10 Years and Counting

In approximately an hour, Mark and I will have made it to the 10 year mark of our marriage. A milestone that I personally feel is worth celebrating and taking the time to reflect. To say that 10 years has flown by would be a cliche' yet, it is really true. It feels like yesterday that we were getting tuxes, buying flowers, trying on dresses and walking down the aisle. Something in me wants to scream, SLOW DOWN life, I am not ready to be 10 years in. I want to stop, savor, every moment, because it is going by so fast. But the reality is, the past 10 years have also been a long, slow journey of learning more of who I am, who Mark is, but perhaps most of all, who God is. Mark and I met through friends and one of the first nights at the BSU that he was there, I knew. I went home the weekend after and told my mom that I met the man that I would marry. She laughed of course, especially since we didn't get together until 4 months later! We would date for a year and then he asked me to marry me! We got married 5 months later the day after I graduated college. Life since that day has never been the same. We have grown up a lot in the last 10 years, we have had a business, gotten jobs, lost jobs, changed jobs, had children, opened our home, lost a business, invested in friends together, fought, made up, reached a crossroads, laughed, cried, lost family, gained family, bought homes, sold a home, ministered in church together, and just in a nutshell, lived life together. I have gotten everything I ever wanted when I married Mark and then God, just said, for fun, you get so much more. When I don't feel like laughing, Mark is there with a witty remark to make me do my roll my eyes laugh and smile. When I don't want to do the right thing, he is there to remind me that we HAVE to do the right thing. He loves the kids and is a super great dad. He loves me when I don't deserve it, and when I do. He has supported me in times that are beyond explanation. I could go on forever of his awesomeness, there is one thing however that I knew about Mark when we were dating and I didn't know at the time how much I would come to love this about him. It's his integrity. There are few men in the world of compromise that have the ethic and integrity that Mark has. I never have to worry if he will do the right thing, if he will be honest, if he will keep his word, if he will fight for me or the kids. I never have to wonder if he will lie or if he will be there. He just is and will. This is the one thing that no matter how bad or frustrating things in our marriage get, total overshadows the faults that may lie within. He is an amazing man and I can't believe I get to have him. When God created marriage, He made it to be a reflection of who He is, how we are to relate to Him. I have learned more about God through marriage than any other relationship in my entire life. Marriage has a way over time of exposing the ugly, and I have learned that I have it. The other side is that is also will refine the ugly into something beautiful. There is definately parts of me that have been refined and I am better than I was 10 years ago. The exciting part is that I am only a few years into the refinement so I know that God will do so much more in the next 10 years of marriage to keep smoothing the edges. Yes, I look forward to many more years committed to each other and living all the inbetweens. Thank you to all the friends and family that have been in our lives to bring us to 10 years. Without you and God, we would not have made it.