Four Years

Today is our anniversary!
I can't believe it- we have been married for four years.  I don't really know where all of that time went.
Marriage is such a hard thing to learn how to do well.  When do we get to the point when we think we are good at being married?  Daniel and I fell in love immediately once we met, talked about getting married after dating for one month, and were engaged after dating for eight.  Never have I had a doubt in my mind that Daniel is the person God chose for me and am grateful for all the little ways we can look back and see how He prepared us for one another throughout our lives.  Because I love Daniel so much and always have, I thought marriage would be eeassssy peeeassy.  Pffft.  Okay.

I don't mean that to sound bad, or to sound like I don't love my husband.  Marriage is hard for me because of me, not because of my husband.  Sure, he takes his socks off and leaves them in the living room every day of his life and he can't dance.  Big Woop.  He has terrrrrible  handwriting (so much so that when I was in college and taking a class on students with special needs, I interviewed Daniel and asked him if he would consider his handwriting a learning disability because it interferes with his ability to take notes quickly and legibly.  Bahahaha).  I can fill out important forms for us.  He has grouchy days.  Who doesn't?  Over the past 4 years, I've learned that when something's just not right, I need to point my finger at myself first before I point it at him.  It took a long time to learn that, and I don't always manage to do it, but the Lord has been faithful to prayer.  As a wise woman says to me all the time, "God is loving me every. single. day". True Dat.

You are probably thinking I have an awful marriage by now.  Au Contraire, Mon Frère!  I have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful marriage and have a husband whom I, literally, love more and more every day I am alive.  However, I think there is a lie floating around out there that claims that if we just love enough, it will fix everything and that, if we follow Jesus, we can have the perfect life.  It simply isn't true.  Sure, I will spend eternity worshiping the Savior in heaven, not because I did anything, but because He did it all.  However, while still here in this life, I am a wretched human being.  So is Daniel.  So are you.  And, being called to marriage, this means two wretched human beings have to figure out how to love and serve one another.  It's hard!  But, as my favorite verse says, "Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness"-Lamentations 3:22-23.  Also, 2 Corinthians 4:16:  "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."  Every morning is a new morning.  A new day to serve and love my husband, to learn to forgive him like he forgives me (a lot) and as Christ forgave me (more than a lot).  As hard as it is to say (but, how thankful I am to say it!), I cannot be married and love my husband well without the love of Christ.

My husband.  {swoooooon}.  How I adore that man.  He works so hard at everything that he does.  He is smart and uses the mind God gave him to support our family.  He loves the Lord with all of his might and leads us in seeking his face. He is hilarious, makes me think I am, and is alpha-protective.  Nothing means more to him than his family (me and his mama!).  He texts me whenever he sees or hears about an accident, just to let me know it's not him and he's okay.  He kisses me goodbye in the mornings and says I love you first (which is a lot).  He sends me emails at school just to let me know he's thinking of me and hopes my kids aren't being too rowdy that day.  How lucky I am to call this man my husband.

Here are some pictures from our wedding.  Such a bittersweet day- Best day of my life... during "Winter Hell" as the news called it.  Less than half the people that were supposed to come were able to make it.  Our reception photog never made it because they closed the highway.  My hair was slightly compromised by the sleet outside. But, you know what?  I wouldn't have had it any other way.

We wrote our own vows (in Hastings one afternoon over coffee.  I asked Daniel what he wanted them to say and he replied, "I don't care".  Ooooooooh.  Bad move.  Forgiveness I learned!  Haha):

I take you to be my Beloved Husband (wife)

I Pledge my heart to you in Faithfulness and Devotion.

I promise to Love and Comfort you,

Honor and Keep You,

in Plenty and in Want,

in Joy and in Sorrow,

in Sickness and in Health

and, Forsaking all others,

I will be True only unto you.

I thank God that He, in His perfect Will,

Has prepared us for one another, in Steadfast Love and in Mercy.

I promise to follow (lead) you faithfully in the Lord and love you as Christ loves the Church.

My Husband (wife), My Beloved, My Heart's Desire,

I will Love, Comfort, Serve (lead), and Cherish you 

All the Days of my Life.

Thank you, Lord, for marriage!