I am Blessed!

I never imagined over 19 years ago how blessed I would be. Of course I imagined, like any other teenage girl, what it would be like to marry prince charming and live happily ever after. I imagined a huge wedding, walking down the aisle dressed like a princess. I imagined kids and a house and a loving husband. But never did I imagine how much better it could be.

Over the years during our marriage I have seen friends divorce, fight over the kids, have affairs and go down a path that everyone fears. Yet our marriage has become stronger over the years. How?? There is only one explanation, there is someone else involved in our marriage. He is #1, He shows us how much He loves us, He gave us rules to follow, He lets us know He loves us even if we stumble! The Lord is our God and if we remember to always put Him first it can only get better and better! It occurred to me last night that Marc and I are in the minority among our generation as far as marriage goes. We have several close friends that have been together longer than we have and the one thing we all have in common is our commitment to God.

Yesterday Marc and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. Yeah us!! I hate to admit that I thought Marc had forgotten. Of course it was on our calendar (the map of our household) but he hadn't mentioned it at all the week prior to the special occasion. Little did I know he had big plans!

I woke up in the morning and handed him the card I had painstakingly made by hand and the beautiful photo I had blown up and framed of him and the boys on the beach in Santa Barbara. But that didn't compare to what he had planned for me! He headed to work for a few hours during which I was home cleaning the floors and windows, a deep clean that I was up to my elbows in. When he walked in at 11:30 with a beautiful bouquet of flowers made by a dear friend of ours (thanks, Sarah) and told me to get ready to go. He told me to go get some sweats on. Sweats? I thought we were going to the gym or on a day hike. Little did I know he had reserved the spa for a couples massage and sauna treatment. It was amazing! It was so relaxing that I was ready to tackle the world afterward, or at least finish the windows! :)When we got home Marc told me to be ready to go to dinner at 6:15. Dinner too!? He had already talked to Donna to babysit the boys. But, what do I wear? Off he went to work for a little bit, when he got back I was ready to go, anxious to find out our destination.

Now some of you know that there are really only 2 ways to get out of our neighborhood. If you go left it takes you to "town" if you go right you either end up at Home Depot or Redmond. He turned right! I was wracking my brain trying to figure out where we were going when he turned righta again! That meant there was only 1 place we could be going! Brasada Ranch!!

Brasada is a Jeld-Wen community well known for its golf course and million dollar homes, it also boasts a top notch restaurant called the Blue Olive.


We had been wanting to eat there but it's expensive, and we couldn't bring ourselves to splurge on something so frivolous, but this was a special occasion. When we arrived our table with a view was ready, complete with another bouquet of 13 red roses (thanks, again, Sarah).
The view was spectacular! And the food was even better!

So, as we finished up with our wine and tiramisu out on the deck,
we couldn't help but to thank the Lord for 13 wonderful years of marriage and 2 handsome, healthy boys. Again, I say, I am blessed!