9 years?

I can't believe that we've made it another year!  This week marks our 9th anniversary, and, really, I'm shocked that we're "up to" 9 years already.  In some ways, I feel like we're still just the same kids, sometimes looking at each other wondering how we got into this "adult" life we have.  Other times, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are both so much more mature than we were when we got married.  Of course, it's only appropriate that we're more mature.  We were so young when we got married.  I was only about eight weeks past my 21st birthday when I walked down the aisle.  Sometimes when I meet someone in college, or recently graduated college, it catches me by surprise to think that's how old I was when I decided getting married was a good idea.  Don't get me wrong, I've been so thankful for Daniel and I love him so much more today than I did on our wedding day.  All I mean to say is that, as I often say, it's by the grace of God alone that we have grown up together, and not apart.

So, what has filled these nine years thus far?  Well,  five states (and six homes), joining the Army, our first pregnancy and child, an agonizing wait and joyous resolution for our second child, and the pregnancy of our third. We've also made five different church congregations our home and are hoping to make a sixth feel like home in the very near future.  We've learned how to budget our money and paid off all our debt soon after joining the Army.  We took on a little more debt to get Daniel his Masters and hope to have that taken care of as soon as the legal fees for Levi's adoption are all taken care of.  We've learned how to love each other in the ways that are appreciated and not just in the ways we want to be loved.  We've grown up.  We've visited family every chance we've had.  We don't regret spending all our vacation money on trips to see the people we love.  Family is critical to us, and we mean to make it so for our kids, too. And, in our free time, we've seen the occasional movie, gone to the occasional cook out, and lived life, walking rough roads with a few of our friends, and enjoying smooth ones with others.  We've seen five nieces and nephews born, our brother-in-law and Daniel's stepmom pass away, four siblings get married, and Daniel's dad get remarried, too.  I saw (and was instrumental in, frankly) my husband earning 3 degrees (and still hope someday he can watch ME at a graduation ceremony). Of course there are so many more things we've enjoyed and others we've endured.

Truly, there's no one I'd rather be living life with than Daniel.  When we announced our engagement, several of our friends, including Daniel's sister thought we were a little bit (or a lot) crazy to be getting married so young.  We were driving back to our college campus one night, just me and her, and she flat out asked me if I was sure I was ready to do this.  She listed off so many things she hoped to accomplish before getting married and wondered if I didn't have the same list of things I wanted to do.   And what I told her then is perhaps even more true of me today.  I want all those things for myself - travel, adventure, accomplishment - but Daniel is my very best friend, and I would rather do all of those things with him than without him.

The thing I think I'm most thankful for about Daniel, though, is that because of our longevity together (15 years, really, and half of my life) he is home to me.  In this Army life, we're always searching for home. And as corny or cliche as it sounds, as long as we can be in the same place, we are home.  There are days, don't get me wrong, that starting over and making new friends and learning new places weighs heavily on me, but despite those days, when I crawl into bed at night (these days not such a graceful or beautiful thing, to be sure), knowing that he is next to me and that I'll hear his breathing through the night and he'll be there when I wake up (or soon after, if it's a PT morning), I know I'm home.

Daniel, I love you, I love you, I love you.  You're my favorite.  Happy anniversary, Honey.