Twelve Years, Three Kids and Two Continents

Jason and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on June 26th!  God has blessed our marriage with three wonderful children, surrounded us with encouraging, loving friends and  family, and drawn us closer together through these years.

June 26, 1999

And now, twelve years later fulfilling a long time dream of living abroad and celebrating the blessed lives God has granted us.

Thanks to our dear babysitter, Jordan, we were able to enjoy a relaxing date night downtown to celebrate.

We started out by actually sitting at a cafe and enjoying coffee and conversation.  You might laugh, but this is the first time this has happened in the 15 months we've been here!

We strolled through the Grand Place and headed to Place St. Catherine where we ate a delicious dinner of shrimp and lobster in one of the outdoor seating tents shown in the picture.

 

Our actual anniversary fell on a Sunday this year so we decided to take a day trip to Dinant.  It is a small town built on the River Meuse about an hour south of Brussels.  As you can see from the picture below, we had a beautiful Carolina blue sky all day and perfect weather for exploring this new location.

Dinant has several claims to fame including the citadel posted at the top of the rock face and also the Abbey de Leffe, which manufactures one of Belgiums most well known beers.

When we arrived we found the city center blocked off for pedestrian traffic only.  The streets were lined with several infatable slides and also a few street performers.

We took the funicular up to the citadel.

We enjoyed an hour long tour with an avid history buff as our guide.  He was interactive with the group and did an amazing job of giving the tour in 3 languages (French, Dutch and English).  The children enjoyed the bird's eye view from the top of the cliff. 

At the end of the citadel tour, there was a reproduction of a WWII bunker that had been bombed and was now slanting.  It was really difficult to keep your balance and created a humorous visual effect. 

Following the tour, we were all ready for a break - note Drew only made it through half the tour before falling asleep.  Thankfully, at the top of the citadel there was a great park for the kids.  We stopped for an ice cream and a leisurely afternoon before heading back to Brussels.

My words cannot express my thankfulness that God lead Jason to choose me as his wife.  He is a constant encouragement to me and our children.  He seeks to lead our family to love and serve our Creator and also to have a great time along the way!  I know I often fall short of expressing my sincere appreciation, but I love my husband with all my heart and cannot imagine traveling this road with anyone else!