Our life in years

I've heard a phrase that says "Every day is the start of a new year". When I first heard this it didn't make much sense but if you think about it for a minute it's the absolute truth.  365 days from today will be April 4th again and 365 days from tomorrow will be April 5th, a year nonetheless. Our life is changed by certain days that we celebrate or remember (depending on the case) every year and that is how we measure life. We measure our life in birthdays. We measure our education in school years. We measure our time in calendar years. We remember loved ones that are no longer with us every year on the date they passed away. We measure our marriage in anniversaries. Well you get the point.

I've been thinking about this because today is our 4 year wedding anniversary and even though at the end of 2012 I wrote a post on what we went through in that year, the "wedding anniversary measure" casts a different light on the same events. It's like a spotlight that points at a different character in the story. In the darkness of the theatre what this one light points at fills me with thankfulness, joy, humbleness, and oh so much love.

I know some men that would've probably walked this walk with as much dignity and integrity as he did, but I also know many others that would've walked away at the first sign of hardship. Not my Bruce. A couple of nights ago we were talking in bed and I thanked him for sticking by me and Evan when everything was so hard and painful he said "I cannot even fathom leaving you because our son was sick or passed away, that's something that never even crossed my mind as an option". Now I don't care how many faults this man has, this statement alone shows something far more important, it shows his heart. Bad habits can be changed, but a heart like this is worth pure gold.

This 4th year of marriage was probably one of the hardest we will ever walk through but I will always remember it as the one that showed my husband's true colors. The year that could have torn us apart but instead brought us closer together. The one God used to strengthen our love for each other and increase our admiration for each other. It wasn't an easy one but it was well worth it and I wouldn't chose anyone else to have lived it with.

Right now sitting in bed, typing these lines I am overwhelmed by love not only my Bruce's love but God's love for me that He would give me such a man for a husband... and now I look forward to what this new year will show me about him. We are writing a whole new chapter in which we live the role of parents of our sweet boy here on earth. I can't wait to fall even deeper in love with the father of my children as I see him interact, teach, and love our son as only he can. What an adventure and what good company I am in! Bring it on!

My gorgeous anniversary flowers!

3 years into it... Part 2

So this is a bit overdue, I couldn't do it earlier but it's still april so it counts. Let's keep the memories coming!

In June 2010 I was hired by the Consulate, so our period of comfortable living begun. With the extra income we were able to a lot more relaxed with our spending (which we needed after being so tight in Mexico). We started looking into moving out of the apartment, into a house and buying a truck for Bruce. By the end of the year everything fell into place. We found a cute little house very close to CFA, we got Bruce a truck without going into debt and we had found out we were pregnant for the very first time.

Our first house!

The beater truck

Baby on the way!

In December my parents came over to visit, they stayed at our house during Christmas while we went to New York! That trip was kind of bittersweet because my parents were in our new house and we were away. It felt wrong but we had a good time together. When we came back we celebrated both Christmas and New Year together with my parents, it was a blessed time!

New York, New York

Celebrating!

After that one of the most difficult times of our life began. When the year started we had no idea what awaited us. On January 7th we miscarried our first baby. It was one of the most painful experiences ever. It is sweet though to remember how my husband held my hand through it all, it brought us closer together. Shortly after in March we found out we were pregnant again, it hadn't sinked in yet when we miscarried again. It was heartbreaking, it made us question God a lot and even give up on the idea of having a baby for a while. It took us a couple of months to get back on our feet and even desire to keep trying. We weren't doing anything to avoid getting pregnant but we weren't actively trying either. Not until around July I think. It didn't happen for a couple of months. In September I decided to quit working at the Consulate. At the end of the month I suspected something was a bit off so I took a HPT: negative, oh well. A week went by and I still thought something was not normal, I took another HPT: POSITIVE! Our hearts were overjoyed. Now the waiting, waiting and praying this little one would stick, every cramp was a scare, thank God I didn't spot till week 12 I was still scared but the ultrasound kept showing a strong heartbeat as well as his intestins and liver being ourside. Another journey began, a journey of prayer, faith, and tears. This particular journey is not over yet, more on that in another post. I am currently 31 weeks pregnant, we are very excited as the day when we will meet our little boy approaches!

Our little cutie!

Growing!

That on the baby front.

