Content at Home

My husband, Kyle, and I celebrated our first year of marriage today! We are so very grateful to the Lord for bringing us together and drawing us to each other. Marriage is always a learning ground and there are so many things to learn about your spouse throughout your lifetime together, and especially in that first year as you live together. Even though I have seen so much of my own sin brought out in marriage, I can still say that being married to my husband Kyle has been even better than I could have ever imagined! God has been so gracious to grant me a husband who so uniquely fits me and I fit him. Our personalities compliment each other so well and we simply love spending every day together. I am so much more in love with him today than I was a year ago and that love only deepens and grows with each day, by God's grace!


We have really sought to focus on doing things together as a couple instead of living two separate lives in the same home. We serve together at church when able, we ride to places together, even if one has to wait on the other, we go to parties together and usually stay home when the other one is unable to go, etc... We also seek to serve each other in small and big ways. Even if that just means leaving a note on the counter, or taking out the trash, or just listening patiently while the other talks about his/her day.

However, all of this is the surface to the underlying desire in each of our hearts to honor and glorify the Lord through our marriage. We seek to serve Him by serving one another. We look to Him for our guidance and strength in our marriage and bring our prayer requests and thanksgivings to Him. He alone is sovereign and the One who created and sustains marriage. Our marriage is a reflection of Him and knowing that helps us to be careful how we walk, talk, and treat each other. We really pursue keeping a short account of sin between each other and we both take the responsibility to initiate asking forgiveness of the other one when we have wronged him/her. One thing that we have found immensely helpful in our marriage is that our church celebrates communion every Sunday morning at the end of our service. It has really helped to create a healthy pattern in our marriage of talking together at the beginning of every week and confessing any outstanding sins that need to be dealt with. We can then start our week fresh, knowing that our consciences are clear between each other.

Learning how to fulfill my role as wife has been such a joy! Kyle is so patient, kind, loving, servant-hearted, wise, discerning, and easy to please, which makes my job so much fun! Yet, there are some days that it has been hard as I have learned many lessons in being self-controlled, putting my husband's needs and wants before my own, learning to serve by keeping the home clean, learning to live as two and not on my own conditions and time-frames, and realizing the impact of my responses and moods on my husband. However, I would not give anything for the lessons that God has taught me and it causes me to only love and hold my husband so much dearer!

We are certainly not perfect, we struggle much with sin, and we know that we have a lot to learn about each other and our marriage but I am so very grateful to the Lord for the grace that He has bestowed on me by giving me such a wonderful husband and how that makes my role as wife to be so fun, fulfilling, and rewarding! I could not be more happy with the life that God has given to us and I absolutely LOVE being Mrs. Roland!

Hey Everyone! We got our wedding pictures from Jason Coobs yesterday. We are so excited about them and love so many of them! Due to the quantity of them (1,051) I will not be posting them all. However, I wanted to post just a few of my personal favorites. I'm also including a link to Jason's website so that you can look at all of them if you like.

Jason Coobs Photography

Once you are at his website, go to Weddings, select Roland; the password is oliver.

We said: "I DO!"

Here are a few snapshots from our wedding last weekend. We haven't gotten our professional pictures back... but I wanted to share a few glimpses that were caught on my camera. I could not have been more happy on our wedding day! I loved everything about it! I loved my dress... the way the guys' tuxes looked (especially Kyle's!), my flowers, our cakes, our food, the candy table... just everything! It was such a wonderful day and we treasure every moment of it!




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As soon as we get our pictures from Jason we'll put them up for you to see. I'll also be working this week to get up a few snapshots from our honeymoon.

Love to all!
Michelle Roland

Well, Kyle and I have finally made it to Texas... we are on the big count down for our wedding day which is THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 13TH... 5 days away!!! We are so excited to be here with my family and are enjoying finishing up last minute details.

This past Wednesday night we got the keys to our first apartment together. Yippee!!! Kyle spent all day Thursday, while I was at work, moving furniture and things into our new place. Then Friday, while Kyle was at work, I spent the day unpacking multiple boxes, trying to set up our home for when we get back from our honeymoon. Then Saturday morning I picked Kyle up about 3:45am to make one last move to our apartment and by 4:20am we hit the road for Texas... wow! What a rush these last few days have been, but what fun to be able to share this new season of life together!!!

Yesterday, Sunday, we went to my parent's church and then met my pastor and his wife at Starbucks last night for our last marriage counseling session (which we had been doing over Skype from Kentucky with them). We had a great time of fellowship, talking about the rehearsal, wedding day, and just life. We are so very grateful for Bro. Dan and Chris and their amazing examples to us of a godly husband and wife! It is such an honor to be having Bro. Dan as our pastor to marry us!

Well, this coming week is full of many fun things going on! However, one thing got added to the list today that is not normally on a bride's to-do list the week of her wedding! I have to get a root canal done on a tooth Wednesday morning... so if I seem a little ditsy at the wedding... it may be because I'm on pain killers! haha... Besides that, we have the bachelorette party, the bachelor party, the bride's tea, Kyle and I's parents meeting for the first time, more wedding shopping, Kyle and I getting our marriage license, etc...

So yes, hopefully I can get some geat pictures up to share with everyone as the week progresses... hopefully... haha! We'll see.

For now, I must return to wedding duties! I'll return soon!

