Anniversary Number Twenty-Two

Ten years ago our family spent several nights at a cute, little cabin in Hocking Hills, OH. That vacation was part of several Prizes that Chris had set up as rewards for reading the Bible through in a month. Charles was only three months old, but I think all the rest of our children have good memories from that cabin. 

Today is our twenty-second anniversary, and Chris and I just got back from spending two nights at that same cabin. 

It was absolutely lovely. 

Chris had booked the cabin nearly a year ago and had no idea that the weeks leading up to it would be full of activity, and that the dates would be a couple of the last days Jasmine would be home before leaving again for the summer, and that his wife would think that maybe they should cancel. Had he known, he would have probably quietly booked it anyway, knowing that it would be just the thing that we needed. He's smart like that. 

We hiked gorgeous trails

And climbed around in 

the intriguing "Rock House"

We had yummy breakfasts

And ate ice cream right out of the carton

The cabin had an adjoining game room with a small basketball hoop, dart board, bean bag toss and hot tub. I wasn't much competition at any of the games, but we got a lot of good laughs out of my poor skills. One of our memories from ten years ago was the fun little dollar bill game; we were delighted to find it was still going strong! 

There are at least 9 one dollar bills hidden inside the cabin. There is a journal where guests leave clues for where to find them. So, the last entry in the journal has clues for 9 dollar bills. We found six of them, and could either replace them once we found them, or hide them in new places and write new clues. We were too lazy to write new clues this time, but ten years ago we had fun re-hiding them as a family. 

Found one!

The clue for the dollar pictured was "Ephesians 5:22", and I found it in the Bible on the coffee table. My favorite clue was "John 4:5-30". When I looked it up, and discovered those verses are the story of Jesus and the woman at the well, I knew immediately where to look! There was a picture on the wall of Jesus with the woman at the well, and sure enough -- a dollar bill was tucked under the frame. Such a fun little game!

Neither of us were really ready to leave for home, but we both were so grateful for the time away. So many, many memories from twenty-two years of living together! One of my very favorite things about our marriage is the way Chris has always made time for the two of us a priority. There's nobody I'd rather spend time with!

I'm glad I don't know what the next twenty some years will look like. Right now, I am just cherishing today.