Happy Anniversary to... US!!!

Friday we celebrated 5 years of marriage!  WooHoo!  It's been a wonderful... and crazy 5 years together.  We have moved about 6 times and seen a lot more of the world than we otherwise would have.  We've been through some rough stuff and we've had some wonderful moments, and I can't imagine my life without my man!  He's such a great husband and I'm so happy to be his wife! :)  Can you believe we've been "together" for over 10 years now?  Crazy, huh?  Let me tell you a bit about those years...

He was my first boyfriend, and I was his first girlfriend.  We were friends for about a year before we started dating.  The first time I remember noticing Joe was in a Christmas play the youth group was doing.  Joe was cast as "the husband" and needed to pick someone to play his "wife."  Joe picked me!  It was a fun play to do, because we had to call each other "honey" and "dear."  That brought out some giggles! :)  

We hung out a lot and Danelle, Joe's sister, was (and is!) my best friend, so that helped!  One day Joe asked me to go knee boarding and tubing with him and his friend Scott.  When we  were going around a tight corner together on a tube Joe yelled to me, "Will you be my girlfriend?"  I said, "What?"  He repeated it and I told him, "You'll have to ask my dad first, but if it's okay with him, then it's okay with me!"  Ha!  This still cracks me up!  I was only 13 and Joe was 16.  The next day I talked to my dad about having a boyfriend.  My dad said he'd like to sit down and talk to Joe.  Joe came over the next day and the four of us--my parents, Joe, & I, all had a lengthy discussion about boundaries.  I remember my dad specifically asking us not to change much in our relationship, but to keep it on the side of "a good friendship" more than anything else. 

 Joe is a pretty shy guy.  We communicated mostly with letters we wrote back and forth and delivered them to each other every time we were together.  To this day, I think that's very cute and  a great way to get to know each other.  I remember spending the night at Danelle's house (convienently also the home of my boyfriend), and Joe and I would pass notes to each other through the heating registers--the girls upstairs and the boys downstairs--well into the night, and Danelle rolling her eyes, the thought of her brother having googlie eyes for her best friend was enough to make her want to hurl! :)  None the less, she was a great insider into the mind of this strange boy I found myself liking more and more.  Joe would sometimes go into her room, wanting to talk about me.  I would beg her for a word by word recap of everything Joe said.  She would groan, but would always comply.  

I remember having so much fun with Joe.  We did a lot with our youth group, I went to all of his football games (even though he went to my school's biggest rival),  he came to my school plays and choir concerts.  We had such a fun time dating.  When Joe went off to college and I was still in high school.  I traveled, every other weekend on an 8-hour drive, with Joe's parents and sometimes Danelle & grandparents came too.  It was really hard to have a long distance relationship, but it made the time we did get to spend together even sweeter.  It was so nice getting to know Joe's parent's too.  Eight hours locked in a car... you spark up some good conversations!  My favorite trip up to Michigan Tech University was in Grandpa Berger's motorhome.  Grandma Berger loved Elvis, the Beach Boys, and other such classics.  We cranked up the tunes and everyone sung at the top of their lungs!  Grandma Berger has since passed away but that remains in the "memories, sweet memories" section of my mind, forevermore! 

