5 years!

Today we are celebrating our fifth anniversary. In some ways it feels like we've been married way longer and in other ways, like it was just yesterday. I am so in love with this man of God and I am blessed beyond words to be married to him. Marriage in some ways has been nothing like I imagined and in other ways immensely better.

I was thinking about some our quirky things that have become our own little traditions. For example, when we kiss each other we kiss 3 times. If the 2nd and 3rd kisses are missed the other person will say "hey, 2 free!". "Free" being three mispronounced.

Another one is "first in bed". This has turned into a nightly tradition where it's a race to see who can be first in bed. The benefits of being first in bed include not having to turn off the light or set the alarm clock; however, for the most part, it's just so you can say that you're the first one in bed. Over the years this game has evolved with an elaborate set of rules that are still being adjusted as we go along. Since Abigail joined our family, we've had to add pause or time out rules so we can attend to her, then it's "game on". I'll save those details for another post. I want to record it to tell our children someday. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts and how it changes over the years. Will we include our children in the game?

On a more serious note, marrying a man who has the gift of counseling has been a wonderful challenge. Wonderful because I am learning how to communicate better and better. A challenge because it's hard work! He loves me through all of my messiness and our spins on the crazy cycle have gotten shorter and shorter. We have both become passionate about helping other couples with marriage - not because our 5 years makes us experts by any stretch, but because we long to see more people fight for their marriages and win. We've had the privilege of joining the Marriage Builders Ministry at our church. One of our most prominent tools that we have been using is Love & Respect DVD Seminar by Dr Emmerson Eggrichs. This is such an amazing seminar with such simple but marriage altering truths! We highly recommend it. In fact when my parents were struggling in their marriage and heading for divorce, they watched the DVDs and were reconciled. I've heard people say that only those people who have problems should go to counseling or marriage seminars. This statement is so false and frustrating to me. Your car runs better if you maintain it on a regular basis, right? You fill it with gas, change the oil, check the fluids etc. Why wouldn't you do the same for your marriage. If you get the opportunity to attend a L&R Seminar - do it! Your marriage will "run" better.

So much has happened in our little family in the short 5 years and I can't even begin to imagine where we will be in another 5 years, but I am looking forward to it! I can imagine, sitting on a porch swing as an old couple, holding hands and "drinking in" our surroundings. David, I love and respect you and am so proud to be your wife!

I've decided to post about our anniversary date separately - it was great and deserves it's own post.