March Madness & an Anniversary....

I was thinking this morning as I began preparation for this blog, of all of the important events in the life of our family that have happened in the month of March.  I thought it would be fun to throw in a few pictures of those events too! And in conjunction with March Madness that has taken over North Carolina, I thought  it was only fitting.

The most important event in the life of the Nelson Family happened 13 years ago today, March 27, 1999.

Chris & I were married! Both of us were so young yet very much in love & excited about the plans that God had for our new family.  Only God himself knew the journey that it would be!

Two years after we were married, we celebrated our 2nd anniversary & on the 31st of March, we welcomed Isaiah Christopher Nelson into the world! He was the "5 lb". little one that opened our eyes to parenthood.  Who knew that 2 more little boys would follow in the years to come!

We continued working in Gibsonville as student ministries pastors & then on November 4, 2002, Ian Phillip Nelson entered our world.  Even though he wasn't born in March, this part of the story explains the next part better & shows you the size of our babies at the time... plus, this picture was too precious not to share!

Less than 2 months after Ian was born, Chris received orders to go with the Army to Iraq. January was spent in training. On Ian's 3 month birthday, February 4, 2003, (our boys were 3 months & almost 2 years old) Chris was sent to Georgia for training. And on our 4th Anniversary, March 27th, 2003, he landed in Kuwait.  Within hours of being in country, a missile nearly took the lives of he & 200 other soldiers, but God had other plans for our family! He went on to endure over 100 attacks while serving in the Middle East.

Chris affectionately tells everyone that he was in Iraq for 1 year, 5 days, 10 hours, & 2 minutes. Regardless of the time, it was the longest 15 months of my life! On March 27th, 2004, our 4th anniversary, Chris began his redeployment back home to the United States & returned to his base in April 2004! Our boys were 18 months & 3 years old when Daddy returned home.

Nine months after we reunited, Imanuel Jacob Nelson was born on January 10, 2005. The picture below is the size he was when we had started the application process to be Assemblies of God World Missionaries.

After a few years of approvals & support raising, we headed of to San Jose, Costa Rica to learn spanish for the year of 2008.  We then went to Barquisimeto, Venezuela, where we would live & work for the next 2 years. God opened many doors while we were there & we were excited about preparing to return to the states, visit family, friends, & supporting churches, & then return once again to Venezuela.

But then a funny thing happened.... On March 9, 2011, Chris was in a near fatal car accident. A bus carrying 32 passengers lost control of its breaks, went airborne, & landed on Chris's truck.  Thankfully, the 2 passengers riding with him were okay minus bruises & whiplash... but Chris sustained massive injuries including 8 broken bones, & a traumatic brain injury.

This is Chris & I with our staff & faithful friends in the hospital in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

On March 26, 2011, I brought Chris home with the help of our dear friend Scott Smith. (He & his family will be joining us to work with our family in Venezuela after they finish raising support & finish language school in Costa Rica!)

On March 27th, 2011, we celebrated our 12th anniversary in the United States.  Our celebration consisted of spending time with our boys whom we had not seen in several weeks, Chris getting a "real" shower, wrapped partially in plastic wrap of course! And me feeding him Mexican food.

Now, another year has passed! Many doctors have been visited & God has & continues to provide for our family.  Yesterday, on March 26th, we spent some time with the boys as this has been a difficult year for us all.  Even though there is still healing that we are believing for in Chris's body, God has blessed us in great proportion!

And that brings us to today.... March 27, 2012.  Today we celebrate our 13th anniversary! I don't think that either of us could have imagined what this journey would have been like 13 years ago on our wedding day.  

What an adventure.... what a trial.... what a testimony

Today I celebrate love, life, & opportunity.  

I am a blessed woman! I love you Christopher Nelson! We may financially have less today than ever before... but we have more love, more blessings, & we serve a faithful God!