Settled Yet?

What a loaded question.

If by "settled" you mean getting everything cleaned up and put away, we were settled within a week of being married.

If it means obtaining all of the necessary products in order to live independently, we got pretty close within a month.

If one is "settled" after completing their wedding thank-you's, it will be at least another month or two.

If we were settled when our to-do list was no longer a mile long and my husband came home with no projects to fill up his evening, we will be slightly settled until the ground thaws in the spring.

If it means knowing how to do one's job in the kitchen and household, I am somewhat settled.

However, if being "settled" is feeling entirely comfortable in my new role as a married woman and wife, I do not even feel close. It is an adjustment-our lives completely changed. We are thankful for the Lord's continued guidance and faithfulness through this transition, and I pray soon I will be able to say I am fully "settled."

Months 1-2 1/2: Getting Settled and Christmas

I managed to chop of the ends of several fingers after we received the Cutco knives for our wedding. 

We got a Bosch for a late wedding gift and had to try out the blender with shakes the night it arrived! 

My hubby enjoyed using the beautiful apron so much that he even helped me make cookies, too!

And then came the detrimental day when Matt hit a deer on his way home from work. Since then, he has been working to restore it to drivability, replacing the hood, grill, and steering wheel with parts from a salvage yard and the headlights with some old ones. It is back in service now, despite an exploded dash and slightly spider-webbed windshield. So glad I married a handy man! :)

We made the trek up to Morris, MN with my family for the Schmidgall family Thanksgiving/Christmas at the end of November. 

Playing games with the cousins!

We went to sing for Grandma one day at the nursing home. Here she is with all of her granddaughters.

Christmas was at Uncle Bruce and Aunt Penny's.

Justin and Travis came over to do some Christmas baking one Saturday while Matt was working on his car. I did not get a picture of them, but managed to capture one of the mess! 

We have had several ice skaters over since the pond froze. 

My brothers and the Steiners have been here a few times! 

This was the first group of hockey players that came out.

...hot chocolate and cookies followed!

Another late-arrival gift was well worth the wait! Andrew made us this beautiful cedar bed for our wedding. It was so exciting to finally see it all put together in our room!

Steve and Julie came for supper one evening while they were home for Christmas!

Lydia, Corbin, and Suzanna

The Massner family Christmas was on Christmas Eve.

The annual sing-a-long after lunch.

The boys got bikes for Christmas! 

...and the annual Christmas band. 

The Schulz family Christmas was on Christmas Day. Taren and Kyra got four-wheelers!

It was a little difficult to get in on a picture of the girls, but I thought this scene was almost better. :) I didn't manage to end up with very many pictures of this day. 

Lydia was our companion for part of the way to the Knobloch Christmas up in Lester at the end of December. The entire Schulz crew made the trip! 

I forgot to get out my camera very much that weekend. We went to a science museum in Sioux Falls on Saturday. 

That evening, we went to Pizza Ranch in Rock Rapids. Need I even mention Matt's favorite part? 

The newest member of our family is Snowbell, who made the journey north from Mom and Dad's to live with us out here in the country. He loves it when the boys come visit him! :)

Christmas was a crazy-busy time for us, and we managed to attend a total of eight family Christmases. The others at which I neglected to bring/use my camera included: Dad Schulz's family Christmas, the BIG Massner Christmas, the Lanz Christmas, the Dad Massner family Christmas that has been postponed, and the first annual Matthew Schulz family Christmas.

Actually, we did get a picture of our first Christmas together.

Matt learned that my nose is always cold, so he had his sister Brenda crochet a nose warmer for me. It works wonderfully, but everyone who sees it tends to inform me it makes me look like a bird. They do not know what they are missing out on...at least my nose is warm! 

Since Christmas, the weather got tired of cooperating and we have been trying to keep warm indoors away from the freezing cold! It finally got up to a toasty 38 degrees today and we are so thankful to finally see the grass and feel the warm sunshine outside.

While staying warm in the house since Christmas, I have kept busy with a bit of organizing, starting thank-you's, and seeking inspiration for decorating this bare home. Matt has been finding things to do around here as well, though I am sure he will be happy when spring comes again!

Thus ends the exhaustive conclusions from the first two and a half months of our marriage. We hope you, too, had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you many blessings in 2014! 

**Unfortunately, we had technical difficulties when publishing this post and it is not the original that some may have read. I tried to duplicate it from the best of my memory, but I am sure I slipped in a few places! :)