First Anniversary

Our first year of marriage has been a year of newness for Shane and me... from a new home, to new emotions, to new families, to traveling new places, to new health problems, to new job possibilities, to new possessions, to new babies.

Neither of us are very good at getting new things. We tend to hold onto old things for as long as possible, and use them until they have holes in them or fall apart. We like to think of ourselves as "resourceful" and "good stewards." So at times, all this newness has felt overwhelming! It is hard, when you have a familiar way of life, to make new changes.

But God has been reminding us that by trusting Jesus, we are new people. And that means that some of our "old" ways of life just don't fit us anymore. It's like pregnancy: You are still yourself, but you can't keep wearing your old jeans. If you insist on wearing them, you will burst out of them, which would ruin your jeans and also hurt your belly. You have to get something new.

"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into NEW wineskins, and both are preserved."
Matthew 9:16-17

So yesterday was our first anniversary. After breakfast I gave Shane a new wallet as his old one is falling apart (even though he says it's not that bad, there is duct tape holding it together). We played some games in a coffee shop, then he surprised me by taking me to a butterfly garden!!


First we saw butterflies emerging from their chrysalises...


Moth from Madagascar

Atlas (the biggest butterfly species in the world)


And then we entered the conservatory, where the butterflies were set free after emerging from their "old jeans."


Butterflies were everywhere, fluttering all around us... and reminding us that they, too, are new creations!


Here are some of my favorites.





They only live two weeks! Just long enough to make some babies.






After that we bought a fig tree and then some peaches at the fruit market,


and then had dinner at Open Flame, where Shane grilled his own steak!