Let The Mushiness Commence

I realize this post might come as a surprise to some of my readers. It might require some back story information. I'll be sharing that soon.

On May 29th, 2004, Eric and I became husband and wife. I was almost 6 months pregnant with Alex. Isabelle was 4 years old.

We were extremely, nauseatingly in love. (Still are too!) We had been together for 9 months when we got married. For both of us, it was our second marriage. We knew what we wanted and what we had found in each other. We didn't feel like we were rushing anything.

Our life together began simply, which was exactly what we wanted. We were married at a state park, on the banks of a lake. It was chilly, but we didn't notice or didn't care, I'm not sure which. After the ceremony, we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and had a marvelous picnic with all of our guests.

We both wore sandals.

After saying our vows, we both kissed Isabelle at the same time before kissing each other.

What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it's easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it's in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. ~From The Alchemist

Eric chose those words to be read at our wedding. They still give me chills.

These past 5 years have been incredible. They've been a time of growth, love and certainly many, many finer things! Over the past 5 years we have:

• We have both grown by leaps and bounds in our faith. It has been a journey we've taken together. Together we have made the Lord the center of our lives and our family. And we have been strengthened and blessed continually. We have felt God's hand in our lives and seen His power and love on a daily basis.
• We have doubled the size of our family. We went from 3 to 6 within 3 years. At times we wondered how we would do it. (See above for that answer.)
  
• We both left our jobs at the same Title Insurance company to live out our dreams. For me, that meant being a stay-at-home mom and for Eric that meant starting his own business. We learned to support each other's dreams and ambitions.
  
• We put our house on the market. I'm pretty sure we'll actually experience the buying a new house phase of that step within the next 5 years, if the housing market ever picks back up.
• We learned together to let go of our pasts and focus on our future.
  
• We experienced financial difficulties. And we learned a lot about ourselves and our faith in the process. Our strength as a couple was cemented into a firm foundation. We realized we could handle anything together.

I can not wait to see what the next 5 years hold, and all the years after that. We still have lots to learn and lots to work on together. It's a good thing we are so hooked on each other!

Stop by Amy's Finer Things for more Finer Things Friday, Hooked On Houses for more Hooked On... and What Works For Us for Photo Story Friday.