Bear with me as I gush for a moment.  This morning as I was reading, praying and beginning to start off my work day I began to think ahead to the weekend.  We have a very busy weekend planned, and my wife has really been working hard in preparation.  We are celebrating our son’s first birthday as well as our fifth wedding anniversary.

As I thought about the preparations and the upcoming events I was suddenly overtaken by a feeling of joy.  I had to immediately thank God for all of the blessings He has given me in my life, but especially in the realm of my family.  I have had only a few minutes today to reflect back on the first four years of our marriage.  God has really brought us through a lot of difficult times.  Two days after we were married I began law school in North Carolina (four hours from our families and our home), two months after that Stephanie started working in Greenville, South Carolina (our home), and we basically lived together on weekends for three years.  In the midst of that separation Stephanie’s father was diagnosed with cancer and eventually passed away. Now that I’m back home there are the constant pressures of our jobs and other responsibilities that draw us away from time together.

This past year, we welcomed our first child - a beautiful baby boy - into our lives.  I never thought there would be such a change in our lives and our marriage.  There was such an infusion of love and joy into my life when Cole was born.  I can’t even explain.

So now, this is one of my favorite times of year.  A lot of celebration for the truly excellent things in my life that God has given me.