Through The Years

In just a few days I will be celebrating 8 years of marriage with my love! In honor of our anniversary, I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of us through the years.

The story of us began a few weeks before my 15th birthday, when I was grounded for the summer. Let's just say I might have told my dad that I was going to a girlfriend's house and then went to six flags with a boy....that my parent's hated.

Meanwhile, Brian managed to get himself grounded for the rest of the summer as well, for having a party while his parents were out for the night. A party with alcohol....And girls.

Anyhoo, I jokingly said since we were both grounded we should date, since we were in the same boat (we were acquaintances from band). I might have also made a comment to a friend that Brian was cute.

The comment must of got back to him, because then he asked one of his friends to ask me if I would go out with him, if he asked. Make sense? Our first date was at City Nights, our small towns version of a teen night club.

We dated all through high school, and broke up once for a week. I made him spaghetti and brownies and we were back on again.

When it was time for him to go to college, I helped convince him that SLU would be a great place to go. I visited him a lot that year, mostly because he rarely answered the phone when I called, so I would get "curious" as to what he was up to.

When it was my turn I went to SLU as well. He was in a fraternity and I joined a sorority, and we partied and studied. We were always hip to the latest fashions, as you can see from the pictures.

Sometimes he carried the relationship, and sometimes I did. With the stress of college and all the partying, we had our moments when we weren't sure if we would last. I believe God had plans for us, and He carried us during those times.

When I was nearing graduation he proposed, I accepted. We had a lovely wedding and honeymoon, then came back and worked. We added Oscar the dog to our family, and said goodbye to clean carpets.

I went back to (culinary) school, and we bought our first house. We were happy, but after a couple years we decided to add to our family. We were thrilled with the arrival of Bernard, and I was able to stay at home with him. We said goodbye to sleep.

Life was good, and then Brian accepted a different job and we moved again. We (as in me) decided it would be "fun" to have another baby. We were blessed with Bella a short time later. We said goodbye to our sanity.

We found an amazing church, with wonderful people that have challenged us to have a relationship with God. Our church and friends have made St. Charles County home to us, and have enriched our lives immensely. It's hard to believe that it's been 8 years already, and it just gets better and better every year.

I am so happy that I was grounded for the summer 15 years ago. Brian is the one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and it has been such a joy to grow up and marry my best friend.

The husband would like to say....

Well, I can’t beat this for an anniversary present. This was really sweet of you Heather. Reading this made me realize some things. One - that I hadn’t put any thought into a gift for you yet. So this is my confession to the world (or at least this blogience).

Life has moved so fast as the years have passed and I’ve let our anniversary become an ordinary day. I’m afraid our relationship has inadvertently lost worth to me as well, while the kids have taken precedence. I’ve been treating our marriage like a partnership whose purpose is to manage the house and manufacture children. Life seems to always put our marriage and romance on the back burner. I think I’ve let my expressions of affection get hidden under layers of busyness.

So, I know it’s no coincidence that we recently received a brochure for a Family Life Marriage Conference. We were enticed by the conference locations (we love to travel) and, having gotten a little cash back from our van accident, decided to do it. I’m thankful that God is giving us this opportunity.

I believe you are right Heather, looking back on the path that has lead us here, that our Father’s hand has guided us the whole way. But, I think I need to be reminded that you are a special gift from Him to me. To take time to reflect on our years together and remember why we fell in love. As the Family Life brochure says, in Matthew 6:21, Jesus reveals that the greatest treasures in life can be found wherever you invest your time, attention, and resources. I pray that on this anniversary and during our upcoming Family Life "Weekend To Remember", Jesus will show me how to find those treasures again, like we had when these early pictures were taken.

Love Brian