Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is mine and Allan's 2 year wedding anniversary. It was, (at the time), the second most wonderful day of my whole life--being trumped only by the birth of GraceAnne. It was also a beautiful day and I know God was Blessing it, even though I asked Him not to. See, it was like this: I was a non-believer who had grown up in a Christian home. I was very aware of God but didn't like to admit His presence or His power. Allan and I agreed we would have a completely non-denominational wedding and even wrote our own ceremony. It was wonderful, it was amazing, but it was lacking God.

Oh but He was there! We planned a long-distance wedding from Seattle. We went to my home in Wisconsin for it. It had been raining for 2 days straight and everyone kept asking me if I had a back up in case it rained. I was hesitant to make other arrangements and told them it would all work out. I knew it would. Even so, as I was getting my hair and make-up done I was growing ever more concerned that the clouds were not breaking. Allan called me at 2pm to see if I had changed my mind about our location. I told him to call at 4:30pm, (the wedding was to be at 7pm), and we would decide then. At 3:30p it was still pouring, at 3:45 it got darker, at 4 it was not looking good and there was even thunder and lightning. But then...at quarter after 4...the clouds parted and the sun came out and I told everyone I KNEW it would work out. Sure enough, by 7pm the ground was dry and the sky was GORGEOUS.

As the JP wound the ceremony down, he invited God. I hadn't asked him to, I thought I would be upset, but I wasn't. He has always Blessed us so abundantly and He wanted me to know that even if I wasn't going to invite Him, He would be there anyway.

Fast forward to two years later. We are both so different now than we were when we walked down that aisle. I can't believe it's been such a short time ago...it feels like a whole lifetime has passed! We are both such bigger people and happier to boot. I know that God has given us even more Blessings since we were joined in marriage as He wanted. This morning I had a friend come and sit with the girls while Allan and I rode our bikes to a park and had a picnic lunch together. We came back to the guest house and listened to a CD of songs I made for him. He gave me a card that made me cry. It was a wonderful time and I'm so grateful to have these days with my husband!

So now that I've given God His glory, I need to take time to thank someone else...Allan--you are the light of my life. You are my best friend, a wonderful father, a great leader for this family and you are, above all, an inspired husband. You have restored my faith in men and taught me to love completely, without reserve, because I know you'll never hurt me. Even more than that you have showed me that I deserve to be loved, despite all my pitfalls. Because of this I can fully appreciate your love and can accept the love of God, too.

Probably the greatest gifts you have given me are our daughters. The love you show them melts my heart daily. To watch you with your babies makes my heart swell and my soul sing and I could ask for nothing more! I'm so grateful God has granted us 3 beautiful girls to share this life with and I'm more grateful that He gave me such an amazing partner to raise them with. He sure knew what he was doing, even when we didn't!!

I know things haven't always been perfect and they won't always be perfect, either. I would have loved to have been shaved, polished and showered for our "date" today. But I look forward to our 5, 10, 25 and 50 year anniversaries...I promise to be shaved, polished and showered for at least SOME of those! ;) Until then, thank you for loving me the way I am, even though the shabby mom look is probably not what you expected when you met me 5 summers ago.

Happy anniversary, my love!