10 years!!!

The title in all honesty should read: 10 blissful, exciting, adventurous, testing, emotional, fun, learning, growing, all-the-more-loving, marital years together that has been a God-ordained journey in such a fashion that we could have never imagined or woven together on our own. Period. 10 years ago when I said "I do" to my best friend, I had no idea the ride I was in for or what God had planned for the two of us. Had he told me that we would be living in Nevada with 3 sons I probably would have chuckled...I mean, let's just be honest. The way we "imagine" or "dream" what our life will look like, when given completely over to the Lord to lead, is more often than not...not what we had drummed up in our mind. And I am totally ok with that.

To celebrate our 10 years of blissful and blessing-filled marriage, we were able to escape for a week, sans boys, to the north shore, more specifically the Superior Shores Resort in Two Harbors. We talked of doing something "bigger", going somewhere more exotic...but this was more us. And definitely where God wanted us to be. We left the boys with my parents and aunts/uncles/cousins to have their own adventurous week--they did and I'm not sure they missed us all that much. A good thing. ;) (must insert: THANK YOU to my selfless mama and sis-in-law Ruth and all the cousins that my boys got to hang out with....love you!!)
Thus begins our adventurous week......

our "home" for the week--studio suite!!





enjoying breakfast while looking out over Lake Superior!



on the shore of Lake Superior!! So beautiful!

One of our favorite things to do when Andy and I were first dating and newly married was to have Caribou coffee in hand while perusing the bookstore, stockpiling magazines and books that we would otherwise read or buy and then find a comfy, quiet nitch and spend hours flipping through the pages. With a rainy day forecasted, it was the perfect day to do it again! We spent four, yes FOUR, hours watching storm after storm pass by (and most of you know how I love a good thunderstorm), sipped on the most delicious coffee ever known to man, and just enjoyed our break-in conversations as we interrupted each other's 'reading'. Then...we left our window seat (notice...I said window seat to which we could see our van). We had just had an awesome "God talk", if I may call it that, got up to browse the kids section, checked out, and 20 minutes after leaving our comfy, quiet nitch in front of the window....

...we walked out to see this. Yep. Our van had been hit. No note. No witnesses. Just a crunched back-end with the yellow residue leftover from the hit and run vehicle. Maddening. But it was NOT going to damper our week. (and it was only Tuesday!) We prayed...thanked God for the van because it is His after all, and waited....and waited....and waited for an officer to arrive. A filed police report and an hour later, we started off driving in the rain which soon turned from sprinkle to rain to downpour. Little did we know what the rest of the night had in store.  

I wish I had audio insert right here to give you the animated and emotion-filled detailed rundown of what occurred over these next hours, but let's just say that we were a part of the "flood of the century" as they are calling it in Duluth, MN. Two Harbors is about 20 minutes north but we felt the storm just as much--and in all my life, I have NEVER seen it rain like it did that night. Downpour doesn't even begin to describe it. But that's what it was for over 8 hours straight....and I mean straight. No breaks in those falling raindrops whatsoever. Here is a pic. of what it looked like from our third floor suite the morning of the "flood"--you can't really see the lake because of the fog, but it's just beyond those chairs.

 And this is what it looked like when we got back from the book store--this happened in a matter of minutes. The bottom floor of our resort was evacuated thanks to an inch of water in the lobby--about 20 minutes after getting back to our room, Andy and I went walking around to see what was happening. I mean, as if we would miss out on something like this!! It was chaos and we knew it was "big". At one point, we saw the water seeping through the bottom of the doorway at the end of one of the first floor hallways. You know, like you see on those movies when they show the door and the water is creeping it's way down the hallway...yep, just like that. After adventuring around the hotel for a bit, we dared get back in the elevator to which it bummped and buzzed and all I could picture was the bottom falling out from beneath us into a watery electrical mess! Needless to say we made it to our room...and didn't leave again. :) Thank goodness the pizza boy was still delivering! (and having the time of his life)

sorry for the reflection but I wasn't about to stand in that rain for a pic...

The next morning, we woke up to a lot of water outside (but it was going down), no cell service, roadways closed, the indoor pool closed because it had been flooded but it was a definite blessing. It's hard to try and describe but let's just say that God was speaking and we were listening. It was an awesome day. We were "flooded in" and absolutely loving it...

 By evening, we decided to venture out and just see what we could see--we went further northward as the road heading southbound was closed.

fog off of the lake coming over the highway



a rushing river--it shouldn't be beyond that broken tree



lake Superior shoreline

Gandolph?!

trees floating in lake Superior

 We were treated to this amazing sight, 24 hours after the "flood"...God's awesome promise!! I will gladly admit that I teared up as we gazed on this picturesque sight from our balcony! What an AWESOME Creator God we serve!!

 Here are some of our first hand pictures of the destruction we saw as we went into Duluth for a day. We didn't take a lot as most of it was the same--roadways washed out, leftover debris lining ditches and roadsides, etc.

 Canal Park...with it's rusty brown water instead of crystal blue.

A quieter evening by the lake and despite the shoreline rubbish, it was as beautiful as ever!

sitting in these adarondack chairs....we could look at this all night long....

We spent our anniversary day at Gooseberry Falls!! And they were "rippin' and roarin'"!

Lake Superior Sunrise

10 years. We've been through a lot in just 10 years. Two selfish lives desiring and striving to live as one as best as they can. Somedays are simply going through the motions of what feels like the mundaness of everyday life, and others are filled with aha moments and life-changing decisions...but we are always learning, always seeking, and praying that as we walk this earth we are kingdom-minded and eternally focused. I can't even fathom what these next ten years will look like. But it's bound to be better than anything I would imagine as long as we keep living for Him and seek to do His will for the five of us. These past 10 years have been nothing short of sweet and satisfying...and I can't wait to live (Lord-willing) the next 10 alongside my lover and best friend and lifelong companion.

Andy and Kendra Anderson--10 years!! Happy Anniversary:)