4 years = flowers & fruit...

  

Andy and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary while we were in Minnesota this summer and I just now am having the time to sit and reflect on the last four years.  Actually, the truth is, I have been struggling with what to write and how to express what the year brought for the Groettums.  Here goes nothing...  

We decided at our first anniversary that we would celebrate each year with the traditional anniversary gifts for each other.  You can find a list online with a simple google search and it is also joined with a list of modern gifts.  It has been pretty fun as we have had to be creative and sometimes it makes it easier to have a focus for gift buying (at least for us).  We have done pretty well with the traditional gifts, but this year was a little boring  difficult.  Since we were disappointed in the year four's gift of flowers and fruit,  I'll try my best to look back on the last year while doing justice to the 4th year theme...

I would love to say that the last year has all been sweet and full of beauty like these plumeria flowers (which are some of my favorites).  But, the truth is there was much of it that was quite challenging for the two of us and parts of it were filled with much sadness.  I will get to that in a bit, but let me start at the beginning. 


Fortunately, the year started out like these adventurous durian fruits.  

We returned to Denver after a 2 1/2 week trip to Europe where we spent time in Scandinavia.  We started the trip visiting friends in Helsinki, Finland where we instantly felt at home.  Any Minnesotan would feel the same because of the Finish friendliness, the ease of getting around, and all of the green trees and surrounding water.  From there, we took a ferry over to Tallinn, Estonia, which is a little medieval haven.  It has tons of charm and history, which is right up our alley.  We made our way to our last stop via an overnight cruise liner and ended our trip in Stockholm, Sweden.  This was our favorite!  Water in every direction, walking and riding bikes to see the sites, and feeling like we were a character in the Millennium series as we strolled around the island where the stories all took place.

From the durian fruit, we made our way to the rose as we toured around our nation's capitol for the first time, Washington D.C.  It is amazing that we didn't get to this historical locale until we were both 30, but I guess it is better late than never.  We were SUPER impressed and feel like we need to go back at least five more times to take in all this fabulous city has to offer (next time we will make the trip in the fall as the summer is way.too.hot)!

   

As August rolled around, a new school year was upon us and although it can be exciting, sometimes it feels as sour as these lemons, especially with the realization that summer is coming to a close.  




I found myself in my third year of teaching while Andy was on number eight!  I finally felt like I was getting the hang of this career choice and Andy was an old hat, of course.  We settled into our routine and looked forward to some Minnesota trips in the fall.  



Unfortunately, life had some different ideas for us and October left a bitter taste in our mouths like when you eat a kiwi before it is ripe. 




I wrote about our first miscarriage back here.  Needless to say, we felt a sadness and our year was starting to spoil. 

I didn't even know that things could get worse, but next up in December was these stinky flowers.  Did you even know that there was such a thing out there?  I didn't either until we went through what came next.  



These flowers look beautiful from the outside, but when you get close, they smell real bad.  That explains how December, January, and February went for us after our second miscarriage.  We tried to keep up appearances on the outside, but inside we felt real stinky and our house was filled with sadness.  Being the optimistic people we are, we tried our best to come out of the cloudy existence we had created for ourselves and started to live again by planning outings with friends and even looking forward to a future trip.  

Somebody was looking out for us because March was the month that turned things around.  Things smelled as fresh as these daisies blowing in the wind against a beautiful cerulean sky.  



I wrote more about this joyous event back here.  Ecstatic, happy, elated...none of those words even begin to describe how we felt in March.  We were pregnant!  Something about this pregnancy felt different and we were hopeful.  


The rest of our fourth year together has been filled with the aromatic smells and simple beauty like this babies breath.  



Each milestone of little boy Groettum has made us feel like the luckiest two people on earth.  We are so thankful every day for this blessing.  I won't lie to you and say that pregnancy is easy because it definitely has had its own challenges that we weren't expecting...for both of us.  But, when the end goal is a beautiful baby in our arms, we will move forward into our fifth year as a married couple and our mantra will still ring true and help us through any challenge that comes our way...Team First!

That's right.  When I reflect on all that Andy and I have been through in the last four years, whether it was hard or seemed too easy, we made it through all of it together.  We have come out on the other end better than when we entered.  

I can't imagine feeling more love for someone than I feel for my husband.  

Here's hoping our fifth year will bring much happiness and, above all, we will continue on this journey that is life with a united front.  Let Year 5 be like the daffodil and guide us with hope for all things that are to come.  




I am not sure of many things, but one thing that I never lose doubt on is that there isn't anything the Groettums can't face together and that, my friends, is no little thing.