Today is our 5th Blogiversary, and it’s hard to believe. We want to share with you what God as well as share some of our stats with you.

Total Posts – 1282 (that’s an average of 4.9 posts a week)

Total Comments – 5800

Highest Daily Hits – 9458 (On July 4, 2012, and to this day we still have no idea why! They came via Google Image search for Romantic 4th Of July Ideas.)

Most Popular Page – Fireproof Your Marriage

Most Popular Post – Love Does Not Boast – And the final post in the Love Is series with a link to all 15 posts.

Most Popular Date Idea and Most Repinned Date On Pinterest – Mystery Date

Most Popular Search Engine Term – “Love Is”

Top 5 Date Ideas 

1. Rainbow’s End Date 
2. Jamaica-man Date – from our good friends, Jeff and Vicki Taulbee
3. Clue Date With A Sexy Twist
4. Close Friends – Romantic Scrabble Date
5. 10.5.1 Mall Date

Most Popular Series – Happy Hour where we feature great posts from other bloggers. We’ve posted a total of 71 Happy Hour posts.

Most Popular Letter of the Alphabet Date Series – The Letter “W”

My Date Idea I Enjoyed Planning The Most – Love Song Letter

My Date Idea Tom Enjoyed The Most – Full Moon Paddle

Tom’s Date Idea I Enjoyed The Most – You’ve Got Mail

Post That Stirred The Most Discussion – When Your Sex Drive Putters Out

Post With The Most Important Message – Stop Grey From Becoming The New Black and White

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In the past 5 years we’ve welcomed 4 new grandbabies, said goodbye to my Mom, completed and published my first book, Through The Eyes Of Grace. Tom sold our business after owning it for 12 years and working there 16 years before that. He took a position with the new owners and adjusted to working with a large corporation, then after 2 and a half years he began “practicing retirement“. We bought and redecorated a cabin (Barefoot Cabin) in Banner Elk, NC., and I hosted my first Ladies Retreat just last month. In addition we’ve had the privilege of getting to know many other marriage bloggers across America, even meeting some face-to-face. We began the Christian Marriage Bloggers Association (CMBA) with 4 other prominent marriage bloggers in an effort to establish a precedent for those bloggers who are just beginning.

Needless to say, it has been a full and satisfying 5 years. Where were you 5 years ago? What has God accomplished in your life in that time. It’s good to pause and give Him thanks for the great things He has done. Imagine what the next 5 years will reveal! If you’re tempted to only see the bad, I encourage you to read this post about a time when I was tempted to do the same. It will help you as it helped me to adjust my perspective.

We want to end this post with a prayer. We hope you’ll join us:

Father, we want to pause and thank you for all you have accomplished in our lives these past 5 years. Thank you for the privilege it is to encourage marriages to grow stronger through the years and as a result glorify Your great name. You alone are worthy to be praised.

We look back and see Your mighty hand at work through the good times, the trying times and the incredibly sad times. Through it all You’ve drawn our hearts closer to You, and this is good. May You continue to lead us to all You have for us in the years to come.

Thank you for those who have helped us in this blogging endeavor, for the many friends we’ve made in the process and for giving us the privilege of sharing with others what You’ve so graciously given to us. We are humbled and in awe of Your great love for us and for the glory of Your name.

Keep us on the path You have marked out for us. Keep us from presuming we know what You want, and open our ears to hear clearly what You’re saying to us each step of the way.

We love you more today than we ever dreamed was possible, and the same goes for our love towards each other. Our marriage was Your idea and we’re so grateful for the privilege  it has been to walk this road together as husband and wife.

We are in awe of You, our Savior and our friend.

In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray,

Amen