It’s hard to believe, but 17 years ago today, I married my high school sweetheart. Our first date was August 10, 1986. This means that we’ve really been dating or married for the last almost 24 years! That is definitely over half my life.
I remember this time in the spring and summer of 1993. We were married and moved to Dallas where my husband began seminary at Dallas Theological. His brother and his wife were also married that summer and moved off to Chicago, then Boston. His parents also moved that summer to take a position at a Christian college. His sister transferred colleges to attend the one where her parents were going. My husband’s family all scattered to different places, while my family remained in Memphis. It was a fun time for us to venture out on our own.
After 9 years, we finished my husband’s Th.M. (in Dallas) and Ph.D. (in Virginia) and ended up in Chicagoland where his whole family ultimately ended up, as well. We had all come full circle, just to a different location.
How fun, then, it is to be celebrating 17 years of marriage, while also today celebrating at a brunch the 17 years that my mother-in-law has served at this college. I reflect on the last 17 years with a heart of thankfulness to God for His leading in our lives, for His faithful provision, for His love and compassion, for His presence.
I am thankful for these many years together with my husband through so many things. We’ve already known the “for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health” seasons, and we’ve found God faithful in them all! God ultimately gets the praise and glory for calling us to Himself, then bringing us to one another, building a marriage and a family, and leading us in His ways.
The adventures continue, with new things happening even now, and I am thankful to share life with someone who loves God so much, who loves his family, who serves the students he teaches and the church we attend, who teaches and writes and lives with the glory of God in mind, and who does all things with great passion, hard work and discipline.
Now, if we had only had digital cameras back then, I could throw in a wedding picture! 🙂 We have changed a lot! This is the best I can do (I’m sure he’ll love this! Ha!):
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!
Praise Proclaimer 