Many Moments of Marital Bliss

Dear Family & Friends,

The Fisher household has certainly been busy! As the end of 2008 approached, each day seemed to be more packed. While we did not necessarily bustled through the stores, we certainly buzzed through life. Fighting off colds, preparing fabulous Thanksgiving feasts, watching my new sister play basketball, meeting our new brother, Christmas cookies, Holiday cheer, and a NEWLYWED Christmas have all made up the past few months since we last saw you! So bear with me as I give you the update of the Fisher family!

One view of the table

My wonderful father-in-law & brother! :)
Cleaning up the turkey!

Hubby carving our first turkey!It was Gayle's birthday the day before!Our families.... and they are so great together!

Family and Friends,

I owe you a huge update. The past month has had it's ups and downs, but on this Thanksgiving Day of 2008, a number of blessings culminated in our little home. I am including a picture from the big day. We just wanted to say how THANKFUL we are to have all of you in our lives. God bless you!

Doug and Beth <><

I am pretty sure that after reading this blog a majority of you are either grinning from ear to ear, or throwing up from the word vomit of love. ;) Well for those of you who are weak in the stomach when it comes to words of love, you might want to click on another website. I won’t go into great detail about how and what happened, but I suffered a bad neck injury on Wednesday of this past week. This means that the woman of the household has been out of commission for nearly four whole days now. Now those women who run their household know that this is quite the large time to be down, and any number of things can happen to your household while out. In the Fisher household all has stayed well, due to my wonderful husband. During a time where I could barely lift my neck, let alone cook or clean anything, Doug took on the daunting task of household chores. Saturday morning we jokingly called him “Mr. Mom” (minus the whole children part). I told him tonight that he won the “Husband of the Year Award”. He worked hard to HAND-clean (aka handwash because we have no dishwasher) what seems like our millions of dishes, sanitize our impossibly small barbie-kitchen, pick up the living room, make our bed, straighten up our bathroom, and make sure that my every well being was first priority on this list. How this man does it all, I do not know. All I know is at this point there is very little I can do to repay his unconditional love; thus, I write. :) I guess this is appropriate for our year anniversary of the day we got engaged. I am truly living proof of the “for better or worse” and “in sickness and health.” Doug is an amazing husband. I am blessed to be married to the most sacrificing, selfless man in the entire world. This blog is intentionally spelled “OWED” to my husband, because while I know the it is in the territory of marriage for man and wife to give selflessly to one another, experiencing it is an entirely different matter. I was watching an episode of Oprah on how women feel absolutely spent, because they do everything around the household and are absolute control freaks. Well, I am glad to have met my match. One who be just as stubborn as myself to make sure that I am completely taken care of. So I will spend the rest of my life trying to pay back all of the love Doug shows me. Of course, I am incurring a long running tab, but by the end of our lives, I’m sure we will both call it even.

I love you Doug.

Dear Family and Friends,

It's hard to believe that at the time I am writing this blog, just a year ago today, I had no clue that Doug was going to ask me to marry him. It's been a year since that incredible day. Boy, am I so happy that Doug took the step to start our life as man and wife. While I loved the wedding planning, I am happy that we do not have to anxiously anticipate a single day of our life, but get to experience each day unfold (with a bunch of little anxious anticipations). Though this is a short note, I just wanted to say that last year the soon-to-be-Mrs Fisher is now this year an incredibly blessed and happy Mrs. Fisher. On a small side note (since my sister wants to be the one to share her excitement), on my birthday her boyfriend asked her to marry her! So now Julia gets to experience the excitement of the engagement time. Sissy, you are in our prayers! As we remember back to our special time, we just wanted you to know how excited we are for you and Andrew.

Well family and friends, we love you all. Thank you for sharing in the joy of our lives. The picture below is from that very special time, the engagement, just a year ago.

Mrs. and Mrs. :)

Dear Family and Friends,

As I start to get older, I find the I constantly discover new information about myself. I guess this is the eternal quest on this journey that we call life on earth. Actually, as I think about that statement, my thoughts deflect towards a Bible study I am in now. Here is a quick story about God's faithfulness to us! I was praying for some kind of Bible study. Within a week of that specific prayer, a very old friend, Emma, sent me a message on facebook, asking if I would be interested in attending a girls Bible study put on by her sister-in-law. I immediately jumped at the opportunity, and PRAISE THE LORD it was available to me. In such a quick time, these ladies have been such a blessing to me. I always look forward to our Thursday night studies. Our Bible study is focused on the book of Daniel. During our first week of the study, Beth Moore, the creator quoted a verse in Isaiah 47:8 ...who says in your heart, I am, and there is no one else beside me ...... What she said about it, I found to be incredibly interesting. Modern day Christianity is so wrapped up into who we can improve as individuals. Whether we intend to say the above words or not, we are selfish individuals who think far too highly of ourselves. The truth is, we are all broken and in need of Christ's repair. So, long story short, I find myself laughing at the very comment I made about discovering myself. More accurately then, I should say, God is constantly reinventing his insane piece of work! :) That being said... let's talk about fall!

