Happily Four Years After

It’s hard to imagine that we’ve been married four years. Where did the time go? We’ve been married as long as we were both in high school, a president’s one term in office, and the number of years between olympics. On second thought, four years was not very long at all—there are great blessings in each year.

We’ve been a part of several amazing events God blessed us with. The first milestone was purchasing a house! When we got married and took a close look at our single-income finances, we weren’t quite sure if we’d be able to afford a house. The prices had skyrocketed and we didn’t think we would get into a house for many years ahead.

However, with God’s leading in our finances, we were able to pay off our debts, move into a smaller apartment, and saved enough to put a ten percent down payment on a house. And by the beginning of summer, we had moved into our very first house with the help of friends and family.

In July, we celebrated with Jenni’s brother Cory as he devoted himself to Arianne Albers. Their wedding was beautifully lit with the evening summer sun in Arianne’s parents’ backyard. We are very happy for them, and now, Jennilyn has a sister!

For the first time since Kadence was born, we attend our local swing dance event Bridge Town Swing in September. We originally had not planned to go because of the expense, but the event director offered us two free passes to the event because of my volunteer work for the PSDC web site, specifically the Bridge Town Swing event pages.

We had a mixed-bag experience. Visiting with dance friends and dancing were great, but staying up late was not. Normally, we would be staying up late to dance, but we stayed up late because Kadie wouldn’t sleep. It put a damper on things, but we made due. We’re thankful for friends like Stacy and my dad for watching Kadie so we could dance in the evenings.

I joined three guys in a bible read-through in October for four months and enjoyed the experience immensely. I’m thankful for the encouragement and fellowship I had with Steve, Alan, and Leo. Jenni and I started the bible read-through together and had fun moments sharing thoughts about people and events in the Old Testament. Taking care of Kadence kept Jenni busy so I hope to do another bible read-through where we go at the same pace.

Before I left on a business trip in October, Jennilyn surprised me with a pregnancy test that said we’d better get ready for another baby! But we waited a little bit before broadcasting the news on our blog. We had been discussing when to expand our family further, but the new blessing came quicker than we thought.

For our fourth anniversary, we decided to spend a night at Silver Falls. It was our plans for our third anniversary, however circumstances detained us, but that’s another story. For now, we’ll leave you with a brief slideshow of our fourth year of marriage.

Song used: He Heals Me by india.arie.

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