Berry Update 101

Well here we are, now 6 months married, with many many stories. Over the past year we have had to learn so many lessons, both that have challenged us to become more gracious and more sympathetic to each other.

Our journey over the last year has not just provided us the since of a challenge, but has encouraged us to be there mentally, physically, and spiritually for each other. (Even though some times that was the hardest, yet most beautiful thing that we, in that moment, had to learn.)

I, Michelle, graduated with Honors in May. And then we tied the knot on June 25, 2011. We set off for our first adventures together as man and wife for one week in Nashville. At the end of the week, we were met by our two best friends, who we just this past week got to watch tie the knot themselves, and our parents. They all helped us move in, and got us super excited for our first place in Louisville, KY though it was six hours from all of them!

The day after everyone left, William turned 20, and we got lost trying to learn the new city. Through the next months we found a church that we love, started attending regularly, found jobs, and began to take action steps to get things started for school. (That was the whole reason we left everyone in Southaven in the first place!)

August came and we went to our orientation for school, which we were completely ecstatic about. During that weekend, however, we found ourselves disappointed in the lack of financial aid and scholarships, which we were heavily relying on to attend school. We kept getting declined for any grants and loans that we tried to apply for, seeing as we had no established credit. At that moment, our world fell out of control.

We moved over 300 miles to attend a school that we thought the Lord was calling us to. We visited 3 times before we moved, talked to many different people who all seemed to think our journey to school would work. No one could answer our questions about why all the sudden the money had not come through. I think that was one of the hardest things we had to face so early on in our brand new marriage. (Remember we were about 1 month married at this time.)

But the Lord has a plan, and always has had a plan. But this wasn't something we saw at first. Both of our employers graciously took us on full time. Since then, I have earned two pay raises, and got a promotion, and William has also earned a raise; we are decently close to both of our bosses. They have provided us with so many opportunities, and the Lord has given us so much more than we could ever need! Praise be to the LORD!

In October, after both feeling pretty homesick, we made a trek back to Southaven. We left Southaven that weekend, realizing that we had not made any mistake in moving to Louisville, but maybe we just didn't understand exactly where the Lord was calling us to. After much prayer and consideration, we both have agreed that we feel led to move off of Southern's campus so that we could attend public school in the fall.

The holiday season came, and how much fun we had! We made a VERY quick trip to Nashville, where William's family is from, and for Christmas we worked a lot! I worked my last shift Christmas Eve night. That same night we had a sweet friend over for Fondue, and there we started a nice family tradition. Christmas day we served at church, and then traveled back to Memphis. We had two days filled with great times with both sides of our families. Tuesday started our countdown to Ryan and Megan's wedding!

And now here we are ready to move into our brand new apartment, which will hopefully be this coming up weekend! We still are not very sure where the Lord is calling us to, but we are praying that He would continue to put His will in our hearts. We want nothing more than to bring Him glory where ever He sees fit.

With love for now,

Michelle and William