17 years ago...

We were married on a beautiful February day, much like today!   We were married in February, hoping to go to somewhere warm on our honeymoon and anniversaries.  Well, that hasn't happened since our honeymoon, but...maybe someday!  We are however, off celebrating this weekend and enjoying a few kid free days together!

Thank you Lord for another great year together!

Perfect timing...

Thursday night and Friday, we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary downtown Chicago while getting our special visitors visa from the Colombian Consulate.

This was a multi tasking weekend, after dropping our pukey kids off at my Moms on Thursday, (gotta love moms who will go the extra mile for you when you need it!~I LOVE YOU MOM & and DAD!!!~) we headed to Chicago and Ryan met with a pastor from a church downtown to go over a few details on the mission trip that is coming up this summer.  Then, we headed to our hotel, which we Pricelined for...$43.00!!  When I went on the hotel website the rooms were going for $150.00 a night!!!  We went out to dinner and then decided it was too cold to walk around and went back to the hotel!  We got married in February so we could go somewhere warm for our anniversary, guess how many times we have gone somewhere warm for our anniversary? 
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Oh well, we are headed somewhere warm soon, so I am not complaining!!!

Our hotel was only a block off Michigan Ave. and only 2 blocks from the Colombian Consulate building!  We went out for breakfast then headed over to the consulate.  We were a little early so we took a seat, we went up to check in at the window around the time of our appointment and the lady called our name as we walked up.  She looked over our paperwork and had us add a few small details then asked us why we were adopting from Colombia.  I said something about our other daughter was adopted from Guatemala and that we found Luisa on a waiting child website and she was from Colombia so that is why we are going to Colombia.  Probably not the most flattering answer I could have given, but it was what popped into my head!  She told us to come back in 45 minutes, so we walked to a few stores and headed back.  We took our seats and in a few minutes she saw us sitting there and waved at us to come to the window.  She handed us our visas and told us to have a nice trip!  Piece of cake, and I was very relieved.  That was the last bit of paperwork I had to produce and was very glad to have it over and done with!!

After that, we headed straight toward home and did a little shopping for a few things we needed for the trip. (things you can't buy on Michigan Ave.)  We then went to my parents and had a little party for Dylan since we will be gone on his birthday.

So we had a busy, but productive 2 days!  We are on the countdown to Luisa!

Pictures from our anniversary weekend...

Ryan and I had a great weekend in Chicago. It was great to catch up with some old friends! Thanks Chris and Kadie, for being such a huge blessing, we enjoyed our time spent with you! I wish we lived closer.

We were also able to meet up with (my sister) Jen, Eric and Olivia! It was so good to see them, but Olivia was not about to let me hold her...um, that is unacceptable! At home, I just take her, whether she likes it or not, she settles down eventually! But, we were in public, so I had to restrain myself, it was awful! She was fine when I talked to her and played with her, but I had no luck in getting her to come to me! We will have to work on that! I felt like we had the paparazzi following us, my sister took her camera and got a few pictures for us! Thanks Jen!

15 years...

Wow! How did that happen? How did 15 years fly by so fast?
I must say, I would not go back to those early days for anything.
I love the man I married, but, I love the man he has become, even more!
God surely has blessed us, and we are so thankful to Him for 15 years together.
We were married in February so that we could get away to somewhere warm for our anniversaries...
Maybe, someday...
But for now, we are heading to Chicago for a few days ~ no kids!
Thanks Dad and Mom!