4 Years

December 16th marked our FOURTH wedding anniversary.

In four short years, we have endured much.  There is no one else whom I'd rather go through this life with than John.  Let's recap shall we?   (a favorite pic of mine)

*Wedding.
*Learn to balance married life, full-time work, full-time school (gain newfound respect for coffee!)  at this point, we would get home from work at 12:45am and then be ready for a 30-minute morning commute for my 7:00 class (at this point, John would go to his brother's dorm room and sleep until class at 8 or chapel at 9 depending on the day!)
*Graduate from Faith Baptist Bible College. The week prior to graduation we put in our two-week notices as we were planning to move to Indiana.  The Monday of final's week, we found out Miss Emerson would soon be a part of our family.
*Move to Indiana (this involved our second, third, and fourth moves as a married couple).
*Buy a foreclosure.
*Figure out life with a newborn.
*Learn we're pregnant again (2008).  Go into labor at 13 weeks and delivery baby girl #2 (or so we think) directly into heaven.
*Learn we're pregnant with #3 (2009). 
*Make plans to head to China in Summer 2011.  Put house up for sale.  House sells after only three months.  Move to apartment.
*Meet Malachi.  Malachi has CHARGE.  China plans suspended. Spend every waking moment trying to figure out how to best take care of our very, very sick baby boy. 
*Learn we're pregnant with #4 (2010).
*Bury Malachi. 
*Can't stand living in apartment that had been set up primarily as an in-home ICU unit. Move in with John's parents while we look for a house to make our home.
*Buy another foreclosure.
*House not ready to move in to yet, but Jackson makes his debut three weeks early.
*Move in to new house and put a halt to major projects to focus on just spending time with family. So very thankful to have my husband during the crazyness of the holiday season.

That was only FOUR YEARS, people!! Oh me oh my.  God is certainly growing us and growing us fast.  It will be interesting to see what He has in store for us the next four, let alone the rest of our married life!

John surprised me this year by actually taking the day off on our anniversary.  The plan was to go out for lunch (head back to feed the baby) and then off to a show.  It went almost as planned ;)  We went for a quick bite for sandwiches, but our bucket of fries was gone before I remembered to take a pic.  Oh Penn Station, how we love your fries...

 

and a show...

It's not ALL tears and heartache around here.  God has definitely allowed us to find lasting joy in Him.  However, it's still not an easy lesson.  Hoping the story of His healing in our lives will be a blessing and an encouragement.  Praying that I will be able to be transparent through this process of grief and joy while learning to be a wife and mother that glorifies God. Wish me luck!