17 wonderful years!

This Saturday, March 21st, my husband and I will celebrate our 17 th wedding anniversary. It has been a wonderful 17 years and I thank God for each one!

I do not want to bore you.... but... here is the story of Dean and Terri!

We met 24 years ago on a blind date. He was the first guy that I went on a actual date with! My best friend from high school was dating my husband's brother and introduced us. We hit it off right away and have been together ever since. My best friend ended up marring his brother and now we are sister-in-laws. Isn't that neat?

We met and dated for about a month before I left to start my sophomore year of college at Georgia Southern. He came to Southern during my Junior year. We had a blast - spending all our free time together-every waking minute. We were inseparable-still are! We both graduated from Georgia Southern and moved out into the working world.

I had always wanted to live and work in the Atlanta area. I landed a job in Fayetteville, Ga and had my own apartment and absolutely loved it. I stayed there for 4 years while he worked in Greenwood SC. I think the distance was good for us. We appreciated the time together more and looked forward to being married.

In October of 1991, he popped the question. I have to say that he is a very romantic man when he puts his mind to it! He planned for us to go on a weekend trip with my brother and new sister-in-law. I had no clue as to what was up. My brother and his wife were in on the whole thing! We went to Lake Junaluska, NC, nestled in the smokey mountains . It was absolutely breathtaking!!! The leaves were changing and the cool weather had begun.

On Saturday night we all went out to dinner at the Copper Kettle. I will never forget it! We tried to go to a really nice restaurant but the wait was to long so we opted for the good ole Copper Kettle. We laughed because it was actually a dive! They had a live band which amounted to a couple of old gentlemen living out their child hood dream of making it big! After dinner we decided to take a drive to the Lake at Lake Junaluska.

We took a walk on the bridge that goes over Lake Junaluska. It was cool and the moon was shinning on the water. It was so romantic! My brother and his wife stayed back a ways.... acting very funny. All of the sudden I heard music.... Nat King Cole's/and Natalie's "Unforgettable" . Dean asked me to dance.... and then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said "Yes". I was so excited! He planned the whole thing all by himself!!! Very impressive!!

We were married six months later on March 21, 1992. It was the most exciting day of my life. (other than the days when my babies were born!) Everything was perfect! I wore my brother's wife's dress and my Mother-in-law arranged our flowers. It was a beautiful day!

We left for our honeymoon in Jamaica the next day. It was very interesting ..... the morning of our flight out from Atlanta, my new husband became very quiet. I was a little worried!!!! The whole flight he was a little reserved......was he having second thoughts?????? Little did I know..... He did not like to fly.... what? We picked our honeymoon destination together! If I had known,,, we would have done something by CAR. But, that is my husband. Always putting others ahead of himself. I love him for that!

We had a wonderful honeymoon! We went snorkeling, sailing, and went on tours of the Island. It was beautiful. The only problem Dean had was the fact that he had to get back on a plane to get home!

After we got back from our honeymoon, We move to Augusta, Ga were we both worked. We bought our first home in North Augusta, SC and had both of our children there. We lived in NA for 16 years before moving to our current home.

Our babies are now 13 and 9... with 2 others in heaven.

The Lord has richly blessed us and given us more than we deserve. Dean is my best friend and the love of my life! I am so very blessed to call him my husband! He still gives my butterflies!

We are actually going away for the weekend and enjoy our anniversary... alone! We have not had a weekend away in very a long time. It will be nice to be able to rest and enjoy each other. Thanks to my sister-in-law Tonka for keeping my babies ! I love you !

Happy Anniversary honey! I love you with all my heart!