How does ten years of marriage happen?  Is it always a happy ten years?  Does it always feel like a romantic movie when he carries you over the threshold every night?  Is it a bundle of joy and fun with constant smiles?

No.  Marriage is difficult.  Even just a short ten years, marriage is difficult.  Marriage is the collision of two wills trying to intersect and intermingle while causing the least amount of damages.  Marriage is where two sinful souls join together for a lifelong journey of giving and receiving.  Marriage is a beautiful and challenging thing.  Marriage is the mind-blowing illustration of Christ and the Church.  My will submitting to the love of my husband.  My husband sacrificially leading me towards to glory of the Father.

Our first year of marriage I tried to leave… more than once.  He wouldn’t let me.  🙂   Thankfully.

Our second year of marriage, we lost his father to colon cancer.

Our third year of marriage, we faced the challenges of home ownership- air conditioner breaking, having a mortgage, being adults.

Our fourth year of marriage, how about those credit cards?!  How did those balances get so high?  What careers do we really want to have?

Our fifth year of marriage, the birth of a beautiful premature nephew.  The purchase of a new puppy, a Siberian husky.

Our sixth year of marriage, experiencing the marriage of our beautiful niece.  Infertility struggle in it’s absolute fullness.

Our seventh year of marriage, the pregnancy and birth of our amazing Georgia Ruth Haley.  Our world turned upside down.  The joy.  The tears.  The experience of natural childbirth with a C-section ending.  Feeding our blessed cleft baby girl.  The wild nights of tears and sleeplessness.  The wild days of laughter and joy.  Climbing across the Brooklyn Bridge while 8 months pregnant!

Our eighth year of marriage, cleft surgery #1 and #2.  Giving away our precious Siberian husky puppy.  The birth of another beautiful, healthy nephew.  Facing tragedy in a way we still don’t have words to express.  Experiencing our first family beach trip as a family of three!

Our ninth & tenth years of marriage (mainly because it is hard to figure out which years what happened…), the Lord grabbing a hold of us and taking us on new adventures, new endeavors and asked us to have faith in ways only He could supply.  He moved us and asked us only to take the steps and believe.  He challenged us again to surrender and remember that He is the One True God.  He is the Only One to be trusted.  And He is always enough.  And getting our Murphy dog.

I am blessed to say that I am married to the one that My Father chose for me.  I am blessed to say that we are not perfect, but we are covered by His grace and our grace towards each other.  There is not another that I would want to have spent the last ten years with or the next 70+ years!  He loves my imperfections and challenges them.  He scrubs me with The Word and helps me to always step outside of myself and see the bigger picture.  He is used in my life to sanctify me.  Daily.

Today, I am thankful for you, Clifton Joel Haley.  “…I found him whom my soul loves…” Song of Solomon 3:4