On forgiveness.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

-Ephesians 4:31-32

I've been thinking a lot about the subject of forgiveness. So many times we are told to forgive and forget, and more often than not, we hold grudges for months, years evens. It seems so much easier to hold the grudge, so much easier to sling mud at the offender and become the worst version of yourself without even realizing it. 

I've seen this a lot lately, and it's saddening. I've done it myself; I've held some of the worst grudges. I've held grudges against people who didn't even deserve it. I hate that side of me. The side that is so angry that not even a single apologetic word can right the wrongs. 

The thing with this is, though, Jesus didn't hold grudges. There were a lot of obstacles in His path and yet He never complained, He never scorned those who were against Him. And I think we could all take a lesson out of His book. (Ha...ha...) 

I've said this a lot, and I absolutely live by this now, but I once read that if you hold a grudge against someone, if they wronged you in the worst way imaginable, and yet you can't seem to forgive them, you are only holding yourself to a higher standard than Christ. ...It seems wrong, doesn't it? Because it is. Jesus forgives every single one of us. No matter what we do, no matter where we've been, no matter what we did last weekend - He forgives us no matter what. And you, a mere human, can't seem to forgive someone who admitted making mistakes? Maybe even they apologized, and yet, you still hold onto the anger and frustration. I mean, who can truly blame you? But here's the thing - God has already forgiven them, so why can't you?

I struggle with this daily. Something goes wrong and I immediately look for someone to blame.
In high school, I dated an ex-boyfriend of one of my friends, which is like, ultimate girl code no no, and you know what? She forgave me. Because she has the most genuine Christ-like love. I wish people were more prone to do this; to forgive each other. To forgive those closest to them for doing them wrong. To forgive those that they hardly even know when things don't go your way and you're looking to place blame. And let's be honest, I wish folks would be more willing to forgive the government because holy crow, those guys don't seem to know what they are doing right now. ...But really.

Jesus forgave me for dating my best friend's ex. He forgave me for my indiscretions and for all those times I was in places and situations I really shouldn't have been in. He forgave me for those years when I shunned Him, when I let darkness and sadness overcome my life.
That's the great thing about Jesus. He's always there, helping us through the rough times in life.
He's there for us when that angry side comes out and all we want to do is say bad words and mean things about another person. He's there when we don't want to forgive those that hurt us more than we imagined they could. It's hard to forgive. It's actually really freaking awful when you don't want to let go of the hurt. But at some point, we have to realize that the hurt only hinders us.
Forgiveness starts with ourselves. It starts with saying, "hey, I've made mistakes. And if God can forgive you, I can, too."

It seems so simple, doesn't it?
I'm working on this daily. Praying for peace in certain situations, hoping for a calm heart so I can deal with those who make me mad (and for real - those who are seriously crazy sometimes are really hard to forgive).  I like to think that if we are to grow in our relationship with Christ, to know Christ-like love, there is no separation from forgiving others. They go hand in hand. To love and be loved, we must first forgive as Christ forgave us.
So, who's up for the challenge of learning to forgive more, and to be genuine in our forgiveness? To extend Christ-like love in all circumstances, the good and the bad?
I'm in. I hope you are, too.

Try New Things

Sometimes I get stuck in a rut. Creatively, emotionally, and the worst: food-wise. You know what I'm talking about! When you go out to eat and you eat at the same restaurants, order the same thing, every single time. Blake and I are trying to get out and try new places more often (although, as easy as it sounds... it's actually pretty hard to break the habit of going to the usual spots!). First on our list was London Calling, which is a food truck, essentially. When passing by it all those times we were driving around, I would always see the huge red double decker bus, but never realized that that's where you eat! Both levels are open and have little booths and a barstools to sit at. It's seriously the cutest thing! I ordered the bangers and mash (mashed potatoes and sausage!) and it was delish. Going back soon and I'm determined to try everything (the pot pie sounds amazing!). 

Another new place we tried out actually just opened yesterday! It's a brand new 24-hour donut shop that's just a short walk from our apartment (dangerous!). They had SO many different flavors of donuts, so we ordered a half dozen (plus a maple & bacon long john!), to try here and there for the next few days. So far, I've tried the maple & bacon and red velvet. I'm really looking forward to the apple cider old fashioned donut! Mmmmhmmm!

I'm a fan.
Of both places.
I'm excited to keep going back and supporting these local businesses! It's always fun to discover a new favorite, so it's even better when you discover two new favorites!
Have you tried anything new to you lately? I'm always on the hunt for a new restaurant or new food to try (I'm a fat kid at heart and so is my husband!). Jess keeps talking about lavender everything at Elle's...so I'm thinking I'll need to go over there soon... it's been a while since my last visit!

Photo Dump

Life has been crazy lately! Maybe it's the changing of the weather; it's quickly turning way too cold for my personal taste, but today offered a nice break from the freezing weather... it was 70 degrees for the most part! Ah, if weather could always stay a cool 70? I'd be in heaven. I don't appreciate having to get up an extra half hour early just to scrape the frost off of my car... 

Anyway - here's some snapshots that may or may not have appeared on Instagram lately. Enjoy!

