april to may

already another month has come and gone, and i've been very unsuccessful at keeping on top of my blogging. the following pictures should help explain some of that.











i know . . . we are so redneck letting him run around in his diaper, but he thinks he's so funny doing it! i cannot tell you how much will and i LOVE this little boy! we have been blessed beyond belief to get to have him come a few nights a week every couple weeks. it is given us a taste for parenthood, and what an especially beautiful thing that has been. unfortunately for will, he is no longer the only man in my life ;)

we have had lots of beautiful and rainy spring days here in louisville. will and i have been able to take lots of long evening walks and enjoy all the beautiful trees and flowers in bloom. here are a few of our favorites in the neighborhood:





as well as enjoying the gorgeous weather together, we have also been getting out and exploring the area a bit more. we have found a few new places that i love to shop at, and some really good new places to eat. our favorite has been impellizeri's. it is a pizza place that's been around louisville for a little over twenty years or so. it is outstanding, and a personal favorite of my dad's :)

this week will and i will be celebrating 4 years together and our 10 month wedding anniversary! it is amazing to me to have been with one person for four years, and then i think about both of our parents and how long each of them have been together and realize this is just the beginning. makes me tired just thinking about it.

will has another semester behind him, and we are so thankful for the rest summer will hopefully bring. my seasonal work at bridal warehouse has been done for 3 weekends now, and i am loving the freedom it has afforded me to go home, rest, clean, watch television again, and have my dad visit.

we were both devastated by the news of the flood and are praying for everyone involved back home. selfishly i am thankful i made it home the weekend before and was able to see my beautiful cousin karleigh head off for prom. she should still have ribbons in her hair and play with barbies in my mind, but we all grow up. it meant alot to me to be there, since she feels more like my sister than anything.



well, that's all for now. i've got laundry to fold, and meals for the week to plan. Happy Mother's Day! love you all!

spring has sprung

it is beyond me how we are already in april. where is the time going!?!?!?! the sun is shining again in kentucky, and i am so thankful for the warmth it has brought. i am officially two weekends away from my last working weekend at bridal warehouse. so excited to have some free time again! however, i will really miss the gals i have grown to know and love while spending the last few months working alongside them. my job at necole's place continues to thrive, and i love the work i am doing there. my kids mean the world to me. God has shown me i have a greater threshold for patience than i ever knew was in me. glad to know i won't be that screaming parent who can't hold it together. lol. we'll see :)

will is coming to the close of another semester pretty soon, and is working hard all the while. he has been racking up a's on his papers, and i have to say i am super proud of him. although, i'm pretty sure it is my mad proofreading skills that bring those a's home in the first place ;) i'm trying to get him to take over on some of this blogging business, but he isn't being too cooperative. he is on spring break this week so perhaps he will make a guest appearance in here.
i am sure you all get tired of my ramblings and would appreciate the change in writing.

recently, my parents were able to make a trip to louisville and spend a few days. we had such a nice time, and found some new places to eat and shop while they were here. mom helped me make my spring wreath, and "Easter-ized" the apartment :) i will have to post some pics, but our camera battery is dead :(

this past friday will and i were both off, and it was just a great day. due to no air conditioning yet, we have had the windows open at nearly all hours. the constant incoming breeze makes for very good sleeping conditions, and sleep i did until 2 pm. when i got up, there was a beautiful flower arrangement on my nightstand from mr.bill and mrs.nebbie! again, i wish i could post pics, but it will have to wait. needless to say, my day started great with such a sweet surprise. will and i lounged around and watched tv, then went out walking for about an hour. when we got home i fixed us dinner, and we watched my favorite friday night show, ghost whisperer. we didn't do anything majorly special, but it was just a really wonderful day. mostly because we didn't have to work and we got to just hang out and be together. i told will i want to go back to hawaii and do that for a week again. he laughed in my face. i'm guessing that's a "yeah right" in boy language.

this week begins another 13 day work week for me, so say some prayers for me! will is hopefully going to get some down time, and rest up during his spring break, and i'm looking forward to him being around a little more :)

today was a great Easter service at our church, and we were able to have a little time together for lunch this afternoon before work. we both agreed that it isn't the same though. we miss our families so much, and long to be nearer. however, we fully trust where God has placed us, and know He is in control, and knows best. it's not easy to claim that everyday though. (i've had lots of hard days lately, and ask for your prayers for me personally. loneliness isn't a friend of mine, and it has a tendency to drag me under at times.)

love and blessings to you all!

