Our Story ... In Pictures.

Today marks our three year wedding anniversary! Sometimes it feels like time has flown by and other times it feels like we've been married forever (in a good way!)

I can't help but get somewhat sentimental via blog today. Sentimental in a "I want to reminisce" sort of way. In case some of you out there don't know OUR STORY, it all began in August of 2005. Grayson and I went to TCU together, but our paths never really crossed while in school. It wasn't until Grayson was back in Fort Worth working and I was completing my master's degree that the Lord literally made our paths cross ... twice in fact. At the corner of University and Berry Street. Grayson thought it quite interesting that he would see me twice within the same week at the same intersection when it had been probably 1-2 years since we last saw each other. Coincidence or God's perfect timing? I guess it was God because only a few days after seeing each other at that intersection, I got this really great email entitled "Hello". It read as follows:

Ashley,

What's up?

I talked to a friend this morning and asked him for your email address.

He gave it to me, so I thought I would resend an email I sent earlier this week.

I hope that you aren't wierded out with me searching the TCU Alumni website

and asking friends for your contact info.

I hope you are having a great week.

Drop me a line, I would love to hear from you.

Grayson

Must of been the Lord because normally this would have come across as quite stalkerish/creeper-esque. But being the girl that I am, and knowing how great of a guy Grayson was, I decided he really just wanted me to "drop him a line" and be friends. Well, apparently he had other intentions because only 9 short months later we ended up right back at that same intersection, only this time he had something else he wanted to ask me.

And that's when the planning began.

In only 4.5 short months we made plans to get married,

move to Louisiana and start our lives together.

Here's one of my bridal portraits. Then the church where we got married.And of course, a shout out to San Antonio & the Alamo ... "Remember!"

We've had so much fun celebrating each of our anniversary's thus far. We decided to make it a tradition that we will give each other the "traditional" wedding gift each year.

Year One: Paper ... so we bought tickets to go on a cruise. It was my first experience cruising and was amazing. We went to St. Thomas, St. Maarten and the Bahamas.

Year Two: Cotton

Grayson, being the banker that he is, opted to give me a $2 bill. Why, you ask? Because money is made mostly of paper and it is easily accessible when you work at a bank. Easy to give last minute, if you ask me ;)

But really what he gave me was some money to go shopping for some work clothes. It was last year at this same time that I got my new job at Tech and he wanted me to have some professional looking clothes that would carry me through the fall and winter season. Keeping in line with the "Tech" theme, I gave him a basket of cotton related items, including: cotton balls, Q-tips, toilet paper, some high thread count sheets and a new 100% cotton baseball cap. We still fight over who can wear it to each Tech event.

That brings us to today, Year Three: Leather. This was a tough one, I'll have to admit. Tough because it's so easy. So many things out there are leather and would make great gifts. But (without jinxing us) we are currently in the process of purchasing our first home and so we both thought purchasing something leather might put us a little over the edge. So ... in lieu of the major decision we are making, we opted for smaller gifts instead. Me, being the practical one (pah) chose a small, black leather New Orleans Saints key chain to hold the keys to our new home! I've yet to open Grayson's gift, but he assures me it will be delivered by the end of the week.

But getting to the main news, YES! We found a home in Ruston that we are both very excited about. We continue to pray that everything goes as it should in the oh-so-long home purchasing process. Ideally, we will close at the end of October and move at the start of November. This is a pic of it that we wanted to share with everyone!

Ultimately, our anniversary is much more than a gift we give each other. It is a time that we take to remember the vows we made to each other, to re-commit to the promises we made before each other, the Lord and our family and friends. It is a time where we talk about ways we can love each other better and improve on what is already working. It is a time just for us where we can enjoy each other and how much we still care for one another. It's a celebration of the refining process the Lord uses to teach us, to humble us and most importantly to draw us closer to himself.