BEST Anniversary Present EVER!

7 years
2.5 children (our third child will be born in March)
2 apartments
2 houses
2 mission trips to Germany
Good times outweighing the bad times

That's what has been going on for the past seven years in my marriage.  This is actually just the tip of the iceberg, but as you know, things get blurry the more kids you have and the longer you've been together. 

For the past six anniversaries we have tried to get thoughtful gifts for each other, but sometimes it's hard to think of something very thoughtful that has wrapped up your year in marriage.  But this year Greg out-did himself.  I, on the other hand could have probably done better; but we'll get to that later. 

His idea for my gift actually came to him 6 months ago while in Germany.  While on a mission trip there, we visited the city of Koln.  In the city there is a bridge that crosses the Rhein River.  All over the fence of part of the bridge were locks.  They explained that you take a lock, get it engraved with your significant other/spouse/etc., lock it on the bridge and then throw the key in to the Rhein River to signify your eternal love. 

I thought it was the coolest idea and had a great time taking pictures of these locks, looking for really original locks or seeing how old some of the locks were. 

So, as an anniversary gift this year, Greg got me a lock engraved with our names and will lock it on the bridge for us when he returns this summer.  I will sadly not be able to go as I will be with a newborn.  He also got a collage frame of all the lock pictures we captured this summer plus a picture of our lock.  It was a lucky bonus that the lock is copper-colored and our "traditional" gift for each other is copper. 

I was absolutely blown away by his thoughtfulness and the meaning that it carries.  I don't want this to be bragging, but it will be nice on days where I am frustated with situations that I can look back and read about something special that he did for me.  The pictures below are of the bridge and all of the locks. 

Picture of the locks on the bridge

 





 

 An awesome owl lock that I found

 

 

More locks on the bridge.  I wonder where Greg will put ours :)

 



Now, on to my present.  Our traditional gifts were wool and copper this year, like I mentioned earlier.  I got him a wool pull-over sweater for the winter.  Epic fail compared to his gift.  He has set the bar pretty high for next year...maybe I'll get him that helicopter that he's been eyeing for Christmas  :)