An Anniversary: Nine Years and Counting

I simply cannot believe I’ve been married for nine years.  NINE people.  That is a long time!  (I can’t imagine how my parents feel…they’ve been married over 30).  I am amazed that we have made it through the trials we have.  I am amazed at how God has changed us and where he has brought us in nine years.  I really can look on our marriage as a story of love…of persistence, patience, heartache, healing, a story of work, of ups and downs.  I know many people who would have given up on each other long before nine years if having to endure what we have endured.  There is absolutely no human reason we should still be married….but we are.  And I am so thankful and so happy!  I have learned to view marriage differently…more than just about being in love, but about loving when there is no reason to want to.  I think our anniversary is always going to be a celebration, a landmark of where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.  Thank you Sam for all of your hard work in our marriage and for loving me in spite of myself!  I love you!

And to commemorate, I have posted some pictures of us from the early years and added some quotes that really express how I feel about my marriage 🙂

“They asked her (Ruth Graham) did she ever think about divorce and she said, ‘No, I’ve never thought of divorce in all these 35 years of marriage, but,’ she said, ‘I did think of murder a few times”

Billy Graham

“Marriage is not a simple love affair, it’s an ordeal, and the ordeal is the sacrifice of ego to a relationship in which two have become one”

Joseph Campbell

“Women marry men hoping they will change. Men marry women hoping they will not. So each is inevitably disappointed.”

Albert Einstein

“The real act of marriage takes place in the heart, not in the ballroom or church or synagogue. It’s a choice you make / not just on your wedding day, but over and over again / and that choice is reflected in the way you treat your husband or wife.”

Barbara De Angelis

“To keep your marriage brimming, With love in the loving cup, Whenever you’re wrong, admit it; Whenever you’re right, shut up”

Ogden Nash

2001 – before our first camping trip.

2001 – Honeymoon in Charleston, SC

2002 – Just a random shot.

I think this was 2001 as well.

2005