The Perfect #7

Tomorrow, August 4th, marks mine and Ronny's 7 year wedding anniversary. We've heard ever since we got married that year 7 is supposed to be the hardest. Does that mean since we've completed our 7th year that we have just made it through the hard one?! Or is the year after the 7th anniversary the hard one?! I guess I'll know in a year :) This last one was really good though. Really good. So hopefully that means the "7 year itch" won't apply to us!

I was such a child when we got married. I turned 22 in May before our August wedding. I'd just finished college. I lived in an apartment with friends but never really on my own- barely out from under my parents' wing. I thought I was so much older and smarter than I really was! It worked and I wouldn't trade a day of our marriage, but I sure was young.

We lived in a duplex in Hewitt and shortly after we married we got our dog, Zoe. She was the little love of our lives! We still have Zoe but she's now been replaced by real babies :) Ronny was the associate youth pastor at FBC Woodway and a full time seminary student at Truett. I was teaching Kindergarten at St. Louis Catholic School. Wow, that feels like a lifetime ago.

Our first anniversary was spent at a big family reunion in New Mexico. Yep, romantic hey?! We did take a wonderful trip to New England a few weeks earlier. (I wish we'd had digital pictures back then.)

In July of 2003, we packed up our little duplex and moved all but 4 suitcases into storage. Then we left with those 4 suitcases and spent 6 weeks in Virginia training to go overseas. We met Chad and Ashlie there who we soon discovered shared our anniversary. In fact, we were married about an hour apart, in different cities of course. Most of my friendship with Ashlie has been built over email. We served overseas at the same time but on opposite ends of the African continent. We still email frequently and in her I have a friend I can share my heart with completely. Happy Anniversary, Chad and Ashlie!

Our 2nd anniversary

The night before our anniversary we were able to borrow a car and get off campus from the Overseas Learning Center for a dinner at a Japanese steakhouse.

Our time in Virginia and the two years that followed were definitive in my life and in our marriage. There is no way that we would be the people we are today or have the strength in our marriage that we do today without that time. I know God called us there for many reasons and most of them I might not even ever know this side of heaven, but one reason that stands out to me is the way those years, (that country, those people, that ministry,) shaped our marriage. We grew to love each other more deeply, bear one another's burdens and depend on one another when we were all the other had. Our marriage was changed over there. No doubt about it. Our 3rd anniversary we had dinner at a fancy Italian Restaurant where the hostess didn't have a reservation for the Higgins, but did have one for Chickens, was that us?! Yes, it was. Even though we all spoke English, occasionally pronunciation, vocabulary terms and accents were completely misunderstood on the phone! We took a lot of little trips around the time of our anniversary saying it was the only anniversary we would have in Africa so let's go to all the places we want to go! Cape Town, Sossusvlei, Victoria Falls... :)

Married 3 years (in Cape Town)

Married 4 years (Hudson on the way and in our first home)

We arrived back in America just days before our 4th anniversary and I was 20 weeks pregnant. On August 4, 2005 we had our big ultrasound where we were told by our technician, "it's a Hudson!" (she asked our boy and girl names earlier in the ultrasound) Another definitive moment! We celebrated our marriage and our son at Cheeves Brothers Steakhouse that night. (As I write this all out, I realize that all we ever seem to do is go to dinner...)

Married 5 years (with Hudson in Namibia)

August 4, 2006, we landed in Windhoek, Namibia with our 8 month old son to visit friends for two weeks. It was an incredible trip and there was no better way to spend our anniversary.

Our 6th anniversary I was pregnant again and we found out the week before that our baby was a girl. She was already "Avery" in my mind but I had to convince Ronny! Back to Cheeves we went to celebrate our marriage, our son and our daughter.

Married 6 years (with Hudson and awaiting Avery- she was born 2 weeks later!)

It just keeps getting better and better. Still happy at Highland, still love being at home with my kids, bought a different home, nothing terribly exciting on the time line. 7 years. Something in my spirit tells me that despite what people say, our 7th anniversary is going to be the best we've ever had.

Of course I knew I loved Ronny on August 4, 2001. Yet, I had no idea what was to follow. The course of our life, the paths and places God has lead us down and to have only made me love Ronny more. In comparison to how I love him now, it's like I barely even knew him then. I'm big on dates, anniversaries, birthdays. I like that specific date to say, on this day a year ago... on this day 5 years ago, etc. (0ur first date was July 19. We got engaged October 19 the following year and I like to mini-celebrate these dates every year!) It gives me a point of reference, a way to measure things and remember things. So every year, I can say with total confidence, that I am so glad I married Ronny. I thank God with more emotion than I can express for the last 7 years and pray with expectancy for the years ahead. 7 more... and 7 more years after that... and then 7 more...