At the end of October I stopped working at the Consulate to start my own business and a full time housewife. During the months and now years that Bruce has being working at CFA he's grown and advanced, now he is a manager and his income has doubled from the one he started with. He does a wonderful job planning and executing Family Nights and I love that I can come help him! His boss loves him and his bosse's family has adopted us, they are such a blessing!

In November 2011 we went to Miami to my friend Zully's wedding and on our babymoon.

Fishing!

We spent Christmas at home just the two of us, a very beautiful time just bonding and creating memories!

Our feast!

By the end of the year we had to move ones more and we found an apartment close to our old house, it's smaller but we ara making it work! My mom came to visit and help us move, I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without her.

Welcome to our new home!

This year we started house hunting and we're waiting to hear about an offer we put in on a house in February. I'm loving being a full time housewife, and teaching Spanish and English! It's been a hard last year and a half but it has only made us grow. It has been wonderful to have Bruce by my side every step of the way and I wouldn't have it any other way. He is the best for me and I love him more than I ever thought I could love anyone.

Current family picture to follow, hopefully soon!

3 years into it... Part 1

Today is our 3rd year anniversary and to celebrate I want to do some reminiscing. Bruce and I were talking this morning and agreed on how fast time has gone by. It doesn't really feel like 3 years but at the same time we've shared so many things I think they are worth writing before we forget.

This is how it started:

You may kiss your bride!

Then off to our honeymoon, we spent a week in Cancun relaxing, enjoying and well you know doing what one does in a honeymoon ;):

Honeymooners dinner

In Jan 2009 Bruce had moved to Mexico City (where I was going to college) so we could get married. We found a tiny 1 bedroom apartment at walking distance from my school and really cheap. That was our very first home. We have so many memories of that little place, unfortunately we seem to have lost all the pictures. While living in that apt we added a member to our family, our ever faithful Booger:

He's brought lots chaos to our life but we love him!

We had our first Thanksgiving together which was a surprise for him, it was a good time:

First time carving the turkey as the
ma of the house!

 In December I graduated:

Cheers, with my college girls!

A couple of days later we got on a plane with 2 bags, 2 carry-ons, 2 personal items, and a dog on our way to California to spend the Holidays:

Happy Holidays 2009!

We spent the rest of the year in Cali and mid January we packed everything we owned in  the car God through my MIL blessed us with a we where on our way to Albuquerque, NM so I could do an internship at the Mexican Consulate here:

Yes, everything we owned fit in that little car!

Our first home in ABQ was a hotel room or 3. It didn't take us long to find a 1 bedroom apartment that we could afford which felt pretty big at the time:

No furniture at all!

 We filled it little by little and we barely spent any money in the process. God has always been faithful!:

The office

The diningroom

The entertainment center

In March, almost simultaneously I started my internship and Bruce found a job at what would become one of the bigget blessings in our life:

A very wonderful place!

This is how our family looked like in our first aniversary:

Cute little family

This will continue tomorrow...

Anniversary and a lost Booger!

Monday was a mixed-feelings day. On one hand it was our two years anniversary happy happy happy! My husband sent me flowers to my office which made me smile. I didn't see him much because he got off work at midnight but the flowers were amazing! A beautiful reminder of how loved I am! My heart still tickles when I see them!

Anyway, moving on to the bitter-sweet part of the day. I got home with flowers, purse, folders and stuff in hand. Booger (our beautiful chocolate lab) was there, as always, wagging his tail waiting for me to come say hi. I had so much stuff in my hands I went in the house through the other door so he wouldn't jump on me.

 Booger when he was a puppy (isn't he cute?)

About an hour and a half later I decided to let him in to keep me company. When I went out he was GONE!!! I tried not to panic, got in the car and started driving around yelling his name...an hour later nothing. Booger was nowhere to be seen! I started freaking out. To make a long story short my husband found him in the pound the next day. 

The good news we found him! The bad news they wanted 50 bucks and they had to neuter him, but we wanted to breed him! Oh well it's the law. So yesterday Bruce picked him up, he was still out of it because of the anesthesia. When I got home I felt horrible, I laid with him on the floor and pet him for a long time. Today he's a lot better slowly coming back to being his crazy self. I love my doggy! So thank God the end of the story is a happy one, our dog is back and we've been happily married for 2 amazing years!

And in celebration of our 2nd anniversary I leave you with a picture of our wedding!

One of the best days ever!