15 years

Dear Shaun,

Happy anniversary! Well, we have made it 15 years. I was a little skeptical when I walked down the aisle and noticed you didn't have gel in your hair on our wedding day, of all days, but so far things seem to be working out. I have learned to look past the small things. Anyway, Can you believe how quickly the time has gone by? I guess the saying is true that time does fly when you are having fun. And the fun never ends at the Spencer house!

Fifteen years ago we were pretty much kids, I was 18 and you were 21. You were making about $6.50/hr at a Christian book store and I was working part time at a dentist office for $6/hr. We lived in that cute little one bedroom apartment and I think our rent was about $385 a month (those were the days!). And we were so very happy and in love.

So much has happened during the last 15 years: 2 little girls, many cars, many homes, many cities, many lengths of hair (both of us), many different shoes (both of us), not many vacations, a few spats, and a lot of love.

And now we are a little bit grown up at the tender ages of 33 and 36 and here we are in Madison Wisconsin of all places. Your hair has little bits of gray and mine doesn't. And we still live in an apartment! And I would be rather ashamed to say what we pay in rent now AND along with a mortgage. And isn't it funny that we had more money in our savings account when we first got married? Okay, I guess that isn't all that funny.

But look at us now, fifteen years later. We are happier than ever, more in love than ever, and most importantly we are growing together in Jesus more than ever.  I am thankful that many times we have both said that our marriage is the way it is because of God's goodness, provision, grace, and deep love that he has for us. He has held us in His hands and taken such good care of us! We are truly blessed.

I love you and I am thankful that God chose you to love me and take care of me and be my best friend. You are an incredible husband, an amazing father to Eva and Lily, and a mediocre pet owner to Charlie.

So, how about another 15?

Love,

Danielle

a few fun spencer facts that have been updated since i last wrote them two years ago. (if you are having trouble sleeping at night and want to read our entire story and want to see a really dorky picture of me click here.)

• we have lived in 15 different places (this is somewhat embarrassing, but this is how we were brought up, by moving a lot)
• 11 of those places were in the first 7 years of marriage
• we have owned two houses, lived in 11 different apartments, rented one house, and lived with my mom for one month
• we have been through 11 different vehicles (including the ones we have now)
• shaun has worked 15 different various jobs (some part-time, some full-time)
• i worked 7 different jobs
• we have been on 3 vacations (colorado, cozumel, minnesota)
• we have had 5 pets: a fish named napolean, a dog named maggie, our first cat was murray (who is now in the big litter box in the sky, as shaun says), we also had a cat named milton who dissappeared, and charlie who currently resides with us
• after 9 years of being married eva was born and lily came after 12 years
• out of 15 years of marriage, at least on of us was in college for 11 of those years. we both went all the way through college, and shaun through seminary
• shaun weighs 10 lbs less now that when we got married (how many men can say that!)
• i was 18 with .0000001% body fat when we got married and i have had two children since so i will NEVER again weigh what i did when we got married
• we still love to hang out together and we are still best friends