November 21st 1998

Eleven years ago tomorrow I married my best friend.  It was the best decision I could have ever made.

Two months after we were married we found out we were expecting.  About three weeks later we went through the first difficult time in our marriage when I miscarried.  We both can't wait to meet our special baby who God saw fit to keep close to Himself.  Then, thirteen months after we were married we had our first child, Naomi.  Seventeen months later Ethan arrived.  Nineteen months later Jesse.  Then twenty-one months later Annah.  So, by the time we celebrated our 6th anniversary we had 4 children!  I had been pregnant or nursing from 2 months into our marriage.  Let's just say I wasn't the most emotionally stable woman on the planet. 

I thank God for sustaining our marriage through those first years.  We were both young, had a lot on our plates and came out on top!  With a life full of blessings!!  The first and most obvious is the 4 beatiful children God entrusted to our care.  We are so enjoying the gift of living life with these amazing little creatures, watching them grow into full brained adults and having the responsibilty of training them so that they use that brain is... hard work. :)  But a job we are both fully committed to and enjoy!

 Another is my husband's advancement in his line of work.  When Naomi was 8 months old we moved in with my parents.  My husband, Bruce, quit his job with Les Schwab where he'd been training for management and began attending college full time to become an Electrical Engineer.  Nine months later he got on with Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)in a student program.  He worked as a Technician for 7 years until he had enough experience to take his Engineering Licensing tests.  He passed!  So he is now an Engineer with BPA.  There are others working for the company for 30 years who still have not been able to advance like this.  I see it as another of God's blessings and continuation of His hand in our lives.

There have been many rocks in the road, as there are with all marriages, and I thank God that unlike alot of marriages.. we have been able to stick it through.  We both know this is due to His provision of all we need for any circumstance.  We have seen that going through rough times together truly leads to deeper, purer love.  When we were first married my wonderful guy came to me and let me know that he had figured out how we could elude problems in our marriage.  If we both wanted for the other person what was best for them more than our own personal desires,, we would never have problems!  Needless to say we've not always done too well at that.  ;)  But, I can say that as we stick to it we are able to achieve that more and more often. 

I can't wait to see what the next years have for us.  I feel that we have made so much progress in "life".  Looking at where we've come from and how God has brought us through together and "ahead of the game" in so many respects.. I truly believe that, "We can be a winner at the game of life!"

Thank you my love for your friendship.  Thank you for your love.  Thank you for accepting me for who I am and loving me not in spite of it.. but because of it.  You are and always will be my Babest Guy.