Forests and Vineyards

We live on the side of hill which has either forests or vineyards. It is ideal. We take daily walks in the forest together. And last weekend we were able to have a date in the vineyards, stopping by three local stands to try their seasonal ''new wine''. It was such a gorgeous evening, and the atmosphere at each stand was special. We enjoyed the walking and sitting and talking and admiring the beauty in nature and the community around us.

A rainy morning walk

A date to visit three vineyard stands in Brunn am Gebirge

15 Years!

Gregory and I went out for steak for our 15 year anniversary!  It was such a blessing that the one week this summer during which the kids had a summer program was our anniversary week!  We took advantage of the opportunity to celebrate with a big lunch one day.  It was special to have that time together.  Kid-free time has been almost non-existent since March 13th!

We actually did something big for our 15th anniversary this year.  Luckily we did it in February, not knowing how timely that would actually be!  My parents took care of our kids for five days, and we flew to Spain for some time to decompress on the beach and meet with some incredible missionaries who put together an individualized marriage retreat for us.  It was wonderful to have that intentional time together.  What a gift!

Energy Week and Celebrating 15 Years

My parents came for our week off school in February (Energy Week) instead of Christmas this year.  We had lots of fun with them, so much so that we didn't take many pictures!  There was LOTS of game-playing and book reading going on!  What fun!

 Gregory and I took advantage of my parents' visit and got away to Spain for an early 15 year anniversary trip and semi-guided marriage retreat!  It was great to have those few days without the kids!

Celebrating ten years where it all began

When my parents were visiting, Gregory and I snuck off for five days

to return to the city where we met and fell in love:  ISTANBUL!

It was a difficult decision, but we kept it all a secret in order to have a true "anniversary trip", just the two of us.  It was amazing to be together without the kids for almost five days.  (I only cried once due to missing them.)

It was an interesting time to visit, in the middle of Ramadan during a long, hot summer.

We visited many significant places from the beginning of our relationship and our time lived in Istanbul.
Boat rides across the Bosphorus

Gülhane Park

Taksim İstiklal

Moda

Boğaziçi

İÜ

Starbucks

Yıldız Park

The Old City

And we made a few new memories as well.
Gülhane Park Cay Bahçesi

Süleymaniye Cami

Viktor Levi Şarap Evi

Sam Adams! (What?!  It was all over!)

Fatih

Chora Church

The City walls by the church

The beauty in this city and this culture and these people continues to astonish us.




We are thankful that God wrote it into our story.


Two more days, and we'll have been married for TEN YEARS!

9 years

Nine years ago, we said, "I do."

 We celebrated with a quiet evening and a bottle of champagne, both rarities in our home. :)

In love with him

He's such a great dad.  I love him more and more every day I'm with him.

Six Years

Happy Anniversary, Love.

5th Anniversary

On Saturday, July 30, 2005, Gregory and I were married here in Emporia, Kansas. Interesting that we find ourselves back here for our fifth anniversary... Actually, on the actual day, we were in Western Kansas visiting family (Leoti to be exact). More about that in another post though. It was special to be surrounded with family again on that day, not something I would have guessed would happen five years ago, but special indeed.

So what did we do to celebrate? Well, on the actual day, we rode a three minute carnival ride called the Paratrooper. It was a little more thrilling than we expected; our pod had much nervous laughing ringing out from it! But that wasn't really for our anniversary. And Greg went to a rodeo with my dad, but again, that wasn't for our anniversary... haha

We finally were able to take an evening out last night to celebrate, our first real date night (Nathanael-siz) since mid-May! We went out for a delicious Mexican dinner and then coffee. It was special to reminisce over the last five years and all we have walked through together...and all the wonderful people with whom we have shared life.

Gregory shared that the five year mark is quite significant in our culture as most marriages that break up do so before five years. It's nice to be on the other side of that statistic now. We pray that God continues to shape us to show His love more and more to each other as the years continue.

(I guess we haven't taken a picture together since we left Boston, so this is the most recent one I have of us together.)

4th Anniversary - 28 hours in NYC

Just over two months ago, we boarded a BoltBus to New York to celebrate our 4th anniversary.

We had lunch in Times Square.

We walked for hours around Central Park.

We had an incredible anniversary dinner in Hell's Kitchen -- 44&X.

Greg had a rack of lamb, and I had duck.

The bathroom at the restaurant was GORGEOUS. It had candles and roses everywhere!

We enjoyed a leisurely walk and took in the night lights on our way back to the hotel.

This is an awful picture of our hotel - the Grand Central Hyatt, but it really was amazing. What a gift!

The next morning we walked around some more.

We went down to Battery Park and saw the Statue of Liberty and the construction at Ground Zero.

And we stopped at the Starbucks by the Empire State Building on our way back to the bus.

It was a wonderful time to just be together, enjoy the city, and celebrate four amazing years of marriage.