3 Wonderful Years Together

 

This week was Hubby and I's 3 year anniversary. In the last 3 years we have moved across the country twice, got a fur baby, and had our Little Man. It seems like these 3 years have flown by, yet our wedding seems so long ago. 

Hubby took me out Tuesday night to celebrate 3 years of our growing love for one-another. He surprised me with this beautiful set of pearl earrings and necklace. Apparently the 3rd year anniversary is the "pearl" year. He picked out this amazing set. It was the first time he has given me jewelry without me knowing/picking it out myself (I even picked out my own engagement ring). I am shocked how awesome he did.

He also gave me the sweetest card, it says:

"So there's this guy.

Meets a girl.

(Great girl. REALLY GREAT girl.)

Somehow wins her over

and convinces her to marry him.

It's a HAPPY day.

One of the happiest of his life. 

But the BEST thing is-

the happy days keep coming. 

Week after week.

Year after year. 

And even when life isn't

perfect and wonderful,

somehow she makes it better.

Just by being herself.

Just by loving him like she does.

And one day, it hits him.

That whole happily-ever-after thing?

Maybe it's not just for fairy tales.

Maybe it does happen-

even to average guys like him.

He may not own a white horse,

but he got the girl. 

The BEST girl.

And somewhere out there, 

there's a sunset

with their name on it. 

I love our story

and I Love You. "

AHHH it just melted my heart. 

We started the night at Bonefish Grill where we had an amazing dinner topped off with complementary chocolate covered strawberries. Next we stopped off at Coco Dulce and sampled some chocolate and coffee. It was so good to get some quality time together and just relax. Next we went to a move that  ended up being terrible so we walked out and got a refund. We ended the night stopping off at Wal-Mart so I could pick up some allergy medication since I was starting to feel really awful.

Our chocolate covered strawberries

Our First Anniversary

Last week I did a link-up about unexpected moments in marriage. Today's topic is about our first year anniversary.

Our anniversary is the First of October and at the time we were living in the Atlanta area. Friends of ours made us a fantastic steak dinner, including some very addicting bacon wrapped green beans. Afterwards Hubby surprised me by getting us a hotel for the night downtown and tickets for a show. My very favorite musical Wicked was in town playing at the fabulous Fox Theater. I had already seen it twice before, but Hubby had never seen a professional musical before. Trust me if you haven't had the pleasure of seeing this musical, it is a must. Even if you don't like musicals (like Hubby) you will enjoy this one.

After our dinner we drove downtown to our hotel, took a stroll around the area, and then called it a night. The next day we got all gussied up and walked to the theater. As we were walking to the theater, we saw tons of people dressed like they were going to a night club, only it was in the afternoon. Little did we know that the BET Awards show was in town for the night and we were asked many times if we were getting on the shuttle buses to go to the show.

We stopped at a local restaurant next door to the theater for lunch and then hit the afternoon show of Wicked. After the show we headed out to dinner. We found a Groupon for a local steakhouse, and when we got there at 5 o'clock we realized that this was a local hot spot for the 60+ crowed. I think we lowered the median age by about 30 years the moment we walked in. We ordered our lackluster dinner and headed home.

All in all it was a great anniversary. We had some good stories to tell and some memories that we will never forget.

The Unexpected Moments In Marriage and Growing Together

As most of you know I frequently read the blog Wifessionals. Lately she has started a link up about her first year of marriage. Although I have been married almost 3 years, I thought I would give my perspective on this week's topic.

The Unexpected Moments
Boy does life in general bring unexpected moments, but marriage adds another dimension. We were married in October 2010, and since then gone through some HUGE life changes. You can read about our growing family and our love story to find out about some unexpected times in our life. Most recently though our biggest unexpected moment was our move back to Kansas and the new job. These are definitely the hardest and most life changing things that have happened to us. But all three of them have brought us eminence joy and we thank God everyday for helping us see His plan.
Through all of our unexpected moments, we have learned to lean on each other and God through all of it. We often will pray in bed together to ask God for guidance and patience. The hardest part is trusting that if we let go then God can handle it. I am a self-diagnosed control freak, and Hubby is very laid back. It often drives me crazy, but he I know that he is there to help calm me down and put things back into perspective.

How We Have Grown Together
One of the hardest parts about our marriage was moving immediately to Georgia, 1000 miles away from the life we have always known.  This however became a blessing because it made us rely totally on each other. We were best friends before we got married, but our relationship now is so much stronger. We were living in a new city and had no friends, so we spent every bit of our time together. The friendship we have now is more than I ever imagined I could experience, and to add Little Man to the mix has brought it  all to a whole.
I thank God for helping me to realize that life could be so much more than it was before I married Hubby. He completes me and I love him times infinity (our little saying).

What were some unexpected moments in your marriage?

Spring is the Season of New Beginnings

"For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives."

Romans 6:4

Our Easter Sunday attire this year. Lulu and her new best friend Oreo (my mom's dog) are pictured as well.

Spring is here, my favorite time of year. And this spring is bringing exciting things to our family. We have recently moved back to our home town in Kansas and love being so close to our family. Also we should meet our Little Man any day now.

Our house has been buzzing the past week trying to prepare for this baby. We recently got both a bassinet and the crib put together, and after I got all of those projects done last week we are starting to feel almost ready.

But, with all of those baby things aside, we also celebrated Hubby's 26th birthday and the most important holiday of the year, Easter on Sunday (and for Hubby, opening day of baseball).

Easter always brings feelings of happiness to my life. With the blooming flowers, and warm weather, this to me marks new beginnings. While most people use the New Year as their starting point for resolutions, Easter marks the point where Christ died for my sins, and is a reminder every year that even though I have failed many times, I can always ask for forgiveness and receive the grace of a new beginning.

I was baptized when I was around 13 after a mission trip to Guyana, South America. While in South America, I helped in a medical clinic and lead a VBS (Vacation Bible School) for kids in the area. While on that trip I think we baptized around 15 people, and while talking to some of the locals they asked why I myself was not baptized. I had attended church my whole life, but always thought that I needed to have a specific list of things accomplished before I could be a "true" Christian. After that mission trip it was the first time I realized that you didn't need to be perfect to be a Christian.  These locals were learning about God (most of them were Hindu when we met them) believing and changing their lives around in just a matter of days. This was inspiring to me, that they felt the conviction and God in their heart and chose to turn their lives around.

Once back in the States I got to thinking about what milestones I believed that I needed to pass to get my badge of honor, and realized that it was a silly notion. God is not looking for the perfect girl scout, He is looking for someone to believe, praise and honor Him, and to follow the gospel and become a disciple for Christ. I was baptized a few days later.

Since that day I have been far from perfect. In fact I fell away from God for a while during college, and decided that I was more important that He. But eventually He opened enough doors to reach out to me. Since then I have been trying to put my life in God's hands.

Just as nature gets a new beginning in the spring, I have committed myself to a few things to work on in my Christian walk. I am going to be better at reading my bible. I am going to try to be the best wife and mother that I can possibly be. I am going to introduce God into my son's life everyday. I want to Love not Judge. I want others to know that I'm a Christian BEFORE I tell them, through my actions.

So I challenge you to choose something to focus on this Spring to better yourself and your relationship with God.