Thursday night my sweet friends Jenny and Anna took me to the Cheesecake Factory for a little celebration before my wedding. They were so sweet and gave me little gifts too! I was so touched by our time together because it wasn't just spent frivolously but we engaged in great conversation about where each of us were in life and what God was doing in each of our lives. It was a great time to catch up and just invest in each other!

Anna, Me, and Jenny sitting in our booth enjoying each others company.
Anna and I
Jenny and I
For my incredible dessert I got a White Chocolate Raspberry Latte and Coconut Chocolate Macaroon Cheesecake. I have definitely found my new favorite cheesecake from there! It was AMAZING! You should have seen all three of our faces when we tried it! haha!

Our yummy cheesecakes! Left to right: Jenny's Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Anna's Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake, and my Coconut Chocolate Macaroon Cheesecake.

"Isn't this amazing?!?!"
An experience of pure delight! :-)
The three of us girls... what a fun night I had with them!!! I love them both and I am so thankful for them!
Sweet Girly Time...

Hey All!

Sorry it's been a while again. Life has been crazy busy with work, packing to move, and wedding plans! However, I'm home tonight trying to rest up, so I thought I would take some time to update you on our lives.

We are 12 DAYS AWAY FROM OUR WEDDING!!! We are so excited! Kyle and I get the keys to our new apartment in two days, on Wednesday night. We'll hopefully be able to move a couple loads over that night, then on Thursday Kyle is getting a couple friends to help him move all of our big furniture, clothes, books, etc... I'll be working Thursday from about 8:30am to 7:00pm so I'll only be able to help that night. But I'll be off Friday while Kyle is at work so I'll be able to unpack boxes and start setting up our first home together. Woo hoo!

Early Saturday morning we leave for Texas. It'll be another 15 hour drive, but it will be so worth it! We'll be able to go to church with my parents on Sunday and see everyone. Then next week I have a pretty full week planned out with a bachelorette party, bridesmaid luncheon, etc... and Kyle will be having his bachelor party on Friday, the day before the wedding.

Preparations for the wedding are going well. I have a few things to catch up on here but almost everything is about done. One of my main goals for this week (besides moving!!!) is getting our wedding programs printed. Hopefully that will happen the early part of this week!

Prayer request: the last several days my throat has been sore and now I've found a couple swollen lymph nodes on my neck. I was sure last night and this morning that I was coming down with mono again! I had a really bad bought of it back in December and I had heard that if your body never completely heals, it is easy to contract it again. Well, this morning I went to our emergency care place in town (since I have yet to find a primary care physician!) and they ran blood work on me. The doctor thought I may be having a small flare up of mono, but it's definitely not the full thing, praise the Lord!

However, my body is obviously exhausted and fighting to stay healthy so rest is definitely top priority over the next two weeks before our wedding! How that's going to happen with packing, moving, working, unpacking, packing again for the trip to Texas and honeymoon, topped off with a 15 hour car ride to Texas, and a week packed full of things to do before the wedding, I don't know! But I will certainly be trying to take every opportunity to relax and rest!

Also, today Kyle started feeling sick! :-( He's exhausted too and there's been times when he doesn't even have energy to get out of bed. There's a stomach bug going around and we're hoping he hasn't caught that! So he is at home resting tonight as well, trying to give his body time to fight whatever is going on with him!

So, if you think of us over the next two weeks, your prayers will be MUCH appreciated because we are definitely seeing that planning a wedding, moving, and traveling to Texas for that wedding, cannot be done in our own strength. Our bodies are but dust and it is only through the Lord's strength that we will be able to endure till June 13th! Thank you for your prayers!

Well, I'm gonna start working on some other things I need to get done before the wedding... while I relax (haha!)...

So much has been going on in the last week since returning to Kentucky! My Mom and I drove back from Texas on Sunday... 900 long miles! But we made it in one piece and got everything moved into the house I'm living in now. I had to work several days that Mom was here but we were able to spend our evenings with her.

Tuesday was my day off and we went shopping with Mom, picking up my wedding dress after alterations (which took most of the day because we had to drive to Indiana twice because it DIDN'T FIT the first time... talk about me freaking out!!!! But thankfully after a little alteration of something it fit perfectly!). We started off the day though with breakfast at IHOP in Indiana. We had so much fun just spending time with Mom!


Mom enjoying her harvest grain blueberry pancakes...
Kyle got yummy pancakes with strawberry toppings and eggs, bacon and sausage... I got a yummy chicken fajita omelet.

Tuesday evening some good friends of ours hosted us a shower. It was fun to see everyone and we enjoyed hanging out. It was also super special to have my Mom here for this shower too! Here are a few pictures:

The happy couple...
Yummy food and they also made vanilla homemade ice cream! Woo hoo! It's amazing!
Our sweet friend, Kristin Phillips.
Tracy Vaughn and Jessica Sampler... two of our hostesses and two of my good friends here in Kentucky.
Jason Coobs... Lauren Smith... Chris Garner... (Lauren and Chris are getting married in December! yay!)
Jenny and Jason Coobs! :-)
Yay for gifts! I was so glad to get this organizer drawer... we will definitely be putting it to use in our kitchen!
Cute frame... perfect for our hallway!

Haha... Kyle cracks me up in this picture! We got a second set of our dishes... woo hoo!
Sweet Jenny!
Kristin, Michelle, Kyle...
The Coobs and soon to be Rolands.... :-)