Here's The Skinny...

Okay, okay, so we haven’t written in a while. We both know (and feel kind of bad about it). We’ve had other things on our minds (and in our tummies, or at least Nicole’s tummy). But, we want to update you together, and so, here’s the skinny…

Nicole feels fat.
She’s not, but she feels it. A little tummy is forming (while not nearly to the point the thinks), revealing the new home of our child, whom we call “Bam Bam” for now.

We’ll see you at the Barely Legal Beach Club.
Just kidding. Nicole’s reading Get Out magazine and we like laughing at the ads. We will definitely not see you at the Barely Legal Beach Club.

Jonathan’s gassy.
Well, that’s not actually news, but it was just something that came to mind.

Nicole’s pregnant emotions are funny.
She can’t help it. Her emotions range from hysterical, uncontrollable laughter to tearing up at cotton commercials and everything in between. Jonathan has handled it well, but gets a good kick out of it. One night a little while ago, Nicole was up late due to a racing heart. We took a shower around 3:00 a.m. to help her calm down. As we hugged, she went back and forth from laughing to crying to doing both at the exact same time. It was a priceless moment.

It may rain soon.
Jonathan has been praying for no rain since it last rained (and as we know from the Bible, the prayer of a faithful man accomplishes much). Why, you ask? Because our roof had been damaged and no companies were willing to repair the small section which surely would have led to massive leaking. Finally, though, we found Larry the Roofer, our roof has been fixed and Jonathan believes that it will rain again soon.

Jonathan cries a lot just thinking about our child.
For example, the other night we watched Ransom, starring Mel Gibson. Everything was fine until Mel and Rene Russo’s character walk in on their child in handcuffs and blindfolded by duct tape. Jonathan broke down crying just thinking about the possibility of something like that ever happening to our child. It’s horrible to even think about. Most of the time he’s excited about what Bam Bam will look like, who Bam Bam will turn out being, but sometimes Jonathan just starts crying, both in joy and in fear, for all types of reasons.

The ostrich festival is coming to town.
Just another thing Nicole read about from Get Out magazine this week. If you have nothing better to do.

We’re addicted to 24.
Ever since we borrowed the first season from my parents, we’ve been hooked. It’s television heroine. We’re on season three now, and that’s in just two month’s time. If you haven’t watched it, you have to check it out. Jonathan wants to make a shirt that reads “Jack Bauer is my hero.” Seriously.

You should check out Financial Peace University.
We started taking this class together at Open Door Fellowship. Nicole had taken it before we were married and vowed that she would take the class again with her husband. It’s such an awesome class and we encourage everyone, married or unmarried, to take it at some time or another (the sooner the better). Check out DaveRamsey.com for more info. We guarantee it will bless you and your family.

And that’s all for now.
Hopefully this was a good enough update to keep you satisfied for a while. You can keep praying for Nicole and the safety of Bam Bam. We’ll be finding out if it’s a boy or girl in one month, so we’ll let you know when we do. We’re pretty sure it’s going to be a boy, in which case the name Kyle James is the leading contender for now, but we’ll tell you when we know for sure. Thanks for reading and being patient while waiting for this post. Not like this was Star Wars Episode 3 or anything, but we appreciate your encouragement and caring about all three of our lives (Bam Bam’s included). God bless!

"That's Married Life."

What people don’t tell you about marriage is that life keeps on happening when you say, “I do.” What I mean is: stuff keeps going wrong, work still sucks sometimes, the bills keep coming in the mail, etc, etc, etc. I think that, before that beautiful day, I thought life would somehow just change the next day. You know, the type of change you expect when you graduate high school, venturing off to college and into adulthood.

But that’s all wrong.

This past couple weeks has consisted of one thing after another thing after another thing breaking or going wrong. First, Nicole’s truck. Then, the toilet. After that, the kitchen sink. And then, our car. More significantly, Nic’s had some health issues and she has to go see the doctor. Of course, this all had to fall right smack dab in the middle of December, the month of presents, presents, and, did I mention presents? (If you’re reading this family, it looks like you’ll all be getting some very nice cards, accompanied by “thoughtful” presents. And if you feel so obligated, you can make checks payable to the Too-Much-Crap-In-One-Month-Cottrell Fund.)

Last night, Nic and I went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, sort of as an unspoken last meal until late January. It was scrumptious. Occasions such as that always make the meal taste better. Sitting there next to each other, we leaned our heads on each other’s shoulders, we ate well, and we laughed. We talked about how nice it is to know that, no matter how difficult things may become at times, we have each other to “lean on.” I didn’t break into song and dance even with the cue, because Nic verbalized it better. We have each other to “bear one another’s burdens.” Exactly.

If all this stuff wasn’t enough, this morning, we both woke up sick, the car turned out being more expensive than estimated, and I smell like vitamins. Flinstone vitamins. I don’t know how it happened. I just pulled my shirt out of the closet today and, after trying to locate the smell for a while, I realized the smell was not actually trailing, but it was on me. I’m not sure which little artificially flavored character I smell like—Fred, Barney, Wilma, Dino, Bam Bam, maybe just the collected smell of all the vitamins in a single bottle—but when it’s one thing after another like Nic and I have been experiencing lately, eventually, you just have to stop and laugh.

And the laughs just keep on rolling. Tonight, after I picked up Nicole from work, we walked into the house with a great big surprise waiting for us. As Nic turned the corner to enter the kitchen, she looked into our lounge and gasped. She stopped me and said, “Jonathan, pray before you enter this room,” quickly followed by, “Can I just tell you what happened.” Quite unfortunately, our water heater had begun leaking everywhere. It’s nothing a 16-gallon ShopVac couldn’t cleanup after three hours. Nonetheless, it was just a little too much at that moment. No worries, though, Nic and I are doing well, camped out at my parents’ house, mooching from my mom’s extremely well stocked fridge, just like old times.

As I told my mom about all the, shall we say, exciting events of late, she quickly said, "That's married life," to which I responded, "No. It's just life, and we happened to be married." I mean, for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health is all ringing a little truer right now than we would have hoped in our first two months together. But this stuff could happen to anyone. And somehow, despite the fact we don't think it could get any worse (and we don't want to jinx ourselves), the worse is much better than any better would be on my own.

This Marriage Thing

RegardingUs.com is our attempt at letting our friends, family and the occasional strangers in on our marriage—the joys, the frustrations, the humor, the sadness, the adventure, the scares, the trials, the mushy gushy lovey dovey stuff, and more. Of course, we can’t share everything, but we'll try to be as open as possible.

“Why,” you ask? Well, there are three reasons. First, we want to keep track of the lessons we have learned and have a central place to visit and be reminded of every step of our romance. Second, we’re new at this marriage thing, and we know that others are new at it or will be new at it soon enough. We want to share the lessons of love we learn and hope to facilitate conversation among almost and newly married couples to keep love alive and encourage the bond of marriage before God and the world. Lastly, we know a lot of amazing couples who are not in any way new at this marriage thing, having been married for ten, twenty, thirty, even forty or more years. We very much hope and pray, for our sake and other newly married couples’ sake, that those who have gone through the highs and lows of marriage—the richer and poorer, the health and sickness, the better and worse—and stood the test of time would be open in this forum and share all that they have learned.

So, whether you’re about to be married, have been married a short amount of time, or are a marriage pro, please join us as we begin the rest of our lives.