On this day, 15 years ago, I said, "I DO!" to my best friend, my love, my dear husband, Matthew!
Fifteen years? WOW!
It hasn't always been easy, especially in the beginning. We fought A LOT! It was tough to bring our backgrounds together & form a family. Our first grocery shopping trip was a nightmare. Compromise didn't come easy in the beginning to both of our stubborn beings.
"My mom bought this laundry soap."
"Well, MY mom bought this one!"
Eventually, we chose our own laundry soap. About five or six years ago, we took it a step further...I now MAKE our laundry soap! No more grocery store arguments...at least about laundry soap!
I won't go into detail about all our other arguments, but I will say what I truly believe has helped...our Faith!
Both of us were what most people might call "lukewarm Catholics" when we got married. We were born & raised in the Catholic Church. Neither of us strayed too far, even in the college years. Sure there were times we'd wake up & say, "Oh, let's just skip Mass today & sleep in."
For me (& maybe even for Matt), our thoughts began to change once we started having children. We wanted to instill a strong sense of faith into their lives. At the same time, I began to question some things about the Catholic Church & immersed myself in learning more. I struggled for a while, but with the help of a friend, I "chose" my Faith. (That's a more detailed post for another day.)
Around the same time, probably because I was questioning a lot, Matt also re-embraced the Faith. He'd always been great about saying prayers before every meal. (I was more of a dinnertime pray-er.) We both found that the more prayer we added to our lives, the more Faith-filled materials we read & watched, the stronger our Faith grew. And the stronger our Faith grew, the stronger our love for one another grew.
We still argue. We still have moments where we want to just scream & walk away. BUT...those moments are fewer & far between. We've learned that an argument is not the end of a relationship. It's just a stepping stone on the way to something even more wonderful.
We don't have much money, but what we do have is more important...We have each other. We have four BEAUTIFUL children who show us time & again how wonderful God is & how He is working in our lives. Most importantly, we have our Faith.
We are thankful for each day we have together & I look forward to many years to come with this wonderful husband & father to our children.
So, THANK YOU, MATTHEW...for 15 wonderfully blessed years of marriage. I LOVE YOU more w/ each passing day & thank God for bringing you into my life.
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