From the Springs

The detailed, day-by-day schedule that we’ve been following since May 12^th is now completed. June 5^th has come and gone. We’ve arrived in Colorado Springs, Colorado and are surrounded by truly majestic mountains that we know as the Rockies.

With the reality that we’ve finished this detailed schedule and now step into a good bit of unknown, I’ve had several thoughts come to mind about this time and thought I’d share some. 

O' how beautiful marriage is! It is so sweet, but also the most challenging thing next to our walks with Jesus Christ that we have ever committed to individually or together. This is Laura writing... I figured it was about time I added my contribution to the posts Taylor has started. One of the things I love about Taylor is just that... his creativity in the ways he seeks to stay connected to our friends and family. And he says I'm the creative one! Taylor, you give me a run for my money, my love. Our hope is to use some of the money we received as wedding gifts to purchase a video camera to document our journeys out here in the beautiful West. So stay tuned. Ok… back to the thoughts.

I have to say... a little over two weeks of marriage and I have come to learn so much through the everyday moments we've walked through together thus far. Taylor's heart is so deep and our unity in marriage has allowed me to experience that in literally a life altering way! Jesus Christ was so right in giving us marriage to model the relationship between He and the church! Marriage will change your world! Sadly, many people only know this change to be a change for the worst. O' how this grieves my heart. It does so because of how good, powerful, and beautiful the Lord has made that change for Taylor and I! Don't hear me wrong that this has been an easy breezy two weeks or that we’ve handled everything with perfect responses, roses, and candlelight. Whew! Not reality! But the change that marriage brings about emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually is one that I believe that Scripture intends to be for our good and satisfaction. However, if I tried to fit the good and satisfying things we're finding in marriage into society's definition of "good" or "satisfying," it would kind of be like Taylor and I attempting to pack all of our things into two cars. Doesn’t fit!


After all is said and done with the wedding, our marriage is redefining our reality! If growth can be felt (rather than just reflected upon), we are feeling it each day. Tears have welled up in my eyes. Selfishness continues to remind both Taylor and I that we still have a flesh nature to battle. I've been tongue tied and lost for words with emotion and thoughts. But! I have been lavished by the incredible, affirming, and satisfying love of a man who knows deep things about me that no one else will know. I have never felt more beautiful, confident, and worthy of love not only because of my husband but because of the way I understand the love of Christ better. All the preparation and words of wisdom from those around us during this time are so helpful and we cling to words such as, "always communicate," "keep Christ at the center," "always remember to seek out community and don't isolate yourselves," "value honesty and sensitivity." However, experience is truly a powerful teacher!

These are beautiful days as we pray for patience, joy, and love to flood our hearts!

Savoring these moments,

Mrs. Eley

Trans America Adventure Day 1

Day 1 certainly kept us on our toes.  We have some pictures but I don't know where we packed the camera cord so they will be posted lated.  I will try and do the story justice in an abridged version. 

Two days ago we had to get 4 new tires and an allignment on the Hyundai, our first big purchase as a married couple, to prepare for the trip out west.  This was unexpected and set our departure back another day.  The delay was welcomed and allowed us to spend more time with Laura's parents and grandparents, which is always a good time.

We got on the road around 9 this morning and soon after we got on the interstate I noticed a chatter on the right side of the Hyundai and the allignment was pulling to the right.  I personally think driving a car that is out of allignment on the interstate for hours on end is one of the most annoying things in the world.  I didn't think too much of it until we were somewhere between Chattanooga and Nashville and the chatter was getting worse.  We found another branch of the same tire dealer and pulled in for them to take a look at it.  They put it on the lift and looked it over the one of their mechanics and their service manager looked at it and said the couldn't find anything wrong with it.  With a clean bill of health we got back on the interstate to give it another try.  Once we got through Nashville my car sounded like it was going to fall apart at 75mph so we pulled over to look for a service station in Clarksville, TN.  Apparently all service stations close at 3pm on Saturdays and we got in town at 3:45pm. Not good!  We ended up getting the car towed to SEARS and when they went to take a look at it they found that the right front tire was about to fall off.  Apparently the mechanic that installed my tires in Georgia two days ago never torqued my lug nuts properly so from Georgia to Clarksville, TN they were slowing backing themselves off as my tire wobbled more and more. 

The final damage was three stripped studs, a chipped brake rotor, 6 hours of lost travel time and two near meltdowns.

We have been encouraged through the whole process today because of how well we have worked together.   We have remained sensitive to each other so that we could get through the hickups and we are seeing a unity and oneness build between the two of us already.

The plan was to get into St Louis around 5pm, walk around downtown a little before we worked out and went out for supper.  Instead, we arrive in Marion, IL just before 10pm, about 2 hours short of St Louis.  Tomorrow we have 10 hours of driving time in order to make our reservation in Hays, KS tomorrow night.

The good news is that Laura and I worked really well together today, even when emotions were running high and patience was wearing thin.  As much as parts of today were not fun, they were good and served as a good start for Laura and I's life together out in the wild west.

Thoughts from the road:

I think rich people in their really nice cars try to recreate car commercials by driving really fast through mountain roads.

We appreciate the hospitality of Tennessee again.

Illionois has really big bugs that make really big splats on my windsheild.

1235 miles out of 2654 done

Graduate... check
Get married... check
Move 1400 miles across country... checking  :)

We have begun our journey of driving over 2600 miles in two weeks.  We have driven round trip to Tennessee for our honeymoon, returned back to Lynchburg to pack our two apartments in our two cars and we have convoyed down to Georgia for a few days before we take off for the Rockies.

