One Year

Its been a year since our wedding day. Its unbelievable to me that a year has already passed, probably because of how frustratingly slow the year prior to the wedding passed. But in this year that we've been married, so much has happened. We've lived in four different houses; moved from Indiana to Tennessee; Deric's had two full-time jobs (three if you count finishing his internship at camp); I've had too many part-time jobs and one full-time job; we traveled to seven different states to interview with seven different churches; traveled to Jamaica (honeymoon) and England (possible mission field); and learned a whole lot more about one another than I thought possible.

I loved Deric on our wedding day. I loved how he brought me Tropical Smoothie when I was too busy getting my hair & makeup done to actually eat.

I loved how he cried when I walked down the aisle.

I loved how he willingly posed for as many pictures as the photographer and I could think of, despite the fact it was literally 100 degrees and the poor guy was in a black suit.

I loved how he shielded me from the glaring sun during the ceremony so I could keep my eyes open. I loved how handsome he looked in his tux. I loved how he continually made me laugh to keep me from being nervous.

But I love Deric so much more today. I love that we've been through tough times together and I know without a doubt that we can make it through even worse. I love that things didn't go as planned during the first year, but it somehow turned out even better than we expected. I love that we're learning each other's love languages.  I love how we've seen each other at our worst and still adore each other. I love that he can make me laugh over literally anything just with the expressions on his face.

Deric and I wrote our wedding vows. We made them different to honor the Biblical directions for a husband's role and a wife's role in the relationship. But we ended the vows with the same words:
"I will love you and work alongside you as we strive to honor God throughout our life together."

Tonight, as we celebrate our anniversary and evaluate this first year of marriage, I really hope we can conclude that we've lived up to those vows. God has thrown us some curveballs this year but He's also provided for us better than we expected. I hope that our marriage has honored God, and I hope that we've honored one another as well. God has directed our steps and we're definitely enjoying this season of life we're in!

(last weekend @ a friend's wedding)