9 Years

Troy and I celebrated 9 years in February.  In so many ways it seems like it cannot possibly be 9 years, in so many other ways, it is hard to remember life before we were together.  God is continuing to mold us together and make us "one", but at times it can be a painful and humbling process.

Just weeks ago, after focusing for years on an area I really "wanted" changed in Troys life, God revealed to me a huge area in my own life that I had failed to surrender myself. In His loving kindness, God showed me how much mercy and grace Troy had for my sin, even when I was having little to no mercy for his.  God is good.

So, I have this wonderful man, who...is not perfect, but he is mine, and he loves me, and he is a gift from God.  Here are some other well known, or not so well known things about him:

He Loves His children, and has almost insurmountable patience for them.

He is the handiest man.  He will fix or try to fix almost anything.

He has the gift of service.  He loves to serve others, helping comes second nature to this man

He is a man of his word.

He is truthful, even when it hurts

He is faithful to his family, job, and friends.

He loves coffee, good food, and good wine.

He likes to cut down trees.  :)

There are many more things, but these are my favorites.

God help me to love him better, to respect him, honor him and love him. 

   

On our actual anniversary, we woke up and Troy told Ems that we could celebrate by going for donuts we had fun making the kids apart of our day!

A few days later, my mom, who will be honored later in this post, came up for 5 days to watch the kids while Troy and I headed to Amelia Island for a long weekend.  We have not been one single night without our sweets since Emily was 8 months old.  So it was high time for some alone time.  We chose to drive the 8 hours down and back which proved to be a great time for us to talk and reminisce.

Once there, we checked in and headed to the beach.  We walked a few miles then enjoyed dinner in Fernandina Beach; which is where we enjoyed all of our meals.  This downtown area has more good restaurants in 1 square mile than I have ever seen before.  These rest. were all local and excellent.  Troy has been to this area several times so he knew where to eat. Suggestions for any future trip you might have there:  29 South, Bright Mornings, Le Clos, & Luigi's Trattoria.  Yum, Yum!

Other than eating, we also ran on the beach, watched a few movies, read (I read an excellent memoir by Corrie Ten Boom called  Tramp for the Lord).  drank coffee, and just enjoyed our time.  We were ready to get home to our kiddos come Monday morning.

Now for props to my mom. 

My mom, is the best Grandma ever.  When I call to ask if she will watch the kids (no mind that she has to drive 6 hours to do so, round trip), she answers with a resounding "yes" before I even get the details out.  She loves to come and spend time with them. On top of that awesomeness, she is a superstar while she is here.  The weekend she came up, she took them to the McWane Center (packed a lunch and all), Gymnastics, church and the grocery store.  She rarely sets them in front of a TV, instead choosing to relish all of the time she has with them, since its short.  She always completes Emily's school work with her, and still finds time and energy to do fun creative things with them (like tea parties, bumping down the stairs with grandma, music time, etc.)  She is amazing!  We love her so much, and I just know that the time, energy, and effort she puts into taking time to visit, and making it meaningful, will provide years and years of fond memories for my kids for a lifetime. What an investment she is making into her future generation - a legacy!