The date

We had so much fun last night!! We got dressed up and went to PF Chang's. Don't know why we didn't take a pic. :( The food was super awesome, they were having a great deal, and we really enjoyed each other's company. Then we went and walked around Fashion Valley mall. Those stores are so fancy! We got some Godiva chocolate at $1.22 per piece and just moseyed around and window shopped.
I joked that my hubby should buy me jewelry and he was a little too quick to say OK, so we moved on cuz no way can we buy jewelry right now! hehe We basically walked both levels of the whole mall just talking! It was really great. Shows how much we get out that this date was so awesome, huh? We really just miss each other. Getting to be alone was so wonderful...it didn't matter what we did. :)
And to top it off, when we got home we found that his mom had folded all our clean laundry, washed the dishes, and put both girls to bed with no problems! Lucy took TWO bottles over the night! It was a really great night. And I love my hubby!

Here's to 3 more years... and 3 more after that... and............

Today is our 3rd anniversary!

So I have decided to share our love story as I wrote it a few years ago...updated for now, of course! Beginning with some pictures :) Some of our wedding day, 1 of the day we became an official family of 3, and 1 of the day we became a family of 4. :)

When I was 19, I had a baby named Gwen, and many people in my church were disappointed (naturally), so I decided to take some time away from my church to visit others. After two years, I decided to return. So much had changed since I'd been gone, so my cousin introduced me to a lot of her friends. We spent many afternoons hanging out at restaurants and each other's houses. My cousin would always tell me who was going to be there, and she always said "Michael Best" in her list of people, but I never actually met him! Finally one day, we met. We had SO much in common, but he was so young! I was 22, and he was 18. So, I decided we'd be friends and I could give him all of my knowledge about music and life and school.

Eventually, talking myself out of a crush proved too difficult, and I was finished! We continued to spend time together with and without other friends, all the while remaining "just friends", but on his 19th birthday he held my hand! We were quickly scolded by others, but we remained friends. We knew we liked each other, but he wasn't ready for a relationship, especially with a mom. So we waited. It took another 5 months for him to decide that we could be together, and he asked me to be his girlfriend on my 23rd birthday, after being friends for over a year!

From that point on, we've been basically inseparable. We knew we were meant for each other right away, but we continued to take it very slow. After all, he was young, and I was a single mom. We vowed to save ourselves for each other, and we succeeded! I am very proud of us, especially since I had already been down that path. But God has blessed us immeasurably for being obedient and pure.

Being the typical woman, I did nag about getting engaged... I wanted to at least be engaged by the time I was 25! As my 25th birthday neared, I got very anxious, and he was so "mean" to me! He kept telling me that he so wanted to be able to propose on my birthday but he couldn't afford it and he was so sorry.... Well I believed him, so I was very disappointed! And to top it off, my 20 year old cousin got engaged 2 weeks before my birthday! (I later found out that Mikey was pretty bummed when she got engaged, because my ring was at the jeweler that very week!)

Well, on my 25th birthday, he proposed! It was wonderful! He gave me jewelry cleaner as my birthday present, and when I asked why, he brought out the ring and said "It's for this! - Will you marry me?". Of course I said yes! We were so excited; it was all we could do to not explode while we finished dinner! On the car ride home, I had to exclaim out the window "I'm getting married to the most wonderful man ever!!" and it felt so good!

We were married in February 2006 by our mentor/church worship leader, and today we are celebrating our 3rd anniversary! We have had such a wonderful time! We are so happy we get to spend our lives together!

When Gwen was six, Mikey began the process to legally adopt her. He adores her so much! She is so excited and so lucky to have my husband as her father. The adoption proceedings were complete just after her 7th birthday. What an amazing birthday present!
In September 2008, we had our newest addition, Lucy, and she is so cute! We are excited that God has blessed us with another beautiful daughter and we look forward to God growing our family more in the future.

Throughout the years, we have (and continue to) serve on the worship team together at our church. We lead worship for many small groups and also for church on Sundays. We are so blessed to be able to serve together in that capacity. God made a perfect match, pairing a singer (me) with a guitar player (him)! We enjoy it so much and look forward to teaching our children to play musical instruments and sing!

Chicken Chicken Yum Yum!

Lucy thinks these words are hilarious! Obviously I am more interested in getting the cute laughter sounds than paying attention to where the camera is pointing! hehe

I definitely think this is the cutest thing ever! :)