Category: Straight to True North

I remembered that the most important part of our wedding to Jenni was not her dress, not the venue, not the cake, and not the ring—it was the people. When she told me that, I found myself astonished by her heart.

I’m thankful that a decade later, our celebration included people at its center. Our anniversary would not be complete without spending time with those who have supported us for the past ten years. What a great gift to have nearly everyone in our original wedding party and our closest friends and family join us in a reunion.

I discovered a wonderful storytelling app for the iPad, Adobe Voice, which allowed us to quickly put together our Mother’s Day sentiments this year. I highly recommend trying it out if you have an iPad and a desire to tell stories. Check out the two we created.

For our ninth chapter of our “happily ever after,” we embarked on two health challenges, one ongoing kitchen remodel, and one career milestone.

Though I wasn’t quite as surprised as my dad was that Jenni and I were celebrating our eighth wedding anniversary, I felt the growth of eight years of learning how to live out our love since the magical day. There were two things that Jennilyn did this year that stood out for me.

Recently, I posted the following on facebook: Air hugs are just as irksomely incomplete as playing only 7 notes of a major scale. Stay well everyone! Get rest, go exercise, stress less, pray more, laugh more, and of course…eat your veggies!

While this comment is referring to getting a cold this week, my family’s overall progress in health has been something I am so thankful for this year.

Here is a synopsis of what has been going on this past year:

Seven years and three kids later, I’m more thankful than ever that I said, “I do” at the altar. For all my imagining and dreaming, I couldn’t have come up with the life I have now—it’s so much better.

Dear God,

Thank you for being a good God, for even when you allow strife in our lives, you use it for your good and perfect will for us. God, be our strength, for I am so weak. Guide us in your wisdom. Please have mercy on us and give us your healing power. We need your love to glue our family together when the stress of our circumstances can easily create a gaping hole. Give us your grace to be gracious with our children and each other when we are exhausted and depleted. Fill us with your life and let us serve you faithfully everyday.

Lord, let me be ever so thankful in my heart. Thank you for the gifts you’ve given me in my husband and children. Thank you for the precious time with them that you give to me. Help me not to take them for granted; especially my David. What an exceptional man you’ve given me! Wanting to marry me even though we didn’t know the future, or how much of a wife I could be to him as I was bedridden much of the time. How far we’ve come, and how much we’ve gone through in the past seven years… in the past several months! You’ve got our attention, Lord. We wait with expectant hearts as to what you will do, and what we will hopefully mature in.

Thank you, God, for giving much joy and happiness in our marriage these past seven years, and I pray for us to keep walking closer to you and to each other in whatever time you give us together on this earth.

In the name of Christ Jesus, I pray these things,
Amen, let it be done.

I mentioned on our last anniversary that we weren’t taking many photos of ourselves since having kids. I’m pleased to report that we have increased the frequency of photos for Jenni and me this year, especially since our a-photo-a-week project is themed around our married life.

I recently came back from a trip where there was a celebration of 60 years of marriage. 60 years! I certainly look forward to and hope that Jennilyn and I will share so many great years together. Even for six years, I cannot begin to count the blessings, grace, and love from God as He orchestrates in our lives.

I found out that my grandma’s sister passed on tonight. Great Aunt Wanda Yinger was almost like another grandma to me because she lived across the field from Grandma and Grandpa Hill’s house, and we saw her and Great Uncle John quite often growing up. We would sometimes walk across the field with cousins and climb through their fence and play over at the Yinger’s place. They had a wooden box with water and live crawdads in it. We always liked to go peek at the odd creatures. Dad told me that when Uncle John opened the lid to get some for their fishing trip, he’d wave his hand across the top and say, “Can I have a volunteer?” The unlucky crawdads would raise their claws.

We started our fifth anniversary celebration at Seaside for an overnight stay to enjoy the beach, one of Jennilyn’s favorite places. We visit Cannon Beach quite often and Seaside is generally a stop we make on our way back from Oysterville to pick up a snack. When we decided to spend our anniversary at a beach, we realized Seaside would offer us something different yet familiar. I love that the beach is far enough away to be a “get-away” but that we don’t spend a majority of our time in the car driving to our destination.