Only three until "you and me"........

~Our engagement announcement Spring 1998~

The proposal has taken place and now time for the planning! Being that I was a mere 23, wedding planning was a whole new ball game for me. Thank goodness for my mom, my sister and my mother in law for helping me with all of the details!

I can't even begin to tell you how overwhelmed that I was registering for china, dinnerware, stemware, and the likes! My head was spinning after a good 6 hours in Macy's home department! I am still in awe at the one thousand decisions that Lem and I had to make regarding our wedding, house, and everything that goes along with it in a scant 7 months! We were both back at home from college and living with our parents, and figuring out where we would live was one of our most predominant concerns.

In perfect and usual fashion for him, Lem's Grandaddy saved the day just in the nick of time. He bought us a house in Old Town Conyers. We rented it from him for 2 years until we built our own home. We were overjoyed at the thought of having our own little place to play house in!! Those of you who have been with us from the get-go will remember this charming and delectable "bungalow", as we liked to call it! I really need to go by there and take pictures to have for posterity's sake.

So, this was our life at this same time....ten years ago. We were just beginning our lives together and we could not have ever foretold the story that lay ahead. The bliss of being newlyweds, the struggles of being newlyweds, the euphoria of parenthood, the trials and tribulations that come with parenthood, the devastation of losing our grandparents, the jubilation of knowing that our grandparents met each other again in their heavenly home.

All of these events, the good, the bad, and everything in between has made up our 10 years together as husband and wife. How Great is our God, How Faithful is He, is all that I can muster to say. Deserving of His blessings and His grace, I am NOT. Yet, I am thankful and overjoyed for the place he has set me in this life time.

No other place, no other home, no other family would I wish to trade places with. Flawed and imperfect as we are, I fall on my knees, prostrate before Him, praising Him, because of the sheer joy and gratification that my family brings to me daily.

Something about Lem....

His integrity is like no other. I have only seen this kind of integrity and character in two other men in my lifetime...My Daddy, and Lem's Grandaddy Still. Integrity is something that money cannot buy and that cannot be taught in a classroom. It is entrenched in a person, inborn, it comes from the deepest part of the soul.

And he has it. Through and through.

forever your girl,

Jill