I Just Realized

We started thinking about going to Maui before out tenth anniversary.  Ten years was a big one, so we decided that would be the time to go.  Well, ten years came and about 3 weeks later so did Hannah.  Turned out 8 months pregnant was not going to be a good time to take that big vacation.  OK, fifteen years, we'll go for our fifteenth anniversary.

Anniversary number fifteen was last July.  Bethany was 5 months old and still getting up twice a night for bottles.  We just didn't feel right leaving her with someone that wasn't used to getting up for feedings.  I'm actually really glad we didn't go last summer because I still had about 25 pounds of baby weight on my body.  I would not have enjoyed putting on a bathing suit.  Not to mention Shad was crazy busy at work last summer.  It would have been very stressful for him to leave.  That was when we realized that maybe it doesn't have to be a big milestone anniversary.  We decided to go the following summer, on our sixteenth anniversary.

Shad came to me about 6 months ago and told me he really thought it would be better to go on vacation in the spring.  Summertime is his busy work time and it is so hard for him to get away and asked if I would be alright going to Maui at a time when it wasn't our anniversary.  To which I answered, Maui is Maui no matter what time you go, of course that's OK.  So after we got settled into our new life after moving I finally sat down and started planning our trip.

The first thing we needed to decide on was the dates.  I looked at rainfall and temperatures for the months of January, February and March, trying to figure out the best time to go.  We knew we didn't want to go during Spring Break and then it hit me.  Valentine's Day!  Let's spend Valentine's Day in Maui!  Perfect!  So the dates were set, February 11th through the 17th. 

Today I was just sitting and thinking about our trip and Valentine's Day when all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks.  This Valentine's Day, 2012, is actually a very special one.  It's our 20th Valentine's Day together!  Isn't it so cool how you try to plan and plan and things just keep on not working out and then when you finally just take what you can get, it ends up being super special anyway.  I would say that's the way God works.  I always say, His timing is perfect.  And this is just another example of Him working things out just right.  Even small things like a vacation.