14/02/2013

Valentines Day has always been a happy day for me, single or not, I did my best to be completely satisfied in any situation !  I realized that many people went on dates any other day of the year and it didn't bother me then, so why should it bother me on February 14th? Until my parents moved after high school , my parents would give us kids a small gift , my mom made us candy and my dad would give us girls flowers. In my single high school years, my best girlfriends and I would go out to dinner and then hang out for the evening , sometimes some guys would come over, we made s'mores and just hung out , no one hooked up,  we all had a pure good time together. When I did have a Valentine in high school, those times were fun too! I mean it was dinner and chocolate , who could say no to that !?! Last year , when Travis and I were engaged, Travis got up at an ungodly hour and he made me breakfast and set up a table with candles, it was amazing and then he left soon after on apartment hunt ! I spent the day wondering what my future home would look like, he came back the next day triumphant with the perfect place, I was elated . Not many girls can say that they got an apartment for Valentines day !
This year, we are married , living in America , with a baby on the way , we both have jobs. I kiss him good bye at 7:15 and I don't him again until 5. Today was not much different, and in fact he has a Valentines Day Gala for work that he is doing, and although I get to go, it's a little different than the traditional dinner out. To be honest , I am excited, I love watching him work, he is very good at his job and it is blessing for me to hear all of the residents talk about what a wonderful,gifted and sweet man my husband is. Although I know all of these things to be true because he exemplifies these qualities at home, it's a blessing for me as his wife hear such things of the man I get to spend life with !  Regardless of the business of today , my husband brought me a beautiful arrangement of flowers and my favorite Australian licorice! His gift is in the mail...somewhere ... :)
Although we couldn't do a valentines day breakfast in bed, or take a long leisurely walk on the beach, or gaze into each others eyes all day and flirt over a candle light dinner. The love that we share goes beyond those things, and thankfully I can share those things and make those memories every day. If you know me, you know that I will want to share with you how today reminds me of the ultimate Valentine. Thankfully, Jesus is a better lover than myself, he never disappoints, and He forgives my daily failures, and he is not a better lover on any specific day of the year, he is perfect and consistent all the time. What an example of a lover we have as believers ! I want to encourage all of you to take a look at Jesus and His perfect,undying love that has lasted and will last through the ages, and love those around you with that same love.


 "In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

- Exodus 15:13

Calling all Mommies !Help Wanted !

Hello Everyone !

So as the day where I become a mother draws near, I find myself wondering if I have enough of this, or if I really need to buy that one thing that everyone says I need! I had a wonderful baby shower last weekend and I got loads or adorable baby clothes and a few other necessities, but I know that I need a few other items such onesies, a dresser, a boppy pillow, sleeping gowns, cloth diapers... The list could easily go on! Anyways, is like to ask you moms ( words of daddy wisdom are more than welcome too, I'll pass them on to Travis !)  to either comment or Facebook message me the items that you could not have lived without when you had your babies !
This fresh,new mom would appreciate it !

Much Love,

Autumn

From one new wife to another ...

One newlywed from another.

