10 Years After "I Do"

My mom always said, "When you find the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to start right away."  I guess that was the case for Jason and me.  We started dating in August of 2002 and he proposed in a castle in Ireland in March of 2003.  All the venues for that summer were already booked and even though I'd always imagined an outdoor summer wedding, the thought of waiting until 2004 seemed unimaginable.  So we came up with the next best thing, a New Year's Eve wedding! It was a beautiful night of friends, family, dancing, and all the fun of counting down to a new year and a new life together filled with endless possibilities. And all that fun was on a Wednesday night!

December 31, 2003

I suppose when most couples reach this milestone, they can't believe how quickly ten years have passed.  Yes, it has been crazy fast. We try to do something special each year around our anniversary to reflect on all that's happened and where we're going.

Celebrating our 2nd Anniversary at the Anderson House in Wabasha. The dress I wore was a bridesmaid's dress from our wedding!

Celebrating our 6th Anniversary at the Hotel Ruby Marie in Madison, WI

There have been incredible highs.  Most of them involved travel.  Jason and I have trekked through Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South and Central America and even spent a sun-filled week on a sailboat in the Grenadines.

Exploring the San Blas Islands in Panama in 2009

Hiking in the south of Spain in 2008

Of course, our biggest travel highs were our two trips to Africa to bring home our beautiful daughter.

First trip to Ethiopia, June 2011

Second trip to Ethiopia, October 2011

There have also been lows, the kind that you hope you'll never encounter when you promise "for better or for worse."  The first, and one of the most terrifying, was almost losing my sister as she battled Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She endured the worst of treatments all during our engagement and had to wear a wig at our wedding. A friend who had never met her actually commented how much she loved my sister's hair that night. I think she looked beautiful, too!

Julie reading her touching Matron of Honor speech at our wedding

We also made it through the heartbreaking loss of Baby Terefech.  Three years later, I am still shaken by the frailty of this life. We really must treasure every day.

Fragile Baby Terefech passed away in southern Ethiopia from Pneumonia in January 2011 before she could join our family

In early June, Jason and I will take our first trip without Bereket to properly celebrate ten years of marriage.  We'll hop on a plane for a whirlwind 3-night escape to a romantic bed and breakfast in Moab, Utah.  I have already spent hours studying hiking maps and adventure outfitters. Until that much anticipated trip, we celebrated in a smaller way last night by going for dinner at a nice downtown restaurant and then taking a Christmas lights trolley tour of historic southwest Rochester. Sounds romantic, doesn't it? Not a bit!  Our three-year-old was along and she was so excited to ride a "bus," she refused to eat any dinner and begged the entire meal to get on the "bus" now! As soon we were on the trolly, she was "starving" because she wouldn't eat dinner.  After devouring some fruit snacks, she fell asleep for the rest of the trip...then woke up delirious and screamed the whole way home.  We still had a good time and enjoyed seeing a different part of our city all lit up for Christmas.

Family photo before Little B. fell asleep on the trolly

I have so many dreams for the future. There is so much to see and experience in the world and not nearly enough time to do it all.  The past ten years have taught us that there will likely be tough and unexpected bumps in the road ahead.  Here's to a new decade of taking life one day at a time, together.

She and Me...Missing He

It's the weekend many people are traveling "home" for the holidays. Bereket and I are so anxious to take our own trip up to MSP International tomorrow to bring home our special traveler. Jason has been away to India on a 16 day business trip.  That's half a month, but for a threesome that has never been apart for more than 24 hours since we became a family, the prospect of this journey felt more like 3 months.

The note Jason left for us on the kitchen counter the day he left.

On the first night of Jason being away, I sat Bereket on my lap and we looked up a picture of Mumbai on the internet.

Bereket studied the picture of the world's 4th largest city for a moment. Her attention was focused on the tall sparkly skyscraper. "Castle! Dee-Dah in a castle!" she exclaimed! In her eyes, Dee-Dah was in a fairytale land living with princesses in the most fantastic castle. Such a lucky man to get to do that for two weeks!

As for me, the past two weeks have not always been a fairytale. It's not easy for me to "be on vacation" at home and I've taken a lot of time off work (as Bereket's daycare doesn't open until 7 a.m. and I go to work at 4 a.m.) So I've gotten a taste of what life is like as a stay-at-home mom.  We've had some incredible play dates with friends who stay at home with their children.  Bereket especially enjoyed meeting up with Kokeb, her special roommate from Ethiopia and her oldest friend.

We had a blast with Kokeb's family at the La Crosse Children's Museum.

We also planned a special outing with Bereket's cousins, Isabelle and Daniel. I can't believe I took all three of them by myself to the Mall of America during the busy Christmas season!  But lunch at the American Girl Bistro was worth every minute of the journey!

I enjoyed some festive time with my mom, sister and Isabelle as we took the Christmas Inn tour in our hometown for the first time. So beautiful..especially after a fresh snow.

And each day there were small adventures that were so big in my little girl's eyes.  She had her 2nd haircut and she didn't cry a single tear!

Bereket did so great during her haircut, she got a special reward: a trip to see the new Disney movie, "Frozen." Afterward, we went out for Thai food for the first time together.

Bereket had her first Christmas concert at church.  My extremely shy girl got up in front of the crowd and smiled brightly the whole time.  I was so proud of her! I just wish Jason could have been there.

There are two things that helped get us all through the past two weeks.  First, my mom stayed with us 4 nights so I could go to work two days each week.  It was such a blessing having her here and it was so much fun to watch her relationship with Bereket blossom.

Secondly, Skype. It wasn't always easy connecting with each other with an 11.5 hour time difference..and Bereket didn't always feel like chatting..but how wonderful to see Jason's face (and even offer him a cup of tea and some ice cream from B's little play set).

Tomorrow at this time, we will be three again.  I have learned and grown such much during this time apart.  I appreciate Jason and all he does for us now more than ever.

I hope the next time we are separated this long again won't be until it's time for little B. to go off to college.

Welcome home, Jason. We missed you!