Our 10th Anniversary (July 14, 2011)

I cannot believe that it has been a decade! I still remember meeting Chris for the very first time at our Life Group. I had just recently broken up with the man who lead me to Christ and decided that I was sick of dating so I made a promise to God after reading His word.

In Matthew 7:7-11 NLT:
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

When I read this and a few other verses...I told God that I am not going to date anymore until He finds me my husband and that it would just be me and Him until then. Being a fairly new Christian at the time, I remember just being sick of worldly things and just wanted to have my focus on Christ.

Chris and I became good friends and I remember trying to get him and his ex back together, not realizing that he didn't want that for him LOL. As the time went on I started to feel something that I never felt for him before and remember praying against those feelings believing that it was not of God. It seemed the more I would pray against him the more my feelings got stronger...HA God most definitely has a sense of humor!

Not long after...Chris had shared his feelings with me and I pretty much turned him down (poor guy) saying that I promised God I wouldn't date until He found me my husband and that I would have to pray about it (Call me dense, but I'm sure God was giving me the okay when my feelings got stronger each time I would pray against him LOL). Weeks went by or may be months (I can't remember now) until I finally said "OK - I believe God is giving me the okay"...that was on April fools day in 2000. We promised each other that we would take our relationship slowly, but God had a different plan. In less than a week of dating, we bought a Couples Devotional and read it every day. I remember we would go to the park and sit, read, and discuss for what seemed like hours. 3 months later, Chris proposed and in July 2001, we were married :)

It's been an amazing 10 years, we traveled, built a house, raised the most amazing dog for 6 years, started a business, had our first child 7 years into our marriage, our second 9 years into our marriage, and now building our dream home. In those years, we've had our shares of ups and downs, but God has truly blessed us and we don't take that lightly.

With everything going on in our busy lives this year...we decided to not do what we originally wanted to do, which was go to Hawaii and renew our vows. We stayed home instead and decided we would just take a raincheck. When things get a little less hectic, we will plan a trip to get away. The most important thing to me is that we are together with two amazing children :)