It has been just about seven months since I entered marital bliss, and although I am no where near to being a pro at marriage or being a wife , I know plenty of people getting married this year and though I have not been at this for a while, I have this need to impart some of the things that I have learned and still am learning!
I would consider myself a young bride, less than a month after I left my teenage years, Travis and I got engaged , and then six months into my 20s I was a married woman. I had this whole picture of what kind of wife I was going to be, and although I knew that my marriage would not be perfect by any means , I had this picture in my mind , it was a pretty picture.   I was going to be super organized,  an immaculate housewife , positive, cute and adorable all of the time . After our honeymoon and when I started summer school, I was hit with the fact that picture was not reality , and I would not have wanted it to be, to be honest the picture I had of myself and of my marriage was well, cookie cutter and a little boring ! Now , I do not mean to say that being those things are bad, of course I desire to be a great wife, of course I desire to be a wise spender of my time, and always full of positive things , I pray for those traits in my life . However , I am not perfect and Travis does not want me to be, I learned that my husband would much rather spend quality time with him before the house is spotless, he would much rather have a confidant me than a perfectly made up me !   Travis loves it when I am spontaneous in the kitchen , and he loves watching my creativity , he prefers seeing this side of me before seeing the overly organized and anal to our menu plan. Travis loves me and the reality of me is that I am never perfect, not always organized , and dishes will be in the sink .
 No matter how wonderful you fiancé is , I promise you that there will be days where you  will want to strangle him, should you ? Never ! But will you momentarily think about it ? Yes. Your husbands will do something that will hurt your feelings, he'll be late for dinner ( or tell you last minute to cancel), or he may not  text or call you all day long when you needed him, he may not be doing anything wrong but he will make you mad. When that happens, you need to take a take back and deep breath. Sometimes when I have gotten upset because I felt ignored and I lash out at my husband , I come to find out that he is simply working very hard and because he is responsible he wants to be an example he does not like to use his phone for personal reason at work . Wow, it is in those moments that I feel like a complete selfish idiot . In most of these cases where I feel hurt , it's because I am being totally selfish and I am blinded by my own emotions to think clearly.
And ladies , you will fight, you will be seething , you'll cry a ridiculous amount of anger tears , but after that fight and you've made up, you will have learned so much about this man you've married , and it will be awesome . I promise .
A word from someone who knows, don't make too many set in stone plans. Because if you haven't learned already from your own walk, God has other plans that usually do coerce with yours. I did not plan to spend the first year of newlywed bliss growing a human being, I also did not plan moving to a different country either. As incredible as these blessings are , I had a really difficult time with them at first because I was still clutching on to the things that I had planned.
And lastly, love on your husbands, never hold back a smile, don't hesitate to snuggle up into his arms, listen when he talks ( I'm not talking about the important stuff he has to tell you, but listen to the normal stuff ) and let him love on you ! If he wants to play with your hair ( in my case Travis likes to knot it ) if he wants to spoil you, don't tell him not to waste money on you , if he tells you that you are beautiful , believe him. Your marriage will be sweeter because of it .

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
- Genesis 2:18

Jeremiah Scott

Last Sunday the fact that I am going to have a son really hit me, it took about ten other people to ask us what we were having. It has finally gotten to me that this little person, this little one pound life that has listening ears, a moving body and a beating heart, is more than just life inside of me, it's my son, my little boy! Whoa. Allow this preggo a few tears of pure happiness.

People ask us what we are going to name him, I like letting Travis answer, he sounds so happy and so proud when he says "Jeremiah Scott!". Side note, I have fallen in love with Travis so much just by watching him as an expectant father, it's pretty incredible! Most people don't ask where the name came from, so I wanted to just write and tell you all, because it also plays a part in my entire pregnancy. Travis and I had no problem choosing names, in fact we decided before we officially found out we were pregnant, literally we threw around a few names and decided on two before we got home from a trip to the market down the street. It would be Abigail Joe if it was a girl, and Jeremiah Scott if it was a boy. We loved our girl name, come on, Abigail means "My Father Rejoices", how sweet and precious is that?!?! But there was something about Jeremiah that meant a lot to us as a couple.
     Last summer, when we first started dating, we just so happened to be reading through the book of Jeremiah together. That book spoke to us concerning our future ministry together, and it gave us a lot of courage as two young people starting out in life and in ministry. Jeremiah means " God will raise up", we both thought that would be a great name if we ever had a son, after a busy semester and getting engaged that December, we both forgot about it. Until, of course that life changing moment when Travis causually brought up the idea that I could be pregnant. The day after we officially found out we were pregnant, I was doing one of my online classes, and the whole class was taught by various teachers and pastors, and today was Jon Courson, a pastor that I love. After an opening prayer, I heard the words " Please turn to Jeremiah 1..." within minutes of the sermon, I was in tears.  Pastor Jon talked about how Jeremiah was not only called to be a prophet, but he had been called before he was knit in the womb. It was at that moment I knew two things , 1) Jeremiah was most definately was the name and 2) I was carrying a boy.
      Travis and I have chosen Jeremiah 1:5 as our son's verse , it says

                          “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
                             Before you were born I sanctified you;
                                 I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

We want our son to grow up to be a man of God, a man of integrity, and a man that is willing to do anything that His Lord asks of him, we also want our son to answer to the calling that God will lay on his life. We would like you to pray for Travis and I as we step into this adventure of parenthood. Please pray for us that we would be examples to our son, that we would take every step along the way in prayer!

