5th Anniversary

Today, June 25th, 2010, my husband and I have been married for 5 years.  They say that the 5th year anniversary is the the 'year of wood', which represents strength and longevity.

Five years sounds like such a small amount of time.   But, sadly, in today's modern culture, 5 years of marriage is more than a lot of people make it to.  To me, it feels like we've been married for decades.  Already, in our short time of being married we've gone through some pretty low valley's. There have been moments when the murky waters and dense underbrush have seemed too tough to wade through.  The light overhead has faded and we haven't been able to see our way.  At these times when it would have been so easy to call it quits, we've looked to God as our source of Light and He has guided us through.  And always, the view from the top of the mountain has been worth the difficult trek up it.

Us, dating: 2003

My husband and I met 7 years ago. (Don't you just LOVE my husband's shaggy hair-do above....blah!...it was one of the 1st things to go, mind you!)  We have sort of a strange story.  I don't think that it's typical (maybe I'm wrong).  I was one who thought for sure I would find my husband in college.  But, that didn't happen.  God had VERY different plans.  Let's just say that if I were Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, my husband Carson is my Colonel Brandon.

Let me tell you a short story.

It was the summer of 2003 (one year after college graduation).  I was bummed because one of my two best friends had just gotten married, and my other best friend had just gotten engaged.  Both of these precious young ladies were my roommates, and they were like family to me.  These new events in their lives meant I would be left alone, with no prospects.  I prayed hard that either God would help me be content with my singleness, or he would lead me to my mate...and quick-like (how demanding we can be)!

Suddenly (within a week of my pleading wouldn't you know it), I found myself being asked out on dates by 5 different guys!  I was never really one to date much...more like the kind that got to know the guys as friends first.  But, after all of my prayers and pleading, I thought maybe God was giving me the green light to go ahead and try it out.  Needless to say, I didn't really enjoy these dates.  If anything, they showed me what I DIDN'T want in a husband.  And then....

I was visiting my friend Sue.  Her husband, at the time, was a musician, and they frequently hosted bands who were touring through the area.  While I'm at her house, in walks a band of young men, and one of the members was this tall, very skinny, guy with the shaggiest mane of hair I had ever seen.  I wasn't attracted to him.  But, I noticed that he looked at me, and then he proceeded to hide somewhere in another part of the house. (I found out later from him that when he saw me, he was smitten, and was ashamed of his dirty, scraggly appearance after being on the road for weeks.  And he had gone to the bathroom to clean up....poor fellow.)

The next day, my friend called to tell me that this young chap (Carson is his name) was interested in talking to me, but had been too shy.  He had asked her for my email address and phone number, and she was calling to see if I would give my permission.  I didn't know him, and was leery, but she was confident that he was a nice guy (a Christian) and her word's to be exact were, "I think you should give him a chance."  I trusted my friend, so I said yes.

Over the next few weeks, Carson emailed me...from the road, because they were back on tour...and I got to know a very sweet, kind hearted young gentleman through letters.  My attraction to him, though initially not there, grew because of his personality and conviction.  He was one of the most honest young men I had ever met.  And that October, he called me for the first time, to wish me a happy birthday.  From there, our relationship grew, mostly over the phone and Internet, and I only saw him in person about 3 or 4 times between July and December of that year.  We knew that God was leading us down a definite path, but that Carson wouldn't be able to keep up the musician/touring lifestyle that he was currently leading if we were going to get married.  That Christmas, he invited me to California to visit his family.  And while I was there he told his family that I was "the one."

Christmas, 2003: In California

But....

There was a battle warring inside of Carson.  Even though he new that God was telling him I was the one he was going to marry, he was hesitant to give up the musician lifestyle.  He told me in December, that the month of January would be his last month on tour, and then he would move to Kentucky.  January came, and then he told me that he wanted to keep touring until May....I was crushed....wondering what God had planned.  Well, God didn't have it in His plans to wait until May.  Nothing stops the plans of God.  January, 31st, super bowl Sunday, I got a late night phone call from my soon to be husband.  He said that while he and the other members of the band were inside watching the game, someone had stolen their van and trailer, including all of their equipment, instruments, and luggage.  He had nothing but the clothes on his back.  Talk about the hand of God moving!  He took that as a HUGE sign from God (as did I), and moved immediately to Kentucky.

A year and a half later, we were married.

Notice his hair is cut!

Us on our Honeymoon: June 2005

January 2007

A year and a half after we were married, we had our first child. (notice the gray already creeping into our hair!...oh the things children do to ones youth!)

And now, 5 years later, we are still here, and blessed beyond what we could have imagined.  Every time life gets hard, I remind myself of the way God's hand has moved in our life.  As cheesy as this sounds, we were truly meant to be.