5479

Are the number of days that...

...I have felt safe and secure in your embrace.

...you have challenged, encouraged and accepted me.

...I have enjoyed looking at the most perfect back-side ever created.

...we have worked on our differences and have a stronger relationship because of it.

...I have looked forward to seeing you walk in the door.

...we have experienced laughter and tears.

...you have tried unsuccessfully to beat me at Scrabble. ;P

...I've said "I do" to the love of my life.

...you make me laugh so hard that I snort.

...I love to hear you say my name.

...you love the Lord and your family.

...I am blessed to call you Lover, Friend and Husband.

Happy 15th Anniversary, Marko!

I am so thankful to the Lord for you, and the life that we've built together so far.
I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in the next 15 years...and beyond!

the young and the clueless

This week I'm taking a walk down Memory Lane.
Yesterday, I posted the story of how Marko and I met and started dating.
Today I thought I'd sorta fill in the gaps between then and now.

1994.

19 and 23.

Dated for 6 months (4 of which were spent 20 hours apart from each other).

Engaged on Christmas day. 

He came to my parents' house in the morning.

I was still in my pj's...had bed head and morning breath. 

He still proposed. 

It must have been true love.

We were so young and naive! We didn't have a clue about marriage. 

All we knew was that we wanted to be together...forever.

Good thing we were committed to making it work.

We made it through horribly cooked meals,

being penniless,

differences of opinion in almost everything,

miscommunication,

stubbornness (on both sides),

major illnesses and life-saving surgery,

miscarriages,

and...life.

2010.
35 and 39.

Now, almost 16 years later, we have 

better cooking (for the most part!),

stability,

acceptance,

honesty,

comfort in each other,

health,

children,

laughter,

and satisfaction in a marriage that we have worked hard to create.

Don't get me wrong. Our life is far from fairy dust and rainbows.
But in the space between what was and what is,
there is a wisdom and a mellowing that has happened. 

I have to say, I'm really looking forward to the next 16 years!

butterflies

Today I'm linking up with the "Completing Him" Challenge over at Women Living Well.

Today's challenge is to tell your dating story.
So, here we go...

Memorial Day Weekend 1994.

My friend, Hope, and I planned a camping trip to North Carolina for the long weekend. Several mutual friends were going and Hope had also invited a guy she thought I'd like a lot. I wasn't really looking for a serious relationship, but I didn't object to her inviting him.

The day of the trip arrived. As soon as Marko and I started talking, I felt butterflies in my stomach...good ones! He immediately liked me too, and we were inseparable for the rest of the trip. We spent every moment together, staying up 'til 3am talking over a dying camp fire, finding out everything we could about each other. I often say that it was like catching up with a best friend that I hadn't seen in 20 years.

 (for those of you who haven't seen this photo here, Marko and I are right in the middle.)

When we arrived back home Marko asked me if he could call me, and a week later we were seriously dating. Two months after that I left for Bible college (20 hours away) and 4 months after that (Christmas Day) we were engaged. 

Side Note: As it turned out, Marko's family and mine had known each other for decades! Our mothers, grandmothers, even aunts and uncles knew each other. Marko and his mom were even at my parents' wedding- but we had never met! The Lord kept us apart until just the right moment and then we were a match made in heaven.

Looking back on that time, the thing I remember is the freshness of a new relationship. There were so many things to find out about each other. 

And I think along the way we've lost a bit of that. 

We got comfortable.

We started to finish each other's sentences and stopped asking questions that we didn't know the answers to. 

After 16 years A LOT has changed in our life. 

We are not the same people that we were then. 

We have different likes and dislikes,

different interests and goals,

different perspectives on life and God.

So this week I'm going to ask the questions. 

I'm going to rediscover all over again 

this man that I'm so in love with. 

And find even more reasons to love him.