Happy Anniversary!

Today marks the day we said 'I do' 10 years ago. Hardly seems possible that much time has passed so quickly. In honor of it being our anniversary, I thought I'd reminise about 10 of my/our favorite memories.

1. Our wedding and honeymoon - We were married in Ohio on a HOT day. Most everything went smoothly except for the photographer being late. Not just a few minutes late -- hours late! That messed up getting pictures done before the wedding and having a long time for our guests to wait at the reception. Oh well. We still got married -- even without a unity candle! We headed back to Indy as we were flying out early the next morning for our honeymoon cruise. It was fantastic!

2. Sickness and Health - not too much has ailed us in the past ten years. David had shingles and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2001. He spent a week in the hospital and I was in Ohio for part of that time with my Dad after his hip replacement surgery. It took a while to get David off the steriods, but I liked having him be "Mr. Crocker" and helping out in the kitchen! He's doing great with the colitis and has not had any major relapses.

3. Richer or Poorer - We have successfully managed to survive (and even thrive!) on one income for over six years now. In our society of 'keeping up with the Joneses' we've decided that it's not about what you have in material possessions, but rather the quality of our family life. David's grandmother always used to say, "I'm rich and maybe someday I'll have money!"

4. Children -- appropriate that my #4 item is children since we have 4 of them. We are so thankful for each of them. They are all healthy, active, smart children who bring us so much joy. What a priviledge it has been to be able to be home with them to teach them each day. Some days the job seems monotnous, but for the most part, now that there are 4, they keep me on my toes. Caroline, Jonathan, Elizabeth and Matthew -- we love you!

5. Vegas Vacation - we won a trip to Las Vegas in the fall of 2000. We were supposed to go to the minor league world series, but instead we headed to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. God has created some beautiful places in this land where we live!

6. Cruise #2 - we took a second cruise because we loved our first one so much. We also knew that it would be a long time before we could take another one once we started our family. We cruised the Eastern Caribbean in September 2001 (shortly after 9/11). We could have stayed a second week for just $50/day, but we didn't think we could get the time off from work. As it turned out, both of our bosses told us that would have been fine upon our return. We were sad to have missed out on such a great deal, but then again thankful for the wonderful time we did have.

7. Mission trips to Mexico - we took two trips to Mexico with the teens from church. The first was to the Texas/Mexico border in McAllen, TX. We worked with missionaries on a church in Reynosa, Mexico and held a VBS for children stateside. The second trip was with Amor Ministries to Tiajuana, Mexico. Here, we built a two room house for a family of 5 that only had a one room house. They were so thankful for this new house. We think of them often!

8. Florida - so far, we've ventured to Florida twice with children. The first time we asked David's parents to join us and we just had 2 kiddos! We had a great time relaxing and enjoying our family. The second trip David had a conference for work while the kids and I tagged along. The conference was at Disney! We had fun doing free things during the day such as the pool and water taxi rides, then going to Downtown Disney at night. This trip was at the end of the first trimester when I was pregnant with Elizabeth, so I was beginning to get energy back. We had so much fun!

9. Home Improvement Projects - it seems as if we are always in the middle of some sort of project around the house. In 10 years, we've redone the kitchen, master bathroom, added a deck, fence, playset for the kids and various other projects to maintain a 1950's home.

10. Family Fun Nights - this is a weekly activity that we've been doing for the last year or so. It's something that we all look forward to with much anticipation. It's so much fun just being together. We will go places (remember, Pirate edition?!), play games (Wii or board) or watch movies. Whatever we decide, it's always lots of fun!

I recently told David that I never knew that being married and having a family could be this good. Of course, we know that it would not be possible without God and lots of hard work on our parts. We truly are blessed and so very rich!