9 Years Ago

December 10th, 1999 was a beautiful day! We were married in Niles, Michigan in a little white chapel. I've been reminiscing all day about the wonderful friends and family who came to celebrate with us on our wedding day. I had to include this picture, because two of my bridesmaids are very much a part of my bloggy world. Jennifer, with the pretty smile on the far left, can be found at Life With The Burk Family. Karen, the cute blond on the far right, is the one who got me into this whole blogging thing! I keep up with her crazy life at Snakes, Snails and Puppydog Tails! Jan, my maid of honour in the middle, keeps up with me on Facebook.

This is one of our engagement pictures, taken just a few weeks before the wedding, on American Thanksgiving, 1999. This picture was taken, 9 years later, on Canadian Thanksgiving, 2008! We're still in love and I still melt when he smiles at me!
So much has happened in the past 9 years. Those stories can wait for another day. It has been a crazy journey, full of ups and downs. I'm not one of those people who would say that I'd do it all over again or even that these 9 years have been the best years of my life. There have been some wonderful moments that I will cherish forever. There have also been some moments that I regret and wish didn't happen. One thing I know - God has been in every moment of our marriage whether we acknowledged Him or not. And God will continue to be there, with His never ending grace. Today we celebrate! May there be many more years of celebration and love.

September 11, 2001

This is one of those dates that we will never forget. One that you always remember where you were and exactly what you were doing when you heard the news. We were living in our first little home in Ohio. We rented a basement suite and Joshua was music pastor at Victory Baptist Church. Sara was 6 1/2 months old. I was going through my normal morning routine, when I got the phone call from Joshua at the church, "Turn on the T.V.!" I remember the horror, the confusion. Who? Why? What? I remember standing there, holding my baby girl, trying to take it all in. And then, right before my eyes, the first tower began to crumble to the ground. As I realized what was happening, I sank to the couch in tears, hugging Sara tight. A moment I will never forget. Life stood still that day and the nation grieved together. I saw the movie "Flight 93" a few days ago for the first time. It brought back so many emotions and I cried through much of it. Those people were amazing. And they were real people just like you and me. May we never forget what happened that day.

Fresh Colour and New Life!

Well, I can stop being bitter now....the weather has been absolutely beautiful for the last two days! The sky is totally clear and blue, the sun is shining, and the snow has almost completely melted. It was actually really great moisture for the newly awakening trees and shrubs. The grass is really starting to green up too! Our bean plants are growing like crazy as you can see. They are still hiding inside for the time being.... Maybe next week we can plant them outside?? Today, after Joshua came home from work (he works one Saturday a month), we made a trip to the greenhouse/tree nursery that's close by. It was so fun to see all the trees blossoming and budding! Joshua gave me some money for Mother's Day to spend there, so I bought a wooden antique bucket to plant something in and a few baskets of flowers. Aren't they pretty? We'll be bringing these things into the front porch every night for a week or two yet, but I'm so excited to have some colour on the front porch to greet my visitors! We're also planting a few new trees in the backyard to replace those spruce trees Joshua chopped down a few weeks ago. We liked too many different kinds at the nursery, so now we have to decide which ones to buy! Tomorrow afternoon we'll be going back with our truck to pick them up. As I'm writing this, Joshua and the kids are out digging the holes for planting! They're having so much fun, I think we'll have a bit of a late bedtime.Today is my parents anniversary and I wanted to say "Happy Anniversary" to them! It's been 34 years! They are in Niles, MI right now visiting my brother, Scott and his wife Andrea, and my two sweet nephews, Luke and Caleb. This will be their first time to meet little Caleb, who is 7 months old! After their visit with them, they and my sisters, will be driving all the way over here to Airdrie, AB! They're arriving on the 19th. This will be the first time we have seen them for 2 1/2 years, so we are super excited! I washed my guest bed sheets last night, so the preparations have begun. This week will be busy with extra cleaning and schoolwork so we can be ready to take the next week off and enjoy our company! Here is a recent picture of my family, for those of you who know them. Heather is now 15, Heidi will be 13 next month, Holly is 10 and Hannah is 7 (8 in July).
If I don't have a chance to post tomorrow, "Happy Mother's Day" to all of you mommies out there! I'll look forward to reading all your blogs to see what kinds of fun and sweet things happened for each of you!

It's Been 1 Year!!

Today is a very special day! It's the one year anniversary of my blog!! I can't believe it's actually only been a year. So much has happened in one year, it makes my head spin to think about it! Here are some of the big ones.... We went on an Alaskan cruise with the whole family in July, we moved to a new house and city in September, I started babysitting for the Merrett family a few weeks later, we started Grade 1 with Sara in October, and Joshua and I went to Mexico in March! Wow! You can read my very first post by clicking here. I was so excited to get those first 5 comments! And now, 80+ posts later, I have a whole new blogging family now and I absolutely love it! I love it that people actually read what I have to say. And I love comments even more! Thank you, everyone, for making my blog so special! You all have been such a wonderful support team as we all share life together. So, I thought of the perfect way to celebrate this momentous occasion. Drum roll please.... I want to get a record number of comments on this 1st anniversary post! If you read my blog, even if it's only occasionally, I want to hear from you. ALL of you! (If you read this from Facebook, click under the title where it says "view original post," and post from my actual blog.) I want to know 3 things about you when you leave your comment.

1. How did you find out about my blog?

2. Where are you from?

3. What is your favourite ice cream? (Or if you're ambitious, tell me what your favourite post was this year!)

So, ready, set, GO! I can't wait to hear from you!