Happy surprises

Sometimes, life takes you places you never thought you would go.

This past year has been an amazing year.  Aside from my hearing loss – which has worsened and scares me greatly – we have had nothing but love, laughter and good health.  Every day, I am amazed by my beautiful family; I have an adoring husband and my darling children who all love me very much.  I started an amazing new job in December 2011.  We moved a couple of years ago and I love our home and our neighborhood.  Everything is just perfect.

It’s not to say we haven’t been without our challenges.  After the financial strain of 9-week preemie twins, then two car accidents and a myriad of other unfortunate events, we ended up going through bankruptcy a few years ago.  Since then, we have embraced Dave Ramsey’s methods and have lived a well-managed, debt-free life.

I fell into a depression in late 2009 and needed to figure myself out.  I found a therapist, and Skip ended up joining me for 18 months of therapy which made our marriage better than it ever has been.  We have discovered much about ourselves – together – and have grown as a couple.  We are immensely grateful for the experience.

But this past year… being a few years removed from bankruptcy, finishing therapy, the kids getting older… I’ve just been so happy.

In June 2012, after 11 years of marriage, we renewed our vows.  We had a small outdoor ceremony with friends and family in attendance, followed by dinner and dancing.  It was an amazing day.  I just didn’t think it could get any better.

And then, it did.

We have been together for 14 years.  We have been married for 11 years.  We have spent almost 5 of our years together trying to get pregnant.  After 4 IUIs and 2 IVFs, we finally had our miracle babies, Ace and Nate, who turned our worlds upside down in an instant.  We’ve been enjoying the ride ever since.

And now…  it’s about to get a whole lot wilder.

A very unexpected, very welcome surprise.  I don’t even know if I’ve wrapped my head around it yet.