Much love,

Autumn 

The Content Heart

       

"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,

And for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people,And praise Him in the company of the elders" - Psalm 107:31-32 

It is 6:55 in the morning on Thanksgiving Day and I have been wide awake since 5:30. I have learned to spend these mornings to spend with Jesus. My bible opened to there was a book mark from my psalms class that I had just finished and it was Psalm 107. Which just happens to be about thankfulness, as I read this psalm I was reminded about all of things that I should be thankful for. Of course I am thankful for Travis, our baby on the way, our combined families, our "family" in Hungary, the total blessing of Travis' having a job , the home that we get to live in, the car we have to drive. All of these things are incredibly awesome, and I am deeply thankful for them. But as I read Psalm 107, I was reminded to be thankful for the LORD. I was reminded to be thankful for His power, for His goodness, for His sacrifice, for His mercy, the list goes on and on. Thanksgiving is a busy day, some may have to travel far, or go to several different places in order to spend the day with our whole families, and it's easy to get caught up in the moment of being busy and then suddenly Thanksgiving is over, we have totally forgotten to be thankful for anything. And then our minds fly to Christmas, and we begin to device our Christmas lists, our menus, and who we are going to visit, the cycle continues. I grew up on the mission field, and I spent every Thanksgiving with at least 30 other believers, we spent all day fellowshipping, eating, and then we made a point to prayer and to just be thankful. I want to encourage you to do that today, if you can before you have to get busy just pray, and be thankful for the LORD and who HE is in your life or you can pray before you go to bed and reflect on those things. 
       Now, as you may be wondering why I titled this blog " The Content Heart", you're about to find out. I have learned that a thankful heart springs up from a content heart. I now that I am guilty of dwelling on the things that I do not have, which really is super dumb. Which afore mentioned in the paragraph above, I have so very much. Everyone in the world is in want of something, some of you really want to leave mom and dad's and have a place of your own, some of you really want to be married right now, some of you really want to have kids right now. And as awesome as these things really are, it is best to just sit back and have a content heart. Now, this is coming from someone who had several major changes of seasons in just the course of one year, I got engaged,married,pregnant and I moved countries all before my 21st birthday. I had to learn to be content in the season I was in because I knew that it was going to be changing very soon. Of course I have had( and I still do) moments where I am uncontent where I am, and that is when I discover that my heart is not thankful and get grumbly and my heart gets gross. 
So, today I really want to challenge all of you to reflect on the Lord, and ask Him to reveal Himself to you so that you will know all of the things that you have to be thankful for. I also challenge you to be content in the season that you are in RIGHT now. And I want you to know that I will be challenging myself with this as well, I have about four more months until this baby gets here, so four more months until it is no longer just Travis & I , we will have a child of our own ( whoa, crazy). So I am thankful for the days I have when it is just us, and I steeped myself in this very short season I have left of this.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving !

Love,

Autumn

Leaving

       It is Wednesday, November 7th and my husband and I are leaving Hungary in 10 days.  As excited as I am about the move, the change of seasons, and the bundle of excitement that awaits us, I can't help but feel a little weepy and sad. I have lived in Hungary for nearly two years, and the Lord has changed my life in every way possible. When I think about the 19 year old that came to Hungary on February 3rd, I hardly recognize her. Her heart was in a totally different place, her own hopeful dreams could not have even begun to conjure up the plans that the Lord had for me. I cannot even begin to express the thankfulness I feel towards the Lord for all the changes He has brought to my life in two years. If you would have told me two years ago today that I would be a married woman and an expectant mother living in Budapest, Hungary, I would have laughed at your. My life was not heading in that direction, but as we know...the Lord has many other plans for His beloved.

       I know many of you were aware of our move to Arizona, but for those of you who were not, allow me to tell you about the biggest decision that Travis & I have made as a couple (besides getting married that is :)) it was about two weeks after arriving from our honeymoon, our home was broken in to and Travis had been acting weird. After our morning devotion time, Travis told me that he felt the Lord calling us back to his home in Arizona for a season. But he wanted to pray about it for a month and see what the Lord spoke to us about it. We prayed and waited a month; we both felt that it was our time to go home. We were not really surprised about this decision; we had both felt that our season in Hungary would not be a long one, ever since Travis and I started talking about marriage and ministry together. Our plan and desire is to spend two years in Surprise, Arizona and to get really connected with a church. Our hearts are rooted into Europe, I cannot imagine never coming back and serving the Lord. But who knows, maybe the Lord has other plans for us. We will see what the Lord has for us at the end of these two years! 

