Our First Years

People say the first year of marriage is the hardest - and I understand why now. There is so much to adjust to during the first year. Especially if couples move in together after the wedding - like us.

 When we returned from our honeymoon and I went to work that Monday, I was told that there had been budget cuts and Friday would be my last day. Then, the next Tuesday, Dennis had wrist surgery. So, already within a month of being married - we had traveled out of country, lost a job and had a surgery! Dennis had several weeks off work as did I. We let the bills pile up and pretty soon, we owed double on many of our bills. Things were quite stressful. 

 Also - we were living in a 525, sq foot, super studio apartment - the 2 of us and Kitty. It was tight quarters for sure - but we made it through those times. It was nice to be able to spend more time together - even though those weren't the easiest circumstances to go through. 

 About a month after I lost my job, I found another one and it was a very good job. I really liked the company, culture and my boss. And, it was 3 miles to our apartment and paid really well.

 About 4 months after we got married, we moved into a bigger apartment - this one was 765 sq ft, had 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and a washer and dryer! I felt like we were moving up in the world! We lived in this apartment for 2 years and it was in this apartment that we paid off all of our debt!

 During this time, we also attended Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey - my parents gave this to us as a wedding gift. It has been a blessing in our marriage to get our of debt first and stay out of debt!

 After being married for 2ish years, we moved one town away from our apartment and rented our cousins house from them. We upgraded to a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1,000 sq ft house with a yard to take care of. The house was located very close to old town and it was fun to be able to walk to events that were being held there. Also, we painted a dining room wall bright yellow with maroon on top - which made the wall look orange! We also planted 490 tulips out front and I loved watching those tulips come up every year! 

 Even though, neither of us really liked the house as if it were our own, it was nice to have our own space. 

 After 3 years of living in this house, we started looking to buy a house. Our current home, and the first house we looked at when we started looking for houses to buy is the one we are in now. We are really happy with our house ... 

 Next blog post: The story of buying and updating our house to to make it our home

 Then the next blog post: The start of our fertility journey

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