Eight years

Last night, Doug and I celebrated our wedding anniversary (May 8). With extra gifts from friends, we were able to choose our night not based on money. We enjoyed a "local tradition" for the first time and shared a delicious porterhouse for 2 at Crescent City Steaks in Mid City, followed by some incredible ice cream at Creole Creamery. "Eat Ice Cream. Be Happy." I love that motto. It makes me happy.


Doug and I started an anniversary dinner tradition a couple years ago when we wrote down a list of our top 10 highlights of the previous year. While evacuated for Katrina, we lost our previous lists when our hard drive crashed, but we decided that the exercise is not really for posterity but for our mutual reflection. So, we dove into the conversation last night and came up with a handful of highlights ... the summer of "Emily", development of Doug's passion to get Christians involved in community outreach, my roots growing deeper in ministry here, family vacation to Navarre Beach, beginning of young families community group, uneventful hurricane season, God's grace to us through Hannah Grace, Mom D.'s season of breast cancer, etc. We agreed with some solemness that it's been a challenging year. In the midst of disheartening waves we've been forced to swim through, we've experienced growth personally, as a couple, and as a family. That encourages us. In spite of the year we've had, we both have an overwhelming sensitivity to "something big" about to happen. We don't know what this year will hold, but we dreamed about what it could look like and realized again our dependence upon God as we seek His face so that we can continue to walk in His ways, and not our own.