The Story of Us

Yesterday, our family celebrated its 8th anniversary! Eight years of being a family!  Every year around this time I get to thinking about how things were before I met my husband and I get an itch to tell the story of how we came to be.  I know that everyone has a love story but (for obvious reasons) ours is my favorite.
Once upon a time I was single mother of 3 small children and I was happy.  I had accepted that my children were my life and I had everything I needed.  A few months later, while listening to K-LOVE I was encouraged to pray for love.  So out of the blue I found myself behind the locked door of a bathroom praying to God and telling Him that if he had someone for me, I was ready and would love to meet him. (Yes, in the bathroom! The kids and I were living with my parents at the time and there were few places in the house I could hear myself think!) 
While using my computer later that day, match.com ads kept popping up and I kept ignoring them.  For the next week every time I would use my computer match.com adds would pop up. Ok, so maybe it was a sign, maybe I had just never noticed them before but seriously the ads were relentless! After about a week and a half of this I said to myself, "Why the heck not?!" and gave myself one month. Everyday, I checked in on the 29-35 year old dating scene and was disappointed.  Then one day, this super cute dad of one popped up on my screen as I checked in.  His name "Happy Beach Dad"! His priority was his son and I was compelled to send him an email. I clicked send and watched as his profile popped back up stating that he was actually 28 (I had typed in the wrong age). He quickly responded and it was quickly established that he thought I was someone else that he had been hoping to match up with.  Long story short, we ended up emailing back and forth for a couple of weeks before meeting for breakfast at an IHOP (within 3 weeks of signing up on match.com).  We sat in a booth across from each other, I ordered a veggie omelet that had cauliflower (yuck!) in it and he ordered pancakes.  We laughed at my omelet and talked about our kids.  I would be lying if I said that I didn't know then.  There was this moment, while we were talking when I actually heard in my head, "That's him".  I knew that he was the one, like I had never known anything else in my entire life. We went thrift store window shopping after breakfast, before I headed home and got ready for work.  I remember walking into work and the first co-worker I saw asked me, "How was the date?" and before I could really think about it, I answered, "I met the guy I'm gonna marry." Less than a year later, we were engaged!

Everything was so simple as far as our little family went.  Our 4 kids were siblings from the start; They clicked and we were just happy! We all had so much fun and simply enjoyed being together.  By the time we got married in January of 2007, we could not wait to add another kid to all the craziness.  It took us a bit and a heart-breaking miscarriage but we finally met our youngest child in 2010.  
I'm not saying that our relationship is perfect but I will say this: I married my best friend.  He is always there for me and always believes in me.  Best of all he sees the good in me, even when I cannot.  He makes me laugh and listens.  He brings flowers for no reason at all.  He washes dishes!! Oh, and he does laundry!! (Now do you understand why I think he is SO awesome?!) 

Every now and then my mind wanders to the what-ifs...what if I had continued to type in 29 instead of making a mistake that day? What if I had completely closed my heart to the idea of the existence of someone out there falling in love with me AND my children? The what-ifs don't keep me up at night though because there is no doubt in my mind that this family was meant to be. I often find myself praying and thanking God for this life!  I am beyond grateful that my husband and son stepped into our lives when they did and I am so thankful that I have such an amazing someone with whom to share life's storms and blessings.
So, here's to another year of crazy chaos! This family is my world and as much as I love all of the memories that we have created, I am also looking forward to what the future holds!!
Happy Anniversary to Us!!