Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. On August 26th, 2001 at high noon, we stood literally on a mountaintop in Colorado in a gorgeous little chapel that holds 75 people, overlooking the Continental Divide and made promises to each other and to God. Jeremy sang to me, and it was a beautiful ceremony. (With one small exception... I hired a local string quartet to play for us instead of having a piano or organ, and let's just say their demo tape sounded NOTHING like them.... bless their hearts.)
So now 7 years later, it's interesting to reflect on how we started this marriage, and the journey we've been on. We met and got married on a dude ranch that we both worked at. We knew we wouldn't live there forever, but we didn't know what was next either. We had no idea we'd move to North Carolina - that was never on either of our radars for places to live. We had no idea I'd be a mortgage broker, and we had no idea Jeremy would go to nursing school. We didn't know if we wanted kids or not, but we certainly couldn't picture them for a long time. And here we are! Who knew.
God has surprised me through the years. I knew I was marrying a very good man - a man who loved Jesus and had a heart of solid gold, and while he wasn't a perfect man, he seemed perfect for me. But I couldn't have known at that time that Jeremy would grow into a Godly man, and a man who would lead me by example, and be the model of sacrificial and unconditional love. I couldn't have known that he would grow into the kind of person that views even the little things such as housework as an equal task that should be shared (and he did have to grow into that... it wasn't automatic... there's still hope for husbands out there!!). I didn't know that Jeremy would continue to pursue me day after day, year after year, in ways that no one else ever has. And I guess I just didn't know that the Lord could allow me, little 'ole me, to be loved so deeply. I honestly still question every now and then why I get to have such a wonderful husband and such a fun marriage.
I could go on and on about my husband, but I'm sure I'd make some of you vomit with my sugary sweet gushings. So I won't do that. Instead, tonight I'll tell all the wonderful things about Jeremy.... to Jeremy.
Just 2 days ago, I was driving along in Raleigh, and thinking how nice my car is now that it's painted and has a new transmission. And I glanced down at my odometer and saw something that I'll never see again: 123456. Yep, my mileage was 123,456. Pretty cool, huh?
And then yesterday..... I'm coming back to work after going home for lunch, and my car starts revving and lurching, and not really working very well. I manage to make it back to my office (it's only a mile and a half from my house, after all) and then talk to Jeremy about it later that afternoon. When it comes time to head home for the day, the darn car won't really even go. Jeremy came and tried to drive it too, and we ended up just leaving it in my office parking lot overnight.
Aargh!! This is after just having spent $3500 fixing it up. Fortunately, we have a nice warranty on the transmission, but still... just a bit frustrating. So today it's getting towed to the transmission shop, and we'll be without a car again for a while. Lovely.
I've been absent from blogging for a while, but with good reason: we spent a wonderful 2 weeks in Oregon, visiting Jeremy's family and celebrating his grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary.
I'll post about our trip another time, but I couldn't wait to get this amazing thing on my blog. The night we got back from our trip, which was late last Wednesday night, we saw this on the door of the nursery: Hopefully you can tell what that is, but in case you can't, the entire door was "wrapped" like a gift, with a bow and all! Our dear friends Stephanie and Lou had snuck into our house while we were away in Oregon, and painted little Westin's room for us!!!!!
Stephanie was with me when I bought the paint, and she had helped me talk through the design I wanted to do, but little did I know that she would actually DO IT FOR ME! It was such an amazing blessing, and it turned out beautifully. Here are some pictures of the finished product:
Those stripes were no small feat, and they perfectly match the bedding I bought to put in Westin's crib.
Jeremy I were really humbled and blessed by this incredible gesture. It's good to be loved.
