Did ya miss me? Did ya? Did ya?

Hello, friends! After a month long break, I’m back at it!  Blogging…that is.  ;-)  I have said before, but it bears repeating…I won’t write a blog if I’m not truly motivated and inspired to do so.  I won’t just churn something out for the sake of keeping up with a schedule because I want to believe in everything I write.  I am going to renovate my blog though.  I’ve been asked by a few people to add more about my family and decorating ideas so, I listened and I took it into consideration and decided to do just that!

I am a person of varied interests so, my blog should represent that.  The new blog will have a little bit of everything and will be easy to navigate. It will also have a new name with a much easier address.  I am working on it with my genius brother and my genius husband and can’t wait to unveil it to all of you!

Now, on to today’s blog:

On November 12^th, the husband and I celebrated our 18^th wedding anniversary! I know what you’re thinking…and yes, I was a child bride. ;-) Haha! No, but seriously…I can honestly say that I am married to my very best friend.  He drives me crazy but he also makes me insanely happy.  We have practically grown up together! It’s kind of nuts when I stop to think of it.  We’ve been together for almost 22 years…that’s more than half our lives…and we still not only love each other, we really like each other too.  Yeah…nuts.

 This is us circa 1992...yep, we were awesome.

 

 

 Us on our wedding day 1994...holy giant sleeve!

 

 And us last Christmas...better with age, I think. 

 

 

 

 

I guess nowadays, it’s unusual for a couple to stay together happily for this long and we don’t take that for granted.  I think the key to it is just the fact that we allow each other to change and grow.  We celebrate each other and encourage each other.  We didn’t get stuck on the idea of who we were when we got married as if we’d never change.  We have changed…a lot.  We’ve grown and we’ve changed our opinions on things…even important things.  Everybody changes.  The problem is, sometimes people have a hard time allowing others to change and worse than that, they become so disconnected, they don’t even realize the other person has changed until they don’t recognize them anymore.  Sam and I aren’t special.  We aren’t marriage counselors or experts in any way…we just know what works for us.  We allow each other to change.  We know each other through the changes.  We’ve grown together and not apart.  That takes effort though.  It didn’t happen by chance. 

So, 22 years of togetherness and 18 years of marriage later, the Lord showed us a scripture that goes perfectly with our philosophy (if you will) on marriage.  I thought I’d share it with all of you in hopes that someone needed to read this. 

 

Colossians 3:12-15 

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

We like the New Living Translation version of this scripture and it sums up perfectly how we feel about marriage.  Really, this scripture is about more than marriage…it’s about how we should behave towards everyone, but if we started in our marriages, then let it flow to our children, our other family members, our friends, and so on…imagine how powerful and strong our relationships would be! 

Okay, that’s it for now.  I hope you all will stick with me as I start my new blog! I’ll keep you posted as to the new name and all that jazz.  It’ll be fun…promise! 

Until next time…

Much love and many blessings,

Nancy