Seven Years!

Today is our seventh anniversary! :) The other night, Brad asked me if I had any signs of the "seven year itch," and I can most honestly say NO. I could not imagine being anything but miserable with anyone else. I would miss this guy too much. :) He is an even more wonderful husband than I thought he would be that day seven years ago when my heart burst with love and I promised, with God as my witness and Christ as my example to love him no matter what. I vowed to nurture him, encourage him, and sacrifice myself for him for as long as we both shall live (we spoke our own vows at our wedding). I married him, not knowing what the years would hold, not knowing how we would both change and grow.

I've been thinking a lot about marriage lately because of some circumstances in some people close to us. Marriage is a leap of faith made rational only by the grace of God and an undying commitment to love each other no matter what, to stick together no matter what, to work together to build a life together no matter what. And I think that seven years from that blessed day, we can say that we have faithfully kept our vows, not perhaps in that full sense of a couple celebrating 50 years together because there is a lot we haven't seen, but in every way that we've been confronted with so far.

I have to say, I feel so blessed as I reflect about our journey together to this point. We've had our ups and downs, good days and bad days, challenges, tears, joy, and unstoppable laughter just like anyone else. But I think that even in the tough moments we have always come together to face what was before us with a united front and have always found in each other a worthy and delightful companion for both trials and joys. I do not know what Year Eight (or any other year in our journey together) holds, but I know that we will be stronger in the tough times and find our joy amplified in the good times because we have each other. I could not be more thankful for the man that God most wisely brought into my life as partner, lover, and friend. I love you, honey!

We went out for dinner at Charley's Crab because, despite the every-2-minutes contractions I was having the last time we were there (the night I went into labor with Nora), I still thought the food was phenomenal and I wanted to be sure it wasn't just the emotion and excitement of that night! It wasn't. It was even better than I'd remembered. I have a new favorite restaurant. :) Going out for nice dinners is one of our favorite dates because the restaurant is usually quiet enough for good conversation, the service is slow enough to keep us from feeling rushed, and, honestly, we both just have a taste for really good food we didn't have to cook or clean up!

This was my anniversary present! Isn't it beautiful?? The diamond is the original stone from my engagement ring. It "broke" (on the inside) a couple of years ago (I didn't think it was possible, but the jeweler said sometimes it can happen) and the insurance paid for a new stone for my ring, but we had sentimental attachment to this one since it was the original, so we bought it back from the insurance and had it made into a necklace. For our anniversary (and kind of for Mother's Day too), Brad had the setting redone to allow for our expanding family. The blue stone is Carolyn's (I think it is alexandrite; there seem to be several different accepted birthstones for the month of June) and the purple one is Nora's (amethyst for February).