15 Years and Counting

For some reason, it's so weird to me to think that next month on February 10th, Chris and I will have been together 15 years- half our lives!  We dated 6 years before we got married, and have been married for 9 years this past December.  We literally grew up together.  You hear a lot of times of how when people grow up, they grow apart.  I feel truly blessed that that did not happen to us.

The Bethothed Couple

I was dating someone else when I went on a mission trip with our church youth group to Noblesville, IN in 1996, and was honestly not looking to date anyone else at the time. That mission trip was the first time I really spent any time with Chris.  We were lovingly "pushed together" by two friends who we are still close with today, and Thayne happens to be betrothed to their daughter.  :)

We dated other people for about 6 months before we started dating each other, but Chris was right in the end.  We knew right from the beginnning that this was it.  We never even really discussed getting married- we just knew it was a given right from the start.  And yes, 16 year-olds really can meet "the one"!

Mission Trip, 2001

I have learned so much over these last 15 years, but here is my top 5 lessons learned when it comes to marriage...(from the funny to the serious, in no particular order)

Ginny's Prom, 2000

1.  You can not change the other person just because your want them to.  You will both change and grow when you're supposed to.  For example, he still puts the toilet paper on wrong, and it took a lonnnngggg time for me to get him to close the cabinet doors in the kitchen in our apartment when we first got married.  And my tendancy to rearrange furniture at the drop of a hat drives him crazy!

2.  Admit when you're wrong and move on.

3.  Don't get mad when he has to travel out of town out for work (even if he did have to go out of town for a week after each baby was born!!!).  He is doing it for you (but he will probably come home to a house of rearranged furniture).

4.  Have date nights as often as possible and don't feel guilty about it- you will be a better parent because of it!

5.  Christ really does need to be the CENTER OF IT ALL for it to work.  If your relationship with Christ isn't where it needs to be, your relationship with your spouse won't be either.

 (Sorry about the quality of the pics- I took pictures of the pictures with my Iphone- I still haven't invested in a scanner!)

And that, people, is probably the mushiest entry I will ever post!!!