5 years, 8 months, 11 days . . .

Today is our 5 year anniversary . . .

and time sure does fly. There's a long story behind how we met, but to make it short, Keith and my stepmom worked together and she was dying to hook us up (though Keith was hesitant at first). Once we finally met, he called to ask me out, and we've been together ever since. I'm sure I will get a call from her today (like I do every year), wishing us a happy anniversary and asking where her flowers are that we should send her. ; ) In all seriousness, I really am grateful that she saw something special in him and pushed to get us together. That was almost nine years ago, and I thank God every night for blessing me with a husband like Keith. Every relationship has ups and downs and ours is no exception. But at the end of the day, there's no one else I'd rather be with. We have fun, we laugh, we argue, we have real conversations, and no one knows me better. While this is only our 5th anniversary, and things will undoubtedly get even better and worse than we ever imagined, there is no one else I'd rather go through this life with. "He's her lobster . . ." (as Phoebe would say)

. . . I am a little over 8 months pregnant . . .

and loving every minute. I'm sure there will come a time when I am so ready for him to come, but right now I am content and enjoying where he is at the moment. I am careful about saying "I can't wait for him to get here, see what he looks like, hold him, etc." because I know many friends who had babies early and the stress and worry that goes along with that. Therefore I can wait, and will. So instead I try to say, "I'm really looking forward to meeting him, kissing him, seeing if he has your eyes, etc." I also know that right now is the easy part as far as sleeping, eating, carrying him around, etc. And it will only get tougher from there! But so worth it . . . we both love Liam so much already but know that it will only multiply after he's born. What a joy that God has blessed us with. One of my favorite verses since I've been pregnant has been 1 Samuel 1:27, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." Well, there's a story there too, maybe for another day . . .

. . . and we have lived in the Netherlands for the last 11 days.

It still sometimes seems surreal to me. We have actually picked up and moved 5000 miles away. Who does that?? We never would have thought life would bring us here. But then one day the idea is there, and you think, "Why not? When will we ever have this opportunity again?" It all snowballed from there, and all of a sudden we're here. Away from family, friends, and all the comforts of home. And yet we're still alive. We have each other (and Murph-Dog of course). And today I saw a rainbow. As hard as life may get sometimes, I am reminded that I have everything important right here with me: my God, my husband, my sweet child . . . and everything else is just icing on the cake.