 Joe's last year of college, when I was about to start my first year, we went up to the U.P. (the upper peninsula of Michigan, for those of you that don't comprendo yooper).  I had brought some sparkling grape juice and we stopped at Wal-Mart to pick out some cool drinking glasses--just for the fun of it.  Joe and I drove his denim blue chevy lumina out to Brockway Mountain, where you can see for miles and miles.  It's an absolutely beautiful drive--right along the shores of Lake Superior.  We wanted to get to the highest point to see the sunset.  I noticed that I seemed to be doing most of the talking, but gullible being my middle name, I didn't think anything of it.  We saw an especially beautiful overlook and pulled over.  We grabbed a blanket out of the trunk and I followed Joe out to a cliff with beautiful Superior waves crashing down along the bottom.  It was so peaceful and so nice just to be together.  I looked out at the horizon, trying to take it all in.  When I turned to look back at Joe, he was down on one knee!!!  He told me how much he loved me and how much fun the past 5 years had been.  Then he said, "Abby, will you marry me?"  I was in shock!!!  I couldn't believe what was happening!!!  He pulled out the most beautiful ring I had ever seen!  I said, "Is that real, Joe?  Is that ring real?"  He said "It better be!"  He put the ring on my finger and I wrapped my arms around him.  He said, "So, is that a yes?"  "YES!!!"  I think I must have screamed it!  We sat down on the blanket and enjoyed our moment.  We opened the bottle of sparkling grape juice and poured it in our glasses.  (We later used them as toasting glasses at our wedding!)  After taking it all in we headed up to the top of the mountain and enjoyed our first sunset as an engaged couple.  We were married at our little church by our pastor and my dad, 9 months later!  

After we got married we moved up to the U.P. so Joe could finish up his last semester of school.  We lived in a very small and very junky apartment, and we LOVED it!  We met the sweetest people up there and had such fun being newlyweds!  Joe finished up his school while I worked.  He had a good last season of football and we even heard talk of some scouts coming to check him out.  That was very exciting, but we really didn't believe anything would come of it.  He had a couple of injeries severe enough that we thought the hopes of anything NFL were done.  I guess God had other plans though.  We decided to persue all of this NFL stuff so we got an agent and waited for the 2005 draft.  Joe was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the 6th round--higher than we had anticipated--and the whirlwind began!  

We lived in a Holiday Inn for 50+ days during preseason and then after training camp (on the day we were going to look at houses with a relater) Joe got cut.  I got a phone call at 2 in the afternoon from Tom, Joe's agent, while Joe was still in practice.  When Joe got home around 5 he called Tom who told him he had been signed by the Miami Dolphins!  He would have to jump on a plane and fly to Miami within the next few hours... without me.  Meanwhile, I would drive our truck full of our stuff, from North Carolina to Florida.  Needless to say, I was hysterical.  As most of you know, I have NO sense of direction.  I was freaking out about where I would end up and how I would end up there!  I remember sliding down the hotel room wall and curling up in the fetal position on the floor.  Thank goodness I heard Joe say to Tom, "I don't care what you have to do--you HAVE TO get my wife on that plane!"  By 7pm we were on our way to the sun shine state... together.  We began to realize the way things work in the NFL.  If there's one thing that's a sure thing it's that nothing is EVER a sure thing.  

Florida was very different and we didn't really like it.  I had no kids, no job, and pretty much just waited for Joe to get home day in and day out.  It was a rough start, but things got better.  We moved out of our extended stay hotel and into the condo we bought and we also got a puppy... DOODLES!  

While in Florida we began to try for a family.  It was a slow slow slow process.  I never thought it would have been that way for us.  It was kind of rough, but then just before I was about to try fertility drugs we found out I was PREGNANT!!!  After 10 months of trying, we were sooooo excited!!!  We lived in Florida for almost 2 years when Joe was cut over Thanksgiving and picked up by the Dallas Cowboys.  That was hard.  I remember being very sad thinking about the condo we had JUST bought and that I was so excited to decorate for Christmas as well as making a nursery for our baby.  The Dolphins hadn't had a very good year, which was hard for them, but gave me a sense of relief, because my due date was Super Bowl Sunday!!!  Heading to join the Dallas Cowboys... who were having a GREAT year... and were predicted to be in the Super Bowl... was NOT my idea of a good time!  We stayed in a small apartment in Dallas.  We didn't know anyone so for fun we would drive around the different neighborhoods and look at Christmas lights.  Looking back it was a wonderful time before our baby arrived and it certainly brought us closer together-- having to depend on each other a lot!  

