i like this.

The supreme happiness of life is

the conviction that we are loved

- loved for ourselves,

or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

~Victor Hugo

painting again.

Its been too long but I am painting again. Even if its just this one little specialized thing.

friends & twin Beds...

One of the crazy things about having a husband on night shift is sometimes you can have a sleep over with your friends, and most of the time you don't sleep, and most of the time you are alone with your thoughts at random moments in the night.

Normally a sleepover is filled with laughter, silly outbursts, chocolate, & popcorn. Though this sleep over was different. You see it seems we have all really grown up... as I sleep in a twin bed and across the way is a new changing table and basket of baby goodies awaiting a sweet baby boy's arrival in February. Things seem different but a good different.

Tonight...I made dinner for my sweet husband and we rushed out the door, him to his patrol car, and me to my friends home over the hill. By the time i arrived my tired pregnant friend was fast asleep, and I was greeted by her kind husband, shown my room and had a simple conversation about life, anniversaries (they just celebrated too), and his joy over their baby coming to this world. I said goodnight at 10 closed my door and climbed into my twin bed. TEN I have not fallen asleep at ten in years. so I stayed up on the net until now when I fingers found my blog.

Tomorrow I get to go to my friends classroom at 6:40 am shhesh but it will be so worth it to be in her world. Amongst her students, and watch her use her gift of teaching.

Tomorrow after my "big day at school" we will drive north to visit our friend that is sick. We can only be there for a few hours but it will be worth it sooo soo much.

As I lay here praying I will sleep soon... I ponder...

In the midst of my unemployment I have had free time on my hands. I really see this time as time to spend with my friends, family and anyone God places in our path. It has not been easy, but the rewards have been great. Why must we always be Martha trapped in the hustle and bussel of life? Why can we not just be Mary at Jesus' feet? I miss minstry dearly but in all honestly, I was becoming martha in my last months as a youth pastor. It is these moments as a wife alone in my thoughts, as a friend & wife sitting litening to people's hearts, I am beyond blessed. This my just be what God has for us right now, so we are living in just that. As hard as it is at times. We are where God wants us. I love it.

one year celebration!

Ohh for us on our weekend we had such a blast celebrating! Here are some snapshots of our adventure.

I woke to two dozen Roses...& Breakfast

Crapes ohh crapes...
Rocks and Fro yo and we got a "Local discount" even though we where on Va-cay... I suppose va-cay when you travel under a hour still means local. sweet!
Bat rays celebrating a first year too... with a bat ray kiss...
Moonrise cuddles...
Cruise ship adventures...

Scribbles in the sand...

Timing and Happiness for miles...
We snapped many scenic shots... this one was just past a beware don't cross line... sheesh breaking the law breaking the law. crazy husband.
Yeah we love each other & the Ocean!
Golfing from the pro's tee...
I love his smirk here :) oops maybe we are not suppose to be here thanks pebble for allowing us to be obvious wanderers!
FRUIT STAND! ohh i love Cali 10 avocado's for $1 yeah $1.00, pineapples for two.
Sunsets & a picnic... amongst the cliff
Laughter & joy throughout.

Yeah... we tried it... it tasted REALLY Bad. Result cake fight in the kitchen... glad we didn't do that at our wedding! Much Laughter & Pondering why in HEAVENS would anyone save their wedding cake for a year??? but only to have a good food fight with! Eat it on your one month anniversary of the nuptials!

So we raise our glasses and toast to another Good year. Focused on new adventures together! Here's to year TWO!

Honest & Amazingly Beautiful!

When I spoke to my husband about the words I had picked for the countdown to our 1 year

I told him these where the words that came to mind:

• Steadfast
• Joy
• Service
• Growth
• Family
• Honest

My Sweet husband said, "When I think about our year I think of the words, "AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL!" come to mind." He may kill me if I mention anymore of his sweet words to me. Yet in short he is in total agreement with my word choice.

We honestly laugh about so much, and we honestly talk about every everything. An eye opening lifestyle can make feelings hurt, and in the same breath can open they eyes to your partners heart. For us the honesty, is honesty that is routed in love and care for the other person. There is where the strength rests.

