A Nest in the Rocks: Our First Decade

Friday, June 7, 2013

Our First Decade

Ten years ago today I woke up to pouring down rain - just like today.

That was the first thing I thought of when I woke up today.

It does not feel as if our wedding took place a full ten years ago, but it has. In some ways it seems like it was only yesterday, but when I think about life before our wedding, although I can conjure up memories, everything has a somewhat blurry tint to it. Many of those things feel almost as if they happened to someone else.

I think it's because going back that far means that my husband wasn't in the picture. Or the kids, and I can't imagine life without those three.

Our life is not at all how I pictured it would be. When we married, I was teaching full-time, we lived in a cute little house downtown, and everything felt rosy. It felt like living a dream.

Then God changed our dream, and it's been better than anything I could have imagined. I decided to stay home with one-year-old then not-so-Big Helper, and I learned to depend on my husband in ways I hadn't had to do before. I started really trying to figure out how to be a Biblical wife and mother.

Soon we were blessed with our Little Man, as well, and I saw my husband really begin to change. He stepped up to lead us in ways that he hadn't done before. He began to protect and defend and plan for us in new ways.

I loved my husband when I married him, of course. We were very different but got along well. Now I see, however, that while we're still very different in many ways, we're growing - in maturity and together. It's neat to think about. He's teaching my patience. I'm teaching him to plan. He learned to pick up his underwear. I learned to not stress about un-picked-up underwear. You know - all that important stuff. ;-)

If someone had told me what choices we would have made during these ten years, I would've thought they were crazy - and that's why I'm glad that we can trust God's plan. It's always better than anything we can come up with.