 God has blessed me immensely with the strangest, most interesting, most fulfilling friendship that I have ever had. A lot of times, people will tell you that friendships you have in junior high and high school don't last. And for the most part, I've learned that this is very true. As much as I hate to admit this, I don't talk to a lot, if not all of my friends I had in high school. Sure, we keep up on Facebook, but we don't hang out, text, etc. But these gals? Life has thrown some crazy curve balls our way. Since graduating, Cassie has lived 3+ hours away, and recently moved to LA. Breigh is in and out of hospitals and has had 2 brain surgeries in the past year. And me? Well. I got married! Life has changed so much since we were 18 years old and ready to get out in the real world. What we would give to be back in high school! But no matter the time spent apart, no matter how different we each become - we still love each other like sisters and can talk and confide in each other as if we never go a day without seeing each other. I love them like they wouldn't believe. Okay. Story hour is over. Onward!

 I got to watch this little man on Wednesday! This guy is our nephew, Lincoln - he's seriously the cutest and the most non-fussy baby I've met! Blake and I are going to Little Rock tomorrow night to watch him while his parents go to a concert. We're kinda excited to take him to see Claire and all of our Arkansas friends!

 I've taken up Project Life. YIKES, obsessed. I've quickly found out that the mini albums just do. not. work. for this type of scrapbooking. It was a good idea in theory, but the page layouts get so repetitive. I'm moving onto a larger album since I'm only 7 weeks into my album (I'm *attempting* to do a spread for each week of our first year of marriage! Wish me luck, I'll need it!)

My momma and I went a vintage loving gal's craft fair and holy crow! It was incredible. Check it out here. 

I bought a few too many things at the craft fair, but one thing I'm really proud of is this print! It was made locally by a man in my church (a previous high school youth pastor at High Street!), and his Etsy is filled to the brim with amazing prints with lyrics from worship songs and verses from the Bible. All of the proceeds go towards helping his family move to Amsterdam to do mission work! I was more than happy to buy this print! PLUS! Come Thou Fount is the song I walked down the aisle to at the wedding, so it seemed rather fitting to buy this print. :) 

And..... this is just me, summed up in one picture. You are welcome! #snapchat4life

Stay At Home Club

 On Wednesdays, I have the entire day completely to myself; I have the entire day off and Blake is at work most of the day. Really, it's not just Wednesdays that are like this. While Blake and I both have Mondays off together, he works on Saturday and Sunday evenings as well, so, really - have a good 3 days out of the week all to myself. When I started really thinking about this arrangement, the term "stay at home wife" came to mind.
I used to laugh at this oh so wonderful term of endearment until that's exactly what I became. Sure, I nanny 3 days a week (which equals to roughly 42 hours a week... Those 14 hour days add up!), but the majority of my week is spent at home.

 At first, it seemed to be a rather charmed life. I would sleep in (or, sleep in as late as I could.. which is like, 7:30 am), I would fix myself a hearty breakfast of toaster strudels (ha!), and settle back into bed and watch Netflix for a good part of my day. Lazy? Yeah. But after spending the past year living in the same house where I work, it was a nice change to wake up and not hear children playing in the room next door! ;)
Now, after a month (!! Where did the time go?!), I've settled into a somewhat routine. My internal clock wakes up at 5:30, so my day is started pretty early. And while Blake probably thinks I sit on my butt all day, I really don't! I'm actually really excited about being home this much because I'm starting to get a handle on this cooking thing. Okay, okay.. so the only real cooking I've done so far is via my crockpot (thanks, Emma... we LOVE it!), but gosh darn, slow cooker meals are GOOD.

^^ we are still on the hunt for perfect curtains. It's a never ending search... sigh.

So while being a part-time stay at home wife isn't the most fulfilling job on the planet, I'm getting the hang of it. I like being able to cook dinner for Blake. I like organizing my (extremely small) closet when I run out of things to do. And let's be honest - I love being able to get on Pinterest all day long. Ha! 

But really, it's like being a stay at home mom, without the kids. And that's pretty awesome. 

Other things I like right now:

* I'm catching up on Once Upon a Time. I don't have many shows that I watch on the reg, but Once Upon a Time is one that I'm absolutely hooked on! I'm in the middle of the second season and they are introducing a Dr. Frankenstein backstory... it's so neat! I can't wait to catch up to the current season so I can see the Little Mermaid storyline! Eeeek!
*Speaking of shows I watch; OMG AMERICAN HORROR STORY. Okay. So first season was fantastic - like, mind blowing fantastic. Then the second season was a total bummer for the most part. And now? AHS Coven is incredible. They have Patti LuPone! You can never go wrong with the goddess! (Side note: that video makes me cry every time. Side note number two: Seth Rudetsky is the goddess jr. Oh, the Broadway side of Haley never leaves....)
*Praise Jesus for Hobby Lobby's 50% Christmas decor sale. I bought the little "Merry Christmas" sign and the pink tree because, duh, 50% off. (And the Let It Snow sign is from Target's $1 section. Holla for good deals!)
*this post by Diana, of Our City Lights. What a strong, strong woman. My heart aches for their loss. I almost hesitate to even call it a loss, because it is so much more than that. A piece of them is gone, and yet she shows so much faith through it all. I admire her strength and courage to keep moving forward.
*I've started doing Project Life! I'm not great at it, yet, and I'm terrible at sending photos to be printed... but I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I bought two full kits (one of which, Elsie & Emma designed and it is way cuter in person!), and a couple of the small themed kits (the holiday one steals my heart!). I also printed some Instagram photos from Printstagram. It was so worth it! The photos are so cute and most fit perfectly in the pages. Plus they were delivered in two days... this Project Life stuff is going to be a breeze!
*Oh! AND! I just found out that mine and Blake's wedding will be featured in the January issue of 417 Magazine. How exciting! <3