Tennessee took us by surprise with how much we enjoyed our experience there.  People that we met along the way were incredibly friendly and it is, to say the least, a beautiful state.  We stayed for a night on the Big South Fork Canyon.  It was the first time I have ever seen a canyon and it seems like I am just a much a fan of mountain size hole in the ground as I am a mountain.

We found an awesome coffee shop called Remedy Coffee and Conversation that became a haven for us while we were there.  It is second only to our favorite coffee shop of all time, The White Hart, in Lynchburg, VA.

We got to Georgia with our two apartments packed into our cars and now they are spread out in the garage waiting to be packed up again.  Hopefully we can pack them tighter this time so we can get the last few things in our cars and still be able to see out of our passenger window :)  Today we are off to get lunch at Matthew's Cafeteria and then off to Grami and Dun Dun's to see them and to swim a little.  Tomorrow we are hitting the road and shooting to get to St Louis, MO for the first night.

*** I have pictures to put up with this post but Blogger has been weird so they will be put up later.

We're Married!!! :)

As of May 22, 2011 she will be known as Mrs. Laura Eley  :)

And Jesus said " Haven't you read that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?  So they are no longer two, but one.  Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate"   -Matthew 19:4-6


Pictures by our friend Jordan Mclaughlin at jmclaughlinphoto.com.

Thoughts from within a week

3 DAYS!!!  :)

Psalm 67 says:

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.  May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.  May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth.  May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.  Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless you.  God will bless us and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

This is our prayer for the wedding, that God would be gracious to us and bless us to that his ways would be known among those at the wedding.  As much as we want this occasion and celebration to be beautiful and fun we are praying that the Lord would grow an even stronger desire in our hearts for his glory and his fame.

We have been deeply affected by knowing that the depth of love that we have for one another is but a mere shadow of the love that God has for each of us individually.  We are praying that this knowledge would permeate fortified and calloused hearts, blind eyes and deaf ears all to his glory.  

Thanks to everybody who has been praying for us in this time, your prayers are certainly felt.  This week we have had enough of a to-do list to keep us busy but not enough to stress over.  We are so excited to see everybody this weekend and share this occasion with everybody that can come.

We got our marriage certificate :)

We are down to 17 days now.  School is coming to a close with starting a light load for finals today and finishing up the last few assignments before riding out the days to graduation.  Plans are coming along smoothly for the wedding and stress is almost nonexistent in the mix of it all.  God has continued to show himself gracious in this time and we are so grateful.

Newest exciting news is that we went to the court house in Lynchburg yesterday and got our marriage certificate.  It was fun to get excited about and see it through.  We even had to raise our right hand and swear we weren't lying on any of the information on the form.

"Will both of you raise your right hand?"
"Oh... uh... yea!" *snicker*  :)

Next we stood out on the famous steps downtown and took some pictures with passers-by smiling at us and enjoying our excitement.  It has been great to see others enjoy our excitement and seemingly reflecting back on their wedding day.

We are praying that this time would rekindle love and bring reconciliation and encouragement to couples around us through the whole process.  If Jesus can reconcile us to the Father then restoring a marriage can surely be done as well, and we pray this is faith.

We are back!

So suddenly 90 days has turned into 21 days!  Where does time go?! That I do not know but here is a little update on us.

We are Colorado bound in about 33 days!  It has been an interesting progression of events but the Lord continues to work.  I still have not heard from the internship that I applied for so I am taking that as a no... disappointing, yes, but I see the Lord's hand at work in it.  In the midst of job hunting I made up my mind to go to Physical Therapy school in the next couple years to get my Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and I do not think that I would have completely bought into this idea if I had gotten internship.  I probably would have pursued any possible option with them and ended up doing something that I really don't enjoy.  Laura is waiting to hear back about an HR job that would be PERFECT! :) She is made for that stuff and I know that once she gets to speak with an organization they will understand that she will be a huge asset for them.

The interesting thing about this whole process is that we are confident that the Lord has everything all mapped out for us and that he will lead us right into the things that he has for us be we have absolutely no idea what that is going to look like.  We are continuing to learn what it looks like to step out on faith and rest in the truth of the character of God.  He is benevolent, perfect love, the creator and sustainer of all creation, the rewarder of those who seek him, etc...  Our pastor mentioned Deuteronomy 29:29 this morning in his sermon, saying "the secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to us and our children forever."  We cannot allow the details and the little questions foster an environment of doubt and anxiety.  We have the truth and the promises of God and that will sustain us when we do not know how to find true north.

Laura and I have thought back and talked about this engagement time, reflecting on things that we have experienced and learned.  People along the way, at different times, have encouraged us to continue to communicate in all of its various forms, topics and levels and this has proved to be one of the most valuable things through this time.  We have been able to talk about many different topics at different times and in varying degrees of details and sometimes this had led us to having to be selfless for a time and other times we just had to get on the same page but in the end all of these conversations have led us to function more and more as a unit.  I have continued to see how much I can trust Laura with my emotions and insecurities.  When we got engaged I would have had no hesitations in saying that Laura was my best friend and the same still stands today but now I also know that she is my companion and my helper.  She is a safe haven for me.

The remainder of our undergrad career is summed up in a short to-do list and our time as singles is now measured in days.  This is going to be a whirlwind but I can hardly wait to see what the Lord has in store for us next.