4 Year Anniversary

Get your barf bags ready!

Okay, 4 years of marriage, so we've proven ourselves now right? We're no longer the "hopeless, clueless, inexperienced, know-nothing" newlyweds, right?

I love reminiscing about many things, but the one thing I love most is that I've kept the majority of emails and facebook messages from when Josh and I started dating nearly 6 years ago (the second time around).

I found this gem that Josh sent to his friends shortly after we got engaged. We got engaged 12/23/07 and this email was dated 1/2/08:

Hey everyone, I wanted to apologize to all of you who I didn't get a chance to visit over what little Christmas vacation I had. My week vacation from Wichita went by very fast. I was home for about a half day before I proposed to my then girlfriend, Teara. Against all odds, she said yes. The rest of vacation turned into wedding prep. So, I apologize for not seeing anyone this past week. However, I hope to see you at my wedding this coming May 19th. The ceremony will be at Granger Missionary Church with a reception in Wakarusa. I'll let you know other details later. I just wanted you all to know what is going on with me, since I don't get to talk to you all very much any more. Love you all, Josh Parker

Engagement on Lake Michigan - in December!

Reading that email just sent me back to how crazy wedding planning was in less than 6 months - you all know the story by now - being long distance, graduating in Kansas and moving out of Kansas a week prior, getting married in Indiana, and moving to Mississippi a day after returning from Jamaica! It was all a blur! But, I do remember I wasn't meticulous, I just wanted to get married and start our life together in Mississippi. This explains why we had the majority of the wedding planned in that week Josh mentions in that email - the date, church, reception, my dress, and the bridesmaids dresses.

I could tell you that my pictures were rather crummy, my hair should have been blonder, and the flowers weren't perfect. AND... I wish some lunatic wouldn't have drove a truck through the church doors 5 days before our wedding (despite what Josh believes, it was not an angry ex boyfriend of mine!) BUT, that's not what I focus on. I see pictures of our giddiness, our love for one another, and our excitement for the future. And of course the most beautiful dress in the whole world :)

The board over the broken glass door thanks to the lunny. Show's we have a sense of humor on the wedding day. Makes for a good story too!

As I look through all the staged pictures to pick out my favorite, I found these gems were much better at capturing our personalities that day.

Stopping at McD's between garden pictures and the reception. We were asked by the kid if we were going to prom. Ah, the pleasures of looking young....at 23! haha.

Reception - can we just get out of here already!

Long story short(er), I wouldn't have changed anything that day, that day was and is still perfection in my mind. I married my (long lost) high school sweetheart, a man that I knew God had picked out for me when I was 16. Weird to say, but I felt it, it just wasn't always easy to obey.

I thank God for His hand in our lives, shaping our paths, and creating an amazing friendship, relationship and marriage. When we walked out those doors, I didn't know what the future held for us, to this day, I still don't! Living in the Air Force, there's never a time that your future is certain, but we will certainly always have each other.

Happy 4 years, Josh! Love you.