We did it! - One year anniversay in a blended family

It might sound a little dramatic to be so excited that we made it a year with our marriage and family still intact. Honestly, like all things, it is ONLY by God's grace that we made it through. With all the excitement and trials added to our first year of marriage I feel like I ran into a tornado and was spit out on the other side. As you and I know, the eye of the tornado is beautiful. So at the end of year one I love my husband more than ever. I didn't think we could be better friends, but we are. I love all of the kids more each day. I love my Savior more because of His mercy. I love my new baby boy who lives up to his name - Joyful Healer.

I love tradition, so our anniversary definitely surrounded the idea of it being our paper anniversary. We didn't do anything big. We had four ours to ourselves, so we walked around the local downtown area to visit shops and have lunch. I purchased tickets to a concert for him (the tickets are paper of course) and since we couldn't go out of town this month my wonderful husband put together clues on paper to show that he was getting us a cabin to go back to our miniature honey moon. He also wrote me a poem in Welsch.

So here's to paper! Just like the marriage certificate isn't just a piece of paper, these memories aren't just pieces of paper. To me, it is a reminder of our love for eachother, and God's sustaining love for us, over this first year. May God be so kind to us in every year that follows!