If my husband and I's love story read like a book, the prologue would be a whirlwind love affair, followed by a short chapter of engagement, and then marriage. Swept away by honeymoon love, the plot thickened when the next chapter revealed I was pregnant with our first baby. Our love grew and stretched us and challenged us in new ways, the narrative rapidly changing as we became parents. In the following years, we added more chapters, with a second, then a third baby.

Excitement and anticipation ran through us in the weeks and months leading up to each birth. From the first positive pregnancy test, we wondered, “Who will this person be? What will life be like as a family of three, then four, and finally, five?”

We painted nurseries, built cribs, and searched baby books for names. We never grew tired of feeling those baby kicks and ripples through my belly.

We've spent a decade in Part One of our book—growing our family from two strangers who fell in love to a family of five.

But, if I’m honest, I’m nervous about what’s next in our story. What does our love look like—or feel like—when we are no longer growing our family?

Will our love become stagnant in Part Two?

I want to remember the butterflies I felt the first time his fingertips brushed mine on a cold December night.

I don’t want to forget us, who walked into the hospital as a couple and came out as a family of three.

But I also don’t want to get stuck in the past, believing the exciting chapters are behind us.

Of course, just like those years of expecting babies, I can’t predict exactly how our marriage will change in this next season. (I can’t skip ahead in this book.) My hope is for more date nights and more sleep.

Although my belly won’t stretch and grow with a new life again, I want to anticipate this next part with excitement and wonder.

Because even though this isn’t a fairy tale where we live “happily ever after,” our love story is far from over.