Untilled Soil

The First Year

It’s hard to believe that I’m writing this. Not only am I married to a beautiful, talented, intelligent and godly woman, but I’ve been married to her for almost a year. On sunday it will be a year, and I still can’t believe it.

When Luz and I got married, I had no idea what I was coming. I predicted a lot of the internal stuff in our marriage every thing from frustration, to elation and from getting in fights to getting [censored]. What I didn’t expect that we would be thrown into an entirely new direction of life. Getting called back into school for music composition was the last thing I thought would happen, that is until God called us to begin work on the Artist House. (more details about that at bratcherartisthouse.tumblr.com) All this time, I thought that God would simply bring a wife alongside me to do what i’ve already been doing, but to my shock and delight, he has pointed out an entirely new path for both of us to follow together, we don’t know exactly where it is leading, but we have some Ideas based on the journey we have taken so far. I could write pages and pages on what has happened in the last year, but instead I’m just going to briefly revisit the seven most influential and memorable things that have happened in our first year of marriage. (In chronological order)

1) We got married!: For those of you who did not make it, the ceremony was beautiful and quite unique. It will forever be one of the most memorable and important days of our life together, although we do admit that we are glad we don’t have to do it again.

2) Our Honeymoon in San Francisco: Despite the fact that we were brand new at the whole marriage thing, this was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable weeks of my life, and I’m sure Luz would say the same. We did all the non-touristy stuff that true urbanites enjoy and we are looking forward to go back someday.

3) Cole gets accepted at Cornish: One of the most baffling things that happened this year was a complete change in life direction, starting with my acceptance into Cornish College of the Arts for Music Composition; something I thought was always a dream that would never come true. Thanks to the loving and trusting encouragement of my loving wife, I quit my job and applied to Cornish, and by the grace of God I made it in.

4) God calls us to Artist Ministry: This is something I never expected. After spending 8 months in L’Abri in Switzerland, Luz felt a calling to start something similar in Seattle, but at the time I had no inkling to do the same. But the Holy Spirit can change hearts and minds and gave me a burning desire to help Luz create a place for artists to do life together. This is not yet in full swing, but God is at work and we are having a wonderful time. 

5) Our first Christmas: There wasn’t anything particularly unique or exciting about this Christmas, but having a wife with me to share a very memorable and important season to me multiplied my enjoyment of it several fold. Here’s to many more Merry Christmas’s together.

6) Dinner with Joel & Sarah Fariss: We have dinner with other couples quite often, but this particular dinner was extra influential. Not only was the food amazingly amazing, but Joel & Sarah have a way of challenging and encouraging respectively that really got us to think harder about our ministry and be more intentional with it. As a result, we were convinced that the Artist House needed to be in Capitol Hill, and that there was a good chance we would join the Fariss’s new church in Cap Hill when it opens in a few years.

7) The Crazy Diet: This was a trial indeed, Luz got this crazy Idea that we should do this crazy diet, (Ok, I approved of it too) to lose some weight and get healthy. It was a difficult 6 weeks and there were times that I wanted to eat my own hand, but doing this together strenghtened our bond, and as a result, we are constantly complimenting each other about how good we look, even more than before! (That’s a lot!)

There’s a myriad of other influential experiences from this year, but we are only beginning to scratch the surface of what God has in store for us. 

Thanks Luz for being such an amazing and encouraging wife. This year has been the best of my life so far, and it keeps getting better. I look forward to more and more adventures with you. I love you Bonita!

• Luz
• Marriage
• Awesome