*alert*

* as a post note - i just re-read my last blog and there are several mistakes. it drives me insane, and i just had to get it out that there were errors. i don't know how to go back and fix them so this is my way of making myself feel better about the fact that they are there. yes, i am crazy for now posting this.

rewind . . .

the month of february, and this first part of march has been the hardest time for me since moving to louisville this past july. there have been lots of ups and downs, and i'm finding that the Lord is continuously trying to remind me how little i control, and that doing things alone inevitably resuly is my own personal disasters.

we were blessed to get to have mr.bill and mrs.nebbie here in mid february. i secretly invited them up to surprise will for his birthday and was ever so pleased to get away with it! it was so good to have family here and get to share in our lives here with them. though i had to work a great deal of the time they were here, will was able to catch up, which meant a lot to him :)

my physical therapy had come to an end and we are now in the process of working things out with the at fault party's insurance company. can i just say nightmare? it may be quite a road ahead of us, so please pray negotiations go over well when we meet in the coming weeks. the ugliest part of my nature has emerged from this situation and God be with the adjuster if he tries to pull one over on me. i may be blonde, but i assure you i'm not a dumb one :) he will know this, too.

the winter has been long and cold and snow filled. sunshine is promised in the future, and i beg its return! i've been in a funk with all of the dreary weather, and could really use a good dose of vitamin d.

one bright spot in my winter has been working with my beautiful children. in fact, will and i have had the privilege to provide a safe place for one of my children, by bringing him home with us for a few nights a week. it has truly blessed our lives. there is nothing like the love for and from a child, and let me tell you, this little guy will always have a place to hang with us :) please pray for him and his precious mother and siblings. God has done an incredible work in their lives, and i feel honored to have been able to be a small part of their journey through my job. these are a few pics from his sleepovers with "nanny." haha! that is what he actually calls me. i have no clue where it comes from.





God is good, and has provided in so many ways, when we are so undeserving. i will be finishing up with my second job at the end of april and am so looking forward to having some down time again. will has mid-terms approaching this week and we can hardly believe another semester will be done before long.

our future here is uncertain. we never know the next step. i wonder where God will take us often. pray for His way and not ours. pray that we may decrease so that He may increase in our lives. pray that the demonic forces around us would not gain footholds in our lives because we know they are constantly at work against what we are trying to accomplish for His glory. pray for our marriage. that it would remain strong and that it would bring honor to our Father.

a wintry mix

snow, 7 month anniversary, snow, v-day, snow, will's b'day . . . you get the picture. there has been a lot of snow in this city. more snow than i've ever experienced anyways. and i am a fan. while everyone else complains, i am at peace, in our apartment, off work :), and drinking coffee while watching one tree hill marathons. does life get any better? i think not. the only downside to these stretches of days inside is that my hands get bored. so, i cook alot. and then eat alot. makes for a not so happy girl :( thank goodness for will, who tells me i am beautiful after eating an entire box of triscuits in a day. that is love. and so is the night following. let's just say no person should eat that much fiber in 24 hours.

i don't know that we officially celebrated our 7 month anniversary, as we have done with all of the others. we did acknowledge it, but didn't make plans to go out for it this time. i fixed a really nice dinner, and we used the china, and then we hung out watching a movie and eating ice cream for the rest of the night. valentine's day was another story. this being our first married, and our first in the same city, we had fun with it. we went and saw a movie, had dinner, and then finished the night with donuts :) will bought me a desk, as motivation to get me working on my book, and we put it together in our office/guest room the next day. now we have desks side by side!

will's 24th birthday is this thursday, but we are celebrating over the weekend since we are both working. i'm working on a cake for him to take into work thursday. he swears he doesn't like cake, but i am determined to make one he will like. i'll let everyone know how it goes. as of now, i'm making a multi-layer, strawberry filled, cream cheese frosted yellow cake. crossing my fingers that he will enjoy it!

i'm a the end of my physical therapy, and what a blessing to be finished as of tomorrow. my weekend job at bridal wearhouse ends in april, and i am really looking forward to having some time to sleep, clean, and hang out with will again. he is in full swing back at school and work, and i am so proud of him. i wish i had a good fight to share with you, but honestly we really don't. mostly because he makes me laugh and i can't stay upset about anything for long. it is so frustrating when you are trying to be mad, and can't. he truly is my joy!

