11 Year Fam-iversary

To thank him for fixing my car, I took Jason out for ice cream on September 8, 2003.  That was our first date.  We try to celebrate that anniversary in one way or another every year.  This year's celebration was a tasty one!

While we were cleaning up from dinner we played a few songs from our dating days, including "I've Got A Question" by Old 97, "Endless Love" by Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross, and "Fruta Fresca" by Carlos Vives.  Yes, that song is in Spanish.  Man alive we were dorks back then.  And as we danced around the kitchen and laughed at our old jokes and the kids stared at us like we were crazy, I realized that we still are kind of dorks.  But at least we have each other to feel validated in it now!

It was only a month or so after our first date that I was driving home from my parents house one evening, having spent the entire time talking about my amazing new boyfriend, that I realized that I wanted to marry Jason.  He was unlike any other guy I had ever known- he was so much more and so much better and really, so perfect to me.  And perfect for me.

We were sitting at the dinner table the other night (one of the most enjoyable and most stressful times of our day) and I realized that there is really no way that you can possibly know what exactly you're signing up for when you pledge your eternal love and commitment to a boyfriend or girlfriend that you've only seen in a handful of situations.  How could I have known that just because Jason jumped up to help me fix my car that first night that he would come home from work every day- no matter how good or bad his day was- and immediately say, "what can I do to help?"  How could he have known, based on my very limited cooking skills back then, that I would be able to feed six hungry mouths on any budget?  How could either of us have known our parenting and discipline styles or our reactions to the various crises we've had over the years ("You don't want to be a dentist?!" "You spilled hot water on the baby's face" "You're having a baby in the CAR?!").  We were just kids.  How could we really know?

And the answer is trusting in the Lord.

Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, 
and lean not unto thine own understanding. 
In all thy ways acknowledge Him
and He shall direct thy paths 
-Proverbs 3:5-6

There is so much that we didn't know about each other back then, but today I am more thankful than ever that the Lord gave us each other.  No matter how imperfect we may be, He knows us and it is truly His plan that has guided our relationship every step of the way.