14 years and counting ~ my love story

who could have known when looking at these two little ones...

that they would one day fall in love.
this is the boy i fell in love with.
i loved him even though he didn't know how to match his ties to his shirts...
and he loved me even though i had not yet been introduced to tweezers.
love can be blind, people.

(you are welcome for the little laugh you got tonight)

you can read more of the details of our love story here
but we dated through high school and went to college together.

we got married (and i will not post any pictures of the occasion. between his hair, my dress, my hair...just ugh.) and God blessed us with this little munchkin in 2001

and this little one in 2003.

i fell in love with adam for many reasons.
he was awesome with kids, and i loved that about him. he made me laugh. he took everything in stride. he loved his family. he loved my family.
he was chill and relaxed, and i was hyper and crazy.
we seemed to just go together.

it has been 14 years since we got married.
in those years, i have watched my husband do some pretty amazing things.
i have watched him work long and hard hours at a job he absolutely hated, and then come home to 2 energetic little boys and a house full of teenagers.
he gives his heart and soul to people.
ministry is what drives him and energizes him.
it is an amazing and inspiring thing to watch.
we have traveled to new york, canada, and many other places with vans full of teenagers.
while sometimes it can be discouraging to see the lack of contact we have with many of them today, or the way that some of them have chosen to live their lives...i have no doubt that adam has impacted hundreds of kids through the years.

we have run these ministries together for 14 years.
we have stayed up all night long for word of life's superbowl for 13 years!
(and he doesn't even drink coffee!!)

he has done whatever needed to be done to make his family happy. 

 we love watching sports together and have gone to foxboro and boston many times.

our newest ministry venture together is a big one for us. we spend every week pouring hours of ourselves into the kids in our town. we want to show them that God loves them, and that we are here for them no matter what. i absolutely love serving with him. love it.

don't misunderstand me.
every day has not been all sunshine and roses.
marriage takes work. hard work.
love is a choice...not a feeling.
humility is essential and is not always acted out.
but...
divorce is never mentioned between us...see. it's not an option for us.
period.
we made a vow before God that we would be together forever.
we take it seriously.
the days that i irritate him or he irritates me, we have to figure out how we are going to handle that. the days i hurt him, or he hurts me...it's the same thing. working it out. figuring out what God wants us to do, and how we are going to forgive and move on.

it's not always easy. but it's always worth it.

this boy i fell in love with in high school has become this man that i love even more today.
i trust him with my life.

adam ~ my life has been so incredibly full and happy so far...i can not wait to see how the rest of our story plays out.
thank you for putting me first.
thank you for letting me eat as much ice cream as i want.
thank you for loving our boys.

thank you for understanding that i just need to buy shoes. 

thank you for pushing me to dream bigger.
thank you for making me laugh.
thank you for understanding my crazy ways and thank you for encouraging me to stay faithful to God.
i love you more than i could ever put into words.

14 years and counting...♥