why hello there
What a stretch of time has gone by since last I wrote here.
I've really, really missed it. I know this assertion must lead some of you to roll your eyes⏤I have, after all, been perhaps the most absent and irregular blog writer ever.
But I do mean it when I say I really value this space. I have come here time and time again, to share my ponderings and wanderings, my most cherished memories and future dreams, my treasured reads and manifold learning curves. I guess you could say this blog has housed my written attempts to make sense of the beauty, chaos, heartbreak and delight found in this world, through my lens. The peculiarity of it all.
Writing has always been the way for me to process. I have a bin full of old journals to prove it. Although I am known to be a talker (my family and friends would certainly vouch for this!), I sometimes struggle to verbalize my reflections aloud in an eloquent way. I oft find myself second⏤guessing my pronouncements, rambling and uttering jumbled thoughts that most certainly make little sense to the hearer. But I have a swift pen. When I write, I feel as though I am somehow fulfilling what I am meant to do in the world. And it has been a long time since I last sat down to pen my thoughts for you here.
Friends, I have so much to update you on.
The most pressing piece of news is rather obvious: Paul and I were married on May 22nd, 2021!
We are now the Thiessens. Glory be!
Our wedding was a truly beautiful day. Perhaps I will write in more detail about it sometime soon, but lest I forget to thank you who have prayed for us so faithfully in the months leading up to this new season of our life. We are deeply grateful.
If you have been around here awhile, you know we got engaged as we watched a pandemic sweep the world. Our wedding day was, as one might assume, a far cry from what we had originally planned. Masks, limited guest list, absent loved ones, curfew... you name it, we had it.
By God's good graces, we found ways to be celebrate creatively despite restrictions⏤and all those who attended stayed safe and well.
To be truthful, when I think of what could not be that day, I still find myself saddened and grieved. It might sound trite or superficial, but I really lament that we could not have our venue of choice nor our dance party of dreams, that church pews laid empty, that smiles were covered by masks, that the evening was cut short by an imposed curfew in Montreal at the time.
But I am also sweetly reminded of how wondrous a day it was⏤how beloved, how surrounded, how each other's we felt. How lovely the flowers, how splendid the music, how delicious the feast, how glad the friends, how meaningful the words. How handsome my groom. How miraculous it was so speak vows to each other that will bind us until death do us part. How much of a testament the day was to who we are, and what we love.
Ours was a day for happy tears, for solemn promises, for our people rejoicing near and far, for beauty everywhere we looked. Above all, it was a day for worshipping and giving glory to the One who authored us and our love⏤who loved us far before we ever loved Him.
This celebration, however imperfect, changed the course of our lives. God sealed our union and we two have became one. And all things considered, the fact of our marriage is really what counts⏤no matter the details that made up our wedding.
Funny to think the one I affectionately referred to as "the boy" for years on this blog is now my husband. I'm so glad.
Making a home with my Paul has been a dream come true⏤a lived prayer, really. We live in Mount Pleasant, a most beloved neighborhood of Vancouver, in a small apartment with beautiful hardwood floors and endless sunlight flooding in through the windows. Bird by bird, we are making it ours⏤filling it with all our belongings (so many books!), placing glowy candles and picture frames in just the right spots, playing scratchy records so music can flow through this space.
Our days sing of small and simple things. In the mornings, Paul often makes me coffee at a little makeshift bar he installed off the kitchen. We read Scripture in the dim light of early mornings, both encouraging each other to grow in diligence in this area. I like giving the apartment a good tidying, yet I'm also in awe of how quickly small spaces can get quite messy all over again.
Nearly always, we toss open the windows to let the cool air in. To be fair, there was no such thing as "cool air" in the unforgiving heat of this past summer. Now that autumnal days are getting settled, we eagerly invite the crisp drafts in. It's wonderful.
We are both working new jobs, his having started but a few days ago. Funnily enough, we both find ourselves in the nonprofit sector in general, and the worlds of fundraising, communications and development in specific. We are learning from each other professionally, suggesting books to read and proofing drafts. I am especially excited at the prospect of us both working from home, to see our weekdays find new patterns as we learn to navigate remote jobs as a duo.
I usually cook dinner for us, but Paul often experiments too. I am working my way through a list of recipes I've been meaning to try, whilst sprinkling well-loved family ones in between. Spaghetti with homemade sauce and meatballs is next.
We fill our weekends with exploring our city, seeing our people, and savoring good films or books and old jazz. We talk of faith, church, politics, travel and dreams. We host friends often, so very glad to open our home and table to others.
Sundays, we make a concerted effort to look back on our week and openly discuss the ways we need to adapt, and do better by the other. A relentless point of discussion this summer was our busyness. We both have a tendency to fill our schedules beyond what is reasonable. And although our calendar was brimming with good things, we found ourselves weary and disconnected. So, we've decided to consistently check in with one another about our level of hurry. We want to be people who militantly defend our need for time alone, and with each other. This has worked wonders for us.
I read these things and don't know exactly what I am trying to tell you. Of course this post is an update, but it feels like more than that. I guess what I am getting at is that these everyday, mundane things matter.
We are building rhythms that, in turn, are building a life.
It's funny, at the beginning of this year, I told myself I'd write more on the blog. I promised to post about questions of faith, life transitions, homemaking, etc. etc. I had all these big ideas and earnest hopes for the blog. Little did I know the months that followed⏤ahem, wedding planning months⏤would be consumed with stress, busyness and exhaustion unlike I've ever known. By the time our wedding was over, I feel as though I was in recovery mode. And next thing I knew, our first summer as a married couple became quite busy and I yet again failed to take time to write.
But one of the many things I love about my sweet husband is how much he values my writing. How often he urges me to make room in my life to sit down and write faithfully.
He's been encouraging me to blog again. So here I am.
And I'll be back soon.
Funnily enough, typing out this blogpost has felt like a homecoming. It's really, really good to be here.
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Our beautiful wedding pictures were taken by the talented Kristina Bastien. You can find her here.
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