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.
We have been married for twenty-four years, tomorrow.
As I pondered how to express my deep gratitude and joy at this milestone, I decided to scroll through some pictures.
Although, it will only give a tiny fraction of our lives together, here are some memories:
This is the last professional photograph of my parents.
The same month we celebrated our first wedding anniversary we lost my dad in a freak accident.
These two pictures are of our first child, and the beginning of joy.
Although, we made many mistakes while learning to be parents, we couldn’t be more thankful for the way God has worked in her life.
Words escape me, there’s nothing which express the joy my husband and I shared on the day of our daughter’s wedding.
The only thing that has come close was the birth of our grandchildren!
Faye has Papa wrapped around her finger!
Of course Bubba also holds a special place!
Through all the highschool achievements, basketball and track, we had no idea God was going to take her gift of music and put her through University!
We were so blessed to watch her receive her diploma in music.
The Lord knew exactly what He was doing when He gave us Sis first. She has taught us more about ourselves, the Lord, and perseverance than we could ever have taught her. We are so blessed to be her parents.
When our oldest girl was three months from turning three, our second daughter was born.
I never understood what “fun” really meant before she was born.
Here, she’s helping water our steer.
She too has been blessed with gifts and we enjoyed many a basketball game or track meet, cheering on our Bell.
We were so grateful to God for the blessing He bestowed upon her during her years in sports.
She was also blessed to travel to the UK more than once and Africa.
I love this picture of Daddy and daughter on her wedding day.
August they celebrated their first year together, here we all are at their wedding.
When Sis was five and Bell had just turned two, God blessed us with Anne.
Our sweet, gentle, quiet, and shy third daughter, she’s always been full of love.
Although, she did compete in basketball and volleyball, we discovered she has asthma and she dropped sports, but loves to dance, bake, and paint.
She redid her bedroom furniture two summers ago.
She also worked very hard at homeschooling and passed her GED this last spring.
Her graduation photo.
She’s also a favorite with Faye from the beginning.
When Anne was three months old, my husband’s mother nearly died from a stroke.
My husband’s mother.
It handicapped her permanently, but she’s still the wonderful loving mother she’s always been and we praise God for every day we have her on earth.
As one can imagine, it was a difficult season.
But God chose to bless us again when Anne was a few weeks away from her second birthday we had our son, Jase.
He has helped us see the world from a unique perspective, it wasn’t until he was five he was diagnosed with a Communications Disorder. It was obvious from a very young age that Jase was unique, it has taken many years for us to learn the challenges he faces daily.
He has taught us things we would never have known.
We praise God for him!
He enjoys fishing, hunting, golfing, art, and building things.
He is a treasure daily.
Inside these twenty-four years God has worked through us and in us.
We have moved, lost loved ones, changed jobs, learned to live with little and abundance, watched our children become adults (or stand on the verge of it), dealt with health issues, and walked with God, both as individuals and as a couple.
These years have been full to overflowing with God’s mercy and grace for us.
I find some of my favorite memories are just us being a family, so here are few last pictures of the kids just being kids.
I praise God for my husband and the beautiful family He has blessed us with.
May we glorify His name daily!
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Genesis 2:24
Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank You so much for my husband. Thank You for our marriage. Thank You for the love and blessings and gifts You have given me through my husband and our children. Lord, please continue to guide us as we walk daily with You and one another. Lord, You alone are the One who has brought us this far, who has blessed us so much, who has given us all we have. Please help us to be a light that shines brightly, leading others to You. I love You, Jesus. Amen.
Handsome, my love,
Thank you for the last twenty-four years. Thank you for leading our family and loving us. Words do very little to express how I feel, but I praise God for you. I am praying for you every day and trusting the Lord for the future ahead of us. I can not imagine my life without you. I love you.
patientlyhopeful 