happy 3 months!

wow. i can hardly believe that i've been married for 3 months today! it has been the greatest journey so far. having my man next to me to do every single day with, is absolutely amazing. he brings so much more life and excitement to my ordinary mundane life. he is my best friend and the one person i love doing everyday life with.

looking back over the last 3 months so much has occurred. here's what the last couple months have looked like...

May ~ 

while this month was a tougher one for us newlyweds, we learned much more about our roles as husband and wife. as we entered our 2nd month of marriage, we had many reality checks that challenged us to step out from our selfishness and serve the other. it's in those harder moments that you are drawn closer together. the conversations, emotions and feelings you share allow for a vulnerability and transparency far deeper than you can describe in words.

the month of may brought lots of events...

1.) we welcomed 1 of 2 new neices to the world. on april 18, tinley grace was born. jordan and i finally got to meet her over mother's day weekend...

tinley grace at 3 weeks old... 

2.) we finished up our school year at nbca. we were thrilled to finally enter into our summer together and have lots of play time..which included camping to guadalupe state park

our campsite...

3.) we have spent several days floating the comal river; which has become one of our favorite things. it has provided such a calming, peaceful and yet great conversational place for us to share and talk about life. 

4.) we also welcomed our second of two nieces to the world. on may 31 reese michael was born!

holding reese just a few hours old

baby reese getting treatment for her jaundice 

jordan getting some reese time...

June ~ 

we started and ended this month with weddings! one was in boerne, tx and the other in cleburne. both were outside weddings and absolutely beautiful! 

at joseph and barbara's wedding in boerne, tx june 1st 

beautiful outdoor ceremony

June 14-16 : i had an opportunity to attend one of the largest volleyball coaching clinics. it was held at tcu and we had the coach from standford, ohio state and penn state share their coaching highlights and inspire all of us. 

my colleagues with the penn state coach

June 22...Cory and Kristy's Wedding in Cleburne

jordan and i headed up to cleburne for his brother's wedding. 

at the wedding...

cory and kristy during their first dance...

my beautiful momma

the sugg women are now 3!

 excited to do life with these 2 precious ladies

happy family! love my in-laws!

Here's to month 4 with my man and all the adventures in july! we are headed to red river, new mexico this week, working tbarm next, then it's up to fayetteville, arkansas and branson, missouri! it will be fun ride with my hubby! lets go!!

Life as a Mrs...

So it's been 1 month and 3 days since I became Mrs. Sugg! I can't believe we already have the first month of marriage under our belt. It has been the most beautiful, gracious, glorious, yet challenging, character building, sharpening adventure of my life thus far! I am amazed each day that the Lord allows me to spend another day being a wife to the most wonderful man. I definitely married up and I am honored to stand next to Jordan. He is God's gift to me and I feel so privileged to get to serve and love him each day. God has been washing HIS Holy word over me and showing me more ways to love Jordan than I could have fathomed on my own. I LOVE MARRIED LIFE...AND I believe I always will...though it may be tougher at times, those moments are for the better. They are making ME, making us, more like Christ. 

Thank you Jesus for the man you have blessed me with! I do not deserve him at all, yet he is the one you chose before time. He is a man after your heart and that makes me run after You faster! May Your hand be upon us as we run life together! Our desire is to make much of You in bringing Glory and Honor to Your Name! Amen.

Here is a snap shot of the wedding told by our amazing photographer! They are pretty spectacular! :)

Click on the link to read our story told through our photographer's lens...

Joy and Jordan's Wedding Pictures

puzzle pieces

"O Lord, you are our Father. 

We are the clay, you are the potter, 

we are all the work of your hand." 

Isaiah 64:8

God is the puzzle maker.  he knows where each piece fits. we are the puzzle, trying to get all our pieces to fit in the right spot. we don't know what the complete picture looks like, so we try this piece here. and that piece there. it doesn't fit. so we keep trying. or we may even give up because we just can't seem to find the right one. we know that the puzzle will be complete when the very last piece is placed, but the journey to completion is long, hard, frustrating, unknown, complicated, overwhelming..yet rewarding!

this is my life right now looking into the remainder of this year. it's a huge puzzle. so many different pieces that i am trying to make them all fit. it gets even harder when you find out that you have an additional piece to somehow find a spot for.

i so wish that i could see everything as a whole instead of individual pieces. every piece is amazing and exciting, but how it all fits...well, i have no idea.

