Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thankful Thursday: 20 Years
There are so many things for which I am thankful. I'm thankful for my husband's smooth recovery from surgery. I'm thankful for Genevieve's life. I'm thankful for all the things in general like Christ, family, and food on our table.
But today I want to express my gratitude for 20 years of marriage with my husband. Yesterday, we celebrated our 20th Anniversary. We met in high school. I was a junior, he a senior. Mid year, we transferred into the same Drama class. Of course, right away, I noticed how tall Greg was (6' 6" for those who don't know him). But I was also intrigued by his name. Everyone called him "Sabo", so for the longest time, I thought that was his first name. lol
We became friends, and after only two months of dating, we were engaged. We didn't marry until a year and a half later because I had to graduate first. Three months after graduation, I was Mrs. Gregory Sabo.
What an adventure these past 20 years have been. We've had our ups and downs like most married couples, but the ups have definitely out-numbered the downs. We love each other more than we can imagine, and can see how God has molded us into the couple we are now.
Tuesday afternoon, Greg whisked me off to Fredericksburg for a night in a B & B. You won't believe this, but this was our first time in 20 years that we have gone away together. Shocking, isn't it? Between pregnancies, nursing babies, time, schedules, and life in general, we were never able to do it. Well, this time Greg wasn't going to let such a wonderful milestone pass us by without doing something special. So, with baby in tow, we escaped. I was so surprised. Our very sweet older girls took care of the kids while we were away.
This is where we stayed.....The Angel's Lodge.
Our room was beautiful and cozy......
I could go for one of these at home....
We enjoyed a lovely breakfast which was delivered to our room...
Here is our little bundle of sweetness enjoying time alone with Mommy and Daddy. She was such a good girl, and it really helps that she sleeps through the night. Once she went to bed at about 8:30, the night was ours....
We reminisced into the night the past 20 + years. We went year by year and tried to think of our favorite memories. We shared laughs and took in all the joy of God's faithfulness in our lives....
Here we are on the front porch of our room. The sweet lady at the front desk was kind enough to get our picture. I wanted to kiss her when she told us that we looked too young to be celebrating 20 years of marriage. Score! ;-) She really flipped when we told her we had nine children and that our oldest was engaged to be married. All of the staff there was superb!
As if the celebration wasn't incredible enough, we came home to another surprise. A few friends from church went in together to get us a gift card to The Melting Pot. Talk about being speechless! Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? What a blessing! Our oldest daughter, Cheyenne, made reservations for us.
We feasted on "The Big Night Out". We even had to take dessert home because we were too full to squeeze it in. We asked our wonderful waiter to get this picture for us. And speaking of our waiter, when we told him we were celebrating our 20th anniversary, he asked, "What's your secret....I can't even make it 20 days!" We joked with him a bit and shared a couple of practical ways to stay married, but once we established a rapport with him, we told him the true secret. We shared with him that Jesus was the secret. The night was only made more special by getting the opportunity to share Christ with this young man.
After the kids went to bed, and we had more room in our bellies, we brewed some coffee and enjoyed our dessert.
This was truly an occasion to share our thanks. There's so much more I would love to share, but then this post would turn into a novel. ;-)
What are you thankful for today?
Don't forget to head on over to The Marathon Mom and read about what others are thankful for! :)
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
19th Anniversary
Monday, September 28, 2009
18th Anniversary
Eighteen years ago today, Greg and I made a covenant to spend the rest of our lives together; how time flies! We met in high school my junior year, his senior year. We were married three months after I graduated. I was eighteen, he was twenty. It's been a wonderful adventure ever since! Here are some photos from the early years:
Married just two short months, I flew to San Antonio, TX from Modesto, CA to visit my soldier who was just finishing up basic training. This picture was taken at the River Center Mall on his "free day".High School.......
Greg and I were all about sports. One of the sports we enjoyed doing together was Track and Field. Yes, that was my track uniform! Are you diggin' the Oakleys and the acid-wash shorts?
This one was during a track meet. We're resting between events.
Oh my!!! Winter Formal. Yikes!
My basketball star! Just to give a little perspective on this photo, the tall guy on the far right was 7' 2". White boys CAN jump! ;-)
Our engagement picture.
The wedding party. Unfortunately, our eight rolls of wedding photos were lost.....never to be found. What little photos we have were sent to us from sweet relatives.
Our first duty assignment was Jolly Ole England; RAF Alconbury. We were obviously bored this day and had nothing better to do than to play dress up. I am seven months pregnant with Cheyenne in this picture. Ahhh....the fun.....1 Corinthians 13: 4-7
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Seventeenth Anniversary

His hands are like rods of gold
Set with beryl.
His body is carved ivory
Inlaid with sapphires.
His legs are pillars of marble
Set on bases of fine gold.
His countenance is like Lebanon,
Excellent as the cedars.
His mouth is most sweet,
Yes, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved,
And this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem!
Song of Solomon 5: 14-16
Happy Anniversary, My love!
Love, Candace
My perfectly hottie Love,
For all the time we have been together, it seems so short. For as long as we have loved, it still feels fresh and new. The older I get each year, the younger I feel with you. The more childern we have, the more I want with you. You are the flame that lights my fire, the energizing jolt that gets me going. Not a day goes by that my love for you grows stronger still. God has given me the ultimate blessing. The blessing of growing in his love with you by my side. The blessing of raising the childern God has blessed us with together. The blessing of all the joys and pains we have experienced together. The blessing of having you as my wife for 17 years, and for the rest of my life.
Happy Anniversary my Love!
Love, Greg
(Oh man, I love this guy! After all these years, I'm still his "hottie"!)
Friday, September 28, 2007
Sixteen Years and Counting
Thank you for sixteen wonderful years.......with many more to come!Here is the poem that Greg presented to me and the kids this morning......memorized and everything. Greg has always been known to write endearing, yet humorous poems over the years. Thought I'd share!
Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with an amazing, God-fearing man!
Come here everybody, let me tell you a story,
Of a wonderful girl and a goofy boy, Oh Glory!
The girl, who's such a cutie,
Was, is, and always will be of unsurpassed beauty.
Her beauty, wit and charm,
Turned my heart into a three-alarm....
Fire, that is (that's fireman lingo).
They were wed shortly thereafter,
Amongst great cheers and joy and laughter.
Off to England, we were sent away,
To live and grow in God's way.
And then onto San Angelo,
Which was NO rendition of Michelangelo.
And then finally back home, we thought we would stay,
But was that God's plan? Oh no, no way!
He sent us to the Alamo city,
Away from family, once again, oh what a pity!
Here we've been for eight wonderful years,
Many joyful memories and some tears.
What is this.....one, two,.....and now SEVEN?
Wonderful blessings from Heaven.
Though there are no flowers, gifts, or cards,
There is one thing you can see, it's not hard,
Something that will ALWAYS be true,
My never-ending love for you!
(And then he gave me a great big kiss!) :-)
And by the way.....we ARE going on a date tonight!