More than anything our first year is covered in LOVE, love of life, love for God, love for each other. If I had a million days I could go on with more words that express how amazing our first year has been. We seek to, "love the Lord our God with all our hearts!" and in the midst of it we find so many blessings. May your marriage be just as blessed, even in the tough times, may you rest in Him the God who showed us what true love is, and honored us with the capacity to find love.

Familia and more Family!

Sometimes when you fall in love you, one person has a large family and the other has a small family. For us we came with two Large families... Not only are these families large, but we are families that love to be together. In our first year together we have logged countless number of hours with our crazy, fantastic, loving, kind, and such a rich history tangled together. We don't often get everyone together through out this year but we did grab a few photos at the wedding and actually not everyone was able to make it to our wedding, due to life and what nots... but here is a small picture of our busy family life...

Below is the Left the Koenig (Pherf's Dad's side) &

on the Right the Gudnason Family (Pherf's mom's side)

The Bernal side (my dad's family)

The Solis Side (my Mom's family)

I gained 17 new Aunts and Uncles, four new grandparents, when We said I do last year and Pherf gained, shoot... where to begin our count us crazy Mexicans... we needed two pictures to cover the folks that made it to our wedding.

Family has been a big part of our first year of marriage and family has always and will always play a big part in who we are.

Yet our little branch was established on year ago. and it is blossoming quite nicely.

To SERVE & GROW

I Know I Know, where have I been??? Who starts a quest and then leaves you hanging. Sorry about that, it was no intention of mine to leave such a cliff hanger :) especially with all my million readers out there. :) details.

We had to venture out of Town for a few days and we didn't take our Computer, and we acted like tourist. And it was amazing. I think heading away even for a night from time to time is a wonderful way of getting away from the norm. Our time away though brief & was soo wonderful!

These are Days 5 & 4 in our Countdown. I combined them because they really go hand in hand. Not to mention my absence. details.

TO SERVE...

You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. ~Author Unknown

The biggest things society tell us is "its all about you". The biggest things scripture tells us is to (Matthew 22: 37-39) " 1st love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind... and the 2nd is to "Love your Neighbor as yourself". It is the way my husband loves God, and loves others with out a doubt is one of the first things that I fell in love with him. For us marriage has been about living that our daily.

My husband in his sweet humility often hides from me and the camera as I try to capture him

working around our home.

We enjoy a mutual serving of each other, from bring one blackberries in the morning, to picking up someones dry cleaning, to listening to music that ones loves... and the other doesn't. Its the simple things that keep us serving each other.

When you serve together your heart grows fonder together, because you both deeply love what you are committed to. The first part of our relationship Pherf and I met while i worked at high street. We both have grown so much in those years since.

This year we served together at high street until June. To the very end of our time there we loved and loved well. Serving together as a married couple was beyond what I expected.

1 Peter 4:10

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."

If you know us you know we both have very different gifting, but we have one gift that is the same, we love people and love to serve them when we can. Our prayer is that this will only grow stronger with each new day.

TO GROW

The best is we have indeed grown by far. Walking through difficult situations, our Friendship is deeper in just 365 days.

When you live with a person you have the opportunity to KNOW them. The Koenig's KNOW much more of who God created us to be. We have seen when each of us are at their breaking point, and we smile at it now... not the smile of annoyance but the smile that says i understand. It is there...we see the Growth of our marriage when we know we need to leave, and when we need to be silent and when we need to just embrace the other. Growth happens in many ways.

We had the sweet opportunity to counsel my sweet cousin Gina and Patrick. We loved talking about marriage with them, we loved talking about life, finances, and challenges that would be ahead. I preformed my first wedding for my baby cousin, it was such a joy, and could not have done it with out my sweet husband.

As the cheesy but true analogy, goes we have planted seeds in rich soil... and our lives are growing deep roots in our love with GROWTH, SERVANT HOOD, JOY, & STEADFASTNESS!