Our First Anniversary

“I cannot believe you are spending your very first anniversary on the field!” she exclaimed. “We appreciate the sacrifice; so sad your first anniversary is overseas” from another. These are some of the comments/emails I received prior to our anniversary. What would my response be now? If I could have picked any way to celebrate, if I could have changed even one thing about it, I'd choose it to be exactly how it was!





We headed for the beach around two on Saturday afternoon. I remember the truck going over the bumpy pot holes as I went over my checklist. This was my first campout to plan and I was sure I had forgotten something. I looked over at Nathan and smiled. The day was perfect. The sun was shining bright but the temperature was cool and there was a constant light breeze. I was certain it was even more beautiful than the day we got married.





We arrived at Champagne Beach and immediately begin looking for the perfect place to pitch our tent. We found a little spot nestled between two trees facing the ocean. A couple of hours later we had met and talked with the owner (a local chief), paid our rental fee, had the tent up, table set, and fire burning strong. The night before I had made cream cheese marble brownies and did all the prep work for our meal. Fajitas over a camp fire turned out to be delicious!





We had hoped to eat at sunset but our timing was slightly off. We ate a little early but had time to settle into a romantic walk on the beach as the beautiful Vanuatu sunset began to unfold. We were slightly worried that with it being tourist season we might not have rented the whole beach to ourselves (only ten dollars a night per person). However, we were blessed and by sunset the entire beach was ours! We buried our bare feet into the white sand as we held hands and talked about everything and nothing all, at the same time.

We played our favorite games on our picnic blanket by candlelight. Later, we blew out the candles just to watch how bright the stars were. A million miles from city lights, there we set watching the stars reflect off of the ocean. It was perfect! We could even see the Milky Way. You can't get all this at a fancy resort!





We set our alarm to watch the sunrise the next morning. In a sleepy state we grabbed our muffins and banana bread, the biggest blanket we had, and headed for the perfect spot. The sun was too fast and we had to race it towards our destination. There in the cool morning air we ate breakfast and watched the sunrise.





This is paradise not torture! Sure there are some hard things about being here, bugs and at times unbearable heat, but it is also one of the most beautiful places on earth. If you stop long enough to appreciate it's beauty, you see even with the poverty of the country, there are certain things God gives that man can't take away.

Family holidays may be hard on the field, but our first anniversary, it was perfect. So if you thought to pity me, just know that I had the best anniversary possible . . . I was with Nathan!

Jennifer