Boy, we were young!  I really didn’t know much when we made our vows…much about life, much about marriage, much about cooking, much about you (or even me, for that matter).  We prided ourselves on not having a five or ten year plan.  We were open to whatever, wherever God directed us.  Thankfully we were, because He directed us to each other!  In all our ignorance, HE knew; and I will ever be grateful that we were both following Him.  He knew how we would fit together, grow together.  

Here we are – sixteen years since that hot June day when the sweat poured down my back and the seaweed caught in the lace of my dress as the camera captured our smiles.  Sixteen years since we stood in that beautifully decorated house of worship (beautiful, despite the bright red pews and carpet that clashed with the purple dresses) and declared innocently that “nothin’s gonna stop this love!”  Sixteen years, six places we have called ‘home’, two cross country moves, two (vastly different!) dogs, four beautiful babies we are raising, two more we’re waiting to meet in eternity, innumerable laughs and adventures, and probably just as many tears and trials.  Our life is rich.  We might not be, but our life is!

Who would have thought that that same church hallway in which we first laid eyes on each other seventeen summers ago would be the very hallway that would lead to the office where you now put in so many hours each week preparing to feed that flock?  Who would have guessed as you stood in that huge hole, dug for the new church addition, that it would eventually house an apartment that would house us and to which we would bring our firstborn ‘home’?  Who would have thought that that same church kitchen where we ate strawberry shortcake every night the summer we met would be the same kitchen in which our kids would learn about serving as they help prepare for coffee time on Sunday mornings?  And who would have thought that those dear people who opened their hearts and homes to you as a young man on summer missions would now call you ‘Pastor’ with such love and pride?  I guess the answer is – God knew!  And I love the story He is writing for us!

Happy 16th anniversary to the love of my life!