to shaun on our anniversary...

happy anniversary, babe.

i can't believe it has been eight years since we said "i do". it seems crazy to think it has been eight years.

i remember walking down the aisle and seeing the tears freely flowing from your eyes and thanking God for the man He brought to me. ((i also remember thinking how surprised i was that I wasn't crying.)) our whole day was beautiful. i remember thinking how surreal the entire day felt. and yet how perfectly real.

you've put up with me for this long...and there isn't any turning back now! and i thank you for that. the past eight years have brought plenty of ups and plenty of downs. yet through it all we've clung closer to God and closer to each other. i look back at all of the things that have happened and see how wonderfully perfect it all has been...how it has shaped and molded us into the individuals we are...and the couple we are.

each day i look at you and into those eyes of yours...and i realize how stinkin' blessed i am. i can feel the love you have for me each time i look at you. and i'm so very thankful for that love. i don't deserve it a lot of the times, yet you give it to me. i think you're a wonderful example of how a man should love his wife...just as Christ has loved His church. i only pray that i am the wife that i need to be for you.

where i lack...you abound...you fit me perfectly like a piece of a puzzle. i'm so thankful for you. i'm so thankful for the man you are. i've seen you grow and change so much in the past eight years. i've seen you step up and step out so much this past year it's been amazing to see the work of God in and through you. i don't deserve you. and yet you choose to love me. and i realize how blessed i am. ((and i know i've said that already...i just want you to know!!))

i'm so thankful i get to be the momma of our kiddos with you. parenting these blessings have stretched and moved us so much. but i'm so thankful to be a parent with you. to watch you be a daddy is one of the most amazing things to me. and to watch you work hard for our family and it allowing me to stay home, i thank you. you'll never know how thankful i am for that. for you. for everything.

i love you. more than you'll ever know. i'm so glad that you weren't too shy to ask me to prom. and ask me out. and ask me "so will you marry me". we may not have some romantic proposal story...but to me...it doesn't matter. it doesn't define us. or our relationship. and to me...we have the most pefect-est story of all.

i love you. forever. and always. and a day after that.

happy anniversary.

i love you.

your bunny.

mandie.

amanda.

and every other little nickname i have been given. :)