MARRIAGE IS AWESOME BUT IS ALSO THE MOST CHALLENGING THING. Can I just express that really quickly? I realize I have absolutely very little wisdom to add to this since I have been married for a whopping year, but in that year I have realized just how great and sanctifying marriage is. Yes, Dustin and I get to do life together, we get to make decisions together (some easy and some hard), we get to see each other every day, we will one day start a family of our own, we know each other on the deepest and most intimate levels and there is nothing about me that Dustin doesn't know about and vice versa. Sure, we get to laugh and have meaningful conversation with each other every day. But over the past year and a couple months, I have been so incredibly thankful for someone who daily encourages me to be more like Jesus. We have had and will continue to have our trials, but during these various trials, I have realized that Dustin's strengths are my absolute weaknesses.  He is always positive, and I tend to be more negative.   He thinks long and hard before he speaks, I say whatever is on my mind and often end up thinking "oh man, I probably shouldn't have said that" then proceed by texting an apology to whomever I offended. His motto in life is "calm and confident".. and mine tends to be "stress and be a nervous nelly all of the time" If our purpose is to glorify our Creator in every aspect of our life, how grateful I am for someone who will stop me dead in my tracks and say "wait, hold on, let's look at this a different way." If marriage is meant to model Christ's love for the church, then we must hold our marriage covenant with the highest regard and it must be characterized by sacrificial, steadfast love, respect, and forgiveness.  Now, lets not get too crazy... there are some days (maybe a lot) that we struggle with this. By NOOOO means do we have a perfect marriage, but hey, its a marathon, not a race, right?! There are many times that we both get sick of each other, disagree, and see things from completely different perspectives. There are times when he drives me crazy and even more times when I drive him crazy. We are both learning some major lessons of patience in this season of life but in completely different ways.  He is going through things that no one who hasn't done what he is doing, can possibly understand. But, as his wife, all I can do is pray for him, love him, encourage him, and do my best to take over the other aspects of our life that he just doesn't have the time or energy to think about. Does he love working while I get to travel, stay home, and enjoy being able to do things that I wouldn't be able to if I was working full time in a hospital? Not really, but he loves being able to provide and he loves knowing I am beyond thankful and happy to be able to do those things I am passionate about outside of nursing. Do I love cleaning, cooking, packing, moving, figuring out all the logistics of life in Dallas? Not really, but I love knowing that when he gets home, he can physically and mentally relax because life at home is calm and fairly under control (minus the smell of burnt cookies--still working on these sub-par baking skills of mine).  Anyway, I am just so thankful for this guy of mine. What an unbelievable journey we have had the past 7 years!

prom '08