Until next time!
Haley

Party Times

The final installment! Our reception went by even faster than our ceremony, it seems. We got out of there pretty fast, though. We nixed dancing in favor to head home a little early. With a wake up call at 4:30 am, and a flight to Orlando leaving at 7 am, we were dog tired and ready to sleep by the end of the day! Without further ado... 

^^I want these chandeliers in my apartment. Is that too much to ask for?!

 ^^ Let me tell you, Hannah was the LIFE of the party. Girlfriend has no idea what Stranger Danger means.

^^ Our desserts were all homemade by our incredible family (and a few friends!) And boy... were those pies yummy.

 ^^ these Mickey/Minnie placemats were a total surprise! I still don't know who was behind this, but it was a cute little surprise to see at the reception! 

^^ Why is dancing in front of a million people so awkward?! I seriously felt like we were back at a high school social or something. We picked "Real Love" by Beach House to dance to... it was perfect! 

^^ I love this picture! We danced to "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses. If you listen to the lyrics, it's definitely not a great song to use at weddings... but uh, whatevs. Band of Horses is kiiiiind of me and my daddy's thing. So far, we've seen BOH three times together, and I'm so looking forward to more shows in the future. So, this is our song. The first time we saw BOH live, they started the show with an acoustic version of No One's Gonna Love You, so it seemed fitting to dance to the acoustic version, rather than the studio recording. Okay, story time is over. Onward! 

 Our cake!! It was seriously one of my favorite things. A family friend baked a vanilla cake with raspberry filling (and buttercream frosting) for us, and Katie made the cake topper for us. The cake was SO yummy, and I only had one little bite! I believe that mom has it frozen for us at her house...at least, I hope she does! I want more of that on our one year anniversary!

^^ Like I said: Hannah was the life of the party. She LOVED twirling in her dress!

 We didn't have any "real" dancing, to like, fun music or anything. Originally, we had totally planned on it, since we didn't have to be out of the venue until 10 or 10:30, but as soon as the ceremony was over and the nerves were gone... it hit me. MAN, I was tired. After waking up at 4 am two nights in a row, it was finally hitting me that I had slept very little and was running on fumes at that point. So - we did all of the 'necessary' reception things (cut the cake, first dance, father daughter dance), and then had Brad play a song for all of us to kinda sorta dance to before heading out. So - big thank you to Brad for playing an acoustic, Mumford and Sons-y cover of As Long As You Love Me by Justin Bieber. I will seriously remember that forever. (Insert crying/laughing emoji here)

 And... for my favorite photo from the ENTIRE day:

This is Chloe, one of the little gals I nanny. Boy, do I love that child! I'm so glad that this photo was snapped.. definitely going to frame it for her so she can always remember her Haley! (And totally framing it for my wall, too, because..duh.)


After leaving the wedding, we went through McDonalds for a coke and pumpkin pies... classy! The people in the drive through looked at us funny since I was in the passengers seat with this huge white dress shoved into a little car. But, this is just one of those silly memories that I'll always have!
Thank you for taking a little peek at our special day! I'm so excited to finally have these photos in my hands - I seriously look at them every day! As always - thank you, Elise, for being so fabulous. It was a rainy, dreary day, and you never let me get down about it. I'm so thankful for you and Ethan!

xo Haley Tucker

Fun Fact: It rained all. day. long. All day! I surprising was not worried about it. We had practiced inside, in case the weather was bad, so I knew it would all be okay if we had to do the ceremony inside the carriage house. However... right as dinner was ending, the rain stopped. It was so funny (and extremely heart warming!) to see all the guests go outside and start drying off the seats so we could have the ceremony outside. By far, one of my favorite things from the wedding day. Not only did a bunch of folks show up to see us get married, but they helped wherever help was needed! We are so blessed to know such kind people. <3 

^^ look at that stud! ;) 

 ^^ Milo was just NOT having it. 

^^ We did communion, just the two of us, during the ceremony. Blake's grandpa led us, and holy waterworks. Ugly cries, snotty nose, all that. 

Ah, it was such a good day. The ceremony went by in a blur, though. Not that I mind.. it was probably the most embarrassing thing of my life having to say a bunch of mushy stuff in front of 180 people....


Photos: Elise Abigail Photography
Venue: Miss Gilmore's Carriage House
Band: The Midwest Indies

Music used in ceremony
Interlude: Flowers In Your Hair - The Lumineers
Processional: Heartbeats - Jose Gonzales / Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing - Sufjan Stevens