I headed home to Michigan at almost 36 weeks pregnant, leaving my baby's daddy in Texas to fulfill his duty as a Cowboy.  I wasn't sure how in the world I could deliver our first baby by myself.  I prayed that if that were the case, God would give me the courage to do it though!  I remember watching the Cowboys game with my mom.  Tony Romo fumbled the ball, in an unheard of move that would cause the Cowboys to loose the hope of making it to the Super Bowl.  (Poor Tony--make a note that it wasn't single handedly his fault!)  Joe came home just in time for the doctors appointment where I learned that I had high blood pressure, and if it didn't go down, they would have to induce labor!  It did end up going down, but I'm so glad Joe was there for that appointment!  It would have defiantly resulted in a mental break down if he had still been 10 states away!!!  About a week later they ended up inducing me and our sweet little Gavin arrived!!!  Three months later we headed back to Texas for the next football season.  Joe found a beautiful house that we rented.  We also found a great church and met WONDERFUL people there.  We enjoyed 2 year with the Cowboys, and then Joe's contract was up.  When his contract with the Cowboys ended and they didn't renew it, we were picked up by the Miami Dolphins for a second time.  Though we really miss our sweet friends in Dallas, we feel this is a very good move.  We are also able to be in our condo again, my cousin is here, and the Dolphins seem to be off to a really great start.  

We are now trying for baby #2, with no luck.  The process is going slower than it did with numero uno, and though it can get very discouraging, we just really have to remember that God is in control, and count our blessings daily that we have one sweet and healthy bundle of JOY!

Well, I guess that's our life story, kinda, in a HUGE nutshell.  That's what's new (and old) with the Berger crew.  That brings me back to the beginning of all my run-on sentences and over-usage of commas... our 5-year anniversary!  Joe suggested we head over to our honeymoon spot, Sanibel Island Florida.  We enjoyed a day there of seeing all the beaches and our first vacation spot!  It was so much fun and we had a good laugh about lots of things...

You see we were very poor-- Joe was in college and I was working but not making very much money.  We did the best with what we had, and though I wouldn't trade it for anything--it was NOT a very good honeymoon for the following reasons...

   

Here's the bridge you drive on to get to the island (this isn't really one of the reasons, but I thought I'd show you anyway)...

Reason #1. We stayed at a Holiday Inn.

...and yes, while it was a nice Holiday Inn, one would think that if one were to book a room 8 months in advance specifically for one's honeymoon...

...that one would not receive the room-- CLOSEST TO THE LOBBY and with 2 double beds!  (While there were plenty of rooms overlooking the beach with king sized beds!!!)

By the way, the entire honeymoon was booked by a travel agent who said that she had been to Sanibel Island!

Reason #2. The travel agent didn't coordinate any form of transportation.  In turn, we rented bikes from the hotel.

We then rode our Billy's Rental Bikes miles, and I mean like 5 miles, to restaurants to get something to eat (because the Holiday Inn didn't even have a continental breakfast).  That's Reason #3.  It was so hard to find food!  Most of the restaurants on the island didn't open until at least 3 in the afternoon.  After our LLLLOOOOONNNNGGG bike ride we were HUNGRY!  Keep in mind that this was the first week of June... in Florida... and it was HOT!

Here's a picture of Joe and Gavin venturing out to the beach, which brings me to Reason #4.  How HOT it is in Florida, in the beginning of June!  One day we went out to the beach and ended up leaving after ten minutes, because everything was so incredibly HOT!!!

Okay, I think that sums up all of the complaining.  I'll stop now.  It really was a pretty hotel though.  I guess I may have been blinded by the sweat in my eyes.

We also stopped at the wild life sanctuary (Reason #5. Nothing to do on the island!)  where we laughed about how many miles we rode on our bikes to get there!  Gavin really liked the fake  alligator...

We also checked out the light house.  On our honeymoon we wanted to see it, but it was so stinkin' far away and by that time our calves REALLY hurt!

Like I said, I wouldn't trade it for anything! :) 

Memories, sweet memories, and plenty more to be made! 

(Maybe eventually I'll scan in some pictures of memory lane:  dating, wedding, etc)