pray for us. the next couple months will seem long without any visits home to see family or friends. we love and miss you all! xo -sarah laughren

to catch up a bit . . .

let me rewind. alot has been going on in the binkley household. the year began with a great deal of mourning on my end. i am always sad after christmas has passed, and this year it was even worse because the end of christmas also meant leaving clarksville. fortunately, well, kind of, i had a glorious box of chocolates (thank you to the meadows) and a sackful of homeade cookies that i was able to lean on during such a difficult time. almost 4 weeks later, i'm still trying to repair the damage of my massive sugar intake.
on the 11th, will and i celebrated our 6 month anniversary with a visit from my uncle lynn, who delivered to us a beautiful oak china cabinet, once belonging to my grandmama. we enjoyed spending some time with him at one of our favorite eateries, and then came back to the house to catch up. since then, i have been filling up the cabinet, and re-organizing all of our kitchen/dining room stuff. pictures to come soon! will also used our anniversary to surprise me with the boxed dvd collection of my favorite movies: anne of green gables. poor thing has already been subjected to four hours of it. i'm sure he's wondering what he was thinking ever getting it for me :)
while will has been off from the regular school semester, he decided to take a jan-term class a few weeks ago. he did great, and absolutely loved the class. the final project is due next week, and he is working ever so hard to finish it up, as the new school semester begins this coming monday. in the meantime, i started a second job at bridal warehouse on the weekends. while i've been enjoying the social interaction and extra income, the lack of rest and sense of chaos going on in my household is about to push me over the edge. thus, i have decided will and i need a vacation. i will begin planning it when i get some free time to do so. :)
on another note, i am hopefully coming to an end with my physical therapy. i have made huge strides in my recovery, and am making some days with no back pain at all! this is a big deal considering a month ago i had the posture of an 80 year old woman - no offense grandmother :) now, we just have to face the pains of dealing with the settlement over all of this. pray for me to not be ugly. this situation has brought out an anger and bitterness in me that i have never in my life experienced before. will has on more than one occasion had to settle me down. it is just not a good thing for either of us.
as the month of january comes to a close, we will be returning to clarksville for a weekend of fun. we will leave here this saturday, and see my brother's band play that night at home. sunday night will is preaching in springfield, tn. monday we will come back. though it is a quick trip, we are both really excited and ready for it. me probably a little more than will - i've already started packing :)
this blog would be incomplete if i didn't give a shout out to one of my most faithful readers, to which i have been informed happens to be miss emily meadows. i am so happy to know that someone besides my mother and mr. bill get excited to read this! haha :) i'm sure others in our families do as well, i just only get to hear about it from them. thank you to both amy and emily for our sweet letters. without kids, i don't have refrigerator art, but now i have some from you two! we loved hearing from you both, and hope to get to see you girls next visit.
love to our families and friends back home, especially mr. ray and mrs. sherri (thinking of you!). pray for us in this new year, and that we would be open to whatever GOD would have us to do. xo

The first Christmas to come

So this Thursday marks mine and Will's first Christmas as a married unit. Wow. I can hardly believe it is already here. So much has changed in such a short amount of time.Thanksgiving came and went, and now the end of another year is approaching quickly. Last year this time, I was working at Ruby Tuesday, had just finished up school, and was baking with my mom and grandmother for Christmas Eve. This year has been quite different. I have done everything on my own this year, and in some ways it has been sad not to have family around to bake and decorate and shop with, but it has also forced me to go out on my own and get things done. Will and I are looking forward to creating our own traditions, and since we leave on Christmas Eve afternoon, we are having our Christmas on the night of the 23rd. We are making our own homemade pizza, baking cookies, and opening our gifts from each other :)

As many of you know, I work at an extension center for A Woman's Choice Resource Center, which is an anti-abortion clinic. At Necole's Place I get to work with moms and their children, as they come to get their GED, take parenting, pre-natal, stress management, or relationship classes, and basically encourage and walk life with them. Will was off the afternoon of our Thanksgiving Banquet, and helped chronicle the day for me. Here are a few pictures from the day:








You can't begin to imagine some of the circumstances these moms and their children come out of, but they are the reason I get up every morning. I want to bring them all home with me!

On a more recent note, Will and I came home this afternoon and took a few Christmas pictures to document our first Christmas, so enjoy!


These are from my sweet mother in law! Aren't they gorgeous!
They have brightened my last 2 weeks every time I've walked in the door :)






3 more days and we will be in Tennessee!