Marriage Letters: Once Upon a Time

Andrew,

Once upon a time we were babies getting married.  It's been around 11 years.  I know because I asked you the other day when I couldn't remember.

On our wedding day, I walked my 20 year old self down the aisle to you.  Hoping mostly for the moments of our marriage to be good, fun, godly, exciting-and also not to pee my pants.  We were eager and excited for our future.  We lived in our tiny house, spend about $70 a month on our groceries, had a land line and dial up internet.  You worked for Keith & I went to school.

On our wedding day, I didn't even know to hope for what has actually come.  I don't count that as missing out then, I just count it now as the unbelievable grace and goodness of God to do so much more than my little heart and mind could imagine to hope for.  I hoped for goodness, He has given us a deep and hard fought for friendship.  I hoped for fun and laughter and He has given us joy that surpasses our moments.  I hoped for godliness, but really just through an easy path I was sure, and He has broken and repaired and shaped us so much that we can't help but love Him.  As for exciting?  Well, there are no words for that one.  We are sleep deprived, we balance our weekly calenders every Saturday night, we track our spending meticulously, we hang on a planned date night that is several weeks out, you go to work, I stay home, we hit all our kids scheduled appointments and activities, and I really couldn't ask for a more exciting life.

Some people see us as crazy, some say they could never do what we are doing, and some wouldn't want our life at all.  But we know we only live our life, our marriage, our parenting, our everything, because God has called us to, and He alone equips us to.  You have pursued Jesus like crazy, which leads me to, which leads our family to, which is the only reason we are making this whole thing work.  So thank you.

We are older, have more wrinkles and have grown a lot.  But I hope we never lose our eagerness for each other, our family, our future.  Love ya,

Ash



My friend Amber is writing Marriage Letters on her blog each month.  Go read over there & be encouraged!