The last time I had a blog, it was called "Life on Seawell Avenue." A lot has changed since I moved from there! The last post I wrote was about buying my house. Since then, many more things have changed! I started dating Alex Batista, I got engaged to Alex Batista, and on November 13, 2011, I became Mrs. Alicia Batista! Married life is good. We can see God's hand in bringing us together, not only because it makes us very happy, but also because we can see the ways that God is sharpening us and teaching us both about Him through living life together.
The past seven months of marriage can be classified into two words for us: endurance and trust. When we got married, Alex was unable to work as we waited for him to receive his work permit and green card. For months, being in the midst of the most difficult year of teaching I'd ever had, I wanted so badly to quit my job, and Alex wanted so badly to work and provide for us as a family. Looking back, I can see God's hand in the fact that neither one of us could have what we desperately wanted. Clearly, we were supposed to learn how to be content in every circumstance (which I completely failed at, by the way). Some major sanctification was going on in each of us, and we didn't like it one bit!
"Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law." Psalm 94:12
"For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11
Through all the months of not getting what we wanted though, we both learned to just keep moving along and doing what had to be done. I suppose that's the definition of endurance, and it has been a good (hard) lesson to learn in the beginning of our marriage!
As a reminder of all God has done in the last seven months, here are some of the things we were worried about:
~not having any income this summer when I'm not teaching
~wanting our green card interview to go well
~a job for Alex
~a job at a year-round school for me (after much thought, I had decided that was a key part in me not burning out as a teacher)
And this is how God answered each of those "worries" that should have been prayers much more often than they were:
~Alex received his work permit in April and started looking for work. He had to find a job before our green card interview, or he wouldn't be able to get a job until the green card arrived. Alex got a job less than a week before our green card interview!
~Alex started work at the end of May, and his first pay check will come just a few weeks after my last one!
~I went to the transfer fair in April, and a week later I got a job teaching 3rd grade at a year round school!
~We were approved right away during our green card interview, and his green card came 2 weeks later!
All of these things happened within just a few short weeks. We had months of waiting and enduring and being frustrated with our situation, and then when He saw fit, God answered our prayers. I'm so thankful!
Alex and I have so much to be thankful for, and I'm looking forward to see what the rest of our first year of marriage will hold for us!
