Celebrations

I just read an incredible book on the topic of celebration, called Cold Tangerines, by Shauna Niequist. It is about celebrating the every day. We've been given such gifts in this life that we - at least I - fail to notice. Shauna wrote about worrying about crumbs on her kitchen counter and celebrating friendship, jealousy and being broken. The book consists of little glimpses into her life, but how at every turn there are moments to celebrate, if we choose to do so.

"To choose to celebrate in the world we live in right now might seem irresponsible. It might seem frivolous, like cotton candy and charm bracelets. But I believe it is a serious undertaking, and one that has the potential to return us back to our best selves, to deliver us back to the men and women that God created us to be, people who choose to see the best, believe the best, and through that longing are changed and inspired and ennolbed, able to see the fingerprints of a Holy God where another person just sees the same old tired streets and sidewalks."

Love it. And I'm really going to try and start celebrating the every day more. What do I have to lose? I will choose to look past the busyness and stress of this life and celebrate the good God has so graciously given me.

We had our own little celebration this weekend. Second anniversary!

Here is what we were doing June 11, 2005:

Here is us on June 11, 2006:

And June 11, 2007:

We had a wonderful weekend leading up to our anniversary this year in Chicago. We did some shopping for Josh - he needed to bulk up his professional wardrobe - which was super fun. We also threw in a trip to IKEA and some of our favorite food joints in town. And on Sunday, we saw Wicked, which was oh so fun. Josh liked it too! This one is definitely a new favorite of mine.

Then we went out to The Melting Pot for the second year in a row, which was wonderful. We loved our weekend of celebrating, and plan to continue the celebration throughout the next year of marriage!