Monday, October 21st marked 13 years since Kyle and I got married and began our life of bliss. Smile! 

We are now officially teenagers at marriage.

I can't tell you how blessed I am to have spotted Kyle right off the bat at Freshman Orientation at the UofA a little over....gulp...18 years ago. EIGHTEEN years, people! 

I knew it then and I know it now - he is the man for me. 

Fortunately, he felt the same way about me (replace "woman" for man...) and although our college dating years had some rough bumps and patches of frustration (that's what happens when you meet the person for the rest of your life and you're just entering college and the rest of your life is a few years away...) we came out of it ready for that "rest of our life" - together. 

While in college, we managed to overcome the obstacles of youth and immaturity, other relationships thrown in here and there, long-distance across the ocean and the state, etc., fall more deeply in love and end up getting married on October 21, 2000.

As we both suspected, having dated each other five years before getting married, we had our eyes as wide open as you can possibly have when you're 23 and 24.  We had seen each other at our best and worst, knew each other's flaws, strengths, weaknesses, baggage, family issues, as well as how to work through things, talk through things, pray through things, laugh about things and become even better friends at the end of the day.

As a result, we have been so blessed to have never had a "bad" year.  Every year of our marriage has been truly wonderful. And getting better by the year. We've had issues to deal with along the way, but thankfully, it's never been a question of "us" working.  God has paired us so beautifully and each of our strengths is a perfect complement to the other. God has used us to sharpen and grow and develop each other over the years.  Kyle is still my best friend in the world, my other half, my love, my delight, my constant source of laughter, a well of grace and strength, a man of faithfulness, integrity, talent and ability - and turns out, the most amazing father as well.

And what do we have to show for our 13 years? Well, WE have nothing - I can honestly say our Heavenly Father is the source of all our joy - including our 4 beautiful children, our home, our jobs, our menagerie of dog, cat, fish and chickens...pretty much anything good in our life is a direct gift from the Lord and we are seriously blessed. 

So how do you properly celebrate 13 years? What's the thing? Paper, silver, diamonds? 

Well, I'm not sure. But for us, 13 years meant new sleepwear.

I wish I could say some sexy lingerie, but seriously, I just had a baby 4 weeks ago. Lingerie is not my friend right now. What I mean is that I needed something to replace my standard winter sleepwear. 

I'm a little embarrassed to say that while I do have a drawer full of lingerie that I pull out on occasion, for the most part, I, like most of my friends and probably all women, sleep in t-shirts. And in the winter, I have 2 identical long sleeve t-shirts plastered with a bank logo that isn't even a client of ours anymore. The t-shirts have far outlived the bank itself, probably. These shirts have seen me through at least 8 years of our marriage. I've worn them when pregnant and when not. Heck, I've worn them while in labor! They are not attractive anymore. If they ever were.

And Kyle, bless his patient heart, was fed up. For our 13th anniversary, he knew that what would mean the most to him was to no longer see me wearing the dreaded bank t-shirts. So he got me these...