Ten Years and Counting

It's truly amazing to think it's been ten years since Jason and I got married. We never imagined that God would have given us 3 healthy boys; a business that has flourished and has allowed me to stay home with our boys, and begin homeschooling this past year; and a marriage that, by God's grace, is strong in so many ways. For this we are truly thankful to the Lord.

For our anniversary, we were planning on going to the lake place for a couple of days, spending time hiking and wakeboarding, and relaxing. But, I knew Jason had something up his sleeve when he told me to pack a very nice dress, because he had a surprise in store. I had an inkling of an idea of what he was planning, and I turned out to be right about one part of it. . . first, we headed downtown to a hotel where we had originally stayed our first night as a married couple, Union Station Hotel. Here are some pictures of inside the hotel. It is a great place to visit. We didn't walk around inside as much as we would have liked, but there is a lot of history in that hotel (a restored 19th-Century railroad station).

The ceiling made up of beautiful stained glass...


Where we ate breakfast....

Our beautiful, high-ceiling room overlooking Broadway (a great view, but not so great for sleeping on a Saturday night as those partying downtown are heading home).

For dinner, Jason had made reservations at the Melting Pot. Um, only one word comes to mind when I think of the Melting Pot, delish.

I should have taken pictures of each course, but this one was the one that stood out from all the rest. Cheesecake, brownies, bananas, strawberries, pound cake, all dipped in warm chocolate and peanut butter fondue. Again, I say, delish.

After our oh-so-wonderful dinner, Jason took me to the Symphony in the new Schermerhorn Symphony Center to see a piano concerto. This was a very nice experience. We had a great time.

The Schermerhorn Symphony Center

The next morning, we woke up and headed to the lake place where we first headed to Burgess Falls State Park to hike to the waterfall. Here are some pictures we took on the way down.

Altogether, it was a wonderful time, celebrating this special gift God has given us -- it is amazing to think of how God can bring two sinners together to glorify Him. After all, it's really a picture of the gospel -- that God would reach down and reconcile sinners, enemies of God, to Himself, through Jesus Christ by His atoning sacrifice. Because of what God does in the hearts of believers, we are able to love our spouse, confess our sin to them, to forgive and be forgiven, and grow in the knowledge of God, together. What a blessed gift!