The Second Best Part of My Day

The second best part of my day usually takes place sometime between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm. During that time I am usually sitting in my car driving north on TX 83/84 and listening to ESPN Radio. It is not the drive or the radio programming that I find so enjoyable. It is not the feeling of finally getting off of work, after what often is a long day, that makes my drive such a high point. What makes the brief time in my car such a daily pleasure is a thought. It is the thought of a sleeping little boy that will soon wake up and see me walk into his room. It is the thought of a quick kiss from my wife as she welcomes me home from work. It is the thought of jumping, rolling over, and practicing sitting up or crawling. It is the thought of laughing with the two people I love most in the world. The second best part of my day is filled with the anticipation that the best part of my day is only minutes away.

The New House

I have become a moving connoisseur. As of today I have moved 19 times. If you do the math it will equal out to packing and lifting and carrying my things once every 1.3 years. When Ashley and I found out that she was pregnant one of the first decisions we made was that we would need to move. Not that Hardin-Simmons married student housing isn’t nice, right down the street from crack dens, bullet hole filled apartments, and a halfway house, but we just felt it was time to explore our options.

After quite a bit of searching we found a house that is close to both of our jobs and not too far from Hardin Simmons. The video below offers a short tour of the house, how it is and explains some of the intended repairs.



Before Spring Break I wanted to have the house painted so that while I was on a mission trip to New Orleans Ashley and her parents could begin moving some of our things in. After what turned out to be a disastrous pink first coat, due to mistaken color, I was left needing to finish painting Wednesday night before the carpets were cleaned on Thursday. By finish painting I mean I had to paint two coats on everything in the house (with the exception of the Jack’s room and the kitchen) before sunrise. I taped, dropped, and painted until 4:00 am when I finally finished, sleep deprived and a little high from paint fumes. The house still has quite a way to go but as Ashley begin nesting and our family grows we will do so in a new home.

Three Years

Written 3/11/2011:



I cannot express to you the feelings I had when I saw my bride begin to walk down the aisle. Her hair was beautiful, her dress gorgeous, and her eyes a piercing blue that (and have continued to) memorized me. Standing next to her, with my hands shaking I made one of the most important commitments of my life, second only to my commitment to Christ:

I Joel, take you, Ashley, to be my wife and my friend, my partner and my lover, for as long as we both shall live. I promise to love you with an undivided heart, to forgive you when I am hurt, to be faithful to you and to believe in us regardless of the circumstances. And as for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord.

Since I first spoke those words to my wife three years ago life has happened; some good, some bad but every moment just as real as the one before. We have lived in three different houses, and are getting ready to move into our fourth. Two cities, one that has been home and another that has felt far from it. We have laughed and we have cried. We have celebrated new life, and mourned great losses. And while I would like to write all of the sagely advice I have obtained in my first three years of marriage, I can easily sum it all up in one sentence:

“I’m sorry Babe; you are right.”

As we begin year four Ashley is twenty-one weeks pregnant with our son, Jackson “Jack” Andrew Wood. We are preparing for parenthood and anxiously anticipating the growth of our family. Jack will bring challenges to our marriage that I cannot even begin to understand yet. But I welcome the challenges because there is no one else I would rather face them with than Ashley, my bride, my wife, my best friend, and my partner.

It has been three years since I last sat in this building on a warm March day but I am still every bit in love my bride today as I was then.


Ashley,

I love you with all my heart, and I believe in us regardless the circumstances.

--Joel

Coffee House Confessions: Falling in Love Over Starbucks

While I would like to say that I do not drink Starbucks, a company that not only represents but leads the way in evil corporate America, I truly have a weakness for grossly overpriced blended coffee drinks. In September of 2005 I began dating my now wife, Ashley. One of her favorite indulgences that I quickly realized was the previously mentioned international-mega-enterprise. Frequently we began going to our local Starbucks, a routine that only furthered my liking blended coffee drinks.

While I may have spent more money than anyone ever should at the coffee chain, I was also making another kind of investment. I made an investment of my time. Some of the greatest moments of my life, to date, happened while sipping a Starbucks drink. The result of that investment was more than a relationship. I fell in love over Starbucks.

It was the time we spent at a table inside, or in the car waiting in the drive through that I fell in love with her. It was the surprise Frappuccino in the afternoon and the smile on her face. It is the giddy look, that she still gets when Starbucks is mentioned. But most of all it was that we enjoyed our drinks together that made me fall in love with her. It was over Starbucks that I really learned who Ashley was. We still go to Starbucks. At times I still think I spend to much money, but I am also getting to know my wife more and more and that, to me, is priceless.

Drink of Choice: Grande Green Tea Frappuccino® Blended Crème double blended