One year. Nineteen years old.

Friday we celebrated an anniversary that came upon us faster than we ever imagined it could.  We've been married 1 year now, and have been through more than we thought could even happen to two people in one year.  We have been tested, sharpened and refined, bent and broken in unimaginable ways and our marriage is stronger because of it.  Granted, I never would have wished this list of things upon us, but we are so very grateful for each and every thing that happened in 2010 and the way the Lord has closed and opened doors, given and taken away.

We had a fabulous bottle of a Domaine Tempier Bordeaux with an assortment of cheeses from Whole Foods before leaving for our 10:15 dinner reservation at Fleming's Steakhouse, where we made a list of what we've lost and gained, everything that has happened to us, in the first year of our marriage.

To name just a few:

• Peter got a raise and promotion
• we honeymooned in Mexico, where I spent nearly the entire time sick in bed
• we got a puppy
• Peter was excommunicated (long story)
• I was in a car accident
• we attended 6 weddings this year. Peter was a groomsmen in 4, I was an attendant in 2.
• Peter was thrown 40 feet from a dirt bike and broke his left collarbone
• I got pregnant
• Peter had 4 hour surgery to have a plate and 6 screws put in his shoulder 
• I miscarried Hugh and Leif
• Peter lost his job
• I became a full-time nanny
• Peter started school

Perhaps one day I will post the full list Peter and I have come up with together. . . for now, there's a taste.

On our way out the door to dinner, my sister called and surprised us by saying she, her husband Daniel, and their friend Carolyn, were in West Virginia on their way to our house for the weekend.

We had a quiet dinner and savored every bite, then met Ashlee, Daniel and Carolyn back at our house.  We rang in the New Year in our living room, talked and laughed well past 1am, then hit the hay for a busy New Years Day.

Wedding flowers turned out more beautifully than I had anticipated, and the wedding was emotional and reminiscent of our wedding day with the same colors and all. After the dinner reception, we hurried back home for my belated 19th birthday celebration with a few close friends.

the classic "fake laugh" with long-long-time friends
 Jamie & Jesse

these girls will never get old-- we've been friends for
as long as we all can remember and were home schooled
together, did gymnastics together, went to church together
swam together, were together when siblings were born. . .

Jesse, Jamie and their men: Phillip and Thomas.

Jamie sharing stories of her long trip to Africa where she
helped a man who had been attacked by a crocodile.

19 candles. . . 

. . .out in one breath!

-A.H.