A {Seriously Sappy} Reflection on 23

My birthday was last Thursday! It was during a week of craziness, though, so even though we took a special day trip to Houston...it still didn't really feel like my birthday. I had wanted to write a 'year in review' post before that day but because of the aforementioned week of craziness, that didn't happen. Maybe now that I'll have time to remember 23, the feeling of 24 will start to set in ;)

{We spent the day in Houston at the MFAH, the Galleria, and the Melting Pot! Yum :)}

On my 23rd birthday, Landon and I took our engagement pictures. It was a last minute decision and I literally spent the whole day shopping and trying to put together outfits for both of us. I know, I know, that sounds like a reaaaaaaaaaal tough day Kayla, but when you're in a time crunch and the stores have NOTHING appropriate and timeless, it makes for a stressful day. I didn't want to go shopping for a long time after that day.

Anyways, we had our engagement shoot on Kyle Field, on campus, and at a park nearby as the sun was setting. The pictures turned out perfect and I think we went out to dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant afterwards.

*Of course, my computer keeps ejecting the disk with all of these pictures on it, so you'll just have to believe me on this :)

Since then I graduated from A&M, found a temporary job, got married, left said job, and got pregnant. When I put all of that into one sentence, it's hard to believe it happened in the span of a single year. Before I met Landon just over 2 years ago, I never dreamed of getting married and having a baby so young. I still considered myself to be more of a northerner than a Texan, having spent my formative years in Connecticut and New York. People in the northeast did their whole career thing first, you know? I knew I wanted to get married one day...but maybe not until 28. That number seemed about right to me.

My "plan" was obviously thrown for a complete loop. Within just months of dating, Landon and I were talking about getting married. It scared me, but I think that's just because I knew it was all so real. It was a good kind of scary. As we continued to talk about our future, we talked about babies (naturally). We both came from smaller families, and the idea of having a big family was exciting to us. Over the course of mere months, I went from a single lady with plans to move back to a city after graduating to a woman very much in love with a man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and have lots of babies with (God willing). Meanwhile, we were both continuing on our individual and relational faith journeys. For me this was never anything more than what I knew for sure God was calling me to. The idea of being a wife and a mom made me so happy.

I look back at the past year of my life and can only see us. Sure, I'm proud that I graduated and I guess that's kind of a solo thing. But the months of planning our life together, getting married, our first months as a married couple, and getting pregnant have been what matters most to me.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with being a strong, independent woman. I love seeing what all of my incredible friends are accomplishing in their lives and how God is working through them. I get to live vicariously through them as they move to fun new places and start new chapters of their lives. I am in no way a strong proponent of marrying young or marrying old. I think we're all called to very different things and the best thing we can do is spend time listening to God's voice. It can be hard to hear when everyone else is doing one thing or another, and it can be especially hard if it's not what you want to hear. I guarantee, though, that if marriage is in your cards, waiting for the absolute perfect person for you is the best feeling ever.

So here's to 24: the year of moving to our first house (hopefully!) and welcoming our first baby into this world....and I'm sure a lot more.

This serious and sappy post is brought to you by pregnancy. Please try to bear through the hormones with me ;)