WARNING:
This post is going to be lengthy.
This is, after all, about something beautiful...
Carl and I have now been married for 3 years...
It was a Saturday morning on a beautiful Hawaiian day - August 9th 2008. Carl and I were sealed for time and eternity at the Laie Hawaii Temple... it was the beginning of forever.
A lot of things have transpired since that day, and looking back... we are literally astounded at how we were able to cope with the many challenges we faced. We are, at the same time, equally overwhelmed with the many blessings that we have received. It seemed as though the Lord gave us only what we needed, no more no less, as if He was trying to teach us the valuable principle of humility and dependence upon the grace of God. As our family and many of our friends might know, we've had our own share of trials... and there were times when we thought we just couldn't get through anymore. But our present circumstances proved otherwise. This is not to say that we have already been granted everything we ever wanted.... Its just that, looking back, we would have never thought we'll be where we are right now.
I guess it was about taking each day at a time, one trial after the other, and cherishing each blessing as they came. From our simple beginnings in Laie, the Lord has taken us to Provo after our taste of real life in Los Angeles. The Lord had, indeed, His hands working miracles in our lives more than we were aware of. While in Laie, I applied for a graduate program at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. While I was granted a scholarship, I was denied admission to the program I applied to. That, and Carl's graduation from college and promising prospects in Los Angeles, had us packing and we headed to Southern California. While there, Carl took consulting jobs one after another... and project after project he would usually go back to looking for a new one. It was during that very trying time when Carl turned in an application for an IT position with the Church Headquarters... and one night, while Carl was at work, I started my application for BYU graduate school instead of finishing my application essay for CalState Long Beach. What ensued in the next couple of months were truly miraculous.
We now live in Provo... Carl works as a Content Analyst for mormon.org and I am completing my Masters degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development at BYU. Even then, we still think about the future and what will happen next, or rather, what we should do next. Its not easy, its just proving to be more challenging over the years. And at times when we couldn't figure out what's next... we remember the days when the Lord literally carried us through some very strong waves and landed us where He wanted us to be... Carl and I strongly believe the Lord will do that to us over and over again, we just have to keep our faith and stay close to Him. Again, maybe that's why the Lord never gave us more than what we need - so that we continue to believe in the power of His grace.
On the eve of our anniversary, Carl and I watched our wedding video. It brought back so many wonderful memories - beautiful ones. It is heartwarming to look back where we started - how we started we almost nothing. Our bank only had $90. I vividly remembered what Carl told me while we were waiting for our wedding reception to begin: "Wag ka malungkot kung hindi maging kagaya ng plinano mo ang reception, kahit walang taong pumunta... ang mahalaga mag-asawa na tayo." (Don't worry if the reception doesn't go as you have planned, or if no one shows up... whats important is were already married.) He was absolutely right - and we were absolutely blessed. We have the most amazing family and friends.
We have established a tradition that every year, on our anniversary, we will have pizza for one of our meals. That being reminiscent of our first meal at our first home... When we got back from our honeymoon and moved into our first apartment in TVA (BYU-H's married student housing), we ordered a box of pizza from PizzaHut. We had no pots and pans and the fridge was empty... we had pizza in the middle of our luggages and boxes in our tiny studio apartment. We've had so many wonderful meals together since that day... some more fancier than others (and I now have pots and pans and more!).... and our fridge has never been empty again. I was once told that the first thing you bring into your home when you move in is rice and water, that way that home will always have food for everyone. Honestly, I have always done that... but more than coincidence or superstition, I believe the Lord has His hands on whatever abundance we have had. I brought Carl food on our anniversary and we had lunch at their cafeteria. It was something simple, but very special. I love making meals for Carl...
In the past, we celebrated our anniversary with something a little extravagant. Our first year, we went to Universal Studios. On our second year, we spent the weekend at Hilton Garden Suites in Salt Lake City. This year, we decided to keep it close to home - very close. We decided we wanted something more memorable, not a fleeting feeling of joy and celebration. We worked on a project. We redecorated our apartment - nothing big, but the thought was that every time we come home, we are reminded by something that we have worked on together - something that signifies our efforts to work on our eternal marriage. We had a reasonable budget and we worked around it... we bought a coffee table, a TV stand, hung new wall decor, and fixed our couch (instead of getting a new one as originally planned). We also redefined our floor space and added a little decor. Not everything we planned in this project worked out as planned - but as Carl told me the very first day of forever: "ang mahalaga mag-asawa na tayo..."
