Happy Blogoversary to ME!

FIVE years? Seriously?

Five years ago today I sat down and opened up my first blog at Faithprints. The core group of ladies I met there are still bloggy buddies of mine. They watched and read as I recovered from Pojke's delivery, lost 2 more angels to heaven, lost DaHubby's brother to cancer, and witnessed the miracles of DaHubby's sister surviving leukemia and our church elder walk after break his back after falling while cleaning his gutters.

I've participated in countless challenges and even hosted a few.

And, right on the edge of deciding whether or not to step up and start earning money blogging, I basically walked away. Life was just too complicated. Twitter and Facebook took away my desire to contemplate and fill out a fleeting substantial thought while we buckled down under DaHubby's school, layoff, graduation, hiring, and moving away over the last three years.

I miss blogging regularly. I really do. I'm now more interested in my original idea as an online journal as opposed to all the "stuff" I was doing before. I miss chronicling the Vikings adventures because, while Facebook will capture moments and an occasionally picture, I really wanted to document and archive more than that for the long-term.

So, here's to another re-commitment to blogging. The upcoming move from Michigan to north-central Illinois has got me jumpy - partially from anxiety and worry and partially from excitement. And, I don't want to miss a moment!

Thanks to the original Faithprints ladies (Anita and Sara in particular) and those I've met since who continue to root for me and encourage me and my writing. The dormant English teacher in me appreciates the validation. LOL

Here's to another year of self-discovery and archiving!

Pottery, Willow, or Leather? Huh?

Three thousand, two hundred, and eighty-seven days.

That's how long DaHubby and I have been married today. In some ways, it's seems like yesterday. And, in others, my single life seems like EONS ago. LOL

But, as I considered what to write in praise of my wonderful partner-in-crime this week, my attention fell more than once this week to a little wall plaque in my kitchen. This wooden heart hung on the wall in my apartment when we were engaged and in each house we've lived in since we were married.

While we were a-courtin', DaHubby made this heart for me to remember the promises he would make at our wedding and would keep in the years ahead. Some of what he wrote...

"Beth, I promise you the following things...

My love for you will never be compromised by anything in or of this world...

My love for you makes me smile all day long, even when the storm threatens to sink my ship. I can always count on knowing that there is someone out there who feels the same way that I do.

My love for you will always give you my honesty, wit, heart, mind, and soul to make you happy and whole.

My love will always support you in any of your dreams and goals.

My love for you will always make you number ONE in my life.

You see, honey, I will be honored to give you my hand, heart, and soul in marriage; to always put you up on a pedestal where you belong. I love you and I always will..."

*happy sigh* What girl wouldn't sign up for a marriage like that? LOL

And, he has kept these promises through thick and thin...

Through infertility, surgeries, procedures, miscarriages, and heartbreaks...
Through every time I questioned myself, he stood beside me...
Through multiple pregnancies, he's kept me calm and walked beside my overanxious self .
Through deaths in both our families that have shook us hard, we've walked hand-in-hand .
Through blockages I've put up before me, he's challenged me, coaxed me, and occasionally pushed me. LOL
We've fought hard to get on the same page with our finances.
We battled next to each other through the last 2 1/2 years of life upheaval while he completed his schooling to grab for us a more secure future.

When I look back at what God's brought us through the last nine years, I stand in awe. Without Him, we never would have made it. Ours is truly a marriage of three: DaHubby, God, and me.

Happy 9th anniversary, my love. You are the answer to all my little girl hopes, my teenager dreams, my single girl imaginations! I love you.

Looking forward to looking back

This Thursday night, we at the Viking Hus will be sitting down to go through our 2009 can. LOL (I talked about our 2008 can here.)

Each January, I buy an empty new paint can from Lowes. And, every other year or so I've bought some small address number stickers. And, we put the New Year's name on the new can.

Then, during the year, we fill it with the little trinkets we pick up in our travels: movie stubs, brochures, pictures, postcards, whatever small things we stumble across while we're out enjoying an event or location.

On New Year's Eve, we open the can and go through all the mementos of the year gone by. And, due to its small size, it will go up on the shelf in the basement next to the last 3 years of its siblings. LOL

And, with the Vikings growing as quickly as they are, we'll be lucky they recognize themselves in the pictures from last winter! LOL

Looking forward to seeing what all we saved and remembered.