November 17th 2007

It was exactly 5 years ago today that Ben and I "met up" for the first time after a number of email exchanges.  We met at a wedding at the beginning of October and when I left the wedding with friends I said, "if I ever get married, I just met the man!" 


As we celebrated 3 years today, we have so much to thankful for.  It has been a wild ride and we are certain we are works in progress!  Choosing to LOVE another human being every day, is a CHOICE that can not rely on feelings, what the other has or has not done, or what one will get out of it!  Our LOVE story has so many beautiful moments and at times it has felt like just as many difficult ones. What we realize is that every good love story has its highs and lows and the best love stories are those where the plots are laden with tragedy and heartache and miraculously overcome. 

I remember seeing Ben from the beginning of the isle and I did not even wait for the cue on the song, I just HAULED my dad down the isle.  It was the most AMAZING moment.

When we met what we quickly discovered is that we both had hearts for orphans and an absolute desire to adopt.  Two years ago on our anniversary we were thrilled to have made it to the one year mark where we met the minimal requirement for marriage to adopt.  The journey began to find the agency we wanted to work with.  What we soon discovered was that we needed to determine the country to determine the agency, and this is where our journey to our daughters began.

Our journey to our girls is really a Love Story, filled with great moments and many difficult moments.  What we have come to appreciate is that these parallel Love Stories have reached low points so painful we could not find words to describe, but through it all we had each other and we have learned what love looks like on the mountain tops and in the valleys and slowly we are learning more and more what it means to love unconditionally and to trust and the beauty that results.

So today on our 3 years of marriage we are on a mountain top, both of our love stories are in sync and it is there that we celebrate today that our Immigration approval was overnighted to our agency and will make it to Peru for the next consejo on Tuesday.  We are so excited to meet our daughters and join our love stories as we build on the highs and lows of the past 3 years, and as we begin the journey of helping our girls heal and experience UNCONDITIONAL LOVE & ACCEPTANCE!