Wedding pictures are online

Our good friend, Steve Babuljak, took amazing wedding photos and has posted them online for people to view and order prints. If you're interested, the link is http://www.babuljak.com/fitelson/

Danny and I really enjoyed looking at the photos last night as we were reminded of how joyful our day was. We were blessed to share that day with so many suppotive family and friends!

Back to...normal?

Danny is safely home from CHIC (and has promised to blog on it later), which means that life is back to normal in our home, except that I wouldn't call it normal. Considering we had one week to adjust to married life before he left town, we're still adjusting to the newness of living together. I'm not sure our lives will ever be "normal" as we seem to be going at a hectic pace most of the time.


The night Danny came home from CHIC, I started my first class at Fuller Seminary as I begin pursuing a Master's degree in Theology. I'm very excited and nervous about this learning experience and the time it will take to study and -gulp- write 20 page papers again. I knew starting two weeks after the wedding wasn't the best idea, but this is a rare opportunity with a visiting professor, and 5 of my friends from First Covenant are taking the class as well, so I didn't want to pass it up. Danny carpooled to class with our friends and I came straight from work, so in class was the first time we spent together after a week-long separation. When the professor found out we had been married three weeks and apart for one, he was very congratulatory and then insisted we shouldn't be in class. We couldn't tell if he was kidding, and I wasn't about to ditch my first grad school class ever, so we stayed -- despite the hopeful look on Danny's face when we had permission to leave. In case you're worried about our marriage at this point, we did get a date on Saturday night... after I finished another full day of class.

Last night we had our first official night of hosting. The three Levey teens came over for homemade pizza (thanks Eve!) and we took them out to a movie: Nacho Libre. (I wouldn't call it good but I did laugh out loud throughout the whole movie.) It was so much fun to have teens over, although they weren't as excited about our new dishes and placemats as we were. Danny and I hope to do a lot of hosting as we both come from families where hospitality was a way of life.

But, every once in a while, we'll need to plan a "normal" date that doesn't involve seminary or high schoolers. I think we can manage that.

What's in a Name?

Adjusting to married life has been an adventure! There are lots of fun, exciting, strange, and downright puzzling things about all of sudden combining your life with someone else's.

The first thing I did when I got back to work after the honeymoon was change my name on all our systems at work. Within an hour emails were going out from me with the name "Bethany Fitelson" in the heading. As I saw the change take place "officially" in writing, it was really fun and really...odd. Not in a bad way, but odd.

Just an hour ago, a week and a half after my name was changed at work, a long-time friend and co-worker was asking someone "Who is this Bethany Fitelson person who keeps sending me emails?" Another friend reminded him that I had been married and changed my name. I overheard the whole conversation and butted in, laughing hysterically. He said "I knew you had gotten married, but I've known you for 10 years as Bethany Hall, so the change didn't register in my mind." I countered that I've known me as Bethany Hall for 26 years, so the change was ever weirder to me!

I just spent the last 30 minutes or so trying to make a new signature. I can't even remember how to write a cursive F! Writing the entire name Fitelson in cursive is a bit daunting. I'm not even sure how you go about changing your signature "officially." I guess I can do that when I change my name legally. First I have to get the official marriage certificate, then get a new Social Security card, then get a new license. I have to do all this AND bear children?

I like the name Fitelson, as hard as that is to believe. I like it because I love a man named Danny Fitelson and I'm excited to join my life to his -- in every way. We're no longer Danny and Bethany...we're the Fitelsons! I love that! I just wonder how long it will before I answer the phone "This is Bethany Hall, uh, Fitelson, uh..."

I would love to hear from other women who have dealt with this exciting but odd change in the past! Leave me a comment or send an email and share any advice you have on this whole process!

Home Alone/CHIC

Today is the two-week anniversary of our wedding, and I just put Danny on a plane to take about 40 First Covenant High School students to CHIC, a church camp in Tennessee. Danny has been excited for this trip for three years and he has an amazing group of kids going with him. As I was driving away from the airport I seriously considered the consequences of quitting my job and getting on the plane with them. They're going to have an amazing week! Please pray that Danny and the kids will have safe travels and a fun, spirit-filled week. Pray for me too as I'm home alone this week. We've been apart for a week before, but for the last two weeks I've enjoyed seeing Danny every morning and night and I have a feeling this separation will be harder than all the others!

Home Sweet Home

Our furniture FINALLY arrived! After a long drawn-out process, our furniture is here and our apartment is starting to feel more like home. Our mattress was sitting on the floor the first week of our life together in our new house. Thanks to a gift from the Fitelson and Linenbach families, we now have a beautiful, comfortable bed!

Our living room is also complete so now we can have people over. We love our home! So come on over!

We're Married!

Forgive the blog silence (if anyone is checking this) but I'm sure you understand that we've been a little busy recently! The week up to the wedding was hectic but so much fun as friends and family were in town. We were blessed to have so many friends and relatives who worked their tails off tying ribbons, blowing up balloons, etc. Thank you all!
The wedding day was wonderful -- everything we had dreamed it would be. Despite the temperature in the sanctuary, the whole day was perfect! Thanks to Walt I have a picture to post, but when we get more pictures I'll send out links. Let me know if you want to receive the link for our pictures.

As for the honeymoon, it was the best honeymoon ever. Kauai was beautiful, the weather was perfect as we cruised the island in our 2005 Mustang Convertible, our hotel bungalow was cozy, and we adjusted to being married pretty well! It's amazing the things you learn about someone on a honeymoon, like that they sing in the shower. We're looking forward to being settled in our new place (furniture finally comes tomorrow). We're having fun living together (no late-night drives) and last night we actually went to a movie for the first time in months. (We saw Pirates of the Carribean 2, loved it!) It's nice not having a wedding to plan anymore!
I have our honeymoon pictures posted on kodakgallery.com, so let me know if you want me to send you an invitation to view them. Warning: pictures may cause intense desire to quit your job and live in paradise!