Robb is 25 today! This is his very last birthday as a single man. The next time he wakes up on a January 7th, he will have a wife bringing him breakfast. In the meantime, this is the only birthday we will celebrate while engaged. 143 days to go!

family time

In this Christmas season, Robb is learning in a brand new way what it means to be with family- specifically the Anderson family. My brother and his wife are visiting from Denver, so for the first time in almost a year all six Anderson/Anderson-Tarvers are in one home again. This is even Robb's first time meeting Jen, my sister-in-law. I had not stopped to think about how momentous this holiday would be, as Robb gets inducted into the traditions (and quirks) of my family and learns how to navigate our relational dynamic. Indeed, Robb will be as much an Anderson as I will be a Robins, and this week of family time is about his and our learning what that means.

With that said, these past few days have been utterly blessed. It is wonderful to be able to share those I love the most with each other, and being with my beloved one and my family at the same time is even better than I had expected. I look forward to many such holidays in the future.

We head up to Eagle River to visit Robb's family the day after Christmas, and I can only hope that I will bless his family as much as he blesses mine.

-M

Engagement Pictures!

Ingredients:
1 lovely friend Emily
1 Robb
1 Meghan
1 camera (with many lenses and other paraphernalia)


Directions:
Mix together in downtown Chicago (specifically Union Station, Myopic Books, and Reckless Records) for about four hours. Include as much love as the ingredients can hold, and a pinch of nervousness. When finished, place in a slideshow on Emily's photo blog. What results is a lovely montage of photos for your enjoyment.

happy day!
R.

178.

The calendar on my iGoogle page says there are "178 days" until Meg and I are married. It also converts this into other intervals of time just in case they are more useful. There are 12.7 fortnights until our wedding. 6.99 days on the Sun until our wedding. And my body will produce 30,622,978 blood cells in the space from now until May 30th. That's a lot of the red stuff!

But let's say I get a call from NASA saying that they've perfected a space flight to Jupiter and they need some brave soul to make this historic journey and that I'm just the man for the job. Well Google's there with helpful fun facts for just such an occasion! 429 days will be spent on Jupiter until I would have to return in much Pomp and Circumstance for the wedding. I can just see the headlines. "Groundbreaking Astroman Returns to Earth for Wedding. Astroman Claims Google Provided Necessary Information." Thanks Google!

Here on earth there are one-seventy-eight days that Meg and I will have together (read apart) until That Day. One-seventy-eight times we will have to part ways in the evening. One-seventy-eight times we will have to say Good Morning in a way that means, "How are you? Did you sleep well? I haven't seen you in many hours!"

But the number 0ne-seventy-eight is also a very small number. We have one-seventy-eight days until both of our lives change forever. We have one-seventy-eight days to live as single people and to devote time as single people to understanding more about Life with God. And one-seventy-eight days to nail down a budget. One-seventy-eight is a very small number!

I promise to see this time as given to us by God for a purpose. There are things that I would never learn if Meg and I were to be married tomorrow. And so I am thankful for this time, even if my heart can feel rather impatient sometimes. Today is day one-seventy-eight: may we live in a way glorifying to each other and to God.

And tomorrow is day one-seventy-seven.
R.

Hello Friends and Family!

Since many of you were not receiving the image that accompanied the email, we decided to set up this blog. Not only will it keep you updated on what we're up to, but it also provides the elusive save-the-date image a permanent home at the top of the page for you to gaze upon at your leisure.

We hope this finds you enjoying the beginning of Advent. May the Light of Christ bless you through these next four weeks.

lovelovelove!
R&M

PS: click here (or right-click, save as) for a direct link to the image.