November 29, 2006

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary. :) I've been in a nostalgic mood all weekend so I decided to take y'all on a little trip down memory lane with me this morning!

Brett and I were living in Niceville, Florida (right across the bay from Destin for those of you who only know Florida by its beautiful beaches!) and considering a move to Montgomery, Alabama. I know it doesn't make much sense, but we did it anyway. We had been engaged since July and were planning an October 2007 wedding. Certain family members (who will remain nameless) had been heckling us about our guest list (or lack thereof) and it felt like our wedding was getting out of control. Brett and I had joked about just driving down to the courthouse to get married by the magistrate and call our families and tell them after the fact! I really thought it was just an innocent joke!

Brett had a job interview in Montgomery on November 29 so we drove up to Montgomery early that morning. After his interview we decided to kill some time at the local Chevy dealership before heading home. As we were walking through the lot, we started talking about what would happen if he got the job in Montgomery. It was pretty much a given that I would move up to Montgomery with him, but I still felt weird about moving away together before we were married. I'm not sure how the conversation went from that to Brett calling the Montgomery County courthouse to find out what time they closed!

We were nowhere NEAR dressed for a wedding, had no wedding bands, no friends/family in town, NOTHING. Sure enough, we high-tailed it to downtown Montgomery and were married by the magistrate. My parents were excited about it, Brett's mom and step-father weren't. Thankfully, Brett's dad and step-mother were as excited as my parents were! In hindsight, I wish we had been a little more prepared. We were so spur-of-the-moment that we didn't even have a camera with us!

Brett, I love you 4x as much today as I did the day we got married. We've been through our fair share of storms, but we've always made it to sunnier days. I love you with all my heart. -J

Thankful

There are so many things that I am thankful for this year that I don't think I could begin to cover them all on here. This year has had plenty of storms, but we've weathered them better than I could have ever anticipated. We've truly been blessed.

I do want to take a minute and introduce you to an organization that I'm sure you've heard of, but that is near and (very dear!) to us. Compassion International is the organization that we've been able to sponsor our sweet Samuel through. Please take a few minutes to check them out (if you haven't already) and prayerfully consider sponsoring a child this holiday season. Your love (and letters!) will mean the world to a child out there. :)