When I say that it is only through the grace of God that we are celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary today, I mean it with every bone in my body. I'm not being euphemistic, sarcastic, or any other adjective ending in -ic or otherwise. Our marriage survives today thanks to the intervening hand of our Heavenly Father and for NO. OTHER. REASON.
I think Evan and I can both look back on our wedding day and say with a significant level of honesty that we really had no business walking down the aisle and saying our vows that day. We weren't ready. Our priorities were mixed up, our hearts were in the wrong place, and we had been lying to ourselves (and each other) for quite a while. Did we love each other? Absolutely. But as we wouldn't figure out until long after the honeymoon.....love isn't enough to make a marriage.
I'm not going to hash out all the ugly details here about our horrible first year and how we were about THIS CLOSE to throwing up our hands and quitting. I could go on and tell you all about the testing our marriage has been put to, the times when the Lord has given us a challenge that was painful but incredible refining in the end. There is so much I could say.
What I will say is that there is no one else I would rather laugh with.
Talk to.
Dream with.
Raise children with.
Grow old with.
We make a great team, he and I. We've got so many lessons left to learn, so many mistakes left to make, so many triumphs yet to celebrate. So many jokes left to laugh at, milestones to achieve, and turning points to maneuver.
My prayer is that I get many, many more years of life together with this man.
Happy 9th Anniversary, Evan. I love you more than chocolate, Prairie Fume, and cheesecake combined.
And that's a lot.
All photos (except wedding photo) were taken by Jenn Van Wyk Photography. We wish our wedding photo could have been taken by her also, but alas. Time travel is not yet available or we would have remedied that situation by now. Also, I would have done my hair differently. And had someone do my makeup. And....oh heck. I would have changed pretty much everything except the fella I married.
