Due to the short notice, I didn’t have a lot of time to ponder and reflect on my own marriage in order to compose truly helpful advice. However, a little task Andrej and I did during our pre-marital counseling immediately popped into my head. We had to write out what we loved about each other and why we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. The point of the exercise was so that when our marriage went through difficult times or we found ourselves frustrated with the other one, we could read what we wrote pre-marriage and remember why it was exactly that we wanted to marry the other person.

After mom and I hung up, I relayed the story to Andrej, very proud of myself for remembering this little activity. I was sure he would agree that I had shared good advice and praise my efforts. Instead Andrej curled up his nose and said, “That doesn’t paint a very good picture of our marriage.” I laughed and said, “Well if it makes you feel any better in our almost five years of marriage I haven’t had to go back and read what I wrote, not even once. That has to say something.”

A week later, on May 31, Andrej and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. We had traded off babysitting with friends, so we had an entire evening to ourselves free of charge. As we drove to Holland (Michigan that is), we honestly couldn’t remember the last time we had a “date night”. We get a baby sitter often but it’s usually for house church, Andrej’s work events or hanging out with friends, so at the cost of babysitting these days we don’t make time for just getting away as a couple. Now that would have been good advice for my cousin: make sure you continue regular date nights even after kids are in the picture. Nevertheless,  it didn’t take long before dating came back to us and we found ourselves walking hand in hand through downtown Holland.

We had dinner at 84 East and then headed out to the lakeshore. We took a long walk on the beach, watched the sunset and reflected on the past five years and dreamed together about the next five. Andrej took a lot of fun pictures of our time at the beach and those are located here. We ended the evening with sundaes from Captain Sundae and enjoyed a slow drive home. A perfect way to celebrate each other and our commitment.

So my love, here’s to five wonderful years and not having to turn to our lists of why we wanted to marry each other…not even once!

1. Four years ago, I married the most incredible man at a castle in Topolcianky, Slovakia.
2. I can’t believe it is possible, but I love and respect him even more today than I did then.
3. I have a beautiful daughter who brings me more joy than I can even describe.
4. I just gave birth to my son less than two weeks ago.
5. He didn’t have a name for the first two days of his life. Thanks to my husband!
6. In my 30 years, I’ve lived in South Carolina, Illinois, Slovakia and Michigan.
7. I look forward to where life will take me next.
8. I have a B.A. degree from the University of South Carolina in Journalism that I have never officially used in a job.
9. If I could do it over again, I would study teaching English as a second language.
10. I am very content in my current job as a mom. The pay isn’t great, but the benefits are amazing.
11. Of all the places I’ve traveled so far, Prague is my favorite city, Croatia hosts my favorite beaches and the Vysoke Tatry Mountains in Slovakia will always be at the top of my list.
12. I’ve hiked to the top of two volcanoes – one in Sicily and one in Greece. But unfortunately I don’t remember their names.
13. My favorite food is Mexican, followed closely by Italian.
14. I love chocolate and peanut butter, preferably together.
15. I am ridiculously afraid of spiders. Thankfully, I married a champion spider killer.
16. I am currently reading, along with my house church, a book that is extremely difficult to read called Subverting the Empire, Colossians Remixed, but is completely revolutionizing our family.
17. Andrej and I gave up TV for Lent. I was 100% against it at first, but with Andrej patiently urging me to at least give it a try, I finally agreed. Honestly, I didn’t miss it and enjoyed even more all the free time it gave me to spend with Andrej. Now, months later I haven’t looked back. We do occasionally watch shows together (LOST), but nothing like my viewing schedule before.
18. I have the greatest friends imaginable, all over the world.
19. I have a wonderful and incredibly supportive family in SC that I love and miss so very much.
20. I LOVE to read blogs. I read blogs of people I know, friends of people I know and people I only know through their words. My favorites are other moms with kids around the same ages as my own. I find so much encouragement in their life stories.
21. Thanks to my husband, I know how to use linux.
22. I greatly miss Slovakia; friends, family, walking everywhere, food, summertime atmosphere, outdoor cafes, Kompas omacka, and did I mention friends?
23. I am very much looking forward to our trip to Slovakia in the fall.
24. I am not, however, looking forward to the plane ride to Slovakia with two kids in tow.
25. I love living so close to Lake Michigan. It still amazes me at how much it is like the ocean, minus the salty water.
26. I used to love hot weather and getting a suntan. Now, I much more prefer temperatures in the high 60s – low 70s and a bottle of sunscreen.
27. Even after enduring four long cold snowy winters in Slovakia and four long cold snowy winters in Michigan, I still do not like long cold snowy winters.
28. I would much rather spend winter in South Carolina.
29. I really didn’t want to turn 30. I would rather stay 29, at least until Andrej catches up!
30. I feel so old, but that may just be a result of lack of sleep due to the Tobster’s need to eat around the clock, rather than my age.