8 Years Strong......

When Joey and I first got married I remember someone telling us "if you make it 7 years you'll be set.
 May 31, 2011 we celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary and I can honestly say yes, if you can make it past 7 you're doing pretty good!
In our 7th year we had everything that could break, break; the washer, the dryer (twice), the car, the truck, the air conditioner, the tv, another tv, you name it, it broke. We were blessed to have the third stong willed child really express her personality with our youngest turning three this year. I could go on and on but to sum it up, this year truely was our "testing point" of our marriage.
Our anniversary date fell on a Tuesday this year and honestly I was not expecting much but a few days before I could tell something was different this year, I could sense that Joey was really trying to plan a nice surprise.

Tuesday morning we got up and Joey told me to wear something comfortable so I chose a cute white dress that has been in my closet for years with nowhere to wear it to. (my child took my picture so I figured this was the only time I could use the head cropped off photo :)








We dropped the kids off at daycare about 8:30 and headed to Wilmington, one of my favorite places. It was so nice on the way down there to have uninterrupted conversation and enjoy some peace and quiet.
We parked downtown and jumped on horse drawn tour and listened to a great tour of the historic downtown Wilmington. It was absolutely beautiful. I looked over at Joey and said "aww, did you plan this and he said laughing "nope, that was a God thing and I am very thankful because all I had planned was to walk on the side walk :)"

After we finished our tour we headed over to the Oceanic Restraunt to enjoy a wonderful lunch. 

I had a shrimp po boy and joey had tuna

 

Next we put on our bathing suits and headed out to ocean. 

I'm embarrassed to say that I have not physically got in the ocean in at least 5+ years. 

This day I got in the water and it was so nice!

Joey surprised me with a anniversary toast with sparkling grape juice in our original glasses from our wedding.

We had to head back home around 2:00 so we could pick the kids up from daycare but before we left we did what most parents do when they are out on a date, we thought about our kids. So we stopped at the local wings and picked them up two hermit crabs. One was in a monkey shell which pretty much summed up our kids, little moneys that can pinch and irritate you but they're just so dang cute. 

We picked the kids up around 4:30 and they loved their new friends.

When we got home Joey opened his gifts from me. 

 I got him gadgets to make his life easier, a laptop table, and some other little things.
 Earlier that day Joey gave me my gifts. He got me stuff for my car that I had always wanted but never bought for myself, little family stickers, organized and color coded my keys (now that's the way to my heart :), a new door handle (he accidentally broke it the year before) and an air freshener (something I really need with all the kids in the car!). They were small items but they meant so much to me because it's the little things that count. I know that he put a lot of time in to showing me he noticed the things I had mentioned needing for my car.

Out of all the things we did and got for anniversary the thing that sticks out the most is we laughed. Proverbs 17:22 says merry heart doeth good like a medicine! That day we laughed more at each other that day then we did in the whole year. At one point I was laughing so hard I could not breath. In the last 7 years Joey and I have went through some tough moments but we've also had some of the most amazing moments happen. This last year like I said before it seemed like everything that could break was going to break.... except us, God knows our breaking point  The bible says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 ....“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  If we didn't have the Lord in our marriage I can't imagine how much tougher things could have been. It is so rewarding to know that not only do I have a husband wanting to make our marriage work but in the times when he may be down, or I may be down we've got a great big ol' God up there that's rooting for us too!
I am so blessed to have Joey as my husband and if you ask him he says the same about me as him wife
(why I have no idea :) but his does)

This anniversary was our best anniversary yet!

Happy 8 year anniversary Joey
&
I can't wait to see what the next 8+ years holds,
I love you!