Two anniversaries!

This month marks one year we’ve lived here and yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary!

The number of words it would take to expound on these two precious moments in our lives would be more than one blog post can hold.

However, I am so thankful to God for all He has done in our lives.

Both our move and our marriage have required a great deal of work, sacrifice, and patience.

The rewards of these seeds have been astonishing, to say the least.

Especially, when it comes to our marriage, because we are two extremely different people, but through the love of Jesus Christ we have grown more alike each year.

I’m so blessed to have such a caring, faithful man who loves Jesus.

Not to mention our four children, two sons-in-laws, and three grandchildren, and we are looking forward to adding to our family through adoption.

God never ceases to amaze me.

His ways are so much better than mine.

He has given such us so much, especially when things were the most difficult.

I know His works are perfect and eternal.

I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.
Ecclesiastes 3:14 NKJV

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank You for these two anniversaries. Thank You most of all for my husband and our family. They are the most treasured, the most cherished of all Your gifts after salvation. Lord, thank You for moving us here and for the way You opened the doors to make it all come together. Lord, thank You for how Your works are eternal. You do things I don’t understand, but I know You are good and Your works are for our good. Lord, please use my life and the lives of our family members to bring glory to Your name and an awareness of You for those who have yet to know You. Lord, Your Word is truth and life. Please remind us to apply it daily, meditate upon it, and write it up on the tablet of our hearts. Thank You, Jesus for all Your blessings. Amen.

Thank you

Thank you, WordPress, for the opportunity to blog. These past eight years have been incredible.

Thank you, Reader, for your time, encouragement, and support. God has used you to encourage me to keep going, continue writing, and to joyfully look for opportunity in each day.

Thank you, Handsome, for your love, your words, your diligence both in our marriage and in life. You have given me so much, I pray I can give back. I love you deeply, darling.

Thank you, Children, who are no longer small, but always precious, for allowing me to share with the world about you and your lives. You inspire me.

Thank You, Jesus, how great You are! What a joy it is to know You. What a privilege it is to walk with You daily. You are the reason I am able to do anything. These past eight years all belong to You. If there has been anything useful, anything good, anything encouraging, I know it is because of You.

Lord, may You be glorified through this.

May my life always be surrendered completely to You.

Thank You, Jesus, for eight years of blogging.

Psalm 63:4 NKJV — Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

Three years ago today

Wow!

The days have swiftly gone, like dried leaves in a strong wind.

How blessed it has been.

God has truly done marvelous things in these three years.

When our Sis married, we gained a son.

Our other children gained a brother.

We all were granted a huge blessing.

For truly, he loves all of us and most importantly, he loves Jesus.

Through this wonderful new family, God has granted such encouragement to us.

Tim has supported Sis as she’s continued to follow her education, because he knows she feels called by God to do it.

And God has blessed them in that.

Both of them have supported us as we walked this road of struggle, first with injuries to Anne and Bell, then with my illness.

Along with that, they opened their home to us.

I spent a major part of last summer living with them while we tried to figure out what to do about my inability to live in our house.

Often Jase or Anne was there as well.

When it was clear God was moving us, Sis packed, and Tim hauled things in his trailer.

They helped unload and unpack when we got in this house.

There are so many little things they have done to bless and encourage us.

Of course the best occurrence in these three years has been our grandchildren.

Both the birth of our first granddaughter, over a year ago, and the expected birth of our first grandson next month.

Near Tim’s birthday, this spring, I asked him how he felt about his birthday.

I can’t recall the exact phrase, but it was something like:

“Really blessed. I had no idea God was going to bless me so much. I have a beautiful wife and I’m the father of two children, although our next is still in the womb. Yeah, I’m really blessed.”

My husband and I agree.

God has truly blessed them and us.

So much has happened in three years.

What an incredible God we serve!

Happy Anniversary, Tim and Sis.

We love you!

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank You for family. Thank You for creating the entire social and human relations with the first family, Adam and Eve. Lord, none of us deserve Your blessings, but we are so grateful for it. Our hearts are full of wonder at Your works. As we walk into another day, please continue to lead us. We want our families to be a reflection of You to those around us. Thank You so much for these three years. Thank You for our daughter and son-in-law and their children. Thank You for Your love, mercy, and grace poured out upon us. We praise Your holy name, Jesus. Amen.

Happy Anniversary, darling…

Where do I begin?

What words can I really command to relate it all?

It seems too obvious, but I’ll start here:

I’m so thankful to Jesus for my husband and all the years we’ve shared.

I love him, dearly.

-sigh-

It just doesn’t seem to evoke the depth of my experience.

And since I’ve never been a poet, I’ll have to satisfy myself with:

“Praise You, Jesus!Thank You for the wonderful gift of my husband! I can’t imagine life without him!”

-smile-

(That’s a little better!)

(When in doubt, use more exclamation marks!)

It’s difficult to squeeze the full meaning out of those words.

It seems nearly impossible to crystalize emotion into black and white,

words on a screen.

Words can not express the years of God’s love and provision through my husband to me.

They don’t even come close.

My husband has been such an incredible gift from God.

I’m truly thankful.

I’ve not always realized it, unfortunately.

Infact, at times, I’ve chosen to belittle the blessing and focus instead on my own interpretation of how I wanted to be blessed.

I’ve said things I’ve regretted.

I’ve made mistakes which have trodden upon the heart of my spouse.

I’ve even been hurtful without any idea of the fact.

Yet, through it all my husband still loves me,

and I love him.

Because love is a choice.

And we choose it daily.

Because love is a gift,

and we’ve both received it, fully.

Because love was actually God’s idea from the first.

He gave Eve to Adam.

He gave Sarah to Abraham.

And He gave me to my husband.

What a wonderful blessing!

So on this,

our 22nd

wedding anniversary,

I can say,

“Happy Anniversary, darling!

I thank God for you!”