I love photos. I love how an event, such as a wedding, creates so many different photos. I love how everytime you look at them throughout the different stages of life a different photo speaks to you each time.
For whatever reason this pictures speaks to me so well as to this past year!
It’s a blurry mess. It’s all motion. Everyone is watching.
We are still standing. We are still smiling.
This year has been, what people say, the hardest year of our marriage so far. Both amazing moments and deep down depressing moments. Never have I been more thankful of such a selfless, faithful, cheesy man of God. A man full of cliché’s at a moment’s notice. A man who can manage to turn anything into a smile. A man who can make me soooooo mad through his pride while at the same time honor me through his humility. I knew when we first starting dating that I wanted a man that loved the Lord, respected the Lord and always wanted to say YES to the Lord…and boy does Joe fit that part. These seven years of brokenness, joy, frustration and love, have been hard. Marriage is not easy…”it is not to be entered into lightly”…those words…so much truth that you cannot possibly comprehend on the BEST day of your life. I am so thankful for the ongoing chiseling that the Lord is doing to our marriage. I am so thankful that we did not give up. I am so thankful that through the most part we still have the main focus on our lives the same as we did 7 years ago…and I pray for the next 77 years that I might be able to grow to become a selfless wife, mother and daughter…because Lord knows I suck at it.
Things I have learned:
You can NEVER say “I love you too much”. I have totally heard people say that you can…well in our family you cannot…and those words NEVER get too old.
Get mad…get it all out…be honest…be vulnerable…and then look at eachother and smile at the end of it all. A sincere smile can wipe away any and all rage, anger and frustration.
Be honest…I think I said that one already…but that seriously is the motto in all of my relationships.
Be real life. Don’t put on a front…show people around you what you are made of. It is so refreshing…it is your testimony…people who are in the midst of struggles need to see your realness the most. If we all could just be more real in life…I think this world would be a much happier place.
Be selfless…even when every ounce of your pride doesn’t want to. Trust me…MAJORLY still working on this one.
Date eachother….this one is probably one of the hardest for us. I would rather get caught up on my “to do “list than go out on a date with Joe?!? WHAT?!? It seems crazy, but balance of life is so impossible…I cannot master it no matter how much I try…but I know that whenever I put all of that “stuff” down to spend time with Joe instead, it is rewarded. Somehow it is rewarded.
Get in the word. Nothing more than that…BOTH of you…GET IN THE WORD OF GOD!
And finally…serve together. Somehow serve. Anyhow serve.
So that’s my two cents…take it or leave it, but it sure did feel good to write it down. What an amazing 7 years it has been. I can STILL remember almost every moment of our wedding day and think back on it soooooo fondly. It will always be the best day of my life!
(Thank you Brooke Schwab for capturing our sweet day 7 years ago!)