Eleven Years

The 4th of July holiday messed me up a little, and I missed Friday Inspiration. But it is fitting that it come on Saturday this week anyway, as I am taking a break from what I said I was going to do. Why, because it is my anniversary today. So the verse for today comes from 1 Corinthians 13. It was read at our wedding, 11 years ago today.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always prseveres. Love never fails.

It has been a crazy, but amazing eleven years. Twelve years ago, I was very single (and possibly contemplating becoming a nun). On this very day, in 1996, I went to the wedding of my very good friend. It is a very crazy story of why I asked Chris to dance, but that's for another day. The point is, we did dance. A very short 36 days later, we were engaged. So, on this day in 1997, we were married. Five months later, we were expecting a son. September 1998, Lucas was born, and then we moved across the country. At that point we really learned the meaning of "Love is patient". We were both working crazy schedules to keep Luke out of daycare. We were sleep deprived, living in a new place, never saw each other, and had the stress of a new baby. What were we thinking? The ooh, aah feelings of new love were not there at that point. But praise God, that love did persevere. That's the thing, no where in that verse does it say that love is a feeling. We could not have gotten through that, or made it eleven years by relying on feelings. However, the other thing is, once we persevered through that our feelings followed the action. Chris is an amazing man. He supports every crazy thing that I do. He loves God, loves me, and loves his children. No, the circumstances of our life are not perfect. We are not living in a dream house, have all sorts of money to go on lovely vacations, the list could go on and on. But would I give him up to have all of that? No way. He is the man not of my dreams, but that I never imagined possible. All that, and he can cook. What more could a girl ask for.

So, today I shout it from the mountain tops "I LOVE MY HUSBAND". I am so looking forward to the next 11 years, and beyond.