Today is our 8 year anniversary! Wow, it has gone by SO FAST! I can't believe it's been 8 years, that's close to 10!!! Woah! It's been an amazing 8 years- we have shared so many joys and challenges together, and I LOVE the little life we have built together. I have my BEST FRIEND and LOVE OF MY LIFE with me every day to share this life with, and now we have 2 sweet, beautiful little girls. ****BLESSED!****
This is how Rich and I balance each other out, because God was just that awesome when he lead us to each other.
Me: It's our anniversary. We have been blessed with so much, but things are tight financially. My parents raised a very practical girl. We need to celebrate at home, something sweet and modest, nothing huge, it's not about that and we just don't have extra money right now. Yes, we should celebrate, but we need to be responsible (cheap).
Rich: We should go away for the weekend! It's our anniversary! Things will always be tight and we need to live too. We need to get away. We need time for ourselves and it's important for our marriage to do these things.
Ok, true and true. So, we decided to just do it (more me kinda kicking around the idea and him planning away). BUT, something small, close by, not a ton of money.
So as a side note, we got married on Labor Day weekend. Cool, because our anniversary will always be near a 3-day weekend. Not cool, because prices are jacked up every time. Last year, Rich found a pretty good deal on a super nice suite that we stayed in, just one night (Zoe was only a few months). It was awesome. This year, we weren't so lucky. Prices were really high everywhere since we cut it too close. But..... Rich found a GREAT deal on a room in Costa Mesa- Not nearly as nice of a room as last year, but seriously, a bed and a bathroom and who cares. All we cared about was that it was away, just us, a couple days. We were thrilled. :)
Now let me tell you about the day before we left. Rich sent me a text that the AC quit working in the Acura. Lovely. Great timing. As I'm contemplating how much that could end up costing us Visa, He tells me Saturday Morning... Bad news, we need at least one, and possibly all, new tires on the car too... and fast because one was peeling on the side or something. Knowing nothing would be open on Labor Day, we figured we had to get that done that day before we left.
Wow. Life is just "funny" isn't it? Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up. Overwhelmed. Ready to cry. It's hard when you feel like things are crashing down, and you look around and realize 2 little kids are depending on you too. You can't really throw your hands up (although you can be overwhelmed and cry!). You have to just move on and suck it up. You have to trust God. He always provides what we need. I know this. I can stand firm on this. So why do I let myself get overwhelmed? I don't know.
Well, what seemed like horrible timing for our little "away time" (financially), turned out to be what I believe was God's perfect timing. He is so good. I learned/was reminded of so much this weekend.
We had an awesome time! We didn't do anything big, just some little dinners, a movie, the beach... but it was just so nice and refreshing (can you tell I don't get out much? haha!). We needed that time to just be "us" again, with uninterrupted conversation, time to focus on each other and not the house or kids, and truly REST. I love our dates and time together. I need that. I need him, and I need us. It was wonderful.
While we were away from reality, I feel like we kinda came back to reality.
Being away from bills, car repairs, laundry, dead grass spots in the front yard, dishes, alarm clocks, ugly couches, (and I could go on and on!) etc. made more clear how truly blessed we are.
First of all, we have each other. We have love and friendship and commitment. We are a team and we make a good team. I can't imagine a better husband. I can't imagine a man treating me better and cherishing me more than my husband does. We have love. Real love. I'm proud of that.
We have our girls. Oh, how we adore our girls. The sweetest little balls of personality on this planet. We can't get enough of them,we can't imagine life without them. What is life without princess dresses and walks to the park and babble singing and giggles in the back seat?
And I could go on and on about all the material things God has blessed us with too- a beautiful house by the lake, comfortable cars (well, once we get that AC up and running), etc., and I can't say my kids have ever gone without anything they need (or want actually), somehow.
Then there's our family. We are always in awe of how our family blesses us, more than they probably know. For example.... so that we could go out that weekend, my mom came one day and night to watch the girls (and Dad held up the fort at home so that was possible), and my Aunt Joni and Gram came the other day and night to watch the girls. They dropped everything and drove out to to our house to take care of our girls so we could get away. They did it gladly. They told us to take our time, enjoy. They LOVE us. Bailey was so excited. Why does she get so excited when she gets to see family? Because every single relative of hers SHOWERS her with so much love. As a parent, that fills my heart to overflowing.
So, as Rich and I take all this in, do we really care if we're in a nice hotel room? Do we really care if we need to set a tighter grocery budget, and if Christmas is a lil slim this year? Uh.... nope! We'll deal. Life is challenging sometimes, no doubt, but thank you God for some perspective this weekend. I know I'm still gonna feel like I'm drowning at times, but that's always when God reaches out his hand. I needed that this weekend! I'm ready to suck it up and move on because I am a blessed girl!
