First Adventures in a New Year

Hello all!

Just an update from our many adventures this month!


Day 1
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     So, as usual, our story begin with a flight. On the 13th of January I flew into Atlanta to meet Tess (she drove from Jacksonville FL to pick me up, isn't she swell?). My heart was in knots and my stomach had already turned several times over. Anytime i see her for the first time in a while i get so nervous; so much so, it's hard for me to make eye contact with her for the first few hours. I do love her!

    Our eyes met across the airport, magnetized, we drew to each other and shared our ritualistic hug of ages, where we hold on for dear life like jack and rose in the ocean. Aren't we all fond of those types of hugs? Though, it was a tad difficult because she brought me birthday balloons that we couldn't tame very well.

My balloons

Atlanta, GA.

Somewhere in the Atlanta mall

    After our hugs and kisses were all out of the way for the moment, we made our way out into Atlanta and headed into the mall for some shopping. Its horrible, because we both love shopping...this may prove to be troublesome for our financial future to say the least. We shopped around, found cool stuff, ate awesome pizza, and found ourselves a bit tuckered out. Our long trips caught up with us! This shot is just from us sitting around, every empty moment is a moment to 'gram with Tessa.

                                       

 

Right outside of Medieval Times

That night Tess took me to Medieval Times, an indoor jousting, sword fighting, hawk flying, horse riding extravaganza! It also came complete with a 5 course meal. Definitely worth the money, if you're ever around such an establishment, i highly encourage you to plan a date night and go!

The blue team knight. Forgot his name, but he was awesome.

This was our Knight, definitely superior to the other knights...but somehow lost? He was all smiles all night.

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Day 2

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Me in the happy kitchen of the Sheehan Family

I woke up at the Sheehan home to this amazing morning surprise on my birthday!

Tessa got up hours before me and went to go get donuts and her parents (Her father i think) helped her decorate the kitchen. I turned 24. I'll surely never forget this amazing birthday morning! After that Tessa cut my hair...this moment was especially special to me, because ive cut my own hair since i was 16. No one coud ever quite get my hair the way i wanted, so i started trying myself. I never really trusted anyone to do it ever since, until i met this fine lady. She does amazing things with hair! **Tessa is in cosmetology school just in case you didnt know. In Jacksonville FL**

(insert tessa cutting my hair here haha
I'll put a picture here later of her before and after work)

That day i believe we went roller skating as welll. We had such a great time, even though im the only one who fell. (understandably, because i'm a good skater...i was just doing a trick...( -_- )    )

Outside the Roller Skating Rink

 That night we had Japanese hibachi! The whole Sheehan family came and took me to dinner, i was a super happy camper. The hibachi food throwing fella was also from my hometown in Little Rock AR. Small world?

Heading out to Hibachi paradise

We ate and laughed and ate some more...The night was truly wonderful. I was happy to see that Tessa's family came to dinner and had secretly surprised me by coming. Just before the dinner, i'd mentioned to Tessa "I really wish we could hang out with your family more, i feel like i'll be gone so much and i'd like to get to know them even more." This is what is called "icing on the cake"  =)

THIS CONCLUDES PT. 1

Keep your eyes peeled of PT. 2 of our adventure!
(dinner dates, dinner games, dancing, failing at dancing, and more dancing.)


-Joe

Holiday Adventures

Wow has life been busy & crazy the past few weeks/months. Phew! Life is finally starting to slow down a little bit. Thank goodness! I hope everyone had a wonderful time during the holidays!! 

So, I love my Jesus so much. I mean really, He is so good to me. He knows how much it means to me to be able to spend as much time as possible with Joe and over the holidays He blessed me and Joe with some unexpected time together thanks to a blizzard in Arkansas. We were only supposed to be together for 3 days and we got an extra 2 days (well more like a day and a half) together. Might not seem like a big deal, but any time that I get to spend with that boy is such a delight and a blessing. I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas. This was our first of many Christmases together and it was absolutely wonderful.

It was the best. Thank you Lord for such a wonderful time with friends, family and my best friend. I couldn't be more grateful.

xoxo, Tess

Happy December 9th Everyone!

Hey guys, Just wanted to give you all an update on Tess and myself right now!
We are still madly in love, and anticipation is growing as we Christmas shop for one another and count the days until we get to be together!
She'll be flying into good Ole Little Rock on December 23rd.
After that we spend Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve, followed by a long drive to Phenix City Alabama to be with her family on Christmas Day.
The fun part is that we get to be together and talk on our long drive.
I sure do miss that squirt, these 14 days can't pass soon enough.
In the mean time, stay tuned for more adventures and pictures until we can get some posted for ya! I'm sure we'll have plenty more to post before she gets here anyways.

