Honesty

I've been inspired by some fellow bloggers to be a bit more honest on my blog.

When it comes to blogging, I mostly compose posts which leave an impression that life is {nearly} perfect. One of the ways I utilize my blog is to focus on the importance of the small joys in life and I therefore tend to view the world through rose-tinted glasses. I just don't want to give readers the idea that I'm trying to paint a false picture of our life and make it seem better than it really is.

Overall, I must say that our life is incredibly blessed and we are generally very happy. But that doesn't mean that there aren't day to day struggles and frustrations. Life can still have its difficulties in the midst of the blessings.

London.

So in order to "get real" in a sense, here are some of the things that I've been struggling with lately:

~We are not particularly enjoying living on the eastern side of the state of Michigan. It's a rather depressed area and it leaves us questioning whether we really want to put down roots here {i.e. buy a house}.

~I'm sick of our couch. It was generously passed down to us from my parents. This means the couch is over fifteen years old and oh man, is it evident. The couch squeaks, moans, and groans with any movement. The springs are sagging. The original fabric is shot, so we use a slip cover. Now the slip cover is showing wear and tear, but nice slip covers are expensive, so buying a new one isn't really an option. We want to wait to buy a new couch until we actually own a home someday, since we can't know what would work best in our future home's living room. Doing things the Dave Ramsey-way really sucks sometimes. {A lot of our other furniture pieces are hand-me-downs; a blessing, but sometimes I just want nice, new things.}

~I am dying to go back to school. There are two issues, however; first being that we don't know if we will remain living in this area permanently. How can I get set to start school in a year if the possibility remains that we could relocate? Secondly, money--oh money--you are always an issue. We worked so hard to get out of debt and we aren't willing to take on more at this point. But the military won't provide funding for me {as a military spouse} to get my Master's, which is the impression we had previously. HUGE disappointment. Getting an assistantship is pretty much my best option, but obviously very competitive, and once again, the biggest question remains of whether or not we will stay here.

~We get lonely a lot. We don't have any friends here. And since Matt works weekends, we haven't been able to establish a home church in this area as of yet, which will be our best bet to meet other Christian couples we can hang out with. Though Matt, Annabelle, and I keep ourselves entertained, it would be such a blessing to have friends close by.


There. Those are my big ones.

I must reiterate again that overall, our life is wonderful and abundantly blessed. God has been so infinitely good to us and I praise Him every day for His endless outpouring of love. Yet I believe God uses the struggles, frustrations, and question marks in our lives to keep us close to Him. We must always rely on Him for our strength and our direction in the everyday things.

Yes, these are some of my struggles. But I don't let them get me down, for my hope is in The One who holds our future in His perfect hands.