meanings.

When I married Bret, in many ways, I had NO idea what I was in for in that I gained so much more than I expected. I gained a business partner, my very best friend, and a fellow Thrice lover.

Today we are attending our sixth Thrice concert (my seventh) and I just can’t wait! It’s so much fun to mosh together, sing along together, and just all around enjoy this amazing band. If you haven’t listened to them yet, please please please check them out. Specifically – Firebreather, For Miles, The Artist In The Ambulance, Image of the Invisible, In Exile, Beggars, Come All You Weary, and Phoenix Ignition.

I doubt we’ll get muddy like this again, but you know we’ll be sweaty messes after the pit!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

365daysofmarriage

Simplicity in Marriage, Christianity, Travel, Business, Life

Category Archives: Marriage

Day 3383 – Sneak Peek At Our Weekend!

Day 3382 – Why You Shouldn’t Ask “When Are You Having Kids?” – or – Things I’ve Learned From Not Having Kids – repost

Day 3379 – What Would You Grab If You Had To Leave In Minutes Because Of Fire – or – Yesterday Did Not Go As Planned – repost

Day 3375 – Photos From Our Thrice Concert

Day 3374 – Our Sixth Thrice Concert Tonight!!!!