The Story of Wilda and Tuck.

Mitchell and I celebrated our 1-year wedding anniversary yesterday! I wanted to do a blog post to set up a reminder of the sweet, redemptive, Gospel-reflecting marriage the Lord has placed me in. I decided to do this both through pictures and by sharing the vows the two of us wrote and made exactly one year and one day ago with the Lord and with one another. 

So, allow me to share the story of Wilda and Tuck.

Mitchell and I began our relationship as friends...a goofy and (as most of you would attest) somewhat awkward friendship...

After a year this friendship flourished into a fun dating relationship, long distance (for a year) and together in College Station (whoop!).

A year and a half later this happened...

And 9 months of engagement followed!

And then we got married. (and danced!)

And now here we are! One year into marriage. What a story. Of course, there is so much in between those big events; so much learning and refinement, tears and rejoicing and growth. I think the past 4 years are best wrapped up into the vows Mitchell and I wrote for one another on our wedding day. They encompass the depth of the promise of unconditional, steadfast love that we have for one another, and more importantly the absolute reliance we have on the Lord to walk in that love. I'll let them speak for themselves :)

Mitchell: 

"I, Mitchell Cannon Hartt, with great honor take you, Lindsey Jo Letbetter, to be my beautiful bride. I will uphold this oneness by devotedly seeking our God as my primary love, that I may love you fully. In the same manner with which Christ loves the church and humbly gave himself up for her, so will I vow to lay down my life for you. I vow to honor, serve, and protect you. I will strive to continually remember our marriage as a thriving example of the Lord's love for us. I promise you my purposeful and steadfast love throughout whatever life may bring. I will remain faithful to you. I will not divorce you. Death alone will separate us." 

Me:

"I, Lindsey Jo Letbetter, take you, Mitchell Cannon Hartt, to be my husband. On the foundation of grace, I promise to follow you and humbly submit to your leadership. I will love and respect you regardless of circumstance or condition, just as the Church loves Christ. I promise to keep the Lord as my primary love, to be faithful to you, and to never divorce you. I will serve as a reminder to you of the man our Lord has designed you to be and the Gospel which has redeemed and restored us both. I promise to walk this life together with you, Mitchell, 'til death do us part."  

There are times that I look at those vows and think, "Man. That is BOLD." And it is. Those are bold words that we promised one another. But I have learned day after day that the only reason we are able to promise that kind of love is because that is the kind of love that has saved us both. We love each other through the love God has shown us, period. There is no other way for our marriage to succeed.

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died, and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who, for their sake, died and was raised." -2 Corinthians 5:14

Today I am so thankful that the Lord chose to redeem Mitchell and I both, and has given us the opportunity to reflect that love within our marriage and to the world. Hopefully this serves as a reminder to all that we ARE capable of unconditional, steadfast love through the power of Christ's love, which controls us. Praise God for that foundation of grace. 

P.S.

 Farmers Market and Stoney Creek yesterday to celebrate!

THE END! 

Back to Pine Cove!

Whew! It's been quite the eventful past week or two! I was given the opportunity to head back to Texas last Saturday! (insert expected gasp from those of you living in Texas at the moment)...Don't be angry with me. I was there for a very specific reason and had a super limited time-frame, so didn't really let anyone know I was there! I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. :)

And why was I there? So cool. I was given the opportunity to interpret for a friend's daughter that I used to nanny at the camp I have worked at in the past, Pine Cove! For those of you who don't know, I was a nanny last semester for this precious family:

And I had the really great opportunity to expand my use of sign language learning from their mom, Jenn, and from time spent with their daughter, Ella, who is 9. I was so excited when Pine Cove agreed to work with the family and figure out how Ella could come to camp even though she couldn't communicate with those around her. Insert my past with Pine Cove and my ability to communicate with Ella, and after a few months of figuring out the details, Ella and I headed to Week 10 at the Pine Cove Towers!

Getting ready for the first theme night: Pitch Black Attack!

One thing is certain at Pine Cove, you always end up learning some kind of lesson while you're there. I knew this would be true of this week as well...I had been close to tears begging the Lord to enable me to communicate well with Ella and help her feel loved and comfortable at camp. My signing skills are nothing to brag about, and I knew it would be difficult interpreting everything that goes on at camp. I am humbled yet again that He has chosen me to be one of His children who can proclaim the truth that He is faithful and hears our prayers. He loved Ella well this week not only through me but through the girls in her cabin and her precious, loving, gentle counselor, ReMoose. (We have weird camp names at Pine Cove...it's fine.)

I was blessed to watch the Lord teach myself and others how to show love in a multitude of ways, especially when I saw precious 9 and 10 year olds reaching out to welcome Ella in, and Ella opening up to do the same. The Lord reminded me deeply what it is like to put yourself in positions where you 100% have to rely on Him for strength, influence, even communication.

