On November 27, 2004 I married my best friend.
I could go on being mushy-gushy and make a few people feel awkward, but that's not really my style. :)
Instead, I'll recap the past 5 years, for all of you that may not know us that well:
YEAR 1
We lived in Cedarville, Ohio...in the married student housing. We had a dinky little apartment that was very cold, and very tiny! I can remember the pilot lite went out least 3 times and we would sit there freezing for days until a maintenance man could come and fix it. I remember that our bedroom was so small, that we had to shove our bed up against 2 walls, in order to fit our dressers in the room. Craziness.
I was taking Nursing classes in the hopes of doing something my parents approve of. Haha. Okay, I did have some interest in it too. Not 3 months after we got married, I got into a pretty bad car accident and we ended up with a pile of medical bills. I'll never forget that icy day on the road...
Tim was finishing up his Youth Ministries degree at Cedarville University while interning at Far Hills church. I worked at a Nursing Home taking care of the elderly, and Tim moonlighted as a delivery driver at our local pizza place. I'm pretty sure that first year we made a total of $13,000! YIKES! Our first year ended with us candidating at the church we are currently at.
YEAR 2
Year 2 starting with a LOT of packing. Tim officially told Faith Baptist Church "yes" and he became the Associate Pastor of Student Ministries. We moved late December to Wheaton, IL. Our first apartment in Wheaton was GIANT! A wonderful upgrade compared to our 1st place, except the kitchen was also tiny, with ugly cabinets.
Tim and I actually had a dog for 3 days in that apartment. Our first pet, a female beagle named Marley. Adorable! But we were not ready for that kind of commitment. I convinced Tim to return her to her previous owners.
But, not much later that year, we got an orange kitten named Tobey.
He was the most INSANE animal ever! I'm sure he's "on a farm" today. ;)
I started beauty school this year and Tim settled in to his new full time job. Towards the end of Year 2 I found out I was pregnant...and as our lease came to a close, we had to move, again.
YEAR 3
We traded Tobey for Cale. Cale was born just a month after I finished Cosmetology school. We moved into an apartment with 2 bedrooms, but I feel as though it wasn't the best trade off, seeing that for more than 1/2 a year we had obnoxious downstairs neighbors. We eventually got them kicked out - bet'cha didn't think we were capable of anything like that, huh?? :)
Year 3 was a crazy whirlwind of figuring out how to be parents. I was able to stay-at-home with Cale (as I do now) and I just soaked up every minute of being a Mom. Watching your child grow is the best thing in the world. We did alot of traveling that year, and to help us out, Tim purchased a new-to-us minivan which is by far the best vehicle we've owned (and we've been through 5 as a couple!). We took trips to Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania to visit family. The only other thing I can remember from that year is that we were both completely sleep-deprived. Thanks, Cale! :)
At the conclusion of Year 3, we moved again.
YEAR 4
We started off year 4 renting a house in West Chicago. It was NOT a good situation. We did enjoy not sharing walls with other people, but our Landlord made sure we wouldn't enjoy anything else. During the 9 months we lived at that house, we watched Cale grow. He got his first tooth there, he learned to crawl up in his bedroom, and took his first steps in the living room...so for those memories, I thank you Wiant house... :)
In year 4 we experienced our first scare as parents. Cale needed to have surgery and we understood the helplessness that parents COULD feel. The Lord carried us through that difficult time.
We only had a 9 month lease for our rental house, so we moved....again!
This move took us to the house we now live in, and own! It's a wonderful place. We love the location, the neighborhood and the fact that there is a huge park a block away from us. We did more traveling during this year as our families live far away. To end off year 4 we had to endure the sadness of our miscarriage. BUT...we also started researching adoption, and began to narrow down the process.
YEAR 5
Year 5, this past year, has been full of EMOTION! We sent in our application to Adoption Advocates! We plowed through the paperwork and got on the waiting list at the end of February. Then the hard part began. The wait for the referral. The first few months were not that hard (probably because I was anticipating getting a referral in that time), but as time drug on, it got harder and harder.
We had some other memorable experiences in Year 5 - Cale began talking in sentences, he started potty training and got transitioned into his big boy bed...basically experiencing life in a new way. Oh, the joys of toddlerhood!
This past year, some of our immediate family members got married; and some had babies...But the highlight of Year 5 DEFINITELY was Nov 5th. Referral day!! :)
And it was the best way to wrap up our 5th year of marriage.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US! :)
TIM AND I THROUGH THE YEARS
2004. Sadly, I have no pictures on my computer of this year.
2005. The only pic that I have on the computer is of my immediate side of the family (before we had kids):
2006:
2007:
2008:
2009:
So that ends my 5 year post. And it took me about a year to write it. I seriously have been working on it all day...but I kept getting interrupted.
That's the way it goes on vacation. :)
1 comment:
I want to read about year 4!! did you run out of steam?? Hope you had a great Thanksgiving -- let's chat the beginning of the week.
R
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