On Marriage:

Today marks nine years of married life together. There is no one I’d rather be “tied” to.

We are coming out of, what I consider, to be one of the hardest years together. No huge tragedy that we went through, no really hard circumstance that we over came together…it was a pretty awesome year when I step back and examine it.

It is in the everyday, the monotony that it is easy to become complacent and lose joy. The joy of the everyday. Sometimes it’s hard to climb out of the hole of screaming kids, disappointments, smelly diapers (from the baby girl we watch), work stresses, over-committed schedules, family problems, school issues, blown out-to-eat budgets. After this year we can completely understand how walls get built in marriages and how you just turn around and walk away. How it can be hard to leave yourself totally vulnerable to someone else.

I thank God that at my worse times, my husband is at his most encouraging. Maybe we should all be praying for that. Since we all know those times come. I can remember the hard days when I struggled to slip on my wedding rings because of the sheer weight of it all- caring for a husband, the responsibility of our kids and then all the guilt that flooded my mind because I wasn’t more- more grateful, more loving, more kind.

Because let me tell you, my husband is just flat out awesome. I look at him and seriously, I have no idea why God would bless me so much; I have done nothing to deserve him. And that’s the thing: if I am struggling with the whole day-to-day of marriage, I know everyone else is too. And you may not even have a loving husband to help you through the long days. My heart aches for you. Marriage is hard; I pray that you have a wonderful group of women that you can lean on for support. I pray that you will seek fulfillment from Jesus, because no matter how awesome or pathetic your spouse is, they can never make you whole.

So here’s to the struggle. Here’s to the joy. Here’s to never growing out of the honeymoon stage. Here’s to ninety-nine more years of being married! Chris, you are so much more than the man that I dreamed of marring. Thank you for your love and commitment to me and our family. 

Know how cherished you are. W.

2004

2013