As always, thanks for the read.

-Joe

Bumper Car Madness

So we went to the fair last month and decided that we REALLY like bumper cars.
Mainly, having Tessa drive, while i video her mangling children.
This really happened.

(Viewer Discretion is Advised)




(No children were harmed in the owning of these bumper cars.)

- Joe

Pumpkin Patch.

When I was last in Arkansas, Joe and I decided to have a night of pumpkin carving with our friends Faith and Aaron. Here's a few pics from our visit to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins!!

Late Night Thoughts

So its 12:12 AM, and by all technicalities...its literally "the wee hours of the morning." I'm going to just pretend it's not quite 12 yet. Cool? ...cool.
Tess and I are quite the duo. Seriously, I've never had a connection with such an amazing girl before. She's witty, beautiful, sarcastic (definitely a must), and totally tolerant of my silly antics. If you know me at all (or have read any of my post thus far) you know that i'm a total dork, and she loves it! She takes the good and the bad when it comes to ole' Joe. This is not only rare, but cherished. I've simply never met anyone in the same caliber as this fine young lady. Of course, there are times when we start to argue, but are able to quickly resolve our issues. Even if she is a little stubborn sometimes. =]
We have had an interesting day today. Somehow we both got today off work/school, and just got to sit and talk on one of our many skype dates that last throughout the day. We love to play these games where we get to know one another, and today we played "either/or." For example: "Tessa, which do i like more,...Salt and Vinegar chips...or BBQ!?""
We love doing this to re-establish our connection and continue to learn about each other, in hopes of continually bettering our connection.
By the way i love Salt and Vinegar chips...and yes she knew that instantly when i asked.
The reason i mention this is so that we all remember that no matter how much we love our special someone, its never a bad idea to continually connect with them. Find out more of their likes and dislikes, favorites things, and places they'd love to go one day. Don't stop studying your loved one when you get them. Instead, treat them as if you are dating and learn more about them!
When Tess wants to play one of those games it instantly lets me know "shes wanting to connect and play, she's so thoughtful!"

Shes amazes me to no end.

I pray that you find yourself seeking knowledge of your loved one, just as we continually seek knowledge of the Father and His word in our everyday lives.

- Joe

Early Morning Thoughts

So it's like 7 a.m.-ish and I am WIDE awake while Joe is still sleeping some 800 something miles away. Sometimes I wish our lives were completely on the same schedule because that would make things so much easier.. Instead, it's more like: I wake up. He wakes up and goes straight to work. I go to work before he gets off work. He gets off work. I get off work way later than him and by the time I get home I'm exhausted and fall asleep on Skype. And repeat.

Some days, we're lucky if we both have a moment when we're able to talk on the phone for more than five minutes. But we manage to make it work. Lots of half asleep Skype dates, trying to take lunch breaks at the same time, 10 minute "driving in the car" phone calls, doing whatever we possibly can to talk to each other since we're usually on completely opposite schedules.

And for all those people out there who think "Oh they're relationship is perfect. They make long distance look so easy..." Trust me, it's not. I'll be honest.. Long distance SUCKS. I've been told a lot that "long distance never works" and I can see why most long distance relationships don't work. A lot of missing that person and hurting because you miss them goes into a long distance relationship. And it's not for everyone. That person has to be your best friend, your life. You just have to suck it up and get over the fact that that person lives however far away. You have to make the best of your time with that person. Loving every moment you get with them and not taking one second for granted. You have to trust enough to work through difficult times from miles and miles apart. You have to want to learn new things about them every single day. You just have to love that person. I mean.. seriously love them. You have to show them that you love them, even when you're miles apart. And you have to put God first. Get creative and be bold! Holding nothing back.

I won't say that it's always been easy for Joe and I, because it hasn't.

But there is no one I would rather be with. Absolutely no one. There is no one else I would rather wake up to a phone call from. No one else I would rather Skype for hours with. No one else who's day I just want to hear about every single day. I love this boy so much. Through easy times and hard times. Whether I get to talk to him all day or for just ten minutes. It's not easy. I miss him every day. But it just makes me even more eager until the next time I get to see him (which is in 39 days!!!). And makes me look forward to getting to move to his city (only 4 1/2 months y'all!!!!). I'm crazy about him. And yeah it sucks that a lot of days we're on completely opposite schedules, but we suck it up and get it over it. Because we love each other. And that's what's important.

I'm just so thankful that God brought him into my life. And so thankful that God has blessed both of us with the strength and patience and love to make our relationship work.


Anyways.. These are just random thoughts from my head this morning. I'm missing Joe, a lot right now. I think I'll go call him and wake him up :)



Xoxo,
Tess.