Happy 18th Anniversary

Eighteen years ago today Tim and I got married.  We remembered the day as wonderful and stressful.  My sister and her fiance were to bring my grandfather from the nursing home he was in to the wedding.  They weren't there when the wedding was to start so we held up the wedding until they got there.  We were supposed to get married at 11:30 but got married at noon instead.  We were on pins and needles waiting for them.  We weren't sure what had happened so we were worried.  They finally showed up and we were married, which is what my grandfather wanted to see for me.  I knew he was so looking forward to witnessing my wedding.  He was a wonderful grandfather.  I have so many great memories growing up.  One hot, summer evening he took all the kids on our dead-end street to the corner for ice cream.  He looked like the pied piper walking up the street with all these young kids following him.
  Years later when he and I were grocery shopping, the cashier recognized him and asked if he was John Porto.  She said she was one of the kids who got ice cream that day and she never, ever forgot it!
What a wonderful memory he made for so many kids.
    
Here's our wedding picture from 18 years ago.  We looked so young and happy didn't we? Today we had a breakfast together at Bob Evans.  We have a train ride to Hale Farm and Village planned for some time alone to celebrate our anniversary.

  Here is the card I made for Tim for our anniversary. This was a challenge card as well.  I had multiple challenges included in this.  You had to use a background stamp with an embossing folder, make it a masculine card, use three accessories, such as string, eyelets and stickles, and you had to make this type of card.  I really liked making this and Tim loved receiving it.

One of the most special things that Tim has given to me was notes and letters he wrote.  They are constant reminders to me in the tough times, that he loves me no matter what.  It is a reminder also to me that God hand picked Tim for me and He never makes mistakes.  When God is intertwined with two people in a marriage it makes a strand of three that is stronger than a strand of two.
When I added my wedding band to my engagement ring I was immediately reminded that with God in the Center of our lives we could do anything. The center stone was God, and the two diamonds on each side were Tim and I.  The stones connected to each of the two diamonds were families and friends who are there to help us stay close to Jesus.
  I'm so glad that God brought Tim into my life.  It's like how I felt when I received Christ, my life was never the same!
Thank you God for keeping us together in good times and sad.  For giving us two beautiful children and for allowing us to bring them up in your ways.
I am so blessed and I know it.  Do you know how blessed you are?
Blessings,