3 years already?!

**Warning - very long, sappy post ahead!! And yesterday was actually this wonderful day, but it was a little crazy***


Happy anniversary baby! Today I am freshly aware of God's grace on our lives as we hit this milestone of 3 years of marriage - craziness!

This wonderful journey started 4 1/2 years ago when you leaned over to me across the picnic tables at lunch on Fall Retreat and asked what I was doing after lunch, and if we could talk. We walked around the lake, found a rock to sit on, and after a few hours of wonderful conversation, we walked back up to the camp officially in a relationship. I never knew that day would be life-changing, but it was. The next 9 months together were filled with joy as we got to know each other, went on fun dates, served in CRU together, and spent many late nights hanging out with the CRU folks, many afternoons in coffee shops, and anything else we could think of, as long as we were together.

4 years ago, we found ourselves again at Summit Lake for a picnic lunch to "celebrate your birthday"...or so I thought! That afternoon you expressed your love to me and asked if I would spend the rest of my life with you...and through tears and a little bit of dizziness I was thrilled to be able to tell you that I loved you, and of course I would!

Then 3 years ago on that wonderful, beautiful sunny day...we pledged our love and our lives to each other. I will never forget the joy of that day...and the joy that has filled our lives since then. We've had rough days certainly, but through it all, the joy of being together and living life together has never left.

We've been through so many seasons since we got married. That first precious summer that we saw each other every evening, had dinner in our little apartment all the time, grilled out, went to the pool, settled into our new home, had friends over...we had no idea what would hit us once August came! Then it did, and we both went back to school - you went part-time for your MBA and I went full time for my last year to get my BSN.

In March we moved into the city...who ever would've thought we'd live here?! I think we probably would've laughed if anybody told us we'd be here...ever! It was a wonderful year spent in that beautiful home we rented...and my first year working as a nurse. It brought all kinds of new challenges - early mornings and all night long shifts. At times we went days without ever even passing...between your work and school and my rotating work schedule, they were busy days! Day after day you reminded me that life wouldn't be like this forever...and I could do it...no matter how many times I told you that I just couldn't! Not for one more day...I was sure of it.

Almost exactly a year later, we moved into our very own home - again in the city! As if that wasn't enough change, 5 days later we learned just how different our lives would become when that second pink line showed up on that test. We entered a new season of trials, with a wonderful cause, but trials nonetheless. Morning after morning of throwing up, days (months really) gone by that I could hardly open the fridge to get my orange juice, much less cook a meal?!

Then on that wonderful day in December, our little guy entered this world and our lives, latched onto our hearts (as if he hadn't already), and we became Mommy and Daddy. I still can't really believe he's ours. It just doesn't feel like we're old enough to have him!

It's been almost 6 months since he was born, and it still feels like a dream. This day, this season that we waited for so long to arrive, can it possibly really be here? These wonderful days where you're home every evening for dinner, not in class, I'm not at work, we're just here as a family. These wonderful days that I get to spend at home with our little Logan, being the momma I've wanted to be, getting to take care of our home (although it hardly shows!). I must be dreaming!

As we walk through whatever our Lord has next for us, I thank Him for the good gifts He's given us, so many of them, and pray that we would find His blessing in everything. I thank Him for the gift of you in my life! Our days together are sweet...and I don't ever want to take them, or you, for granted.

I love you. I love being your wife, being the mother of our child, the homemaker of our home, and I love knowing that no matter what, we're in this together. Thank you for changing my life that day 4 1/2 years ago.