Where's My Mountain Top?

Do you ever feel so happy and full of excitement that you completely understand the saying "Shout it from the mountain top!" Well today is one of those days and I don't just have 1 reason I have 2 reasons to really want to climb up a mountain and start yelling like a wild woman.

Reason #1: Today, 14-September marks our 6 month wedding anniversary! I think my words to Ben this morning were, "I never dreamed I'd love being married to someone so much." I just wish I had the words to express how much richer he's made my life. I will try. He is without a doubt the most loving, caring, attentive man I have ever met. It's like winning the lottery that he happens to be very handsome, intelligent, funny and have a great family. I think how everyone always says when you're a little girl you dream of finding your prince charming and having your fairy tale wedding. For whatever reason I never did that. I honestly never thought of that or daydreamed about it or any of it. Maybe its b/c my father wasn't part of my life or maybe it's because I didn't have a sister to think that stuff up with, I don't know. I'll say as an adult it's because I didn't want to have unmet expectations. Sure, that's what it was! Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I truly believe anything I could have dreamed about would have never compared to this person I just happened to meet because of so many circumstances being "just right". I feel like one of the lucky ones who really has met a person they can build a life with, build a family with, and grow old with. He is everything to me, my best friend, my band aid for all the owies in life, and my most treasured and trusted soul.

Let me sare a few details of that day we spent 6 months ago, but first of all we'll start at the beginning. We meet in Kuwait. That right there is just weird. Me having absolutly no ties to the military would have never dreamed I would be over there working. However, my dear friend Dan, is who convinced me to move over there and work for him. Sure glad he did for many many reasons. My Mom naturally was scared for me, my friends thought I was a nut, but from the moment I heard about the opportunity on July 4th weekend 2004, something really did click and all I kept thinking was "I am going no matter what and I have to do this." My brother urged me to go and that was all the encouragement I needed. I knew I would be ok.

Fast forward almost 3 years later and I'm driving aroud Kuwait City with Ben, his sister Charla, and our bestest friends Mark and OJ. This picture is Ben and OJ asking a Kuwaiti man where the heck the Ministry of Justice is. He was very nice as most of them are and helped us. I love this picture.

Next we have the Ministry of Justice building. It is very large and divided into several offices, departments, and levels. We spent about 3 hours walking from here to there and there to here acquiring stamps, signatures, and the Ok's we needed to attain our Kuwaiti Marriage Certificate which was then promptly translated into English and verified by the United States Embassy to be acceptable in the US. Did all this take place on the same day? Oh NO! Our whole marriage process started on 10 March and I finally got the notarized copies from the embassy back on 14-April, but the day we were married was 14 March. What a wild chain of events.

So, after we complete all of our tasks and challenges ie: don't speak Arabic, Ministry of Justice only open on Wednesdays and Sundays, and only open until noon we head back to the Starbucks to trade back vehicles. This is where we exchanged our rings and said I love you and Ben kissed the bride and our little wedding pary of 3 cheered us on. Oh you might be asking yourself where's the white dress that so many of you have seen in our formal pictures. Here's the answer: Imagine me running around an Islamic Ministry building where all and I mean all women are covered in the black abaya with my white arms exposed, my white neck and chest AND my blonde hair for all to see. I think not. There is a time and a place and this was definitly NOT the place. Besides I was wearing beautiful silk I bought in India and I felt like a queen in all my gold. We were so happy. It was funny to be doing this in a parking lot in the Middle East next to the Catholic Church and the Starbucks. Oh well I always did want something different. I definitely got it! I think that's about the most colorful wedding pary I've ever seen. Thanks OJ for wearing my favorite color!

This is where we had our reception. A beautiful restaurant on the Gulf Road called Gaucho Grill. This is also where Ben and I went on our first date. I was really trying to impress him.

There were 12 of us at our reception and it was a blast.

I really thought the bathroom was exquisite. I told Charla, "You have see it!" So we took a picture in there. This is one of our first pics as sisters! I have 3 now. How wonderful!

Well my second reason to scream from the mountain top will have to wait until Monday as I'm running out of time to get packed for the weekend and get the house cleaned up. Thank you for reading my long blog and to Ben, thank you for making me feel like the luckiest wife in the whole wide world! I love you!