Five on Friday

This is PERFECT!  FIVE on Friday for our FIFTH anniversary!  That's right, today marks FIVE years since our wedding October 15, 2005. :)  I thought for today I'd do a quick recap of highlights from the past 5 years.

Before our first anniversary rolled around, we got married (woo hoo!), honeymooned on the Gulf of  Mexico (did you know the US has white soft beach sand and turquoise water??) in Destin, Matt worked his first job post-grad school, I got MY first job, we bought a house, and we adopted a dog.  WOW.  That first year was PACKED.  We also went to a Christmas party, Valentine's party, found our church home in FL (we miiiiiiiiiiiss CCC with all our hearts!), visited family, set up our first home together, wore tshirts and flip flops in February, visited St. Augustine, started our own Christmas traditions, and had countless adventures together. :)

By our second anniversary, we bought and moved into our first house.  I started my 2nd year of teaching with was the first year of an unofficial magnet class for 3rd grade at my school.  We settled into life with our Sammy dog, completed obedience school with her, and took a trip to Orlando and Downtown Disney.

By our third anniversary we'd had some ups and downs with Matt's work but at the end we found out about my pregnancy with Asa!  We found out we were pregnant just 2 weeks before our 3rd anniversary, and Asa was born 3 months before our 4th anniversary.  Learning about parenting together was a major part of our 3rd year. :)  I loved finding out our baby was a boy and knowing I would have the express blessing of having a mini-Matt running around our house. :)  TOO FUN!

By our fourth anniversary, Asa was in our arms... and we were not getting so not much sleep ;).  There were lots of tears (Asa AND Becca... whew those postpartum hormones are something else and drag on and on...), but TONS of laughs and smiles and about a million pictures (seriously) already at 4 months old.  Asa was baptized shortly before our anniversary.  We spent a lot of that year dreaming and preparing for Asa's arrival.  I will always remember the hours (and hours and hours) we spent planning and putting together Asa's nursery, watching Matt painstakingly paint vertical stripes on the wall for me, having him at every prenatal appt. with me.  What a year of anticipation!

By our fifth anniversary (today), Asa is almost 16 months old!  Our lives are so full with this little (but getting bigger every day) bundle.  He is a JOY! :)  We had our scare with Asa's health last winter, but God faithfully walked us through that and graciously and mercifully gave us a very happy ending. :)  We have had our somewhat unexpected move from FL to OH. This year has had some really hard points.  The last 6 months we have spent more time apart than the previous 4.5 years combined (by far).  But even with the distance, Matt has been an incredible support.  I'm so thankful he calls me into this adventure, lifts up my face, kisses away my tears, loves me so incredibly fiercely, and brings before the Father in good times and in hard times.  I love, love, LOVED our wedding day, but I am definitely at the point where I would MUCH MUCH rather spend time dwelling on life as it is now than life as it was even on that INCREDIBLE day.  Life is sweet.  Matt is sweet.  Asa is sweet.  I am BLESSED beyond measure!