     So here I am, 10 days away from moving to a different country, 10 days away from starting a whole new life and a whole new season. We are starting to give away our furniture and pack away our clothes. It really hit me today that we are leaving, I look at my cute little newlywed apartment on Dohany utca in the VII district, and I look at the furniture that Travis and I bought with our wedding money, and I remember all of the memories made in my first home, and I am reminded that I will be leaving it all behind. I couldn't help but get a little overwhelmed with the thought of it; I am going to miss Hungary so much. I am going to miss Cserpes milk, kakaos csiga, kurtoskulacs, and I am going to miss looking over the city at night. I am going to miss looking out my window and seeing Gelert Hill. I am going to miss the people that have become my family over the past two years. I am going to miss it so much. Although my heart is heavy and I am trying to cover up the little tears that are falling (I love how my mind decides to get emotional in the middle of the church's coffee shop...I'll blame it on pregnancy hormones), I am reminded that the Lord is faithful!! I am going back to America with so much to look forward too! I have my husband with me that will be there to keep me smiling, I am going back to his wonderful family that loves me like their own, I am going back to start my own little family! And my family is coming to the states for six months in January! God has provided EVERYTHING we need to start our lives in the states, and I am incredibly grateful for that. Through this whole transition of moving, God has had his hand in it every step of the way!

With a heavy yet hopeful heart,

Autumn

Ps- I'll write about our babymoon to Salzburg soon!

Some love for my fellow blogger friends

I have been blogging on and off for about 5 years now, and I've had about three blogs. My first blog was co-written with my best friend, Pauli Dillard during the summer before our junior years in high school. I spent the summer with her and her family in Nashville,Tennessee,easily one of the best summers of my ENTIRE life. We wrote about our adventures of the summer, and some of it is pretty darn hilarious! I highly suggest you check it out here. I had another blog that I recently deleted due to inactivity, it was my wonderful photography blog! I did a lot of very random photography in high school, but unfortunately I never had a professional camera and that really held me back...or well, it really discouraged me from pursuing it, but I have a dream of starting up again one day ! And as you know, I have this blog! This blog is my Internet based baby, I nourish it as much as time will allow, and I really put a lot of thought,effort and inspiration into this blog! But enough about me! I want to use this blog to link you to some of my favorite blogger friends! I consider these people my blogger mentors,and I am encouraged by their blogs.Therefore I will post a little bio about them and a link to their blogs,and I really encourage you to read and to follow...who knows what you could learn!

A City Shining-This blog is by my friend Rachel Titiriga, she is a fantastic photographer and a former missionary in Romania. She now lives in the states, and her blog is just encouraging. Her posts aren't that long, but her she uses her words wisely! A lot of encouraging words from this wonderful gal!

Dirt&Twirls- LOVE this woman!! This blog is by Kimberly Beller, a wife and a mom to four sweet kids. I met them when they were in Hungary as missionaries at my college, after my first semester they moved back to the states due to some pregnancy complications with their youngest, Cruz. This lady can really write, and she writes to strike the heart ( unbeknown st to herself). She writes about her life as a mother and being truly satisfied in the life that our Lord has given her. She is incredibly talented and a role model for any woman in any stage of life.

Higher Than Dreams - This blog is written by my wonderful bible college friend,Callie. Callie is basically fantastic, and she's funny,and she tells really good stories. But besides that, she really loves Jesus and her heart for missions is inspiring! This girl is sold out for Christ. She currently raising money to go to Africa for two weeks in September...so check her blog out and keep her in her prayers.( by the way...she's single ;) )

Image of the Invisible - This blog is written by Kirsten Spencer, Kirsten and her husband,Travis and their three kids are missionaries in Athens,Greece (how cool is that!?!?!?!). She writes about her life as a missionary wife/mommy, and encouraging words and promises from the Word. She also has another blog Sprouts En Route, this is a travel blog that she writes aiming towards people with small children. She has a whole lot of experience going for her as she has three kids under the of 6! HIGHLY suggested for families that do any amount of traveling, oh and she also reviews products for traveling.

Live A Life Worthy- This blog is written by my friend,Colleen. She once lived and worked with us in the Middle East. She writes beautifully, and like a true lady. I don't really have the proper words to describe her blog because it really is unique and special. But I can tell you that you know that this lady is a lover of Jesus.

Oh My Foodness - This blog is written by my Nashvillian friend, Hope! Her blog is about eating frugally and yummily, her recipes are really fantastic! She a true resourceful woman and has the Proverbs 31 stamp of approval!

Beauty from Pane - Last but very not least, this blog is by my wonderful,amazing,creative sister!!! I am constantly amazed by the things that she can create and make! She turns something simple and makes it into something jaw droppingly awesome!! She has always been able to just figure things out and as she's gotten older, she's been able to just make stuff up on her own! She hopes to open up an Esty and earn some money for college! She makes beautiful things, and I am not just saying that because she's my sister,but she is truly wonderful!


I hope you've gathered some new reading material and can meet some of my talented friends!

Much love,

Autumn Wallace

Ps- if you have a blog, let me know, I'd love to read and follow it!!