Happy Seven Years! Seven Happy Years!

Dave and Jamie. October 31, 2008 (Halloween, which explains my cat face.)

May 2008 at my brother Cory's wedding to Erin. I've blogged about this before, but this was the first time we ever danced together! It took us long enough, right?

April 2007. A very fun night out with the Morgans. Delicious dinner!



Jonathan holding Anna in his lap. He was 2 and a half and she was about 5 months old. May 2006.

Jonathan and Anna giving each other a hug in the pool. Summer of 2006.

Thanksgiving Weekend, 2005. Jonathan got up on Dave's shoulders to put the star on top of the tree. Jonathan was two years old, and we were expecting Anna in a little less than a month when this picture was taken.

Jonathan and me on my birthday in 2004. He was 8 months old and this was also Dave's first Father's Day! Sometimes my bday falls on Father's Day. See the suitcase in the background? I had just flown back with Jonathan (his first plane trip) to visit the Morgans in NC.

Dave with our firstborn, Jonathan, reading the instructions for the drill he got for Christmas 2003. Jonathan's only about 10 weeks old in this picture. He was the sweetest little newborn ever. Sigh. That loveseat he's sitting on? The first piece of furniture we bought together. Of course, it was from Rooms to Go, so it barely outlived the terms of its financing before it fell apart. I think that making a Rooms to Go purchase is a mistake every young couple should make. It's an incomparable experience!

Our first (cat) baby! Our first apartment together, down in the 'hood. We adopted Sabrina from the shelter February 2002. This, and the subsequent adoption of our other black kitty, Sprite, was all my fault and I take full responsibility for it. Did you hear that, honey? All my fault. Check out those cool black kitty cat cutouts over our laundry room door. One of my favorite customers at the pharmacy I used to work made those for me, before we ever got the two black cats. Was that like the power of suggestion, or what? He was the grumpiest little old man ever.

This was technically taken in 2002, at our Kentucky wedding in May. But we really got married in November 2001. It's a long story, and most of you have heard it eight times. What it boils down to is that I wanted to milk the anniversary thing for all its worth! Two per year! I just can't find the first wedding pictures right now. I always wanted to get married in a little white country church. I lucked out when I found the perfect guy who just happened to belong to a little white country church. It was a beautiful, simple wedding. Weddings don't have to be so complicated and difficult, and neither do marriages.

Our seventh anniversary of marriage is Monday, November 3rd, 2008. I went back through all of our seven years of pictures together and just clicked on random folders, trying to find pictures that captured moments and memories of our life together, whether they were special memories or everyday things. And what I discovered as I paged through all these files, trying to find just one shot to represent each year, was that we have had such a beautiful life together, with one sweet day after another. So many happy days. It was hard to choose because there have been so many great pictures, so many good memories. What a blessed marriage we have had! Two great kids and a peaceful house. A deep friendship and commitment to each other and to our future. Even the bad times are starting to get a little fuzzy around the edges (kind of like labor pains), and I am starting to see how they fit into the entire picture of our marriage. Like I'll think of a time we went through a trial, when everything seemed to be falling apart, but then we came out through the other side, still holding hands and holding onto each other. All of the bad times (and really, the good has far outweighed the bad) have made me realize and appreciate Dave's character and his heart all the more. I know when I hear people say they are more in love now than they were when they first met, I smile but I am groaning inwardly.

But I am going to say that now, because it's the truth. How could I not be more in love with Dave after spending these seven years together? I know so much more about him now, and we have figured out so much together. We were technically adults when we got married but I feel like we have done so much growing up together. I've learned so much about how to be a wife and mother and he's learned so much about how to be a husband and father. We've sort of been making it up as we go along, but I think we are doing alright. It's been an adventure and I really can't wait to see what the next seven years will hold for us. I know there will be a lot of good and surely some bad also.

But I know I am blessed every single day, good or bad, rain or shine, that I wake up and get to be Dave's wife. I think that's the attitude I should strive towards everyday. To wake up and thank God that I get to be with this person, for the gift of a good marriage. Being someone's husband or wife is a privilege and an opportunity, not a burden or an obligation.
It's been a wonderful seven years!