Mawwage. That Bwessed Awangement~

First of all, I don't feel old.  When other people say, "We've been married for enter double digit number here." I don't envision young couples.  But here I am.  Today, my husband and I have been married for 19 years... 19 years, people!  I don't even feel much older than 19...

Last night we had a houseful of teenagers, friends of our oldest daughter. As we laughed and joked and spoke sarcastically, I was thinking about how many of these kids we enjoyed having in our humble abode are now driving, learning to drive, or even getting ready to go to college. I sat there thinking, I was just a couple years older than you when I made the decision to marry the man I'm now sitting next to.  (I was 18 years old, Jeramy was 20 when we tied the knot.)

Est July 29, 1995

                                 

This put things into perspective.  I may feel young, but I've got a couple of decades of all kinds of wisdom and experience under my belt.  And still plenty of wisdom and experience to gain.  There is nothing like committing to sharing your life with someone "'till death do you part" that will keep you dependant on God! Marriage is great! Marriage is hard! Marriage is not all about me!  

Each season is different, and just like parenting, once you think you've got it figured out, it changes. And, believe me, we've had plenty of seasons together.  Having married so young, there was the "Newlyweds/Full Time College Students/Full Time Work" season, where we thought we'd live blissfully in each other's presence... and never saw each other.

My first Christmas with the in-laws.

   We graduated, got grown-up jobs and moved out of an apartment the size of my current closet into a small 2-bedroom house that felt like a palace.  Yes!  Now we were adults and ready to take on the world... this ushered in the "Starting a Family Season".      

                       

I know I look a little tired, but aren't most pregnant women?  

Now, Starting a Family, is not one season.  During this time, we had two daughters, two years apart.  We have youth pastored a couple of churches, owned a couple of business, been in a band, been employed, been unemployed, we've had cars that worked, cars that broke down. I was a stay-at-home mom, a working part-time (outside of the home) mom, and a working full-time (outside of the home) mom.  Both of us went back to school. 

Jeramy was attending evening classes at Corban University after work.  For both girls' birthdays
We brought cupcakes to his class.

And, with each stage of parenting: infancy, toddler, preschool, school-aged, middle school, and now even high school, we enter a territory we've never been in before.  Guess what?  Yes we've been married for nearly two decades.  BUT, we've never been the parents of two teenagers before.  We are new at being parents of a high schooler. Boys? That's new and scary too.  Each new phase of raising this family we've created and love so much has brought tremendous amounts of joy, pain, triumph, fear, drama, laughter, arguments, personal injury, and learning from *many* mistakes.  There've been big dreams, big disappointments, big fun, big fights, big I'm Sorry's...We continue to learn who we are as a couple and as parents and we are doing it together.  We are still learning how to do life together.  Once we figure out this whole teenage/high school/boy phase, we are suddenly going to find ourselves in the Empty Nest season... (Which I would like to point out, we will ONLY be in our 40's at that point... That's still young, right?)  

Hangin' with our Homies at the Zoo.

Newport Bridge

Checking out the noisy Sea Lions.

Christmas Card 2011

First Homecoming Dance... "Mom! Get outta the Bathroom!"

These two. <3

I am not a fan of losing.  They are fans of me losing.

I always feel so cultured after hearing her perform.

NONE of this would have been possible without a foundation built on Christ.  Not the beauty, not the ability to see our way through trials, not our beautiful children.  We've learned (and continue to learn) to be selfless, flexible, good stewards of our time, money and each other.  Sometimes the Fruits of the Spirit come easily. Sometimes we feel like they are being forced into us.  But we always come out better for it.

I'm thankful for my marriage.  I'm thankful for all it's taught me.  I'm thankful for who it's made me.  Mostly, I'm thankful for Jeramy!  Happy Anniversary!  I'm thankful for the life we've had so far and the life we still get to do together.  I love you!

This picture was taken on our anniversary last year at Camp Tadmor.
We were both counselors here when we met in 1994.