Our Little Home

Not a whole lot has gone on this past week, which is actually kinda nice, since everything changed at about this time last week! It will be nice to have a weekend to ourselves again, especially since school is about to start. I am SSSOO not ready for that to be here! I am still working on finishing out this other stupid class I am taking! I hate having homework during the summer, especially when I know it all could have been avoided! GGRRR! It is ok, I just wish it were different.

I am excited because tonight my Noni and Poppy are coming over to eat with us! Noni is going to help us put up some stuff around our little house to make it looke decorated more like a house instead of a dorm. It really isn't so bad, I actually think it looks decent for it being married housing an all, and really cramped! I am so ready to be in more than a one bedroom, but God has really blessed us with a place to live, so it is good to be there right now! It will be fun to host my grandparents too, and to feel grown up just a little bit more! hehe!

I am also trying to figure out how to put a thing a pictures on here for everyone to see them. Pics from the honeymoon, wedding, first days at the new house, and all in between. There are also pictures from camp that I was able to go to with Mark and the Cliftones. Anyways, I better get back to work! More to come soon!

Changes. . .

Soo, once again there have been changes in the lives of Mark and Kristen. God has been so good to us, answering prayers in BIG ways! First of all there is my one year of school left. For about the last year and a half, I have been in the process of trying to graduate on time after a schedule mess up from an old advisor. Anyways, there was a problem with classes and I was scared, if my new dean didn't allow me to take this one class simultaneously with the another one, I wouldn't graduate on time. Luckily, the new dean was VERY compassionate and overrode the system to allow me to take the class! I will graduate one time!! It will be a hard year, 18 hours instead of 12 in the fall and 12 hours istead of 6 in the spring, but I will be out of here!

Another blessing is with the cost of school and all. My financial aid package was phenomenal! The government realized how poor we were and gave us ssooo much help it is unreal. We are only going to have to pay $181 to the school, and get this, our rent is PAID FOR! From the aid given to us, my school, and our rent (except for the $181) is taken care of! WITHOUT LOANS!! HOLY COW, what a blessing!! God is sssoo good and providing for us in major ways!

Another way He has provided is with another job opportunity for Mark. He is now the Assistant Worship Leader at Macedonia Baptist Church. He will work with the youth praise team and something else, play the guitar in their morning service and lead the service when the music minister is absent! They interviewed him Thursday, offered him the job that night, and he started today (the Monday right after). It was all so quick, something we had been praying for earnestly for a while, and so completely God orchestrated! Please pray for him as he begins this new adventure.

So yeah, that has been the happenings so far in the Clifton household! Can't wait to see what the next couple of weeks holds!

One Month.

Well it has been one month to the day since we said "I do" to each other. I cannot believe how quickly time seems to just fly by! I can honestly say this has been one of the most fun months I have ever had and I cannot wait for the many more that will follow!! As far as what is new with us, well there are a few things happening.

First of all, we are getting a new bed!! We started out on a full size one, but were expecting a bedroom suite from my aunt and uncle sometime right after we got married! We are acutally going to get all of it tonight so that is exciting!!! It is a king size bed, complete with Mattress and all!! I cannot believe how blessed we are. The stuff is GORGEOUS, mahagony colored wood, and just beautiful. Mark said it is probably what we would have picked out for ourselves if we had gone shopping for a brand new one! I absolutely love it!! And the best part is it is free.

The second thing is that I got my schedule worked out to where I will acutally graduate on time!! And I will not have to take a ridiculously hard course this summer! I am so happy!! God has blessed me with an amazing dean who has helped me so much my 3 years at ETBU! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this!!!

Lastly, I am going to camp with the Cliftones! That was another surprise Mark had up his sleeve for me. I didn't think I was going to be able to go, but Mark pulled a few strings and I am now going!! Don't I just have the most amazing husband in the entire world. We leave Tuesday night to go to dallas, and then leave early from Dallas to drive six hours to the Sky Ranch camp in Quaw Paw ( I know I totally just messed that one up royaly) Oklahoma. We will be coming back on Sunday night!

We were both in Weddings this weekend as well, and say two sets of good friends get married away to the loves of their lives! It is all so exciting what God is doing in this time in life, I am absolutely loving it! God is good!!

Woah. . . We're Married!!

Yep, that's right we actually did it, everything worked out, and on June 14, 2008 Mark and I tied the knot! It was so amazing, everything I could have ever wanted my wedding to be, and oh so much more!! The decorations looked great, the wedding party looked phenomenal, everything went off without a hitch! Mark sang to me as well, and for the first time in one of his songs to me I cried!! Or better yet, "bawled" according to Best Man Blake! It was ssoo sweet, so romantic, the perfect wedding, I am very very blessed.

We honeymooned in Shreveport for a couple of days, because Mark had to be back at work later in the week. It was so relaxing, I know one day I fell asleep for 3 whole hours! I didn't really know how exhausted I was until I actually stopped long enough to rest!! A wedding can really do you in! Another thing neither one of us really realized until after it was all said and done, was the amount of stress we both were feeling and how nice it was to now not have any. We were so amazed that we never fought ONCE on the entire honeymoon, sadly a far cry from the week or so before the wedding! We were able to stay in the Elderado Hotel and Casino, thanks to my Uncle Mike and Aunt Lori, and we were just lazy. We watched movies, I slept, we went out to the Boardwalk and bought new clothes, it was just nice!! We didn't want to come back!!

Come back we did though, to a group of friends and family waiting to see us and hear all about what we thought about the wedding and honeymoon etc. It is so wonderful to have both friends and family who will love and support you, especially in a such a big change as this one was. They have really helped easing into this whole marriage thing much easier to take and more fun.

Marriage life has been so amazing! You get to live with your best friend and find out so many new and exciting things that you didn't know before. You develop and even deeper love, trust, and bond than the one you had before the wedding. I didn't think it could happen, but it did. I loved Mark before, but I love him even more and in a slightly different way now that we are making our two lives one! I have never laughed so much with him, spent so much time, enjoyed his company, before now. I am really loving being a wife and having a husband. You just know it is so right and God really did pick you out for each other.

So what is coming up for the Cliftons? The band is playing at a camp this next week and I am getting to go!! I am so excited!!!! I didn't think I was going to, but Mark pulled a few strings of his own and now I am able to go!! I am also working on trying to finish as many lessons in the two distance learning courses I am taking this summer. There is just SSSOO MUCH WORK involved in both of these classes it is taking me alot longer than I expected! My brother and some others from my church are in South Dakota on a mission trip, they are having a blast and working hard, so that is another thing!

If you want to read more about the pre-wedding planning, you can go to this site and catch up on all my thoughts and things before the ceremony! Also I am going to try to get more pictures posted very soon! I have some, but am still waiting on others!