baby pics (part tres)

#bidenmemes

#ifwekneweachother

Ashley and me in high school!

Ashley and me as little kids!

Ashley and me as high schoolers (again)!

Ashley and me in college!
(we knew each other, but don't have any pics together)

Ashley and me as high school freshmen!

Ashley and me in junior high!

It's obvious, isn't it?

She's the cute one. I'm the lucky one.

#babypics (part dos)

Ashley's parents unveiled more baby pics.

These are some of the cutest!

The Honeymoon

My wife and I arrived at Willis Graves Bed & Breakfast by 8 PM. We checked into our room and, feeling quite famished, headed out for dinner. Our first meal as a married couple was at the President’s Inn, a restored 1840s tavern inn. We had fried green tomatoes as an appetizer and shared Maryland crab cakes and rabbit and potato stew topped with a sunny side egg.

Our honeymoon suite was fantastic. It was a restored log cabin from the 1850s, and though everything was fashioned in colonial décor, the best part was the bathroom: a gigantic tub with air jets and a steam shower. Our first sensual act as a married couple was taking a bath (how romantic), and we ended the night curled up in bed looking through wedding pictures. I wrote her a letter that brought tears to her eyes:

Letter Transcript A

“You never told me about what happened in 2006,” she said. “I promised myself that I would only tell my wife,” I said. Tears came into her eyes as she read through the rest of the letter.

Letter Transcript B

She liked the P.S., and she thought it was a good idea. So we consummated this whole thing.

In the morning we had breakfast at the main house and headed out to Gunpowder Creek Park to do some hiking and exploring. We burned a TON of calories (we didn’t know it was mostly hills), and then we headed back to the suite to take another bath and a nap with a fire roaring in the hearth. We woke and picked up a Greek pizza from President’s Inn and devoured it while watching Red Dragon; now we want to see Hannibal and Silence of the Lambs. Anthony Hopkins is a great actor. We broke out creamed bourbon and root beer and got mildly drunk before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

We checked out of the suite at 11 AM and made it to Tousey House Tavern in time to enjoy brunch. She had eggs benedict and I had a fried chicken club paired with fries. We grabbed coffee at a gas station and headed down to Lexington to pick up the girls, who spent the weekend with Ashley’s parents. Her dad (my new father-in-law) made meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner, and her mom broke out old family albums of Ashley in high school. She was adorable and definitely the better looking of the two of us. We loaded the girls into the van, and it was dark by the time we got back to Kennesaw. After we got the girls in bed, we enjoyed the last of the creamed bourbon and caught up with Keith and Rachel. We headed to bed and fell asleep for the first time in our bed, as Husband and Wife. Neither of us could be happier!

I waited and waited and waited for GOD. At last he looked; finally he listened. He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock, to make sure I wouldn’t slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God. [Psalm 40.1-5, The Message]

In 2005 I wrote on this blog, “I imagine God is shaking His head and smiling, perhaps thinking, ‘He has no idea what I have planned for him!’” Now I have an idea, and it was more than I could ever have imagined. Not only did He have a beautiful and loving wife for me, but He also had a family for me. Not just Ashley but also two beautiful step-daughters to call my own.

11.4.16

There are moments when, when I know it and 

the world revolves around us, 

and we’re keeping it, keep it all going, 

this delicate balance, vulnerable all knowing. 

Sing like you think no one’s listening,

you would kill for this, just a little bit, 

just a little bit, you would kill for this.

Sing me something soft, sad and delicate, 

or loud and out of key, sing me anything. 

We’re glad for what we’ve got, 

done with what we’ve lost, 

our whole lives laid out right in front of us. 

Sing me something soft, sad and delicate, 

or loud and out of key, sing me anything.

#babypics

Ashley unearthed a box of old photographs from her childhood and we rifled through them. Here are some of my favorites:

Ashley and her younger sisters dressing up as Indians.
Wait, I mean 'Native Americans.' (thanks Obama) She's about ten years old.

Ashley being the Jungle Gym for a sibling photo.
She was about sixteen years old when this was taken.

Ashley and her grandparents right before her freshman year of college.
Her grandparents are dicks. When Jonathan beat her, cheated on her,
and abandoned her, they said that it was God's will for her to submit to
his lashings and that if she were a better wife, he would treat her well.
(they don't talk anymore, needless to say)

Why do I like this one so much? I think her "dead serious" face is hilarious.
I told her that she intimidated me in college. She asked if she still did. I just laughed.

This is from her Junior Year at high school, I believe.
I love her eyes, her chubby little nose, and that whimsical smile.

She's on the far left. This picture was taken when she was a freshman in high school.
You can tell it's old by the way she towers over her brother and sisters.
(she's dwarfed by them all now)

Ashley grew up on Virginia Beach and has always been a fan of the sea.
This is her posing beside a starfish (her all-time fav) when she was on the cusp of junior high.

Here she is in Junior High. She thinks she looks like a dork.
(I think she just looks cute)

Here she is around 6-7 years old. I like this picture because
(a) she's the cutest 6-7 year-old I've ever seen, and
(b) this is probably what Zoey will look like in four years.

All dolled up and ready for Homecoming! I love the mole by her shirt-strap.
She had it removed 'cause she thought it was ugly. #fail

Here's Ashley on the cusp of starting college. I would meet her for the first time
a couple months after this picture. She's giving ten-year-old Nathan the "death glare."
She breaks out those eyes for the girls often, and for me occasionally.

There's not much to say here. She's just cute.

Her baptism!

She's snuggled up with her baby brother!

This one's a little grainy, but it's from our college days!

This is right before college. She wasn't happy about being in Florida.

The whole gang! Everyone had mono at this point.

I'm marrying her in less than a week.

Three days, to be exact. Holy. Crap.

2016, you devilish damsel!