Celebrating 8 Years

You'll forgive me for not posting a book review on my anniversary, right?

Thanks!

After all, I looked over my bookshelves and found them shockingly barren of any good marriage books that would have suited the occasion anyway, so I decided that maybe a review of 8 years of marriage would have to do!

Eight years is beginning to feel like a long time.

Those of you who have been married for 12, 20, 35 or 48 years may chuckle at the idea of 8 years being a "long time," but I was told this summer by a reputable source that I am no longer newly married, so that must mean I have been married a long time!!!

Long enough to look back at wedding pictures and think about how much younger Wesley & I (and a whole host of other people!) looked.

Long enough to realize all the more how precious the family and friends who stood beside me that day are...

Long enough to know that those dear to us will not be here forever and that life is not to be taken for granted...

(Here we are with Wesley's maternal grandparents, Granddad and Bomie. As those of you who have read Good-bye Granddad already know, Granddad passed away last month.)

Long enough to know that bad days and hard circumstances will come, but that the sun will shine again.

Long enough, even, to realize that it's not the details surrounding the wedding day that matter so much, or even what the date is...it's the marriage!!!

I had never imagined that I would be getting married in December of all times! After all, my wedding dreams included springtime and tulips. But circumstances and timing have a way of uprooting dreams. We were engaged in early September, 2006, a little more than a year after we began dating, and since that put us 7 months or so away from spring-time, and my Dad is not big on long engagements, we realized that we had a little bit of a problem! Plus, my older brother Justin & his wife were committed to the mission field in Chile and already had plans to leave in November. So...practicality won out over dreams, tulips were turned on their heads in favor of snowflakes, Justin graciously agreed to delay his departure for the mission field a few more weeks and we set the date for December 9, 2006. Needless to say, Wesley was thrilled. Three months of engagement was plenty long enough for him and he certainly didn't mind trading in tulips for pinecones!!!

I have even been married long enough to appreciate something about anniversaries in December: there are a lot of very interesting things to do at this time of year! And were it not for the "excuse" of an anniversary, I doubt we would ever have gotten to take in some of the special events and programs that are around in December, simply because of how busy the month is!

After 8 years, we have then:

December 9, 2006

We have now:
December 9, 2014

And we have all the years in between...
Years that have blessed us with the joy of welcoming three children, the sorrow of saying "good-bye" to two unborn babies, and many opportunities to grow and drink tea together.

(Unfortunately, I don't always have a picture of the two of us together...just one of those things that gets missed occasionally when you don't major in photography!!!)

First anniversary...
(I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with what would turn out two weeks later to be our little girl, Elasa!)

Second anniversary...
(On this picture, Elasa is wearing the same dress her cousin Melita wore to our wedding, so we are all in original wedding finery!!! We celebrated by going to Baltimore, Md., for two days, where we enjoyed several museums, although most of our energy went into corralling an active 11-month-old!)

Third anniversary...
(We went to Longwood Garden to experience a Longwood Christmas and enjoyed ourselves very much!!! Who wouldn't want to see roses blooming in December and other incredible displays of poinsettias, lights and fountain shows?)

Fourth anniversary...
(Once again spent in the presence of a baby, for Gavin had arrived in August and was 3 1/2 months old. We took Amtrak into Philadelphia and toured the National Museum of American Jewish History. Gavin was a gem and I don't think I ever had so many people say, "God bless you!" while peering into a stroller before!)

Fifth anniversary... 
(We went to Washington DC...leaving the children behind with very kind grandparents! Several highlights were hearing a Christmas program at the Washington National Cathedral (where we also enjoyed their beautiful and fascinating Creche Exhibition!), touring the National Museum of American History, and participating in Christmas at Mount Vernon.)

Sixth anniversary... 
(Once again, I was only weeks away from having a baby!!! This time, however, it would turn out to be our little boy, Parker! One special surprise was finding a picnic basket with all the trimmings inside our van on Sunday, the day of our anniversary. It turned out to be a basket making it's rounds at church, with each couple who received the basket for their anniversary passing it on to the next couple on the list. We enjoyed our "picnic" by the fireplace in our very own house! The next day we did some shopping and went to the National Christmas Museum, which is very unique and has a special walk-through exhibit called the The First Christmas.)

Seventh anniversary...
(On this picture, Elasa is almost 6, Gavin is 3 and Parker is 11 months. Elasa is again wearing a dress that one of her cousins wore to our wedding! For a little day trip, we went to Bethlehem, Pa and enjoyed touring some historical buildings and learning more about the Moravians, as well as taking in a Christmas Putz. We also stopped at Christkindlmarkt, where I spied the Advent calenders mentioned here!)

Among all the other things, I have been married long enough to realize this:

Love is fresh and thrilling as newlyweds, but it's even better at 8 years old!!!