my wife

Today is my wife's birthday.

i wanted to write (or blog as the kids say) about her.

What she means to me and how God can change your life when your 1, or over 1000 miles away.

Haley Madison Gay was born on June 17th 1991 in Dallas ,Texas.

And on that day my life changed forever,

without me having the slightest clue to what was happening,

in that hospital room at Presbyterian Dallas.

She was born 7 pounds 3 ounces. 

She was made from my rib. 

She is my forever. 

She is my wife. 

I truly believe God has made someone for everyone. 

Someone to hold and steal kisses from, to talk to and laugh with.

To cry with and be best friends with.

To start a family with, love God together and pray together.

The person you want to do everything with,

because when you do them alone, it's never the same. 

I am just so fortunate that i found the One I'm supposed to spend my life with at such an early age.

I get to spend so many years and decades with her.

But it truly doesn't matter,

i could spend a thousand centuries with this amazing creature of the Lord's, and still have not spent enough time with her.

But back to why i am writing this blog. 

It is her 23rd birthday, and the 22nd year of her life was so amazing and eventful.

 Our wedding, her graduating from college and her moving to DC to start our life together.

She wrote all about that in her blog last week, if you missed that

scroll down and read it because my wife is an amazing writer.

If you haven't noticed, i ramble a bit but stay with me. 

Its her birthday and i wanted to write a blog to let y'all know how amazing this woman is.

And i realize, most of the people who read this are our family or close friends.

We are truly grateful for y'all and deeply appreciate your continued prayers and support of us and our love story.

But honestly y'all don't know how amazing Hay is at being my wife and loving me every day.

She is always taking care of me and giving me encouragement.

She makes my lunch and kisses me good bye in the morning with these kisses that are so sad to see me go kisses, but so proud of me for being her husband and working to provide for our family kisses.

And she gives me these huge whopper kisses when we see each other at night, after a long day of missing one another and just yearning to spend all day together.

She asks how my day is, not just to ask, but because she cares.

We pray together over our days and the food that she prepares.

Guys seriously my wife is amazing.

Everyday i fall more and more in love with her and feel so blessed to be with this woman of God.

And no I'm not naive, we do have our arguments and we do fight.

But being newlyweds isn't a time frame, it's a way of thinking and a lifestyle.

I have seen it in Hay's parents, in mine, and in both sets of my grandparents.

I have been blessed to be surrounded by marriages,

where it doesn't matter how long they've been together,

they still hold hands, they still kiss all the time (or poot and noodle, as my Mommom calls it),

They laugh and have each others backs,

and are each others best friend.

Hay and i know how blessed we are to have these examples of God given love in our lives.

So back to her birthday,

it's been an amazing 9 months and 16 days being married,

and its only gonna get better.

I'm only going to learn more about this woman i call Hay, Wife, Love, Sweety, Hun, and Big Momma. 

Happy Birthday Haley, you truly are my prayers come true.

-Z

significant

i will be twenty two for four more days.

every birthday, i take time to think about the 12 months i lived,

adding another year to my life.

I think about the fun moments and the sad.

What i did right and what i want to do better next time.

The twenty second year of my life has been the most significant.   

The first thing that comes to the mind is my wedding. obviously.

Our wedding on September first was an incredible event,

but the significance comes from my marriage.

Being a wife changes me, every day.

my mom has always told my sisters and i,

that outside of your decision to follow Christ,

picking your spouse is the most important choice you will ever make.

when i was letting that sink in at fifteen,

i had no idea that i would be making that decision

seven years later.

some have thought that twenty two is not the age

that someone should be making that choice,

but wow i am so glad that i did. 

this year of my life has been filled with so many different changes

to my circumstances, my environment and my soul.

my three hundred and sixty one days as a twenty two year old

have been some of the toughest, most challenging and greatest of my life.

I do not know what my twenty third year has waiting for me

but i know that God does.

that's enough for me.

 -haley

embrace the camera

if i had a photographic memory, i wouldn't have to take so many photos.

i love a great photo and today, more people are taking photos than ever before.

i started carrying my camera everywhere when i started college.

i caught every moment.

to recall the big moments, a photographic mind is not necessary. 

but when i look through the stills and the film, it is the little moments.

it is the walk to practice when we cannot stop laughing,

the study breaks and the wine nights. writing a song together and

crying over our favorite movie.

embrace the camera.

when parents are laughing at some weird inside joke

and have no idea of how much their love for one another inspires you.

embrace the camera

when you and your siblings are all wearing ridiculous matching sweaters.

embrace the camera.

when your man doesn't feel like saying cheese, that's fine

(he will look sexy with his serious face on).

embrace the camera.

whether you have a nikon 900xqefazkjgrtjlngwklrtjn or just your phone

embrace the camera.

in the past i have let my own insecurities get in the way of saving memories.

i have looked at images and decided my arm is a large salami and my ass

as wide as a house.

but that is not what it is about.

will i ever be at a point where i look in the mirror and say,

"wow...i would literally change nothing about what im seeing!"

probably not.

and that is all the reason to not discourage yourself!

when i look at a photo and feel memories, i am not thinking about my appearance,

im actually not thinking about me at all.

im taken back to that moment in time,

what we were doing, why we were laughing or

why we weren't. 

i am so thankful for 'ugly' photos and the decision to

embrace the camera. 

-hay

bikini family pic lol nobody LOVED it

freshman

she was annoyed

we were taking a stroll

homeless

my first collegiate game

this guy friend ended up being my husband

hadn't seen each other in 2 months and were wearing the same thing

these two

she was amazed

best blur ever

she hated this

^^ he was tired ^^

fiesta

i look like a gnome, he still looks at me like this

^^dying our hair^^

they were tired

a great lesson

its funny because we looked like dudes

hated my brown hair..love this photo

he didn't want to say cheese :)