You and me baby

We've come a long way, baby! Look at those kids, walking arm in arm, all smiles, radiating happiness. The road since that day twelve years ago has been full of contrasts--smooth and bumpy, magical and mundane, full of tears and sorrow and laughter and joy. We have been in valleys in our marriage that were incredibly hard and tested our commitment and our faith, and we have been victorious on the mountain tops as well. Such is life. The constant through it all is change; change is the only guarantee.

We have grown up together, started a family together, bought one house, then another, and watched our babies grow. We have been through health issues and financial issues and family heartaches as well. And it was all with this man by my side. Looking back at all of it, I am so, so grateful for this life I get to lead. I'm so grateful for a God-fearing husband that wants to lead his family well. I'm so grateful for four beautiful children that I get to raise and watch grow.

I used to look at couples who had been together for five years, and I remember thinking what an accomplishment that was, how much time they had spent together already. Now five years is nothing, just a drop in the bucket. It's been twelve for us, and I feel like someone else has lived those twelve years for me, that we're just beginning, still figuring out this marriage thing.

These twelve years have gone by and I still feel like that young bride, with the same dreams and ambitions inside that had always been there. Granted, my eyebrows are now fuller and I have more wrinkles and more stories to tell, but I am still that high school graduate marrying her high school sweetheart, I swear!

xoxo,
Tanya