...do i miss this event for another? do i buy the ticket now? or do i keep waiting? do i visit one place and not another? do i go for a couple weeks or 2 months?  do i sell or trade? etc...

those are the constant questions i face daily. i wonder sometimes...do i actively pursue the heck out of it until something happens? or do i wait, be patient and know that all these pieecs will fit. it will just take time to figure out where they fall.

the one thing that gives me hope in the midst of it all is that the Lord knows my story from beginning to end. He wrote my story even before i was born. He is the creator, establisher, and maker. He knows the steps i take and makes them firm.

"If the Lord delights in a man's way, 

He makes his steps firm; 

though he stumble, he will not fall, 

for the Lord upholds him with His hand."

 Psalm 37:23

He puts EVERY piece of the puzzle together at the right time. there are moments where i want to see it all together right now, but i would completely miss the lessons.

i fail daily to understand and see from a greater perspective. i praise God for His timing. i praise Him for gently putting one piece of the puzzle together at a time. it's the journey & the process that matters. what a beautiful picture it will be when the puzzle of life is complete.

may the journey bring even greater Glory to the Lord!

Seeking Strength...

Hey Y'all! 

Since Thanksgiving, things at work, my family, and just my personal life has been everything but calm! This is me being transparent about things...Anyways, WORK at Family Legacy is just busy as always. There are lots of projects each week and high goals set to reach. I have never been challenged this much in how to tackle major things all at once. There definitely have been days of me being overwhelmed and feeling very inadequate. God has been good though through it all because of the little glimpses of what is to come for HIS kids in Zambia. I am still humbled to this day of being able to be a voice for these precious children and be a part of a ministry that is striving together to bring the name of Jesus and full restoration to so many children! Praise God for what HE is doing! At the beginning of December we had a FLMI Staff Christmas Party at my ranch and here are a few pictures...

*This is everyone who was there! Kids and spouses included!

*The FLMI STAFF!

(Greer, Susan, Sommer, Holly, Me, and Josh)

~ MERRY CHRISTMAS ~

On top of work being a bit crazy at times, I have been learning so much from God's Word! The Lord has been constantly refining me and bringing me to where HE WANTS ME! I have wrestled through numerous issues and wanted to do things on my own...but I have soon realized that that is a pride issue. I hate to admit that, but it is. Not dealing with things, not letting people help me, not stepping out of my comfort zone...all connect back to pride. The Lord pointed that out to me the other day and I have been slowly processing through what needs to happen. I'm not quite sure what all this will entail but I do know that I am learning more of the character of God and His restoration process. As I work through my issues and allow His word to fill every part of me, I am being made more like Him! Praise God for His unending love and grace!! 

Lastly, things with my family have been great!! However, things with my sweet Dad have NOT been so great. Sadly, he is not doing very well. We all thought that he would be progressing much more further than he is right now. He has now lost over 50 lbs. He is have a difficult time eating again, which this hasn't happened since his very first symptoms about a year again. My Dad has also been choking again whenever he eats. This past weekend my Mom told me that on Friday night that my Dad was choking for about 3 hours after they ate dinner and she almost had to take him to the ER. We are hoping that it is scar tissue building up in his esophagus and not a new cancerous growth. They left today to head down to Houston to return to MD Anderson for tests. He has tests Wednesday and Thursday. 

PLEASE BE PRAYING! 

Pray for strength, comfort, peace, wisdom, and encouragement! 

Both my parents are exhausted from the past 8 1/2 months of dealing with cancer and the recovering process of surgery. We all are hoping that the results will be words of encouragement and not the other. I will know more at the end of the week. 

Oh Lord...we need You!! 

Thanks again for keeping up to date! You all are a blessing! Have a great week!! 

Desperate for more of Him,

Joy