"They" say that you're only newlyweds until the birth of your first child or your third anniversary, whichever happens first.  Fourteen months after our wedding day, I gave birth to our first child. That little boy sent us on the supposed "downward spiral" away from newlywedhood. We failed to notice! Our three-year anniversary came and went. Once again we failed to notice! Well, not that we didn't notice our anniversary; we simply refused to recognize that our newlywed days are officially over.

Although it sounds terribly cliché, it is nonetheless true: we are more in love today than we were that wondrous day when we exchanged our vows. Sure, our friends and family don't see us making googley-eyes at each other nonstop, nor do they have to endure the embarrassing public displays of affection with almost-constant regularity. That doesn't mean we've left the newlywed phase of marriage. All it means is that we've learned a little discretion and save the googley-eyes and displays of affection for the privacy of our own home. That doesn't mean we don't occasionally pull out our "old ways" for the sole purpose of embarrassing our younger siblings!

In the past three years of marriage, we've experienced more changes than I thought possible in such a short amount of time.

To begin with, there was the initial adjustment to life as a couple, learning to share a bed, a bathroom, a closet, and space in general with a new person. There were the nit-picky aspects of life that most people don't think to discuss before marriage, like the proper way to eat peanut butter and which direction clothes should hang on the hanger! After all of the deep discussions we'd had before marriage about our beliefs, convictions, and dreams, our idiosyncrasies and personal preferences were more amusing than anything else and easy to compromise on (in most cases... Robert still insists that the proper way to eat peanut butter is straight out of the jar with a spoon! I say it must be mixed with butter and maple syrup as a creamy dip for fresh-baked bread!).

To give you a detailed picture of our life for the past three years would take more time and megabytes than I have, so allow me to give you a brief synopsis:

In December 2003 we purchased our first home. A cozy 3-bedroom rancher in the heart of a Dallas suburb. We adjusted to home-ownership very quickly, repainting the entire interior and making elaborate yet accomplishable plans to remodel the master bathroom over the coming summer. We moved in on January 31, 2004.

A week and a half later, the security of our cozy new home was torn away from us when burglars broke in and helped themselves to our belongings. Without a moment's hesitation, we decided it was time to get the dog we'd talked about getting sometime in the future. The future was now! Off we went to the animal shelter where God was saving a Redbone Coonhound puppy for us.  His name? What else WOULD we name a dog but Boaz?! : ) He quickly became an important and beloved part of our lives and was my constant companion and bodyguard for the next nine months.

Ah, nine months, the magical phrase... Yes, that's right; the day of the burglary I had gone out to buy a pregnancy test! We wasted no time in telling our family and friends the good news. Then it was time to wait. It's amazing to me how long nine months can seem when you're waiting on a new little person to grow! But grow he did, and the first week in October, our first son, Nicholas, was born. After a week's stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a fluke medical condition (far too complicated to explain in this synopsis; just know that it had no permanent effect on his health), we got to bring him home. He was a roly-poly eight pounds, ten ounces with lots of dark hair and big dark eyes.

The next year was busy, taking care of and raising a baby-turning-toddler. Nicholas is very easy-going and easily-adaptable in every circumstance. He was crawling by 7 months, walking by 9 months, and running by the time his first birthday rolled around (which was all too soon, by the way!). We've dragged him all over the U.S., so he's accustomed to long road trips, long flights, long layovers, and all-too-common scenic drives.

In September 2005, Robert received a job-offer from his former boss. This boss had tried for two years to convince Robert to leave Texas and come work for him, but having just started off married life, neither one of us felt it was a wise move (location-wise or marriage-wise). This time, however, when the call came, both of us individually sensed a prodding to at least find out more information. This sent us into four months of serious praying, talking (both to each other and to our families and trusted friends), research, and even a recruiting trip. In December, we received the official job offer. In January 2006 we took another trip to house-hunt. By Valentine's Day we were unpacking boxes in a new home in Maryland. We both had dreams of living in Texas for many more years, then maybe moving to Colorado some day. Never in all of our dreaming did the thought of moving to the East Coast ever cross our minds. Yet here we are! This isn't a permanent move. Both of us are praying, hoping, and dreaming that God will send us back to the great state of Texas in a few years where we want to raise our family!

With the new year of 2007 upon us, we've been in Maryland for almost a year now. It's been a hard, yet exciting year adjusting to a new area of the country. We're still adjusting and will probably never fully acclimate to the culture here, but we're grateful for the opportunity to explore the countryside and see what doors God will open for us here! In this one year we've grown and experienced more than we ever anticipated: we sold our house in Texas, found a new church family, made the extremely hard decision to send Boaz to a new home, and are now getting ready for the arrival of Baby Number Two!

Considering all of the changes we've had in the first three years of marriage, our wedding day feels like a long-ago memory. At the same time, I'm amazed at how quickly these years have gone; I often feel like we just got married yesterday. We are still madly in love with each other and plan to be so for the rest of our lives! Sure, the exciting tingles and ooey-gooey romantic feelings of newlywedhood will fade away, but what remains is going to be far better! As the old Russian Proverb says, "When the roaring fires of your love have burned down to embers, may you find you've married your best friend." I know I've married my best friend!