So......were we ready?

The first words of the homily given at our wedding were, "Are you ready?"  And Kevin and I, with all the confidence of 2 people in love, laughed and said, "Of course!"  What a silly question!  Here we are madly in love and ready to begin our life together.  Of course we're ready!  We had discussed it all.  Read about it all.  Planned for it all.  We were ready!  Or so we thought!  I guess every newly married couple thinks they are ready.  Love conquers all, right?  Yeah.....not so much!  It's work.  It's exhausting at times.  It is exceedingly maddening at times.  We were 2 very (and I do mean VERY) different people trying to live together.  I like things neat and clean...you know a Girl Scout always leaves things cleaner than the way she found them.  Kevin......well.....not so much.  Kevin likes to drop everything and go on an adventure.  Me.....I like things planned.  So...we made it thru the first year....in the next few years we dealt with health issues (thankfully they turned out to be nothing), job stress, infertility and the adoption process.   Just when we had some calmness in our world......along came Joy!  Talk about turning your world upside down!  Although she was a relatively easy kid, there were many (MANY) sleepless nights!  There was screaming for hours at a time at 2 a.m.......by Joy and us.  There were differences in how we parented.  I thought for sure we would never adopt again.  No way, no how!  I loved Joy to pieces, but she nearly killed me!  Then came loss.......first my Dad, then Kevin's Uncle, then 2 of our kitties......hard stuff for me and Joy......she grew....I grew......And then came that little feeling......you Mommies know the one.........that "We need a sibling" feeling......and then there was Julia's little face.........peeking out at me from a waiting child list........we were smitten........and on our way again!  Before we knew it she was here and changing our lives in a different way.  She was older than Joy.  She had a lot more memories.  She had friends she left behind.  But what made things easier this time????  She could tell me how she felt.  I gotta tell ya, that makes a difference!  And......I had learned a few things with parenting Joy.  Things pass.....it won't be this annoying/hard forever.  She has come sooooo far in 3 months!  So......maybe we weren't as ready as we thought.  But, we're learning!  So.....Happy Anniversary to us!  I cannot believe it's been 10 years..........how on Earth did that happen?