Am I the only one here who thinks that my gift-giver's name was NOT a coincidence?

Seeing as how I'm always about three steps behind where I'd like to be these days, I figure it's no problem to put everything off just a little longer to sit here and write about this and that. So many things to say, so little energy to sit down and do it. So of all the mishmash from this week that would pop into my mind with a "I should write about that!" and popped out before I gathered up the energy to sit down and do it, here's the highlight.

Ha. Energy to sit down. This is my life.

On Monday, I received a card from my dear Nonna which read, "Happy Anniversary! I can't believe how quickly these two years have passed." And it's true - especially considering it's been three years. Three years a Troy. Three years of joy, despite the many struggles we've been dealt. Three years of opportunities for growth in holiness....hopefully some of which have actually taken. It was hard to remember it was our anniversary, actually, as this was probably the busiest week we've had in quite a while, but when Wednesday came around, BAM there it was. And it was awesome.

The day started out with my reading of this post on faith and family. I wish there was a camera set up in my computer room so you could see my reaction - sitting at the desk, crying, because I was so excited. SO AWESOME!!! MADE. MY. DAY.

After that, Jake and I headed out to Target where I purchased THREE, yup THREE, maternity swimming suits. Argh. Maternity. Lest you be mistaken, I am NOT pregnant. But I figured that these would fit my newly postpartum body better than any others and leave me far less depressed. It needs to be said that the last time I wore a swimming suit was FOUR YEARS AGO. I was in Hawaii. It was a bikini. Four years, two pregnancies, and zero sun later, I stood in my bathroom trying on these swimming suits and DYING because they were so very awful. There really are no words for how horrible they were. Remarkably, I was having such a good day that it hardly bothered me at all. And, it certainly helped to have such a loving husband whose response to my declarations of how hideous I looked was, "let me be the judge of that." Sometimes he just really knows exactly how to make me feel good. That being said, he has still not seen me in those suits. Nor will he ever.

They are all going back to Target.

Tim and I went out to dinner that night and it was fabulous. The boys stayed at Oma & Pop's house with some help from their Auntie Erin. This was the first time I've left Jacob for that long (I never left Christopher for that long until he was well into solids) and off we went, just the two of us. And it was AWESOME.

We did a lot of reminiscing - the first time we met...our wedding day....you know, all of that fluffy stuff. Of course, we cried. (We do that here.) But we also remembered upon anniversaries past: anniversary #1 where it was 108 degrees outside (for real) and I was 500 pounds pregnant (almost for real). Anniversary #2 when Tim was so incredibly ill that his gift to me was suffering through a couple of days to save his very last percocet so that he'd be able to take me out to dinner. Anniversary #3 where we're in the midst of starting our own business and the financial numbers in our lives are all written in red.

We did a lot of dreaming about the future - looking forward to when our boys will be old enough to join us for these anniversary dinners and we can celebrate as a family. Wondering when we'll have a year (or even just a summer) that's not wracked with stress, or illness, or worry of some sort or another. Recognizing that, really, that's just life. When one thing ends, another begins. And realizing that regardless of what is to come, we can handle it because we've got each other. We've got our boys. And, most importantly, we've got our Faith.

Speaking of our Faith, we went to Adoration today. (Please excuse me if I wrote about this last week, but I'm just so touched by this....) My little Christopher brought tears to my eyes as he bowed before the monstrance, kissed the cross, blew kisses to our blessed Mother. Of all of the things he will do in his life to make me proud, none of them will beat this. Nothing is more important to me than forming my boys in their faith. This is going to be a challenge, considering everything else that will be vying for their time and attention, but I think we're up to it.

This weekend we will watch our wedding video, as we do every year, and will sit on the couch and CRY!!!!! just like always. The difference this year will be that Christopher will watch with us, and Jacob too. And as we watch we'll be thanking and praising God for that day three years ago. Not just for what it was, but for the fruits that have grown from it.