One inch at a time

As perhaps you can tell, I've been having a tough day, week, month... call it what you will. Anyway, after dissolving into tears before leaving the house yesterday morning, I went to my last day of school meetings before summer break. After three hours discussing students, I returned to my desk and found this:

Weird, right? A ruler in a miniature rose bush? But then I looked closer, and I noticed this:

If you visit this blog often, you know the title has nothing to do with my green thumb (which is, in actual fact, mostly brown). Rather, "Inch by Inch" is inscribed in my wedding band; "Row by Row" is in Jeff's. When we chose those words to wear forever, we chose them as a reminder to take life one step at a time, a reminder that a garden doesn't grow in an hour or a day but with a great deal of care and many months and years of effort. Yesterday, as he created this phenomenal gift for me, his wife, Jeff just wanted to give me the sweetest, gentlest reminder of that promise that he could.

Now I'm crying again--but these ones are tears of joy for a husband who loves me so dearly. Our family may not yet feel complete, but I am so grateful for the foundation it already has.