10 years ago today

march 7, 1998 was my wedding day. actually as i'm typing this it is 3:30pm and that is when the wedding started!

but let's rewind to 11 years ago....march 1997. rusty and i were not together at that time....after dating for 3 years of college, after both of us said that we loved each other, and after R told me his intentions were to marry me. rewind several months before when the split happened. for various reasons, i was having doubts about whether or not i was to marry him. these doubts were big enough to cause us to go our separate ways. it was the most difficult thing we had experienced and the months following didn't get much easier. we were both pretty miserable. we weren't communicating and it seemed like all of our best friends around us were getting married. (like her / him and her and her / him). i couldn't stand not being with him. i missed him tremendously. but through our misery, God did such a work in my heart. and this is such a foreshadowing of our lives together.

thankfully, after about an 8 month break up, we were back together and on our way to engagement. november 1997 he proposed to me at Frost Chapel where we went to school. and 3 1/2 months later....i became his wife.

10 years of marriage has come and gone and i can hardly believe it. looking back on those doubtful times, i am so happy i can say that i'm more confident than ever that God brought us together. marriage certainly has not been an easy ride....how can it be with 2 sinners living together!? but if it weren't for God using R in my life, I would not be where I am today.

I'm in awe of what a gift R is to me. he has stood beside me and supported me through really tough times and he has celebrated with me and encouraged me through our happy moments. i would not want anyone else by my side. he forgives me over and over and over and loves me in my weakest moments like no one else can. i have never doubted his love for me (he probably tells me he loves me about 10 times a day!). watching how his faith has grown amazes me and makes me feel priveleged that he is mine. God has certainly used him in my life to humble me, to encourage me, to make me smile, to dig deeper into my heart where its so difficult to go, to show me the gospel of grace. 10 years is a lot of time to see each other's good and bad...and the fact that our love is more solid than ever is definitely because of God's grace.

i know this is getting on the sappy side....but 10 years is a big deal! :)

i really can't say enough about how thankful i am to have this man in my life. and how thankful i am that our children have HIM as their daddy! R is the hero in our lives....the rock, the support, the protector, the jungle gym, the light.....the LOVE. I love him beyond words...today...and for many more decades beyond!