I had always thought I was a summer girl. This summer in Orange County certainly changed my mind on that fact. Our house was so muggy the entire summer. I would have much rather been in the Inland Empire any day. Our house was a HOOOOTTTT HOUSE! As you might imagine, I am incredibly happy to welcome the fall. Doug and I have been able to do so in so many wonderful and exciting ways. As most of you know, October 12th welcomed my 24th year of life. Doug spoiled the heck out of me in San Diego, just after we spent the weekend with my parents. We got to visit a wonderful childhood memory- Yucaipa. We tasted apples, apple cider, played in apple orchards, and enjoyed whole in the wall BBQ. My mom is absolutely the most wonderful mom alive (Gayle is too :)). She and my dad spoiled the heck out of my as well! :) When we went home, my mom and I were able to make caramel apples, eat lots of pie, and enjoy lots of chocolate. :) It was such a great birthday weekend. Of course, what made it the best birthday EVER was being able to spend it with my husband. :) 24 was the first bday as a married couple, and it will be special to me for as long as God will allow me to remember.

The following weekend, we headed out to get our pumpkins. Doug created his monster- Rex the Ripper, and I masterfully crafted Jimmy. Unfortunately, it has been in the 90s in the OC, so our pumpkins have wilted, and are barely surviving on our porch. Lol. I am not sure what we will do with them, since we have a Halloween party this coming Friday. Of course, they will find their way to their graves (the trash), but who knows if we will have more pumpkins. Probably not. Craving those pumpkins was quite the task.

While we do not live in a state that has definite seasons, the feeling of fall has certainly been felt in the Fisher household. All I know is, I welcome it to come in full swing. I feel blessed to experience these "seasons" for the first time with my husband. We are truly blessed that God has smiled upon us, and given us a life together. May God bless your fall, and may you discover all of the joys that the season has to offer!

Doug and Beth <><

Well Family and Friends,

What seems like a month ago, I gave you a preview to what we have been up to, but never gave you the information. Well, a lot has happened in the last month. Doug and I bounced back to San Diego a few times to handle some business, welcomed fall, and resumed the everyday grueling work life. Now that Doug is finished with his class, we have a lot more time to be together. It is nice to be able to see the love of you life for longer than 30 minutes. Lol. So the following is the adventures we have been up to! Enjoy!

End of Summer- QUICK day trip to San Diego

I must say honestly, visiting San Diego has stirred mixed emotions. There are moments when I just want to move back, times I REALLY miss college (and yes, even studying), and the others that I know God has something entirely bigger for us. That is not to say that if we were to move back we would be settling. That is not the case. Who SETTLES for San Diego?! Anyways, back to the topic. That day at the end of September was truly wonderful. Visiting San Diego is always amazing, because that is the place where we fell in love. I am not kidding you. I can look at almost any place in San Diego and see Doug. What a blessing to be able to say. Some of the things we did that day was visit an old favorite burrito shop- Los Primos. This burrito shop is located smack dab between where Doug and I used to live. Boy, am I glad that that place wasn't open for long when we lived there! WE WOULD BE SO FAT! After that (you know that burritos were our breakfast right?), we headed to our fabulous old church- Harbor Pres! MAN DO WE MISS IT THERE! Pastor Paul is a dynamic speaker, truly led by God! :) We also miss PASTOR DARIN! :( After church we were able to fun into one of my residents (more accurately said, FRIEND) and his girlfriend. Chris, if you read this, it was so nice to see you! :) After church we headed straight to the beach! Being the INSANE English teacher I am, I assigned my kids four essays in one week. I attempted to read some of them on the beach. Being an alum of UCSD, I am able to have much success at it, but I chose not to completely attend to the papers. I did get them done, just not immediately. My handsome husband reached out his hands and welcomed me to a walk on the beach. I just couldn't resist. After our amazing day at the beach, we hit the road and headed to another favorite- Pizza Port! :) Our day really only lasted about 5 and half hours, but we made the most out of every second.

I apologize, but I will have to resume the catching up later. I am working Saturday school tomorrow, and I should get to bed. God bless you all!