I believe in a thing called love and not because some "one hit wonder" band taught me to. This year has been a crazy one. Not only in my own personal life but in the media as well. I feel like there is so much negativity around us. TV, Social Media, the news. It is so easy to focus on all the terrible and negative things. So easy to lose sight of the one simple thing that keeps us all grounded and connected. This is love.
This year I witnessed a marriage of 20+ years end. Divorce is ugly. It shook our family and tested all of us. It shook my own marriage as I started to question what a truly happy marriage is like, if marriages can really last, and wondered if we were on the right path to have a successful and happy marriage. How can couples stay happy together and "in-love" for 60+ years and others end in months? While this may have been a divorce that struck closest to home, it is not the only one I have witnessed since being married only 3 years ago. My husband and I have attended weddings of friends that are no longer married and have seen divorce up close and personal on both sides of our family.
Even while I have watched once happy marriages end, I continue to believe in love because I witness it first hand in my home everyday. I can't NOT believe in it because I feel it in my heart. I see it in our pictures and in the way we reminisce. I feel it when he hugs and kisses me goodbye, or calls me at lunch to see how I am doing. I can't worry about the future or what might be in store for our marriage. All I can do is choose to believe in the LOVE that is right in front of my eyes. I can also continue to make sure that our marriage is our number one priority. Even above our children because I want a marriage that lasts AFTER our children have left the house.
For those of you still searching for Mr. or Mrs. Right, know that I truly believe that love is everywhere and it will find you. For those of you questioning your own love and marriage right now. Are you going to chose to believe in it? I believe unhappy or unloving marriages can be fixed and marriage has seasons of hard times.
To my sweet friend who was sexually abused by a man who didn't deserve her, know that I truly believe in love. This world can be so cruel and I will never understand just how he ruined you. But know that good men exist. Know that LOVE above all else exists. It is real and I choose to believe in it.
Click here to learn more about my friends story.
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Monday, February 13, 2017
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Start of a Family
On December 19, 2013 we said I do in a small white church in the middle of our two small towns. It was the same church that Jackson's parents were married 34 years earlier. I am such a sucker for traditions, nostalgia, and all the sentiment my heart can hold. (Can you believe I had to convince my MIL that we should get married there?) She was uninterested in the sentimental idea, and maybe perhaps decorating two venues, but let me say that it was absolutely worth the torture! Her tear-streaked face on our wedding day said it all. Jackson, my dear, you married one stubborn lady! It all fell together perfectly. The whole ceremony is a special memory we will cherish forever, and I am so glad we were married in the same church as Jackson's parents. I can only imagine what it would be like to watch my youngest baby, marry his sweetheart under the same giant window that I had. I would look at him and see his father, remember such a wonderful day and create a new special memory in the same white church. Excuse me while I go cry now just thinking about it!
It was a winter wonderland. Snow fell as we said I do. The big giant snowflakes that instantly stick to the ground after they have waved and danced through the window. The kind of snow where it is quiet and peaceful and you don't want to leave any imperfections. It was calm and beautiful as our loved ones were cozy and warm inside. Friends, family and God watched us vow to love each other for life, it was the most beautiful day I could remember. Our loved ones in heaven were sprinkling flakes down on us and everything felt completely right knowing that God was watching us, two unimportant people, become each others life partners and guides through life. I could feel it in my heart that he was happy. I remember thinking I needed to trap that feeling in a jar. The feeling of being important to Him and knowing that he was watching a special union take place. I felt the same way the day I met my daughters. The moment, the day feels totally new and almost spiritual. I would have twelve kids and get married twelve times to feel that over and over again. How amazing it is to blessed in such ways, how wonderful to feel His love for you through these blessing and special moments. I am not religious in any way, but I do feel that these past few years in my life have brought me so much spiritually closer to God. This day, our wedding day, was actually the first time I had thought of God in a long time. I remember hearing hearing God's name in our marital vows and it hit me like a brick wall that He was there in the room. His presence was all around. Why had I never realized? I looked at Jackson's face and was totally overwhelmed with comfort and love and still to this day cannot believe how blessed I am.
I recommend marriage for everyone! That day was 3 years ago but Jackson and I are still often asked if we are newlyweds... Can we still answer yes? Or are we too far down the barrel? That feeling of love and protection has only magnified since that day. We have worked hard hand in hand for the past few years and have accomplished so much more together. Happy Anniversary, my love, may we have many more memories to recall. May we always remember how blessed and loved we are. May we always strive to work hand in hand to create a life together. That day was a beautiful start to our now beautiful family. There is no one else I would rather grow old with than you.
On a side note: We worked so hard prior to the wedding to make sure both venues looked beautiful. We handmade mostly everything, decorated by ourselves, hauled things to and fro from Nephi to Delta and so forth. I think we spent 12+ hours decorating in 2 days! I am so glad that part is over and behind us. A late thank you to all our family and friends who attended our special day, and an extra huge thanks to people that helped set up or take down! I can't say it enough when I say that we are truly, truly blessed!
It was a winter wonderland. Snow fell as we said I do. The big giant snowflakes that instantly stick to the ground after they have waved and danced through the window. The kind of snow where it is quiet and peaceful and you don't want to leave any imperfections. It was calm and beautiful as our loved ones were cozy and warm inside. Friends, family and God watched us vow to love each other for life, it was the most beautiful day I could remember. Our loved ones in heaven were sprinkling flakes down on us and everything felt completely right knowing that God was watching us, two unimportant people, become each others life partners and guides through life. I could feel it in my heart that he was happy. I remember thinking I needed to trap that feeling in a jar. The feeling of being important to Him and knowing that he was watching a special union take place. I felt the same way the day I met my daughters. The moment, the day feels totally new and almost spiritual. I would have twelve kids and get married twelve times to feel that over and over again. How amazing it is to blessed in such ways, how wonderful to feel His love for you through these blessing and special moments. I am not religious in any way, but I do feel that these past few years in my life have brought me so much spiritually closer to God. This day, our wedding day, was actually the first time I had thought of God in a long time. I remember hearing hearing God's name in our marital vows and it hit me like a brick wall that He was there in the room. His presence was all around. Why had I never realized? I looked at Jackson's face and was totally overwhelmed with comfort and love and still to this day cannot believe how blessed I am.
I recommend marriage for everyone! That day was 3 years ago but Jackson and I are still often asked if we are newlyweds... Can we still answer yes? Or are we too far down the barrel? That feeling of love and protection has only magnified since that day. We have worked hard hand in hand for the past few years and have accomplished so much more together. Happy Anniversary, my love, may we have many more memories to recall. May we always remember how blessed and loved we are. May we always strive to work hand in hand to create a life together. That day was a beautiful start to our now beautiful family. There is no one else I would rather grow old with than you.
On a side note: We worked so hard prior to the wedding to make sure both venues looked beautiful. We handmade mostly everything, decorated by ourselves, hauled things to and fro from Nephi to Delta and so forth. I think we spent 12+ hours decorating in 2 days! I am so glad that part is over and behind us. A late thank you to all our family and friends who attended our special day, and an extra huge thanks to people that helped set up or take down! I can't say it enough when I say that we are truly, truly blessed!
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