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." -1 Corinthians 3:7

Amen and amen.

After camp I was able to go home for a day to spend some quick time with the fam! So blessed. I LOVED seeing and cooking with my precious niece and nephew, not to mention everyone else :)

So there you have it! Now I am back in Louisville with my hubby--which I was beyond ready for! I came home to this beautiful surprise that he had made while I was gone...what a creative man! LOVE IT. Loosely translated it says, "Blessed are You, Lord God, King of the heavens, Giver of bread from the earth". Awesome.

And now I want to leave you with a video of a song I learned and signed all week. The Lord used it as a sweet reminder that He is able to do great things, and allows me to be a part of it. :)

Mitchell's Birthday Week!

We are slowly but surely settling into a weekly routine here in Kentucky. We're finally getting on a schedule with our night shifts, typically leaving around the same time and getting home within an hour or two of one another. Quite the blessing if you ask me!

Off to work we go!

It really is a huge adjustment for us to work nights, especially since it is summer time and we don't have a lot that we're involved in just yet throughout the day. So, our days have typically been filled with a whole lot of reading and conversations mixed in with a little bit of exploring. At first I felt like I was wasting time sitting around the apartment reading for hours at a time, but as I was reading this book about a hero of mine, William Wilberforce, I came across a fact about him that made me feel okay about it. :)

Reading at the campus library!

Wilberforce had a resolve to read as much as he could. "For the next twelve summers, until his marriage, he would spend one or two months at some country home, assiduously studying nine or ten hours alone each day. He became renowned for reading everything...and for the rest of his life, his pockets were literally stuffed with literature on every subject" (Metaxas, 65).

All this being said, I'm grateful for the time the Lord has given us to have together this summer, as well as the time to read and learn anything and everything we can get our hands on! I'll keep you guys updated on what we read!

Leisurely morning breakfast with this hunk--blessed.

Other than that, we have had the opportunity to try out a few of the local restaurants around here as well! On Monday night Mitchell and I went to a well known Cuban restaurant called Havana Rumba for an early birthday celebration for him! (He's an Independence Day baby!) The food was delicious and Mitchell was beside himself with joy.

This was our appetizer: Fried plantains and guacamole. YUM!

 Such a wonderful evening together!

Well, that's all I have for now! I truly am enjoying getting to know this new place we now call home. Tomorrow we are going to a get-together with a few new friends of ours to celebrate the 4th, and next week we leave for South Dakota for my family's reunion! BIG things ahead!

WE HAVE JOBS!!!!!!!

It's official, people! I began training at the one and only Texas Roadhouse this week as a waitress! LOVE IT!

Image Credit

And my handsome husband Mitchell will begin work at a store called Trader Joe's! (for all you Texas folk who don't know what that is--much like myself--it's like an affordable, simplified Whole Foods!)

 Image Credit

The Lord is faithful to provide, and we couldn't be more excited!! Thank you for all of your prayers through this time of job searching!

Hello, Louisville!

Well, it has been over 2 weeks since Mitchell and I have moved to Louisville, Kentucky and let's just say things have been a little busy! Whether we were scouting out the city with my parents (who graciously offered their time to help us move up here)...

Or checking out the Churchill Downs...

Bike riding through local parks (like Cherokee Park, a fave of ours right down the road)...

Or working on our new garden (Zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, squash, bell peppers, rosemary and basil--stoked!)...

...we have loved settling in to our new home. The transition has proven itself both easy and difficult at the same time--a paradox of sorts, but one I think most of you understand if you've ever experienced the transition into a new city.

It was easy getting everything unpacked and exciting to begin exploring this new place with my husband, but difficult once the pang of loneliness settled in...when I realized I didn't really have anyone to call to come tell me if the picture I hung was straight or the new curtain I picked out was okay. Yes, Mitchell was here, but there's something special about having a girl friend come over and exclaim their excitement about your new home and compliment every small detail you worked on ("Oh I LOVE how you covered your pantry with a curtain!" "No, you're right, those books look way better on that shelf than the other one...") that I deeply longed for.

Mitchell and I both realized quickly that though we love having one another around and do find comfort in each other's friendship, we had taken for granted having friends outside of our marriage to spend time with. It was kind of a surprise for Mitchell that he was experiencing the same feelings I was, I don't think he expected it as much as I did. But it is a sweet reminder as we settle into a new place that friendships and community are something absolutely worth investing in. It enriches our marriage when Mitchell has men in his life he can talk to, process through some of his thoughts, and do "man things" with, just as much as it does when I have those women in my life.

Community is a sweet gift from the Lord that we look forward to cultivating during our time here in Louisville as we remember "it is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

What are some lessons you have learned within the first month of transition into a new city?