Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Yesterday was our second anniversary and we celebrated by taking the boys to their first baseball game! The Angels were here playing the Orioles so we made the drive out to Baltimore to see the game. In my opinion, Orioles games are much more fun than Nationals games because there's actually a fan base in Baltimore and the Orioles aren't embarrassingly bad. Plus it's fun just to be at Camden Yards. Anyways, the Angels won (8-5) which I was doubly glad for because Brandon cheered for the Orioles the entire time. I thought he'd be rooting for the Angels but he informed me when he arrived that the Orioles are 'his third favorite team' (behind the Mariners and Red Sox) and that the Angels are 'only his fourth favorite team.' Apparently, he has a strict ranking system for his favorite baseball teams that I never knew about. So we cheered for opposing teams, but I got the last laugh in the end because my team won. It's always more fun to be in the minority fan base when your team actually wins!

Jack and Cullen didn't seem too interested in the game despite Brandon's play-by-play description of the game for them. They were so hot, extremely wiggly and difficult to contain in the seats. Plus they kept grabbing for the armrests (gross!) or putting their toys that had fallen onto the ground into their mouths (doubly gross!). *Sigh* Oh well, I keep reminding myself that the odds are pretty miniscule that they'll catch a disease and die from common germs or dirt. Still, though, I came home and washed all their toys today.

Here's a family photo from their first game. If it looks like we're all sweaty messes it's because we are. It was 90 degrees but felt well over 100 with the high humidity and lack of any breeze at all. Plus, those babies might as well be little balls of fire when you're holding them on your lap for 3 hours.

On the drive home, we each got a Frosty from Wendy's, cranked up the air conditioning, and reminisced about old memories from high school and college. The path God used to bring us together was certainly funny in every sense of the word. We laughed and laughed the whole way home remembering how silly we used to be. I remember meeting Brandon 10 years ago this summer and thinking to myself, "I wonder who that new kid is?" Then I promptly turned back to giggling with my girlfriends about who-knows-what. It never crossed my mind that I had just met my future husband (though I did develop a crush on him a few months later). It's hard to believe that I've known him for 10 years now and we've been married for 2 years and been parents together for almost 8 months. Time seems to go faster and faster these days but at the same time I can still vividly remember moments together from high school as if they just happened yesterday.

And 2 years of marriage may not seem like alot, but when I consider how much Brandon and I have changed in that time, it seems incredible. We started out so shaky- we'd already known each other/been dating off and on for several years and we got thrust into such big life changes so suddenly that we didn't have much of a 'honeymoon period.' I got severely homesick within the first month, Brandon switched jobs, we had bills piling up, plus all of the normal problems that most new marriages encounter once both of you start realizing you haven't married a perfect person after all. It's so easy to hide sin when you can go home to your separate houses at the end of the night. But once you're married, it all comes out pretty quickly. I started to see myself in a whole new light. I had always thought I was a pretty good and godly girl, Ha! Boy was I wrong!

But being married to Brandon has been sooo good for me! It's taught me so much about my sinful heart, my tendency to criticize and harbor bitterness, my tendency to rush to judgment and blame, my stubborness and refusal to admit fault, my quick temper that I wouldn't dare take out on anyone else, my reluctance to truly forgive, my extreme self-centeredness, I could go on and on and on. But God paired me with good, patient, faithful, stubborn, honest Brandon who points out my faults (gently) and encourages me with Scripture and prays for me and refuses to just "drop it" whenever there's an issue. He doesn't let me run away from problems or react hysterically or give the silent treatment or storm out and go to bed angry- all of which I much prefer to actually talking about and resolving the problem. I shudder to think of what life would be like had I married somebody who reacts as badly to problems as I do. We complement each other so well in every way. I'm so grateful God blessed me with Brandon as a husband, I really should tell him so more often. He tells me so every day- which is just more evidence of how wonderful he is. If the past two years have been this hard and turned out so great, I look forward to the next 50 with him by my side, growing together in godliness.

I love you Brandon, Happy Anniversary!