Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to me and Brian! Today is our eighth anniversary, and marks the start of our ninth year of marriage. Wow. Our eleventh year together! The day of our first date and the day of our wedding are two years and 5 days apart. Sometimes I forget that I haven't been married the entire time we've know each other. Sometimes it feels like forever, and sometimes it feels like we've only been together a little while.

Year one of our marriage was good. Well, all the years have been good. I've heard that the first year of marriage is very hard on most couples, but I didn't find that to be true in our marriage. It was pretty easy to live with Brian. The hardest thing was our morning schedule. We had one bathroom and, with neither one of us being morning people, decided the showering separately was best (Gasp!). We didn't think that was odd until we realized we were the only couple in our little group of newlywed friends at church that didn't shower together. We were also the only couple that brought our own Bibles to class. We didn't share! Obviously our marriage was heading downhill! :-) We had our little 2 bedroom apartment in Cupertino that we really liked. The only downside was the cement plant trucks and the rock quarry trucks that roared past our complex at lighting speed, starting around 3:00 am. Needless to say, a move was in our future. We didn't make a completely wise choice then (not enough research into the place we were moving). We couldn't afford much, and rents were astronomically high. We got what we were looking for, which was a quiet place. It wasn't much fun, but it suited our needs at the time. Reading my apartment review online makes me laugh now, but it didn't back then! Year one also saw me getting a new job as my old company was completely swallowed up by Boeing, going to Disneyland, and the non-official start of Highway as it's own church, meeting on Sunday evenings.

Year two went by easily and quietly. I still can't believe how busy we were back then! Brian got a new job at the now defunct Metricom, doing what he really wanted to do. God has provided. Highway became it's own church, complete with Sunday morning services, and we headed up the set-up/tear-down team. Sundays were exhausting days with our 5 person team, and our two vans and a trailer, and all that stuff! Putting things in the vans was like a giant game of Tetris.  I don't miss calling Starbucks every Saturday night to remind them to make enough coffee for Sunday morning (we had a deal!), and showing up on Sunday mornings to find that it still wasn't made! I got another job, this time at the ill-fated WebVan. It was like working at a 2500 person start up, without a database! It was excruciating, and didn't last long! From day one I knew the company was in trouble. Brian and I couldn't have worked farther apart, either. I was in Foster City, and he was in Los Gatos. Gone were the days of working within a few miles of each other, and meeting for lunch! In the summer of 2000 I got my job at EPRI, and worked there until I had Brandon. In October we went to Cassoria, Italy, on a short term mission with Highway. That was an interesting adventure. It took place in Italy, though! Great backdrop!

In year three (our second anniversary) we started our tradition of going out to La Fondue in Saratoga for our anniversary dinner. Love fondue! Year three was difficult. Not in terms of our marriage, but due to outside circumstances. Metricom folded in August, and what did we do? We took an Alaskan cruise (to tell the truth, it was already paid for). Finances were tight with Brian unemployed, but we got by. I now know why God kept pressing on us to pay off both our cars the year before! We had no debt, and were able to make it on my salary. September 11th hit, which was horrible, and also put the economy in a downward spiral. There were no jobs for quite a while. Brian interviewed, and was offered jobs at half his salary. We both knew we wanted a family, but it was starting to look like we couldn't afford it!

Our third anniversary came in 2002, and we celebrated (at La Fondue, of course). Still no job for Brian, but mine was steady. We were doing okay. We entered in to year four of our marriage. We went to Sweden (thank you American Airline miles), London (again, thanks), and to Gracias, Honduras on another short term missions trip (which still remains as one of the most enriching trips of my life). When we returned, Brian interviewed and was offered a job at Vocent. We remained busy, often not really seeing each other Monday through Thursday due to our different schedules! Friday night was date night, and it was fun. In 2002 we also got pregnant. I thought I just had jet lag, since we were in the UK. However, after a couple weeks of feeling ill, and yet still eating a tremendous amount of food, I took a pregnancy test. Viola! A baby! Pregnant two months before our forth wedding anniversary.

Our fifth year was a little hard, at least for me. I was pregnant, and nauseous for the first four months. On top of it all, I was very very large. At five months people told me I looked big enough to give birth. I would just cry and cry. Being pregnant during a very hot summer isn't a lot of fun, either. However, it all worked out, and on September 16th we were blessed with our wonderful little Brandon. Brian's company was shaky, as start ups often are, but they worked things out and he continued to be gainfully employed. A good thing, since I was now a stay at home mom, and was having a very hard time figuring out the whole mom life.


Year six found us getting use to life as parents, discovering the joys (or lack thereof) of moving with an infant, and trying to run a couples class at Highway full of couples having kids! We managed to keep it all together, even with Brian going on frequent business trips. I started going to a mom's group in Menlo Park, and playgroup with friends. I'm not sure when I started going to playgroup for Brandon's sake, but it wasn't then! That was all for me. Vocent kept on trucking, and I got use to my new life as a stay at home mom. I'm more busy than I've ever been, but it is soooo different. We managed to squeeze in a little family vacation in September, taking Brandon to Washington DC. It was fun, and we realized the value of have a hotel room suite with a baby that has to nap. We didn't have a suite, so we put the crib in the large entry hallway and hid quietly around the corner until Brandon fell asleep!

Our sixth anniversary passed by, and we began our seventh year of marriage. By now we had figured out the routine of our new life as parents, and decided to add to our brood. In March, after having a few random, but overwhelming urges to be sick while driving, I found out that I was pregnant with Caitlin. This pregnancy was very different. I wasn't sick except here and there, I wasn't as large, and the summer was early on during the pregnancy. It should come as no shock that Caitlin's birthday is in January! I remember telling Brandon that he had to take a nap because mommy had to take a nap, and I wasn't joking! Brian began a new job, as his old company closed down. We took a family vacation to Kauai with our good friends the S's, and their daughter Emily. It was so much fun. The nice thing about traveling with a family with a kid the same age as yours is that you know you have to go back to the condo for naps. It's a given!

Caitlin Claire was born a month shy of our seven year anniversary. Life became more difficult with two, but it was a joy to watch Brian, his family, and my family all take part in the early days of Caitlin's life, both with her and with Brandon. I was tired, but the first couple of months were made easy with all sorts of help. We even managed to take a vacation to Las Vegas during the summer, and a trip out to Colorado before Christmas.

Now we have our eighth anniversary.... and we are about to begin another adventure. We are moving to Colorado (barring any unforeseen changes, of course) in early May. I am more nervous about this new phase of my life than of any of the others before. I can honestly say I wasn't nervous about getting married or having kids. It hasn't always been easy, but I wasn't nervous. But God has and will continue to provide, so I know I am in good hands. His blessings on our lives are apparent. We continue to trust in the Lord, always. He is there during the good times, and the not-so-good. I trust He will be there during the move, during the first day of preschool, and always in our marriage.

So. Happy Anniversary, Brian! Happy eight years! Without us you'd probably have a condo, a BMW and a plasma TV. Oh well. I'm glad you don't have those things. I'm glad you have us, and I am glad I have you!


oh, and thanks, P & K's Mommy, for the inspiration!