A Journey for Two

Today is the day before Jacob and I celebrate our second wedding anniversary and my thoughts currently are… how has it been two years already and, also, how has it only been two years?? Have you ever felt this about those things most precious to you?

These past two years have been the very definition of an adventure. We’ve traveled to two countries, ten states, woken up before the sun and crawled into bed long after the rise of the moon. We’ve danced barefooted on beaches, on top of mountains and in dirty kitchens. We’ve eaten both the finest cuisine and tasted our tears. We’ve shared in stresses, anxieties and fears.

I knew I loved you when I said “I do” but I never expected it to grow into something 10x more gorgeous, freeing, intimate, wild and true. My heart is bursting for the man who gave me his last name. It’s the greatest honor to carry this flame.

I cannot wait to see what the next year looks like for us in this journey and everyone it involves. We are incredibly thankful to our families, our friends and to you for supporting us, praying for us and being adventurous with us along this journey of lives well loved.

You are loved!

-Kriss

Our Story: How it all Started

I can’t believe that we are finally here at our wedding weekend! It feels like only yesterday that I met my sweet Jacob and now I will always know that he will be with me and I with him! And to better celebrate here on the Blog this week, here is our love story!

Around 2017’s new years weekend, Jacob moved from Colorado to Indiana while Kristen was currently living in Indiana. He was moving back to Indiana to start a new job while she was pretty settled into her life there. She just so happened to work at the same library where he worked security while he was at University.

It was an afternoon on a chilly January Monday, when Jacob and Kristen first saw each other. She was busy at work at the library when Jacob stopped by. He was only there to stay Hello to a few of his ex coworkers before going home for the day.

Whenever she first saw him, something in the air changed. She felt a pull to him and a spark that she had never felt before. He wasn’t what she expected but every piece of her was telling her that he needed to be in her life for whatever reason. The only way she could sum up that feeling was by remembering all of the past prayers in her lifetime for a sign of her “one”.

While he was in the library, he noticed her but was more so focused on why he had come to the library in the first place. He made his rounds, laughed and caught up with some of the old friends he knew and then was on his way.

What he didn’t realize was that while he was talking to patrons and employees of the library, she was at work learning more about him. Everyone who knew him from before had nothing but the best things to say about his character, spirit, heart and work ethic. These truths made her learn things about him that others didn’t realize. There was something about him that set him apart, that made him the sweet and genuine person that he is. And she knew right away that he loved the same unchangeable, never shifting Jesus Christ.

At this point in time he wasn’t fully moved back to Terre Haute. He was living about 35 minutes away. So on his drive back home from the haute, he gets a FaceBook message and it ends up being from the girl he saw working at the library. So what does he do? He writes back but still in complete confusion.

Before she sent the message to him, she had two questions to answer:

1. Did he love the Lord like she could feel on him?

2. Was he even single?

And the answers came back yes and yes. Sooner than she realized it, he messaged her back.

Two days later the two of them met for coffee. Both just trying this out to see what it would be like. She was dressed all in black with stoic body language while he was in athletic wear with bubbling energetic energy to match. They couldn’t be more opposite so no one could blame them for what came next- the friendzone.

They both friend-zoned each other but for whatever reason, maybe it was her first heart pull to him or his deep curiosity in what she was really about, they kept hanging out together.

Their time started with a couple of coffee shop hangouts, then grew to 4 hour long phone conversations, to long walks in parks, taking pictures together, holding hands, first kisses in parking lots, professions of love on marble bridges then like a turn of the page to a new chapter that starts with a man on his knee just wanting to love that girl with everything he has for as long as he breathes.

She may have made the first move and felt the first skip of heartbeat but he was the first to tell her how one day he would marry her. She knew and he knew somehow all along that they were meant to be. And as they say, the rest is history!

-XOKriss

Fierce Marriage: 31 Day Pursuit

This past Valentine’s day I decided to get Jacob some German chocolate truffles and a study that would not only cultivate his soul and deepen his relationship with Christ but it would serve as a tool to strengthen our understanding of each other, our special bond and our quickly approaching marriage.

To start off a blog about what love looks like and feels like, I must say that I’m thankful for Jacob and the kind of man he is and chooses to be. He was not only excited about doing the study with me but at times, he became more disciplined to get into the book which helped inspire me to keep trucking through the chapters and learning more about how God designed marriage to be.

This is praiseworthy to me because Jacob is praiseworthy to me. There are a lot of men in the world who would have just laughed at a book like this but because of both his excitment and serious understanding of its purpose, I was able to flourish and my heart grew more soft. That in itself helps me know, yet again, that he is the man I have been waiting for.

Because we live such busy lives and have a long engagement, Jacob and I have been slowly digging into our 31 Day Pursuit Challenge books. The books in of themselves were written to compliment each other with their corrsponding days but its a seperate read for both the husband and the wife.

After finally finishing the challenge, I can say with both hands down that I’m thankful for this time. I’m learning how to love Jacob in ways he best feels loved, it’s pushing me out of the mindset to treat my relationship with him as something commonplace and its uprooting places in my heart where my sense of “self” is so strong, stubborn and destructive. This book was both painful in dealing with my own truths and yet healing for the special relationship that’s in the bond of marriage.

One of my favorite ideas learned through this study and others is that when a man feels respect- the woman feels loved. It is a beautiful cycle and when it’s in action both feel life, love and contentment. Because when a woman doesn’t feel loved, she tends to not respect her man. And when a man doesn’t feel respected, he tends to close off love/affection for her. And vice versa, the two have to work together. However, those “rules” sound, its easy to overlook them but wow are they important when it comes to how a man and woman were specially created.

So I want to challenge you to pickup a copy of both the husband and the wife 31 Day Pursuit books! Yes, the books were desiged for those already married of which Jacob and I aren’t fully yet. But I did find that it was possible to tweak parts of the book that are strictly for marriage. So I do recommend this book to those who are engaged and are about to be married. I, however, would not recommend this book to you if you are either single or dating. But will say that the wait is worth it, press into God and look forward to my future blog post on the joys/struggles of singleness (I have a whole lot to say on that one).

Wishing you all well!

-XOKriss