Anniversary

I absolutely love the changing of the seasons. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Southern California, where there weren’t really four distinct seasons. Who knows. Of course San Diego is fabulous and I’m so grateful to have had the privilege of growing up there. But there is something about watching the colors change that is just magical. I’ll never forget the Fall that my husband and I spent two weeks engaged before getting married.

Alejandro had spent the Spring and Summer in San Diego doing mostly yard work and side jobs, saving up for a ring. Then he proposed and we had two weeks to gather paperwork and meet with a lawyer to start the immigration process, while at the same time, enjoying the magic of Fall and engagement combined. Alejandro’s birthday is four days before we were married at the courthouse. That day, we drove out to Santee to a pumpkin patch. He’d never seen pumpkins before. They’re not exactly grown in abundance in Costa Rica. There were a few children here and there but it was a quieter day on the farm and he just marveled at the size of the huge orange vegetables. We had our own private hay-ride, which was either really cheesy or really romantic. Or both. But no matter what, it was absolutely wonderful.

The farm workers asked us about us and thoroughly enjoyed hearing our story. Since we were close enough to our wedding day to do the count-down in hours, we were all too eager to share. And the fact that this particular patch had the honor of hosting Alejandro’s first view of pumpkins made the farm workers even prouder to be a part of our story and more eager to hear it.

Now, seven years later, after driving through the Colorado mountains on the way to our romantic weekend away, all of the orange in the Aspen trees bring the memories flooding back. That day at the pumpkin patch, we held hands like kids and walked through the hay-bales. We grabbed snow sleds and slid down the hay bale slide. We petted the goats and buried our fingers in the sheeps’ wool. We watched the baby chicks. We Alejandro picked up giant pumpkins and almost threw his back out. It seems like we were kids just getting a start on life, full of excitement about what was ahead.

Looking back over the last seven years – and I realize this is only seven and I probably sound like I’m talking about it as if it were 25 – we’ve come a long way. I’ve given up waiting for the day when we feel like we “have it all figured out.” I’m thankful for the way God has used us to make each other holy instead of happy. I'm amazed by how much happiness this marriage has given me too.  There is so much to be thankful for. 

Anyway, back to our romantic getaway...  We've never been at this location before, so when we booked it, we didn't know exactly what was in store.  Wow, were we in for a surprise!  It's fitting that when we arrived at our romantic destination, we were blessed with this view out the back window...

Oh, and don't miss the Colorado mountains in the background...

How great is our God that He blesses us with extra gifts like this!?