Fourteen Years? Wow.

This picture was taken November 10th 1994. We celebrated our 14th Anniversary earlier this week. I can hardly believe it myself.

I don't really know the bride in the picture. She was a 19 year old who had a lot to "get together". Thankfully the groom was willing to stick with her through that.

Just shy of 6 years later, our daughter Mikelle Rae was born. She came at the right time for us. We were as prepared as we could be, so of course that means we weren't prepared in a lot of ways!  One thing I'm glad we didn't know before decided to have her, was how hard the next following years would be. Not because of her, but because of the granddaddy of trials we would have thrusted upon us. Chris had graduated from ASU with his Bachelors in Engineering a couple of months before Mikelle was born in 2000. However, a month after she was born, he lost his first job. Then 5 months later, he lost his second. That was 2001 and my grandmother died and we returned from her funeral to find out he was laid off. If that wasn't enough, Chris lost his third job that following August. A couple of weeks later was 9/11 and then 3 weeks after that, Chris's mother died after battling cancer for 7 years previous.

Therefore, not only had the Engineering industry in that early 2000s was in its own recession, but it was a "when it rains it pours" way of facing adversity. The fourth job came 24 months after the third job loss. I was 7 months pregnant with Christian when that job came to end, along with 60% of that company's workforce. That was January 2004. Christian came March 17, 2004.

Thankfully, when Christian was 2 months old, Chris started out at the Palo Verde plant. It was clear once he began work out there that it was the answer to our prayers and the "light at at the end of the tunnel" that we had been waiting for. Sure, I curse this climate (especially with more of the desert being paved over for another carbon copy Big Box), but I cannot deny the blessings we have. Chris is the happiest in his job as he's ever been, and sure, he works long hours with a huge commute, but looking back on the first half of this decade, I cannot deny the blessing of what he accomplishes there and what it does for our family.

I'm still having a hard time with the reality that it's been 14 years! Wow.