21 Blessed Years

Today my husband and I celebrate 21 years of life together.   I have officially now spent over half of my life with this amazing man!

To celebrate together, we chose to do something simple - can you guess what it was?

If you guessed anything with "mountains"... you are correct!

Since both of us love these mountains so much... we escaped for the day and explored the back roads of the mountain together.

It didn't cost us a penny... at least not more than the little bit of fuel we used... and being frugal is something we both enjoy doing!  We ate a large breakfast before we left and enjoyed some light snacks during the day, and we were back in time to enjoy dinner with our kids.

We found an old mountain road that winded for many miles up the side of the mountain with lots of little logging roads branching off, and we drove down quite a few of those roads too.

The expansive vistas that were afforded to us were magnificent... a true feast for the eyes, heart and soul!

We felt as though we were on vacation again, but in reality, we could see from this vista almost into our own backyard!

The wildflowers were out in an abundant display of glory, waving their pretty heads in the gentle breezes.

As I watched the wildflowers swaying to their own secret windswept song, they made me think of this Psalm:

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. 

For he knoweth our frame: he remembereth that we are dust.  

As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.  

For the wind passeth over it and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.  

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him 

and his righteousness unto the children's children 

to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.  ... 

Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion, 

Bless the Lord, O my soul.  

Psalms 103:13-18, 22

Bless the Lord O My Soul: and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name. Psalms 103:1

Oh the fun we had, just enjoying being together... 21 wonderful years the Lord has blessed us with, and the years keep getting better and better.   We have learned to let go of so many things, and hold onto things that are really important.  Our family, sweet times spent together, special memories... these are the things that make up the fabric of our lives, and the Lord is the glue in the midst of it all, the binding together of our lives and our love.

What joy it is to know that we don't have to live life on the "fast track" to enjoy and share our time together.  We could have taken some fancy vacation, went on a cruise or flown to some exotic place... but none of those things appeal to us.  Simple, sweet, and lots of love mixed in with the joy of the Lord, and surrounded by the most beautiful scenery you could ask for... today we had it all.... right in our own backyard :)

The berries were out in abundance!  Wild strawberries were growing everywhere!  We sat down in the middle of the patch and just munched away {smiles}

More wildflowers... their swaying songs were silent, but I thought I could hear their melody in my heart... bless the Lord... Bless the Lord... BLESS the Lord... BLESS THE LORD!

Pink, yellow, blue, red... whatever your fancy... there was an abundance of color everywhere!

And oh!  The huckleberries!  We found them in abundance too!  Tangy sweet berries, firmer than blueberries, oh what delight - we found a patch that stretched as far as the eyes could see!  We were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the huckleberry patches we found.  Our teeth and fingers were stained, yes even our clothes, lol... as we sat down and picked berries to our heart's content.

We happened to have a container to put the berries in, and together we were able to pick about a gallon of these amazing berries!

While we were up there on the mountain, it seemed as if all the troubles in the world around us were far far far away... we didn't want to leave!

Of course, the reality is... you can't stay forever on the mountains... the valley does await.

But the memories we had of our day spent together will forever be cherished as gloriously special... and they didn't cost us a dime :)

Happy Anniversary my beloved... I love you to the moon mountains and back!