Aging and Wedded Bliss

It always seems so fast when you actually take a minute to think about it. How in the world can I be 32 and have we really been married 8 years today? It seems like we were never apart, never lived separate lives........and then sometimes it seems like this can't be us with 7 children in 8 years of marriage. In some ways it was just yesterday that Scott and I stayed up late cooking Tuna Helper and Otis Spunkmeyer's until 2 am laughing at anything and everything. Making our 2 am trips to Kroger to look through magazines.

Saturday, the 1st, I turned 32. I keep losing track. My head seemed to have gotten stuck somewhere around 26. I know I should be in my 30's but somehow I can never remember just where I am in my 30's. Pathetic, I know. I swore up and down to Brad that I was turning 31 this year but he was quick to correct and attempted to enlighten me that I would hit 32. I'd like to blame my failing memory on kids having warped my brain.....but I think I pretty much warped it before they ever got around to it. I couldn't even remember how old I was when I was 26. And then it seemed I finally had it all figured out right as I turned 28. So, I wouldn't believe Brad as he tried so very hard to convince me I was turning 32 so he finally just told me to figure it up....1975 to 2007. Ok.........so I finally arrived at 32 after an absurd amount of minutes figuring it up. And, yes, I am homeschooling my children...........scary.....I know. But, it's not just my age....it's his too. I can't ever even remember how old he is or will be. What does it really matter anyway? We're here and loving the life we live. We're not so old that we're decrepit and we're not so young that we're stupid....for the most part. We're here in the middle and it's wonderful.

And here we are on Labor Day, September 3rd, celebrating 8 years of marriage. We both were talking this morning and looking back over the last 8 years and how far we've come. It seems surreal. We started in a tiny, 800 sq ft, 2 bedroom apt that left much to be desired...but we were happy and ecstatically in love. In those 8 yrs we graduated up to an 1,100 sq ft apt that still left much to be desired and then finally made the move to a house with family lovingly helping us get there. We lived in a pretty perfect world and were more in love than the day we were when we married. A good job, a typical American home in the suburbs of USA and 3 children. Then came what would forever test the limits of us all. The death of Ben, the loss of his job and the situation that surrounded it, a very unplanned pregnancy and the even more unplanned for surprise of twins and getting through that year. One year later, one month before our 5 year anniversary, he was hired and we began the walk down the traumatic road that commuting became. 2 long, seemingly unending years, ticked by as he kept a 10 day gone 3 day home schedule. Garrison and Grant arrived and lived their first 2 years during his commute and then the knowledge 9 months after their birth that we would again be parents and then continue to give birth once more during the commuting years. Over the course of time many tears were shed by both of us and we continued falling more and more in love and enduring the pain and endless torture that life seemed to have become. And here we are today celebrating not only 8 years of marriage but the end of those 2 years of testing. Exactly 1 year ago today we celebrated our 7th anniversary as we drove U-Hauls and everything else down here and left everything we had ever known to start our lives here as a family once more. Upon spending 24/7 together after 2 yrs of never seeing each other it definitely came as no surprise when we discovered the pregnancy of Gavin. And though life is far from over it's a pretty happy ending for now.

We are desperately in love with each other and have 7 incredible, beautiful children as an added blessing for the years we have shared and for the blessed life that we live. How much more could we be given? The hurdles still come, and sometimes they seem huge even still, but we have never been more capable of dealing with them and we have never in our life had as much faith and hope as we do now. Our marriage has never been stronger and we undoubtedly have never been as in love as we are right now. If it's this wonderful after only 8 short years how much more will it be after 50 years? Maybe 42 years from now and 20 kids later we'll be surrounded by 10o's of grandkids and great grandkids and we'll tell our life story and leave a legacy for the generations. Maybe our love, our life, our story will live on in the generations to come. And we'll sit on our front porch overlooking the hills and holding hands in our old age watching what God created through our lives together and the ever growing, undying love that He gave us for each other. We'll marvel over the miracle that it all is......just as we do today. The miracle that it was when we found each other, the miracle that it is right now 8 years later and the miracle that it will be then.

We are so very blessed.