Happy 7 Years!!!

I can hardly believe that today is our 7 year wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary to my honey! Neither of us were looking for a relationship when we happened to meet each other...we were both sort of done with the whole dating thing. So, when we first met at a church youth group in the summer of 2000, we ignored each other completely! About a month later, Trevor planned a weekend trip to his parents lake house and "invited" the youth group to go. A couple of days before we were all scheduled to leave, Trevor called my friend Christine and told her that we were the only ones who were able to go on this trip. So it would just be Trevor, Christine and me! We called our youth group leaders and asked them if they thought that it would be okay for Christine & I to go on this trip with Trevor by ourselves and they said yes! So, the 3 of us embarked on a weekend adventure. Christine had a boyfriend who was away at college (whom she is now married to with 2 beautiful boys and another baby on the way!) so it was the perfect "set-up" (I'll explain that later...) for Trevor & I to get to know each other. Something happened that weekend and we found ourselves completely falling for each other. Totally out of the blue and unexpected!! We spent time on the Sea-Doo cruising up and down the lake, we went out to dinner together and it was amazing (Christine wanted to stay back at the house that night & catch up on her reading!!). After that weekend at the lake, nothing has been the same. Trevor & I started officially dating the very next weekend (I ended up going back to the lake house with Trevor and his parents, so it was 2 weekends in a row at the lake!). So, on September 24, 2000, we became boyfriend & girlfriend with the understanding that we did not just want to date someone to date. We both felt a strong connection to each other and a desire to spend forever together. We had already discussed marriage by our third "date" and we knew that we would be engaged soon. One weekend in November, I went shopping at bridal stores with my mom & friends and found "the dress"! We were not even engaged yet, but I bought my wedding dress that weekend...it was a one & only type of dress and it was perfect! On December 13, Trevor & I went out to dinner to celebrate his birthday...actually I took him out to dinner...so I paid for it and everything! That night, in the middle of a crowded restaurant, Trevor got down on one knee and proposed. I, of course, said yes, and from that day forward we started planning our wedding and our life together. We did not want a long & drawn-out engagement and first discussed getting married the following summer of 2001. Every time we talked about wedding dates, the date became earlier and earlier. Some people thought we were crazy & totally rushing things...but if you ask both sets of our parents...they will both tell you that they knew immediately after seeing us together and meeting the other person that we were meant to be. So, when we settled on a March 24, 2001 wedding date, they were not surprised. We planned our entire wedding in about 3 months time and it all came together quickly and easily! We had a beautiful ceremony, very simple, yet elegant! We did not want to spend a ton of money on our wedding and we were able to pull the whole thing off, including our honeymoon (which Trevor's parents gifted to us!) for less than $5000 (well, I guess that didn't include our wedding rings though)! We felt that we did really well at putting things in perspective while planning our wedding day...yes, it is a very special day, but it's not the only day that you will spend together and we wanted to start our marriage without a bunch of extra debt hanging over our heads. I loved our wedding and it was just perfect for us...very personal and meaningful for our close friends & family! I only have 2 regrets from our wedding day...one, that I did not include my dear friend Christine in our wedding party as a bridesmaid (I really hurt her feelings at the time and wish I could take it back) and two, that we did not hire a professional photographer (we used a semi-family friend who turned out not to be the greatest of photographers, we have very few good pictures from that day...none of which are digital...and zero video!).

So, we were married exactly 6 months to the day from when we started dating! And, now, it's 7 years later and we are still together! We've been through a lot...some good, some bad, some in-between, but we've always managed to make it through whatever comes our way. I can tell you for certain, that it's only through Christ that we have made it this far! If we did not both have Him in our lives, I know that we would be a statistic of divorce by now. I do not know how anybody survives and thrives in marriage without Jesus at the center. We have had some really rough times where it would have been much easier to call it quits, but God asks us to grow together and stay committed to our spouse, through the good and the bad. There is no promise of "happiness" when we say "I do." I think that when we are young, we expect marriage to be a life filled with perfect days and romantic nights, but after the wedding day...reality sets in and we are often disappointed in the "real-life" version of our marriages. I think it's important to stay focused on reality and to try to see things through God's eyes. I know for a fact that God brought Trevor & I together for a reason, so on the days where I am feeling something less than "love" for my husband, I remind myself that God has a purpose in our marriage and that He truly did have a perfect plan and a reason for bringing us together in the first place. Some days, all I have to do is look at my children to be reminded of God's great plan for our marriage and our family! I would not be blessed with the 2 most amazing little girls in the world, had I not chosen to marry Trevor 7 years ago! I guess my point in telling you all of this is that wherever you are and whatever you are experiencing in your own marriage at this time...just know that God has a purpose for every season and a reason for allowing certain things to happen. If you are going through a rough patch, then all you have to do is look up towards God and pray for help & healing...the truth is, He does listen to our prayers and He is capable of restoring any relationship. Just when you think there is no hope left and all is lost...God can perform a miracle and bring you back to each other once again!!! Thank you Jesus that we don't have to go through life and our marriages alone!!! Thank you for helping us to look past each other's sin, no matter how ugly it may be, and for allowing us to see one another the way you see us!

Anyway, back to my little story of how Trevor & I came to be one! A little while after we were married...after our honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean, and after our life began together...I found out that the little weekend youth group trip to Trevor's parents lake house was a total set-up! Trevor had planned the entire thing! He revealed that he never actually (or "technically" as he put it) invited any of the other people in our youth group to go! He only invited Christine and I...and he did it on purpose!!! I thought it was hilarious (and quite flattering) that he would go to such great lengths to get to know me! Obviously, it worked in his favor and we became inseparable after that weekend at the lake! So, whenever I start to feel like our relationship is not something special, I remind myself of the greatness of God's plan that brought us together in the first place. Nobody else could have written our love story any better. Yes, it was a whirlwind romance and we got married very quickly and yes, we made some big mistakes along the way, but ultimately, we know that God is the author of our marriage and He united us as one to bring glory to Himself!

I wish I had some amazing pictures of our wedding day to share, but like I said, we have zero digital pictures and very few good pictures at all! I will try to scan in a couple of pictures later today! We were so young & in love and I'm sort of thankful that we went into our marriage with "blinders" on! If we had known at the time what kind of conflict & pain was ahead of us...we may not have chosen to go down that path to begin with! Praise God for keeping the future a secret from us and for allowing us to take each day one at a time! As much as it would be nice to know exactly what is going to happen in the future, I also think that it would take away some of the peace & joy that we have in today!

Okay, enough of my rambling! I originally started this post simply to say "Happy Anniversary" to my husband of 7 years! I cannot wait to spend the next 7 years together, learning to be more like Jesus through our marriage relationship and learning how to better raise our children to know the Lord and His ways! I love you honey!