18 years

Josh and I celebrated 18 years of marriage yesterday! We have grown so much as husband and wife. I love the life we share so very much, and I cannot imagine life without him.

This photo above was in 1997 when we started dating in Cochran, Ga at Middle Georgia College. We were actually out and about (mudding) in Newkirk’s gold chevy SUV.

This is a photo from our honeymoon that I created in the Waterlogue app. Life was so simple during these days. Wow.

And here is a little 2001/2019 photogrid. We have changed, for sure. Time has a way of doing that…and moves and three kids in less than three years, and more moves, job changes, loss, and just life in a broken world. But who we are as a couple today is so much better than who we were as a couple on day one.  No doubt, this statement would have fired me up in my younger years. “I love him so much, even on our wedding day!!!” And I did. But love grows and matures over time.

Not automatically. Not naturally. It takes hard work, effort, commitment, purity, selflessness, compromise, understanding, forgiveness, humility, laughter, wisdom, prayer, and did I mention hard work?

Josh has been gone for almost two weeks, so he sent me flowers for our anniversary. They are gorgeous!

The other night the kids wanted Bojangles. I don’t usually eat it, so I was having hot tea by the fire while they ate and talked and acted silly. {that is what all kids do at dinner when dad is away, right?} As I looked in there at the huge, beautiful flowers, I was overwhelmed with what the love between Josh and me has produced in our lives. Three of which are these kids. They are some blessed children. They have parents that live under the same roof, love each other completely, love them completely, and provide for them above their needs. We seek God and honor Him as the head of our family.

I am beyond grateful for the 18 years of being ONE with Josh. He is simply the best.