4 Years

Today is Michael's and my 4 year wedding anniversary!  We have been through quite a bit in the last 4 years!  We have had ups and downs with jobs, school, family, and money.  But we have stuck by each other's side and each trial is easier, each blessing deeper, because we are together.  Michael is my best friend.  I can tell him anything, and I do, because I suck at keeping secrets from him.  He's the one who holds me up when I don't know what to do or where to turn, when I feel like falling apart.  He's the one I share my joys and triumphs with.  He's the one I look to for the voice of reason and calm, cool, collected advice.  He makes me want to be a better person.

Since we've been married Michael has completed his last 2 years of school and graduated from K-State with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.  This is something that people worried wouldn't get done with us getting married, but we both knew the end goal and worked to achieve it.  While Michael finished those 2 years of school, I taught 4th grade in Junction City.  It was hard work, but the kids made it worth it.  The parents, administration, and legislators were who drove me away from the profession in the end.  But someone had to pay the bills while Michael finished school, so I taught.  Michael worked so hard those 2 years!  He taught and graded for a Solid Works class to bring in some extra money to help out, he soothed my tired soul after long days of teaching and parent-teacher conferences with parents who made me want to crawl under a rock and die, and he kept me laughing each and every day.  He was my knight in shining armor the day he stopped studying (for a test he had the next morning) to take me to the emergency room when I had gall bladder attacks.  I have never felt unloved with Michael.  He shows me and tells me every day how much I mean to him.

When Michael graduated we moved to Wichita.  Neither of us had a job, but we moved none-the-less.  To keep the bills paid I got a job at Belden Jewelers.  Michael kept looking for an engineering job, but as time went by, he widened his search to drafting jobs, machining jobs, and eventually any job at all.  Michael eventually took a humble job at Toys R Us to help pay the bills.  With 2 college degrees, these were not the jobs we imagined we'd have when we left Manhattan.  But we perceviered.  Michael kept me entertained, even when we didn't have much money to spend.  We made the most of what we had and ended up spending more time with each other because we just didn't have the money to spend on other forms of entertainment.  We went on walks or to the dog park.  We drove around looking for Christmas lights.  We turned the radio up loud and drove in circles until our favorite songs were over.  Even when things were tough, coming home, being with my husband, our marriage, has always been easy, has never been work, has always been safe.

It didn't take long for Michael to finally get in th engineering field, first with Bunting Magnetics, then with Dell.  After a few months at Dell we learned that Avery was on her way.  We were so excited!!  We bought a house a week later and began planning our happily ever after for our growing family.  On our 3 year anniversary Michael lost his job with Dell.  They didn't have enough work for the other people, and he was one of the last hired, so was one of the first to go.  Thankfully God provided another job that day and he began working at Aerospace Turbine Rotables the next week.  What a relief!

I am so blessed by Michael.  He's an amazing father and husband.  Our anniversary is so special to me because it marks an important day in our history to look back on and see how far we've come.  I look back and see how much our love has grown since that day.  I am so blessed.  So happy anniversary, My Love.  I didn't think it was possible, but I love you now more that that sweet day 4 years ago.  Thank you for blessing my life with your own.  :)  I love you, Michael.