Things do not always happen like you plan. At times expectations evaporate, dreams disappear, hopes high-tail it away, and victories vanish. It is in these moments that you take stock…of your life, of your relationships, of your faith. It is in these heart-crushing, faith-shaking circumstances depth is born and character is formed. Re-arranging dreams becomes necessary. Adjusting vision is essential otherwise contentment is impossible.

When you find yourself in these kinds of instances the one who stands beside you is more than important. There are friends and there is family, but none can deal with the day to day like a helpmate who is in ‘it’ with you. ‘It’ is the trial or hardship that shakes you to your core. ‘It’ is the course-changing accident, or the life threatening disease. ‘It’ is the loss of a child, the disintegration of a family, the burning of your house, or the loss of a career. Every couple has their ‘it’ moments, and Bill and I have had more than our share. Yet, when I look back over these past 29 years, I wouldn’t change a thing because it is in the hardest of times that our roots have gone deep into the soil of love. We have dug deep, endured the storms that have blown around us, and found that our roots have held. The bond this life journey has created between us has welded our hearts together.

The miracle moments solidified this union. The birth of four beautiful children and the subsequent raising of them merely connected us further. Seeing those little faces looking up at us with our own features blended together brought tears to our eyes and smiles to our faces. These joyful moments throughout the years have been the glue that filled in the cracks that the battering ram of life created. It is this truth…that the broken parts and the whole pieces are necessary counterparts…that makes up a long-lasting marriage. It may not have been the fairy tale that we had imagined. We may not have made the goals we set out for ourselves in the early idealistic years, but God has used every single moment to bring us to the place we have come to call home. In the end we have found that love empowers acceptance…of one another, of our circumstances, of this beautiful thing we call marriage. Happy 29 my love. 🙂