Today marked sixteen years since that hot summer day on the beach when we made a promise to walk the rest of this life together. We began the day at a new little place here in town that we've been eagerly anticipating, and the crepes and delicious coffee at Tandem did not disappoint. Then later in the afternoon, our big kids shooed us away while they created a lovely summer bistro out on our own back porch. Not only was it such a precious surprise that they thought to celebrate our anniversary in such a big way, but I'll admit, it was pretty lovely to sit alone out on the porch and be waited on like royalty! The staff at Cunningham Burgers pulled out all the stops and their customer service was top notch. The burgers were pretty delicious, too.

As if that weren't enough, Caroline had secretly been plotting and planning with Mary Anne to create a little family album to give to us as a gift. They sneakily got us together for a pool date, took lots of fun pictures, arranged a "last minute" visit with Caroline at their house and then showed up a week later with a custom photo book filled with all of my favorite faces. All of our kids are good gift givers and love any excuse to celebrate, but this idea was all Caroline's and I have to admit, I pretty much love the idea of her making it all happen and then telling them to cough up some cash if they wanted in on it.

After sixteen years we understand those vows we took far better than we did on that summer day so long ago. We've seen the better and the worse. Our youthful dreaming and passion carried us into that day in 1998, but the wisdom that comes through real life, contentment that comes from a better understand of who we are and Whose we are, and a whole lot of grace is what will carry us through all the remaining years God will give us. We hope it's a lot.